Game of the Year #11 Bayhawks vs Cannons

I wrote about this matchup intensely leading up to the MLL semi-final between the Boston Cannons and Chesapeake Bayhawks. The Cannons were the best team in the league, with the MVP and goaltender of the year. The Bayhawks were the last seed in the playoffs and they barely snuck in with a winning record. I wrote at the time the only chance the Bayhawks had of beating Boston was if goaltender Chris Garritty stood on his head.
.... He did. Here is your 11th game of the year, the Bayhawks and the Cannons!
The Cannons came out firing in this win, winning the opening faceoff and scoring almost immediately. Max Quinzani, the rookie from Duke, scored the first goal of the game.
But Chesapeake came back moments later, when Bugs Combs scored a goal standing right in front of the crease and beating the goaltender of the year Kip Turner. Kevin Buchanan took the lead with his goal for Boston, but it would be their last lead of the game.
That is when the Bayhawks got hot, scoring five straight goals. The first of his three came from Ben Hunt, with his two pointer to give the Bayhawks a quick lead in the first quarter. After that Jeff Reynolds let one go inside the two point line, making it 4-2 Bayhawks after one quarter. Garrity played on his head that period, absolutely shutting down the Cannons.
The Cannons are a good defensive team, but they are mostly a running defensive team. Unless they score, they did not have much of a shot.
In the starting seconds of the second quarter Hunt strikes again, making it a 5-2 lead. Hunt also scored the next goal. The Cannons were having complete defensive breakdowns.
The last goal of their streak came from Jed Prossner beating Turner high. I was wondering why Turner wasn't pulled right there, when they have a good backup in Burke. But Boston stuck with the goaltender of the year, and eventually scored.
After a bad offensive sequence, Boston gets the ball and Buchanan makes them pay, slimming the lead to 7-3. But about one minute later that changed with Combs' goal.
Chesapeake would score two more times to make it 10-3 going into the half. I imagine the Cannons were stunned, but the Bayhawks really game planned for this one good.
The Bayhawks came out firing again, scoring twice sandwiching a Buchanan goal. Boston began their mini-comeback, scoring three straight goals to make it 12-7. That is when Kip Turner was pulled for Jordon Burke.
Into the fourth quarter, Ryan Boyle got a two point shot to make it 12-9. Burke did a terrific job, but Chesapeake scored one more to make it 13-9 which was the final. Boston had a few more possessions with chances to score, but could not, completing one of the biggest upsets in lacrosse this year.

Media Coverage:
Inside lacrosse
The Lacrosse Blog

Lax Links- 9/17

We have only two editions left of the NLL Previews, and those are Minnesota and Buffalo. I hope to get those up next week.

Lax Links

Knighthawks name Mike Hasen head coach- Lacrosse Magazine

Rush release McElroy- NLL Insider

Stealth and Wings make trade- NLL Insider

The Boston Cannons season in review- Lax United

Lax Links- 8/3

Here are your Lax Links for this Friday afternoon.

MLL All-star game to return to Boston- Inside Lacrosse

Goettelman to return- Lacrosse Magazine

A review of the champions- majorleaguelacrosse.com

Wings hire new GM- NLL.com

Lax Links-9/20

I know I haven't had a real post up this week, but don't worry. Nothing much has been happening of late other than some NLL deals. Tomorrow there will be an open thread for the playoff games and then a recap, followed by the same Sunday. Until then, your Lax Links....

The Colorado Mammoth traded for Matt Zash- NLL Insider

The All-MLL team is announced- Inside Lacrosse

Poskay named MVP- Lacrosse Magazine

Merill D-Man o the year- Lacrosse Magazine

Remember tomorrow at 12pm on ESPN2: Cannons vs Bayhawks. And Lizards vs Outlaws will be on your local CSN

