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LASNAI LaxAllStars North American Invitational 2017 House Team
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LASNAI – 5 More 2018 Teams & Updates

The 2018 LASNAI is just around the corner (September 27th-29th in Onondaga), and if the official announcement post wasn’t enough, we’re back with more info for the third annual North American Invitational. Do we have more international teams? YES. Do we have more North American teams? YES. Do we have more NEW teams? Also YES.

The 2018 LASNAI team draw will be announced on September 8th from Prague (the draw takes place at the Frank Menschner Cup), and the schedule will be released shortly after that, but for now you can feast your eyes on the list of teams playing, and dream about match ups you’d never see anywhere else!

We will release a further list of even more new international teams shortly, but for now we’re going to focus on some of the returning teams from last year! Don’t worry Tartan Army, you’re in, and we hear you coming down the road. You’re in the next team announcement, I promise!

2018 LASNAI – Team Announcements

Frog Pond Maulers – Frog Pond made it to the finals last year and nearly upset TBL, but this impressive group from Six Nations had to settle for second place. Brennor Jacobs was a monster in goal, Austin Staats was named tourney MVP for his unreal play throughout the event, Brendan Bomberry was a force all weekend, and Danton Miller organized a team that won no matter what. Sometimes they played with a short bench, it didn’t matter. Sometimes they played fast, and sometimes slow. That didn’t matter either. Sometimes they got a little sick on the bench. None of that mattered, because Frog Pond just kept winning. Definitely a team to watch again in 2018. The Pond is very much back in action now and we’re expecting another strong team this year! These boys play loose, high skilled lacrosse. It’s fun to watch and some of the goals they score are nothing short of remarkable!

lasnai austin staats

The Young Guns – Tyler Brown puts this team together off the floor, and he leads the way for them offensively as well. This group of Iroquois youngsters really put on a show last year, and even when they were a little short on the bench they played hard, and managed a Top 8 finish in their first year. The Young Guns were only a controversial goal away from making it into the Top 4, and you can bet they will be back with something to prove and a big ol’ chip on their shoulder. Their uniforms might not be all that fancy, but their game sure is. The future is now!young guns lacrosse

Basom Bombers – Basom finished in 6th last year and was competitive in every single game they didn’t win. This team played hard, played team lacrosse, and was a strong force throughout the event. Mahlon Jonathan organized the team and they just got it done every time they hit the floor. We definitely expect Basom to be back with a vengeance this year as they try to push higher in the final standings.

Music City Box LC – Nate Glaser is organizing the team from Nashville this year, and it was an absolute pleasure having the at the 2017 event. The team did not finish in the Top 10, but they fought hard, showed well, and took the experience with them back to Nashville, and beyond. They also showed a ton of class and gave the organizers an acoustic guitar as a thank you gift. Add in some awesome uniforms and a passion to improve and we’re excited to see what Music City brings to the table for their second go around. This is a team full of great guys, so if you’re playing or there as a fan, make sure you meet the guys from Music City!

Brooklyn Dodgers – The Dodgers will make their third appearance at the LASNAI in 2018, and this team had won the NYC league for the last 4 years. These guys started as a field club, but they play more and more box and Rudy Martinez has this group looking upwards. The Dodgers play hard, gritty lacrosse and they have a large roster of players to bring in for events. With good team play the Dodgers should be very competitive this year and we’re thrilled to have five boroughs represented in Onondaga each year!lasnai box lacrosse brooklyn

2018 LASNAI TEAM LIST… so far

We will announce more teams in the coming days and weeks, and we’ve got a LOT of fantastic teams to announce!

  1. Team USA WHITE
  2. Team USA BLUE
  3. Czech Republic Developmental National Team
  4. LCC Radotin – Czech Box Champs
  5. Gold Star Tel Aviv – 2018 AHM Champs
  6. Frog Pond Maulers – 2017 LASNAI runner up
  7. The Young Guns – U20 Iroquois players
  8. Basom Bombers – ULAX Buffalo Champs
  9. Music City – Nashville Champs
  10. Brooklyn Dodgers – 4x NYC Champs

We will post more team announcements each week leading up the September 8th draw, so pay attention! We will also announce partners and sponsors in the coming weeks, as well as announce some of our many amazing vendors. This year’s LASNAI is going to huge, you do NOT want to miss it!

LASNAI Warm Up Event!

When the LASNAI first started, there weren’t a ton of open invite box lacrosse tournaments out there in North America. Sure, Canada and the First Nations have some amazing events for teams in their leagues, but there was nowhere for players from all over to come out and compete… and then there was!

One of things we really love seeing is that more tournaments are starting to pop up, and many of them are used as prep for the LASNAI. They use the same rules, many of the teams are similar, and it all adds up to create a greater sense of community. It’s fantastic.

This year the Blue Goose LC hosted a new tourney to help teams play, prep, and succeed at the LASNAI, and we wanted to recognize this event as ones you should check out in the future!

2018 Blue Goose LC War on the Lakeshore

On Saturday, August 18 from 9-6 pm, and Sunday August 19 from 9-12 pm, Blue Goose hosted their new tourney. The Toronto Tigers, Letterkenny Shamrocks, Wallaceburg Satans, Blue Goose Lacrosse Club, Tyendinaga Thunderbirds, West Bay Bombers, and Ahki’wahcha de Wendake all played. Teams were guaranteed 4 games, but there was a lot more than just lacrosse going on! Games were played at Port Credit Arena 40 Stavebank Rd, Mississauga, ON L5G 2T8.box lacrosse rink

The Team name, Blue Goose, is a reference to the famous/infamous Blue Goose Tavern in Mimico, Ontario. The “Goose”,  as it’s known, has been a staple in the Mimico lacrosse community for decades proudly providing “refreshment” to lacrosse players for longer than most can remember.

The Tournament name is really a reference to the main drag in Port Credit, Lakeshore Blvd, aka  “THE SHORE“. It is the center of the night life, festival activities, and provided a tie for the tourney to its geographic location on Lake Ontario. The annual Port Credit Buskerfest ran the same weekend, and the lacrosse players shared the area with musicians, acrobats, and other entertainers.War_on_the_Shore update

Frank Lechowski, the tourney organizer, had this say:

“When we made final cuts at our Oakville Titans SR B camp, I was struck with the fact that at age 22 there are only 12 locations to play lacrosse in Ontario (between SR B and SR A ). I released far too many outstanding players that had nowhere to go. It is my hope that providing the opportunity to still play high level lacrosse will keep these players in the game.”

Beautiful, love it, and we are excited the event got off to a good start in year 1!

We will get champ info and more event recap info from WotS shortly!