2009 Boston Blazers season

2009 Boston Blazers
League NLL
Division 3rd East
2009 record 10-6
Home record 4-4
Road record 6-2
Goals for 181
Goals against 168
General Manager Tom Ryan[1]
Coach Tom Ryan
Arena TD Banknorth Garden
Average attendance 8,470
Team leaders
Goals Daryl Veltman (34)
Assists Dan Dawson (74)
Points Dan Dawson (104)
Penalties in minutes Kyle Ross (53)
Loose Balls Jon Harnett (106)
Wins Anthony Cosmo (9)
Goals against average Anthony Cosmo (10.14)

The Boston Blazers are a lacrosse team based in Boston playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2009 season was their first season in the NLL.

The Blazers began their inaugural season by losing back-to-back games to the division rival (and eventual East division champion) New York Titans. But the Blazers surprised everybody by winning seven of their next eight games, on their way to a 10-6 record, tied with New York and Buffalo for best in the East. The Titans won the East on tie-breakers, but the Blazers finished a respectable third and made the playoffs in their first season.

In the Eastern division semi-final, the Blazers were defeated by the defending champion Buffalo Bandits 11-8.[2]

Regular season

Conference standings

Reference: [3]

East Division
P Team GP W L PCT GB Home Road GF GA Diff GF/GP GA/GP

1 New York Titans – xy 16 10 6 0.625 0.0 5–3 5–3 190 180 +10 11.88 11.25
2 Buffalo Bandits – x 16 10 6 0.625 0.0 5–3 5–3 223 170 +53 13.94 10.63
3 Boston Blazers – x 16 10 6 0.625 0.0 4–4 6–2 181 168 +13 11.31 10.50
4 Rochester Knighthawks – x 16 7 9 0.438 3.0 6–2 1–7 169 197 -28 10.56 12.31
5 Philadelphia Wings 16 7 9 0.438 3.0 4–4 3–5 188 193 -5 11.75 12.06
6 Toronto Rock 16 6 10 0.375 4.0 3–5 3–5 194 218 -24 12.13 13.63
West Division
P Team GP W L PCT GB Home Road GF GA Diff GF/GP GA/GP

1 Calgary Roughnecks – xyz 16 12 4 0.750 0.0 5–3 7–1 206 167 +39 12.88 10.44
2 Portland LumberJax – x 16 9 7 0.563 3.0 4–4 5–3 181 177 +4 11.31 11.06
3 San Jose Stealth – x 16 7 9 0.438 5.0 5–3 2–6 200 185 +15 12.50 11.56
4 Colorado Mammoth – x 16 7 9 0.438 5.0 4–4 3–5 172 184 -12 10.75 11.50
5 Minnesota Swarm 16 6 10 0.375 6.0 2–6 4–4 174 198 -24 10.88 12.38
6 Edmonton Rush 16 5 11 0.313 7.0 4–4 1–7 159 200 -41 9.94 12.50

x–Clinched playoff berth;c–Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division;y–Clinched division;z–Clinched best regular season record;GP–Games Played
W–Wins;L–LossesGB–Games back;PCT–Win percentage;Home–Record at Home;Road–Record on the Road;GF–Goals scored;GA–Goals allowed
Differential–Difference between goals scored and allowed;GF/GP–Average number of goals scored per game;GA/GP–Average number of goals allowed per game

Game log

Reference:[4]

Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
1 January 10, 2009 @ New York Titans Prudential Center L 14–19 3,208 0–1
2 January 17, 2009 New York Titans TD Banknorth Garden L 9–13 9,313 0–2
3 January 23, 2009 @ Philadelphia Wings Wachovia Center W 13–11 9,462 1–2
4 January 24, 2009 Philadelphia Wings TD Banknorth Garden W 11–7 4,423 2–2
5 January 31, 2009 Portland LumberJax TD Banknorth Garden L 8–9 OT 5,029 2–3
6 February 7, 2009 New York Titans TD Banknorth Garden W 9–8 5,713 3–3
7 February 13, 2009 @ Philadelphia Wings Wachovia Center W 8–4 9,006 4–3
8 February 20, 2009 @ Minnesota Swarm Xcel Energy Center W 16–12 12,106 5–3
9 February 22, 2009 @ Calgary Roughnecks Pengrowth Saddledome W 11–10 10,045 6–3
10 February 28, 2009 San Jose Stealth TD Banknorth Garden W 16–10 6,833 7–3
11 March 14, 2009 Toronto Rock TD Banknorth Garden L 8–9 OT 6,485 7–4
12 March 28, 2009 @ Rochester Knighthawks Blue Cross Arena L 10–11 7,329 7–5
13 April 3, 2009 @ Toronto Rock Air Canada Centre W 14–13 12,884 8–5
14 April 4, 2009 Buffalo Bandits TD Banknorth Garden L 11–15 7,073 8–6
15 April 11, 2009 Rochester Knighthawks TD Banknorth Garden W 10–5 8,097 9–6
16 April 18, 2009 @ Buffalo Bandits HSBC Arena W 13–12 OT 18,527 10–6

