What was I thinking? Instead of heading off to my first-ever Hawai’i Invitational Lacrosse Tournament, I decided to save some money and stay in NYC. Big mistake. Hawai’i was once again beautiful and filled with awesome lax, and NYC offered up snow before November. Instead of playing a ton of lax in the sun, I sat inside and watched the white stuff fall. I should have gone to Hawai’i.
The Hawai’i tourney features some of the best, and most lopsided lacrosse, on the planet. The top teams out there read like all-time lax legend rosters, and the teams come from all over, including Australia, Japan, Canada and of course, the US. Last year, Wimmer Solutions, which is run by Matt Sauri of Wimmer, won their first title, and from the start they looked like heavy favorites to repeat.
Of course, no Hawai’i tourney would be complete without a ton of Canadian and Native American lacrosse players, and they were very well-represented on Dirty Lax, which is the team that Wimmer ended up beating 5-4 for the Championship. Wimmer featured players like Justin Smith, Malcolm Chase (of LSM.com DVD fame!), Max Seibald, Matt Sauri, Gary Gait, Garrett Billings, Ben Rubeor, John Galloway, Brett Queener, Michael Evans, Kyle Hartzell and Anthony Kelly. Dirty Lax’s roster was littered with stars too and they featured Johnny Powless (recent #1 NLL pick and 18 yo phenom), Kevin Crowley, Curtis Dickson, Stephen Keough, Jeremy Thompson, Bob Snider, Kyle Rubisch, and Jarrett Davis.
On the women’s, or Wahine side, all we know is that Australia finished 4th overall, lost to Canada (who must have played in the Championship games) 10-5 and beat Japan. As more women’s side info become available, we’ll make sure to share it!
Our very own Josh Rottman was in Hawai’i, so he’ll be back with more info, photos and perhaps even some video! So stay tuned!
Last three photos courtesy Bill Millman’s facebook.