Go! ‘Necks! Go!

Since finding out about the Wulder Susheski trade I’ve been itching to talk about it. What it looks like from the outside is quite a bit different from what it really was on the inside and thanks to the help of a few friends I’ve got a bit of an insiders look at this trade.

If anyone remembers that fateful game last year when the Roughnecks lost to the Rush they might also remember Susheski was a key part of that win. Now he’s playing for us and it’s going to be hard for me — and I suspect some other Roughneck fans — to be happy about that. It’s not just because he used to play for a rival team but it seems that we received the shorter end of the stick on this particular trade. (more…)

Over the last couple weeks we’ve been hearing about how this trade will benefit our beloved Roughnecks, how that new player will be the key to our new season, etc., etc., etc. All of this rhetoric is coming from our questionable General Manager Kurt Silcott.

In more than a few conversations I’ve been privy to not a single person can see a solid reason or motivation for what Silcott is doing. I’m not just referring to lunch break conversations and water cooler talks either, some of these conversations are with individuals both close to the team and veterans of the game — yes, that also includes fans that have been watching the game since before I was born. (more…)

In the past week there has been quite a few trades between many of the teams in the National Lacrosse League. This was to be expected after the expansion draft where Chicago and New York ended up shaking more than a couple teams’ rosters. With the expansion draft firmly out of the way and the entry draft coming up in less than a month, many teams are jockeying to gain some of the experienced players as well as lining up their picks to get the most out of the entry draft.

Calgary Roughneck fans have been treated to a few different trades and a surprise or two during the expansion draft this year. First we lost Curtis Palidwor to New York and Callum Crawford to Chicago, followed by a trade sending Kevin Dostie to Buffalo for Jeff Shattler. Most recently we saw a trade that gave away our 3rd round draft pick to the Portland Lumberjax in return for former Roughneck Shawn Cable.

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In a bit of disturbing news, I found out this morning that Kevin Dostie — the 25 year-old 5′6″, 220lbs. forward that has become a favorite player of mine to watch — is being traded to the Buffalo Bandits. Over the last season Dostie has really come through during some key moments and he’s a great player to watch.

To me the moves General Manager Kurt Silcott is making are starting to get a little ridiculous. How many players is Silcott trying to acquire from his former team? Did he make some sort of pack with all his favorite people in Buffalo or does he just think they make better draft/trade choices? (more…)

Considered one of the worst kept secrets in the entire National Lacrosse League, the New York expansion team has finally been officially announced. This is probably a good thing considering the expansion draft happens today.

On hand to help NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings with the announcement was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Maybe the reason we all had to wait so long before the announcement was due to the Mayor’s schedule — after all, he is a Mayor and probably pretty busy. (more…)

With the expansion draft quickly approaching — see the sidebar ticker — the Roughnecks have solidified their protected list. There are some interesting things to note and I question where General Manager Kurt Silcott is going with some of his decisions. (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…)

There has been a bit of bad blood between fans of lacrosse and the National Lacrosse League in regards to the television coverage of the game. Bad blood may be a bit strong but I know there were many fans — including myself — that put that in our top five things to change for next year when one of the owners asked what should be improved.

For the last three years the TV contract has been handled by The Score. When they wanted out of the deal Rogers Sportsnet stepped up for all lacrosse TV coverage in Canada. Lacrosse always seemed to get treated like Sportsnets red-headed step child — getting the short end of the stick would be putting it nicely.
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After putting it off for far, far too long, I’ve finally had the chance make GoNecksGo.com searchable. To be totally honest I could have done this very quickly right from the beginning but I wanted to add a little pizzaz to it. There’s no point in doing things half-assed around here.

To view the full search goodness make sure you have Javascript enabled/turned on — it’s on by default but occasionally people turn it off. The search form is in the sidebar and the nifty thing about it is what happens when you actually do a search. So go ahead, give it a spin. Let me know what you think.
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