What once seemed so far away is now closer as Six Nations has published their Pre-Season Tournament Showcase schedule. Just over 2 months to March 31st, fans.
We will be there and provide score updates via our Twitter feed. http://twitter.com/LiveLaxBlog
All games at the ILA.
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
HAMILTON
KAHANWAKE
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
SIX NATIONS
AKWESASNE
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
WALLACEBURG
MISSISSAUGA
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
WINDSOR
OAKVILLE
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
HAMILTON
AKWESASNE
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
SIX NATIONS
KAHNAWAKE
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
WALLACEBURG
OAKVILLE
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
WINDSOR
MISSISSAUGA
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
WALLACEBURG
AWKESASNE
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
WINDSOR
KAHNAWAKE
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
HAMILTON
MISSISSAUGA
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
SIX NATIONS
OAKVILLE
Friday, January 20, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Peaks and Valleys- A Weekly Look at NLL Trends
Peaks and Valleys
Your weekly look at the trends in the NLL
After the first full week of games, it’s time to look at some early items that pop out in the stats.
Peak- Calgary’s finishing touch
If you watched the first quarter of the season opener in Toronto, you would have thought Calgary was a men’s league team. They looked disorganized and sloppy. What changed? Well they got their transition game in order and started generating multiple shots on a possession and worked their way back into the game.
More strikingly, they have outscored their opponents 18-8 in the second half of games. Since those games have been against Toronto and Washington, Finalists for the past 2 seasons, you can’t complain about the strength of their opponent. Should this trend keep up throughout the season, look for Calgary to make a push for top seed.
Valley- Toronto Rock offence
The defending champs are 0-2 and looking decidedly old. Both Buffalo and Calgary exposed their transition game to generate several chances.
One can debate the current whereabouts of Stephan Leblanc but it’s a failure of the whole unit that stands out. Against Buffalo in the first quarter they generated 1 second chance opportunity. Buffalo had one sequence where Steinhaus got a rebound and was stoned by Roik, only to have Culp pick up the second rebound work it around a bit and then get it back before firing a goal past Roik to tie it at 3-3. Doyle, Billings, Sanderson and Carey have a combined 8 Looseballs over the first two games. If not for Kasey Beirnes with 11 LB’s vs Buffalo it would look even uglier.
In order to get their offence on track, they need to get their big guns doing more of the dirty work and generating more LB Plus and more second chances. Buffalo and Calgary used that formula to achieve success against Toronto.
Peak- Vintage Mike Accursi
Mike Accursi had a fantastic game at Philadelphia. 10 points is good. 16 total shots is solid. 10 looseballs is fantastic. His stat line looked like it was 2002 when he had 56 points and 98 LB’s for Buffalo. I expect his stats to normalize over the season but it’s nice to see a great player turn back the clock from time to time.
Valley- Philadelphia Defence
They gave up 22 goals. Gave up 7 PP Goals in 11 chances and generally looked awful in their home opener. They look like a two player team up from with Dawson and Crowley pulling the load.
However what really stands out is a lowly 3 forced turnovers. In 60 minutes of action it takes true ineptitude to only force 3 turnovers. Granted the game devolved into a penalty-filled punchfest but unless Philly gets better on D it looks like a long year is ahead in the City of Brotherly Love.
Notes:
Further to our post last week on LB Plus, we have done some work with Dan Shirley of the NLLBlog to develop game logs for each NLL game this week. We will track every possession in a game as a way to further develop the field of statistics in Lacrosse. Look for more details as we advance through the season and work out the kinks.
I am also now questioning the recording of Turnovers and Forced Turnovers on the NLL website. In each game there are a larger number of TOs when compared to FTs. It would seem reasonable to state that to have a Turnover. Now with game logs we can hash out exactly how to balance turnovers and forced turnovers to make them match up.
Your weekly look at the trends in the NLL
After the first full week of games, it’s time to look at some early items that pop out in the stats.
Peak- Calgary’s finishing touch
If you watched the first quarter of the season opener in Toronto, you would have thought Calgary was a men’s league team. They looked disorganized and sloppy. What changed? Well they got their transition game in order and started generating multiple shots on a possession and worked their way back into the game.
More strikingly, they have outscored their opponents 18-8 in the second half of games. Since those games have been against Toronto and Washington, Finalists for the past 2 seasons, you can’t complain about the strength of their opponent. Should this trend keep up throughout the season, look for Calgary to make a push for top seed.
Valley- Toronto Rock offence
The defending champs are 0-2 and looking decidedly old. Both Buffalo and Calgary exposed their transition game to generate several chances.
