Major League Lacrosse season review
Published on August 23, 2005 under Major League Lacrosse (MLL) News Release
REGULAR SEASON INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
SNAKE CHARMER: Boston A Mark Millon has had some of his best games against the Rochester Rattlers in his five-year career ... As a member of the Baltimore Bayhawks, he set the MLL single-game points record with eight goals and four assists in a 20-12 victory over the National Division rivals during the 2003 season ... In 15 career games, the former UMass attackman has scored 54 goals against the Rattlers, including three of his four career two-point goals ... The 54 goals are the second-most scored by Millon against any other opponent.
LION TAMER: Against the New Jersey Pride, Boston A Mark Millon tends to have some great games ... In 15 career games against the Pride, the former Bayhawk sharpshooter has scored 57 goals to go with 14 assists ... His 57 goals are the second most against any other opponent in Millon's career ... Millon has scored 54 goals against the Rochester Rattlers.
HAS SUPERMAN FOUND HIS KRYPTONITE?: Boston A Mark Millon has not had the same type of success against the Philadelphia Barrage as he has against some of the other teams over the course of his five-year MLL career ... In 11 career games against the Barrage, Millon has been held to just 25 goals, which is the fewest he has scored against any other team other than Baltimore ... In the season opener on May 29, Millon scored four goals with four assists in his Boston debut to earn Bud Light MVP honors ... In two games against the 2004 MLL Champions, Millon was held to just two goals on 17 shots.
OVER THE HILL: Boston A Mark Millon recorded the 40th hat trick of his MLL career against the Philadelphia Barrage on July 23 ... Millon is the league's all-time leader in hat tricks with 41 while New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard stands in second place with 38 career three-goal games ... Millon had 6 hat tricks during the regular season.
ON CLOUD NINE: Boston A Kevin Leveille and Mark Millon each scored nine goals in the Cannons' 25-13 win over Baltimore on July 31 at Unitas Stadium ... The nine-goal efforts tied a single-game record set by Long Island A Tim Goettelmann against New Jersey on August 10, 2003 ... The 18 goals between the two former UMass players were the most scored between two players in a single game in league history.
STILL ON CLOUD NINE: Boston A Kevin Leveille and Mark Millon reached the 30-goal plateau for the season with their nine-goal efforts against the Bayhawks on July 31 ... The Cannons are one of two teams to have more than one 30-goal scorer on the roster ... The Baltimore Bayhawks have two players - A Gary Gait and Tom Marechek - who have scored 30 goals this season.
PERFECT 300: Boston A Mark Millon became the first player in league history to reach 300 career points with his league-record 14-point effort against the Bayhawks on July 31 ... In his five-year career, the two-time Warrior Offensive Player of the Year has tallied 305 points ... He also became the first player to score 200 career goals with the nine-goal effort ... New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard is 13 goals behind Millon on the all-time ledger.
ANOTHER 300: Rochester A Casey Powell joined Boston A Mark Millon as the only players in MLL history to have 300 career points ... He recorded two goals with four assists in the Rattlers' regular season finale win over Baltimore, tying him with Millon with 305 career points ... Powell has 163 goals, including four two-pointers, with 138 assists in his MLL career ... He finished the season with 57 points, which ranked second in the league and just one point ahead of Millon.
YOU'RE GROUNDED!: Baltimore M Paul Cantabene became the first player in MLL history to record 500 or more ground balls with a 10-ground ball effort against the Philadelphia Barrage ... The effort gave the five-year veteran 503 ground balls in his career ... For the second straight season, Cantabene led the league in ground balls with 94 in 12 games ... Last year, he set the league record with 156 ground balls in 12 games.
IT HAD TO END SOME TIME: A week after setting a league record with nine goals and five assists, Boston A Mark Millon was held without a goal in the Cannons' 10-9 overtime victory over Long Island on August 4 ... Millon failed to score on 15 shots, snapping a streak of 34 straight games with at least one goal ... The last time Millon was held without a goal was on August 8, 2002 in Baltimore's 10-7 win over Rochester at Frontier Field.
THE END HAS COME: New Jersey A Scott Urick entered the 2005 season with a streak of 24 straight games with at least one goal ... After scoring just one goal against Baltimore in the season opener, the Bayhawks' defense held the former Georgetown University attackman without a goal in Baltimore's June 5 win at Unitas Stadium to snap the streak ... His streak of 25 games with a goal ranks seventh on the league's all-time list.
CLOSING THE GAIT: For the first time since the 2002 season, Baltimore A Gary Gait was held without a goal, failing to score on five shots in the Bayhawks' 25-13 loss to Boston on July 31 ... The outing snapped a streak of 37 consecutive games with at least one goal, which stands second on the league's all-time list behind New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard ... Gait recorded an assist in the loss.
FIRING BLANKS: Boston M Chris Fiore had his streak of 20 straight games with a goal snapped against the Barrage on July 23 ... Fiore had scored in every game since the regular season opener last year ... Fiore did not score on five shots ... Fiore ended the regular season as the Cannons' fifth-leading scorer with 33 points ... His 22 goals tied him for fourth on the team with M Chris Rotelli.
