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Thompson Tewaaraton
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Thompson Tewaaraton, NLL To ATL – Big News Friday

We’ve got a single Thompson Tewaaraton winner for 2015, the NLL is moving to Atlanta, the World Series of Youth Lacrosse has announced their teams, and New Jersey has narrowed down the best teams in the state (public, private, and catholic) for the best HS tourney in the country!

Thompson Tewaaraton In 2015

Lyle Thompson became the first person ever to win consecutive Tewaaraton Awards last night. Mikey Powell won two, but they came in his sophomore and senior years. Lyle won the award last year, sharing it with his brother (that was also a first: the first time the award had been shared), and this year he broke the all-time points record and became the first person to ever hit the 400 point mark in D1 lacrosse.

Photo Credit: Craig Chase Thompson Tewaaraton
Photo Credit: Craig Chase

For those who say Wes Berg should have won, I think you can make a strong argument there. Wes Berg was phenomenal, and Denver played a tougher schedule than Albany. If you want to forget about Lyle’s career, and just look at this year, you can almost convince yourself that Berg should have won it… but in the end, it really is all Lyle this year. His season alone was remarkable, he drew a ton of attention, and still got it done. Berg had more talent around him, and a better system when it came to wins when it mattered most. Denver is the undisputed best team, but Lyle deserved to be the undisputed best player.

NLL Moving To Atlanta

I thought that the Swarm could eventually break through in Minnesota, but today’s news proved me 100% wrong. The team is now moving to Atlanta, GA, where the MLL has been trying to drum up interest for years. This could be a good thing if the NLL owners and eventual Atlanta-based MLL owners can get on the same page and work together. Am I assuming that MLL will go to Atlanta? Yes, they have pretty much said so themselves.

So if this move is going to work, it’s NOT about how great the arena is, or what the lacrosse participation numbers in Georgia look like. It’s not about the future of the sport down south, or anything else like that. It’s about the MLL and NLL working together to make pro lacrosse work in and around Atlanta. If the two leagues don’t work together, both will likely fail in that small but growing market. And that would be the biggest shame of all!

Photo Credit: Scott Pierson
Photo Credit: Scott Pierson

I’m hopeful that lacrosse can really take root down in Atlanta, and its surrounding area. Having an NLL team, and an MLL team in the future could be great. But if the leagues decide to slice up the already small pie, everyone stays hungry. Bake a bigger pie first, then split it up if you still feel the need. This is #GrowTheGame 101!

World Series of Youth Lacrosse – TEAMS!

I am extremely interested to see what comes of this event. Will it work out? Will the kids care? Probably on both counts. Will baseball sue the event? Possibly. Seems to be a lot of World Series and LLWS references, but maybe not! Will the event stay as pure as Jake Steinfeld hopes? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The big news here is that 10 teams have been announced for year 1, and they span the country pretty nicely. A couple of big time programs are not included, and some smaller programs have been added in. Here is the list:

* 3d Select Colorado
* C2C Dallas (Texas)
* Baltimore Lacrosse Club (Md.)
* Denver Elite (Colo.)
* Eclipse Lacrosse Club (Conn.)
* Leading Edge Elite 2020 (N.J.)
* Michigan Warriors (Mich.)
* Rising Sons Lacrosse (Penn.)
* Team 91 Crush (N.Y.)
* Team Carolina (N.C.)

I have heard a LOT from about 5 of these teams. 5 of the others are news to me. I know this list was cultivated with the help of friends, and to provide a geographically balanced set of programs, but I am curious why no California teams are entered. There is simply too much youth lacrosse out there to leave them out!

For now, I’ll try to keep my expectations reasonable, and keep in mind that in future years they plan on having play-in tourneys, and not pure program selections.

New Jersey HS Tourney of Champions

This is the coolest HS tournament in all of lacrosse! In New Jersey, the champions from each of the state’s divisions all come together to see who is the BEST, and it’s some darn good lacrosse, with a lot of pride on the line. I always remembered the arguments between private, public, and catholic school kids… who was the TRUE champion of the state? Well, in New Jersey, they don’t just ask this question, they answer it!

SIX great high school teams vie for the Tournament of Champions crown this year, and they are:

#5) Pingry vs. #4) Ridgewood – winner plays #1) Bridgewater-Raritan

#6) Rumson-Fair Haven vs. #3) Summit – winner plays #2) Bergen Catholic

The first round is played Saturday, May 30th at B-R HS. The Semis are on June 3rd at Kean University, and the finals are on June 6th, also at Kean. Check it out if you can!

That’s it for now, but make sure you check out my MLL Predictions post for this weekend! Plenty of great action to be seen tonight!