Repost: Challenges of Type 1 diabetes can’t keep Calgary’s Scott Ranger from thriving

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Graeme

Back in October of 2012, I wrote an article about Calgary’s Scott Ranger and how he deals with Type 1 diabetes while still managing to play lacrosse at the highest level. The article was featured on IL Indoor, and thanks to Bob Chavez for posting it.

The subject of diabetes was important to me when I wrote the article, since both my wife and father-in-law were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a few years before. But less than four months after this article was initially published, I was also diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic. Despite my initial assumption that Ranger gave it to me via email, I’ve done some research and it turns out that that can’t happen. In my case, it was actually caused by pancreatitis, which I had back in 2010.

Since Scott has announced his retirement from the NLL, I wanted to post a link to the original article, but with the recent web site changes at IL Indoor, the original article is badly formatted and clipped, and the photos are missing. I am reposting it here along with the pictures that Scott sent me for the original article. Scott, thanks again for talking to me about this, and congratulations on a fantastic career! I wish you the best of luck in your retirement.

Challenges of Type 1 diabetes can’t keep Calgary’s Scott Ranger from thriving

Originally posted on ILIndoor.com on October 31, 2012.

Over his nine-year professional career, Scott Ranger has risen to the upper echelon of pro lacrosse. He’s among the top scorers on the Calgary Roughnecks, where he won the Champion’s Cup in 2009 and was named to the Western All-Star team in 2011. In the WLA, he was named league MVP in 2011 and this past summer he led the league in scoring (12 points ahead of second place and 22 ahead of third) for the second straight year while playing for his hometown Nanaimo Timbermen.

But Ranger is in another much more exclusive class, which none of his Roughnecks or Timbermen teammates can boast – that of professional athlete struggling with diabetes. There have been a few athletes over the years that have been able to perform at the highest level of their sport despite having diabetes, including Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brandon Morrow, former Philadelphia Wings captain and current vice president Bobby Clarke, and golfer Scott Verplank. As far as he is aware, Ranger is the only NLL player in that list, though it’s one he’d likely prefer not to be in.

Diabetes is a strange disease. Some people are diagnosed early in life and have to learn to give themselves injections every day. Others are diagnosed later in life and control the disease through exercise, diet, and medication. Besides being dangerous by itself, diabetes can cause many other medical complications including glaucoma, cataracts, and other eye problems; hearing loss; nerve damage; high blood pressure; strokes; heart and kidney disease; and heart attacks.

There are two main types of diabetes, called Type 1 and Type 2. It has been said that these two types “are so different it’s a shame they are both called Diabetes”. Type 1 diabetes means, quite simply, that your pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to keep you alive. Type 1 diabetics must inject insulin daily and “how will this affect my blood sugars?” is a question that they must ask themselves many times every day. Type 2 usually means that your body has built up a resistance to the insulin you produce. It’s possible for Type 2 diabetics to manage the disease solely through exercise and diet, but usually require medication and sometimes insulin shots. A lucky few Type 2’s can take a few pills in the morning and a few in the evening and don’t need to think about it otherwise. Approximately 10% of diabetics are Type 1.

Ranger was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 4, around the same time he discovered lacrosse. He has almost passed out on the lacrosse floor, he’s had blood sugar levels that were over four times the recommended level, and he checks his blood sugar levels at halftime – so he bleeds at every game whether he fights or not.

In the twenty-five years since his diagnosis, he’s lost count of the number of insulin injections he’s given himself. Actually, he hasn’t exactly lost count; in fact three years ago, he had a very accurate count. “I was actually doing a paper for school and I had to calculate how many insulin injections I had done in my lifetime,” says Ranger. “When I found the number I thought to myself, what the heck am I doing?” He then ditched the injections in favour of an insulin pump, which gives him insulin continuously.

Ranger tries to keep his blood sugar level between 4 and 8 (all numbers are in mmol/L, the standard unit of measurement in Canada). Anything under 4 can cause him to pass out, and once he starts getting up over 10, he needs to inject insulin. He does check his levels during games, sometimes a few times, but it isn’t always entirely successful. “Last season we were in Washington playing the Stealth and I had felt pretty good until the end of the game,” he remembers. “When the game was over and we were running down to congratulate Pouly [Roughnecks goaltender Mike Poulin], I nearly passed out due to low blood sugars.”

