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Day 2 Digest – Ales Hrebesky Memorial 2018

Editor’s Note: We’re heading back to Prague! For the first time, LaxAllStars.com will have three of our members on the ground in Radotin for the Ales Hrebesky Memorial 2018 to give you the most in-depth coverage and behind the scenes views of the week. Thanks to the support of MaxLax, the world leader in box lacrosse gear for goalies and players, we’ll be showing off the AHM like never before! Make sure you peep the new MaxLax player gloves – super protective, super comfortable, old school inspired beauties!

The second day of the 25^th annual Ales Hrebesky Memorial has come and passed, and with it we’ve seen the true potency of this two-tier schedule. We’ve been treated to dozens of close contests, with upsets and heartbreak becoming the new norm. If you’re not on the top of your game, you’re going to get stung – simple as that.

The System at Work:

The Gold D group and Silver A both saw three-way ties, again speaking volumes in favor of this system where you play more opponents your level sooner than later.

The Non-Olympic Athletes from Everywhere and the Glasgow Clydesiders both came out 1-1 in group play, but goal differential gave them the third seed and subsequently meant relegation. The heartbreak was felt for both teams for slightly different reasons. Glasgow made a miracle run to the final last year, but quarterfinal hopes were dashed in an upset loss to Jizni Mesto.

The NOAFEs (pronounced Know-fs) suffered a brutal introduction to the AHM in the very first game of the tournament at Malesice’s hands, but rebounded to take a win over the Swiss team, Chocolax. When Malesice lost to the Swiss today, it was heartbreak for the rookie squad who has worked so hard to overcome the adversity of not knowing each other.

We’re going to pack in even more games tomorrow, which is going to force 6 of the matches over to the ČERNOŠICE Arena, a concrete floored indoor arena just a few short kilometers from us in Radotin. All the while, 16 other games will still run in Radotin, broken up by the treat of the LCC Ants youth exhibition game in the early evening.

Day 2 Results

Gold B: Tel Aviv LC 7 – Istanbul Sultans 1
Gold C: Bundeswehr Lacrosse 3 – Green Gaels 9
Gold A: Alberta Warriors 16 – Vienna Monarchs 0
Silver A: TJ Malešice 5 – Chocolax 6
Silver C: Helan GAR Lacrosse 9 – Polish Eagles 2
Silver B: Adler Lacrosse 1 – Bats Bratislava 2
Silver D Riggers 7 – Old Dogs Plzen 2
Gold D: Glasgow Clydesiders 5 – SK Jizni Mesto 8
Play-in 5: Vienna Monarchs 6 – Helan Gar Lacrosse 5
Play-in 6: Megaman 9 – London Knights 2
Play-in 7: Bundeswehr 5 – Chocolax 0
Play-in 8 : Glasgow Clydesiders 4 – LCC Wolves 2
Play-in 1: Turku Titans 7 – TJ Malešice 1
Play-in 2:SK Jizni Mesto 4 – Bratislava Bats 5
Play-in 3: LC Custodes 11 – Jagged Mountain 1
Play-in 4: Istanbul Sultans 5 – Dublin Riggers 8

Day 3 Schedule

(33) 8.00 CEST / 2:00PM EST Green QF1: Helan Gar Lacrosse – NOAFE
(34) 8.50 CEST / 2:50PM EST Green QF2: London Knights – Adler Lacrosse
(35) 9.40 CEST / 3:40PM EST Green QF3 : Chocolax – Polish Eagles
(36) 10.30 CEST / 4:30PM EST Green QF4: LCC Wolves – Old Dogs Plzen
(37) 11.20 CEST / 5:20PM EST Blue QF1: TJ Malesice – Vienna Monarchs
(38) 12.10 CEST / 6:10PM EST Blue QF2 SK Jizni Mesto – Megamen
(40) 13.00 CEST / 7:00PM EST Blue QF3:Jagged Mountain – Bundeswehr
(42) 13.50 CEST / 7:50PM EST Blue QF4: Istanbul Sultans – Glasgow Clydesiders
(44) 14.40 CEST / 8:40PM EST QF1: Alberta Warriors – Turku Titans
(46) 15.30 CEST / 9:30PM EST QF2: Goldstar Tel Aviv – Bratislava Bats
(48) 16.20 CEST / 10:20PM EST QF3: Green Gaels – LC Custodes
(50) 17.10 CEST / 11:10PM EST QF4: Nova Scotia Privateers – Dublin Riggers
(51) 18.00 CEST / 12:00AM EST Blue SF1: TJ Malesice – Megamen
(52) 18.50 CEST / 12:50AM EST Blue SF2: Bundeswehr – Win Blue QF4 (42)
19.30 CEST / 1:30AM EST Children’s Exhibition Game
(53) 20.10 CEST / 2:10AM EST SF1: Win QF1 (44) – Win QF2 (46)
(54) 21.10 CEST / 3:10AM EST SF2: Win QF3 (48) – Win QF4 (50)