WHERE IS BOYLE?: Philadelphia A Ryan Boyle was held without a point for the first time in his brief two-year MLL career in the Barrage's 11-10 loss to Boston on July 23 ... In fact, he had not been held scoreless in a game during his four-year Princeton career, which he ended last year ranked second on the school's career assists and points lists ... Boston D Chris Passavia was assigned to cover Boyle during much of the game and was named the MLL Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
HUBBARD FIRING HIS OWN CANNON AGAINST BOSTON: New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard has had some of his best games against the Boston Cannons during his MLL career ... In 11 career games, Hubbard has scored 49 goals along with 11 assists ... He has scored seven goals against the Cannons three times, including a seven-goal, two-assist performance last June in Boston's 21-19 win over the Pride at Nickerson Field ... Hubbard has scored 191 goals in his MLL career, which is second all-time to Boston A Mark Millon ... The 49 goals scored by Hubbard are the most against any team in his career.
SHAKING OFF THE RUST: Rochester A John Grant returned to Major League Lacrosse for the first time in three years this season ... Grant, who was named the league's Offensive Player of the Year in 2001, missed the last three seasons while playing box lacrosse in Canada ... Grant scored 59 points in his first MLL season on 41 goals and 15 assists ... He also had three two-point tallies during the inaugural season.
WHERE DID HE COME FROM?: Boston A Kevin Leveille had a career year this season in helping the Cannons win their second straight American Division title ... Last year, he scored 27 goals (one two-point goal) with 12 assists to rank fourth on the squad in scoring with 40 points ... This season, the former UMass attackman ranks sixth in the league in scoring with 51 points ... He led the team in goals with a career-best 39 while ranking third on the team in assists with 12 ... Leveille scored seven or more goals twice this season.
TUG OF WAR: The battle for the career lead in assists went back and forth this season between Rochester A Casey Powell and Boston A Conor Gill ... Powell began the season as the league's all-time leader in assists with 108, while Gill had 96 career assists ... Gill passed Powell on the list with his 110th career assist in the Cannons' June 18 win over Long Island ... However, Powell regained the advantage on June 30 in Rochester's 18-8 win over New Jersey and has held onto the lead ever since ... Gill ended the season with 130 career assists, just eight behind the former Syracuse attackman.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Long Island M Jay Jalbert had averaged 30.5 goals per season during his first four years of Major League Lacrosse to go with 11 assists ... However, during the 2005 regular season, the former MLL MVP scored just 20 goals along with 14 assists ... The 20 goals were the fewest he has scored in any season while the 14 assists tied his best season mark ... He had 14 assists during his 2003 MVP season.
WHAT GOT INTO HIM: Over the last five games of the regular season, Rochester A Casey Powell led the Rattler offense on their push to the playoffs ... He has scored a team-high 15 goals to go with 19 assists ... He ended the season as the second-ranked point scorer in the league with 57 points ... His 30 assists also ranked second in the league ... Powell is tied for first on the league's career points list with 305.
GET THAT BALL FOR THE MANTLE: Boston rookie M Jarett Park and Baltimore D Casey Connor each scored their first professional goal during Week 10 ... Making his professional debut, Park scored his first MLL goal in the third quarter of the Cannons' 11-10 win over Philadelphia ... Meanwhile, Connor returned from an injury to score his first career goal in Baltimore's 20-10 win over New Jersey ... It was Connor's first goal in 37 career games between his time with Rochester and Baltimore ... Connor has played for the Bayhawks in each of the last three seasons.
TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE: During Week 2 of the season, two players were able to score from beyond the two-point arc for their first professional goal ... Baltimore M Drew Pfarr recorded a two-point goal in the second quarter of the Bayhawks' 21-12 win over New Jersey ... Meanwhile, Long Island M Stephen Berger ripped a two-pointer for his first-ever goal in MLL play during the Lizards' win over Rochester ... Berger ended that game with two goals and an assist.
YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST TIME: The June 4 game between the Rochester Rattlers and the Boston Cannons provided a pair of "firsts" in the same goal sequence ... At the end of the first quarter, Boston M Tim Byrnes scored a two-point goal from midfield after receiving an outlet pass from GK Chris Garrity ... It was Byrnes' first career two-point goal, while Garrity recorded his first career MLL assist ... Garrity was named the Bud Light MVP after making 19 saves in the Cannons' 18-10 win over the Rattlers.
NOTHING LIKE THE FIRST TIME: New Jersey Coach Brian Silcott earned his first MLL coaching victory in the Pride's 16-12 win over Philadelphia in the regular season finale ... Silcott, who took over for Ted Georgalas on July 13, lost his first four games at the helm ... The former Boston Cannon midfielder is just one of a few coaches who have also played in this league, joining former Baltimore Coach Brian Voelker and current Player-Coach Gary Gait, Long Island Coaches Jim Mulé and Vinnie Sombrotto and former Barrage Coach Sal LoCascio on the exclusive list.
THAT'S A FIRST: In the June 5 meeting between Baltimore and New Jersey, Baltimore rookie D Brodie Merrill scored the first two goals of his MLL career in the Bayhawks' 24-8 win over New Jersey ... He scored a short-handed goal in the second quarter during Baltimore's 8-0 run and added an unassisted goal in the fourth quarter as Baltimore set the league record for largest margin of victory ... Merrill was named the Cascade MLL Rookie of the Week for his efforts.
NICE DEBUT, ROOKIE: During the New Jersey Pride's June 18 loss to Philadelphia, rookie M Kyle Harrison made his much-anticipated debut for the Pride ... The first overall pick in the June 1 Collegiate Draft, the former Johns Hopkins University All-America selection scored two goals to lead the Pride offense ... Harrison helped the Blue Jays win the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse title for the first time in 17 years, earning several awards to end his college career.
