BearPaw Lacrosse Events recently held the fourth annual Battle at the Barn tournament and the first-ever Long Tail Cup tournament. Both events saw great participation and a lot of fun for everyone involved, and both are fully sanctioned USBOXLA tournaments, and have been from the start.
First, there was great officiating for each event with officials coming in from California, Colorado, Canada, New York, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. There were almost no complaints the last three years with these crews! And we all know how hard it is for everyone to be pleased with the officiating.
The Battle at the Barn was super competitive, especially among the more established box teams. They had approximately six overtime games (that’s right, six!) decided by shootouts and a handful of games decided by 1-2 goals. This is the fourth year for this tourney and has virtually sold out every year. There were lots of college field commits on many of the teams also embracing the box game as a way to have fun and get better. There is a night-and-day difference with the existing box teams compared to last year, let alone four years ago. It’s great to see the growth and improvement of box lacrosse here in the states, and BearPaw Lacrosse has been a big part of that.
L4 and Resolute have been attending the tournament since Day 1, and have been a staple in the finals. Some of the less established box teams were competitive right off the bat, particularly the Ducks from Michigan. BearPaw Lacrosse, as always, appreciated all of the teams who came out and made the tournament a lot of fun.
At the Long Tail Cup, there were a lot of obstacles to overcome to get the teams in the right divisions. As with any new tournament, it can always be a challenge to get the logistics down. But, it was a fun tournament nonetheless! Some of the memorable experiences were watching the HardCor team (coached by Coach Tiny) battle it out with the Western Woodsmen (coached by Coach John) for the entire game, even though the end result was a little lopsided. The HardCor program is run by Troy Cordingley (who unfortunately wasn’t able to make the event), which was exciting because a former player and coach of that caliber entered one of his teams into the event.
There were also some great displays of sportsmanship, as L4 out of Louisville had a better team than expected, but with one loss in the high school ‘B’ bracket they were knocked out of the playoffs, despite not being challenged in their other games. With the help of the other teams we put together a round robin matchup to get L4 some extra competition games. Everyone brainstormed to help them out and, true to the spirit of the game, everyone benefited by working together!
The Western Woodsmen were snowed in and almost weren’t able to make the tournament, but they showed up (albeit shorthanded) and competed hard. It is stories like these that helps fuel BearPaw Lacrosse drives to keep providing quality tournaments for people to attend.
HardCor Lacrosse, one of the programs that attended the tournament, had this to say about the event, “Ken Levinberg assembled an enthusiastic and eager tournament crew that allowed our players an opportunity to compete against some up and coming and established box programs in the USBOXLA tournament circuit. We were very impressed by the facilities that were secured as well as local businesses that welcomed us to their community. This combination allowed players to embrace some of the off-floor benefits of travelling as a TEAM as well as the given tangibles of the on-floor box lacrosse fast paced player-engaged experience. The tournament itself had a high compete vibe coupled with a fun atmosphere all the while, the officiating team worked hard to ensure player safety was priority one. HardCor Lacrosse was thrilled to be a part of the Inaugural Long Tail Cup and look forward to returning next year.”
Congrats to the winning teams at both of these events, in each age group!
Battle At the Barn
HS A – Resolute, Columbus, OH
HS B – Resolute, Columbus, OH
Grades 7-8 – Louisville Kings Select, Louisville, KY
Grades 5-6 – Louisville Kings Select, Louisville, KY
Long Tail Cup
HS A – East Ave, Chicago, IL
HS B – G7A, Columbus, OH
Grades 7-8 – Western Woodsmen, Western, NY
Be sure to register for your next local BearPaw Lacrosse event and check them out at https://bearpawlacrosse.com!
