People have asked me why I’m not putting a team into my own tournament, and the reason is really team number five from the LASNAI! LaxAllStars.com’s box team was the top dog in NYC early on, and we won the first two league championships. While we’ve been back to the finals a couple times, we’ve lost recently, and for the last two years, the league tit has gone to a different team. That team is…
LASNAI Team No. 5 – Brooklyn Dodgers
(Read more on Team No. 1, as well as Team No. 2, and Team No. 3, and don’t forget Team No. 4!)
For the last two years, the Dodgers have been NYC ULAX league champs, and this past year, they won the championship game by a score of 17-3. I played terribly, the Dodgers played well, and it was a lopsided affair to say the least! They beat my team, beat us handily, and did so in every aspect of the game.
For now, the Brooklyn Dodgers are NYC’s best box team by far.
But the Brooklyn Dodgers are more than just a box team… they’re a year round club, which actually focuses on field lacrosse. They’ll bring a different ethos, and style of play to the LASNAI, and while they have plenty of “box guys”, the Dodgers are also home to a lot of field converts. You can find the Dodgers playing lacrosse in New York City year round, in any form. They just love to play, and represent NYC as champs often enough!
The Dodgers were founded by, and are still run by, Rudy Martinez. Rudy played high school lacrosse at Midwood HS in Brooklyn, and has been obsessed with the game ever since. He coaches, plays, and runs the Brooklyn Dodgers, and has become a serious fixture in the NYC lacrosse scene. I brought Rudy to his first ever “real” box game when a NYC group played the Syracuse Stingers a couple years back. He still refers to it as one of his best overall lacrosse experiences.
Since then, Rudy and the Dodgers (that sounds like a 1950s Kensington band name) have embraced box lacrosse, and are always looking for new opportunities to play. Look for Brooklyn to come up and have fun, but also look for them to compete. The NYC box scene isn’t anything like what you find upstate, or in Canada, but it’s improving, and the Brooklyn Dodgers are excited to show off what they’ve got.
We could NOT be any more excited to have the Brooklyn Dodgers playing in this first ever LASNAI box lacrosse tournament. Stay tuned for more teams, pool selections, and schedule information! For now, check out our update post for a lot of the basics, as well as some key details!