HERE'S YOUR HELP: Boston A Conor Gill set a league season high for assists in a game during the Cannons' 25-13 win over Baltimore on July 31 with a six-assist performance ... It was the third time in his career the former University of Virginia All-America attackman recorded six assists in a game ... The league leader in assists this season, Gill recorded 34 assists and was just six shy of matching the league record for assists in a season with 40, which he set in each of the past two seasons ... Gill has 130 career assists, which ranks second on the league's all-time list behind Rochester A Casey Powell ... Gill has recorded 114 of his career assists in the last three seasons.
HE'S UNSTOPPABLE: Rochester GK Tillman Johnson improved to 6-0 all-time against the New Jersey Pride after the Rattlers' 19-14 win over the Pride on August 5 ... The second-year netminder has allowed 11.4 goals per game in six career starts against the National Division rival while stopping 66.3 per cent of the shots he has faced against the Pride ... Johnson beat the Pride three times this season for the second straight year ... The Rattlers have not lost to New Jersey since Johnson joined the team after last year's Collegiate Draft.
LET'S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE: Baltimore M Mark Frye tied the single-season two-point goals record with his 11th tally of the season in the regular season finale at Rochester, matching the record held by Boston M Mike Regan during the 2003 season ... Frye has jumped into third place in the league's all-time two-point goals list with 20 ... Philadelphia M Roy Colsey and Regan are tied for the career lead in two-point goals with 25 after Regan scored a two-pointer in the season finale against Long Island.
EAT YOUR HEART OUT, RIPKEN: Four players in MLL history have played in all of their team's regular season games since the inception of the league five years ago ... New Jersey A Scott Urick have played in every game in the Pride's team history, while Philadelphia D Brian Kuczma spent three seasons in a Cannons uniform before going to Philadelphia prior to last season ... Boston A Mark Millon played four seasons in Baltimore before being traded to the Cannons prior to the start of the season while Long Island M Jay Jalbert spent two years with New Jersey.
TALK ABOUT HAVING A CAREER NIGHT: Rochester A Andrew "Buggs" Combs had just eight career goals in two-plus MLL seasons before the Rattlers' July 14 game against Philadelphia ... In the Rattlers' 14-10 win, the third-year attackman scored six goals on just seven shots to earn the first Bud Light MVP award of his career ... Five of his goals came during Rochester's game-opening 9-1 run ... His six goals are the most scored by any Rochester player this season ... He was named Offensive Player of the Week for the career-setting performance.
ROOKIES MAKING IMPACT IN 2005: The rookie class of 2005 made an impact on the MLL season ... All six of the first-round draft picks played in the league during the regular season ... New Jersey M Kyle Harrison led the league in rookie scoring with nine goals and six assists in nine games ... Meanwhile, Rochester A Jason Doneger scored eight goals with two assists to help the Rattlers make the playoff push ... Baltimore D Brodie Merrill has made a strong push for Cascade MLL Rookie of the Year by scoring three goals with an assist and quickly climbing to second on the Bayhawks' ground ball list (52) ... Merrill has been named Cascade Rookie of the Week twice in addition to being the Defensive Player of the Week in Week Nine.
20-20 VISION: Five players this season recorded 20 or more goals along with 20 or more assists during the regular season ... Baltimore A Gary Gait led the league with 42 goals and 63 points ... He also had 21 assists ... Rochester A Casey Powell led the Rattlers in goals (27), assists (30) and points (57) ... Baltimore A Tom Marechek had a career year during the regular season, marking the first time in his career he has scored over 50 points ... He had 33 goals and 22 assists in 12 games this year ... Second-year attackman Ryan Boyle of the Philadelphia Barrage had 27 goals with 24 assists this season ... Boston A Conor Gill scored 20 goals with 34 assists this season to rank second on the team in points behind A Mark Millon (38 goals, 18 assists).
A FAMILY AFFAIR: The Powell brother trio of Ryan, Casey and Mikey all played in the same game for the first time in their respective careers when the Rattlers faced the Bayhawks in the regular season finale ... Mikey finished his SU career in 2004 while Casey played for the Orange from 1994-1998 ... Ryan played two seasons with Casey at Syracuse, but graduated in 2000 just before Mikey began his college career ... The trio of players rank fourth, fifth and sixth on the school's career assists list with Mikey leading the way with 157 ... Casey scored more goals in his SU career than his brothers, recording 158 tallies during his career, which is good for fourth on the all-time ledger ... The trio combined to score 10 goals with seven assists in the Rattlers' 21-19 win over Baltimore in the regular season finale.
WE HAVE YOUR NUMBER: For the New Jersey Pride, the most difficult games seem to be against the Baltimore Bayhawks ... Baltimore has defeated their National Division rival 11 times, including a three-game sweep this season ... New Jersey's last win in the series came on June 29, 2002 in a 22-17 decision at Commerce Bank Ballpark ... Baltimore has only needed to win five times at home during the stretch.
BAYHAWKS HAVE A NEW COLOR - ORANGE: The Baltimore Bayhawks have a new unofficial color this season with three former Syracuse University Orange players starting on the attack unit ... Gary Gait, Tom Marechek and Mikey Powell all played their collegiate lacrosse at Syracuse University ... Gait ended his SU career in 1990, while Marechek graduated in 1993 ... Powell joined the trio after becoming the school's all-time leading scorer in 2004 with 150 career goals and 157 career assists ... Powell's older brothers, Ryan and Casey, play for Rochester.
