The first weekend of the 2022 PLL season is officially in the books. There were many questions coming into opening weekend especially after such an impactful offseason. While there is still a long season ahead of us, there were some major points that have to be addressed.
Here are my five takeaways from Week 1 of the 2022 PLL season.
Eric Law Might Have a Huge Season
The Atlas came out firing on all cylinders against the Redwoods scoring 17 goals and really limiting the Redwood offense most of the game. There were few who wondered just exactly how the Chris Gray + Jeff Teat combo would play together in the PLL, but they forgot about the other key to the offense, Eric Law. The veteran attackman had 7 points and might be in for a huge year as teams focus on Teat and Gray.
Waterdogs Need Dillon Ward
The Waterdogs made a huge trade last season to acquire Dillon Ward and he was a huge reason why Waterdogs had the best record during the 2021 regular season. With Ward playing in the NLL Cup, the Waterdogs weren’t able to stop the Cannons offense from exploding for 17 goals, with 12 of them coming in the first half. Sure the Cannons have Lyle Thompson and dominated at the faceoff, but the Waterdogs need better goaltending if they want to build off last year’s success. While they will only be without Ward for potentially two more weekends, he is the key to their success this PLL season.
There Is Never Enough Andy Towers Coverage
The PLL might be a league about the players, but Andy Towers might be one of the most marketable stars in the game right now. Between the fun loving attitude off the field, to the pregame locker room speeches, Towers might be the most entertaining person in the PLL right now. ESPN and the PLL need to find a way to get Towers on camera more. We have “ALL-IN” for the Atlas, we need one for Towers too.
The PLL Should Have Added One or Two Teams This Season
Listen, I get that I wasn’t in any of these investor meetings and I have no idea what the future plans are for expansion, but we need more teams now. Every team is loaded and with talent all over the player pool the PLL could have easily added another team. Having another team could have led to more content and more games for fans to consume on ESPN.
ESPN Can Help Grow the Game Even More
I love that ESPN is now the main network for the PLL and other lacrosse leagues, but I feel that ESPN needs to do more to help the game grow. Whether it’s a dedicated TV program that talks about the sport, a pregame/postgame show or regular segments on SportsCenter, ESPN needs to help create more exposure for the game. They have the entire sport under their network and I personally think they can do more to help create awareness to it.
