Orlando Titans ceasing operations

The National Lacrosse League seems to have at least one team fold or move every off-season (1993 was the last time there was no franchise movement), and this year is no different. The Orlando Titans, who finished first in the East in their only year in Florida, have ceased operations for the 2011 season. No need to rehash the article, but the dispersal draft was held last week. Orlando had the league's best goalie in Matt Vinc as well as the MVP in Casey Powell, both will be leading other teams next season.

Fortunately I had a chance to see the Titans play in Orlando in January, and it was a good experience with a lively crowd. But with only 8 home games, even a decent average crowd of 7,000 isn't enough to make a profit. A lot of those fans probably received promotional tickets and operating costs may have been higher than anticipated. In the NLL, players don't usually live in the city they play in, so even home games require a lot of flights, which adds to expenses. It seems like the model is not one conducive to having successful teams in cities far away.

Anyway, here's hoping they get their ownership situation sorted and are back in the league in 2012. The NLL could use some stability, which is always helpful in planning road trips.

Best,

Sean

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Orlando Titans 16 at Toronto Rock 12 (NLL) - February 27, 2010

With the Leafs off due to the Olympic break, the NLL's Toronto Rock had a rare chance to host a Saturday evening game. The Orlando Titans were the visitors coming of a double-OT loss to Boston the week before in what was the longest game in league history. The Rock were on a 2-game losing streak themselves but were still perfect at the ACC. These two squads were the top of the east so it promised to be a good game.

The Arena

The Rock play at the Air Canada Centre, home of the Leafs and Raptors as well. It's located right by Union Station, so transit is your best option to get there. Unlike other NLL games I've attended, the upper seating bowl is also open, as the Rock reliably draw more than 10,000 per game. Tickets are not cheap here, with the best seats going for $72, more than double the price that the same seat would cost you in Orlando. I attended the game with an old college friend, and he preferred the end seats which were a more reasonable $46.

I'll refrain from a full review of the ACC here, I'd prefer to do that when I see a Leafs game and the arena has all of their facilities open.

The Game

The Rock had four goals in the first period, but two were called back due to crease violations. Meanwhile, Toronto keeper Bob Watson was strong, shutting out the Titans as the quarter ended 2-0 for the home team.

That was the highlight of the night for Watson, who turned into a lacrosse version of Vesa Toskala in the 2nd quarter, allowing 8 goals including a hat trick by Casey Powell. The final marker came with just 0.3 seconds left as the Titans went into the half with an 8-5 lead.

Toronto's Garrett Billings shoots

The third quarter was fairly even as the Rock outscored Orlando 3-2 to enter the final stanza down 10-8. But Watson fell apart in the 4th, allowing goals on the first four shots as the Titans stormed to a 6-goal lead. Watson was replaced but it was too late for Toronto. They did manage to close within 4, but Orlando added a 15th against replacement goalie Steve Dietrich and the Rock never threatened against Orlando keeper Matt Vinc (shown below making one of his 52 saves) as the Titans won 16-12.

Goaltending was the difference in this game. Toronto outshot Orlando 64-43 but Vinc was up to the challenge while Watson had a forgettable night. With the win, Orlando takes over first place in the East with a 4-2 record, while Toronto is second at 6-4. These two teams meet again in Florida at the end of March and that game could decide the eventual Eastern champion.

Thoughts

Sitting behind the net is quite interesting as you can see the play develop. It was impressive when the players were able to shoot the ball into the tiny openings left by the goalie. The view from section 102 is below.

I was also able to see how the line changes affect the game. From what I could tell, both teams had defensive and offensive lines that would change whenever the play moved from one end to the other. In some cases, a player would come off the bench, get the ball, shoot, and after the other team gained possession, return to the bench for a shift totaling 10 seconds.

There was a funny incident when Vinc saved a shot and the ball disappeared into his equipment. The referee and some players tried to help him find it, but it remained hidden. Finally they gave up and restarted the game; the ball did finally reappear during a break in the action.

The most annoying thing tonight was the loud music that was played constantly during game action. I don't understand the need to take away from the game itself, and want to hear the sounds of the game, not the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

Skipping the Raptors

I had planned to see the Raptors hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers the day before, but decided against it for a couple of reasons. The first is that ticket prices were simply too high. It was $264 (yes, over two hundred bucks) for a seat between the baskets, which is far more than I'm willing to pay for 48 minutes of action. There were some cheap seats available in the upper deck, but I've become a bit picky about where I sit for NBA games, as the field of play is so small that there are very few decent seats available. The other reason was Canada's semi-final game against Slovakia, which began at 9:30. I didn't want to miss the first period so went to a local establishment to catch all the action. Think it turned out to be the right decision as the Raptors lost in OT while Canada won a nailbiter over the Slovaks.

