The Pittsburgh CrosseFire was an American professional box lacrosse team and a member of the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

during the

2000 NLL season The 2000 National Lacrosse League season is the 14th season in the NLL that began on January 7, 2000, and concluded with the championship game on May 6, 2000. The Toronto Rock defeated the Rochester Knighthawks 14–13. Kaleb Toth scored the winn ...

. It was based in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

History

Relocation from Baltimore

The franchise started out as the

Baltimore Thunder The Baltimore Thunder were an American professional box lacrosse team and a member of the National Lacrosse League from 1987 until 1999. They were based in Baltimore, Maryland, and won the first then-Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League championship in ...

in 1987. Following the 1999 season, team owner Dennis Townsend expressed disappoint in Baltimore's lack of support for the team, despite the team featuring five-time

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

Gary Gait Gary Charles Gait (born April 5, 1967) is a Canadian retired Hall of Fame professional lacrosse player and currently the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team at Syracuse University, where he played the sport collegiately. On January 24, 2017, ...

and reigning Rookie of the Year Jesse Hubbard. After reportedly losing $2 million during his two-year ownership, Townsend moved the team to Pittsburgh in July 1999.

2000 season

Despite retaining the core of the Thunder team that had reached the postseason in the previous two seasons, the CrosseFire struggled early in the season. After a 2-3 start, the CrossFire acquired Gait's twin brother

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

in a mid-season trade from the Syracuse Smash. The team finished the season with a 6-6 record, losing their final game in double overtime to the winless Smash to finish one game out of a playoff spot. Gary Gait finished with 83 points, tied with

John Tavares John Tavares (born September 20, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward (ice hockey), forward and Alternate Captain (ice hockey), alternate captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). In the 2009 NHL ent ...

for most in the league and was named First Team All-Pro, but missed out on winning his sixth straight MVP Award. Paul Gait would earn 2nd Team All-Pro honors. The Pittsburgh CrosseFire average 4,916 fans per game during the 2000 season, the second-lowest in the league and significantly less than the 7,057 averaged by the Thunder in their final season in Baltimore.

Sale and relocation

In April 2000, one month after the team's inaugural season, Dennis Townsend closed the team's Pittsburgh offices and announced the team was for sale. The CrossFire would be sold to DC-based attorney Steve Comiskey, who relocated the team to Washington, becoming the Washington Power.

All time Record

https://nllstats.com/allgames?season=2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittsburgh Crossefire Defunct National Lacrosse League teams CrosseFire Lacrosse teams in Pennsylvania 2000 establishments in Pennsylvania 2000 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Lacrosse clubs established in 2000 Lacrosse clubs disestablished in 2000