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NLL Notebook: Division Finals Preview
May 7, 2008
by Tom Borrelli, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
Mighty, mighty Titans The Titans (11-6) will travel to HSBC Arena for Saturday night's East Division final against the Bandits (11-6). Ho, hum for the Titans, who are 7-5 away from the familiar turf of Madison Square Garden after last Saturday's 11-8 victory over the Minnesota Swarm in the Xcel Energy Center. After losing 16 of their first 21 games, the second-year Titans are the hottest team in the NLL. They have won 10 of their last 12, and face a team that has been nearly as hot in the Bandits, who are 8-2 following a 3-4 getaway. "It was a great win for the franchise," said Titans coach Adam Mueller. "Winning our first road game was just amazing." New York showed no signs of apprehension in the first playoff game in franchise history, scoring the last three goals, all in the final 4:20, two off the stick of Casey Powell and the other by Pat Maddalena. Matt Vinc, who played his college ball in Buffalo at NCAA tournament-bound Canisius, made 37 saves in his first career playoff encounter. Maddalena, a former Bandit who lives in the Buffalo suburb of Grand Island, dented his former team for 10 points during the regular season when the teams split. "Vinc has faced all the shooters in the league now, and the team is playing more confident around him," said Kilgour. "It's just a snowball effect. When you start believing in each other, anything is possible." Buffalo got four goals from NLL career scoring leader John Tavares and three from Kevin Dostie in beating the Titans, 17-13, on Jan. 19 at HSBC Arena, despite an eight-point night by Maddalena and a seven-point game by Powell. But the Titans got even on Feb. 10 at MSG, when rookie transition man Jordan Hall scored 2:30 into overtime for a 10-9 victory that was New York's first in four games in the series. "That was a tremendous confidence boost for our group," said Mueller. "We would have been 1-5 at that point and as it panned out, probably wouldn't have made the playoffs. It wasn't a great looking game by any means but it did get our roll started." The winner of this game will host the Champion's Cup final, because both teams in the West final sport losing records. The Bandits are 8-2 at home, where they have won four straight and eight of their last nine. Foreign turf shouldn't bother the Titans, however. They are the only team in that league that won games in Minnesota, Philadelphia, Rochester and Toronto this season. Kilgour plans to start Ken Montour, who led the league with a save percentage of 80.8, in goal against the Titans. "He's been pretty much the MVP of our team his year," Kilgour said. "He's earned this start. I believe all the guys are confident in him and I know I am." Who'da thunk it? The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the West Division bit the dust last weekend, leaving the third-seeded Calgary Roughnecks (8-9) and fourth-seeded Portland LumberJax (7-10) as the last two standing. They'll meet Saturday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome. Calgary, which has won four straight, got five consecutive goals in the fourth quarter of its 15-13 win over the second-seeded Colorado Mammoth before 15,554 disappointed fans at Denver's Pepsi Center. Captain Tracey Kelusky (2g, 5a), newly-acquired and playoff-tested Josh Sanderson (1g, 5a), and Jeff Shattler (3g, 3a) led the way for the Roughnecks, who broke a three-game playoff losing streak. The Riggers hadn't won in the postseason since capturing the 2004 Champion's Cup. "We have a lot of character in the room, and I think we're a tough team to beat right now," said Roughnecks general manager Kurt Silcott. "We're looking forward to another battle against Portland." Portland continued its superb play on the road with a wild 18-16 victory over the top-seeded San Jose Stealth before a sparse gathering at HP Pavilion. The LumberJax, who have captured three of their last four away from the Rose Garden, scored four of the game's last five goals, including two by Ryan Powell. Dan Dawson was a one-man wrecking crew with seven goals and five assists, and defenseman Brad MacDonald tallied two big scores in the second half, including the game-winner with 2:56 remaining. "Star players raise the level of their games and that's exactly what he did," LumberJax coach Derek Keenan said of Dawson. "He had seven goals, and I think every one of them went in a different place. That's very difficult for a goalie to stop." It was the first playoff victory in the LumberJax's three-year history. "I don't think I've ever seen a game where both teams shot the ball so well," said Keenan. "I'd have never predicted that many goals to be scored based on our previous games against them [over] the last two or three years." Calgary won both games against Portland at the Pengrowth Saddledome - 13-6 on Jan. 26 and 15-12 on March 8. The `Jax were victorious, 13-9, on Feb. 22 in the Rose Garden. Dawson has been relatively quiet against the Roughnecks this season, with seven goals and six assists in three games. Calgary's Scott Ranger had six goals and 11 assists against the `Jax. "I think Scott does get overlooked sometimes what with Tracey [Kelusky] and Josh [Sanderson] out there," Silcott said. "But he's a very talented forward, and he's going to bury you if you don't focus on him. He's been coming [on] for a long time." Keenan and Calgary coach Troy Cordingley know all about what it takes to win a championship. They were teammates on the 1993 Bandits, the only perfect team in the league's 22-year history. It will be a bit of a family feud, as Silcott's brother, Brian, is the president of the LumberJax. "We know whoever wins gets bragging rights," Kurt Silcott said. "In my family, that's enough." Award winners * Toronto's Bob Watson, who has backstopped the Rock to five championships, is the NLL's Goalie of the Year, thanks to a 78.6 save percentage and a 10.34 goals against average, which ranked fifth and third in the league respectively. The 37-year old Watson, who is a veteran of 12 NLL seasons, including the last 11 with Toronto, also won the award in 2000 and '01. He's made 5,026 career saves, which ranks fourth on the career list behind Portland's Dallas Eliuk (6,356), Rochester's Pat O'Toole (5,518) and Calgary's Steve Dietrich (5,202). * Colorado third-year forward Dan Carey won the sportsmanship award, which is the NLL's answer to the Lady Byng Trophy. He scored 22 goals and 27 assists in 11 games this season before suffering a season-ending concussion. Then his team went down in flames, going 2-4 without him the rest of the way. In 43 career games, Carey has only 11 total penalty minutes, none this year. * Edmonton captain Chris McElroy is the recipient of the first Community Service Award for his involvement in charitable causes and promoting the sport of lacrosse. The 25-year-old defender, who has been with the Rush since the team's inception, scooped 101 loose balls this season. Contact Tom Borrelli at tbwrite@aol.com.
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