Kloepfer Turns Barrie Into Contender

OK, I'm sorry I haven't posted a lot lately (OK, at all). I assure you the blog is not dead. I also have to worry about other things during the summer, and unfortunately there is not enough Mike Kloepfer action or crappy Paul Tutka writing to keep me occupied.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a blockbuster MSL trade. Mark Steinhuis was shipped to the St. Regis from Barrie for Aimee Caines (a washed up mediocrity of a goal scorer), Jackson Gair (an Orillia boy coming off a terrible injury with the Junior Indians in the playoffs last year) and a draft pick (which one can assume will be used on Caleb Wiles or Rick Acorn, even if somebody better such as Stephen Keough is available).

Now, it is pretty obvious Steinhuis wanted to play on Cornwall Island with John Tavares. I also am aware of the fact that Lindsay Sanderson appears to be running the show up in Barrie. Unfortunately for the people of Barrie, Kloepfer owns the team and one would think any deal would go through him. So ultimately, I am going be an asshole and pin this on Mikey K. Anybody that would get that little for Steinhuis, an undeniable superstar and huge name in lacrosse, does not deserve to be an owner, manager, coach or waterboy of a lacrosse team, whether it be in minor pee wee or the NLL.

The awesome thing about the Lakeshores too this year is that they got forced out of the Barrie Molson Centre (not sure why-the Colts, lack of attendance, apathy of the Barrie sports fans) to the smaller Holly Community Centre, essentially a junior B rink. I guess Mike thought this would be a Peterborough situation when he got the expansion team a couple of years ago. Too bad for him they have only been mildly successful on and off the field.

Stay tuned for more.

A Little Fun From the Sun

From the Ottawa Sun recently on Jeff Zywicki, who along with Colin Doyle, has turned San Jose into a force:

Although his team was upset by the Plymouth Lumberjacks in the playoffs, the Stealth had one of its best seasons.

That is nice to see Plymouth performing so well this year. Too bad the Portland Lumberjax couldn't have done that.

Zywicki is a Grunt

From Paul Tutka

"but Zywicki puts it all on the line every shit, every game no matter who’s clubbin’ him in the back of the neck. That kinda grunt work is almost unseen from some teams in this league."

I can almost guarantee that about 99.9% of the players in the NLL care. Just behind John Grant doesn'tdo the grunt work doesn't mean he doesn't want to win or try hard. He doesn't need to try hard. Jeff Zywicki is awesome, but, so are a bunch of others in the league. I guarantee Chicago works its tail off. They just aren't that good.

Tornado Watch

I'm not talking about the midwest United States, I'm talking about central Ontario. The Barrie Tornado unfortunately beat the Cornwall Celtics 10-3 in OLA Junior B action Sunday. Barrie is now 0-3. If the team manages to make the playoffs, Mike Kloepfer will praise himself as being the best executive in the whole OLA. We can only hope Barrie goes 0-17 the rest of the way.

Also, isn't it great to know Colin Doyle will be playing for Brampton this summer? I can't wait till he plays against Barrie so he can rub it in Kloepfer's big fat face. I hope to be there to see that.

An Oldie, But A Goodie

Just watching an old Rock game (well, not that old, it was the home opener from last year), and Mr. Kloepfer made a rare appearance for the cameras. He was being interviewed about the Doyle trade, and tried justifying by claiming that all the players coming in were under 25. That didn't matter then, and it doesn't matter now, because those guys were not worth anything close to Colin Doyle. Rob Faulds, who I normally like, went on to rave about the "gutsiness" of Kloepfer's move, and then, within about 1.2 seconds of that, Mike Accursi gave Rochester a lead that they wouldn't give up for the rest of the game. The Rock have also never won against Rochester without Doyle. Take that Kloepfer's beliefs.

Playoff Time

The Rock started their quest for a 6th NLL Championship this weekend...

Nevermind that. I didn't watch a whole lot of NLL this weekend, now that the OLA has started, but I am happy that two things happened: Buffalo beating Philadelphia and Calgary beating Colorado.

With Buffalo winning it means more Rock fans will have the chance to go to at least 1 more game this year at HSBC Arena. If Rock fans get hooked in Buffalo, they may stop giving the team their hard earned money, and maybe it will be enough to force Kloepfer out of the front office. The attendance this year should speak for itself, but unfortunately, it hasn't (yet anyway). A new management team should be in place to scout the OLA this summer.

With Calgary winning, it will push Josh Sanderson more into the spotlight next weekend in the West finals, and accordingly, put the question out there in the mainstream lacrosse media: why was Sanderson traded when the team was 7-4 and starting to click? The power forward was needed, but not at the cost of Sanderson, and certainly not when the trade was made (back to back 14 goal games).

I will get back to criticizing the bizarre writing at NLL Insider soon.

Just in-Colin Doyle's Stealth got eliminated by Portland today. Before we put the blame on Doyle for only having 5 points (way more than Benesch's average this year), lets remember that he couldn't shut down Dan Dawson, who had about 45,000 goals today. At least the Stealth made the playoffs.

Let's hope for a Buffalo/Calgary final!

Just a Quicky

How long until Rock fans get what they deserve and have Kloepfer fired for terrible management?

Based on Terry Sanderson, Derek Keenan and Ed Comeau, it should have happened some time already. That really, really scares me, if the ownership group believes that Mike Kloepfer is the guy to lead the team back to the promised land.

On another note, how sweet would a San Jose/Buffalo final be-actually getting a chance to physically see Colin Doyle perform his magic in the Queen City. Buffalo is close enough that maybe the Rock brain trust (excluding Kloepfer, he doesn't seem to use a brain if he has one) will take notice of what happened in December 2006. They can't ignore him forever in San Jose. Hardly any mention of him this year too in the 10 year celebration.