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The worst will be first?
Portland, 8-10, reaches title game with shot at dubious distinction;
Buffalo, 12-6, seeking first MILL/NLL championship since 1996;
Game to be shown live on The Score and espn360.com
The Portland LumberJax enter Saturday's NLL Championship Game looking to do something that has never been done -- win the league title despite finishing with a losing record. While others have gotten this far with an overall record below .500, and Baltimore once won the title under these circumstances (3-4 entering the 1987 final), Portland would be the first to raise the Champion's Cup despite still having more losses (ten) than wins (nine). Of course, all this is predicated on Portland actually, you know, defeating the top-seeded, long-deprived 12-6 Buffalo Bandits on the Bandits' home turf. No easy task -- Buffalo is 9-2 at HSBC Arena this season and, after falling short in the Champion's Cup Final twice since 2004, is desperate to win its first league title since 1996. The game will be shown live in the United States on ESPN360.com and in Canada on The Score, then televised in the U.S. on ESPN2 Tuesday afternoon (2:00 PM Eastern).
| 17 May: | Portland at Buffalo, 7:30 PM. |
| Discuss: | Discuss the games on the LaxNet message board. |
Iannucci named Most Valuable Player
Wings forward set new goals record; Powell, Tavares named All-Pros
Capping off a remarkable season, Philadelphia Wings forward Athan Iannucci was named Thursday as the Reebok National Lacrosse League Most Valuable Player. Iannucci, who shattered the single-season goal-scoring record by netting 71 goals in 2008, beat out fellow finalists Casey Powell (New York) and John Tavares (Buffalo) for the honor. Powell and Tavares do get take home some nice hardware, though, having been selected Wednesday to the NLL's All-Pro First Team; the rest of the six-man unit was filled by automatic qualifiers Ryan Cousins (Defensive Player of the Year), Mark Steenhuis (Transition Player of the Year) and Bob Watson (Goaltender of the Year). The All-Pro Second Team features a few familiar names (Colin Doyle and Gavin Prout) and four first-time selections (Jeff Zywicki, Geoff Snider, Scott Self and Matt Vinc). Also honored: Minnesota's Craig Point (Rookie of the Year), New York coach Adam Mueller (Les Bartley Award), and Minnesota general manager Marty O'Neill (GM of the Year).
NLL championship game will be at Buffalo's 'Huis
Mark Steenhuis scored six goals Saturday night, including a fourth-quarter natural hat trick, leading the Buffalo Bandits to a 19-12 victory over the New York Titans in the Eastern Division Final. New York had closed to within 12-10 late in the third quarter when Buffalo rattled off six straight goals, including the three in a row by Steenhuis. The ageless John Tavares finished with an eye-popping twelve points for Buffalo, on three goals and nine assists. Buffalo will now host the NLL Championship Game next Saturday evening. The Bandits' foe? The Portland LumberJax, the lowest seed in the playoffs after a 6-10 regular season. Portland defeated the Calgary Roughnecks, 16-12, in the Western Division Final on Saturday to advance to the Champion's Cup Final. Dan Dawson led the LumberJax in scoring, netting five goals and dishing out five assists; he now has 22 points in two playoff games.
| 10 May: | NLL Division Finals: Steenhuis, Dawson lead clubs to victory. |
Buffalo, New York advance in East
Buffalo forward Mike Accursi scored two of his four goals in a five-goal fourth quarter Friday night, helping the Bandits to a 14-12 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Wings in an Eastern Division Semifinal. Buffalo moves on to host New York in the Eastern Division final next Saturday evening; the Titans rallied to defeat Minnesota, 11-8, on Saturday. The Western Division playoffs didn't hold nearly so close to form (not that anyone in the East was really a favorite over anyone else). On Saturday, Calgary upset Colorado, 15-13, coming from behind via a 5-0 run to end the game. Sunday afternoon in San Jose, a bigger surprise -- Portland knocked the Stealth from the playoffs, 18-16, behind seven goals and five assists from Dan Dawson.
| 4 May: | NLL Division Semifinals: Bandits only favorite to win. |
Athan Iannucci earns another month-end award
Philadelphia Wings forward Athan Iannucci this week netted his third Player of the Month award this season, setting a new standard for achivement. Iannucci claimed this award hands-down, netting 25 goals and dishing out 10 assists in six games last month. Along the way, he shattered Gary Gait's single-season record of 61 goals scored; Iannucci moved the mark to 71 goals. Although the Wings were just 3-3 in April, that was enough to get them into the playoffs for the first time since 2002. In related news, the NLL named Portland LumberJax forward Pete Jacobs as the Rookie of the Month for April. In five games, Jacobs scored seven goals and dished out eight assists, coming on strong with three assists and four goals, respectively, in Portland's final two regular-season games.
| 2 May: | Iannucci nets third Player of Month award. |
In East deadlock, Bandits snatch top playoff seed
In an NLL first, four Eastern Division teams have finished tied for first place, posting identical 10-6 records. Buffalo got there by defeating Portland, 14-10; New York reached the total by edging Rochester, 12-11; and Minnesota coasted home with a 12-11 victory at Chicago (all on Saturday). Philadelphia joined them on Sunday by defeating Toronto, 15-14, spoiling the final game of Jim Veltman's career. The playoff seedings were thus decided entirely on tiebreakers -- Buffalo is the Eastern Division champion and will have home-floor advantage for as long as they remain in the playoffs, starting with a game against Philadelphia next weekend, while Minnesota hosts New York in the other East semifinal. Out West, San Jose scored all four fourth-quarter goals Saturday afternoon to defeat Colorado, 11-6, and clinch the Western Division title.
| 1 May: | NLL sends off Veltman with Player of Week award. |
| 27 April: | NLL Week Eighteen: Bandits clinch #1 seed. |
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The Outsider's Guide to the National Lacrosse League uses articles reproduced from a number of sources. Consent is given to non-commercial web sites to reproduce original articles, so long as the Outsider's Guide and the author are cited in the reproduction, a link to this page is provided, and any copyrights held by the author are respected. Commercial sites must request such consent before it is granted. The views and opinions published on this site are those of the author and are not necessarily those of this web site or its management. Photographs used on this web site are the property of the photographer, and may not be reproduced without his/her consent.
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