2016 NLL Picks and Power Rankings: Week 9

The weekend opened with a second half surge from the Bandits as the defense began to stand tall in the latter stages of regulation on top of the miss from the Saskatchewan penalty shot with twenty seconds to go. Vancouver continues to show their improvement from last season, but it wasn't enough to win against Colorado. Toronto is a mad team and they're going to beat anyone who gets in their way now that they are on a tear. After that we saw some good games between good teams on Sunday.

Week 9:

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Weekly Total: 2/5

Season Total: 24/37 (.649%)
*Away team is above the home team; underline below arrow indicates correct pick.

Week 10:

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Week 9:
1. (2) COLORADO - Neck and neck at the top west of the Mississippi.
2. (5) BUFFALO - Inconsistent but still near the top of the pack.
3. (1) SASKATCHEWAN - May have relinquished first for the rest of the season.
4. (6) NEW ENGLAND - Game in hand will come in handy over division.
5. (3) GEORGIA - One loss  after two wins... 2-1 in favor not bad by any means.
6. (4) CALGARY - Last place won't go away unless close games go against the Vancouver
7. (8) TORONTO - This team is not a force to be reckoned with in the near future.
8. (7) VANCOUVER - Improvement in this team, but final results not necessarily showing.
9. (9) ROCHESTER - How is this possible?!

View Brian Shanahan's picks on IL Indoor.

-Ricky

A Hazy Shade of Purple

On December 2, 2000, the 1,400 seat home of Niagara University Purple Eagles hockey was dedicated to Robert and Concetta (Bob and Connie) Dwyer with their support "to enhance the vitality of ... campus life and that of the local community. Today was the first of a home double-header with the Falcons of the Air Force Academy. The score remained 1-0 to the Air Force after a period, with the falcons dominating the latter half of said period. Then they exploded for three goals in a two minute and one second span midway through period two, beginning with a power play goal. In the third, Niagara started strong by registering a goal, but gave up two more before the 6-1 final to the visitors. The loss is the Purple Eagles second straight lost following three straight ties after overtime. Like yesterday, tonight's game is at 7:05 PM EST where the senior's will be recognized.

NU's Dwyer Arena has been a personal bucket list item of mine for a long time probably twelve years.  In 2002, 2008, and 2010 it hosted the conference championship for the former College Hockey America (CHA). While the women's half of the conference continues to compete, the men's conference disbanded in 2010. Dwyer also co-hosted the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships alongside Buffalo's First Niagara Center. The big draw for me wasn't the recent round of Niagara jerseys but rather that of their opponent. You can get some glimpse of both above, but I will put it to my points system, which is being resurrected for a one-off appearance, at a later time in the near future. Until then , enjoy America's collegiate purple haze in hockey.

-Ricky

Gianni Fútbol!

After an exhilarating day at the FIFA Elections, a new president was announced on the second ballot about a half hour ago (18:00 UTC, 12 PM EST). I watched an extensive amount since the YouTube stream began at around 1:30 EST. The USSF president Sunil Gulati announced that Prince Ali was the candidate the US would vote for, as my employer I support their decision though my personal choice was Gianni "Fútbol" Infantino, which was who the US reportedly voted for in the second ballot (fútbol is what I have called him).

Courtesy of: FIFATV/YouTube

One candidate, Tokyo Sexwale, dropped out prior to the beginning of voting. After a first ballot in which 27 votes were cast for Prince Ali, 85 votes for Sheikh Salman, 7 votes for Jérôme Champagne, and 88 votes for Gianni Infantino, nobody reached the required two-thirds vote. Thus a second ballot of a simple majority was cast. As you can see above, results were overwhelming. Infantino's big platform includes increasing the field of the FIFA World Cup from 32 to 40. In order to better analyze the election more information should be left for a later time.

-Ricky

Out of the Wash, Into the Dwyer

Some may recall our friends at HCI began a hockey league a few years back but wasn't renewed for the current season, in which one of it's charter members was asked to move to North America. SO the team "Americanized" and separated a sect to compete in North America while the original team continued to base out of Europe as a "travelling team" much in the manner as basketball's Harlem Globetrotters. But thanks to inspiration from or friends at Frozen Faceoff, we've updated the dasher boards surrounding the rink at Niagara University's Dwyer Arena not in advertisers, layout, or presentation but in display.

The locations of doors does not change, but are not shown in the diagram. This was a change made because, that was how other dasher boards using this template were presented. As for what actually happens at Dwyer Arena, I'll get to experience it tomorrow myself when Niagara closes out their home schedule against the Air Force Academy. Where I will plan to have a personal evaluation of the Air Force Falcons on-ice look.

