What happened to New York, Albany, and Syracuse NLL? [Archive]

RedBird1

11-05-2005, 03:37 PM

I was just wondering what happened to the Saints, Attack, and Smash. I know its been at least a few years since their departure from the league. I just decided to ask this question now. These were some of the more original teams/city of the NLL. I remember when the NLL loop was pretty much exlcusive to New York state. I know that Albany was even in the finals in 2001(?). Were these teams just with bad management, or lack of investors? I would never have guessed there'd be more teams in the west if you asked me five years ago.

http://logoshak.com/~asgsport/images3/NY_Saints.gif
http://logoshak.com/~asgsport/images3/Albany_Attack2.gif
http://logoshak.com/~asgsport/images3/Syracuse_Smash.gif

Hooligan

11-05-2005, 05:54 PM

Actually, none of those teams were amongst the original teams in the NLL or as it was known then, the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League.

The NLL in field lax cities just doesn't mix. Baltimore, Syracuse, Long Island...its just something that doesn't succeed. Albany was just too small.

Now, New York could have worked on Long Island, if the owner (Mike Gongas) would have given a damn about his team. It was just a shame what happened over the years. Players didn't get paid, bills didn't get paid, fans were left out in the cold, no advertising at all, yeah you're gonna find that causes your team to fail miserably.

Albany...it just wasn't very well thought out. No one in Albany cares about lacrosse.

swordsman

11-05-2005, 08:31 PM

That was during Gullutta's reign. Now Suozzi would make sure things like that happened.

Hooligan

11-05-2005, 09:13 PM

Uh, what? Are you and I talking about the same thing?

Gullutta? Suozzi? We're not talking about Mob bosses...

Stonewall35

11-06-2005, 11:37 AM

I was just wondering what happened to the Saints, Attack, and Smash. I know its been at least a few years since their departure from the league. I just decided to ask this question now. These were some of the more original teams/city of the NLL. I remember when the NLL loop was pretty much exlcusive to New York state. I know that Albany was even in the finals in 2001(?). Were these teams just with bad management, or lack of investors? I would never have guessed there'd be more teams in the west if you asked me five years ago.

http://logoshak.com/~asgsport/images3/NY_Saints.gif
http://logoshak.com/~asgsport/images3/Albany_Attack2.gif
http://logoshak.com/~asgsport/images3/Syracuse_Smash.gif

The New York Saints ceased operations after the 2003 season. They were the New Jersey Saints from 1987-88 before moving to Long Island in 1989.

The Albany Attack were in existence from 2000-03, with a championship appearance in 2002 (lost to Toronto 13-12 @ Albany). They moved to San Jose to become the San Jose Stealth in 2004 and are still there today.

The Syracuse Smash played from 1998-2000. They moved to Ottawa to become the Ottawa Rebel from 2001-03. Unfortunately, the Rebel ceased operations after the 2003 season.