The Sackville-Fall River Wolves: LaxFax

Friday, February 20
Gait Brothers Fax
o Gary Gait and Paul Gait were born April 5, 1967
and grew up in Victoria, B.C. The Gaits excelled at
lacrosse from an early age, leading junior lacrosse's
Esquimalt Legion to four straight provincial titles
from 1985 to 1988, as well as the Minto Cup national
title in 1988. They attended Syracuse University on
scholarships and led the Orangemen to three consecutive
NCAA crowns from 1988 to 1990. Gary finished as the
school's all time leading scorer and was a two-time
NCAA National Player of the Year.
o The Gaits turned pro in 1991 and quickly dominated
the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, raking up champion-
ships, scoring records and awards. Gary Gait won five
straight league MVP honours from 1995 to 1999, and
again in 2003. Paul Gait was named MVP in 2002, his
final season before retiring due to a serious foot
injury. Gary Gait scored 61 goals during the 2002/2003
regular season, breaking his own record of 57 goals set
in 1998. He is also the League's all-time leading scorer.
o The Gaits are credited with introducing and
popularizing several amazing moves in lacrosse. One
of their more famous manoeuvres is called 'Air-Gait':
similar to a slam dunk in basketball, it entails a
player running behind the goal and then jumping out
from behind, reaching over the net with your stick
and stuffing the ball into the back of the net.


Friday, February 20
NLL Fax
o The forerunner to the National Lacrosse League was
the four-team Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League formed in
1986. Three years later it expanded to six teams and
was renamed the Major Indoor Lacrosse League. In 1998
the MILL merged with the upstart National Lacrosse League,
taking the latter's name and adding two teams: the
Syracuse Smash and the Ontario Raiders based out of
Hamilton, Ont.
o In 1998 the Raiders moved to Toronto, were renamed
the Rock and began playing at Maple Leaf Gardens.
The Rock won its first NLL championship - known as
the Champion's Cup - in the 1998/1999 season, defeating
the Rochester Knighthawks in the final. The Rock went
on to win three league championships (1999/2000,
2001/2002 and 2002/2003). A loss to the Philadelphia
Wings in the 2000/2001 final prevented Toronto from
winning five straight League titles.
o Maple Leaf Gardens was the Rock's home for its first
two years before moving to the Air Canada Centre at
the start of the 2000/2001 season. On March 31, 2001
the Rock sold out the ACC as they defeated the Columbus
Landsharks 11-8. The crowd of 19,059 fans set a new
League single-game attendance record.
o At the time of this 2000 news report, the Toronto
Rock were the only Canadian club in the eight-team
National Lacrosse League. In 2001 a second Canadian
team was added when the Syracuse Smash moved to Ottawa
and were renamed the Rebel. The team folded in July,
2003. In 2002, league expansion saw the Calgary Roughnecks,
Vancouver Ravens and Montreal Express join the NLL.
Montreal suspended operations for one season at the end
of the 2003 campaign due to low attendance.


Friday, February 20
Stick Fax
o Matthew Etienne was enshrined as a charter inductee
into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997, in the
builders category.
o The average lacrosse stick measures 48 inches in
length. Originally, the handle was hand-carved from
hickory, while the webbing was made from slippery elm
bark that was boiled and twisted to form the lacing.
Today the webbing is made from nylon, leather and sinew.
o The case for wooden sticks: plastic heads break down
more easily; wooden sticks absorb impact better; plastic
handles can get very cold.
o The case for plastic sticks: balls can be picked up
off the ground more quickly; plastic sticks are lighter;
shooting with a plastic stick is believed to be more
accurate and faster.
o Wooden sticks are not allowed in the National Lacrosse
League for safety reasons. (In a game such as lacrosse
that features a lot of stick checking, it's believed
that wood sticks cause more permanent injuries than
plastic sticks). Wooden sticks are only allowed in a
handful of summer lacrosse leagues in Canada and the U.S.
o Gary Carbonnell formed the Iroquois Lacrosse League
in 1993 in an effort to reintroduce the game to all of
the Iroquois communities. The league is comprised of
seven teams, with the league champions advancing to the
Presidents Cup, the Canadian Senior B championship.