Opening Night in the Northwoods League
17th Season begins with 7 games
(Rochester, MN) The Northwoods League opens its 17th season tonight as action begins in seven cities across the 16-team league. This year the NWL’s two divisions, the North and South, will solely play the opponents within their own division a total of ten times each with five games at home and five games on the road. The playoffs will begin August 17th with Divisional playoffs and the NWL Championship Series begins August 20th.
Seven teams will be having their home openers tonight starting in Ontario with Thunder Bay hosting Duluth at 5:35 Central Time. In the eight seasons of the Border Cats this is the first time they’ve opened at home. The next first pitch will come in Alexandria, MN at 6:05 where the Alexandria Beetles will take on the Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers. The Beetles will be celebrating their 10th Anniversary in the league at Knute Nelson Memorial Park.
Two 2010 season openers were playoff contests in 2009. One matches the Mankato MoonDogs against the 2009 NWL Champion Rochester Honkers at 7:05. Former 2009 Mankato Moondog Assistant Coach Ryan Ruiz (Central Arizona College) is now the Field Manager in Rochester. The other 2009 playoff rematch has the La Crosse Loggers hosting the Eau Claire Express at 7:05 at Copeland Park. The 2008 playoffs featured a South Divisional matchup between the Wisconsin Woodchucks and the Madison Mallards. Those two teams begin their season tonight in Madison at 7:05.
Green Bay and Battle Creek entered the league together as expansion teams in 2007. Tonight they open their 2010 seasons in Green Bay at 6:35.
The Northwoods League added two new organizations to the league in 2010 with the addition of the Willmar Stingers (North) and the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters (South). The Rafters begin their season on the road tonight in Iowa against the Waterloo Bucks at Riverfront Stadium at 6:35. The Willmar Stingers will have to wait one more day as they open play against the St. Cloud RiverBats on June 3rd at 7:05 CDT and will have Hall of Famer, Paul Molitor, as the featured opening night guest and fireworks following the game.
All 16 Northwoods League teams will be using a 4-camera setup beginning with tonight’s action on www.nwltickets.com.
“It’s going to be exciting to see for the first time,” said Northwoods League Director of Operations Curt Carstensen. “I’ve heard a lot of great things from around the League. The four-cameras working together will bring fans closer to the action than they’ve ever been. This is the third season of live video of all Northwoods League games and fans will see how big of a step we’ve made.”
Fans can log on and watch any game free of charge. The NorthwoodsLeague.tv website has been re-designed to make accessing the game of your choice easier than ever. The Northwoods League is partnering with Webcast America, www.webcast50.com, for the 2010 season.
“The people at Webcast America have been great during this entire process,” Carstensen said. “The quality of their product makes this partnership one that we’re extremely excited about.”
All of the games will be archived after their conclusion and available to watch at any time throughout the season.