Best,

Sean

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Rochester Knighthawks 8 at Orlando Titans 13 - January 29, 2010

Professional box lacrosse has been around since 1987 in one form or another, but the National Lacrosse League didn't begin in its current structure until 1998. Since that time, only two teams have lasted all 12 seasons: the Rochester Knighthawks and Buffalo Bandits. The Bandits have actually been around since 1992, when they joined the fledgling Major Indoor Lacrosse League.

Every season in the NLL sees franchises folding or relocating, and 2010 is no different. Portland folded at the end of last season while the San Jose Stealth moved to Everett, WA and the New York Titans moved to Orlando. There are now 11 teams in the league, 5 in the Western Division and 6 in the East. With such far-flung teams and a limited 16-game schedule, NLL roadtrips are quite difficult.

Fortunately though, the scheduling gods were kind enough to place an Orlando Titans game one day after the Magic played, so I spent another day here and caught their second home game in team history as the Knighthawks were in town.

The team plays in Amway Arena, but the upper bowl is closed. As well, the arena is designed for basketball so there are no seats next to the glass that you would expect to find in a normal rink that is used for hockey.

The Game

The Titans finished first in the East in 2009 and defeated Rochester and Buffalo before losing to Calgary in the final, so they are not a weak expansion team. They were 1-1 while Rochester came in 2-1, although they were thumped 17-3 by the Toronto Rock the week before. As an aside, it's nice to see a Toronto team that actually wins some games; the Rock are 3-0 and lead the East.

The game was billed as Night of the Legends. Four of the all-time greats were here: Paul Gait is the coach of the Knighthawks, his brother Gary and John Grant Jr. are players, while Casey Powell plays for Orlando. The program equated these four to Jerry West, Bob Cousy, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan on the floor at the same time. Perhaps, but the local fans are new to the game, so for most of them, the comparison was lost. It didn't help that Gary Gait wasn't dressed either.

Orlando enjoys a power play

I'll avoid a detailed recap as the game was not that exciting. Orlando's Jordan Hall scored a shorthanded goal that required a lengthy video review midway through the first period to make it 2-1 Titans. Rochester seemed deflated by the ruling and allowed 5 unanswered goals, the 3rd of which chased starting goalie Pat O'Toole. However, a late goal by Rochester's Craig Point made it 7-2 at the half.

Rochester laid an egg in more ways than one

The Knighthawks seemed to use that momentum early in the 3rd scoring the first two goals but Orlando fought back and scored a back-breaker with 2 seconds left to go into the final quarter up 9-5. A 3-goal flurry by Orlando in 23 seconds early on salted the game away and the final was 13-8.

Hall scored 4 goals for Orlando and was the game's MVP. Titans' keeper Matt Vinc made 30 saves for the win, one of which is pictured below. Point tallied 4 himself in the losing cause. Here's the boxscore.

I think lacrosse is a great game, but tonight's battle wasn't that energetic. Rochester were out of it early and unable to fight back. Hall is an outstanding player though (he was Rookie of the Year two seasons ago) and someone worth watching. He's pictured below signing autographs after the game.

Other Thoughts

After the game, they opened the floor and allowed fans to come down to chat to the players. A good idea, and many took advantage of it as you can see above. They are really pushing the season tickets, but with only 8 home games and the schedule so spread out (the next home game here is not until February 20th), it's a tough sell. I hope the team can make a go of it in Orlando; it would be nice to see some stability in the league. But with so few games it will be difficult to keep the Titans in the public eye.

Orlando is a new team and trying to work the kinks out. In the first game, they brought the wrong uniforms and both teams wore white. There was an apology in the program for the snafu. Today, there were some issues with the clock running when it shouldn't have, but otherwise it went smoothly.

However, there was too much talking by the P.A. guy during the play. In particular, he wanted the crowd to shout the goalie's name whenever there was a save. The announcer would say "SAVE BY..." and the crowd would reply "VINC!!!" As the announcer was explaining this, Rochester moved down the floor and scored. Oops. Try again. On another occasion, Rochester scored and the announcer screamed "Orlando Titans Goal!!!!". Then a moment of silence. Then a muted "Pardon the interruption. Rochester goal by...".

Another annoying invention: thunderstix that glow in the dark. No need to even comment on this. Thankfully only a handful of the 7,367 on hand used them.

Surprised to see that the league has implemented a coach's challenge like the NFL. Both teams challenged a call, one was reversed and one wasn't, which cost the challenging team a timeout.

Line changes in the game are interesting. Players much enter the bench from one door and exit from another. Once the departing player reaches a point near the bench (marked on the floor), the player coming from the bench can jump on. This means that it's possible for one player to check an opponent running up the floor, head to the bench and have his replacement continue the check. Goalies can also come to the bench to be replaced, but they return to the net when there is turnover. This is because it takes time to run down the floor compared to hockey, where skating is obviously much faster.

The game itself is remarkably quick. For 60 minutes of action, it took just 2:15. Much better than the basketball last night, which lasted 2:51 for just 48 minutes of game play. Perhaps sports fans in the US like their games drawn out with plenty of commercial breaks. Might explain why the NFL and NBA are so successful.

Best,

Sean

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