ČERNOŠICE Arena

(39) 12.10 CEST / 6:10PM EST Green LSF1: NOAFE – Adler
(41) 13.00 CEST / 7:00PM EST Green LSF2:Polish Eagles – Old Dogs Plzen
(43) 13.50 CEST / 7:50PM EST Green SF1: Helan Gar – London Knights
(45) 14.40 CEST / 8:40PM EST Green SF2: Chocolax – LCC Wolves
(47) 15.30 CEST / 9:30PM EST 23rd Place Game: NOAFE – Polish Eagles
(49) 16.20 CEST / 10:20PM EST 21st Place Game: Adler – Old Dogs Plzen

Brian’s Worthy Watchs

Istanbul Sultans – 5
Dublin Riggers – 8

I’ve been to five Memorials, and this is easily the best Riggers squad I’ve seen. Tough group draws and last second losses have kept the Riggers from playoff contention, but not this year. The addition of Mike Burke to the rights O side last year has been absolutely phenomenal for the Riggers, and everything he did turned to gold tonight. The Sultans came out looking amazing, taking a 4-1 lead at halftime, but unfortunately for the Sultans, there are two halves to these games.

Six straight Rigger goals, the majority of them just simple rips from the top, swung the game and the Irish never looked back. The Riggers finished 17^th last year, but being the top dog in the Silver is arguably much better than being low man on the totem pole in Gold. The Riggers are the only Silver team to advance to the quarterfinals. Big shoutout to Mikey Cregan in net for opening his eyes in the second half.

Bratislava Bats – 5
SK Jizni Mesto – 4

This is an old rivalry that usually ends in Mesto’s favor in the Czech league games. Brilliant net play on both ends kept the score low for this one, but the Bats were able to solve the goalkeeper’s riddle just one time more. This game sees the Bats going on to the quarterfinals, with a worst possible finish of 8^thplace. This is the dark horse of the tournament, which is funny because the Bats have a hobby-horse they award to the best/worst player of the game (I honestly don’t know which. There’s a hat involved too). It’s always good to see new faces in the playoffs, and I’ll be pulling for the Bats as they go on the hunt for hardware!

LCC Wolves – 2
Glasgow Clydesiders – 4

This game didn’t mean as much as the two aforementioned. I play for the Glasgow boys, and I just need to say how much of a treat it is to play against the future of LCC. This is my third meeting with the Wolves since September in the Menschner Cup, and two goals is the most we’ve ever been able to beat them by. Absolutely stunning goaltending out of Viktor Blaha kept the Clyde off the board, but Zach Foster was able to notch the game winner eventually. Reciprocally, Pat Mallough played outstanding in net for Glasgow, stopping numerous breakaway goals. Keeping Tomas Knotek and Jakub Lukas off the board is no easy feat.

Day three promises more of the same great competition! We’ll see who of the top eight can keep the performance up, as the field will be trimmed from eight to four, and from four to two by night’s end.

Photo Blast!

All photo credit to Marek Stor / ShutterLax.com

Mark Donahue

Growing up in the Midwest, Mark always wanted to spread his wings and explore. After taking a leap of faith and moving to the Pacific Northwest, he realized his home is in Ohio. That's not stopping him from hopping on airplanes or hitting the road in search of the next adventure. Mark has been officiating for nearly half of his life and has a somewhat unhealthy obsession with crosschecking.