Training camps are underway across the board in the NLL and each of the nine teams have a different situation. While some teams, like the Rush, are carrying lighter load of 31 (or so) familiar players, other squads, like the Bandits and Knighthawks, are sporting a full 40-man roster in hopes of uncovering new talent. Out of the 324 athletes that got invited to camp, 29 Americans will get a shot at making the cut.
That’s right under 9% of the entire league. First Nations athletes living on both sides of the border make up another 10%, while Canada claims all of the remaining pool. With an impending expansion draft looming just a year away, teams are going be keeping tabs on a wider field as they prepare to potentially loose a couple to Philadelphia or San Diego.
16 of the Americans of 29 hail from New York, while no more than 2 come from any other state. 7 athletes were a member of both the WILC 2015 and Heritage Cup rosters, 6 only participated in in the WILC, and 4 competed solely on the the Heritage Cup roster. It’s worth noting, 14 members of the Heritage Cup lineup are not currently competing in the NLL.
Want more numbers?
- 10 guys are attending camp for the first time.
- 0 American goalies received a tryout.
- 15 played in at least 1 NLL game in the past season.
- Thul and Costabile are back on a roster (NEBW) for the first time since the 2014 season.
- New England invited 10 Americans, 5 with NLL experience, 3 from the 2016 roster.
- 100% of the Americans played NCAA lacrosse.
- All but 5 have also competed in the MLL.
Americans in the NLL
| Nick | Ossello | Wheat Ridge | CO |
Colorado Mammoth
|
| Larken | Kemp | Greenwich | CT |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Brent | Adams | Norwalk | CT |
Colorado Mammoth
|
| Marty | Bowes | Quincy | MA |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Jarrod | Neumann | Springfield | MA |
Colorado Mammoth
|
| Davey | Emala | Baltimore | MD |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Kevin | Buchanan + | Cockeysville | MD |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Tommy | McKee | Holt | MI |
Rochester Knighthawks
|
| Chris | O’Dougherty * | Kinnelon | NJ |
Vancouver Stealth
|
| Garrett | Thul + | Flemington | NJ |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Eli | Gobrecht | Ithaca | NY |
Vancouver Stealth
|
| Kieran | McArdle ^ | Ronkonkoma | NY | Toronto Rock |
| Tom | Schreiber ^ | East Meadows | NY | Toronto Rock |
| Joe | Resetarits * | Hamburg | NY |
Rochester Knighthawks
|
| Jake | Froccaro ^ | Sands Point | NY |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Nick | Mariano | Yorktown Heights | NY |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Ryan | Hotaling + | Syracuse | NY |
New England Black Wolves
|
| CJ | Costabile + | New Fairfield | NY |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Liam | Byrnes ^ | West Islip | NY | Georgia Swarm |
| John | Ranagan + | Yorktown | NY | Georgia Swarm |
| Courtney | Fleming | Middletown | NY | Georgia Swarm |
| Connor | Cannizzaro | Cazenovia | NY |
Colorado Mammoth
|
| Greg | Downing + | Auburn | NY |
Colorado Mammoth
|
| Donny | Moss * | Hilton | NY | Buffalo Bandits |
| Blaze | Riorden * | Fairport | NY | Buffalo Bandits |
| Tim | Edwards * | Jamesville | NY | Buffalo Bandits |
| Adam | Osika | Mason | OH | Georgia Swarm |
| Brett | Manney * | Newtown | PA |
New England Black Wolves
|
| Isaiah | Davis-Allen | Alexandria | PA | Georgia Swarm |
* Heritage Cup and WILC 2015, + WILC 2015 only, ^ Heritage Cup only
The regular season kicks off in exactly one month, with everyone but the Saskatchewan Rush competing on opening weekend. Teams will have to narrow down their rosters to 20 on the active roster, keeping up to 4 extra for the practice squad, and a maximum of 10 inactives, which includes injured and hold out list players.
Between the 29 guys on current NLL rosters and 14 more that competed in the Heritage Cup, we’ve got 43 of the best Americans putting some focus on box lacrosse. Those numbers, combined with US Lacrosse’s recent leap into the game, makes me believe that participation is about to boom.
We can debate when it will happen and if the US needs box to claim the gold medal in field all day. The point is, enough guys to make a full team (minus the goalies) and then some are getting a shot in 2018 to keep the momentum for American box lacrosse. Cheers to everyone working to keep the game growing.
Did we miss anyone? It’s possible! The data available online only runs so deep, but I did put quite a bit of time researching this list. Let me know in the comments below.