MLL Team Reviews: Boston Cannons

With the season soon drawing to a close, I'm going to look at every team in the MLL. I will look at the present, past, and future of each team and judge their playoff hopes (If they are in!).
The Cannons go into te playoffs as obvious favorites with Paul Rabil, Kevin Buchanan and Matt Poskay. They face the weaker Bayhawks in the first round who they are expected to beat. The Cannons strentgh is scoring, with last year's MLL MVP Paul Rabil and this year's scoring leader Matt Pokay leading the team.
The Bayhawks were able to stun the Cannons last night in overtime, however, but there is no doubt the Cannons will make adjustments on the streaky Bayhawks offense. The Cannons Kip Turner should be able to keep the Bayhawks from scoring too much, so the Cannons focus will be scoring like they can off Chris Garrity, no easy task.
The Cannons will obviously need their stars in Rabil and Poskay, but may also need younger players like Justin Smith and Max Quinzani to get the job done.
Boston will be without their home-field advantage, in which they went 5-1 at Harvard Stadium. The Cannons also lead the league in goals after the season, with 175. I don't know if Garrity can handle that offense.
The Cannons had a historic season, going into the playoffs as a #1 seed looking to win their first championship. Poskay broke their goal-scoring record, and they hosted the all-star game at Harvard Stadium. The Cannons look to finish their season on a high note; A championship.

Lax Links- 8/3

Here is your Lax Links and discussion topic of the day. Who will win it all in the MLL playoffs? There will be a bigger post up today hopefully.

Award winners for week 11- Inside Lacrosse

Goettelman breaks MLL scoring record- Lax United

Could Matt Poskay be MLL MVP?- Lax Magazine

Bandits re-sign two players- NLL.com

MLL Team Reviews: Bayhawks

With the season soon drawing to a close, I'm going to look at every team in the MLL. I will look at the present, past, and future of each team and judge their playoff hopes (If they are in!).
First up is the Chesapeake Bayhawks. They will enter the tournament as the #4 and last seed, playing the Boston Cannons. That will be a challenge, no doubt, but they may have the home crowd on their side playing in Annapolis, Maryland.
In general, I don't see the Bayhawks getting very far in the playoffs. I thought Chicago was a much better team wit scorers like the Leveille's, Ned Crotty, and Chris Roetelli. The Bayhawks top scorer, Peet Poillon, can put the ball in the net and ranks third in the MLL in points behind only Matt Poskay and Matt Danowski. But their next leading scorer is Kyle Dixon with 33, and then Danny Glading with 26. They are third in the league in goals for, behind only Toronto (non-playoff team) and surprisingly Denver, though they made the playoffs solely on defense and goal tending. They do, however, lead the league in 2pt field goals with 16.
Chesapeake can make the playoffs at best a .500 team and at worst 5-7. The Bayhawks are also a mere 3-3 at home and 2-3 on the road, and travel to Boston t end their season next week, so that home field advantage ma be non-existent.
If one player can help the Bayhawks do teh unlikely and beat Boston in the playoffs, it would be either Dixon or Garrity. Chris Garrity, at 5-4 on the season, is fourth in the league with a 12.84 GAA, but has been lights out several occasions, including last week vs the Machine, who they beat by four goals to advance. Garrity is also third in the league in goal tending minutes with 579, behind only Kip Turner and Drew Adams, so the Bayhawks will be relying on him over Boston native and 0-2 goaltender Mike Levin.
For Dixon, he is going to need a performance smiler to Saturday, scoring four points in the Bayhawks win. Th Bayhawks will need more than just their stars in Dixon and Poillon, however, if they want to beat the goal scoring powerhouse that is Boston. They will need Danny Glading and Brian Vetter on their A game as well.
The Bayhawks are an interesting team as a whole, with not much scoring potential but they find a way to put the ball in the net enough. With young players like #1 draft pick Micheal Kimmell and hometown player Brian Carrol, the Bayhawks may make a bit of noise this Championship Weekend for the first time since 2005. But my opinion? Good ride, bu the 'Hawks will not get by Boston.

