Another week in the NLL and another week closer to determining a winner. Yet, despite the opening round of the NLL playoffs taking place, the news was much smaller in the lacrosse world than other events going on around it.
For most Americans, this was conference championship weekend in the NCAA and the eventual selection Sunday that sets the tournament brackets for all three divisions in both the men’s and women’s championships. We are only 3 weeks away from crowning the champs. Unfortunately, for those of us in Canada, we often get blocked from watching the NCAA playoffs, so if anyone has ways to watch the NCAA playoffs from Canada, I’m all ears.
But the far bigger news came from the Canadian Lacrosse Association in what is a clear sign that the CLA Board of Directors has lost touch with reality in its ongoing dispute with the players union.
No Canada
In the 2010 FIL Men’s Field World Lacrosse Championships, there was a massive void in the tournament when the Iroquois Nationals were not present in Manchester due to a dispute between them and the American and British governments over recognition of their passports and their players’ ability to travel on them. Without the Iroquois, there was a major element of the tournament missing and we would hope nothing like that would happen again.
Eight years later and it could very well happen again.
For those not familiar with the situation, here’s a quick background. There has been some significant tension between the players and the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) for some time. This boiled over this past fall when Dan Coates and Cam Holding both sustained season ending knee injuries at the Team Canada tryout for the FIL Championships coming up this July in Israel. Because the injuries occurred outside of the NLL, Coates and Holding forfeited their NLL salaries this past year. Normally this is something that an organization like the CLA would hold insurance for, but they didn’t. It put the players at the end of their rope and something had to be done.
To make matters worse, many Canadian players pay upwards of $10,000 each to play at the Worlds. You would expect that the CLA would have the money through operations or sponsorships to cover these costs, but they don’t. One thing that was especially troubling was that 8 years ago, the CLA lost its charitable status due to its participation in an offshore funding scheme. This hurts the players trying to fundraise as potential sponsors can’t get a charitable receipt for tax purposes.
The charitable registration problems with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) are possible to fix. However, it has been reported that the CRA requires that anyone on the board at the time of the participation in the scheme is no longer on the board. This is something that the CLA denies is the case, but if it is the case, many of the directors still in charge, including Joey Harris, its president, would have to resign. They seem intent on holding onto their power despite that it has the potential to do harm to lacrosse in this country.
This past autumn, the national team players formed the National Lacrosse Team Players’ Association. The purpose of this association was to deal with the players’ grievances against the CLA, and for the benefit of all teams representing Canada, and not just the men’s field team. The grievances included better insurance to cover lost wages caused by injuries while representing Canada, restoration of the registered charity status for the CLA, having the costs of players representing Canada covered, amongst others. Furthermore, the association was seeking a four year deal, as the World Championships are in four year cycles and the agreement would then cover all teams, including the men’s box team, the women’s national team and both the men’s and women’s U-19 national teams.
As soon as this began, the negotiations got ugly quickly. Dean French, the national team chairman; the late Dave Huntley, who was the director of the men’s national team; indoor director John Mouradian; and the director of the women’s national team, Gary Gait, sent a letter to the CLA requesting the resignation of Harris and others by March 31. As a result of this, French, Mouradian and Huntley were dismissed. Gait wasn’t dismissed as his contract had expired, and was told he had to reapply for his position. There’s no doubt in my mind, and many others, that Gait wasn’t specifically dismissed because of his stature and how badly that would backfire. Given this, the NLTPA insisted that these men have their positions reinstated.
Needless to say, the willingness of the CLA to even attempt to negotiate with the NLTPA has been poor.
Meetings have been regularly cancelled. In one case, the excuse given by the CLA was that they didn’t have an agenda five days in advance. We are now just two months away from the World Championships and there is still zero resolution on the matter.
The CLA has been very intent on attempting to assert its dominance in this situation. They’ve only made assurances for better insurance and that the men’s field team won’t have any additional costs.
The last official act prior to the events of the past week was that the pool of potential players was reduced to 34, which it still had to be cut down to 23 prior to the tournament. This week the CLA instead decided that it would no longer deal with the NLTPA, and instead in a clear attempt to bust the union, decided it was sending correspondence directly to the players, giving them until this past Sunday to agree to play for Canada. The contact came with the threat that if they didn’t, replacement players may be found. Needless to say, the NLTPA stood firm and the players sent back responses for the CLA to deal with the NLTPA instead. Not a single one of the 34 players on the short list signed the agreement to play for Canada.
