# Ottawa Rebel

The Ottawa Rebel was a team in the National Lacrosse League based in Ottawa, Ontario from 2001 until 2003. They initially played at the Corel Centre (now called the Canadian Tire Centre), but part-way through the 2002 season moved to the smaller, but centrally located, Ottawa Civic Centre. From 1997 until 2000 the team was located in Syracuse, New York and was called the Syracuse Smash.
The Rebel was owned by the Brad Watters group which also brought lacrosse to Toronto and Montreal.
In their first season in Ottawa, the Rebel had one win and thirteen losses and finished last of nine teams. Their second season was slightly better, with four wins and twelve losses, but due to tie breakers they finished fourth in the Northern Division and thirteenth overall behind the Calgary Roughnecks, who also finished with a 4–12 record. In their third and final year in Ottawa they again had four wins and twelve losses, placing them fourth in the Northern Division again but tenth out of twelve in the overall league standings.
As the Syracuse Smash they were last overall all three years prompting the move to the Canadian capital.
The franchise became inactive after the 2003 season. In 2005, it was purchased by Bruce Urban and moved to Edmonton, Alberta, becoming the Edmonton Rush. In 2024, it was announced that the National Lacrosse League would return to Ottawa as the Ottawa Black Bears.

## All time Record

| Season | Division | W-L | Finish | Home | Road | GF | GA | Coach | Playoffs |
| 2001 | None | 1–13 | 9th | 0–7 | 1–6 | 144 | 220 | Mark Vitarelli | Missed playoffs |
| 2002 | Northern | 4–12 | 4th | 1–7 | 3–5 | 202 | 245 | Marty Cooper, Lindsay Sanderson | Missed playoffs |
| 2003 | Northern | 4–12 | 4th | 3–5 | 1–7 | 174 | 215 | Terry Sanderson | Missed playoffs |
| Total | 3 seasons | 9–37 | 9–37 | 4–19 | 5–18 | 520 | 680 | | |

### 2000-01 schedule

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | Attendance | Record |
| 1 | December 21, 2000 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | L 7–17 | 13,333 | 0–1 |
| 2 | December 29, 2000 | @ Albany Attack | Times Union Center | L 7–14 | 4,921 | 0–2 |
| 3 | January 5, 2001 | Toronto Rock | Canadian Tire Centre | L 7–16 | 12,193 | 0–3 |
| 4 | January 12, 2001 | @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Wachovia Center | L 8–17 | 14,386 | 0–4 |
| 5 | January 14, 2001 | @ Washington Power | Capital One Arena | L 14–18 | 3,519 | 0–5 |
| 6 | January 19, 2001 | New York Saints | Canadian Tire Centre | L 8–9 | 7,893 | 0–6 |
| 7 | January 26, 2001 | @ Columbus Landsharks | Nationwide Arena | L 10–11 | 6,138 | 0–7 |
| 8 | February 3, 2001 | @ Buffalo Bandits | HSBC Arena | L 14–25 | 8,111 | 0–8 |
| 9 | February 9, 2001 | Albany Attack | Canadian Tire Centre | L 10–13 | 5,780 | 0–9 |
| 10 | February 16, 2001 | Buffalo Bandits | Canadian Tire Centre | L 12–21 | 7,083 | 0–10 |
| 11 | March 2, 2001 | Rochester Knighthawks | Canadian Tire Centre | L 11–17 | 7,420 | 0–11 |
| 12 | March 18, 2001 | Washington Power | Canadian Tire Centre | L 13–17 | 6,715 | 0–12 |
| 13 | March 30, 2001 | @ New York Saints | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum | W 15–14 | 4,183 | 1–12 |
| 14 | April 6, 2001 | Columbus Landsharks | Canadian Tire Centre | L 8–11 | 9,325 | 1–13 |

