By RICK WHEELER - 4/29/1975
The Syracuse Stingers may have lasted only a year in the National Lacrosse League as a local franchise, but in the circuit’s second year, the players who last year wore the red and white Stinger insignia are for the most part still woven into the guts of the NLL’s stick.
The Stingers, the Rochester Griffins and Toronto Tomahawks couldn’t hack it last year, mostly off the floor, as too much red ink led to relocation. Syracuse’s club went to Quebec City, Rochester to Long Island and Toronto to Boston.
The league had great plans for expansion, but first had to find new homes for its three weaker units. That it did, but no more.
Now, in its second week of play, the NLL is still a six-team league. Philadelphia, Maryland and Montreal were the three franchises that hung around from one year to the next, and by the looks of their prospects, will be there for quite a while.
Medo Martinello
Some Stingers, and quite a few Central New York athletes, also managed to stick around another year. Former Stingers or CNY athletes are on four of the six teams.
Quebec City, known as the Caribous, is again coached by Medo Martinello, the man who came in at the end of the game
of musical coaching chairs that the Stinger management played last season. He inherited a team that went 11 games before posting a win, then tried to give it a system and some discipline.
The Stingers at times played fine lacrosse, but dug such a hole at the start of the 40-game season that they ended up in last place and did not make the four-team playoffs.
This year, in an enlarged 56-game schedule, the Stingers have dropped their first two games, to the Boston Bolts (who are 2-1) and last night to Montreal, 18-11(Les Quebecois are 2-3).
Martinello has on his roster from last year’s Stinger team-goalies Larry Smeltzer and Rick Palla, high scoring forwards Gaylord Powless, Pat Differ and Paul Cioci, tough defenseman Ken Alexander, Terry Sanderson, Bruce Todman, Tom Wright, floor general Jim Higgs, Jim Miller, former Ithaca College star Glen Mueller, and former LaFayette High School stars Travis Cook and Russ George.
Boston has on its roster former Syracuse University captain and Stinger Ron Hill, former Stinger goalie Bob McCready, Cortland State All- America goalie Pete Graham and former Stinger Jim Quigg.
The Long Island Tomahawks have on their squad Sid George from Lafayette, former Stinger goalie Brian Cuddy and National Hockey League star Rick Dudley, a real crowd draw with Rochester last year-a real brawler. Dudley’s status with Long Island won’t be known until his NHL Sabres wind up their quest for the Stanley Cup. Even then, he may not play, because according to coach Morley Kells, “He’s in the 50 per cent tax bracket, so we really have to make it worth his while to play for us.”
Montreal has on its list former Cornell All-America Bruce Arena, and former Lafayette High School and SU star Sid Hill..
Since most of the players in Teams in the league come from Canada, Boston and NYC are the only cities receiving their first real taste of the game, but league officials are hopeful of some real solidarity this season, as aside from Quebec, the other franchises are all in major metropolitan areas, making lucrative television contracts that much more a possibility.
Photo courtesy of Tom Wersderfer
The Tomahawks open their home season tomorrow night in Uniondale, at the Nassau Coliseum, home of the American Basketball Association Nets and the National Hockey League Islanders. Team officials expected to be bounced from the facility because of Nets’ practices, not the Islanders.
But with the recent turn of events where the Nets were dribbled away by St. Louis, and the Islanders overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat Pittsburgh, 4-3, they’ve still had to use other practice sites.
Tomahawk officials seem that the last two pro teams to invade the New York area World Hockey Association and a World Football League-left NYC, with their debts trailing behind.
“That makes it tough on us, we have to pay in advance everywhere we go,” Kells admits.