As of the time that I am writing this article, the CLA contacted the 34 players again, with only slightly modified terms, but this time part of the email addressing consequences for not signing. Once again I doubt any of the 34 players will sign the agreement and the use of threats may be the CLA trying to assert its authority, but it comes across to me as desperation.
Who Would the Replacement Players Be?
The initial threat by the CLA to use replacement players, which isn’t new, raised the question quickly as to what a replacement team would even look like. If it wasn’t the 34 players on the short list, then who? One thing that was clear from the start was that it wouldn’t be the next 34 best players. Many people in the past have stated this, but Gary Gait in a comment from the NLTPA last week put it quite clearly.
“The Canadian lacrosse community is extremely close-knit. I do not see any scenario where replacement players and coaches get on that plane to Israel. They would be breaking a bond among players that simply is never broken. It won’t happen.”
Gait is exactly right. No player outside the current block of 34 that plays in the MLL or NLL is going to cross their brethren and play for Canada. Most retired players won’t cross their long-time friends either. NCAA players that have aspirations of playing in the MLL or NLL won’t risk a future professional career by going to Israel. A replacement team would be so bad in my opinion that it would likely lose to Australia for bronze.
Unfortunately, the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) has little to no power to intervene. There is no question that having anything less than Canada’s team will hurt the event they are organizing and the profits they’ll drive from it, but they don’t have any authority to do anything about it. While the FIL has several mandates, national team selection isn’t one of them.
The CLA unfortunately has sole discretion to determine who plays for the national team.
The Turning Tide
When this issue came to the forefront back in November, those in the media were in one of two camps.
Either they were on the side of the players, or they had friends on both sides and stayed neutral, but with the hope that a solution would be found. This time, the mood is very different. Those that were previously neutral have now swung to the side of the players. The reasons appear to be clear. The use of ultimatums, the refusal of the CLA to negotiate, and now the discussion of replacement players, which is a complete farce. The hashtag #ImWithGary has been making its rounds to support the players this time.
But the question is what can be done about it if the CLA doesn’t budge. Part of me has come to the reality that missing the World Championships might be what lacrosse in Canada needs to reset its priorities and get things back on track. But that comes with one massive consequence. The FIL has been working tirelessly for more than two decades to get lacrosse back into the Olympics. They are now closer than ever, and the next few years will be critical for the IOC to approve lacrosse for what would likely be the 2028 summer Olympics.
Here’s the key. The IOC will be watching in Israel.
They will see a tournament without the tournament favorite present. They will see a tournament where the USA will blow everyone out. That combination could be enough to convince the IOC to pass up lacrosse at the 2028 Olympics. How devastating would that be for the growth of the game?
I’m of the opinion that the CLA may be beyond saving itself and that perhaps its time to look at disbanding the CLA and replacing it with a new national body. That new national body wouldn’t have the “old boys club” in charge of it that is dragging the game down and would be eligible for charity status with the CRA.
That of course comes with its own difficulty.
The current National Championships including the Mann Cup and Minto Cup are properties of the CLA.
Forming a new organization would create difficulties in wrangling those cherished championships away to a new governing body. But for those that fear that outcome, I look at what happened between the players and the Canadian Curling Association in the mid-90’s. With the CCA insistent on keeping its control over the Brier and Scotties, the top 20 men’s teams all came together and decided for 2 years that they wouldn’t play in the Brier and played in big cash tournaments during that same time instead. It may have been tough for some teams not playing for the Brier, but eventually after 2 years when the Brier had poor TV ratings and poor attendance, the CCA finally came to its senses. The prize money for the players increased significantly and the qualifying system for the top teams was decreased to one week so the players could play in more cash bonspiels. Maybe the top lacrosse teams in Canada have to go through that kind of pain for a few years to bring the CLA back to reality.
The truth is that the players refusing to play for the CLA under the current circumstances is the first step. That crack could then lead to major clubs or provincial associations withdrawing themselves from CLA championships, and the effect snowballs. But clearly something has to be done.