Playoffs Clinched for Four Teams

Last night the other two teams clinched their tickets to to the playoffs, with Long Island beating Toronto and Chesapeake beating Chicago.
Meanwhile, the Boston Cannons defeated the Denver Outlaws to clinch #1 seed overall heading into the playoffs. A game where Matt Poskay scored yet another record, he now has 42 goals, breaking the Cannons record of goals in a season.
For Long Island, Goettelmann broke the record of all-time MLL goals last night in their win over the Toronto Nationals. Goetelmann was held scoreless the first three quarters, but scored the last three to secure the playoff spot of the Lizards.
The Bayhawks clinched their first berth since 2005, dfeating the Chicago Machine, who woul have clinch if they had won. Chesapeake also had to beat Chicago by four goals to offset the tiebreaker, or else if Chicago won next week the Bayhawks were out.
Championship weekend is August 21st and 22nd in Annapolis, Maryyland.

Top Plays of Week 10 and Other MLL Note

http://www.majorleaguelacrosse.com/game-highlight/1099/top-5-plays-of-week-10/

Here are your news & Notes for Week 11 of your MLL season:
Last week the Outlaws and Cannons clinched playoff spots, so there are only two more spots available for Toronto, Long Island, Chesapeake, and Chicago. My personal feeling: Long Island and Chicago will make it. Chesapeake does not scare me at all, and Toronto is all but out, but if a miracle occurs and Toronto makes the playoffs, they could be a dangerous team, or at the least a dangerous spoiler.

Award Winners for this week: Stephen Berger of the Lizards wins Offensive Player of the week, Kip Turner of the Cannons wins Defensive Player o the week, and Conor Martin of Denver wins Rookie of the Week in his MLL debut.

Those are you news and notes in the MLL for this week.
This week's action all takes place Saturday with Long Island vs Toronto, Boston vs Denver, and Chesapeake vs Chicago.

Another Look at the MLL

Last week I took a look at the Boston Cannons, Long Island Lizards and Toronto Nationals. This week let's look at how the season has progressed for the Denver Outlaws, Chesapeake Bayhawks and Chicago Machine.
Let's take a look where these teams are in the standings:

Boston 7-3
OUTLAWS 7-3
Long Island 5-5 2 GB
MACHINE 4-6 3 GB
BAYHAWKS 4-6 3 GB
Toronto 3-7 4 GB

The Outlaws have had a good year all season, fighing all season long to stay with Boston at the top spot of the league. Led by the 33 points of Team USA player Brenden Mundorf, the Outlaws can score with the help of Drew Westervelt, Dan hardy, and Max Seibald. Also on the roster is Team USA goaltender Jesse Schwartzerman, who is third in the MLL in GAA.
The Chicago Machine had a good start to the MLL season, but you imagine it's hard bouncing around city-to-city with no real home stadium. With Casey Powell opting out of playing this season, the Machine selected Ned Crotty of Duke with their first overall pick. Along with the Leveille's, the Machine can be a dangerous team if they find a way into the playoffs.
The Bayhawks, led by perennial all-star Peet Polion, could also be a team to look out for, or they could easily fall into irrelevance if the Nationals find a way to get hot. With Pollion second to only Matt Poskay in scoring, you have to go all the way down to ninth to find the Bayhawk's next leading scorer in Kyle Dixon. Chesapeake is second to last in scoring to only Toronto, a team that may turn it on later on in the season.

Too Bad This Wasn't My 100th Post! USA Wins Gold

Team USA went into the FIL Championships with a lot of holes and a team not many believed in. They had lost two exhibition games, and just barely squeaked by the MLL All-stars.
Meanwhile, Canada was looked at as a power house, and understandably so. I mean, look at that roster!
Don't get me wrong, we all knew it was going to be USA vs Canada. I just assumed Canada would win.
The USA struck first in the first quarter, with a goal by Matt Streibel beat Chris Sanderson at the 14:55 mark. About two minutes later, Paul Rabil the soon-to-be FIL MVP, shot a rocket past Sanderson to give the Americans a multi-goal lead. Rabil scored again at the 3:04 mark, but other than that Chris Sanderson was a shut-down goalie the rest of the period. Canada was able to score twice to make it only a one goal lead going into the second period.
Ryan Powell scored quickly into the quarter to make it 4-2, but John Grant made it a one goal game once again. About three minutes later, Lizards superstar Zack Greer tied it. USA scored the next two goals to make it a multi-goal game once again. It was 8-4 Americans going into the half. Canada came out fighting in the next period, scoring the next four goals to make it 8-8.
The drama was building. All knotted up going into the final period of the FIL tournament. Ryan McClay scored the go-ahead goal for Canada at the 16:53 mark.
It was far from over, though. Brenden Mundorf of the Outlaws knotted it back up for the Americans. Again, Canada would take the lead and the USA would tie it, but Ned Crotty and Max Seibald would score the two last goals to give Team USA the gold.
Paul Rabil won MVP for the FIL, and may be this MLL season's MVP with the now playoff bound Boston Cannons.

