Schemenauer’s Random Thoughts: Summer Lacrosse and NLL Discipline

My random thoughts…

We may have just went through a bye week before the NLL finals, but that doesn’t mean lacrosse news stops.  

The RMLL

The RMLL Junior A season kicked off this weekend with the Edmonton Miners winning in two close games on the road in Calgary and Okotoks.  Saskatchewan starts its season next weekend with a triple header at home against Calgary.  Yes, triple header.

The RMLL is a far different league than Ontario and BC because of the distance between teams.  Edmonton is a 2.5 hour drive from Calgary and a 5.5 hour drive to Saskatoon.  Saskatoon and Calgary are 7 hours apart by bus.  Because of this, all games except those between Calgary and Okotoks are played on weekends, and you typically play a double header or triple header to cut down on travel costs.

This also makes it difficult for scouts to watch teams because of the distance involvedIf scouts want to come see every team on one weekend, there’s two weekends of the season where both Edmonton and Saskatchewan travel to Calgary on the same weekend and they play both Calgary and Okotoks once that weekend.

It’s a tough go in the RMLL with just four teams, and one team in the SWAT that hasn’t been competitive since the pre-COVID days of Laine Hruska in net.  Last year the SWAT finished with two wins and one tie, although those two wins came as defaults due to the Miners failing to get the proper paperwork in for a few BC transfers (the SWAT lost those two games 17-4 and 15-3).  Its going to be difficult for them to get out of the basement this year too, but hopefully we see some improvement.

The RMLL has always been overlooked.  Even the Miners’ near miss at the Minto a few years ago may have changed that perception a little, and with more NLL players coming out of the RMLL, you can’t overlook it any longer, but it still has the reputation of being a minor league to Ontario and BC.  Perhaps another run to the Minto final, or even winning the whole thing, will finally change that perception this year.

Speaking of Junior A, a big thank you to the OJLL for putting out a number of games on sponsored free stream this summer.  In May alone, they’re going to be streaming seven games in two weeks.  Make sure to follow their channel on YouTube and tune in.  Not only is this great for lacrosse fans, its also great for the kids playing, as they’ll have that much more exposure to scouts from the NLL and NCAA.

Let’s hope more summer leagues and national championships follow the same pattern.

The Suspension

It was interesting to see the fan feedback from last week’s Random Thoughts that some fans were skeptical that Austin Staats would be suspended for long, if at all, whereas others were passionate that a lengthy suspension was necessary.

Its unfortunate that the NLL stopped issuing the disciplinary report to the media a few years ago.  It gave us direct insight as to who was disciplined and a detailed breakdown on not only suspensions, but also majors and game misconducts that could accumulate later in the season towards a suspension or fine.  Today, its far more difficult to even hear about what occurred for disciplinary action. 

Doubt over any action against Staats ahead of time came mostly from no league announcement being made about the disciplinary action taken against David Brock and Jake Withers.  This type of disclosure should be made for the benefit of both the hardcore fans and those betting on games, so they have full information as to whether or not a player is available due to disciplinary action.

On Thursday, the announcement came down that Staats was suspended for 7 games at the start of next season due to his actions in game 2 of the semi-finals. 

Editors note: A recap of the act and suspension, including quotes from Head Coach Glenn Clark and player Anthony Joaquim was written by Mark Singelais of the Albany Times Union. It can be found here.

The number of games isn’t pulled out of thin air.  It’s a bit of a math equation adding up a number of rules.  I don’t know exactly how it was added up, but I can use some reverse engineering to get close. Here is my best guess.

• Match penalty for the cross check to the head (2 games)
• 1 game suspension for a match penalty in the last game of the season (rule 41.3)
• 2 game suspension for a match penalty repeat offender under rule 41.4
• Major for the dangerous body check in the 3^rd quarter, major for the punches thrown on Joaquim and a game misconduct for two majors in a game.  The game misconduct carries a 1 game suspension on its own under rule 40.4, game misconduct in the last game of the season.
• An additional major under rule 38.1 for a major in the last 5 minutes of the game.  This isn’t actually assessed by the referees on the floor, its an administrative major for the purposes of an accumulation of majors in a year.
• Two additional game misconducts issued for administrative purposes under rule 40.1.  Staats has 3 majors in this game (one administrative) plus two others earlier.  An additional administrative game misconduct is added at 3 non-fighting majors in one season.  A second additional game misconduct is added at five majors in a season.
• Staats now has three game misconducts this season, one on the floor and two for accumulation of majors, which adds one game to the suspension.

Not surprisingly, the NLLPA appealed the suspension.  This too made many core fans weary of the process, given that Greg Harnett’s lengthy suspension was never appealed, and Callum Crawford’s suspension under the same previous repeat offender rule was reduced. 

Some fans are skeptical that the seven game suspension will actually happen.  And they do have a point.

