2002 NLL season Information & 2002 NLL season Links at HealthHaven.com

2002 NLL season
League	National Lacrosse League
Sport	Indoor lacrosse
Duration	November 16, 2001 – April 13, 2002
Number of teams	13
	Regular season
Season MVP	Paul Gait (Washington Power)
Top scorer	Paul Gait (Washington Power)
	Playoffs
Eastern champions	Washington Power
Eastern runners-up	Philadelphia Wings
Central champions	Albany Attack
Central runners-up	Rochester Knighthawks
Northern champions	Toronto Rock
Northern runners-up	Vancouver Ravens
	Champion's Cup
Champion's Cup champions	Toronto Rock
Runners-up	Albany Attack
Champion's Cup MVP	Colin Doyle (Toronto)
	NLL seasons
← 2001 season	2003 season →

The 2002 National Lacrosse League season began on November 16, 2001 and concluded with the championship game on April 13, 2002. The Toronto Rock defeated the Albany Attack 13-12 to win their third championship in four seasons. Colin Doyle was named championship game MVP for the second time.

Only one year after the season was lengthened to 14 games, 2002 saw it extended again, this time to 16 games.

[edit] Team Movement

2002 was a year of expansion for the NLL, particularly north of the border. No less than four teams were added, three of them Canadian: the New Jersey Storm, Montreal Express, Vancouver Ravens, and Calgary Roughnecks all made their NLL debuts. The expansion caused the NLL to return to a divisional format for the first time since 1994. The teams were split into the Eastern, Central, and Northern divisions; the winners of each division would make the playoffs, as well as the top three ranked non-division-winners. The Eastern division consisted of Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey, the Central division had Albany, Rochester, Montreal, Buffalo, and Columbus, while the remaining Canadian teams (Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Calgary) were in the Northern division.

Early in the morning of February 14, limousine driver Costas Christofi was found shot to death at the home of New Jersey Storm owner Jayson Williams^[1]. Williams was later arrested and charged with manslaughter^[2]. Williams was acquitted of most charges^[3], but was then retried for reckless manslaughter. This case is still pending.

For the first time in league history, a team changed arenas midseason, as the Ottawa Rebel left the Corel Centre for the smaller Ottawa Civic Centre^[4]. There were two home games left in the season at the time of the move.

[edit] Milestones

November 23, 2001: The first ever game for both the Montreal Express and Calgary Roughnecks was a record-setting affair. Montreal set an NLL record for goals by one team in a game by defeating the Roughnecks 32-17 in Calgary. The records for most goals by in a game by both teams (49) and most penalty minutes in a game by both teams (155) were also broken in this game^[5].
January 4, 2002: Derek Malawsky of the Rochester Knighthawks sets a new NLL record with 11 assists in a 22-11 win over the Buffalo Bandits^[6]

[edit] Final standings

[edit] Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GB = Games Behind Division Leader, PCT = Winning Percentage, Home = Home record, Road = Road record, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against

Qualified for playoffs

Team	W	L	GB	PCT	Home	Road	GF	GA
Central Division
Albany Attack	14	2	-	.875	7-1	7-1	252	194
Rochester Knighthawks	13	3	1	.813	8-0	5-3	261	202
Montreal Express	8	8	6	.500	4-4	4-4	237	227
Buffalo Bandits	8	8	6	.500	4-4	4-4	210	215
Columbus Landsharks	5	11	9	.313	2-6	3-5	198	230

Team	W	L	GB	PCT	Home	Road	GF	GA
Eastern Division
Washington Power	9	7	5	.563	6-2	3-5	253	243
Philadelphia Wings	8	8	6	.500	6-2	2-6	222	237
New York Saints	5	11	9	.313	2-6	3-5	200	249
New Jersey Storm	5	11	9	.313	3-5	2-6	178	232

Team	W	L	GB	PCT	Home	Road	GF	GA
Northern Division
Toronto Rock	11	5	3	.688	8-0	3-5	223	176
Vancouver Ravens	10	6	4	.625	6-2	4-4	236	192
Calgary Roughnecks	4	12	10	.250	2-6	2-6	224	264
Ottawa Rebel	4	12	10	.250	1-7	3-5	202	245

[edit] Playoffs

Quarterfinals			Semifinals			Championship


			5	Washington	11

			2	Toronto	12
5	Washington	12

6	Philadelphia	11
						2	Toronto	13
						1	Albany	12
4	Vancouver	10
3	Rochester	11
			3	Rochester	10

			1	Albany	14

Washington was the higher seed but surrendered the game to Philadelphia for financial reasons.

[edit] All Star Game

The 2002 All-Star Game was held on April 21 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, where the North team (all of the Canadian teams plus Rochester) beat the South 14-10. The MVP was Toronto's Steve Toll, who scored three goals. At the time, this also marked Paul Gait's final professional lacrosse game, as he retired after this season. However, Gait was convinced by his brother Gary to come out of retirement during the 2005 season, and played four games for the Colorado Mammoth before retiring once again.

