2010 NLL Championship Preview

By Tom Hoffman

The last two are standing and only one will be able to call themselves National Lacrosse League champions. Saturday night at 10:30 ET the Toronto Rock will face the Washington Stealth at the Comcast Arena in Everett, WA live on the NLL Network and on TSN in Canada. Versus will show the game Sunday afternoon at 2 PM.

How they got here

Toronto defeated the Orlando Titans last Saturday 15-10 at Amway Arena. The Rock trailed 5-4 at halftime before outscoring the Titans 7-1 in the third quarter to take control of the game. Kasey Beirnes's three goals led a balanced Toronto offense while Bob Watson made 38 saves. Washington took a 9-6 lead into the final quarter against Edmonton but the Rush would not go quietly into the night scoring five of the seven goals in the final 15 minutes to force overtime. The extra stanza would only last eight seconds as the Stealth's Paul Rabil scored the game winner to send Washington to the title game.

Playoff History

Back in 2002 when the Stealth were known as the Albany Attack, the teams met at Albany's Pepsi Arena in that season's Championship Game, won by Toronto 13-12. Six players from that game are on the playoff rosters for this year's tilt. Colin Doyle (the 2002 Championship MVP), Bob Watson, Sandy Chapman and Blaine Manning all played for the Rock that evening while Phil Sanderson and Cam Woods suited up for the Attack.

Stats and Stuff

Washington (211) and Toronto (197) were the NLL's top two scoring teams in 2010. Washington's Lewis Ratcliff finished second in the league in scoring while the Rock's Bob Watson led the NLL in lowest goals against average. The top three playoff goals scorers are the Stealth's Rhys Duch and Jeff Zywicki (eight each) and Toronto's Stephan Leblanc (seven). Leblanc is the NLL's 2010 Rookie of the Year while Duch took home the award last season. Washington's Chris Hall shared Coach of the Year honors with Edmonton's Derek Keenan. Toronto has won five NLL titles trailing only Philadelphia (six).

The pick

Both teams were boosted by their preseason trade sending Doyle back to Toronto with Ratcliff heading West to Washington. Regardless of who wins both teams can be considered winners of that trade. Washington has a good exciting young squad but only Ratcliff has an NLL ring (Calgary, 2004). Toronto brings a ton of championship experience as Doyle and Watson have played on all five of the Rock's title teams while Chapman, Manning and Sanderson were all part of the Rock's last NLL championship in 2005. The fan in me is pulling for the Stealth as a championship could go a long way towards boosting a fan base that has been slow to embrace this franchise (Albany, San Jose and Everett). The gut, however, seems to tell me this one's going North of the Border.

Toronto 14 Washington 12