One can debate the current whereabouts of Stephan Leblanc but it’s a failure of the whole unit that stands out. Against Buffalo in the first quarter they generated 1 second chance opportunity. Buffalo had one sequence where Steinhaus got a rebound and was stoned by Roik, only to have Culp pick up the second rebound work it around a bit and then get it back before firing a goal past Roik to tie it at 3-3. Doyle, Billings, Sanderson and Carey have a combined 8 Looseballs over the first two games. If not for Kasey Beirnes with 11 LB’s vs Buffalo it would look even uglier.
In order to get their offence on track, they need to get their big guns doing more of the dirty work and generating more LB Plus and more second chances. Buffalo and Calgary used that formula to achieve success against Toronto.
Peak- Vintage Mike Accursi
Mike Accursi had a fantastic game at Philadelphia. 10 points is good. 16 total shots is solid. 10 looseballs is fantastic. His stat line looked like it was 2002 when he had 56 points and 98 LB’s for Buffalo. I expect his stats to normalize over the season but it’s nice to see a great player turn back the clock from time to time.
Valley- Philadelphia Defence
They gave up 22 goals. Gave up 7 PP Goals in 11 chances and generally looked awful in their home opener. They look like a two player team up from with Dawson and Crowley pulling the load.
However what really stands out is a lowly 3 forced turnovers. In 60 minutes of action it takes true ineptitude to only force 3 turnovers. Granted the game devolved into a penalty-filled punchfest but unless Philly gets better on D it looks like a long year is ahead in the City of Brotherly Love.
Notes:
Further to our post last week on LB Plus, we have done some work with Dan Shirley of the NLLBlog to develop game logs for each NLL game this week. We will track every possession in a game as a way to further develop the field of statistics in Lacrosse. Look for more details as we advance through the season and work out the kinks.
I am also now questioning the recording of Turnovers and Forced Turnovers on the NLL website. In each game there are a larger number of TOs when compared to FTs. It would seem reasonable to state that to have a Turnover. Now with game logs we can hash out exactly how to balance turnovers and forced turnovers to make them match up.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Not All Looseballs Are Created Equal
It’s a simple game, Lacrosse. Score more than the other guy and you win. To score more however, you need to typically have the ball more than the other guy. You can accomplish this in several ways (make more saves for one) but the chief statistic we use and one coaches harp on repeatedly, is the looseball.
A looseball is a ball that is not in the possession of any player and therefore can be obtained by any player on the floor. Collect a looseball and your team can score. Miss a looseball and you can find yourself trudging to the bench after being scored upon. Win the looseball battle and you win the game 9 times out of 10.
The question though is, are all looseballs essential to the team’s success or are certain types of looseballs MORE important to a victory than others? Since Lacrosse boils down to goals and goals are the product of scoring chances or shots it would seem that in some instances a looseball that either denies an opponent a shot attempt or gives your team a second consecutive shot attempt would be more important to team success than picking up a looseball at mid-floor.
We at LiveLaxBlog have decided to study this phenomena which we call, the Looseball Plus (or LB+). A LB+ occurs when an offensive player recovers a ball for his team AFTER a shot at net and which leads to a subsequent shot attempt in the same possession. For the Defence, a LB+ occurs when a defensive player or goalie recovers a ball BEFORE any shot attempt by the Offence on that possession. All other looseball recoveries are simply Looseballs for the purpose of our experiment.
With that in mind, we will be using the 2012 NLL season as a barometer of the effect of LB+ on a team’s winning percentage. For each game we will be tabulating Looseballs and LB+ for each player. We will publish a weekly update, usually on Wednesday, with that week’s LB+ Leaders and the LB+ season leaders for both individuals and teams. Consider it our effort to push the analysis of the sport to a new level.
On top of that, we will be looking at a couple of other new statistics and will debut them as the season progresses. It is our hope that we will find new stats that show how effective (or efficient) an individual player is and how positively (or negatively) they impact their team’s success.
Look for our LB+ stats next week. One game in a weekend is not enough to get a true feel for the statistic. If you have any questions or comments please contact us. We are always happy to discuss and fine tune things to make them work for the game.
A looseball is a ball that is not in the possession of any player and therefore can be obtained by any player on the floor. Collect a looseball and your team can score. Miss a looseball and you can find yourself trudging to the bench after being scored upon. Win the looseball battle and you win the game 9 times out of 10.
The question though is, are all looseballs essential to the team’s success or are certain types of looseballs MORE important to a victory than others? Since Lacrosse boils down to goals and goals are the product of scoring chances or shots it would seem that in some instances a looseball that either denies an opponent a shot attempt or gives your team a second consecutive shot attempt would be more important to team success than picking up a looseball at mid-floor.
