Bayhawks Get Curry, Pride Gets Hanford

[Gregg Pathiakis]

http://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/0,5911,1_401_0_68547,00.html

MONTCLAIR, NJ -- The New Jersey Pride, New Jersey's first-ever professional outdoor lacrosse team, announced today a trade that brings Baltimore Bayhawks defenseman Jamie Hanford to New Jersey in exchange for midfielder David Curry.

Hanford, who spent the first season and a half with the Bridgeport Barrage before finding himself in Baltimore via a trade, is best known for his strength and rugged defense around the goal. The move gives the Pride another defensive addition in what has been a major overhaul of that unit since the start of the 2004 season.

“We are happy to bring Jamie Hanford to New Jersey and we expect nothing less than the stellar lacrosse he has played for four seasons in the league,’’ said Pride General Manager Trey Reeder. “We are sad to part ways with Dave (Curry), who has been such an instrumental part of our team since the league’s inception.”

>What Hanford brings to the team is size, something the Pride lacked in 2004. At 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, he will be a major force in front of goalie Scott Schroeder.

“We think we made ourselves a better team and upgraded an area where we knew we wanted to get better,’’ Reeder said. “Being able to defend in this league against the awesome goal scorers that you have on every team is key, and we think by adding this piece, we become that much deeper and that much more able to hold teams down.”

In addition to playing stellar defense, when called upon, Hanford can move to the face-off X to take draws, as he won 10-of-21 draws in 2003 and 2-of-6 last summer. He was selected to the 2003 All-Star Game in Long Island, where he scored a goal. Hanford scored once in 2004 on six shots.

Curry is New Jersey’s all-time leading goal scorer from the midfield with 95 tallies over his first four seasons in Major League Lacrosse. He has added 48 assists while picking up 91 ground balls, including a career-high 36 in 2004.

[PigPen]

What the heck is baltimore doing lately?