Earlier this week The Calgary Herald had a picture in their paper of the new Calgary Roughneck jersey for the 2007 season. This came as an unexpected surprise to many fans. So, for those of you that don’t have subscriptions to The Calgary Herald and didn’t make it to the first exhibition game, here is what the new jersey’s look like.
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It seems that LacrosseTV is closing up shop starting December 1st. In an email sent out to subscribers by itvn, the company that offered the LacrosseTV network, they apologize for the “inconvenience” that they may have caused. In an attempt to keep, what I’m sure will be a slew of former subscribers, itvn is offering two free months worth of their current line-up of services as a consolation.
Unfortunately for us lacrosse fans this is no consolation since LacrosseTV was the only way some fans were able to watch any games last year. With the season a little under a month away for most teams, the Canadian market still finds itself without television coverage.
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This site has been a little lacking lately and I apologize for that. In an effort to change gears, I’d like to interview a few of the Calgary Roughneck players, both past and present — that I can get a hold of — and I want you to participate as well.
At this point I can contact a number of the top name players that were or are on the team, both this year and last. If anyone would like to see an interview with any of the up and coming Roughnecks I’d be more than happy to work it out, just let me know who you’d like to see interviewed on this site. (more…)
Even though last year was an amazing year as far as parity in the league, the schedules definitely needed to be better thought out. On more than one occasion the only teams outside the Eastern Division that the Toronto Rock would play were Calgary or Edmonton. Whether this gave them an unfair advantage and helped with their stellar comeback I can’t say for sure but it is something to think about.
Along with the announcement that the two expansion teams will play in the Eastern Division, the National Lacrosse League stated that “each team will play each of their divisional opponents at least twice in 2007”. Implying that there will be at least a home and home set for each match up. (more…)
Tuesday the National Lacrosse League released the 2007 division line ups. Much like last year there will only be two divisions, East and West, followed by the playoff system for the 2006 season.
As anticipated—at least by most fans—both expansion teams this year will be placed in the Eastern Division. This puts a total of seven teams in the east and the remaining six teams in the Western Division. (more…)
Now that the playoffs are over and the champion has been crowned it might be time to revisit the playoff format. Last year and the year before (aka, the 2004 and 2005 seasons) there where only a total of three playoff games — one division title game for each division, East and West, and the Champions Cup game.
This year, the 2006 season, since there were more teams the playoff format differed. There were two division playoff games for each division and the Champions Cup game. The format was similar to a hockey style playoff where the top ranked team played the fourth place team and the second and third placed teams played each other. Winners from those games would meet for the division title game. The division champions would then be off to the Champions Cup.
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For the last three years, the National Lacrosse League has had a television contract with The Score — a sports broadcasting network. For some reason The Score wanted out of the deal early and it seems they left the NLL in a bit of a bind. Then, Rogers Sportsnet picked up a very miniscule amount of the slack.
While Sportsnet did broadcast some of the Canadian NLL teams it was a hit or miss as to which games were shown. This most likely had to do with hockey being back. Some also speculate — and I agree with it — that the executives at Sportsnet chose not to show more games because there were no Canadian teams playing. Certainly a sound decision right?
What a night. Not only was this a key night for the Calgary Roughnecks but it was pretty much a key night for all the teams playing. This was the last chance for more than one team in both the east and west divisions. In the end, the West Division playoff spots have been filled and all but one East Division playoff spot has been determined.
First, the east — because we save the best for last. After last nights performance, we now have the Buffalo Bandits, Toronto Rock and Minnesota Swarm clinching playoff berth’s. The Rochester Knighthawks and Philedelphia Wings will be playing tonight for all the marbles and one of those teams will be going back to their day jobs on Monday and not returning until next season. Of course, with the best record in the league right now, Buffalo has clinched the East Division title and home field advantage for the first round of playoffs.
For the last few games, the Calgary Roughnecks have been on a steady rise. Sure, they were in the running for the playoffs but over the last 6 games they’ve actually started to look like a championship team. Goals are being scored by all the top players and everyone else, “The Door” Curtis Palidwor is in tip top shape right now, and the team stats just keep going up.
Most importantly — at least to me and three or four other people — are the powerplay stats. For the first 2/3rd’s of the season the Roughnecks powerplay has been abysmal. They would average 1–2 out of 6–8 which is far below the league average for powerplays. These numbers, in case you haven’t been keeping track, are steadily going up though. The boys are generally getting at least 50% or higher on their powerplays now. Currently placed 4th overall for the powerplay in the entire NLL.
Just a quick reminder that Friday, April 7th, 2006 is the cutoff day for reserving your season ticket seat for the playoffs. You can either call the Roughneck office at (403) 294-9244 or download this form and fax it to the number provided on the form.
After Friday, all unclaimed/reserved season ticket seats will be available to purchase for the playoff game the weekend of April 21st (exact date to be determined). NLL playoff ticket prices for Calgary are as follows:
Ticket prices do not include GST or facility fee.