Post-games can be a challenge since Ranger doesn’t have much of an appetite, but simply not eating isn’t an option. “I can rarely eat after games and of course after playing a full game a diabetic needs to eat,” Ranger explains. “I usually have to have Gatorades or regular pop around to boost me back up after games because once the adrenaline wears off, blood sugars usually drop quickly and if I am not prepared, can cause some serious issues.”

One factor that a diabetic athlete needs to take into account more than most diabetics is adrenaline. During a game, Ranger cannot wear his insulin pump, and so his blood sugar level tends to increase. Adrenaline flowing throughout the body can further increase his level, but that effect is only temporary and once it stops flowing, the level can drop quickly. When he measures his blood sugar after a game, the level can be between 10 and 12, and so he needs to give himself insulin to bring it back down. If he doesn’t take the adrenaline into account he may take too much insulin, which could drop his blood sugar to a dangerously low level (below 3).

On the other hand, depending too much on the insulin pump can be dangerous as well. “Last year we were travelling to a game and my insulin pump stopped working in the middle of the night,” he said. “I woke up with a blood sugar of 31.0. When blood sugars get that high it can be very dangerous. I was fortunate enough to have back up insulin and I was able to get it under control within a few hours.”

Not all athletes have a great deal of respect for, or understanding of, nutrition. Babe Ruth was not known for his healthy diet, and more recently men like John Daly and David Wells (a type 2 diabetic) were able to perform at the highest level of their sport while not having the standard athlete’s physique. For most modern athletes, however, diet and nutrition are an important part of their training. For Ranger, it’s not just important, it’s crucial. He is very thankful for his wife Jill, not only for her support but for her help in watching his diet. “My wife is amazing at keeping me on track. Without her I would not still be playing at this level.”

He also credits his Roughnecks roommate, Nolan Heavenor. “I have a great roommate when we travel and he keeps a close eye on me. We often eat together at the restaurants and we know each other’s routine very well so that is very helpful.”

Diet is critical for Ranger not only to get the nutrients he needs to deal with both his diabetes and the demands of being a pro lacrosse player, but also because he can’t use the same nutritional supplements that many other players use. “Supplements are very hard for me to take because a lot of them contain sugar. The ones I do use are gross tasting and in my opinion not worth it. Because I have a fairly strict diet, my nutritional needs are met.”

Professional lacrosse players, particularly those who play in both the NLL and the Canadian summer leagues, have to train year-round. In addition to working on their strength, speed, stamina, and lacrosse skills, they have to watch their diet. Particularly in this era of controversy over performance-enhancing drugs, all pro athletes must pay close attention to everything they put into their bodies. For Scott Ranger, this would be an everyday occurrence even if he wasn’t a pro athlete. There is no cure for diabetes, and those who suffer from it are said to be “managing” the disease. In Ranger’s case, it would seem that he’s managing pretty well.

Game report: Calgary 10 @ Rochester 16, Calgary 2 @ Rochester 3

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Graeme

Wow, I haven’t done one of these game report things in a while! I think talking about the games every week on the Addicted to Lacrosse show has meant I didn’t feel the need to talk about them again on the blog. Also since I spend much of Sunday writing the Money Ballers column, I didn’t make time to write game reports as well. But they’re different media; I can get into more details here than I would on the show plus some people simply aren’t interested in watching or listening to a show but they’ll read a blog, or vice versa.

Anyway, the game. Or rather, the games.

First off, I make the trek to Rochester for this one, my first such trip in many years. My tickets were second row from the glass, right next to the Rochester bench. This meant that I could watch the line changes and see everything that happened at one end of the floor. It was great. What I didn’t anticipate was the view of the other end of the floor. When play was happening at the far end, this was my view:

I tried yelling “Angus, sit down!” but he wouldn’t. Actually, that was a joke. I didn’t really consider yelling anything but positive encouragement at Angus Goodleaf. Just doesn’t seem like a very bright move.

So I watched half the game from close up in very high definition, and the other half on a grainy Jumbotron at an angle 100 feet away.

We had a plus and a minus just before the game. The plus was the Native American dancers, who I believe perform at the beginning of every Knighthawks game. That was very cool, and the outfits they were wearing were awesome. That was followed by the minus, the national anthems, accurately described as “lounge-y” by Stephen Stamp in his Championship Game live blog, sung by a guy who should probably have waited until afterwards to start hitting the Genny Cream Ale.

