With Thursday's news that a 7-year Collective Bargaining Agreement had been reached with the player's association, teams began looking forward to getting back on the floor to prepare for a restored 2008 season. Neil Stevens of the Canadian Press spoke with several players and coaches who cannot wait to open training camp and get back to business on the floor.

The Canadian Press
Teams prepare for first practices after NLL and players reach new agreement
by Neil Stevens

The reigning-champion Rochester Knighthawks are rarin' to go.

"We will be back," head coach Ed Comeau confirmed Friday.

When National Lacrosse League commissioner Jim Jennings announced Thursday that a new collective bargaining agreement had been reached and the 2008 season that was cancelled Oct. 16 had been revived, he said he was unsure how many teams would be on a new schedule to be released early next week.

Thirteen of the 14 teams confirmed Friday that they'll be playing in 2008. Boston, the NLL's new franchise, issued a "no comment" on its status.

The Knighthawks originally set the Nov. 17-18 weekend for their first practices. There might be a change when the new schedule comes out because camps care not allowed to open more than 10 weeks before the first regular-season game. Regardless, Comeau is as relieved as everybody connected with the league that the season was saved and that lacrosse fans again will be streaming into Blue Cross Arena.

"All parties involved wanted to play," said Comeau. "It was just a matter of coming up with something everyone was comfortable with.

"Through hard work on both sides they were able to do that."

Brad Watters, president of the five-time-champion Toronto Rock, says his team will return to Air Canada Centre, where crowds in excess of 15,000 are the norm. Practices are tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.

The new CBA is a seven-year deal with player pay increasing five or six per cent depending on tenure.

"It was important to get a long-term deal and now we can provide some stability for our fans and play some lacrosse," said Watters. "Let's worry about filling the building and winning games now."

Paul Day, GM-coach of the Edmonton Rush, also gives thumbs up to another season at Rexall Place.

"We hope to start camp in early December, depending on when our first game is," he said.

Day remembers the disappointment he felt as a boy when a previous pro league folded in the 1970s. He never wants to see the same happen with the NLL.

"The game and the league has come so far, and this new agreement will allow both to continue to grow," he said.

Mitch Redshaw, director of operations in Calgary, says the Roughnecks are looking forward to building on an ever-increasing fan base at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

"Each season we're getting about 1,000 more fans," said Redshaw. "Last year we averaged 13,000 and this year we're hoping for 14,000.

"If the season had been cancelled, who knows how much damage that could have caused. Moving forward, we can keep that growth going. Some damage has been done but it's early enough that it's reversible."

Darris Kilgour, head coach of the Buffalo Bandits, has seen attendance at HSBC Arena return to the 12,000-15,000 level that made the club a big boxla success story in the 1990s.

"It's definitely back in Buffalo," he said of the status of the Bandits for 2008.

The new deal "is going to help the league move forward," he said.

"A year off would have really hurt this league," said Kilgour. "Buffalo has come back in the last three or four years and for it to move forward is great.

"The new agreement is only going to help us grow faster."

Lindsay Sanderson, GM of the Philadelphia Wings, will have a team on the Wachovia Centre floor in January.

"Being an old lacrosse guy, to see the success we've had over the last few years and watching the growth of the game and not knowing how it would have affected things had we not played, I'm just tickled pink that we're moving forward and we're going to have a season," said Sanderson. "I'm very relieved everybody came to their senses and we got the job done."

Derek Keenan, GM of the Portland Lumberjacks who play in the Rose Garden Arena, gave thumbs up.

"We're in," said Keenan.

A long-term shutdown would have been "pretty devastating to our league and to our sport," he said.

"Lacrosse has become more and more popular, but not so popular that cities like Portland could cope with a shutdown," he said. "It was crucial it got done, and people will quickly forget how it got done."

GM-coach Bob Hamley's Arizona Sting lost a couple of home dates when it cancelled bookings at jobing.com Arena in Glendale and is scurrying to set alternate dates.

"Hopefully this new deal will grow the NLL down the line where the players will benefit with us," said Hamley. "We needed labour peace and we have that now.

"It's a tough market here. There are so many places where the entertainment dollar can go so we've got a lot of work to do, but we've got a competitive team and that's half the battle."

Colorado Mammoth GM Steve Govett, whose 2006 champions led NLL attendance with an average of more than 16,000 in Denver's Pepsi Centre last winter, also is looking forward to forging ahead.

"We heard the fans loud and clear," he said in pinpointing what he felt was the impetus to get a new CBA done. "In the best interests of the game, the players, management and owners, we wanted to see games played."

The San Jose Stealth are back, too.

"Absolutely," said GM John Mouradian.

Dates at HP Pavilion that were released are difficult to regain and talks are continuing. The Stealth had no home games for five weeks in the old schedule because February and March are such busy months at HP Pavilion.

"We've lost one or two and we're trying to re-book," said Mouradian. "The primary tenant is the (NHL's) Sharks so they have to make sure they have playoff dates available in April."

Like the Sting, the Stealth are at the lower end of the attendance ladder but have a highly competitive team.

"We're glad we can continue rather than starting all over," said Mouradian.

GM-coach Marty O'Neil's Minnesota Swarm will return to the Xcel Energy Centre in St. Paul.

"We really turned the corner last year as far as having staying power in our market," says O'Neil. "People in Minnesota didn't grow up with box lacrosse, but we're getting people coming back.

"We're looking to build off last season. Things were going really well in ticket sales right until the lockout, which was disheartening when it happened. To think we were going to lose the momentum we'd built in the last 18 months and maybe never get it back was disheartening. So, I'm pretty excited the season is going forward."

Jamie Batley, GM-coach of the Chicago Shamrox, says his team's Sears Centre dates remain intact and the players are eager to start.

"It's a win-win for everybody," he said of the season's revival. "We all love the game of lacrosse so we want to see it continue.

"We've made great strides the last 10 years and to see the season wiped out would have been a big step backwards. We've come together for the betterment of the game and we'll continue our way towards making this the fifth sport in North America."

Timothy Kelly, chief operating officer of the New York Titans, said it is a "100 per cent certainty" they'll continue in the NLL next season. He was in the process of firming up dates with Madison Square Garden to forward to the league.

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