Craig Conn manning the gate at Salmonbellies' game
For those of you who have been wondering about what Craig Conn has been up to since sustaining his devastating
knee injury last summer, he was manning the gate at Thursday night's game against the Timbermen. I don't know if he'll be doing that all season, but it was nice to see him out there supporting the Salmonbellies.
Labels: Craig Conn, lacrosse
Salmonbelly trivia
There's a two-page spread in my local paper today on the Senior Salmonbellies. This year's write-ups are filled with little bits of trivia and some are downright funny:
Craig Conn-Who knew he was an avid cricket player?
Ian Hawksbee is a Bobby Vinton trivia buff and his left pinky and ring finger are webbed.
Kyle Ross's favourite musical instrument is a rotary-valve flugelhorm.
Jamie Floris "once lost a bet when he became convinced that Steve Goodwin wore a toupee"
Kevin Lunnie has twelve toes.
Honest, I'm not making this stuff up!
Labels: Craig Conn, Ian Hawksbee, Jamie Floris, Kevin Lunnie, Kyle Ross, lacrosse, Salmonbellies
Salmonbellies take another hit
So, not only are the Salmonbellies without
Craig Conn for the 2008 season, but top scorer Athan Ianucci has decided to play for the
St. Regis Indians in Cornwall, Ontario, according to
this article.
Salmonbellies' GM Dan Richardson likens the situation to "getting hit with a 2x4." I'm sure a lot of fans (and players) feel the same way.
Labels: Athan Iannucci, Craig Conn, New Westminster Salmonbellies, St. Regis Indians
The rumour mill
Well, I heard today from a pretty reliable source that Craig Conn will be sitting out again this season. He's still recovering from the
knee injury he sustained last August.
Labels: Craig Conn
Senior Salmonbellies host lacrosse camp
What could be cooler than a lacrosse camp hosted by senior Salmonbellies? From July 7 to 11, the Bellies host their first annual
lacrosse camp for kids. Imagine playing with Athan Iannucci, Craig Conn, and other great players at the Barn. I'll bet there are some pretty excited kids out there just counting down the days.
Labels: Athan Iannucci, Craig Conn, New Westminster Salmonbellies
Smile of the day
I enjoyed this
blog post by someone who has just watched his/her first lacrosse game. By the way, the
Buffalo Bandits is Salmonbelly Craig Conn's new home. He's apparently still out from his knee injury of last summer.
Labels: Buffalo Bandits, Craig Conn, lacrosse, New Westminster Salmonbellies
Craig Conn and the rumour mill
Here's an
interesting thread on Craig Conn's injury and whether or not NLL players should be banned from playing summer ball. I haven't heard anything official about a ban and likely won't. It is, after all, just a chatroom rumour. Still, it's neat getting the perspective of US fans who, sadly, only get to watch NLL games. Of course, I'd like to think that, given the choice between the NLL and the WLA, players like Conn would choose the latter. As far as I'm concerned, summer box lacrosse IS lacrosse.
Labels: Craig Conn, lacrosse, NLL, WLA
More on Craig Conn
Here's a
press release regarding Conn and his injury.
Here's an excerpt:
“In light of this incident, we are deeply concerned about the lack of restrictions in off-season activities in NLL player contracts. The league needs to work to restrict such activities as playing in summer leagues,” Hamley added. “We wish Craig well in his road to recovery and we know we speak for our fans when we say he will be missed this season.”
New Westminster misses Conn this season too. (And please don't change the rules so that Conn and other NLL players can't play in the Canadian league.)
Labels: Craig Conn, lacrosse
Tough times ahead for the Bellies
Things are not looking good for the New Westminster Salmonbellies. Last night's loss of 14-11 was acceptable. They played better than they had been playing and put up a good fight. The final point of the game was a disappointment, though. New West had too many men in the final two minutes of play, which resulted in a penalty shot for the Adanacs. The ball went in, removing any hopes the Bellies may have had about catching up.
Tonight's game, however, saw the Bellies playing poorly again. Final score: 10-6. Defense was pretty much non-existent and offense was weak as well. The team just doesn't seem to have it anymore, which is rather sad. They've fallen apart since Conn was injured. Speaking of Conn, he was there tonight, watching from the sidelines, sporting a Bellies T-shirt and crutches. I wonder how he feels watching the Bellies struggle just to stay in the game.
Labels: Adanacs, Craig Conn, lacrosse, Salmonbellies
More on Thursday's lacrosse game
Here's what the
Newsleader has to say: "There are royal butt kickings and then there’s the Royal City butt kicking the Coquitlam Adanacs administered to the New Westminster Salmonbellies Thursday night." Yup. That's about right.
The Newsleader also provides some clarification on
McEwen's gross misconduct: "Following the fray, Darren McEwen of the Salmonbellies was issued a gross misconduct for abuse of officials, which carries a two-game suspension." Just what the Bellies don't need: no Conn, no Disher, and now no McEwen. Interestingly, we still don't know what McEwen did. I think Ref Radar was just in a bad mood. He lost his temper several times. Heck, when he was leaving the box post-game, a fan yelled out that the bench-clearing brawl was all Radar's fault. Radar looked like he wanted to throw the fan in the penalty box, too.
Labels: Craig Conn, Darren McEwen, gross misconduct, Matt Disher, Ray Durante
About last Wednesday's game...
It was a downer--the
worst Bellies' game of the season. Not only were they missing Conn, but Disher's now out on an injury (back for the finals, if the Bellies get there). And the rest of the team just couldn't get it together. One player who did stand out was
Cory Melville. He was quick on his feet that night, unlike many of the others.
Silly move of the day goes to the Bellies' bench crew, who challenged the length of a Timberman's stick. The stick was legal, earning a delay-of-game penalty for the Salmonbellies--not what you need in the last two minutes of the game when you're trying to catch up.
Nanaimo's big win (the Bellies first home-game loss of the season) has given them
the confidence they need to tie the series. We'll see what happens tonight in Nanaimo.
Labels: Cory Melville, Craig Conn, Matt Disher
Bellies beat the Timbermen
The Bellies played a great game last night against the Nanaimo Timbermen, winning 12-5. I have to admit though, the player of the game was the Timberman goalie, Matt King. He put on an amazing show, twisting and dancing in the net to make almost 50 saves. Disher, on the other hand, had to fend off only half the number of shots.
King appeared visibly tired by the middle of the second period, and we began to wonder why the T-men coaches didn't pull him off for a break. He started to make a few dumb moves, like crushing a Bellies player into the boards behind the net, and getting a penalty for slashing. In the third period, he also looked like he purposely knocked the net off (several times), prompting fans to yell at the ref to give him a delay-of-game penalty. But refs aren't inclined to listen to fans...
Craig Conn got taken away by ambulance last night for a knee injury. From the stands, it was hard to tell what happened exactly. There was some sort of collision with a Nanaimo player, then Conn went to the ground, flopping like a dying fish. Fans couldn't tell who was injured (I ended up asking GM Dan Richardson) and for the longest time we didn't know if it was a neck injury or not. It turned out to be his knee, which will likely keep him away from the game for a long time. I hope it's not as bad as it seemed.
Apart from that, it was a good game, with lots of action. The two teams meet up again today in Nanaimo. I think the T-men are going to come out scrapping.
Labels: Craig Conn, Matt King, Salmonbellies, Timbermen
