A look back: Looking forward to 2002

I recently came across a blog posting I wrote ten years ago, shortly before the 2002 NLL season began. (For now, let's just ignore the fact that this was well over three years before I even had a blog.) This was after my first season as a Toronto Rock season ticket holder. I thought I'd post it here to share my insight into what was then the future of the league.

Sun, October 21, 2001

The 2002 NLL season starts soon! It's starting earlier this year than previous years – usually it's in late December, but they've moved it back to mid-November this season. Last year was my first year as a Toronto Rock season ticket holder and wow, am I hooked! I'd only seen one lacrosse game before, but last season there were seven home games plus two playoff games. Even better, the Rock won seven of the nine games! Unfortunately, one of those losses was the Championship game, won by the Philadelphia Wings. That would have been the Rock's third championship in a row.

The Wings are kind of the Yankees or Canadiens of the NLL – always in contention, and they've won more championships than anyone else. Their victory this past season was their sixth, and with players like Jake Bergey, Kevin Finneran, Tom Marechek, Mark Millon, and Dallas Eliuk, they look poised to continue their winning ways. Definitely look for lots of playoff appearances and maybe a few more Cups for the Wings over the next decade.

Speaking of Eliuk, the Wings goaltender, he was amazing in the Championship game. Bob Watson was excellent, only allowing the Wings to score 9 goals, but Eliuk only allowed 8 – one of which came with about 2 seconds left. He was named game MVP and he earned it. I don't know how much these guys get paid, but regardless of how much Eliuk is asking, the price is right.

There were lots of changes in the league last year – there was a new team in Columbus, Syracuse moved to Ottawa, and Pittsburgh moved to Washington. I don't know much about Columbus, but Ottawa will probably do well; I'm sure the sports fans in the National Capital region will embrace Canada's national sport. But the NLL plays at the same time of year as the NHL, so they may have trouble pulling fans away from the powerhouse Senators, especially since the Rebel finished last in the league last year. I haven't seen any attendance stats for last year, but I imagine Washington will be fine too since the whole Baltimore area is apparently a hotbed of field lacrosse. The NLL is box lacrosse, not field, but the audiences are likely similar. If field lacrosse fans want to help the sport grow, they'll definitely support a box lacrosse team in the same area!

These new teams must be doing well financially, since the league is expanding like crazy this coming season as well. They wouldn't be doing that if the existing teams weren't financially stable, would they? Not only will there be sixteen games in the season instead of fourteen, but this year there will be new teams in New Jersey, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary. There's already a team in New York, so the New Jersey team will be a natural rival. There are lots of lacrosse teams in BC and Alberta, so Vancouver and Calgary are definitely here for the long haul. Maybe if Calgary takes off they'll put a team in Edmonton as well so Albertans will have two teams to cheer for!

Montreal I'm not so sure of. Sure they love their Canadiens, but they lost the Alouettes (though they did get them back), and the Expos are apparently not doing great attendance-wise either. Will they support lacrosse in Montreal? Time will tell, but the Express are owned by the same people who own the Rock and the Rebel which may be a good thing. Here's an idea: they should give out lots of free tickets to some early games to get people in the door – that'll get them hooked and then they'll buy tickets for future games. Presto: instant following. Dear Montreal Express ownership group: you're welcome.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the upcoming season. I know that for the Rock to win another Championship they'd have to make it to their fourth straight Championship game, and that's pretty unlikely. Kind of a drag that just as I start going to Rock games, their dominance in the league comes to an end. But just as the Rock's dominance ends, perhaps the Maple Leafs' dominance will begin! They made the conference finals last year, so maybe 2002 is finally the year!

So there you have it, my first-ever lacrosse article. Considering I had only been following lacrosse for a year at the time, I'd say my insight and predictions were pretty much bang on.