2012 NILL Champions Crowned

The 2012 NorthCoast Indoor Lacrosse League wrapped up last Sunday with an upset, some exciting play and an undefeated champion. It was a great way to finish a fun season of lacrosse in northern Minnesota.

Both Team 1 - Honey Badgers and Team 3 - Wieczorek moved on in the first round of the playoffs as the result of forfeits. Unfortunately, the Grand Rapids teams could not make the trip down due to several players missing because of vacation, injury or other reasons. Though they were unable to field teams for the final week of play, their presence in the league this season made the NILL that much better and more fun to play.

The first game of round two pitted the young and feisty Honey Badgers (the Honey Badgers just didn't care, they wanted to play some lacrosse, Honey Badger don't give a sh**! :-) team against the undefeated powerhouse Free Agents who secured the #1 seed in the tournament. The Honey Badgers scored early and played with the Free Agents for awhile until the more experienced team finally warmed up. Once warm, the Free Agents put on a clinic, easily outpacing the Honey Badgers and moving on to the championship game with a convincing 17-7 victory.

Scott Wishart led the way for the Free Agents with 6 goals and an assist.  Bobby Moore scored 4 goals and added an assist, Brandon Nispel and Alex Rogers each had 3 goals and an assist, Xander Hasan added a goal and Brandon Gilseth had an assist for the Free Agents in game 1.

For the Honey Badgers, who saw their season end with the loss, Bryce Holak led the way with 2 goals and an assist, Zack Zierden added two goals, and Dan O'Connell, Jesse Larson and Andy Holak all added a goal.

2012 regular season scoring leader Matt Reeves (L)

Game 2 was the best game of the night, providing an unexpected upset.  Team 3 - Wieczorek played extremely well in a 10-9 upset of #2 seeded Team 2 - Halver.  Team 3 jumped out to an early lead behind goals from Brody Carlson and Silas Wieczorek.  Team 2 kept it close, but by late in the second half, the score was 10-6 in favor of Team 3.  In the last few minutes of the game, Team 2 battled back to cut the lead to one, at 10-9.  One last possession for Team 2 but it was too late and the clock ticked down to 0:00.  The comeback fell just short, and Team 3 moved on to the championship game to face the undefeated Free Agents.

Team 3 was led by Brody Carlson and his 4 goals and one assist.  In support, Silas Wieczorek, Jimmy Bendas and Josh Beery each scored 2 goals apiece.  Team 2 was led by Zach Galo with 3 goals, Steven Halver with 2 goals and an assist, Mitch Smerz and Britton Harris with 2 goals each, and Tyler Kolquist with 2 assists.

2012 NILL Champions - Free Agents

In the first NILL Championship game the Free Agents (8-0) matched up against Team 3 - Wieczorek (3-4-1), coming off a very well played game and looking good.  The final started somewhat sluggishly for each team, but Team 3 played a better first half and took a 5-4 lead into halftime.  In the second half, the Free Agents wore down Team 3 and started to stretch the lead.  With a lead of 7 at one point in the second half and several unanswered goals for the Free Agents, Team 3 got hot near the end, but it was too late and the Free Agents were crowned the first NILL champions with a 14-9 victory over Team 3.

Brandon Nispel led the way in the championship game with 4 goals.  Scott Wishart added 3 goals and 5 assists, Brandon Gilseth had 2 goals and 2 assists, Bobby Moore had a goal and an assist, and Xander Hasan, Mike Feldstein, Alex Rogers, and Matt Kampmeyer each scored a goal for the champs.

NILL Runners Up - Team 3 - Wieczorek

Brody Carlson again led Team 3 with 3 goals and 2 assists while Jimmy Bendas added 2 goals and 3 assists, Silas Wieczorek scored a goal and added an assist, and Kyle Limoseth, Josh Beery and Ian Wieczorek all added a goal.

It was a great first season for the NILL with excellent lacrosse, clean play for the most part and clear improvement from the first game to the last for the high school players.  If the turf is again available for next season, we would like to start the league in December and add a couple games to the season.  Also, we are considering a summer 7 v.7 league with a very similar format to the indoor league, but played outdoors.  8-10 game season plus playoffs, one game per week.  Let me know if you'd be interested in a summer league like this.  Thanks to all who participated!

NILL Playoff Notes

We're heading into our playoff weekend this Sunday and we have notes regarding our playoff schedule and format. 