The game itself was very entertaining. You already know the result and how the lead changed hands a couple of times before Rochester scored 6 straight, and Calgary almost came back but never tied it, so I won’t go over all of that. One thing I noticed about the Calgary defense (and to some extent the Rochester defense as well) is that they weren’t trying to prevent shots entirely. There were a few shot clock violations and occasions when a player would just roll the ball into the corner with a second left, but the Calgary defenders weren’t as aggressively trying to keep the Knighthawks from shooting as I’ve seen in the past. They seemed to say “Sure, feel free to shoot, but you’re going to have to thread the needle between a whole bunch of people before it even gets to Poulin.” Rochester did shoot in a lot of cases, and more often than not the ball never got anywhere near the net.

One defensive play I must point out is one by Brad Self late in the third. Unfortunately, I can’t link to a video of the play because the camera was on Mike Poulin at the time, but Poulin made a save and then launched the ball down the floor, looking for Dane Dobbie coming off the bench in transition (as he does frequently). Self made a diving catch just past the restraining line, preventing Dobbie from having a breakaway. The ball then got loose and Dobbie ended up with it anyway, but by that point the defense had come out and Calgary never got a shot off at all. It was an excellent play and really got the crowd fired up.

I do have video of a couple of goals to share, both behind-the-back beauties. First is Cory Vitarelli early in the 3rd quarter, and the other is Stephen Keogh with a little over 6 minutes left in the fourth. Vitarelli’s was particularly nice, since most behind-the-back shots come from in close, but his was from way out there.

Both goalies played very well though Mike Poulin seemed to get rattled a couple of times. This is a problem with some goaltenders – once you get them rattled or shaken up for whatever reason, they’re done. Poulin sometimes does that too but once he gets pulled (or pulls himself), he spends five minutes on the bench or in the dressing room getting refocused. He’s very good at this because more often than not, when he comes back he’s much better. He did this twice during game 2, but once the Knighthawks got on a roll in the fourth quarter, nothing could stop them.

So Rochester dominated the 4th to win game 2, and we headed to the mini-game with Rochester holding all the momentum. But then Shawn Evans and Curtis Dickson opened the scoring for Calgary (just as they had in game 2), and still led with less than 2½ minutes left. Nobody believed it was over at that point, but I thought that the Roughnecks had killed whatever momentum Rochester had going in. And maybe they had, but over the next 1:15, Craig Point and Joe Walters grabbed it right back. The Roughnecks poured on the pressure over the last minute, but Matt Vinc stepped up and stopped every shot, the last one just a second before the final buzzer.

I know there are people who don’t like the idea of the mini-game but after this year’s playoffs, I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon. The first two were very exciting to watch on TV and I imagine this one was too, and it was amazing to see live. I imagine it was everything the NLL was hoping for when they made the decision to move away from single-game elimination.

I have to say that it was pretty painful to watch the Roughnecks leave the floor. Scott Ranger in particular looked absolutely devastated. He was the last Roughneck through the handshake line and it didn’t look like he said a word to anyone.

A few more celebratory pictures:

So congratulations to the 2014 NLL Champion Knighthawks, and even more congratulations for the unprecedented three-peat. Rochester is a class organization from the top on down, so it’s nice to see them rewarded with so much success. But hey, three’s enough, dontcha think?

Other game notes:

Saw a report before the game that Derek Hopcroft had been activated and was very excited about it. Then he was scratched. Ouch.
I knew the Philadelphia Wings fans yelled “SUCKS!” after every name when the starting lineups are announced. I didn’t know they did that in Rochester too.
After Rochester’s 3rd goal in the mini-game, Dan Dawson was the first offensive player back to their bench. He made a point of telling everyone “Calm down, it’s not over yet” to make sure the defenders didn’t get too excited and let their guard down. That’s the kind of veteran leadership a guy like Dawson bring to the team. The fact that he’s one of the best scorers ever is a bit of a plus too.
In a lot of cases, a player who returns to an arena where he used to play is given some positive acknowledgement from the crowd, perhaps in the form of some extra cheering. Colin Doyle got a very nice reception in Toronto when he first played here as a member of the San Jose Stealth. This is particularly true if the player helped his former team win a Championship, as Doyle did in Toronto a few times and as Shawn Evans did in Rochester in 2007. But I didn’t see any of this recognition on Saturday with Evans. He didn’t seem to get any love from the Knighthawk fans who even booed him briefly after he fell, appeared injured, and then got up and ran to the bench. I even saw a sign saying “My 4-year-old is taller than Shawn Evans”. But who was the first Roughneck in line for the handshakes after the game? Shawn Evans.
Cody Jamieson is quickly becoming one of my favourite players but I didn’t realize until this game that he’s not the biggest guy out there. In fact, he’s only 5’9″, the shortest guy on the Knighthawks and only an inch taller than little Evy. Note, however, that he weighs 40 pounds more than Evans.
Y’ever notice that Dane Dobbie talks a lot during the game? To his teammates, to his opponents, to the refs, to everybody. Very social dude.
During the warm-ups, my son (who’s in grade 9 – a freshman in high school if you’re south of the border) pointed at a particular passing drill and said “Hey, we were doing lacrosse in gym last week and we did that same drill! But it’s a bit different because they’re actually catching the ball.”