Growing the Game
We have all said this a thousand times over, the most important thing we can all do for lacrosse is to help grow the game. At Lacrosse All Stars, it’s our motto and our life’s work. Whatever you do in lacrosse, the number one thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to help grow the game. At one point in time I’m certain that Harris and the other board members had that just in mind. But their actions of recent years have led me to the opinion that their actions have nothing to do with growing the game and everything to do with holding onto power over it. That is the last thing that anyone needs. If there’s anything that the Iroquois have taught us, its that the Creator gave man the sport of lacrosse to entertain him and for medicine.
Holding onto power in the game is a direct slap in the face to its tradition.
Growing the game must remain paramount. The top players in Canada should be able to compete at its highest level regardless of their financial ability. That’s in part how you grow the game. As a sense of national pride, Canada needs to have its top players at the tournament, as any result other than gold is a disappointment. Winning the world championship helps build the game domestically. Having Canada’s top players at the Worlds helps grow the game internationally. When I played at the Worlds, I remembered being giddy about playing at the same tournament with the likes of John Grant Jr., Gary Gait, Brodie Merrill, etc. Getting the sport into the Olympics will be the biggest way in which the lacrosse grows both domestically and internationally.
This issue is so much bigger than Joey Harris and the board of directors. It’s about treating the players right so they can compete at their best. Somehow the CLA has lost sight of this for some time now. There still is time. It’s limited. But, for the good of the game, and the survival of the CLA, the board needs to swallow its pride and do what’s right for the game for once.
Some Things Never Change
Go back to one week ago for a second. We had a West semi-final between Colorado and Calgary. Colorado was at home. Colorado finished a full 3 games ahead of Calgary in the standings. The Mammoth appeared to be the more complete team. And yet, when you looked at predictions, the majority of people, including myself, had picked Calgary, for just one reason. Calgary has a history of beating Colorado in the playoffs.
For the first 30 minutes of the game, Colorado gave us every reason to believe that the curse was finally over with a 7-2 lead at the half. Then for the next 30 minutes the curse reared its ugly head as Calgary outscored Colorado, 13-5, to win, 15-12.
How did things go so badly wrong for the Mammoth? Let’s start by saying that little that the offense did should have led to a loss in this game. With the defense and goaltending that Colorado has, scoring 12 should normally be enough to lead them to a comfortable victory. And in the opening half, that defense was doing what it does best. Shutting things down, not leaving open lanes, and when they needed him, Dillon Ward was there to shut the door. The second half though was a completely different story.
Now it’s not fair to pin this one entirely on the Colorado defense. Calgary’s offense did what they needed to do. When a team is down, it’s common to rush your way into possessions to push for goal scoring. The Roughnecks were anything but in a hurry. They were patient. They looked for the extra pass to get Ward moving east –west to get him out of position. They were patient to find numerous ISO situations and broke the lanes down low. They got the ball inside, and even when they did that they were patient, breaking through defenders and getting open looks on top of the crease.
What more could have Ward done? Not much other than have possibly made some highlight reel saves to give his defense some confidence. As the comeback kept coming, the Mammoth defense got desperate and seemingly went away from its game plan. The biggest example was Robert Hope playing Curtis Dickson tight behind the net away from the ball. Dickson cut, Hope couldn’t keep up and Dickson scored a critical goal in tight.
If you look at the stat line, Colorado shouldn’t have lost this game. They outshot the Roughnecks, had more shots off target, won the loose ball battle by 15, won the faceoff battle, had the edge on the powerplay. But it’s not the stats that win the game with the exception of one, goals scored. Dane Dobbie put the Roughnecks on his back and perhaps played the best game I’ve ever seen him play. Six goals on 12 shots, three assists, and a lot of one on one work to get those open lanes in close. Give the Roughnecks credit, they were down huge but didn’t fold. This should also serve as a warning to the Rush, who are famous this year for getting a big lead and then letting it slip. They can ill afford to do that on Sunday.
And Other Things Never Change
If you’ve read my reviews of the New England Black Wolves this year, there has been a repetitive theme.
They get into trouble by allowing big runs to start, only to go on a big run to get things close again, only to allow a big run. And once again, New England got into this trap on Friday night in a 15-11 loss to the Rochester Knighthawks. Look at the runs in this game. Rochester scored four goals in the opening 7:38 including a hat trick from rookie Austin Shanks. In the next 9:30 of the game, New England comes roaring back on a 4-1 run of their own to narrow the gap to 5-4, only to allow the next 6 goals to go down 11-4 going into halftime. Then, New England gets its act in order and goes on a 6-1 run over the next 16 minutes to bring the game within 2, only to allow one final run to the Knighthawks that would prove fatal. These massive runs back and forth, but normally being that the Black Wolves allow the first and last parts of the run have killed them all season.