ORANGE CRUSH ATTACK: The Baltimore Bayhawks attack unit of Gary Gait, Tom Marechek and Mikey Powell made a strong case as the top attack unit in league history this season ... Combined, the three players scored 102 goals to go with 60 assists ... Gait led the team in goals (42) and points (63) while Marechek was the team leader in assists with 22 ... Powell had a strong first year, scoring 27 goals to go with 17 assists.
FIRE IN THE ATTACK: The Boston Cannons attack unit of Mark Millon, Conor Gill and Kevin Leveille gave Baltimore a major challenge for the title of best attack unit in league history this season ... The three players ended the season with a combined 97 goals and 64 assists ... Millon was the team leader in points with 56, while Gill had a team-high 34 assists ... Leveille had a career year with 39 goals, which led the team, and 51 points.
YOU CAN BANK ON IT: New Jersey A Liam Banks helped the Pride to their two wins during the regular season ... He scored the game-winning goal in both wins this season ... Against Long Island in the season opener, Banks scored four goals, including the game-winner in overtime, to help the Pride snap an 11-game losing streak from last season ... In the regular season finale, Banks scored three goals with three assists in New Jersey's upset win over Philadelphia ... For the season, Banks led the Pride with 18 assists and ranked second with 34 points.
REGULAR SEASON TEAM HIGHLIGHTS
THANKS FOR THE HELP: With the loss by the Philadelphia Barrage against New Jersey in the regular season finale, the Rochester Rattlers and the Long Island Lizards were able to clinch playoff spots regardless of the results of their respective games ... Long Island held the tiebreaker over the Barrage and Rochester had one more win than either team ... Philadelphia and Long Island ended their regular seasons with identical 4-8 records.
YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE: With five straight losses to start the season, the Rochester Rattlers were not supposed to make the playoffs ... However, since snapping the streak, the Rattlers clinched their second straight playoff berth with five wins in the next six games ... Rochester is the only team in MLL history to start a season 0-5 and make the playoffs ... The previous worst mark was a 1-4 start by the Boston Cannons during the 2001 season ... The Cannons ended the season with a 311 mark and lost to Baltimore in the semifinals.
YOU AGAIN?: The semifinals allowed teams a chance to gain revenge for some regular season losses ... Boston faced Long Island for the third straight week, while the Rattlers battled against Baltimore for the second week in a row ... The Cannons swept Long Island in the three-game season series this year ... Boston has won five of the last six meetings ... Meanwhile, the Rattlers have won three of the last five meetings against Baltimore, including last week's 21-19 win in the regular season finale.
BACK-TO-BACK AT NUMBER ONE: The Boston Cannons clinched the top seed for the second year in a row ... Last season, the Cannons went 8-4 en route to their first American Division title ... This year, a 10-2 record and a convincing win over Baltimore on July 31 secured the top spot ... Baltimore also ended up with a 10-2 mark, but because of the 25-13 loss on July 31, the Cannons won the tiebreaker based on point differential.
GOODBYE OLD FRIEND: The Rochester Rattlers played their final game at Bishop Kearney Field on Saturday night against the Baltimore Bayhawks ... With the 21-19 win, the Rattlers end their three-year tenure with a 9-8 record ... Rochester will move into PAETEC Park next season, marking the third different venue the Rattlers have called home.
STREAKY: The Baltimore Bayhawks set a league record by winning their first nine games this season ... It was the best start in league history, shattering the previous mark of four straight wins set by Baltimore in 2002 and Boston last season ... Boston also won its first five games to start the season before a 15-14 loss to Philadelphia on June 30 at Nickerson Field ... Baltimore was able to clinch the National Division title with the sea-son-opening win streak.
STREAKY AGAIN: The Rochester Rattlers had the worst start in team history this season when they dropped the first five games to start the season ... The Rattlers earned their first win of the season on June 30 against New Jersey in a 188 win at Sprague Field ... Since the season-opening losing streak, Rochester has won six of its last seven games.
MORE ON THE STREAK:
During the Rattlers' five-game losing streak to start the season, Rochester was scoring just 11.8 goals per game while allowing 17.20 goals per contest ... Since their June 30 win over the New Jersey Pride, the Ratlters have averaged 16.29 goals per game ... In addition, the Rattler defense has held its opponents to just 14.1 goals per contest ... GK Tillman Johnson has stopped 55.2 per cent of the shots he has faced during the Rattlers' 6-1 run to the playoffs.
STILL MORE STREAKS: The New Jersey Pride suffered a double-digit losing streak for the second straight year ... After a season-opening win over Long Island on May 20, the Pride lost their next 10 games before a 16-12 win over Philadelphia in the regular season finale knocked last year's champions out of the playoffs ... The Pride have lost 21 of the last 22 games dating back to the start of last year's losing streak.
WE DON'T WANT TO GO HOME: The Baltimore Bayhawks played some of their best lacrosse away from Unitas Stadium over the last two seasons ... Over the last two seasons, Baltimore has won 11 of its 12 games on the road, which is the best road record in the league ... During those two seasons, Baltimore has split 12 games, but won five of six games this season at Unitas Stadium ... The only loss this season at home came in the home finale against Boston on July 31.
