Go! ‘Necks! Go!

In an “interesting” turn of events, the NLL has suspended the Roughneck’s third top scorer for one game. What makes this so interesting is that the suspension wasn’t announced until today, 5 full days after the game against Colorado. The reason for the suspension? Wulder’s illegal cross checking penalty in the fourth quarter.

The suspension was handed down by the league after they reviewed the tapes of the game in which Colordao forward Gavin Prout was also suspended. According to the league, Wulder was suspended because of a violation of rule 64, attempt to injure, when he cross checked a Mammoth player. In defense of the league’s decision, the officials did call the cross checking penalty as a five minute major as opposed to a two minute minor.

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According to the Calgary Sun, Travis Gillespie has left the Calgary Roughnecks. Gillespie has taken a position with Coquitlam fire department. His position includes a year long probationary period and Travis doesn’t want to jeopardize his chances by getting injured.

This puts the Roughnecks in a bit of a bind but at the same time is fantastic news for Gillespie. I’ve heard that he has been trying for this position for quite a while. Coquitlam is apparently the same fire department that hired John Olsen — a former Roughneck. As far as I know, this position is immediate and Travis is already in Coquitlam.

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Trade deadlines, for hockey fans they are probably the most exciting part of the season. Ok, maybe not the most exciting but there is generally a flurry of activity right up until the last second of the deadline. Deadline day in the NLL is a little bit different.

In comparison to the NHL, today — which happens to be the trade deadline — was a pretty slow day. Toronto, Minnesota, and Calgary were a few of the teams making trades today while Edmonton and a couple other teams managed trades during the days leading up to the deadline.
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Getting back into the thick of things, Roughneck GM Kurt Silcott has made another trade, this time sending rookie Ryan Marshall to Portland for veteran Ted Dowling. Some of you may remember Dowling from the 2004 campaign where with 45 goals and 33 assists he helped us win the Champions Cup.

This trade is as usual pending NLL approval but neither team seems to consider that a problem. There was an addition condition to the trade according to Silcott. It would seem that lately Dowling has been having a little health trouble. The condition of the trade Silcott refers to would give Calgary a 2nd round draft pick from Portland in the event that Dowling is unable to play. The GM is “confident that Ted will be abel to come in and play for us.”
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Any Roughnecks fan that reads the Calgary Sun or knows someone that does will have heard by now that Jesse Phillips is considering retirement. The article, written by Ty Pilson, was in today’s Calgary Sun and posted on their website.

Phillips, who’s been having trouble with his right knee since before the season began, will be making his final decision in the next week or so. Since Phillips didn’t play the summer season in 2005 this injury is definitely not something to be taken lightly.
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This morning it has come to my attention that in the last few days Jesse “James” Phillips has, once again, been placed on the injured reserve list. At the time of this posting there has been no official statement on the Calgary Roughnecks website.

Phillips was one the injured reserve list at the start of the season only to be taken off for the last few games. It was said that he had been placed on the IR for bumps and bruises. Jesse is a tough defender and while the original assessment of “bumps and bruises” may have been true at the time, it would certainly seem that is not the case now.

I wish Jesse a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him bash some heads when the doctors give him the green light to start playing again.

According to some sources around this thing they call the internet there is a Roughneck player or two that may be switching uniforms after the All-Star break.

With the ‘Necks acquiring goal-tender Ryan Avery the word seems to be that Palidwor may be one of the players moving around. Some people are even saying the pot needs to be sweetened before any trades are made. Since we’re down to one 1st round draft pick the rumor is that another player — possibly a former Buffalo Bandit — is on the block as consideration.

It’s been almost a week since McNish knocked out Edmonton Rush’s Stachniak during their last meeting and fans from both sides seem to have mixed thoughts about it. The split is pretty even amongst the people I’ve talked to. (more…)

In a somewhat surprising move, Roughneck GM Kurt Silcott traded a first round draft pick for net-minder Ryan Avery. Before the trade, Avery played on the Buffalo Bandits practice team after being drafted in the 2nd round in 2002 by the Rochester Knighthawks.

To many fans there is some confusion surrounding this move. We already have Curtis Palidwor as a starting goalie and Andrew Leyshon as a strong backup. So where does Avery fit in? Who does he replace if anyone? If he’s not replacing either Palidwor or Leyshon then why are we trading a 1st round pick for a third string or practice goal-tender? More than a few people have expressed questions such as these. (more…)

It was announced today that #17, Tracey Kelusky, will be wearing the big A for the west in the All-Star Game this weekend. Arizona defender Peter Lough will be the captain, and Colorado Mammoth forward Gavin Prout will serve as the other alternate captain for the west.

The east will be captained by Toronto Rock forward Jim Veltman. The two alternate captain spots will go to Buffalo Bandits forward John Tavares and Rochester Knighthawks defenseman Steve Toll.

The Sportsnet network will be airing the All-Star Game live starting at 2pm MST from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.