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Player Spotlight highlights the finer details and elements while supplying insight to the fans on what a player's thought process may be pertaining to a certain play, game or situation. It brings the intensity, passion, and inner most thoughts of the individual player that otherwise may not be felt or heard. |
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11/16/01 Paul Talmo of the New Jersey Storm is in the Spotlight. Paul sat down with PLPA correspondent Saul Davidson. | |
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Paul, tell us about tonight's inaugural game for the Storm and how the team felt coming into Pepsi Arena for the first time. |
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Well, we didn't know what to expect coming into it. We have all new faces on this team and I haven't played with any of them before. I think we were all a little bit nervous. I think a lot of the younger guys were that way. We got down (in the score) quick and then we found our selves looking at each other wondering what the heck was going on. We're all good players so we dug down and came around.
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How do you feel about the new goal dimensions introduced by the league this year? |
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Obviously there's a difference. Some of the guys on the Attack had four goals on all outside shots. You didn't used to get away with that last year. |
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Other than a fresh roster of faces that you've never been in action with before how does this New Jersey roster differ from your teams of the past, Boston, Ottawa, Syracuse? |
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I think in the past a lot of these Canadian guys that have played box lacrosse were always much more skillful than the Americans. And I think the Americans were better athletes in general, just faster from playing the outdoor game and developing those skills. And now I think a lot of the Canadians and native players on our team are becoming better athletes, more in shape, and can run the floor. I think overall the Americans are starting to play better box lacrosse.
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You've been a veteran to this game for a few years now and are no stranger to the world of lacrosse. You were elected as one of the Storm's first captains. How does that make you feel? |
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I'm ecstatic. I'm happy that I was given this opportunity and I hope I can teach these younger guys some things. We have a lot of good players so I don't know if I can but hopefully I'll have something to share with them.
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How is it playing under new head coach Jim Hinkson, undoubtedly the man who wrote the book on lacrosse? |
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I like his style a lot. We're still getting to know more and learn more about him. But I definitely like his aggressive style. He coaches us aggressively to be aggressive out there. Defensively we don't sit back at all, even though that didn't show today. That's his style of couching, a just go after it, approach.
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Some of those players on your roster tonight should try to keep an eye on Jamie Hanford dominating Steve Fannell on face-offs. |
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Oh yes. That was amazing. He's gotta be the best guy ever. We didn't support him enough on picking up the ground balls obviously but definitely the best face off guy I've seen.
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With this new roster, new coach, and inaugural team what are your overall goals this season? |
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It's only going to be one game at a time. If we're not shooting for the big one we shouldn't even be playing. We wont be content with beating just five different teams, that's not in our game plan. We're a little bit upset that we got off to a bad start here in Albany but that will change. We've got 23 new guys, most of them don't know each other. It'll take a bit of time to get it all sorted out.
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You had a tough loss here tonight in your inaugural game but from what I hear you have a large home crowd waiting to watch you take on the Saints on your turf at the Meadowlands. Good luck to you and your team in the remainder of the season. |
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Thanks. Thank you very much.
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| PLPA Correspondent Saul Davidson has followed the MILL / NLL since 1990. His first involvement with the MILL came with the forming of the Boston Blazers Boosters at the FleetCenter in Massachusetts in 1995, under the close eye of the Blazers PR department. He also constructed and maintained the Blazer's homepage on the world wide web, which is still in existence today. His history includes news articles and awards for several news web sites, including e-lacrosse, the Boston Herald, the Outsiders Guide to the NLL, and many other fan sites. Since the departure of the Blazers franchise from the league, he formed Arena Media in early 1998, a one stop source on the Internet for sports, stadium and expansion news. Arena Media currently hosts one of the largest sources of professional lacrosse news. |
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