We’re now at the point in the 2018 Major League Lacrosse season where teams are starting to have their true identity take shape.
This past weekend saw rookies finally take the field and the NLL is now down to just 2 teams. College commitments are dropping off, which is opening up another travel day for several players around the league who coach in the NCAA. For the pessimistic view of things, you’re also starting to learn who from camp isn’t panning out and which player movement or trade-acquired players are apparently not great fits with their new squad for the 2018 Major League Lacrosse campaign.
If I am thinking about rookies in their first game, one of my favorite images is becoming a regular occurrence once again – when a rookie scores their first goal, it’s customary to take that ball and make it an instant souvenir for the player. This past weekend, I saw it happen for Austin Sims with Atlanta. What I love about it is, despite all the sideline work that needs to happen in a game, everything for one team becomes about 1 player. For just one moment. And in the case of the MLL, that player may have just spent all of 1 practice with the team up until that point.
After Sims scored, the other 5 offensive players are all immediately looking for the ball. Every coach is looking for the nearest ref to make sure they don’t send it back up to the next face off. The guys on the bench are cheering on Sims while also trying to track the ball like it’s a little orange holy grail. I’ve seen it time and time again, but I just love how such a small and simple gesture can captivate an entire sideline.
Getting back into actual lacrosse, there are a few things we are definitely starting to learn as this season has progressed. let’s a take a quick look team by team to see what we know.
2018 Major League Lacrosse Early Trends
Atlanta Blaze
Record: 3-1
Wins Over: Boston (2), New York
Losses to: Florida
Players Missing: Jake Withers, Graeme Hossack, Jeremy Noble, Jason Noble.
Rookies In: Austin Sims, Erik Evans
Rookies Pending: Connor Kelly, Kyle McClancy
Quick Hits: Atlanta is sitting in a great spot, but I’m not sure how they’ll work in rookies like Connor Kelly when they all join the team. Austin Sims looked pretty good in his debut and they are loaded up front on offense. Connor Kelly is going to see the field though, and he’ll probably love not being the center of attention once again, as it will allow him to flourish. Things are looking up in Atlanta. Playing in Dallas this week will be a tough one, but as they work their rookies and NLL players in, they’re going to be a tough team to beat.
Boston Cannons
Record: 1-4
Wins Over: Florida
Losses to: Atlanta (2), Dallas, Charlotte
Players Missing: Kevin Buchanan, Kyle Buchanan
Rookies In: Will Sands
Rookies Pending: Trevor Baptiste
Quick Hits: The win over Florida was great, and Boston has had one of the toughest schedules so far. That’s no excuse, though. They are trying every configuration possible to find an attack group that work. This past week saw Ryan Walsh get released in favor of Tom Moore while rookie Will Sands took the field and looks to be a great option as a finisher. If this team plays a first half, they’ll win games. So far, it’s only been a team that shows up after halftime, which is not going to cut it in this league. They’re right on the cusp, though.
Charlotte Hounds
Record: 4-0
Wins Over: Boston, Dallas, Chesapeake, Ohio
Losses to: Nobody!
Players Missing: Tyson Bell
Rookies In: None.
Rookies Pending: Connor Fields, Tim Rotanz, Ben Randall, Morgan Cheek, Scott Hooper
Quick Hits: I doubt we’ll see Connor Fields playing in Charlotte this year because of his knee injury, but that’s OK. The Hounds are looking great so far and have just added Kevin Crowley back into their lineup. Tyson Bell is a TBD player since he is kind of a wild card from the NLL. But the major story here is that the Hounds figured out how to do one of the toughest things in the MLL: win early. They had a pretty full roster to start with and they are looking great already against one of the toughest schedules to date.
Chesapeake Bayhawks
Record: 2-2
Wins Over: Florida, Denver
Losses to: Charlotte, Dallas
Players Missing: Lyle Thompson
Rookies In: Sean Mayle
Rookies Pending: Ian MacKay, Shack Stanwick,
Quick Hits: I really would have hoped to see the Bayhawks better than 2-2 at this point, but their losses are forgivable and their wins are solid. What may be most encouraging for them is how Colin Heacock stepped up to contribute right away in the absence of Thompson and Josh Byrne. Steele Stanwick has also stepped right back into the flow of things in the league, but we’ll see if they are able to pair him up with his brother in a few weeks. There’s no reason to panic right now for the Bayhawks as they have plenty of optimism on their side.