A look at the MLL so far:

This MLL season has been an exciting one, with teams such as Boston and Denver proving to be powerhouse teams.
The current standings on this FIL break look like this:

Boston 6-3
Denver 6-3
Chicago 4-5 2 GB
Cheasapeake 4-5 2GB
Long Island 4-5 2 GB
Toronto 3-6 3 GB.

The disappointment of the year is obviously the Toronto Nationals, the world champions of last season. With players like Garret Billings, Dan Dawson, and John Grant Jr, they still have potential to be a force if they squeeze their way into the tight playoff race. After winning three in a row, it looked like the Nationals were alive, but it will be tough to rebound from a tough one goal loss to Denver two weeks ago.

Long Island also has an interesting case. They started the season off poorly as well, but have played decent in the last few weeks, and are now tied with Chicago, who started off the season real well. Led by Matt Danowski and Zack Greer, the Lizards are a team that can make some noise.

The Cannons are having a terrific year pushing for their first ever title, led by not only Paul Rabil but Matt Poskay leading the MLL is scoring. A 34 goal scorer two years ago, Poskay had a disappointing season last year playing only 7 games and scoring 15 goals. If the Cannons want to continue their run, they are going to need Poskay to stay hot as the new all-time Cannons scoring leader.

Later in the week I will look at Denver, Chicago, and Chesapeake.

MLL Weekend Game Recaps

In the last weekend of MLL before the FIL, here are your recaps!

The Boston Cannons defeated the Chesapeake Bayhwaks Saturday to stay tied for 1st place in the MLL with Denver. Paul Rabil scored four goals including a two point goal. With Chris Eck out last night, John Ortolani was called up from the practice sqaud and made an immediate impact. He won the opening face-off and gave Rabil the opening goal. Matt Poskay scored three goals and is now four goals away from tying the all-time scoring record in Cannons history

Matt Donowski made MLL history in the Lizard's win vs the Machine, scoring three two pointers in his four goal night. As you remember, the last time the Lizards and Machine met it was an overtime thriller. This one stayed in regulation, however close. With three minutes left and the Machine up by one, one of Danowski's two-pointers took the lead and it stayed that way.

Meanwhile in the FIL world, the Iroquois nation has still been denied entry and it appears unlikely they will participate.

MLL Week in Review

Reviewing the last week of MLL action before the all-star game....

Denver beat Chesapeake in one of the biggest crowds in MLL history. In a ver rainy and overcast game, Matt Bocklet and Max Seibald had hat-tricks for the Outlaws. The rain created swamp at invesco made scoring difficult and the added pressure of the tough Denver defense made it hard, as Denver held the Chesapeake attack at bay to win the Fourth-of-July games, 12-10.

The Long Island Lizards beat the Chicago Machine in a must-win game. The Lizards were down by four points with 9:30 left in the game before scoring the next four goals and five points, thanks to Chris Fiore's two point shot. Chris Rotelli scored with 0:04 on the clock to tie the game, but !:42 in, Zack Greer scored the game winner for Long Island.

