Orlando Faces Difficult Road Trip
February 4, 2010 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Orlando Titans News Release
ORLANDO, Fla. (Feb. 4) -- It is without question one of the most brutal road trips any team in the National Lacrosse League will face this year. Many would call it unfair. Titans' defenseman Rory Smith just calls it "ridiculous."
Thursday night, the Titans flew to Denver where they will face the Colorado Mammoth in a 9 p.m. game on Friday night. Saturday morning, they will awaken at 4 a.m. local time, board a bus to Denver International and hopefully catch a 7 a.m. flight to Philadelphia - where they will face the Wings on Saturday night, before catching another early morning flight back to Orlando.
For those keeping score at home, that's 4,000-miles of flights, three hours of bus rides, and two physical NLL games away from home in less than a 60-hour time period. And for the record, those aren't charter flights we are talking about.
While most Titans players agree with Smith's evaluation, to a man they are following the lead of head coach Ed Comeau in preparing for the trip.
"Is it going to be difficult? Yes. Is it fair? Probably not. But that being said; what can we do about it? The schedule is what the schedule is," Comeau said. "After the Rochester game, I told our players how we are going to approach it - one game. That's where our focus has to be. One game and that's the Colorado game. We'll worry about what's next on Saturday morning, but for the rest of this week, we are going to focus on our next game and nothing else."
Veteran Forward Ryan Boyle put another twist on it. "It's going to be hard, but we're professionals. It's why we train hard in the off-season and why we train hard on our own during the week and it's why we take care of our bodies. We're professionals and we will accept the schedule for what it is and put forth our best effort regardless of the situation."
For the Titans, 2-1, they will be facing a Colorado team (2-3) that struggled out of the gate but has won two of its last three. Led by veteran forward Jamie Shewchuck (13 Goals-14 assists-27 points) and rookie Ilija Gajic (10-9-19), the Mammoth are averaging 11.8 goals per game - third highest in the league.
"They are a very talented team on offense," Smith said. "I played with Gajic this summer and really believe he is going to be one of the keys to the game. Slow him down and you have a chance to slow down Colorado."
The Titans will be looking to counter with the league's second stingiest defense, which is given up just 9.66 goals per game. Tough back-line play led by John Orsen, Smith and Pat Merrill - combined with top-flight goaltending by Matt Vinc - has led to Orlando holding opponents to single digits in two of their three games this season.
The Titans have been especially impressive in the first half, allowing just five total goals in the first half of its two home wins and 10 goals total in the first half of all three games.
"We need to play like we did against Rochester," Merrill said. "We need to keep it tight, break on the ball and use our speed and athleticism on defense. When we do that and Vino (goaltender Matt Vinc) is on, I think we become a pretty tough team to beat."
Although Friday's game will be just the third all-time between the Titans and Colorado, the same can not be said for Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Wings (1-3). The teams have already played nine times since the Titans entered the league in 2007, including once this season. The Titans dismantled the Wings, 13-8, in the NLL's season-opening game in Orlando.
Team captain Casey Powell is expecting a much different Wings team than the one the Titans faced in Orlando on Jan. 8. "They were missing some key players and did not have a productive pre-season," Powell said. "It was obvious they were rusty and not ready. It will be a different challenge on Saturday and I think we know it's going to be difficult."
Both teams will hopefully avoid a repeat of the game in Orlando that saw 25 infractions whistled and 130 minutes of penalties handed out. "Things got a little chippy in that game," Powell added. "I think it was a combination of things. Philadelphia was unable to play a pre-season game and I think they were a little rusty and became frustrated with the way the game was going. The teams also had a little history of bad blood and everything sort of boiled over."
Still Powell says the Titans will have to stay mentally tough. "We're going to take it a game at a time, but I think we are all aware of the fact that regardless of what happens on Friday, we are in for another tough game on Saturday."
Orlando's chances of success this weekend may depend on how Comeau juggles his lineup and keeps "fresh legs" on the field for the second part of the back-to-back.
But regardless, one thing is for certain. The Titans will be looking forward to a long rest beginning Sunday afternoon.
Titans Notes: Veteran forward Pat Maddalena enters the game needing just one goal to reach the 300 mark for his careerMaddalena would become just the 13th man in the 44-year history of the league to reach the plateauVeteran Calgary forwards Josh Sanderson (304) and Tracey Kelusky (301) both hit the 300 career goal mark this seasonThis weekend's back-to-back game situation was caused by a variety of factorsarena availability, combined with an NLL mandate that all regular season games be played on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, usually results in every team playing at least one back-to-back situation on an annual basisthe Titans will play two this season, as they will play Philadelphia at home (March 12) and Rochester on the road the next nightThrough three games this season, Jordan Hall (5 goals-11 assists-16 points) leads the Titans in both assists and points; while Casey Powell (9-5-14) leads the team in goals scoredgoaltender Matt Vinc is the ranked third in the league in goals against average (9.97) and save percentage (.787)Both Friday and Saturday night's games can be heard on the Titans' flagship station (ESPN 1080 AM) and central Florida affiliate (WQIK 1240 AM)...those with the Direct TV Sports Package can watch the Colorado game on Channel 682both games will be available via livestream on NLL.comOrlando will have a "bye" week next weekend before returning back to Amway Arena to face the Boston Blazers on Saturday, Feb. 20.the team has declared the game "Hometown Heroes Night," where the team will honor and recognize the military, police, and firefighterstickets and information is available by calling 407-601-6516.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from February 4, 2010
- Orlando Faces Difficult Road Trip - Orlando Titans
- Toronto Rock Sweep National Lacorsse League Monthly Awards - Toronto Rock
- Roughnecks Face Rush This Friday - Calgary Roughnecks
- Toronto Rock Prepare For Home And Away Weekend - Toronto Rock
- Washington Stealth Return Home To Face Minnesota Friday Night - Washington Stealth
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