The 2006

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

season was the 20th season in the history of the league, which began as the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League in 1987. The season began on December 30, 2005 and concluded with the championship game on May 13, 2006. The defending champion

Toronto Rock The Toronto Rock are a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the North Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team was the first Canadian franchise in the NLL. ...

were once again the favourite to win the Champions' Cup, but a slow start plus a dismal performance in the semifinal game against Rochester removed the Rock from contention. The

Colorado Mammoth The Colorado Mammoth are a box lacrosse team playing in the National Lacrosse League. The Mammoth have played at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, since the 2003 season. They are owned by Stan Kroenke, who is also the owner of the Colorado Avalanch ...

, under first-year head coach Gary Gait, won their first title since winning the first ever title in 1987, as the Baltimore Thunder. Highly touted Portland rookie

Brodie Merrill Brodie Merrill (born November 5, 1981) is a Canadian professional lacrosse player. He currently plays in the National Lacrosse League for the San Diego Seals and Premier Lacrosse League for the Cannons. Merrill is recognized by the Premier Lacross ...

lived up to his hype, winning both the

Defensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY or DPOTY) is the name of an award given in sports for outstanding defensive play by a single player over the course of a season. Many sports leagues award this type of award. League awards for Defensive Player o ...

and the Rookie of the Year awards. Portland continued its domination of the post-season awards with

Derek Keenan Derek Keenan (born October 2, 1961, in Oshawa, Ontario) is a former lacrosse player, and current head coach and general manager of the Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League. Keenan has won the NLL GM of the Year award and the Les Bartle ...

, himself a former Rookie of the Year Award winner (1992 with Buffalo), winning both the

Les Bartley Award The Les Bartley Award is given annually to the National Lacrosse League head coach of the year. The award was simply called the Head Coach of the Year award until 2004, when the award was renamed in honour of Les Bartley, the most successful coach i ...

for coach of the year and the GM of the Year Award, and owner

Angela Batinovich Angela Batinovich is an American businesswoman, notable for being the youngest owner of a professional U.S. sports team. She is the creator of "Bat's Daughter", a line of women's clothing. Her father, Robert Batinovich, is a successful real estate ...

winning the Executive of the Year Award.

Team movement

The season featured the debut of two expansion teams; the

Edmonton Rush The Edmonton Rush were a professional lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) that played from 2006 NLL season to 2015. The team announced on July 20, 2015, that they would be relocating to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for the 2016 sea ...

and the Portland LumberJax, both in the Western Division. Portland beat the expansion team odds and won its division, finishing with an 11–5 record, while Edmonton did not fare so well. The Rush finished the season 1–15, their only win coming at the hands of their provincial rivals, the Calgary Roughnecks. Before the 2006 season, the

Anaheim Storm The Anaheim Storm was a member of the National Lacrosse League. They played at the Arrowhead Pond, now the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California. They were the New Jersey Storm from the 2002 season to 2003. Starting for the 2004 season the tea ...

folded not being able to attract enough fans in their two years in Southern California moving from their original home of New Jersey after the 2003 season where, for two seasons, they were not able to attract enough fans.

Milestones

*February 18: John Tavares tied Gary Gait for the all-time record in points, with 1091, as the Buffalo Bandits defeated the

Minnesota Swarm The Minnesota Swarm was a box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League who played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota from 2004 until 2015. The team's previous owners (Minnesota Sports & Entertainment) who also own the NHL's M ...

14–9. *March 4: Tavares sets a new NLL record for career points, scoring his 1092nd point in an 11–8 loss to the Swarm.

Final standings

Regular season

''Toronto won the 3-way tiebreaker with Minnesota and Philadelphia''

Playoffs

All-Star game

The 2006 All-Star Game was held at the

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Rap ...

in Toronto, Ontario on February 25, 2006. The West Division defeated the East Division 14–13. The MVP of the game was

Lewis Ratcliff Lewis Ratcliff (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional lacrosse player. Originally from London, England, Ratcliff moved to Victoria at the age of 7. NLL career Ratcliff was drafted 49th overall by the Calgary Roughnecks in the 2001 NLL ...

of the Calgary Roughnecks, who scored 4 goals, including the game winner. This marked the second straight year that a Roughneck player was All-Star Game MVP, with

Tracy Kelusky Tracey Kelusky (born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian former lacrosse player and current head coach of Panther City LC. Kelusky played for the Columbus Landsharks, Montreal Express, Calgary Roughnecks, Buffalo Bandits and Philadelphia Wings. Whi ...

having won it in 2005.

All-Star teams

Awards

Annual

All-Pro Teams

First Team * Colin Doyle, Toronto *

John Grant, Jr. John Christopher Grant Jr. (born November 7, 1974) is a Hall of Fame professional lacrosse player who has played in Major League Lacrosse, the National Lacrosse League, and the Ontario Lacrosse Association. Grant Jr. was named men's lacrosse Offen ...

, Rochester *

, Portland * Gavin Prout, Colorado * Josh Sanderson, Toronto *

Steve Dietrich Steve "Chugger" Dietrich (born February 18, 1970 in Kitchener, Ontario) is the General Manager of the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. Dietrich is also a NLL Hall of Fame goaltender who has played with the Calgary Roughnecks, Buf ...

, Buffalo Second Team *

Craig Conn Craig Conn (born November 16, 1983 in St. Catharines, Ontario) is a former professional lacrosse player. High school career Conn was a four-year starter at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in St. Catharines from 1997 to 2001. During those y ...

, Arizona *

Dan Dawson Dan Dawson (born December 11, 1981) is a Canadian professional lacrosse player for the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League, Brampton Excelsiors (MSL) of Major Series Lacrosse, and is currently a free agent in Major League Lacrosse. Daws ...

, Arizona *

Jay Jalbert Jay Jalbert (born October 6, 1977) is an American Hall of Fame lacrosse player who had a standout collegiate career at the University of Virginia and then went on to play professional lacrosse in Major League Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse L ...

, Colorado *

, Calgary * John Tavares, Buffalo * Nick Patterson, Minnesota

All-Rookie Team

, Portland * Sean Greenhalgh, Philadelphia * Dan Carey, Colorado *

Jeff Zywicki Jeff Zywicki (born April 8, 1981) is a former professional lacrosse player from Ottawa, Ontario. He played college lacrosse at UMass. He was drafted 8th overall by the San Jose Stealth in the 2005 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft. He also pl ...

, San Jose * Shawn Evans, Rochester *

Luke Wiles Luke Wiles (born August 28, 1982) is a Canadian lacrosse player who plays forward for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League. Wiles was named to the 2006 NLL All-Rookie Team. Junior career Wiles had an outstanding junior career o ...

, San Jose

Weekly awards

The NLL gives out awards weekly for the best overall player, best offensive player, best defensive player, and best rookie.

Monthly awards

Awards are also given out monthly for the best overall player and best rookie.

Statistics leaders

Bold numbers indicate new single-season records. ''Italics'' indicate tied single-season records.

References

External links

Standings from pointstreak.com
* ttp://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/goalieleaders.html?leagueid=230&seasonid=977 Goalie Leaders from pointstreak.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Nll Season 06