The Nationals defeated the Cannons, 15-13 to better their record to 3-5 and continue their win streak. The Cannons scored the first two goals, the first a first career goal for Stephen Boyle. You can read the rest of my Cannons-Nats recap here

Nationals best #1 Boston to get back in playoff picture

The Toronto Nationals won their third straight game to better their record this season to 3-5. The Cannons defeat moved their record to 5-3.
The game started very offensive, with Stephen Boyle scoring his first career MLL goal for the Cannons, and them taking a 2-0 lead. But Toronto came right back to take the lead, including a highlight reel goal by John Grant Jr. But MLL leading scorer Matt Poskay evened things up at the end of the quarter, but Mark Steenhuis took the lead for Toronto again.
At the half both teams were tied at 9. But it was an odd second period to get there. Seven seconds in, Geoff Snider won the face off and took it to the other end to score. The teams traded three goals after a rocket by Paul Rabil.
Jordon Burke replace Kip Turner in net for Boston to start the third. Matt Poskay got the Cannons the lead on a man-advantage, but Toronto came back to score back-to-back goals. But Paul Rabil scored from outside the arc to give the Cannons a 13-11 lead going into the last quarter of play.
The Cannons could not score a goal this period, and Toronto tied it almost immediately. Burke kept the Cannons in the game until the backbreaking goal by Jordon Hall that was the game winner.
This is the Cannons and Nationals last game before the all-star game this Thursday at Harvard stadium.

MLL heads into week 8

Major League Lacrosse heads into week eight off it's season, so here are a few notes:
Standings:
Boston 5-2
Chesapeake 4-3 1 GB
Chicago 4-3 1 GB
Denver 4-3 1 GB
Long Island 2-5 3 GB
Toronto 2-5 3 GB

Week eight begins Thursday night and continues throughout the fourth of July before the All-star game on July 8th. Last week Denver, Chesapeake and Long Island all lost while scoring 14 goals.
Toronto has now won two straight games, and sit only three games out of first and two games out of second.
Offensive player of the week was Chicago's Mike LeVelle. Jordon Burke, Boston's backup goalie, was named defensive player of the week. And Chicago's Ned Crotty earned rookie of the week.
On July 3rd you can watch the Machine play Long Island on ESPN2.

Lax Links- 6/28

Here are your Lacrosse Links for Monday....

The Boston Cannons defeated the Long Island Lizards, remaining in first place. Matt Posaky scored six goals- MajorLeagueLacrosse.com

Get an update on the all-time leading NLL scorers- NLL.com

NLL Network had 25% more viewers this season- NLL.com

The top MLL goals of week 6- Laxunited.com

MLL Announces All-stars

Major League Lacrosse announced their all-star roster for July 8th at Harvard Stadium. They will play team USA.

Attack:
Matt Poskay (Boston)
Kevin Levelle (Chicago)
Danny Glading (Chicago)
Matt Donowski (Long Island)

MidField:

Matt Abbott (Chesapeake)
Stepehen Berger (Long Island)
Dan Hardy (Denver)
Chris Rotelli (Chicago)
Kevin Buchannan (Boston)
Bill McGlone (Chicago)
Peet Poillion (Chesapeake)

Face-off
Chris Eck (Boston)
Anthony Kelly (Chicago)

Defense:
Matt Bocklet (Denver)
Brodie Merrill (Toronto)
Micheal Evans (Chesapeake)
Nicky Polonco (Long Island)
Brian Spallina (Long Island)

Goalies:
Chris Garrity (Chesapeake)
Jesse Schwartzman (Denver)

Team USA (21 current MLL players)

Attack:
Ryan Boyle (Boston)
Mike Levieille (Chicago)
Brenden Mundorf (Denver)
Ryan Powell (No MLL)
Drew Westervelt (Denver)

Midfield
Ned Crotty (Chicago)
Kevin Cassese (Boston)
Kyle Dixon (Chesapeake)
Stephen Peyser (Long Island)
Paul Rabil (Boston)
Chris Schiller (No MLL)
Max Seibald (Denver)
Alex Smith (Chesapeake)
Matt Streibal (Chicago)
Matt Zash (Long Island)

Defense:
Joe Cinosky (Toronto)
DJ Driscol (Chicago)
Eric Martin (Denver)
Ryan McClay (Boston)
Shawn Nadelen (Chesapeake)
Kyle Sweeny (Boston)

Goaltenders:
Brian Doughtery (Long Island)
Ryan Fullerton (Denver)