May 10th, 2008: Rochester Greywolves drop to former Can-Am Champs.

The author, Lou Grinzo, is Media Director for the Rochester Greywolves.

The Rochester Greywolves could be forgiven for wondering if Clint Eastwood is interested in suiting up and playing for them after they completed the lacrosse version of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" this long weekend.

The good was an 8-4 home win over Tonawanda in their first regulation game in franchise history, the bad was a loss on Sunday to last year's Can-Am league champs, the Six Nations Sting, and the ugly was a Saturday night home game that had to be cancelled due to water on the playing surface.  No, really.

I won't revisit the Tonawanda game, as I covered that in a prior article.

Watching our Greywolves in the 10-5 road loss to Six Nations was almost surreal, as it felt like I was seeing today's Rochester squad playing a version of themselves from the end of this season.  Six Nations looked every bit the league champion--they're a finesse team that relies on crisp passing, smart play, and speed more than size.  At times it seemed like they had 7 players on the floor, particularly when chasing down loose balls, which they always seemed to be perfectly positioned to do.  Despite that display of precision, Rochester's defense held the high-powered Sting to 10 goals, but their offense, short some key players, couldn't (yet) muster the same level of precision.

Assistant GM and defensive player, Ansley Jemison, also seemed to see into his team's future.  "We had a strong showing against the top team in our league and I think that with more game experience and time together as a team we'll be able to compete at the level of a Six Nations or Newtown or Onondaga.  The success will not be overnight but I think guys are growing by leaps and bounds each game.  We limited our penalty minutes against an excellent team and we gave ourselves great opportunities to score--now we just have to start putting all the pieces together and keep on getting better."  His bottom line assessment of the team?  "Lots to work on but we're still proud of where we're at.  We're right in the mix.  Now teams are realizing we're a team that can compete."

One notable detail was that low penalty count Jemison mentioned.  The Greywolves racked up 40 minutes in the box against Tonawanda, but only 6 against Six Nations.  In fact, neither team had a penalty in the first period, yet another way in which they looked like mirror images, separated by practice and playing time.

Offensive forward Shaun Lux pointed out another key hurdle the Greywolves faced on Sunday--missing players.  "Having only 14 guys on the bench and missing 5 keys players, we just didn't have the depth to pull it out.  Even though we lost I see a bright spot because we did play perfect on Sunday."

And then there was the ugly game, or should I say the ugly not-quite-half game.

Saturday night was expected to be an easy win against the Coldspring Hellbenders, who went 0-16 last year and lost a preseason scrimmage this year to Newtown by 40-3 (neither a typo nor a Rochester Raiders score).  The Greywolves were playing very well, and were up by 10-0 when the officials had to stop the game because of water seeping up through the floor tiles on the playing surface.

Water?  Yes, water.

It turned out that there was a miscommunication among the staff at the Genesee Valley Ice Rink, and someone had wet mopped the floor, which allowed a lot of water to seep between the tiles, run to one end, and then pool on the tile surface.  Since there was no way to get rid of the water quickly, the officials had no choice but to stop play.  Because the game was halted with 10:40 to go in the second period, just 40 seconds shy of the halfway point and an official game, the entire contest will have to be rescheduled and played at a later date.  Tickets for Saturday's game will be honored at the rematch.

Lux said he was "nothing but disappointed. I am mad that our facilities were the reason we did not get a win.  There is no excuse for that.  Also we apologize to the fans.  It was a sour note to a great opening weekend where a lot of people came out to support us."

So, after a wet and wild weekend, the Rochester Greywolves stand at 1-1-0, with two games instead of one remaining this season with the Coldspring Hellbenders.  And if Clint should call, they'll probably give him a tryout.

The Greywolves are home this Saturday night for a game against Buffalo Creek Lacrosse Club (3-13-0 in 2007) at Genesee Valley Ice Rink.

