Player Spotlight


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.

In the Player Spotlight this week is Kevin Finneran. Kevin is interviewed by Tom Borrelli who fell in love with lacrosse while writing for his school campus paper "The Record" as a student at Buffalo State College in 1977.

He has seen and covered over 1000 games at all levels which includes the Buffalo Bandits for the Buffalo News since their inception in 1991, NCAA Tournament games, Final Four Championships, upstate New York schools games, the Canadian Mann Cup Championship, the OLA Major Box Lacrosse Series, the Buffalo Gamblers of the OLA Major Series and high school events.

Tom presently writes for the Buffalo News and does extensive feature writing for Lacrosse Magazine and Inside Lacrosse. Between pro box, college and high school field and OLA box lacrosse Tom attends about 50 to 60 games a year (and Dick Vitale thinks he has it made with hoops!) The PLPA is happy to have Tom on board as a contributing writer for the Player Spotlight.

PLPA correspondent Tom Borrelli spoke with Philadelphia Wings All-Pro forward Kevin Finneran after Friday night's much-needed 13-11 victory over the Bandits in Buffalo. Finneran helped the defending champion Wings improve to 1-4 with two goals and five assists as Philadelphia won in Buffalo for the fourth consecutive season.



Question What was your take on the game against the Bandits?
Answer It was a game we obviously needed to win. We just wanted to come out and play well. We knew it would be a back-and-forth barn-burner kind of game. We're obviously very happy we won this game but good teams never get too excited about one win. Bad teams do. We feel we're a good team so we're just going to take it and move on.


Question What did you think was the turning point?
Answer Killing the two-men down penalty in the fourth quarter. (Philly held a 10-9 lead at the time.) We also had a run in the fourth quarter where we got three in a row.


Question Your team has lost two overtime games. What has been the difference between this year's team and last year's?
Answer I guess luck. We haven't finished. We had some opportunities in both those overtime games and last year we won three overtime games, which is the mark of a good team. We're learning from them and we'll see how we respond from those games. We feel we're capable of getting back in the hunt without question.


Question What does the team need to do to continue its winning ways?
Answer Play like we did in the second quarter (when the Wings turned a 5-1 deficit into an 8-7 halftime lead). We have to get up and down and use our athleticism and have our scorers score and Dallas (goaltender Eliuk) continue to play excellent. Overall team ball wins in lacrosse and should get us back into the hunt.


Question What has team morale been like so far?
Answer It's been overall pretty good. We've had no finger pointing. Everybody's staying positive. This obviously picks us up a lot. We've got to put this behind us and go right on to the next game. Luckily we have two weeks to heal up before going into Toronto (Feb. 19).


Question How does it feel to be chosen to represent Team USA/World in the first NLL All-Star Game on Feb. 20 in Rochester?
Answer I'm proud, I think it's going to be a great event for our sport and for the future of our sport. We've got some great players on our team and so do the Canadians. I think it's going to be a fun showcase of our sport for the world to see.


Question The Wings play in Toronto the night before the All-Star Game. What effect will that have physically on the players involved in both games?
Answer We're going to have to put everything on the line in that game (Toronto) just like we did tonight. The thing about our sport is that because we only get to practice once a week, it's very hard to play back-to-back games. But the good thing about it is that because it's an All-Star Game you can kind of relax a little. Don't get me wrong, we're there to win and play good lacrosse, but it's not the end of the world.


Question Can you tell me about the PLPA Lacrosse Camp you're taking part in this summer?
Answer We're going to have a camp that Players Association members are going to coach at in Philadelphia. It's going to be for American and Canadian kids and Native Americans to come and learn from the greatest players in the sport, both indoor and outdoor. We're really excited about putting on a first-class camp and can't wait to get it going.


Question What is the next step that can be taken to improve the league?
Answer Continued exposure and obviously getting some new teams involved. We can't stay at seven anymore, we've got to move on. People have to step up and get some more teams into this league.


Question Do you intend to play in the NLL again next season?
Answer I'm undecided right now. I'll decide at the end of this year. I feel I can still play, I'm still at the top of my game. I want to be a part of it because I feel it's going to grow and grow.




This week's feature will have Bob Watson from the Toronto Rock in the "Spotlight".