-Ricky

A BNG Cup O'Joe

I love old videos and venues in sports, particularly of the late pre-technology age (1982-1998) especially in box lacrosse (which began in 1997). Oft times I wished I was a tad bit older when I had my only sports experience at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium (several circuses and on Buffalo Sabres open practice). There are a few videos that I thought were missing then got to thinking about jerseys, but felt that might not be enough. I then preceded to browse around for scoreboards after determining which ones are new outside of Honda Center and the Air Canada Centre for 2015-16 in the NHL having recently discovered the new board at the latter. This led to Google image searching for something I didn't anticipate to find - dasher board signage from specific arenas through the aforementioned time period. This subsequently prompted me to try the one (then) Major Indoor Lacrosse League arena that had the most accurate signage: the Joe.

Joe Louis Arena was the home to the Detroit Turbos for the teams entire tenure (1989-1994). Until a few years ago, I didn't realize that was the home venue as the then National Professional Soccer League's Detroit Rockers shared the facility before moving to the Palace of Auburn Hills in 1997 where I previously thought the Turbo played throughout their existence. Now that the history lesson is over, let's get to business.

Based on original from Frozen Faceoff.

I only wound up finding two other arenas' dasher boards including the Aud here, the Spectrum in Philadelphia and DC's Capitol Centre - all now demolished. Now for the ideas, I thank our Friends at Frozen Faceoff for the original replication of the dasher board template and Joe Louis Arena scoreboard. Both were altered to reflect the Detroit Turbos tenure. As no photos are immediately available currently, the scoreboard ad accuracy is unverifiable (though likely inaccurate). I figured that this was a stupendous change of pace and encouraged me to revisit something that may jog your BNG memory. Tomorrow, we will  unveil that topic.

-Ricky

2016 NLL Picks and Power Rankings: Week 8

On Saturday, history repeated itself. On Saturday March 4, 2006 (a gam I attended) John Tavares in the second quarter broke the all-time point-scoring record (then held by Gary Gait). Buffalo lost that game, Minnesota's first ever win against the Bandits home or road. Minnesota won one more game in Buffalo in 2009 before finally winning at home in 2012. In Minnesota during the 2014 season, the Swarm won the only game contested in overtime between the two. Two nights ago, Anthony Cosmos needed forty saves. He broke that record and got a standing ovation, but was pulled early in the fourth quarter after the first five goals in a row in a ten Georgia goal final frame. It would be wise to note that at the end of the third quarter, it appeared as though Cosmo re-tweaked his previous injury and was down for a short period of time. Many penalties were given in this game and as many as four Swarm players and three Bandits were in their respective penalty boxes at the same time near the end of the first period.

So for the first time as the Georgia Swarm, on an NLL record-setting night by a Bandit in Buffalo, the visitors defeated the Thieves (which I also attended). Georgia had a flat opening second period, but did well compared to last weekends home thrashing by Buffalo. Buffalo also lost a tighter affair the precious night north of the border as their QEW rival Toronto Rock earned (and I mean earned) their first win of the season, in which Buffalo wore their throwback uniforms with the players names across the side panels. Not surprisingly, A very entertaining second game in Saskatchewan gave the host Rush a win over Rochester. The weekend was topped off by an overtime winner by Corey Small for the Vancouver Stealth to beat the Calgary Roughnecks and surely one of the more memorable games that will be held at the LEC in Langley.

Week 8:

    

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Weekly Total: 2/4

Season Total: 22/32 (.688%)
*Away team is above the home team; underline below arrow indicates correct pick.

Week 9:

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Week 8:
1. (3) SASKATCHEWAN - Starting to find good home form.
2. (2) COLORADO - Big test against seemingly surging Stealth.
3. (5) GEORGIA -  Definitely were out for revenge this week.
4. (4) CALGARY - Last season's start a distant memory, but repeated by TO.
5. (1) BUFFALO - Alex Kedoh Hill and the Great Dhane shining points aside from Cozzy's new building record.
6. (7) NEW ENGLAND - The two early season surprises meet again, but New England has the fresh legs.
7. (8) VANCOUVER - Big win for the Stealth an a showdown to be remembered in franchise history.
8. (9) TORONTO - Finally cracked goose egg; Rose even got a goal from his own crease though his intent is up for debate.
9. (6) ROCHESTER - Tough road loss  for first game in SaskTel don't gain much ground on anyone.
View Brian Shanahan's picks on IL Indoor.