NOT THE WAY TO GO INTO THE PLAYOFFS: After starting the season with a 4-4 record, the Long Island Lizards lost their last four games and made the playoffs after Philadelphia lost to New Jersey in the regular season finale ... For the Lizards, it marked the return to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus last year ... During the Lizards' 4-4 start, the team was averaging 15.17 goals per game ... During their four-game losing streak, the Lizards have averaged just 13 goals per game and have been outscored by a 60-53 margin ... Long Island has scored just one two-point goal in the last four games.
CAN WE PLAY ALL OF OUR GAMES IN MAY?: After splitting their two games in the month of May, the New Jersey Pride had a tough month of June, losing all four games during the month and dropping their record to 1-5 ... In fact, New Jersey has not won in the month of June since June 27, 2003 against the Boston Cannons in a 17-13 triumph, a stretch of eight games ... The last July win for the Pride came during the 2003 season as well when New Jersey handed Bridgeport a 22-14 defeat on July 31, 2003 ... New Jersey has lost 21 of its last 24 games over the last two seasons. WE GET THE POINT: The June 12 game between the Philadelphia Barrage and the Baltimore Bayhawks featured the largest margin of victory in a single game in MLL history ... The 22-point margin of victory by the Bayhawks eclipsed the previous mark of 16, which they had set the week before against the New Jersey Pride at Unitas Stadium ... In addition, the Bayhawks set a single-game record with 31 points in the 31-9 win over the defending MLL champions ... Baltimore tied a single-game league mark with 28 goals in the victory.
SPREADING THE WEALTH: With 19 assists in the win over Philadelphia on June 12, the Baltimore Bayhawks set a league sin-gle-game record for assists ... The previous record was 16, set by Philadelphia last year in a 29-20 win over Boston ... Of the 227 goals the Bayhawks scored this season, 128 of them (56.3%) were assisted ... 14 different players recorded an assist during the season, including six players with 10 or more.
SPREADING MORE WEALTH: Baltimore set a league record for assists in a season when they recorded 13 assists against the Philadelphia Barrage on August 4 ... The 129 assists this season eclipse the previous mark of 113, which was set by Philadelphia last season ... Baltimore has six players with 10 or more assists this season.
EVEN MORE WEALTH: Baltimore became the first team in MLL history with 500 all-time assists in the win over Philadelphia on August 4 ... A Tom Marechek assisted on M Gavin Prout's goal with 3:00 left in the fourth quarter of the 19-9 win to reach the milestone ... In five seasons of MLL player, the Bayhawks have 508 assists ... Rochester is in second place with 482 assists in its team history.
PLAYING OUTSIDE THE BOX: The Boston Cannons were not called for a penalty in their 10-9 overtime win over Long Island on August 4, marking the first time this season a team has stayed out of the penalty box ... It is the fifth time in league history a team has not been called for a penalty and the first time since the 2003 season when New Jersey was not flagged against Boston.
SCORING FIRST = WIN?: When scoring the first goal of the game, teams were 2214 (.611) ... Baltimore and Boston are undefeated when scoring the first goal of the game ... The Bayhawks won all nine games when scoring the game's opening goal, while Boston was a perfect 5-0 ... New Jersey was winless in five games when taking an early lead.
YOU AGAIN?: It has been said that beating a team twice in a row is a tough thing to do ... That proved to be the case during the regular season ... In seven instances of teams playing back-to-back games this year, six of them ended with one team sweeping the two games ... Philadelphia and Rochester split their home-and-home series in the later part of the season ... Philadelphia won the opener by a 26-15 margin at Rochester, while the Rattlers rebounded with a 14-10 victory just five days later.
MOTHER NATURE GETS IN THE WAY: The regular season ended a few minutes early for the Long Island Lizards and the Boston Cannons last Friday night ... With 8:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, lightning was seen over Mitchel Athletic Complex, forcing officials to clear the field and stadium ... After approximately 15 minutes, it was decided to end the game at that point and Boston earned a 19-16 win ... It marked the first time in MLL history an official game has ended early ... There has been one cancellation of a game, which came on August 17, 2003 at Mitchel Athletic Complex when Baltimore was scheduled to face the Lizards ... The game was never rescheduled.
IT TAKES 20: The winner in each of the last six Baltimore-Boston games has needed at least 20 points to secure the victory ... This season, Baltimore defeated Boston by a 20-17 margin on July 16 at Nickerson Field while Boston returned the favor with a 2513 win at Unitas Stadium two weeks later ... The last time a team has not needed 20 points to win was on July 12, 2003 when Boston defeated the Bayhawks by an 11-10 margin at Homewood Field.
LOOKING FOR GOOSE EGGS: The one goal scored by the Long Island Lizards in the first quarter of their August 4 loss to Boston marked the lowest combined quarter output (excluding overtime) this season ... In fact, it was the third time in MLL history two teams have combined to score just one goal in a single quarter, not including overtime games ... Baltimore scored just one goal against Rochester in the first quarter on August 3, 2002 while holding the Rattlers scoreless in the period ... In addition, the New Jersey Pride scored the lone goal in the third quarter of their June 12, 2004 game against the Philadelphia Barrage.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Baltimore Bayhawks and the Boston Cannons had the best home records during the regular season ... For the Cannons, it marked the second straight year the Cannons have had an outstanding home season ... Baltimore won its first five home games before a July 31 loss to Boston at Unitas Stadium ... Meanwhile, the Cannons won five of their seven home games this season at Nickerson Field ... In addition, the two teams had the best average attendance during the regular season.
RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME: The New Jersey Pride have not had a successful tenure at Montclair State University ... Over the last two seasons, the Pride have lost all 10 games played at Sprague Field ... New Jersey's last home win came on August 14, 2003 at Commerce Bank Ballpark in a 21-18 victory over the Boston Cannons ... New Jersey is 12-18 (.400) in home games in their five-year history.
FREQUENT FLYER MILES, ANYONE?: The May 28 game between the Baltimore Bayhawks and the New Jersey Pride provided everyone traveling to the game a chance to gain some frequent flyer mles with the cross-country trip to Qwest Field in Seattle ... It marked the second time in two seasons the teams have played out West ... Last year, the teams played at INVESCO Field at Mile High ... If someone drove from either Baltimore or New Jersey, it would be a trip of nearly 3,000 miles ... A Baltimore fan would have to drive 2,805 miles from the Bayhawks office to the stadium ... Meanwhile, a New Jersey fan would travel 2,879 miles from the Pride's office in Clifton, New Jersey to Seattle. LIFE WITHOUT HESS NOT AS PRODUCTIVE FOR PRIDE: Since New Jersey A Jon Hess retired from the Pride following the 2003 season, the offensive production has been on a downward trend ... After averaging nearly 16 goals in 2003, the Pride averaged 6.83 goals last year in 12 games ... In addition, the Pride averaged 5.75 assists per game this season ... During Hess' tenure, the Pride made the playoffs twice ... Since his departure, the Pride have lost all but two games in the last two seasons.
NOT THE WAY TO STREAK: Unfortunately for the New Jersey Pride and Rochester Rattlers, a lengthy losing streak has been a major part of their respective seasons ... Rochester opened the season with five straight losses before beating New Jersey on June 30 in an 18-8 National Division game ... Meanwhile, the New Jersey Pride suffered 10 straight losses after a season-opening win over Long Island on May 20 ... The Pride snapped the streak with a 16-12 win over Philadelphia in the regular season finale ... It marks the second straight season New Jersey has had a losing streak of 10 or more games. POWER OUTAGE: The New Jersey Pride had major difficulty scoring in power-play situations during the regular season ... The Pride ended the year with the worst power-play conversion rate in the league at 22.0 per cent ... New Jersey converted just nine of 41 opportunities with the extra player ... The Pride ended the season by converting just two of their last 13 power-play chances, including a combined 0 for 6 against Philadelphia (8/11) and Rochester (7/30).
THE POWER IS STILL OUT: Boston led the league in power play defense this season, holding opponents to just 16 power play goals in 54 chances (.296) ... Boston held a team to one power play goal or less in nine of its 12 games this year ... Meanwhile, Rochester had the most difficulty keeping opponents from scoring extra-man goals after leading the league in penalty killing last year. HOW ABOUT A ROAD TRIP?: The Philadelphia Barrage and Long Island Lizards each had a five-game road trip during the middle of their schedule ... Philadelphia won three of its five games while on the road, including an upset win over the previously unbeaten Boston Cannons on June 30 at Nickerson Field ... Meanwhile, Long Island had a much different result, losing four of its five games during the stretch ... The Lizards' lone win during the five-game stretch was a July 16 victory at New Jersey.
STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT: Beginning the season on a good note does not necessarily guarantee an MLL championship at the end of the season ... Last year, the Boston Cannons won their first four games before falling to Long Island ... The Cannons advanced to the New Balance MLL Championship Game for the first time in team history and lost to Philadelphia by 13-11 ... Conversely, the Barrage began their season with a 2-5 record before ending the year with seven straight wins, including a pair of victories to clinch the team's first league championship ... It was a complete turnaround for the Barrage, who had a 1-11 record in their final season in Bridgeport two years ago.
NOT THE WAY TO BEGIN YOUR DEFENSE: For the Philadelphia Barrage, defending their MLL title got off to a rough start with four losses in five games to start the season ... They became the third straight team to lose their first game after winning the title the previous season ... The only team to win their first game after being crowned as champions is the Long Island Lizards, who beat Bridgeport by a 21-8 margin in the 2002 season opener after winning the inaugural MLL title.
A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: For the first time in MLL history, a team made a coaching change during the regular season ... Prior to the New Jersey Pride's game against the Long Island Lizards, the team relieved Coach Ted Georgalas and his assistant Frank Vitolo of their coaching duties and replaced them with former Boston Cannons midfielder Brian Silcott ... Georgalas had coached every game in the Pride's history prior to being let go ... He had a career record of 24-35 (.406), but had won just two of the team's last 18 games prior to the departure ... He was the last coach still in the league from the inaugural 2001 season.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: The Boston Cannons have been involved in four different one-goal games this season and have a perfect 4-0 record in those games ... In 25 all-time one-goal games, the Cannons are 14-11 ... Boston has been involved in a one-goal game in postseason history, losing to the Baltimore Bayhawks during the 2001 playoffs in a 12-11 semifinal loss.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT, PART TWO: Long Island has been involved in both overtime games in the league this season and has lost both ... The Lizards opened the season with a 15-14 overtime loss against New Jersey on May 20 for the Pride's lone win of the season ... In Week 12, the Lizards lost to Boston by a 10-9 margin after tying the game in the fourth quarter with three straight goals.
ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN HIGHLIGHTS
WE NEED MORE TURNSTILES: The 2005 Major League Lacrosse Wild West All-Star Showdown drew a league-record 12,674 fans, marking the first time a game had an attendance of 10,000 or more ... The previous league record for single-game attendance was 9,683, which was set during the Rochester Rattlers game against Long Island at Frontier Field on August 23, 2001 ... In two games played in Denver over the last two seasons, the average attendance has been 10,405 ... Last year's game between Baltimore and New Jersey drew 8,137 fans to INVESCO Field at Mile High.
A STARRY NIGHT TO REMEMBER IN DENVER: The 2005 MLL All-Star Showdown will be remembered as one of the best games in MLL history after the Young Guns held on for a 21-20, overtime win over Team Old School ... Philadelphia A Ryan Boyle tied an All-Star Game record with a five-goal performance, while Baltimore A Mikey Powell tied a single-game mark with seven points, scoring four goals with three assists en route to Bud Light MVP honors ... In addition, Baltimore M Paul Cantabene set an All-Star Game record by winning 26 of 44 face-offs and recording 18 ground balls ... The 41 points scored by the two teams also set a single-game record.
CHANGE MIGHT BE GOOD: The 2005 All-Star Showdown marked the first time in All-Star Game history the two divisions did not play against each other ... Players who entered the league during the 2001 inaugural season were pitted against players who entered the league from the 2002 season to this season ... The National Division won the first three games from 2001 to 2003.
CHANGE IS GOOD: This year's All-Star Showdown proved to be the most exciting of the four all-time All-Star Games as the Young Gun All-Stars defeated their Old School counterparts in overtime by a 21-20 margin ... A league-record crowd of 12,674 saw the one-point game at INVESCO Field at Mile High ... It was the closest game in All-Star Game history.
LOOK OUT FOR THE ROOKIE: New Jersey M Kyle Harrison and Baltimore D Brodie Merrill became the second and third rookies in MLL history to be named to an All-Star Game in the same season they were drafted in ... The top overall pick in the June 1 Collegiate Draft, Harrison has shined in his brief time for the Pride ... Meanwhile, Merrill was selected with the third overall pick in the draft and has earned Cascade MLL Rookie of the Week honors twice this season ... Harrison and Merrill join New Jersey M Adam Doneger on the exclusive list ... After being drafted by Rochester in the 2003 MLL Collegiate Draft, Doneger was selected to play in that season's All-Star Game at Mitchel Athletic Complex ... Doneger scored four goals, including a pair of two-pointers, to help the National Division to a 27-12 win.
BAYHAWKS FLEW HIGH IN ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN: After jumping out to a stellar start this season, the Baltimore Bayhawks were well represented in this year's All-Star Game with nine selections into the exhibition ... Baltimore led all teams in selections while Boston, Long Island and Philadelphia had six or more players each ... The New Jersey Pride and Rochester Rattlers each had three selections.
THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: For the first time in All-Star Game history, a head coach from Baltimore was not patrolling the sidelines as Rochester Rattlers Coach B.J. O'Hara made his All-Star Game debut by coaching the victorious Young Guns ... In his second season as the Rattlers' leader, O'Hara led the team to its first National Division title last year ... Long Island Coach Jim Mulé made his first career All-Star Game appearance for the Old School team, marking the fourth straight All-Star Game that Long Island has had a coach on the sidelines ... John DeTommaso coached the American Division in the first three games.
TURN UP THE HEAT: For the first time in the four-year history of the Bud Light MLL All-Star Skills Competition, the winner of the Fastest Shot competition was not Boston A David Evans ... New Jersey M Adam Doneger beat Rochester M A.J. Shannon in a play-off after both entered speeds of 105 miles per hour ... In the sudden death shootout, Doneger beat Shannon with a 104 mile per hour laser compared to Shannon's 100 mile per hour.
WHAT A DEBUT: Two of the players on the Young Guns squad had outstanding All-Star Game debuts in the July 2 game ... Philadelphia Barrage A Ryan Boyle tied a sin-gle-game record with a game-high five goals in the win, while Baltimore A Mikey Powell tied a single-game record with his seven-point outing ... Powell scored four goals with three assists to earn Bud Light MVP honors for the Young Guns, who had nine different players score goals in the win.
NOT TOO MANY FAMILIAR FACES: Only three players on the Young Guns squad were making a return appearance to an All-Star Game ... Boston A Conor Gill, New Jersey M Adam Doneger and Philadelphia M Doug Shanahan were making their second All-Star Game appearances in the July 2 game ... Rochester D John Glatzel would have made his second appearance, but he missed the game due to injury.
A WHOLE NEW WORLD: There were two members of the Old School Squad who made their first-ever All-Star Game appearance in the 2005 exhibition ... Philadelphia M Matt Striebel and New Jersey GK Trevor Tierney both appeared in their first All-Star Game ... Tierney played the second half and made seven saves, while Striebel scored two goals and added an assist.
CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS
WHERE'S NUMBER ONE?: This season marked the first time in MLL history the top seed did not advance to the New Balance MLL Championship Game as Boston was upset by Long Island in the semifinals ... In each of the first four seasons, the top seed has won its respective semifinal to advance to the title game ... In 2001 and 2003, Long Island was the top seed while Baltimore won the 2002 crown after earning the top seed with a 10-4 record ... Boston was the top seed in this year's postseason.