Please note the game times for our first playoff games on Sunday.  Playoff game one between #6 seed Team 5 and #3 seed Team 3 is at 10:00 a.m. and the second game between #5 seed Team 4 and #4 seed Team 1 is at 11:00 a.m.  
 Additional playoff notes:

For playoffs, you will not be able to add new fill in players to your roster.  The rules state that you may add fill-in players permanently to your roster by the 4th game of the season.  Most importantly, you will not be allowed to have fill-in players from other NILL teams participate on your team during the playoffs.  Only players currently listed on your team will be allowed to participate on your team during the playoffs.

IF you have a player that suffered a season ending injury that occurred AFTER the 4th game of the season, you may add another player to your roster for the playoffs.  This issue has come up for the Honey Badgers.  The regular Honey Badgers goalie suffered a torn ACL and will not be able to play during the playoffs.  The Honey Badgers would like to add one of the current players Fathers to play goalie for the playoffs.  He has never played lacrosse or goalie in his life but gave it a try last week and had a lot of fun.  If anyone has an objection to the addition of this emergency goalie due to a season ending injury to the regular goalie, please let me know.

Also, for the playoffs, overtime rules are a bit different.  During league playoffs, if after one 3 minute overtime period neither team scores during the sudden victory overtime, a sudden victory Braveheart will be played until the game is decided. First team that scores during the Braveheart period, wins. In Braveheart, each team will have one field player and one goalie.

Let's get ready for the playoffs and the final games of the NILL season.

IMPORTANT - Playoff Schedule Change

Please note, there is an important schedule change for our early playoff games on Sunday.  Our first game #6 seed Team 5 taking on #3 seed Team 3 is at 10:00 a.m. and #5 seed Team 4 taking on #4 seed Team 1 at 11:00 a.m.  These game times are an hour earlier than reported on our website previously.

Exciting Games Close out First NILL Regular Season

Our last weekend of games proved to be one of the most exciting of the inaugural NILL season.  We had our first tie of the season and more than one game decided by one goal.

In our first game of the night, Team 3 - Wieczorek and Team 4 - Grand Rapids battled to a 13-13 tie.  Three goals were scored, one to tie the game, one to give Team 3 the lead and another to tie it back up by Team 4, within the span of several seconds to end the game.  Neither team could tally a goal in the overtime period and the game ended in the first tie of the season.  It was an exciting back and forth game.

Brody Carlson led the way for Team 3, keeping them in the game with 6 goals.  He finished the night with 9 goals.  Kyle Limoseth added 4 goals and an assist on the night, while Ian Wieczorek scored 3 goals and added 2 assists, Silas Wieczorek scored 2 goals, Kyle Hansen had 1 goal and 2 assists, Josh Beery scored 1 goal and added 1 assist,  and Jimmy Bendas put in one goal.  Goalie T.J. Vallie stopped 15 shots on the night.

For Team 4 - Grand Rapids, Joey Keating had the hot hand in game one tallying 5 goals and finishing with 6 on the night while contributing an assist.  Tanner Kemppainen scored 4 goals on the night, Ben Dunnell added 3 goals and an assist, Jackson Schwartz scored 2 goals, Zach Brist added 2 goals and Doug Jensen contributed a goal.  Goalie Tyler Altringer made 13 saves on the night.

Game 2 saw the young Honey Badgers team pick up the close win by a 7-5 score over Team 5 - Grand Rapids.   This was another exciting back and forth game.  The Honey Badgers, despite missing star goaltender Mike Vuchetich, out for the season with a torn ACL, finished the day with two wins.  In game 1, old man Andy Holak led the way with 3 goals.  On the day, Dan O'Connell led the team with 5 goals and 2 assists, Bryce Holak finished with 4 goals and 1 assist, Zack Zierden led the team in game 2 and finished the day with 4 goals, and Jesse Larson and Beau Holappa each contributed an assist and some nifty passing.  On defense, Alex Hnatko and August Cadotte led the way with 3 caused turnovers each and 7 and 6 ground balls respectively.  It should be noted that the Honey Badgers finished the season with the second fewest goals given up in the league due in large part to their young defenseman and stellar goalie play.

Honey Badger emergency goalie Pat O'Connell

Speaking of goalies, the Honey Badgers finished the night with a new tender in the cage.  Pat O'Connell, Father of Dan, manned the goal for the Honey Badgers in game 2 and stopped 10 shots with some great saves.  The elder O'Connell, having never played lacrosse or goalie in his life, played extremely well and will be serving as the Honey Badgers emergency goalie in the playoffs due to the season ending injury to team goalie Mike Vuchetich.

