It was a frosty Friday and three buds still piled in a car and headed west on that boring trip to Saskatoon.
The stretch of #16 is among the most tedious of trips to anywhere from here, although fortunately the three of us are all rather avid disc golfers so we had a topic of discussion most of the way, such as how great courses at Foam Lake, Wynyard, or Lanigan would be, and we did come up with a neat idea for a ’dawn ’til dusk’ event involving multiple area courses June 18.
But this trip was being made because of another common sport interest, box lacrosse.
A quintet of us in Yorkton purchased a 10-ticket flex back for the inaugural season of the Saskatchewan Rush, and while two of the cabal members couldn’t get away three of us headed to the home opener.
Where to start regarding the game though?
The Rush failing to score a fourth quarter goal and losing 13-11 was as they say, a bummer.
Mark Matthews took a fighting penalty at the end of the third quarter, and with him off the floor the Rush offence sputtered early in the fourth, including failing to score on a powerplay, and they never got back on track. The Rush offence tends to run through Matthews, who had five assists in the home opener, and a goal. He was second in scoring last season in the National Lacrosse League and you could see why, although on his own scoring chances he seemed just off a few inches.
But the experience was outstanding in spite of the loss.
Just shy of 9,200 fans were in the arena, and they all were in a party mood. The number already in a Rush jersey was encouraging. A casual fan just checking out the game wasn’t likely to be making a jersey purchase before the opening face-off.
The game started to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, and the music was pumped through most of the game. I knew that was an NLL ‘thing’ and I was curious what I would think? I dug it. The mood was just high energy from the get go.
A wave managed three rounds, which had me wondering the last time I saw that at a Terrier hockey game.
The cheerleaders were a nice touch.
A half time live music interlude was fine, albeit not exactly my favourite musical style. It was the Johner Boys (yep second generation Johners), who wrote the team theme song ‘Get Ready for the Rush’.
All of the added atmosphere was great.
The action on the floor was even better. Lots of hits, a couple of dust-ops, and 24 goals; you can’t really want more in terms of sports entertainment.
Saskatchewan fans we have a great sport to fall in love with here, and a championship team (defending), to follow. There is no reason the Rush can’t be a long term, highly successful franchise.
And, in other NLL news the league recently announced Nick Sakiewicz has been appointed NLL Commissioner.
Sakiewicz brings over two decades of experience working in Major League Soccer, most recently serving as co-founding partner and CEO of Keystone Sports and Entertainment, the ownership entity of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer.
“Sakiewicz (pronounced Suh-KEV-itch) joined Major League Soccer as an original founding executive in 1995,” detailed a release on the NLL website. “Along with a small group of league executives, Sakiewicz helped launch MLS in 1996 as its first Vice President of Commercial Sponsorship Sales. Sakiewicz went on to lead two inaugural Major League Soccer teams from 1997 to 2006 in Tampa and New York, serving as President and General Manager for both teams.”
In nine seasons involved with the MLS Sakiewicz received the league’s Executive of the Year award twice (1999 & 2000) and was nominated a third time.
“I’m honored and excited to join a tremendous group of owners and lead the National Lacrosse League as NLL Commissioner,” Sakiewicz said in the release. “Similar to soccer 20 years ago, lacrosse is a dynamic and rapidly-growing sport amongst an incredible demographic in North America. The National Lacrosse League is celebrating its 30th anniversary season featuring the best players in the world and highlighted by some incredibly entertaining competition. I’m really looking forward to bringing my experience working in MLS to the NLL and helping everyone in the lacrosse community to grow the league and expand the sport.”
What I found most interesting about Sakiewicz’s appointment was his view to grow the NLL.
A call-in press conference was held to introduce the new commissioner, which was played on NLL Radio available at www.nll.com
During the press conference Sakiewicz called the league “the best-kept secret in professional sports entertainment.
Now you would not expect a new league commissioner to suggest otherwise, but in this case I am very much on-side with his take.
It is difficult for me to imagine a sports fan, those who like hockey, soccer, basketball etc, watching either the NLL, or Major League Lacrosse (the professional outdoor league), and not being impressed by the game.
In the case of the MLL it is a bit harder to get into with no Canadian franchise to follow, at least it is for me who is staunchly Canadian in all things, but the outdoor game of lacrosse is still amazing, aided by a pro-only 60-second shot clock, and a two point goal line, both obvious goal borrows from the hoops game.
But back to Sakiewicz’s view on growing the NLL. At the press conference he said he wants to see the league grow to 16 teams, terming it “the magic number.”
“I’ve got my eye set on getting to 16 as soon as we possibly can. Having said that, we’re going to be patient. We’re going to be deliberate. We’re going to make sure we find the right owner; the right venue, and we’re in a marketplace where the fans will embrace the team and make the team relevant. We can’t expand for the sake of expanding. You only need to do it once to learn if expansion teams don’t work, you actually take steps backwards.”
Certainly NLL history is scattered with franchise moves, our Rush just a current example, not that franchise shifts are unique to lacrosse. Atlanta failed as a National Hockey League city twice, and Winnipeg is now on its second rendition of the Jets.
For the NLL the first step would be to 12 teams to create two equal divisions, at least in my mind. That in itself presents a challenge at least to round out the west with Vancouver, Calgary, Colorado and Saskatchewan.
Edmonton is already talked about, but they were packing the arena for the Rush.
On the NLL Facebook page a few fans in Minnesota are lamenting the loss of their team, but again if a franchise leaves after a decade there had to be issues.
Once upon a time Winnipeg was talked of for the NLL too, good news for our Rush in terms of the obvious rivalry, but with the Jets and the affiliate Manitoba Moose the winter ticket dollars may be limited in a smallish city for lacrosse.
Obviously the NLL would covet a California franchise or two, but the state is far from a lacrosse hotbed.
By contrast player numbers in Texas are growing, and with the MLL eyeing Houston, the NLL has got to be thinking about the state too.
Out east, Ottawa, once an NLL city, and Montreal are mentioned, and since Sakiewicz hails from Philadelphia and it was home for years to an NLL team, you have to think that might be an obvious city to return to the fold.
Of course the commissioner did not attach a timeframe to a 16 team league, but surely 12 is seen as a shorter term must.
For the Rush, successful teams in Edmonton and Winnipeg would be ideal in terms of rivalries, and helpful spurring TSN to more televised games in this country, but I suspect only one of the two, if either, sees a franchise, at least anytime soon.