[edit] All-Star teams

North Team starters		South Team starters
John Grant, Jr., Rochester		Paul Gait, Washington
Colin Doyle, Toronto		Gary Gait, Washington
Chris Gill, Vancouver		Josh Sanderson, Albany
Pat Coyle, Toronto		Cam Woods, Albany
Jim Veltman, Toronto		Paul Cantabene, Philadelphia
Bob Watson, Toronto (goalie)		Rob Blasdell, Albany (goalie)
North Team Reserves		South Team Reserves
Tracey Kelusky, Montreal		Gary Rosyski, Albany
Ryan Painter, Ottawa		Roy Colsey, Buffalo
Peter Morgan, Vancouver		John Tavares, Buffalo
Steve Toll, Toronto		Gewas Schindler, Columbus
Kaleb Toth, Calgary		Gavin Prout, New York
Shawn Williams, Rochester		Kevin Finneran, Philadelphia
Derek Malawsky, Rochester		Tom Marechek, Philadelphia
Bruce Codd, Montreal		Jim Moss, Albany
Darren Reisig, Vancouver		Jamie Hanford, New Jersey
Mike Hasen, Rochester		Pat McCabe, New York
Dwight Maetche, Vancouver		Steve Dietrich, Buffalo (goalie)
Pat O'Toole, Rochester		Dallas Eliuk, Philadelphia (goalie)

[edit] Awards

Award	Winner	Team
MVP Award	Paul Gait	Washington
Rookie of the Year Award	Blaine Manning	Toronto
Coach of the Year	Bob McMahon	Albany
GM of the Year Award	Dave Evans	Vancouver
Executive of the Year Award	Tom Mayenknecht	Vancouver
Defensive Player of the Year Award	Pat Coyle	Toronto
Goaltender of the Year Award	Rob Blasdell	Albany
Sportsmanship Award	Jim Veltman	Toronto
Championship Game MVP	Colin Doyle	Toronto

[edit] Weekly Awards

In 2002, the NLL expanded its weekly player awards from one to four. There are now awards for the best overall player, best offensive player, best defensive player, and best rookie.

Week	Overall	Offensive	Defensive	Rookie
1	Matt Disher	Dan Stroup	Matt Disher	Blaine Manning
2	Tracey Kelusky	Tracey Kelusky	Bruce Codd	Blaine Manning
3	Tracey Kelusky	Paul Gait	Dwight Maetche	Peter Morgan
4	Tom Marechek	Roy Colsey	Dallas Eliuk	Gavin Prout
5	Gary Gait	Gary Gait	Steve Dietrich	Andrew Leyshon
6	Kyle Goundrey	Kyle Goundrey	Rob Blasdell	Peter Morgan
7	Shawn Williams	Kaleb Toth	Jesse Phillips	Bille LeFeurve
8	Derek Malawsky	Derek Malawsky	Devin Dalep	Kasey Beirnes
9	Gewas Schindler	Gewas Schindler	Pat Coyle	Mike Miron
10	Peter Morgan	John Tavares	Devin Dalep	Peter Morgan
11	Paul Gait	Paul Gait	Bob Watson	Kasey Beirnes
12	Gary Gait	Jake Bergey	Bruce Codd	Blaine Manning
13	Chris Gill	Chris Gill	Rob Blasdell	Ryan Painter
14	Josh Sanderson	Shawn Williams	Matt Roik	Gavin Prout
15	John Tavares	John Tavares	Jesse Phillips	Mike Miron
16	Jeff Ratcliffe	Jeff Ratcliffe	Anthony Cosmo	Blaine Manning
17	Paul Gait	Paul Gait	Curtis Palidwor	Steve Penny
18	John Grant, Jr.	John Grant, Jr.	Chris Sanderson	Blaine Manning
19	Tom Marechek	John Tavares	Rob Blasdell	Ryan Painter

[edit] Monthly Awards

Awards are also given out monthly for the best overall player and best rookie.

Month	Overall	Rookie
Nov/Dec	Tracy Kelusky	none selected
Jan	Paul Gait	Kasey Beirnes
Feb	Chris Gill	Gavin Prout
Mar	Paul Gait	Blaine Manning

[edit] Statistics Leaders

Bold numbers indicate new single-season records. Italics indicate tied single-season records.

Stat	Player	Team	Number
Goals	Paul Gait	Washington	54
Assists	Josh Sanderson	Albany	68
Points	Paul Gait	Washington	114
Penalty Minutes	Brian Reese	Washington	78
Loose Balls	Jim Veltman	Toronto	203
Save Pct	Rob Blasdell	Albany	77.5

[edit] See also

2002 in sports

[edit] Footnotes

^ Philly, R.A. (February 14, 2002). "Fatal shooting at Jayson Williams' estate". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/news020214.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
^ Philly, R.A. (February 25, 2002). "Williams charged with reckless manslaughter". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/news020225.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
^ Reilly, Matthew (May 22, 2004). "Prosecutor: We'll retry Williams on key charge". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/news/ledger/stories/jayson_20040522_retrial.html. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
^ Philly, R.A. (February 15, 2002). "Rebel going downtown after Saturday". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/news020215.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
^ Mehling, Vaun (November 24, 2001). "Records shattered in Express' 32-17 romp". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/game0202moca.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
^ McAllister, Deb (January 5, 2002). "Malawsky's eleven assists set record in big K'Hawks win". http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/game0208robu.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[edit] References

2002 Archive at the Outsider's Guide to the NLL

[0] Philly, R.A. (February 14, 2002). "Fatal shooting at Jayson Williams' estate". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/news020214.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[1] Philly, R.A. (February 25, 2002). "Williams charged with reckless manslaughter". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/news020225.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[2] Reilly, Matthew (May 22, 2004). "Prosecutor: We'll retry Williams on key charge". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/news/ledger/stories/jayson_20040522_retrial.html. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[3] Philly, R.A. (February 15, 2002). "Rebel going downtown after Saturday". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/news020215.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[4] Mehling, Vaun (November 24, 2001). "Records shattered in Express' 32-17 romp". Outsider's Guide to the NLL. http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/game0202moca.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[5] McAllister, Deb (January 5, 2002). "Malawsky's eleven assists set record in big K'Hawks win". http://www.lacrosse-network.com/outsidersguide/game0208robu.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

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