-Ricky

An' Itchin' for a Stitchin'

As I was attending last nights Bandits game, I was reminded of how the jerseys are stitched by Projoy (now a division of Reebok). But what I never realized is that my template was inaccurate. I have made the necessary correction to accommodate accordingly.

The big change from before was that the shoulder yoke is not a two-piece as the previous version had suggested. In stead each half of the yoke is split somewhere at the collar on both the front and back. This would also require me to move the Projoy logo to a slightly lower position on the back. In addition I noticed that some of the stitching to reflect the inside of the uniform on the front was missing. You can now accurately use this template and find it in the templates tab. It will include a laced version as well as a stitched laces version. Have fun with that.

-Ricky

More Thievery

It has been unusual still to go to a game or watch online to see the NLL's Buffalo Bandits wearing such unusual uniforms compared to the ones leading the procession. I had difficulty as to how to approach the modern jerseys in order to improve them. I don't like them and have been more traditional, as the team has been over the course of time. I did keep some elements like the championship stripes in the collar and the sublimated "B" in the side panels. But the sleeves were going to be the trickiest.

I came to the conclusion that I needed to take from the Mammoth and Stealth. Both teams have their full names near the cuffs, but Colorado uses a gradient on the sleeves (as well as the side panels, but almost half the league used them in 2013 in some capacity - Calgary, Edmonton, and Philadelphia). While the home white looks a bit plain, I designed this set with the intent of the future in mind rather than just this season with anniversary patches. This set also matches most of the specialty jerseys of late - particularly those for St. Patrick's Day games. And just like that, I've made a attempt to fix the home and road from 2013 and beyond.

-Ricky

Caution: Rapids Ahead

One of my favorite logos of all time, was the cap insignia of the International League's Norfolk Tides in Triple-A Baseball. Once again, they will return for a fantasy team. "But you just said that the Express from last year were changing their look..." Yes , but while that's true that we deserted the alternate logo of the IL's Syracuse Chiefs, we used this the season prior but is now being used for a separate team (also through ESPN) that was confirmed earlier today.

The identity and branding will be retained from the team now known as the Express. For internal purposes, the team will play its "home games" at Sal Magglie Stadium inn Niagara Falls. Since I hadn't previously done so due to ;\lack of decent available baseball templates for the type of jersey my teams would be emblazoned in, I had yet to showcase the identity's on-field look. I hope that you will get to see how I envisioned this team, but until then, you have the above to comfort you.

-Ricky

Thievery Unlimited

As I am embedded in an indoor lacrosse community, I was disappointed when I broke to you this season's home and road jerseys for the NLL's Buffalo Bandits. While the throwback jersey is appropriate, I though that since that was revisited five years ago that we could alter it slightly. 

The initial jersey has stayed the same with the exception of replacing the original logo with the primary anniversary logo. A patch of the alternate anniversary logo is used as a shoulder patch. I decided to use the mascot as the jersey identifier. Otherwise, it's business as usual.

-Ricky

2016 NLL Picks and Power Rankings: Week 7

Mammoth are continuing a good run of form as all of the West game were played on Friday and Saturday. Safe to say they are the best team at the moment Despite Toronto's start, it won't be as easy to get a playoff spot given the improvement of Georgia and New England and that there is an extra team in their division.

Week 7:

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Weekly Total: 4/5

Season Total: 19/28 (.679%)
*Away team is above the home team; underline below arrow indicates correct pick.

Week 8:

    

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Week 7:
1. (1) BUFFALO - First time to eclipse 20 in a while...
2. (3) COLORADO - Mammoth want the division this year badly.
3. (2) SASKATCHEWAN - .14 and 0 start in 2014 and last year's trophy starting to wear the team out?
4. (6) NEW ENGLAND - Toronto has been desperate to break goose-egg, but the Pack didn't make it easy and held on to win.
5. (5) CALGARY - Retooling starting to take a back-seat at the moment.
6. (8) ROCHESTER - Got a legitimate scare from improved Stealth.
7. (4) GEORGIA - Saw some fight after Bandits 7 goal run, can still keep heads high, despite another lackluster Gurts interview with John Arlotta.
8. (7) VANCOUVER - I see a playoff team that has potential, still far away unless Calgary struggles to any extent like last year.
9. (9) TORONTO - Fought back and haven't shook off the proverbial monkey.
View Brian Shanahan's picks on IL Indoor.

-Ricky