We at LiveLaxBlog have decided to study this phenomena which we call, the Looseball Plus (or LB+). A LB+ occurs when an offensive player recovers a ball for his team AFTER a shot at net and which leads to a subsequent shot attempt in the same possession. For the Defence, a LB+ occurs when a defensive player or goalie recovers a ball BEFORE any shot attempt by the Offence on that possession. All other looseball recoveries are simply Looseballs for the purpose of our experiment.
With that in mind, we will be using the 2012 NLL season as a barometer of the effect of LB+ on a team’s winning percentage. For each game we will be tabulating Looseballs and LB+ for each player. We will publish a weekly update, usually on Wednesday, with that week’s LB+ Leaders and the LB+ season leaders for both individuals and teams. Consider it our effort to push the analysis of the sport to a new level.
On top of that, we will be looking at a couple of other new statistics and will debut them as the season progresses. It is our hope that we will find new stats that show how effective (or efficient) an individual player is and how positively (or negatively) they impact their team’s success.
Look for our LB+ stats next week. One game in a weekend is not enough to get a true feel for the statistic. If you have any questions or comments please contact us. We are always happy to discuss and fine tune things to make them work for the game.
Monday, January 9, 2012
OLA Midget Draft First Round Results
Through our various sources we have confirmed the opening round picks for this past weekend's OLA Midget Draft.
1- G. Lewis (OS) to Barrie
2- J. Hulbert (Oak) to Beaches
3- J. Tinney (Gue) to Barrie
4- C. Brown (HH) to Mississauga
5- C. Shilling (Oril) to Barrie
6- E. Renaud (Burl) to Burlington
7- P. Masterson (Lon) to Burlington
8- W. Petschenig (Nep) to Peterborough
9- M. Gilray (Clar) to Peterborough
10- A. Devitcos (WD) to Orangeville
11- B. Milne (Gue) to Burlington
12- T. Fedyk (CW) to Whitby
1- G. Lewis (OS) to Barrie
2- J. Hulbert (Oak) to Beaches
3- J. Tinney (Gue) to Barrie
4- C. Brown (HH) to Mississauga
5- C. Shilling (Oril) to Barrie
6- E. Renaud (Burl) to Burlington
7- P. Masterson (Lon) to Burlington
8- W. Petschenig (Nep) to Peterborough
9- M. Gilray (Clar) to Peterborough
10- A. Devitcos (WD) to Orangeville
11- B. Milne (Gue) to Burlington
12- T. Fedyk (CW) to Whitby
Friday, November 11, 2011
CLax logos- you win some, you lose some
CLax unveiled their team logos last night which allows us to have a little fun and take a deeper look at each logo.
The logos can be found here on their website: http://www.canadianlacrosseleague.com/#
The Winners
Brampton Inferno- I love this logo. It's interesting and different and will look wonderful on just about anything. It also can be broken down into parts for future marketing items
Durham Turfdogs- Although a little staid with the use of a Bulldog since the Turfdog is a mythical creature, I really like the typeset and the colours work great. Solid all around.
The Not to Shabby
Peel Avengers- I like the stylized Avenger with the lacrosse stick. I like the colour scheme. I hate the shield. It just dwarfs the Avenger behind it and looks like a totem pole raven. Get rid of that and this logo is a winner.
Iroquois Ironmen- I would have rated this one higher had they just used a circle in the background. The use of the dreamcatcher really takes away from the logo. Too heavy on the native symbolism (moccasins, colour scheme, Native Warrior PLUS the dreamcatcher). If you imagine the logo without the feathers it's right up there with the Brampton Inferno logo.
The Ughs
Oshawa Machine- This looks like it was the last logo designed. It would have been better to turn the word "Machine" into some sort of stylized collection of machine parts. Plain and simple, it's boring.
Ohsweken Demons- Listen I think the name is awful. They stuck themselves with little wiggle room for interpretation on a logo. This logo looks like a Disney version of Hell. The giant sticks look like soft lacrosse sticks. The Demon/Devil is more cute than demonic. The flames are too distracting. If they change up the "demon", reduce the size of the flames and the sticks then maybe we've got something but right now it's just an eye sore.
On the positive side, it's nice to have logos to debate. I think you've got 4 logos that are either good with potential to be great or are great already and 2 drab logos that need a rethink. When I think of all the logos in the Pro Sports world, I struggle to find a league where I like even 50% of the logos so two out of three is a success!
The logos can be found here on their website: http://www.canadianlacrosseleague.com/#
The Winners
Brampton Inferno- I love this logo. It's interesting and different and will look wonderful on just about anything. It also can be broken down into parts for future marketing items
Durham Turfdogs- Although a little staid with the use of a Bulldog since the Turfdog is a mythical creature, I really like the typeset and the colours work great. Solid all around.