Some general notes about my trip to Rochester

Wow, is the New York State Thruway a cheap toll road. Cost me $2 to get from Buffalo to the Rochester exit, about 41 miles or 65 km. If I take the 407 across the top of Toronto from Dundas Street in Burlington (near my house) to Highway 400 (to head north of Toronto), that’s 61.6 km and at the cheapest possible time, it would cost me $12.74. At the most expensive time, $19.26. More if I didn’t pay $1 per month for a transponder.
Here’s a handy tip for Canadians going to the US or Americans going to Canada. What a Canadian calls “tea” an American would call “hot tea”. What an American calls “tea”, a Canadian would call “iced tea”. In the US, however, there are two types of (iced) tea: sweetened and unsweetened. Sweetened is what a Canadian would simply call iced tea. Unsweetened iced tea is not available in Canada, and is an interesting drink similar to sweetened iced tea except that it has the unique property that no matter how much sugar you add to unsweetened iced tea, you can’t make it taste good.
We stayed at the Rochester Plaza, about a five minute walk from the BCA. Very convenient, but there weren’t a lot of places to eat nearby. We walked up to the arena (this was well over 2 hours before game time) and found nothing except a closed Tim Horton’s (in Canada, I don’t think they’re allowed to be closed), a closed pizza place, and another closed place (maybe Jamaican?). We ended up back at the hotel and ate there, though later I did notice a couple of places across the street. The next morning, the Tim Horton’s was still closed (WTF?!) so we found a Denny’s on the GPS.
Dear Garmin: The Denny’s that you said is here isn’t.

Finals game 2/3 picks

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Graeme

Overture, curtains, lights. This is it, the night of nights.
And oh, what heights we’ll hit, on with the show, this is it.

Well, since I’m writing this on Friday it’s actually tomorrow night, but this is indeed it. The finale of the longest NLL playoffs ever, following the longest NLL season ever. Here is my pick for the final game of the year.

Final regular season record: 58-23 (.716)
Record: 6-3 (.667)

Game

Comments

Pick

CAL @ ROC

Dan Dawson and Geoff Snider are both apparently game-time decisions, but it seemed last week that as important as Snider is to the Roughnecks, Dawson is even more so to the Knighthawks. Their offense looked like it was in need of a quarterback, so having Dawson back would be a huge boost for them. On the other hand, players love to show their former teams that trading them away was a mistake. Shawn Evans has only played one game in Rochester as a member of the Roughnecks, a 6-point performance in a losing cause back in 2012. But he’s had an MVP season since then.

I think Rochester will come out much stronger in this game than in game 1, but I am predicting a game 2 victory for the Roughnecks. However since I will be in attendance at the game, seeing Rochester win and force a mini-game would be damned exciting so I wouldn’t be averse to being wrong in my pick.

Finals game 1 pick

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Graeme

Second last pick of the season! I still haven’t decided who I think will win it all, but I’ve made my pick for game 1. I think winning game 1 gives you a huge advantage, so I guess I’ve kind of made my final pick, but we’ll see how this weekend’s game goes first.

Final regular season record: 58-23 (.716)
Record: 5-3 (.625)

Game

Comments

Pick

ROC @ CAL

Like I said, I’m not 100% convinced that the Roughnecks are my pick to win it all. But neither are the Knighthawks. It sounds like both teams will be healthy again, with Dan Dawson returning to the Knighthawks and Geoff Snider returning to the Roughnecks. Either goalie can steal a game even if the rest of the team doesn’t play that well. I imagine that between this game and the next, we might see the best lacrosse of the season, though topping last week’s Calgary/Edmonton games might be tough.