If we look at past NLLPA (PLPA) appeals, the most likely argument in favour of reducing the number of games is whether 7 games is excessive for a cross check that did not result in an injury.

Also, the NLLPA will question whether that cross-check should deny a player the ability to earn a paycheque for just shy of 40% of next season.  The NLLPA is obviously also concerned with the precedent that is set for future incidents.

Only four of the 7 games in the suspension actually come from the act itself.

The other three games of the suspension come from two separate applications of the last game of the season rule and a maze of rule applications that gets Staats to three game misconducts on the year.  Yes, that’s what the rule book says, but is it proper to use every single accumulation factor possible to extend the suspension as far as allowable?

We will have to wait and see what the arbitrator ultimately decides.

The Price of the Prezzy

This is a story that came out several weeks ago but I haven’t had the time to reflect on it.  The Presidents’ Cup will take place in Ladner, BC this summer.  It may be for the Sr B championship, but with the money being thrown around at Sr B the last several years, most of the competitive teams are filled with NLL players.  Each association, whether it be provincial or First Nation, has the ability to send one team to the national finals.

The news came out that the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux are putting together a Saskatchewan team that features the likes of Jeff Shattler, Shawn Evans and Curtis Dickson.  Saskatchewan hasn’t sent a team to the Prezzy for a while now.  The Saskatoon Brewers went for a few years, but after repeatedly being blown out by 20+ goals by the top teams, there wasn’t much motivation to continue.

Standing Buffalo is a First Nation located an hour north-east of Regina.  They’ve had a significant lacrosse program at Standing Buffalo long before the days of the Rush, and even went so far as to have a small town hockey arena converted into a year round lacrosse facility.  When Jeff Shattler started playing for the Rush, Standing Buffalo soon hired him as the director of player development for their program, which ultimately became one of the foundational pieces to what today is the Shattler Lacrosse Academy.

If you wonder why Evans who is based in Peterborough and Dickson who’s based on the west coast would play for Standing Buffalo, the key is that you only have to play in four regular season games to qualify to play for the team at the Prezzy.  Several other Sr B teams deploy the same strategy with their NLL players.

Clearly the best Sr B players in Saskatchewan will form the core of the team and I expect more NLL talent will be added to the roster with time to give Standing Buffalo a fighting chance.  This on its own will give the Fighting Sioux a fairly easy path to the provincial Sr B title and that spot in the Prezzy.

The question then becomes whether all this money and all these NLL’ers playing in Sr B is a good thing or not.  Clearly it brings a larger viewing audience once the Prezzy rolls around.  And it also brings about the question as to what is fair.

If you look at BC, Ladner has dominated the league for several years now.  In 2019, they lost two games.  Last season it was one loss and the year before that, they had a perfect record.  In that same timeframe, the league has contracted from 7 teams to 5.  This season is a bit different in that Ladner is the host so a second BC team will go to the Prezzy.  But it has to be demoralizing to most teams that you start the season knowing you’re playing for second place, because you have no chance against players that should be playing in the WLA.

But then there’s the case of the Edmonton Miners.  Yes, once again you have several NLL players on that roster.  The difference is that there is no Sr A league in Alberta, so for the guys living in Edmonton and Calgary, Sr B is the best available league they have in the summer.  And keep in mind the number of NLL players from Alberta keeps growing.  Its not equitable for them if there was an NLL player ban or cap put in place for Sr B because those players don’t have an alternative league to play in.  But its also not equitable for Edmonton to come to the Prezzy with a ton of NLL talent and not allow others to match that.

One thought that came to mind was whether a spending cap needs to be in place, but that in itself is fraught with problems, the least of which is I can’t fault the players for wanting to make as much as they can, given what their NLL salaries are.  Having the ability to earn a decent paycheque and put very little wear and tear on your body during the NLL offseason is something attractive to many players.

Its tough to say what the solution for all this heavy spending in Sr B is, but its certainly detracting from the original intent of Sr B lacrosse.

Lots of Lacrosse to Enjoy

While we’re going to have two NLL finals games this holiday weekend in Canada, there’s plenty of other lacrosse to watch not only this weekend, but in the weeks to come.  Junior A and B have begun or is about to start.  The WLA, MSL and PLL seasons aren’t far off from starting.

The NCAA quarterfinals take place this weekend.  Its unfortunate that no Canadian outlet shows the NCAA playoffs and we’re all sent scrambling to find a way to watch north of the border.  The possibility exists of an all-ACC championship weekend, which will be quite the battle if it happens.  When I was watching several of the opening round games this past weekend, but especially the Virginia versus St. Joe’s matchup, just how many NLL draft picks and prospects for this draft were playing.

And maybe the most important for me… getting to watch Vasyli’s field lacrosse games every Tuesday night.

Make sure to take it in and enjoy.

Until next time…