The PLL regular season starts June 1st and I could not be more excited to watch the men battle it out on the field at UAlbany! Week 1 rosters have dropped, with the PLL having home locations for 8 weeks of the season, the home team will have a double header that weekend. We get the ball rolling in New York, which means the New York Atlas are pulling double duty this week. The California Redwoods are the odd team out this week, their squad will have to wait till Week 2 in Charlotte to make their season debut.
After trainning camp/pre-season there were a couple of major injurires on the defensive end: Patrick Shoemay and Jack Kielty are out for the season. The Cannons have a host of new defenders and their additions make this injury more palitable, but the Archers are rebuilding on the defensive end and Shoemay was set to be an important piece, defensive coordinator Tony Resch will have some work to do with that group. The Philadephia Waterdogs will have a natural replacement for Jake Higgins in former Atlas SSDM Jake Richard, a Jake for a Jake swap, if we were turkey hunting you'd take that trade. The last injury is Tucker Dordevic for the Maryland Whipsnakes and his absance will be felt, but rookie TJ Malone and the other offensive players will have to pick up the slack. Now to the rosters!
The defending champs have a bunch of new defenders to work into the rotation, but the offense is the same and they still have Brett Dobson in goal and Mike Sisselberger at the faceoff dot, plus ya know that guy Tom Schreiber. No Challen Rogers this week, but expect him to have an important role as the season moves forward; his connection with his NLL teammate and roommate Tom Schreiber will be something to watch. Three rookies make the gameday roster in Jack Dibenedetto, Mason Woodward, and Beau Pederson a trail by fire agasint, the Waterdogs, the team they defetead in last years' championship game.
A revenge game for the Philly Waterdogs as they take on the team who beat them in the championship game last season, and their roster for week 1 looks very similar to the roster on that fateful September day. The defense remains the same, so we have to wait to see former Army/Ohio State defenseman Marcus Hudgins make his debut. No faceoff athlete this week following thier strategy from last year, expect to see Currier and Gobrecht there with short-sticks take the draws. The last two seasons Dillon Ward did not start the season for the Dawgs as he was chasing a championship in the NLL, this year he gets to start the season in cage. Rookie attackman Matt Brandau and rookie head coach Bill Tierney make their pro debuts, no biggie.
Some big (?) roster surprises here for the home team. The New York Atlas left off captain and legend Eric Law, i'm not really sure what to think of this, but i'm interested to see how this plays out for the Atlas. I won't overreact as they have two game this weekend and Law could make his season debut in game two in Albany. Rookies Liam Entenmann, Connor Shellenberger, and Tyler Carpenter will make their debuts. Will Entemann play in goal maybe not in game 1, but possibly in game 2. Ronan Jacoby, Payton Rezanka, Tim Troutner, and Reid Bowering will make their Atlas debuts, lots of new faces for the Bulls. the Atlas SSDM group could be vulnerable, except for Danny Logan because 'he is that dude'. The two rookie Canadians Jake Stevens and Payton Cormier will have to wait to play for the Atlas as it looks like they are waiting on visas. The Atlas will be the first team to play two games back to back, i'm eger to see how coaches and players handle this adjusment.
The Boston Cannons get the Boston-New York rivalry going on the second game of day 1 against the Atlas. No faceoff athlete again for the Cannons that means Goodrich, Fairman, and Connor Kirst will each take their turn at the faceoff dot. Kirst sometimes takes faceoffs in the NLL, so that's nothing new for the oldest Kirst brother. Ryan Drenner, The most consitant man in lacrosse, is back and expect to see the double duce and the flowing locks make plays all over the field. Pat Kavanagh, the rookie, is on the roster for the Cannons after winning the Tewaaraton Award in Washington DC just a few days ago. As a bouns Pat gets to play with his eldest brother Matt, pretty cool for the Kavanagh family. The Cannons defense will work in Garrett Epple and Byrce Young after acquiring them in the off season. Expect to see violence and big hits from those two defenders. No Lyle Thompson for the Cannons this summer, he will be playin Senior A indoor lacrosse with Six Nations Cheifs, make sure to watch him ball out there in those fantastic uniforms. Ethan Rall should have won LSM of the year last season... there I've said my piece.
Edit: Since I wrote this originally an update to the Cannons roster has been made. Jacob Pulver has been ruled out, which means Craig Chick will be playing and Max Wayne will be moving to the protected roster. Young, Epple, and van Raaphorst down low with Rall and Chick causing havoc in the middle of the field.
The Maryland Whipsnakes and Jim Stagnitta made a big splash earlier this week when they realeased Will Manny to the player pool, it's a tough business. Rookies TJ Malone, Stephen Zupicich, and Ajax Zappitello all make the game day roster. Joe Nardella is working his way back to full strainght and recovering a bit from the NLL season. Colin Heacock is FINALLY back with his former UMD Terrapins teammates while rocking a new number. Only two SSDMs for the Ter... I mean Whipsnakes. Which of the other midfielders will put in a few shifts on the defensive side of the ball. Some teams roll with four designated SSDMs plus a few 2-way- midfielders, I'm not sure you really want any of the Whipsnakes O-middies taking runs on the otherside of the field. Kyle Bernlohr looks to be back, fully healthy, and in cage for the Whips. Another week of me asking to see Elijah Gash play for the Whipsnakes, how much longer must we wait?
The Chaos have gone through a hefty change on the offensive side of the ball, out with the old Candian/indoor focused offense, and in with the new outdoor/field focused offense. Rookies Shane Knobloch and Ross Scott make the roster, but no Brett Dobson the rookie with a rocket with the left hand. The defensemen and goalies are the same as much of the last season plus we still get a double shot of Rowlett with brothers Jack and Nick. No captain Mark Glicini to start the season, but the Chaos have always roated their SSDMs, so this isn't a suprise if you've followed their team. New faces from the Redwoods Jules Heningburg and Sergio Perkovic make the roster with new numbers 8 and 30 respectively. Kyle Jackson, a unquie player in the game of lacrosse, goes from 47 to 1, a sick jersey switch!
Chrome Lacrosse Club is dead and reborn from their last place ashes arise the Denver Outlaws, the ghost of the MLL continues. The defense is much the same as last season, with rookie LSM Jake Piseno making his debut at his alma mater. The offense looks a little different and a lot younger this time around with rookies Graham Bundy Jr., Brennan O'Neill, and Josh Zawada and second year pros Jack Myers, Cross Ferrara, and Sam Handley. I have no idea what this team will look like, but I bet it will be exciting and I hope to see some over the head takeaways from Piseno. The Milkman aka Connor Farrell coming off an NLL championship with the Buffalo Bandits is replaced by rookie faceoff-man Luke Wierman. Wierman's ability to score directly off the faceoff in college might contirute to his appereance on the active roster for the Chro... Outlaws. We all get to witness the SSDM maniac, Ryan Terefenko, just enjoy the man's game. The Hefty Lefty Sean Sconone will probaly get the start in cage for this squad.
I am beyond excited to watch these four game and for the rest to follow this PLL season, happy watch folks!
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