I think both the drama and excitement of last weekend’s almost-comeback and mini-game victory and the fact that they’re at home in front of an almost-if-not-complete sellout will push the Roughnecks to a game 1 victory.

Division Finals picks

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Graeme

Once again, I didn’t write up my picks before game time. Oops. That pesky job got in the way.

If you were to tell me after I made my picks last week that I’d go 1-1, I’d have assumed I got the Edmonton game right and got my Buffalo prediction wrong, since that was the one I was less confident about. Of course, I nailed that one and got Edmonton / Calgary wrong. I guess I’m expecting a couple of mini-games this weekend.

Final regular season record: 58-23 (.716)
Record: 2-2 (.500)

Game	Comments	Pick
CAL @ EDM	I think it would really be a shame if Edmonton didn’t win the Championship after the season they’ve had. But I doubt Calgary shares that feeling, and as we’ve seen twice in the past few weeks, the Roughnecks have the ability to beat the Rush. But I haven’t bet against the Rush at all this year, and I’m not starting now. Note that I announced this pick on Monday’s Addicted to Lacrosse show. The fact that the score is 9-2 Edmonton early in the second quarter as I write this is not related.
BUF @ ROC	Rochester’s offense seemed disoriented or something last weekend while Buffalo’s defense was very strong. I can see the latter continuing this weekend but not the former. The Knighthawks will come out strong and make sure they get to their third straight Championship game/series. Game 2 might be a serious blowout.

Division finals game 1 picks

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Graeme

I usually “announce” my weekly picks on the Addicted to Lacrosse show on Monday nights, but not this week. I had network problems during the show and wasn’t able to re-connect in time, so I never had a chance. I’m quite unsure about my picks this week though, so perhaps that’s for the best.

Final regular season record: 58-23 (.716)
Record: 1-1 (.500)

Game	Comments	Pick
EDM @ CAL	The age-old question: which will prevail – a strong offense or a strong defense? This season, the answer is clearly the latter as Edmonton’s D has stifled everyone. The Rush have dominated the Roughnecks this season, though Calgary is one of only two teams to have beaten them. But I’m sticking with the Rush.
ROC @ BUF	I just have a gut feeling about this game. The Bandits came off of an 8 game losing streak to beat the Rock, and they looked pretty good doing it. I think that renewed confidence along with 19000+ very loud people in Buffalo will push the Bandits to play well again and sneak by the Knighthawks. Not sure that I’m picking the Bandits to win the series though.

Division semi-finals picks

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Graeme

After finishing the season with a 5-0 week I ended up at 58-23, slightly ahead of my Addicted to Lacrosse co-hosts and ahead of everyone from IL Indoor except Bob Chavez, which whom I ended up tied. I like to think I have some insight into the NLL but let’s face it, much of that is luck and the fact that the parity in the league has diminished in the past year. That won’t stop me from bragging about it though!

I went to a local Chinese food place for lunch today and got this fortune in my fortune cookie, which bodes well for the Rock and Roughnecks, not to mention myself:

Only 8 more games (plus up to 3 mini-games) left. Not sure how the mini-games are going to work – if I pick the same team to win games 1 and 2 then I don’t even think a mini-game will happen so how can I make a pick for it? Alternatively, if I think it will happen and make a pick and it doesn’t happen at all, does that count as an incorrect pick? I’ll probably just fold the mini-games into game 2 and consider it an overtime period. Or something. I’ll have to play that one by ear.

Final regular season record: 58-23 (.716)
Record: 0-0 (.000)

Game	Comments	Pick
COL @ CAL	Tough one. Dillon Ward can certainly steal (HA) a game for the Mammoth but when Mike Poulin is on he’s near unbeatable. Both teams have lots of offense – as Ty Pilson pointed out, Colorado’s offense was missing some key players for a number of games, but then again Scott Ranger was missing for half of this season as well. Going with my gut on this one.
BUF @ TOR	I have to say I’m a little nervous about this game as a Rock fan. The Rock have been playing well and I think that will continue but the Bandits have been given a second chance and will be hungry for that elusive win. They have a winning record in Toronto and nobody wants to see John Tavares lose the last NINE games of his career (assuming he retires after this season, and AFAIK that has not yet been decided). Plus it sounds like everyone but Bandit fans (and even some of those) has already given this game to the Rock, and the Bandits won’t like that. I’m still picking the Rock but it’s not the slam dunk that others think it might be.