Playoffs

Game log

Reference:[5]

Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
Division Semifinal May 2, 2009 @ Buffalo Bandits HSBC Arena L 8–11 13,343 0–1

Player stats

Reference:[6]

Runners (Top 10)

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; LB = Loose Balls; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player GP G A Pts LB PIM
Dan Dawson 16 30 74 104 54 8
Daryl Veltman 15 34 43 77 92 2
Brenden Thenhaus 16 27 26 53 67 6
Matt Lyons 16 21 31 52 62 2
Gary Bining 15 20 24 44 49 4
Sean Morris 6 8 16 24 17 0
Jason Bloom 16 13 10 23 60 5
Greg Downing 14 4 13 17 95 10
Nick Cotter 12 8 8 16 32 21
Totals 301 482 285 1117 39

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games Played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Against; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Player GP MIN W L GA Sv% GAA
Anthony Cosmo 16 840:02 9 5 142 .781 10.14
Mike Poulin 16 122:12 1 1 25 .734 12.27
Totals 10 6 168 .774 10.50

Transactions

Trades

September 18, 2008[7] To Boston Blazers
Anthony Kelly		 To New York Titans
Kurtis Wagar
September 15, 2008[8] To Boston Blazers
Jason Bloom
5th round pick, 2008 entry draft		 To Colorado Mammoth
John Gallant
August 28, 2008 To Boston Blazers
Paul Dawson		 To San Jose Stealth
Peter Veltman
July 29, 2008 To Boston Blazers
Jack Reid		 To Rochester Knighthawks
Kyle Laverty
July 29, 2008 To Boston Blazers
Travis Gillespie
third round pick, 2009 entry draft		 To Calgary Roughnecks
Devan Wray
July 29, 2008 To Boston Blazers
Sean Morris
Steve Panarelli
second round pick, 2010 entry draft		 To San Jose Stealth
Travis Gillespie
Tom Johnson
third round pick, 2009 entry draft
July 24, 2008 To Boston Blazers
Brendan Thenhaus
Kurtis Wagar		 To Edmonton Rush
Cam Bergman

Entry draft

The 2008 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 7, 2008.[9] The Blazers selected the following players:

RoundOverallPlayerCollege/Club
11 Daryl Veltman Hobart College
214 Nick Cotter Dowling College
326 Jon Harnett Adrian College
437 Dilan Graham Bellarmine University
444 Reed MacPhail Victoria, BC
552 Chad Henry Adelphi University
556 Paul Manesis UMass
663 Danny Brennan Syracuse University

Roster

2009 Boston Blazers roster
Active (20-man) roster Inactive roster Coaches
Goaltenders
Defensemen
  • 85 United States Mitch Belisle
  •  2 Canada Paul Dawson
  • 12 Canada Jon Durno
  • 28 Canada Dilan Graham
  • 33 Canada Jon Harnett
  •  4 Canada Carter Livingstone
  • 15 Canada Curtis Ptolemy
  • 18 United States Jack Reid
Forwards
Transition
Practice Squad
  • -- Travis Brown
  • -- Paul Manesis
  • -- Canada Nick Rose
Head Coach
Assistant Coaches
  • Todd Francis
  • Randy Fraser
  • Corey Hallman
Legend
  • * Suspended list
  • (C) Captain
  • (A) Alternate captain


NLL Transactions

See also

References

  1. ↑ Tutka, Paul. "Tom Ryan steps down as GM, remains Blazers coach, President Doug Reffue to be named new GM". Inside Lacrosse.
  2. ↑ "Bandits Beat Blazers, Advance To East Final". NLL.com. May 2, 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-02.
  3. ↑ "National Lacrosse League - 2009 Regular Season - Standings". NLL.com. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Boston Blazers – National Lacrosse League". NLL.com. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Boston Blazers – National Lacrosse League". NLL.com. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  6. ↑ http://pointstreak.com/prostats/teamplayerstats.html?teamid=142808&seasonid=3260
  7. ↑ "Kelly, Wagar Swapped by East Rivals". NLL.com. September 18, 2008. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  8. ↑ "Gallant Returns To Mammoth". NLL.com. September 15, 2008. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  9. ↑ "Daryl Veltman Selected First By Boston". NLL.com. September 7, 2008. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-08.