Team 5 - Grand Rapids was led by sharpshooter Christian Higginbotham who netted 4 goals.  Zach Beyer and Nick Rae each added 3 goals and Kirk Watson and Brad Sandeen also each added a goal.  Kirk Watson continued his strong play on defense with 4 caused turnovers and picked up 6 ground balls.  Team 5's goalie played well finishing the night with 12 saves.

In one of the more exciting games of the night our two top teams faced off in game three and it came down to one goal with Team 6 - Free Agents prevailing by a score of 16-15 over Team 2 - Halver.  The Free Agents led the entire way, but Team 2 kept cutting the lead and keeping it close behind goals from Matt Reeves who led all scorers in the game with 7.  The Free Agents were led by Brandon Nispel who finished with 4 goals and 1 assist in the game.  On the day, the Free Agents were led in scoring by Brandon Gilseth who put in 6 goals and added 7 assists, while Bobby Moore scored 4 goals and added 7 assists, Scott Wishart added 4 goals and 3 assists, Steve Lokken scored 4 goals and contributed 2 assists, Alex Rogers added 2 goals, Matt Koppang scored a goal and had an assist and Gage Kuhlmey scored 1 goal.  The defense was led by strong play from both Matt Kampmeyer and Matt Koppang who each had 7 caused turnovers on the day.  The Free Agents finished with the #1 scoring defense, giving up the fewest goals in the league.  They also led the league in scoring, finishing just one goal ahead of high scoring Team 2 - Halver.

For Team 2 - Halver, NILL scoring leader Matt Reeves tallied 10 goals on the day and added 2 assists, while Cooper Carlson added 4 goals and an assist, Steven Halver scored 3 goals and added 2 assists, Zach Galo scored 2 goals and added an assist, Britton Harris put in 1 goal and contributed 4 assists with some nice passing, and Tyler Kolquist and Evan Jamar each added a goal and an assist.  Seamus Mackinaw led the defense with 8 caused turnovers.

Game 4 between Team 2 and Team 5 may have been one of the best of the night with both teams battling the entire game.  Despite some heated play which will need to be toned down next week, the game was well played and close with Team 2 coming out ahead by one goal by a score of 9-8.  Game 5 saw the Honey Badgers prevail over Team 4 in a game that was much closer than the score of 10-6 would indicate.  The final game of the night saw the Free Agents take a close 11-8 win over Team 3 who played very well.

It was a fun night of lacrosse.  Next week we start our playoffs with #6 seed Team 5 taking on #3 seed Team 3 at 10:00 a.m. and #5 seed Team 4 taking on #4 seed Team 1 at 11:00 a.m..  Winners of those games will take on #1 seeded Team 6 and #2 seeded Team 2 at 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. respectively.  Our championship game will be played at 6:00 p.m.  More information on playoffs will be in a separate post.

Back in Action Doubleheader Sunday Highlights

It was another great night of lacrosse last Sunday for our second week of doubleheader action.  Finally back from a long layoff due to DECC scheduling conflicts and an unanticipated cancellation of games the previous week caused by another DECC conflict, it was a long night with the last game ending at about 10:15 p.m. with a shortened 2nd half of only 17:00 minutes.  Due to the previous weeks games being canceled, next weeks slate of games will also be doubleheaders.

Team 6 - Free Agents remained undefeated despite missing several of their players.  With a solid corps of fill-in players, the Free Agents were able to defeat Team 1 - Honey Badgers and Team 5 - Grand Rapids.  In the first game, the young Honey Badgers kept it close at the start behind a hot hand by scoring star Dan O' Connell (7 goals in game 1) before faltering.  Final score 16-11 Free Agents.  In game 2, a 19-9 win over Team 5, Scott Wishart had a stellar game dishing to his teammates and coming up with 7 assists.  Wishart led the Free Agents with 8 goals and 11 assists on the day while Brandon Gilseth added 6 goals and 2 assists, Alex Rogers put 5 goals in the net while contributing 2 assists and Gage Kuhlmey added a goal and an assist.  The Free Agents are now 6-0 on the season.