Dallas Rattlers
Record: 3-2
Wins Over: Boston, Denver, Chesapeake
Losses to: Ohio, Charlotte
Players Missing: Jesse King, Joel White, Randy Staats, John Ranagan, Jordan MacIntosh, Dhane Smith
Rookies In: None
Rookies Pending: Ben Reeves, John Sexton
Quick Hits: Dallas is exactly where they want to be. They’re still an NLL heavy Upstate NY team at heart, so early wins are a struggle for them. But things shaped up perfectly by having the Georgia Swarm lose the Easter Conference Championship in the NLL. A huge chunk of their roster is now available and they are getting two of the best rookies at their positions in the coming weeks. Getting John Sexton to learn how to play MLL LSM from Joel White and Ben Reeves working off of Jordan Wolf is a little terrifying. I can’t lie. Their narrow losses will be in the rear view mirror quickly.
Denver Outlaws
Record: 1-4
Wins Over: New York
Losses to: New York, Dallas, Florida, Chesapeake
Players Missing: Wes Berg, Dillon Ward, Zach Currier
Rookies In: None
Rookies Pending: Connor Keating, Peter Conley, Foster Huggins, Chris Cloutier
Quick Hits: The Outlaws are not where I expected them to be at this point, but I’m the least worried of them only having one win out of anyone. Berg and Currier are about to be active, so that will be a huge help. They managed to split with New York and their other games were against some of the top teams in the league. They’ll turn things around soon and making a playoff push before we know it.
Florida Launch
Record: 2-2
Wins Over: Atlanta, Denver
Losses to: Boston, Chesapeake
Players Missing: Bryan Cole
Rookies In: Michael Rexrode
Rookies Pending: Jules Heninberg, Tyler Warner
Quick Hits: Now, Florida I’m a little more concerned about. Their six point loss to Boston was an ugly, ugly showing. They don’t have many major reinforcements coming for them via the draft or NLL, so I would really hope they would be in a better spot at this point in the season. That sounds overly dramatic for a team with only two losses, but I expected more out of them. Hopefully they right the ship against New York this week, because the next date with Dallas after will be a doozy otherwise.
New York Lizards
Record: 1-3
Wins Over: Denver
Losses to: Ohio, Denver, Atlanta
Players Missing: Curtis Dickson
Rookies In: None
Rookies Pending: Joel Tinney, Troy Reh, Conor Mackie
Quick Hits: I was optimistic with Denver’s 1 win, but I’m very glass half empty on New York’s. They are not a team waiting for rookies or NLL players to show up. An offense led by Rabil & Pannell with Joe Fletcher anchoring the defense should not be 1-3 to start the year. A 13-25 loss to Ohio is just bad. I liked how they looked to star the year against Denver, but that has not maintained itself game to game. When they click, it’ll be fantastic, but that should have happened by now.
Ohio Machine
Record: 2-1
Wins Over: New York, Dallas
Losses to: Charlotte
Players Missing: Mark Matthews, Peter Baum
Rookies In: Kenny Massa
Rookies Pending: Justin Guterding, Bryce Young, Christian Mazzone
Quick Hits: Ohio just have 3 games up to this point should count as a win. They delayed enough to get Tom Schreiber into the lineup and still have Mark Matthews and Justin Guterding waiting to join. This offense could explode with a player like Guterding being so far down on the options list. Getting Peter Baum back will also allow things to flow like last year.
2018 Major League Lacrosse Moving Forward
So that’s it for now. As the 2018 Major League Lacrosse season begins to pick up with more rookies joining in the fun and teams prepping for the World Championship period, every win is going to carry more weight each week. This is definitely not a time to rest easy in the MLL, and it’s only getting more intense from here!