The team's complete schedule, team photos, an audio recording of a recent radio station interview, and more are at their web site: http://rochestergreywolves.com/index2.htm

May 1st, 2008: Rochester Greywolves win first game, 8-4 against Tonawanda.

The author, Lou Grinzo, is Media Director for the Rochester Greywolves.

The Rochester Greywolves box lacrosse team scored a convincing 8-4 win over the Tonawanda Braves at Genesee Valley Ice Rink on Thursday night.  One would expect that a brand new team playing their first regular season contest in an established league would be thrilled with any win, let alone one in which they dominated a quality opponent for most of the game and showed a marked improvement over their strong play in two pre-season scrimmages.  Don't try to tell the Greywolves that, though.

Ansley Jemison, defensive player and Assistant General Manager called it "a good win and a good start for the team", but quickly added, "We have a lot of work to do to limit our mistakes and stay out of the penalty box. We have a lot to learn and its a long season."

That determination was echoed by offensive forward Chris O'Donnell who pointed out their need for better movement on the offensive end and then observed, "Even though we are new to this league, our guys aren't new to lacrosse. We're not happy to just show up and play, we want to win.  If any feeling on this team is universal, it's that.  Hopefully we can continue to grow our knowledge of the box game and have a great first season."

From my position in a photographer's perch at the arena, it was a lot easier to be excited by the Greywolves' performance.  The team assets I mentioned in earlier articles--the goaltending of Casey Hill and their overall speed and stamina--were on display Thursday night as Rochester ran the score to 5-1 before Tonawanda's third-period push temporarily made it a closer game.  Just as prominent was the team's focus as they not only got constant direction from head coach Buji Seneca, but from each other.  Even in the closing minutes of the third period, when one might expect a new team to sit on a lead happily, they continued to exhort each other to run faster in shift changes and play harder.

They did take a lot of penalties throughout the game, as both Jemison and O'Donnell pointed out.  (One player told me after the game that their penalties totaled 40 minutes.)  At least twice they had three players in the box at once, something that displeased the entire team, especially Seneca.  None of this should be a surprise, considering the amount of adrenaline at work in their inaugural game, but it does give them something to focus on.

Probably the most accurate assessment of the team's mindset came from Jemison, who said, "Guys came out with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement which was great. We just have to keep working hard and keep coming together as a team. We're going to have a great season and we need to listen to our coach and keep learning the game."

The Greywolves will certainly have plenty of opportunity to work hard, as there are 17 more games in their season, not including playoffs, including two this week.  They face the Coldspring Hellbenders at the Genesee Valley Ice Rink Saturday night at 7PM, and then play their first road game Sunday at 3PM against last year's league champion, Six Nations.

The team's complete schedule, team photos, an audio recording of a recent radio station interview, and more are at their web site: http://rochestergreywolves.com/index2.htm

The author, Lou Grinzo, is the Media Director for the Rochester Greywolves.

April 23rd, 2008: Rochester Greywolves ready for inaugural season

The author, Lou Grinzo, is Media Director for the Rochester Greywolves.

The road to this weeks inaugural Rochester Greywolves games started last year, 'with a logo. Team owner, General Manager, and offensive forward, Craig Marvin, 24, was a player for the Alleghany Arrows of the Can-Am lacrosse league when he created the design. He had no sponsors, no league approval for a new team, not even a serious plan to start a team, just a logo he showed to some friends at the Wednesday-night lacrosse games at Total Sports Experience.

Then came a July night and the long drive back to Rochester from yet another road trip to an Arrows home game, when Craig and two other players decided it would make far more sense to return indoor, or box, lacrosse at the Senior B level to Rochester, and cut down on their travel time.

Fast forward through a blizzard of organizational and financial details--the league application, assembling a core group of people with the right off-the-floor skills, lining up a home arena and team sponsors, picking out uniforms, hiring coaches, holding open tryouts, scheduling regular practices, arranging for travel to away games--and we suddenly reach this week and the debut of Rochester's newest sports franchise.

