The New York Saints entered Albany looking for some answers. Instead, they left only with more questions.

The Albany Attack routed New York, 20-8, in front of a hometown crowd of 3,012 fans in the Pepsi Arena on Friday, in a game where the Attack looked like playoff contenders while the defense of the supposed contenders from New York continued to look confused.

Tom Naglieri started the game on the wrong foot for the Saints by taking two penalties in the first 3:42 of the game. While the Saints were able to successfully kill off the first power play, Albany scored just three seconds into the second for the early 1-0 lead. Gary Rosyski and Dan Teat would springboard the Attack to a 3-0 lead before Rusty Kruger finally got the Saints on the board with less than four minutes to play in the quarter.

However, in what was to become the theme of the game, Albany responded quickly to Kruger's goal, with one by Josh Sanderson, and Teat found the net later to give Albany a 5-1 lead at the first break.

The Saints twice fought back to get within three, but each time, an Albany goal came within thirty seconds to expand the lead back to four. Mike Ladouceur answered Kruger's second, and Josh Sanderson had a reply for McCabe. Rosyski completed his hat trick with two goals sandwiched around a goal by Jonas Derks, the first of which was a power play goal scored on a minor that eventually led to Naglieri's ejection from the game for a gross misconduct. Ladouceur completed the first half tallies, and the Attack held a surprising 10-4 bulge at intermission.

In true NLL fashion, the whistles started to blow in the Saints' favor in the second half. Roy Colsey converted a penalty shot just 24 seconds into the second half to close the score to 10-5.

In the third quarter alone, the Saints had 7 power play opportunites (six man advantages plus the penalty shot). However, in the quarter, the Attack scored as many goals shorthanded as the Saints did on the power play -- two apiece. After Colsey's penalty shot, the Attack buried the Saints with a six-goal run, sparked by excellent outlet passes by Game MVP Rob Blasdell. By the time Kris Bryde closed the third quarter scoring for the Saints, Albany had a ten-goal cushion, 16-6.

Derks scored the next goal of the game to make the score 16-7, marking the only time all game the Saints scored two consectutive goals. A New York comeback was not to be, however, and Albany scored four of the last five goals to ensure the victory. Blasdell was named player of the game for his stellar performance. Less kind things must be said about the New York goaltending tandem of Gord Nash and Clayton Bergie, who combined to allow 20 goals on just 44 shots.

Albany will now enjoy the holidays in first place overall, at 4-1, and await a battle with the Rochester Knighthawks in Albany on 12 January. The Saints, who fall out of a first place tie in the Eastern Division with the loss, still have work to do in 2001, as they will travel to Ohio to take on the Columbus Landsharks at Nationwide Arena on 28 December.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
New York Saints (2-2)                 1  3  2  2  --   8
Albany Attack (4-1)                   5  5  6  4  --  20

NEW YORK SAINTS               ALBANY ATTACK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Derks          2 - 2     4    Rosyski        4 - 5     9
Colsey         2 - 1     3    J Sanderson    2 - 6     8
McCabe         1 - 2     3    Trudeau        4 - 2     6
M Alexander    1 - 0     1    Teat           3 - 2     5
K Bryde        1 - 0     1    M Ladouceur    2 - 2     4
Kruger         1 - 0     1    Moss           1 - 2     3
Frye           0 - 1     1    Blasdell       0 - 3     3
Naglieri       0 - 1     1    Grimoldby      2 - 0     2
Prout          0 - 1     1    Regan          1 - 0     1
                              Woods          1 - 0     1
                              Beisel         0 - 1     1
                              Kazarian       0 - 1     1
                              R Sanderson    0 - 1     1
                              Santos         0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           51    Shots on goal           44
Saves made by (GA)      24    Saves made by (GA)      43
   Nash (13)         20          Blasdell (8)      43
   Bergie (7)         4
Penalty Minutes         52    Penalty Minutes         22
Power Play Chances      10    Power Play Chances       8
Power Play Goals         1    Power Play Goals         6
   K Bryde            1          M Ladouceur        2
                                 Trudeau            2
                                 Rosyski            1
                                 Teat               1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        3
   Kruger             1          Grimoldby          1
                                 Regan              1
                                 Teat               1

     *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH ALBANY ATTACK ***