Pre-season predictions revisited

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Graeme

As I always do at the end of the season, it’s time to look at my predictions from the beginning of the season and see how far off I was. Since the actual award winners won’t be announced until the end of August (?!?!) I obviously can’t include those, but I’ll include who I think should win.

Final Standings

East

Prediction	Actual
Rochester	Rochester
Toronto	Toronto
Buffalo	Buffalo
Minnesota	Philadelphia
Philadelphia	Minnesota

3 correct out of 5. Philly did a little better than I expected and Minnesota did far worse.

West

Prediction	Actual
Calgary	Edmonton
Vancouver	Calgary
Edmonton	Colorado
Colorado	Vancouver

0 correct out of 5. Obviously Edmonton was much better than I thought and Vancouver much worse.

Individual Awards

MVP

Prediction: Garrett Billings. Short list: Cody Jamieson, Mark Matthews

My Choice: Cody Jamieson. On episode 17 of Addicted to Lacrosse, I picked Billings as MVP, but I’m rethinking that decision now. The Rock went 3-0 down the stretch without Billings, so it’s hard to argue that he’s more valuable to the team than anyone else is to their team. That said, nobody stands out as having been head and shoulders above anyone else. I’m going with Jamieson because he’s not only the top scorer on the team and in the league, but because he’s been the face and de facto leader of the Knighthawks since coming into the league.

Goaltender of the Year

Prediction: Matt Vinc. Short list: Tyler Richards, Aaron Bold

My Choice: Aaron Bold. Lowest-ever GAA, 15 wins, 3rd best save % in the league. Made almost 200 fewer saves than Anthony Cosmo, but faced almost 240 fewer shots. That’s how good Edmonton’s defense was this year.

Defensive Player of the Year

Prediction: Kyle Rubisch. Short list: Mike Grimes, Rory Smith

My Choice: Kyle Rubisch. You could also make arguments for Rubisch’s teammates Brett Mydske and Chris Corbeil.

Transition Player of the Year

Prediction: Geoff Snider. Short list: Jesse Gamble, Brad Self

My Choice: Jeremy Thompson. I’ve talked about Thompson many times before. There’s seemingly nothing he can’t do – he can score, play defense, take faceoffs, fight, and run like the wind. And he has a cool tattoo on his back and ponytail and he’s a movie star. You could make an argument for Corbeil here too.

Rookie of the Year

Prediction: Robert Church. Short list: Logan Schuss, Jason Noble, Cody Bremner, Karsen Leung

My Choice: Tough one. Church, Schuss, Tyler Digby, Dillon Ward, and Leung have all had very good rookie seasons, but I think I’m going to go with Schuss with Dillon Ward as a strong #2. Ward gave the Mammoth the reliable goaltender they haven’t had since the Gee Nash days.

Les Bartley (Coach of the Year)

Prediction: Chris Hall. Short list: Troy Cordingley, Derek Keenan

My Choice: Derek Keenan. Half-way through the season I was wondering how to pick between Keenan and Cordingley but the last half of the season made that decision a little easier.

GM of the Year

Prediction: Steve Dietrich. Short list: Doug Locker

My Choice: Derek Keenan, partially because of the players he picked up at the draft (Church, Loewen, Sorichetti all played big roles this year), and partially because of the moves he’s made over the last couple of years. Keenan has turned the worst team in the league to one of the best the league has ever seen.

Just realized that other than MVP, every one of my choices was for Edmonton.

“Watch Out For…”

In each of my team previews, I added a “Watch out for” section for a player that I thought would have a great year. I was even right on a couple.

Rochester: Joe Walters. I said he “could emerge as their #3 scorer”. Ended up as #5 but his 41 points eclipsed his 33 from last year.

Philadelphia: Kevin Crowley. 71 points in his first season, 72 in his second, 75 this year. The Wings don’t really have a team leader, and I though maybe Crowley would make an effort to pick up the unofficial title, like Jamieson has done with the Knighthawks, but he didn’t even lead his team in scoring.

Buffalo: Ryan Benesch. Not one of Benny’s best seasons but not much different from the numbers he was putting up in Minnesota. Of course, you’d expect a 12.5% increase in points since there were 12.5% more games, but that didn’t seem to be true for most players.

Toronto: Kyle Belton. Sort of right. He had a good season and was traded for Brandon Miller.