And what a debut it will be, as the Greywolves have not just their first game, but three games in four days. They're at home, at the Genesee Valley Ice Rink, for the first two games, against the Tonawanda Braves (7-9-0 last season) on Thursday and the Coldspring Hellbenders (0-16-0) on Saturday. For the third game they travel to Ontario, Canada on Sunday to play the Six Nations Sting (13-1-2, league champions). It's a schedule that Marvin stoically describes as "brutal". After this weekend, it doesn't get much easier, as they have 6 more games in May, including rematches with Tonawanda and Six Nations, plus one each against Onondaga, a team they scrimmaged twice in recent weeks, and Marvin's old team, Alleghany. In total, they will play an eighteen-game schedule between May 1st and July 12th.

Marvin is optimistic about his team's first season, in part due to their performance in those scrimmages against Onondaga, a very tough and experienced team. The Greywolves lost both matches by a single goal, the second in overtime, an impressive start for a new franchise just beginning to gel both on and off the floor. He doesn't hesitate to predict a fourth-place finish behind the league's top three teams, Six Nations, Newtown, and Onondaga.

That's when league playoffs begin, and a year of experience plus their team speed and excellent goaltending could make for an interesting few weeks in July and August. The league champion then moves on to the President's Cup, where the champions of all the Senior B leagues play a mini tournament.

This year's President's Cup is in Edmonton, and it's a sign of how good the team is feeling about this aren't quite as funny as they were a month ago. No one on the team would dare predict they'll make that trip, but no one watching them in practices and scrimmages would bet the house against them, either.

One of their notable strengths is their intriguing mix of players. The Greywolves include 3 Canadians, and Can-Am league veterans as well as field lacrosse players from Syracuse University, Nazareth, RIT, MCC, Brockport, and Geneseo. The head coach, Buji Seneca, and assistant coach, Jody Pembleton, bring lifetimes of lacrosse and teaching experience to the team.

Two of the players, Ansley Jemison on defense and offensive forward Shaun Lux, are also assistant coaches for the St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team, which had a banner year this season. When asked how he got involved with the Greywolves, Lux smiles and repeats the question thoughtfully, then relates how he barely knew Jemison, but heard about the new team and met Marvin at the Wednesday night lacrosse league. Next thing Lux, a networking expert by profession, knew, he had volunteered to build their web site, which is easily the best in the league and yet another example of Marvin's powers of persuasion in action.

Any local lacrosse fan watching this organization and these players come together over the last few months, as I have, would be proud that they're one of our teams. They love this sport, and they're happy to be at practice, running drills and coaching each other as well as listening to Coach Seneca. They also have a sense of the game's history--you can't talk with Marvin for more than a few minutes without hearing him mention the Rochester Iroquois playing at the Main St. Armory in 1932, or some other piece of lacrosse lore. In fact, he chose the name Greywolves because a team played here in the early 1980's with that name. But above all else, this incarnation of the Greywolves can't wait to start playing league games, "brutal" schedule or not, and see how the next part of this adventure--complete with team logo--unfolds.

April 23rd, 2008: Rochester Greywolves and their second scrimmage

Author Lou Grinzo.

The Rochester Greywolves continued to prepare for their inaugural season in the Can-Am league with a scrimmage against the host Onondaga Red Hawks.

These two teams played a scrimmage in Rochester on April 5th, which Onondaga won 8-6. Sunday's contest was even tighter, as the Greywolves scored in the closing seconds of regulation to tie the game at six apiece before losing 7-6 in overtime.

Even though the Greywolves were short six players and faced the 2005 and 2006 Can-Am league champions in Onondaga's home arena, they led through much of the game. The team is quickly becoming known in the league for its outstanding speed and the excellent goal tending of Casey Hill. As I moved around the arena taking photographs, I overheard positive comments about the Greywolves from Onondaga's extremely knowledgeable fans.

At the end of the game, Onondaga's announcer made a point of welcoming Rochester into the league and asking for (and getting) applause from the crowd for the Greywolves.