The Not to Shabby
Peel Avengers- I like the stylized Avenger with the lacrosse stick. I like the colour scheme. I hate the shield. It just dwarfs the Avenger behind it and looks like a totem pole raven. Get rid of that and this logo is a winner.
Iroquois Ironmen- I would have rated this one higher had they just used a circle in the background. The use of the dreamcatcher really takes away from the logo. Too heavy on the native symbolism (moccasins, colour scheme, Native Warrior PLUS the dreamcatcher). If you imagine the logo without the feathers it's right up there with the Brampton Inferno logo.
The Ughs
Oshawa Machine- This looks like it was the last logo designed. It would have been better to turn the word "Machine" into some sort of stylized collection of machine parts. Plain and simple, it's boring.
Ohsweken Demons- Listen I think the name is awful. They stuck themselves with little wiggle room for interpretation on a logo. This logo looks like a Disney version of Hell. The giant sticks look like soft lacrosse sticks. The Demon/Devil is more cute than demonic. The flames are too distracting. If they change up the "demon", reduce the size of the flames and the sticks then maybe we've got something but right now it's just an eye sore.
On the positive side, it's nice to have logos to debate. I think you've got 4 logos that are either good with potential to be great or are great already and 2 drab logos that need a rethink. When I think of all the logos in the Pro Sports world, I struggle to find a league where I like even 50% of the logos so two out of three is a success!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Lax battle brewing?
Has the inception of CLax created a problem for OLA Jr. A?
A source confirmed that this past weekend's Jr. A Council meeting had a lengthy discussion on the pending CLax Pro league that is planning to start this weekend. With players receiving remuneration from CLax the discussion centered on the increasing number of Jr. A players in the NCAA becoming co-mingled with "professionals" of CLax and NLL.
Given the NCAA's harsh stance on paid players (even though they have a long documented history of boosterism paying under the table in the money sports of basketball and football)could the beginning of CLax actually harm the Jr. A League? Quite possibly it could, but let's look at some details.
This past season the Orangeville Northmen had both Jason and Jeremy Noble at NCAA institutions. They also had Rob Hellyer on the roster of the Toronto Rock of the NLL. Whitby had Matthews, Cockerton and Lintner among their large NCAA contingent while John Lafontaine played with the Edmonton Rush. So the current system seems to point to NCAA acceptance of co-mingled amateurs and professionals in a non-professional league.
Does the NCAA overlook this because the number of professionals in Junior A is limited? Do they overlook it because they just don't have the time to check it out? No one knows but it's worth investigating.
Where does CLax impact the delicate balance? Well if we presume that the NCAA is merely looking at the few pros playing in a large amateur league and choosing to ignore it as a limited problem, then adding more pros from CLax to the Jr. A League may spur them to change their mind.
If the NCAA decides that Zach Palmer (Johns Hopkins) or Brad Gillies (RIT) would be ineligible for the respective schools if they played Junior A lacrosse that would be a catastrophe for Junior A. No player will give up a chance for a subsidized, quality education to play Junior A Lacrosse. This is obviously of great concern to the Junior A teams here in Ontario and one that bears further monitoring.
More to follow.
A source confirmed that this past weekend's Jr. A Council meeting had a lengthy discussion on the pending CLax Pro league that is planning to start this weekend. With players receiving remuneration from CLax the discussion centered on the increasing number of Jr. A players in the NCAA becoming co-mingled with "professionals" of CLax and NLL.
Given the NCAA's harsh stance on paid players (even though they have a long documented history of boosterism paying under the table in the money sports of basketball and football)could the beginning of CLax actually harm the Jr. A League? Quite possibly it could, but let's look at some details.
This past season the Orangeville Northmen had both Jason and Jeremy Noble at NCAA institutions. They also had Rob Hellyer on the roster of the Toronto Rock of the NLL. Whitby had Matthews, Cockerton and Lintner among their large NCAA contingent while John Lafontaine played with the Edmonton Rush. So the current system seems to point to NCAA acceptance of co-mingled amateurs and professionals in a non-professional league.
Does the NCAA overlook this because the number of professionals in Junior A is limited? Do they overlook it because they just don't have the time to check it out? No one knows but it's worth investigating.
Where does CLax impact the delicate balance? Well if we presume that the NCAA is merely looking at the few pros playing in a large amateur league and choosing to ignore it as a limited problem, then adding more pros from CLax to the Jr. A League may spur them to change their mind.
If the NCAA decides that Zach Palmer (Johns Hopkins) or Brad Gillies (RIT) would be ineligible for the respective schools if they played Junior A lacrosse that would be a catastrophe for Junior A. No player will give up a chance for a subsidized, quality education to play Junior A Lacrosse. This is obviously of great concern to the Junior A teams here in Ontario and one that bears further monitoring.
More to follow.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)