NO VISITS TO DOWNTOWN: There were no two-point goals scored in any of the three playoff games this year, marking the second time in league history a postseason has failed to produce a two-point goal ... In three playoff games in 2001, there was not a two-point goal scored by any of the four teams involved ... There were a total of 90 goals scored in the three games, an average of 30 per game.
THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM FOR LIZARDS: The Boston-Long Island semifinal marked the third straight week the two teams had played against each other ... It was the first time in league history two teams played in three straight games against each other ... Boston won the first game by a 10-9 margin in an overtime game on August 4 before taking a 19-16 victory in a rain-shortened affair on August 12 to end the regular season ... Long Island won the semifinal matchup on Friday by a 19-14 score to upset the American Division champions.
POWER OUTAGE: The Long Island Lizards set a league postseason record for fewest points in a single game with their nine-goal output against Baltimore in the Championship Game ... The previous record for fewest points in a game was 10 by Boston in a semifinal loss to Baltimore during the 2002 playoffs ... Long Island nearly matched the record for fewest goals scored in game of eight, which was also set by Boston during the 2002 semifinals.
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF HAT TRICK: Baltimore A Gary Gait became the first player in Major League Lacrosse history to win three league titles ... Gait, who has played in four of five championship games, helped the Lizards win the inaugural title in 2001 before being traded to Baltimore for the 2002 season ... He helped the Bayhawks win the 2002 championship with a 21-13 win over Long Island ... He helped the Bayhawks advance to the 2003 MLL Championship Game before losing to Long Island in overtime ... Gait has played in nine career playoff games and is the league's career leader with 27 postseason goals.
YOU AGAIN???: For the fourth time in five years, the Baltimore Bayhawks and the Long Island Lizards met in the title game ... Long Island won titles during the 2001 and 2003 seasons, while Baltimore earned a 21-13 win in the 2002 MLL Championship Game before taking this year's championship with a 15-9 win ... The two teams had earned their respective division titles in each of the first three meetings ... Baltimore earned the division title this year, while Long Island was a wild card entry.
NOT SO DIRTY DOZEN: The Baltimore Bayhawks matched the league record for most wins in a single season (regular season and playoffs) with their 12th victory in the Championship Game ... During the 2001 season, Long Island won 12 of 16 games en route to the inaugural MLL championship, while Baltimore followed the next season with an identical 12-4 record and its first league title ... Baltimore's two losses in the season are the fewest in a season in MLL history.
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE: For the fifth straight season, GK Greg Cattrano played for a Major League Lacrosse title ... He is the only player in league history to appear in all five MLL Championship Games ... Cattrano helped the Bayhawks reach the title game in each of the first three MLL seasons before being traded to Philadelphia prior to the 2004 season ... He made 19 saves in last year's championship against Boston to earn Bud Light MVP honors and give the Barrage their first MLL crown ... Cattrano has played in 10 career playoff games, which is the most of any player in MLL history.
face-off and ground ball records ... The five-year veteran won 24 of 36 face-offs to set a single-game postseason record for face-off wins ... The previous mark was 22, which was set by Long Island's Chris Cercy in the 2003 New Balance MLL Championship Game ... Cantabene is the league's all-time leader in face-off wins in regular season and postseason play ... He now has 145 postseason face-off wins and 74 ground balls.
NOT A BAD WAY TO START: Long Island M Stephen Berger had an outstanding debut in his first MLL playoff game ... The second-year midfielder scored five goals to go with an assist en route to Bud Light MVP honors in the Lizards' 19-14 win over Boston in the semifinals ... Berger, who made the start on attack in place of Chris Massey, scored a career-high four goals in his last trip to Nickerson Field in the 10-9 loss on August 4 ... He scored his five goals on eight shots.
ORANGE ATTACK AT IT AGAIN: Baltimore A Tom Marechek, Gary Gait and Mikey Powell showed why they could be considered as the best attack line to ever play in Major League Lacrosse against the Rattlers in the semifinals ... The trio combined to score 13 goals to go with four assists ... Marechek and Gait each scored five goals, while Powell added three tallies ... Powell and Marechek also had two assists in the win ... The trio was again the leaders of the Baltimore offense with a combined 10 goals with two assists in the Championship Game against Long Island.
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE HELP?: Of the 90 goals scored in the three postseason games, 46 of them (51.1%) were assisted ... Three of the four teams recorded 10 or more assists in the semifinals, while Boston was the only team not to record double-digit assists ... Rochester led the way by having assists on 12 of its 13 goals in a 2013 setback against the Bayhawks ... In the Championship Game, there were 10 assists given for the 24 goals scored between the two teams.
A "POWELL"-FULL LINEUP: For the second straight week, the Powell brother trio were able to play on the same field in the same MLL game together ... Rochester A Casey Powell and Ryan Powell teamed up against younger brother Mikey Powell, who starts on attack for Baltimore in the Bayhawks' 20-13 semifinal win ... Casey and Ryan combined to score four goals with five assists, while Mikey scored three goals with a pair of assists ... Casey and Ryan are in their fifth seasons of MLL play, while Mikey is playing in his first after sitting out last year.
SOME THINGS JUST NEVER CHANGE: The Baltimore Bayhawks and the Boston Cannons are the only teams to have appeared in the playoffs in all five seasons of Major League Lacrosse history ... Baltimore has won six of its nine postseason games, while Boston is 1-5 in its postseason history.
Major League Lacrosse Stories from August 23, 2005
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