The Greywolves open their regular season with a home game at Genesee Valley Ice Rink on May 1st, against the Tonawanda Braves. Their next game against Onondaga is May 25th, also at home, and it should be one of the highlights of the season.

You can see the team's full schedule, player photos, and more at their web site: http://rochestergreywolves.com/index2.htm

Note: The author, Lou Grinzo, is the team photographer for the Rochester Greywolves.

April 16th, 2008: The Greywolves lend a hand to Operation Clean Sweep

The Rochester Greywolves will be participating in the Clean Sweep Program on Saturday April, 26th to help beautify Rochester's Genesee Valley Park. The event runs from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and the Greywolves invite all to lend a hand.

April 4th, 2008: Rochester Greywolves: The pack is back

Rochester's newest lacrosse team, the Greywolves, haven't played their first regular-season game in the Can-Am league yet, but Saturday night at All-Star Sports in Irondequoit they earned the motto on the T-shirts they sell: The pack is back.

The Greywolves played a very tough and experienced opponent, the Onondaga Red Hawks, and while they came up on the short end of an 8-6 score, they certainly didn't look like a team in their first competitive play since the prior Greywolves teams of the early 1980s.

The 2008 Greywolves squad is a mix of Can-Am league veterans and Rochester-area college players. You can see photos of the team and check their schedule for the season which opens May 1st at http://rochestergreywolves.com/

Note: The author, Lou Grinzo, is the team photographer for the Rochester Greywolves.

March 30, 2008: Roster Adjustments

The Rochester Greywolves have made roster adjustments. View Here.

- Players adjusted: Removed - Tim Garbach, James Schutt.

March 23, 2008:

The Rochester Greywolves Lacrosse Team has release this years Jersey Design.

Click here for HOME or AWAY

March 20, 2008:

The Can-AM has released the final schedule for the 2008 Senior 'B' Lacrosse season. View Here.

February 15, 2008:

St. Patrick's Day Parade: The Rochester Greywolves will be marching in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Downtown Rochester on March 15th at 12:30 PM.

February 16th:

 The Rochester Greywolves have released their final roster. View Here.

January 12, 2008:

Rochester Greywolves Resurrected After 20 Years

In 2008, one of the greatest traditions in the game of lacrosse will return. Rochester was given a franchise in the Can-Am lacrosse league, rejuvenating the Greywolves, a team that had been dead for more than 20 years. The most talented players in the upstate area no longer need to travel great distances to play in one of the most competitive lacrosse leagues in the world.

The Greywolves can trace their roots back to the 1930's when the Rochester Iroquois' were competing in the North American Amateur Lacrosse Association. Before there were the Knighthawks, Rochester residents were lining up to cheer on the Iroquois. In the 1970's the league changed its name to the Can-Am Lacrosse League and through 1984 the Greywolves were competing for the Presidents cup.

The pool of talent the Greywolves have to draw from includes stand-out players from the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Now these local stars will have the chance to showcase their talent against the best box lacrosse players from across the US and Canada.

The two players responsible for the resurrection of the Greywolves both have experience playing in the Can-Am League. The general manager Craig Marvin is a 5 year veteran of the league, having played for both the Onondaga Redhawks and the Allegany Arrows. The Greywolves assistant manager Ansley Jemison is a Syracuse University graduate and played lacrosse both at Syracuse and professionally for the Newtown Golden Eagles.

Marvin is very enthusiastic when speaking about the team, saying "This is a great chance for local stars to play lacrosse on a very high level. It is a unique experience for the Rochester area to come out and see guys who work in our community every day do something really extraordinary."

The Greywolves also hope to serve as a talent pool for the Knighthawks to draw from. Much like the Sabres use the Rochester Americans the Greywolves will be a place for young players to develop their talents and showcase their ability to play at the next level.

The franchises that play in the Can-Am league are a throwback to the grassroots of the game. Every player that takes the field does it for a love of the game. The members of the Greywolves are passionate about the game and it is easy to see when you watch them play.