### 2001-02 schedule

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | OT | Attendance | Record |
| 1 | November 18, 2001 | Vancouver Ravens | Canadian Tire Centre | W 13–10 | | 6,230 | 1–0 |
| 2 | December 2, 2001 | Calgary Roughnecks | Canadian Tire Centre | L 11–17 | | 5,140 | 1–1 |
| 3 | December 14, 2001 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | L 6–12 | | 14,169 | 1–2 |
| 4 | December 21, 2001 | Rochester Knighthawks | Canadian Tire Centre | L 10–14 | | 4,654 | 1–3 |
| 5 | January 4, 2002 | Columbus Landsharks | Canadian Tire Centre | L 11–15 | | 5,500 | 1–4 |
| 6 | January 19, 2002 | @ Albany Attack | Times Union Center | L 17–18 | | 3,027 | 1–5 |
| 7 | January 25, 2002 | @ Montreal Express | Bell Centre | L 15–20 | | 7,132 | 1–6 |
| 8 | January 27, 2002 | Montreal Express | Canadian Tire Centre | L 9–13 | | 6,304 | 1–7 |
| 9 | February 2, 2002 | @ Vancouver Ravens | General Motors Place | L 10–21 | | 9,613 | 1–8 |
| 10 | February 9, 2002 | @ Calgary Roughnecks | Scotiabank Saddledome | W 20–15 | | 8,854 | 2–8 |
| 11 | February 16, 2002 | Toronto Rock | Canadian Tire Centre | L 8–15 | | 7,826 | 2–9 |
| 12 | March 2, 2002 | @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Wachovia Center | L 17–19 | | 14,016 | 2–10 |
| 13 | March 7, 2002 | Washington Power | Canadian Tire Centre | L 15–18 | | 5,308 | 2–11 |
| 14 | March 16, 2002 | @ New Jersey Storm | Izod Center | W 12–10 | | 6,535 | 3–11 |
| 15 | March 23, 2002 | @ New York Saints | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum | W 17–16 | | 5,452 | 4–11 |
| 16 | March 24, 2002 | New Jersey Storm | Canadian Tire Centre | L 11–12 | OT | 6,535 | 4–12 |

### 2002-03 schedule

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | Attendance | Record |
| 1 | December 28, 2002 | Calgary Roughnecks | Rona Centre | L 9–14 | 3,642 | 0–1 |
| 2 | January 3, 2003 | @ Columbus Landsharks | Nationwide Arena | L 13–14 | 2,103 | 0–2 |
| 3 | January 4, 2003 | @ New York Saints | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum | W 16–12 | 4,274 | 1–2 |
| 4 | January 11, 2003 | Colorado Mammoth | Rona Centre | W 13–11 | 3,586 | 2–2 |
| 5 | January 23, 2003 | Toronto Rock | Rona Centre | L 6–15 | 2,794 | 2–3 |
| 6 | February 1, 2003 | New Jersey Storm | Rona Centre | W 12–8 | 2,713 | 3–3 |
| 7 | February 7, 2003 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | L 10–13 | 16,059 | 3–4 |
| 8 | February 15, 2003 | Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Rona Centre | W 11–9 | 4,816 | 4–4 |
| 9 | February 28, 2003 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 7–13 | 8,531 | 4–5 |
| 10 | March 8, 2003 | Vancouver Ravens | Rona Centre | L 10–13 | 6,267 | 4–6 |
| 11 | March 15, 2003 | @ New Jersey Storm | Izod Center | L 15–16 | 6,302 | 4–7 |
| 12 | March 21, 2003 | @ Buffalo Bandits | HSBC Arena | L 9–12 | 7,943 | 4–8 |
| 13 | March 22, 2003 | Buffalo Bandits | Rona Centre | L 9–11 | 4,512 | 4–9 |
| 14 | March 28, 2003 | @ Vancouver Ravens | General Motors Place | L 7–10 | 9,233 | 4–10 |
| 15 | March 30, 2003 | @ Calgary Roughnecks | Scotiabank Saddledome | L 16–26 | 10,603 | 4–11 |
| 16 | April 12, 2003 | Columbus Landsharks | Rona Centre | L 12–17 | 5,289 | 4–12 |