There is only one week left in the 2024 regular season, and every team has exactly one game left except Rochester, who has two. There are still two playoff spots up for grabs, and five teams (Panther City, Vancouver, Saskatchewan, New York, and Rochester, in descending order of likelihood) trying to get one of them. There are eight games next weekend, and even the very last one (Philly at Rochester, Sunday at 3pm EDT) could have playoff implications; there are scenarios where Rochester gets the last playoff spot if they win that game, and Vancouver gets it otherwise. Talk about down to the wire.
Category Archives: Colorado Mammoth
The Grant for Vinc blockbuster: a retrospective
In October 2010, one of the greatest players in the game and a box lacrosse legend was traded for another one. After ten seasons, one missed season, a Rookie of the Year award, an NLL Championship, and an MVP award, John Grant, Jr. was traded from the Rochester Knighthawks to the Colorado Mammoth for reigning goaltender of the year Matt Vinc. Three other players as well as a few draft picks were also involved in this blockbuster, which transformed both teams. Some of those draft picks wouldn’t be made for almost three years, and the full extent of the trade wasn’t felt for quite a while.
Here is an article from a newspaper in Everett, Washington, home of the Washington Stealth, describing the trade. It’s interesting to hear what the writer thought of the trade at the time, like “The Cody Jamieson era officially [begins] in Rochester” (correct), “The K’Hawks also seem to have solved their goal-tending woes with the addition of Vinc” (correct), and “It’s tough to think John Grant Jr. will stay with the Mammoth” (incorrect).
With the benefit of hindsight, let’s look over this trade and see what impacts it had on the two teams involved and a few others. Continue reading
2024 NLL Week 19
There were nine games this past weekend and every game had playoff implications for one or both teams playing and in some cases, a couple of other teams as well. That, by itself, is the first Awesome of the week. But there’s more!
2024 NLL Week 17 report
What a week! Entirely home team wins except in Philly, four OT games, a few big comebacks, a last-place team almost beating a second-place team, a player tying a legend for a goals record, and another player almost tying another one. Let’s get to it!
2024 NLL Week 16 report
We’re getting close to the end of the season now. The Rock have clinched a playoff spot, though the other teams are still a week or two away from either clinching or being eliminated. The NLL Stats playoff scenario calculator (aka “Could Happen…”) is live on nllstats.com now, so feel free to go play around with that to see what scenarios are possible. For example, it’s possible for there to be a nine-way tie for first place, which means that one of the teams tied for first will miss the playoffs.
2024 NLL Week 13
Games were all over the place this past weekend. A couple of one goal games, one in overtime, and also an eight-goal game and a thirteen-goal blowout. One game with 28 goals, two with 25, and one with 14. The first place teams (Toronto and Albany) won and the last place team (Vancouver) lost, but Colorado and Las Vegas also won and Georgia and Buffalo lost. Calgary and Panther City are moving up, while Philadelphia and Rochester are dropping. Man, this season is fun, isn’t it?
2024 NLL Week 11
Six games this past week, and only one that was won by more than two goals. And other than the last eight minutes or so, that one was one of the closest games of the season. Lots of awesome to go around this week, starting with one of the most awesome stories of the year.
2024 NLL Week 9
Wow, what a week! Exciting games, a couple of upsets, a loss by a previously-undefeated team, and some record-setting performances. Let’s get right into it.
2024 NLL Week 8
We had a few upsets in the NLL this week, resulting in wins for three different teams who only had one win on the season. We are also down to just one undefeated team. This week’s report is a bit of a long one, so grab yourself a cup of coffee or something.
2024 NLL Week 7
A whole lotta games this past weekend, even with the Rush/Wings one postponed. There was also a whole lotta awesome in those games, and the not awesomes are two teams that shouldn’t be as bad as they are.
NLL Chatter 