The simple factors in this game were that the Black Wolves game were leaving Aaron Bold hanging out to dry most of the game, but Bold wasn’t doing much in the opening half to help them either. One goal in particular, Rochester’s fourth, Bold went down so quickly to deal with his main weakness, the 5-hole, exposed him on a bad goal. As the second quarter rolled along, Bold was allowing what made Derek Keenan furious in Saskatchewan, short side goals. The defense wasn’t giving Bold much support, but he also wasn’t making the key stops to give the team some confidence to keep moving forward. This could very well have been Bold’s last game in New England as he is a free agent this offseason.
The Black Wolves were smart to go back to Bold at the start of the 3rd quarter, knowing their only chance was for Bold to try to hold the fort. It almost worked as Bold and the defense finally got things in order. But the damage done by Rochester in the opening half was too big to overcome in the end. Rochester moves on to what is a well anticipated East Division final against Georgia. New England moves into an offseason with a lot of uncertainty with a lot of their top stars becoming free agents and no draft picks to replace them with. The list is massive. Aaron Bold, Kevin Crowley, Jay Thorimbert, Callum Crawford, Kevin and Kyle Buchanan
Attendance Update
A year ago, the NLL teams were shocked to see that all of the attendance momentum they had built up in the last few weeks of the season disappeared when it came to the playoffs. The Toronto Rock had the two lowest attended games in their franchise’s history in the playoffs last year. The Saskatchewan Rush had approximately 3,000 empty seats for the West final, mainly because the game was on the first holiday weekend of the summer where people leave Saskatoon en masse for the lakes and cabins. They failed to sell out the final because the night that Game 2 of the final was taking place was also the first game the Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing at their new stadium. The lesson in all of this is that the NLL had a hard time selling lacrosse in May because it faces more competition from other sports and other summer activities. At the time of the year you should be expecting your largest crowds, you’re struggling to get them in the door.
We saw signs of this again this past weekend. Rochester had just 5,263 in attendance, despite selling many tickets for just $15 each. At least in Colorado, they had 13,884, which is just a hair below average for them.
There are signs this could happen again next week. The Saskatchewan Rush have had difficulties selling tickets for the West final for some time with several season ticket holders not purchasing their tickets. By estimate, it appears there are approximately 3,000 unsold seats as of Monday evening. The arena scheduling is a nightmare in this situation and the Rush are trying to make the best of a bad situation.
The SaskTel Centre scheduled a Shania Twain concert on Saturday night and a figure skating gala on Friday night. That forced the move to Thursday night originally for the game. But, at the point the game was moved to Sunday, the arena was half unsold. The move to Sunday is far from ideal as it’s still not easy for those traveling to Saskatoon for the game (which makes up approximately one-third of Rush season ticket holders). It’s also not ideal because it’s Mothers’ Day. Luckily for me, my mother would rather be at the game anyways. Needless to say it’s unsettling for Rush fans that they’re being bumped because of figure skating… in May.
The one good thing about moving the game to Sunday is that the players, at worst, will miss a half day of work. If the game was on Thursday, they risked missing 2.5 to 3 days of work, which is far from ideal.
Once again, the NLL has the dilemma that moving games to December weren’t well attended and games in May aren’t being overly well attended either.
Weekly Picks
My strategy last week of picking two upsets worked for Calgary, but not so much for New England. This week, I’m taking the home teams.
Georgia over Rochester – Rochester has played well down the stretch, but not as well as Georgia. This isn’t an easy pick but mygut tells me that Georgia is the better of the two teams at the moment.
Saskatchewan over Calgary – The Rush have had the upper hand in this series the last 3 years, with the Roughnecks only winning once. It’s a one sided dominance that is difficult to pick against. But it’s a Sunday game, and anything is possible.
Upcoming Editions
With a bye week coming up between the division finals and the NLL Cup finals, I am going to update and revise my Expansion Draft projections. There will be some significant changes to it (Austin Shanks will clearly be protected) and some players have been traded, signed, or released since the last version in February. But I would love to hear your thoughts on who each team will and won’t protect.
Please leave your comments in the opinions section of this article or reach me on Twitter with your protected list for your team.
Until next time…