Minnesota: Kiel Matisz. Totally missed this one. Matisz fell from 63 points in his rookie season to only 36 in 2014. Goals dropped by 7 but assists dropped by 20. Maybe he was used more as a transition guy than offense and so his numbers dropped, or maybe it was just that the Swarm couldn’t score so there were fewer assists to be had.

Edmonton: Curtis Knight. Nailed this one. Jumped from 46 to 72 points, second on the Rush and there were a number of times that I felt he was more the quarterback of their offense than Matthews was.

Colorado: Sean Pollock. 51 points, exactly the same as last year. Not a superstar but definitely one of the important parts of the Mammoth offense.

Calgary: Curtis Dickson. He had 3.88 points per game last year, and bumped that to an even 4. Nominal increase but not the big jump I thought we might see. Still a pure goal-scorer; Dickson has never had more assists than goals in a season.

Vancouver: Lewis Ratcliff. Yeah, not so much. After a mid-season benching, Ratcliff came back with a vengeance, picking up 6 and 8 points in his next two games. But then he averaged just over 2 points over the last 5. His 55 points were the lowest of his career since his debut season with the Roughnecks in 2003.

Week 18 picks

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Graeme

Can you believe it’s already the last week of the regular season? The Rush won’t have a perfect season and they’ve already set the NLL record for wins in a season with 15, but while everyone’s been focused on the Rush, Rochester has quietly picked up 13 wins themselves. At the other end of the spectrum, Minnesota has 13 losses with one game left, while Vancouver has 12 losses and 2 games left. Both teams could hit 14 losses, though that wouldn’t be the record. Both the 2004 Anaheim Storm and the 2006 Edmonton Rush went 1-15. Not pointing any fingers here, but Cam Bergman and Teddy Jenner were members of both of those teams.

Record: 53-23 (.697)

Game	Comments	Pick
VAN @ EDM	If Vancouver plays like they can play, they could give Edmonton some trouble. But if they play like they have been playing most of this season, it won’t even be close.
ROC @ BUF	Buffalo is bound to end their losing streak at some point, and they are playing for home floor advantage in the first round, but the Knighthawks are just too strong.
COL @ PHI	Philly is out and so has nothing to play for but pride. I’m sure they’d like to put on a good show for their fans but the playoff-bound Mammoth are getting ready to take on the Roughnecks.
TOR @ MIN	The Rock have a 3 game-winning streak going, and both Brandon Miller and Nick Rose have played very well in the last few games. The Swarm have only beaten two teams this year and the Rock ain’t one of them. It’s hard to pick the upset in this case.
CAL @ VAN	Sorry Stealth fans, I think you’re going 0-2 this weekend. If that happens, it’ll be the Stealth’s second 5-game losing streak of the season.

Week 17 picks

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Graeme

I went 3-2 last week, missing Colorado going where no team had gone before, and Minnesota’s upset of Buffalo (though I did say “I can see an upset here”). I have broken the magical barrier of 50 correct picks out of 71, and now I’m going for 60 out of 81. I’m still ahead of everyone in the IL Indoor crew, though Bob Chavez is only one game behind me. The worst I can finish is 50-31, almost twenty games above .500. Trust me, nobody is more stunned by that than I am. Well, maybe one person.

Record: 50-21 (.712)

Game	Comments	Pick
BUF @ TOR	Might be a homer pick again, but the Rock played well without Billings last weekend, and the thought of jumping over the Bandits for second place (not that this one win would do that) is probably quite alluring. Then again, the Bandits are desperate to avoid another six-game losing streak.
BUF @ ROC	If this was the Bandits from the first half of the season, this would be a tough call. But the Bandits from the second half of the season are quite a different team. Read an article saying that the Bandits have been hit by a “flu bug” so that won’t help them either.
COL @ MIN	Colorado is in the playoffs if they win or if Vancouver loses, but I imagine the Mammoth want to get in themselves. Minnesota has nothing to play for since they’re already out, so they might be in “let the young kids get some playing time” mode.
CAL @ EDM	Edmonton’s had their way with Calgary this year (winning all 3 games by a combined score of 45-26). The Rush face the Stealth next week so I see them going 17-1.
PHI @ VAN	The Stealth have a chance at the playoffs but it’s pretty faint. But if they don’t play their hearts out trying to make the most of that chance, then they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs anyway.

NLL Chatter

Musings on the National Lacrosse League

Category Archives: Calgary Roughnecks