Also winning both their games on the day, Team 2 - Halver outscored Team 3 - Wieczorek 21-15 in game 1 and came out ahead of Team 4 - Grand Rapids in game 2 by a score of 18-15.  Tyler Kolquist was the scoring leader in game one with 7 goals and an assist while Matt Reeves led the way in game 2, pouring in 9 goals and adding 2 assists.  For the day, Matt Reeves scored 14 goals and added 4 assists.  Steve Halver added 10 goals and 7 assists for a total of 17 points on the day, while Kolquist tallied 8 goals and 2 assists, Cooper Carlson scored 3 goals and hustled his way to 7 ground balls, Britton Harris scored 2 goals and added 6 assists and Zach Galo added 2 goals and 4 assists.  Seamus Mackinaw led the defense with 9 caused turnovers and 5 ground balls.

In the anticipated battle of Grand Rapids teams, Team 4 came out ahead 9-4.  Team 4 would finish the day 1-1.  Joey Keating was the scoring star for Team 4, leading all NILL scorers on the day with 15 goals, 10 coming in their second game of the day against Team 2.  Doug Jensen would add 3 goals and 2 assists on the day, while Tanner Kemppainen added 3 goals and 1 assist, Jackson Schwartz scored 2 goals and added 1 assist and Jake Grandia added 1 goal.  Schwartz led the defense with 4 caused turnovers and Graham Gallop had 3 caused turnovers and 9 ground balls.

Team 3 - Wiezcorek, missing all of their Wieczorek's (4 in all), would finish the day with a 1-1 record, losing to Team 2 in game 1 and beating the Honey Badgers in game 2.  Brody Carlson led the way in game 1, scoring 9 goals.  He would finish the day with 13 goals and 1 assist.  Jimmy Bendas added 4 goals and 2 assists while Kyle Limoseth scored 3 goals and added 2 assists, Kyle Hansen added 1 goal and 2 assists and Mike Nowicki scored a goal.  Nowicki led the defense with 3 caused turnovers.

Team 1 - Honey Badgers dropped both games but kept them close and continued to play well.  Game 2 had a shortened second half due to the late night.  Dan O'Connell poured in 7 goals in game one and led the Honey Badgers on the day with 7 goals and 1 assist.  Bryce Holak chipped in with 4 goals and 2 assists, Andy Holak scored 4 goals and added an assist, Zack Zierden added 3 goals and picked up 7 ground balls and Beau Holappa added a goal.  Alex Hnatko and August Cadotte each had 2 caused turnovers.

Team 5 - Grand Rapids also dropped both games but came back strong in game 2 with 9 goals against an unbeaten Free Agents team.  Christian Higginbotham scored all of Team 5's goals in game one and finished the day with 6 goals.  Brad Sandeen and Skylar Jensen chipped in with 2 goals on the day and Nick Rae added an assist.  Kirk Watson led the defense with 4 caused turnovers and scooped up 9 ground balls.

Standings, scores, and statistics are now updated on the website.  Next weeks doubleheader schedule looks like this:

Sunday March 18:  March Madness!

4:00 p.m.:  Team 3 - Wieczorek vs. Team 4 - Grand Rapids
5:00 p.m.:  Team 1 - Honey Badgers vs. Team 5 - Grand Rapids
6:00 p.m.:  Team 6 - Free Agents vs. Team 2 - Halver
7:00 p.m.:  Team 2 - Halver vs. Team 5 - Grand Rapids
8:00 p.m.:  Team 1 - Honey Badgers vs. Team 4 - Grand Rapids
9:00 p.m.:  Team 3 - Wieczorek vs. Team 6 - Free Agents

NILL Back in Action this Sunday

Finally after a long lay off due to DECC event conflicts, we're back in action again this Sunday.  Doubleheaders for all teams.  It should feel like opening day again!

There are still a few players that haven't paid their league fee.  If you haven't done so, please do this weekend if you'd like to continue playing this season and into the playoffs.

The schedule for this Sunday looks like this:

Sunday March 11:

4:00 p.m.:  Team 2 - Halver vs. Team 3 - Wieczorek
5:00 p.m.:  Team 5 - Grand Rapids vs. Team 4 - Grand Rapids
6:00 p.m.:  Team 6 - Free Agents vs. Team 1 - Honey Badgers
7:00 p.m.:  Team 4 - Grand Rapids vs. Team 2 - Halver
8:00 p.m.:  Team 5 - Grand Rapids vs. Team 6- Free Agents
9:00 p.m.:  Team 1 - Honey Badgers vs. Team 3 - Wieczorek

If you plan on having any new players fill-in this weekend, please have them wear a reversible jersey with dark and white and preferably a number.  We are out of extra NILL jerseys.