The Albany Attack was the name of a franchise which played in the

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 ...

(NLL) from the

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season through the

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season. The Attack played in the former Pepsi Arena in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

(now known as the

Times Union Center The MVP Arena (originally Knickerbocker Arena, and then the Pepsi Arena and Times Union Center) is an indoor arena located in Albany, New York. It is configurable and can accommodate from 6,000 to 17,500 people, with a maximum seating capacity ...

). After the 2003 season, the franchise was sold and moved to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

and renamed the

San Jose Stealth The San Jose Stealth were a member of the National Lacrosse League, the professional box lacrosse league of North America from 2004 NLL season, 2004 until 2009 NLL season, 2009. They played at the HP Pavilion at San Jose, which is also the home of ...

. The current incarnation of the franchise, now owned by

Canucks Sports & Entertainment Canucks Sports & Entertainment, previously known as Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment, is a Canadian sports and entertainment company in Vancouver, British Columbia that owns and operates the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, the Vanc ...

, is the

Vancouver Warriors The Vancouver Warriors are a professional box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League. The team moved from Everett, Washington, for the 2014 NLL season. History The Warriors are based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and play at Rogers Ar ...

Awards and honors

All time record

Playoff results

2001-02 schedule

2002 highlights

The 2002 (called then the 2001–2002) Albany Attack team was the most successful Attack team during the franchise's four years in Albany, New York. It is the only Attack team to have made the NLL playoffs. (Note: The

made the NLL playoffs in their inaugural season,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, as well as the

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and

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seasons.) The team went 14–2 in the regular season winning the Central Division championship, and went 15-3 overall having lost to the Toronto Rock in the 2002 NLL Champion's Cup Game in Albany. * Before the season began, head coach Terry Sanderson left the Albany Attack to become the head coach of the expansion

Montréal Express The Montreal Express was a member of the National Lacrosse League during the 2002 season. They played at the Molson Center in Montreal, Quebec. They were inactive during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The team remained inactive and the franchise wa ...

. He was replaced by

Bob McMahon Bob McMahon is a former head coach in the National Lacrosse League, and currently serves as an assistant coach with the Calgary Roughnecks. Bob McMahon began his professional lacrosse coaching career as an assistant coach with the Detroit Turbos i ...

. * The 2002 season began in Albany on November 16, 2001. On that date, the Albany Attack defeated the expansion New Jersey Storm, who were playing their first game. Storm owner and former NBA star Jayson Williams was in attendance. *With a regular season record of 14–2, and overall record of 15–3, the Albany Attack established new NLL records for most regular season wins and most overall wins. *The Attack finished first in the Central Division, one game ahead of the Rochester Knighthawks who had finished with a regular season record of 13–3, the second best in the NLL that season. Ironically, those two Attack regular season losses were both to Rochester; one game in Albany and another in Rochester. *In the playoffs, the Albany Attack (the #1 seed) had a bye during the first round. They then hosted and defeated the Rochester Knighthawks (the #4 seed), 14–10, in a semifinal game with an attendance of 5074. On Saturday April 13, 2002, the Albany Attack hosted the #2 seed

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. ...

for the Champion's Cup, but they lost to Toronto by a score of 13–12 in front of 9289 fans. *Head Coach Bob McMahon was named NLL Head Coach of the Yearbr>
*Forward Josh Sanderson established a new NLL record for Most Assists (68). (Update: In the

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season, Sanderson, then with the Toronto Rock, broke his own record and accumulated 71 assists.) *Goalie Rob Blasdell was named 2002 Goalie of the Yearbr>
*Forward Josh Sanderson and Goalie Rob Blasdell were selected to the NLL All-Pro First Tea

*Five Albany Attack players were selected to play on the South Team of the 2002 National Lacrosse League All-Star Game, NLL All-Star Game:

Rob Blasdell Rob "Blazer" Blasdell (born May 15, 1970) is a lacrosse goaltender who plays for the Edmonton Rush in the National Lacrosse League. Professional career Blasdell began his career with the Ontario Raiders in 1998, moving with them to Toronto the n ...

(G, starter), Cam Woods (D, starter), Jim Moss (D), Josh Sanderson (F, starter), and Gary Rosyski (F). The head coach of the South Team was the Albany Attack head coach, Bob McMahon.

Attendance problems

For various reasons, the Albany Attack were plagued by poor attendance most of their existence with average attendances in the 3000–4000 range which was not enough for the franchise to be profitable. On June 14, 2001, Albany Attack owner Herb Chorbajian, a banker with CharterOne Bank, and

Albany River Rats The Albany River Rats were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Albany, New York at the Times Union Center. History Before the formation of the franchise Without a viable indoor arena with a ...

owner Walter Robb announced an agreement in which Robb would purchase a minority equity share in the Albany Attack. Given both teams played in the Pepsi Arena, the purpose of the agreement was to establish marketing and promotional synerg

Despite the agreement, the Albany Attack was still not profitable so, throughout the 2002 season, Herb Chorbajian considered selling the Albany Attack. However, the success of the playoffs encouraged him to keep the team for another season. Furthermore, in the summer of 2002, the Albany Attack Pack, the Official Fan Club of the Albany Attack, was created by several fans with hopes of improving attendance. In the 2003 season, according to Albany Attack

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Michael DeRossi, season ticket sales did go up considerably over the previous season, but the marketing effort actually decreased. Furthermore, the Attack went only 2–6 in their first eight games, losing all four home games to that point. While the Attack did have a second half record of 6–2, they never recovered enough to return to the playoffs nor did they have sufficient attendance to be profitable.

Move to San Jose

With no significant improvement in attendance throughout the 2003 season, the Albany Attack were destined to be a financial loss for a fourth consecutive year. During that season, there were numerous rumors that Mr. Chorbajian was going to sell the franchise, in particular to a group from

. On June 9, 2003, the rumors were confirmed when an announcement was made that the Albany Attack franchise was sold and relocated to San Jose, Californi

where it was located until 2009. Mr. Chorbajian retained a share in the franchise. This may no longer be the case as the team has since been resold. During the summer of 2003, the new owners had a "Name the Team Contest" and, on September 16, 2003, the winner, a high school sophomore from San Jose, elected to officially renam

the team the

. On June 17, 2009, the Stealth announced it would be moving to

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

effective immediately. The newly renamed

Washington Stealth The Washington Stealth were a member of the National Lacrosse League, the professional box lacrosse league of North America from the 2010 NLL season through the 2013 NLL season. They were based in Everett (part of the Seattle metropolitan area ...

played their home games at the

Comcast Arena at Everett Angel of the Winds Arena (originally known as Everett Events Center) is a multi-purpose complex in Everett, Washington, United States, designed and developed by the Everett Public Facilities District. It opened in October 2003, with the naming ...

beginning in the 2010 season

Four years later, they relocated again to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, BC, becoming the

Vancouver Stealth The Vancouver Warriors are a professional box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League. The team moved from Everett, Washington, for the 2014 NLL season. History The Warriors are based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and play at Rogers Ar ...

External links

Official Website of the National Lacrosse League
and its Media Guide

( ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091022152413/http://geocities.com/prosportshistory/nllhistory.html Archived2009-10-25)
Outsider's Guide to the National Lacrosse League

National Lacrosse League page at OurSportsCentral.com
{{Defunct NLL Defunct National Lacrosse League teams Sports in Albany, New York Lacrosse teams in New York (state) Lacrosse clubs established in 2000 Lacrosse clubs disestablished in 2003 2000 establishments in New York (state) 2003 disestablishments in New York (state)