| Lacrosse may be Canada's national summer sport, but the National Lacrosse League has its roots firmly in the eastern United States.
The league began as the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League in 1987 with four teams: the Washington Wave, Baltimore Thunder, Philadelphia Wings and New Jersey Saints. The league changed its name to the Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL) in 1988 and stayed that way until it became the NLL in 1997.
The first Canadian team was awarded to Hamilton, Ont. that year, and it was nicknamed the Ontario Raiders, but the team moved the next season to become the Toronto Rock. Toronto won the league championship the first two seasons they were in the league, with Kaleb Toth scoring the winning goal to cap the 2000 season. In the 2001 season, the Rock lost the final game to Philadelphia 9-8 in front of 19,409 fans at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Through various expansions and franchise transfers, the league grew to nine teams last season, and this year they expanded to 13 teams – including five now based in Canada. The Ottawa Rebel came into the league last season – relocated from Syracuse, N.Y. The Montreal Express start play this year – they were transferred from Columbus, Ohio, which received an expansion team immediately afterwards. And the Calgary Roughnecks and Vancouver Ravens will start fresh as expansion teams this year.
Out of the original four teams that started the league, the Philadelphia Wings are the last team standing. The New Jersey Saints transferred to Long Island, N.Y. and became the New York Saints, while the other two teams ceased operations along the way. |
