Lax Beat

Arthur Johnson and his cohort have a vision: a professional lacrosse league that provides opportunities to black, indigenous, hispanic and latino players. They are preparing for that vision to become a reality on July 16, when the National Lacrosse Association makes its debut in Philadelphia. LaxBeat host Stephen Stamp speaks with Arthur about the impetus for the NLA, how everything is coming together with the first game in league history fast approaching and what the future holds.

First up, news from the world of lacrosse including a look back at the National Lacrosse League division finals, ahead to the NLL Cup championship series, and across the nation/continent in the Cross Canada Checkup on summer box lacrosse, this week on LaxBeat. 

When Abby Hormes of the High Point Panthers set the record for most goals scored in an NCAA Division 1 women's lacrosse season, the response was a fairly resounding meh. In fact, one year after the lax world celebrated Charlotte North setting the record with 102 goals, lax Twitter seemed to be jumping over itself to denigrate Hormes' feat of scoring 103. Hormes will readily admit that she and North are very different players, but they both faced challenges en route to scoring over a hundred times in a season and Hormes isn't about to apologize for breaking the record or where she plays, as USA Lacrosse Magazine's Beth Ann Mayer did a good job of articulating in an article. LaxBeat host Stephen Stamp caught up with Hormes from her home in Fallston, Maryland. Enjoy the conversation. 

Dhane Smith's commitment to donate $50 for every goal the Buffalo Bandits score in Game 2 of the East Division final is discussed in this episode (as of recording at least three others had pledged to match the donation). Here is the link if you would like to make a donation to the Buffalo 5/14 Survivors Fund through the National Compassion Fund web site. 

DONATE HERE

Ian MacKay said before his Buffalo Bandits played the Albany FireWolves in the National Lacrosse League East Division semifinal that the transition game would need to step up. MacKay put his money where his mouth was with a big transition goal as Buffalo won to advance to the East final against the Toronto Rock. MacKay joins host Stephen Stamp on LaxBeat to talk about the Bandits' great season, the playoff opening win and what they will need to do to advance to the league championship series in their best of three series against Toronto.

Also, we look back at the first round games and what to expect in the division finals, both the East series and the West final between the San Diego Seals and Colorado Mammoth, a snapshot of the Premier Lacrosse League college draft, and Canadian summer lacrosse finally starting what we hope will be a regular season after two years of no or adapted play because of the pandemic. All on LaxBeat.

Five teams competed at the first women's edition of the annual European Box Lacrosse Invitational. The event is commonly called EBox, so the women's version has taken the nickname SheBox. The tournament was the first opportunity for women in Europe to play box lacrosse, which will have a women's world championship for the first time in 2024. This week on LaxBeat, host Stephen Stamp has conversations with five participants in the inaugural SheBox, which was universally acclaimed as a huge success. 

Lizzie Bottrill is from England, where she has been part of the national development field lacrosse team, and was one of three English women to play for Prague Sports at SheBox. 

Becky Moloney has been a goalie for Ireland's field team and is a driver of the sport in the nation. She played between the pipes for Team Eire, which was coached by Bellingham, Washington native and now Prague resident Garrett Goshorn at the tournament.

Mac MacDonough and Delaney Benson both grew up in California and have both been living in Israel, where they put enormous time and energy into coaching lacrosse. They'll both be representing Israel at international lacrosse championships this summer.

The five guests have diverse backgrounds, but they all agree that SheBox was a huge first step for lacrosse in Europe and was a seminal moment in the growth of the women's box game.

Cooper Perkins is relatively new to box lacrosse, but the San Diego Seals play by play announcer loves the indoor version of the game he played outside growing up and he is diving deep. Perkins has created Lax Metrics, a web site where he analyzes existing box score information and has created interesting new statistics to provide a deeper analytical view of the players in the National Lacrosse League. Cooper joins host Stephen Stamp this week to share the genesis, the goals and the methods of Lax Metrics in a wide-ranging and interesting conversation that is sure to help even veteran box lacrosse folks gain a deeper understanding of the sport. 

Dan Ninham has founded the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame, announcing the inaugural class earlier this year. LaxBeat host Stephen Stamp talks with Dan about the genesis of the Hall and the heavily lacrosse-flavoured first class of inductees. Also, Frick's Thoughts with lacrosse lifer Ryan McMichael touches on dark horses for the NLL championship, Tracey Kelusky killing it in Panther City, how close is the rookie of the year race, and put some respect on Brett Dobson's name if you're going to talk about the top goalies in NCAA lacrosse. 

Bonus materials:

First Nations drummers and dancers representing at the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four

Players Brett Logan and Gutch Salinas join smoke dancers during pregame of OLA Jr B playoffs

After a strong rookie season in the National Lacrosse League, Kellen LeClair had to stop playing professional lacrosse because of a heart issue that he thought would keep him out of the game forever. But after a surprising improvement in his condition, LeClair is back and grateful to have rejoined the Calgary Roughnecks and returned to the game he's played since he was three. Hear his story of why he had to stop playing, the passion he found to replace lacrosse, and how excited he is to be back in the NLL and--what a bonus--playing with his little brother. 

We passed the midway point of the 2021 National Lacrosse League season with the 63rd of 126 games being played, so it's a perfect time to welcome Brian Shanahan to LaxBeat to talk surprises, developments and our midseason award winners. 

Tyler Garrison was a high pick, 11th overall, in the 2012 National Lacrosse League entry draft and still managed to outperform his draft slot in his first two seasons in the league, establishing himself as one of the top defence/transition players in the game. Then a series of injuries led him to focus on furthering his education instead of playing. Now he's healthy again and, at almost 30, he's back in the league and looking like he's ready to be an impact player again, this time with the San Diego Seals.   

Catch up with Garrison as he joins host Stephen Stamp for an in-depth conversation about his journey in the game, plus hear the news of the week in the world of lacrosse.  

The North American Box Lacrosse League is a new operation that is arising to fill the void left by the apparent demise of the IBLA, which is reconstituting into a new form. This week, LaxBeat host Stephen Stamp is joined by David Mather and Tim Semisch, two members of the committee elected to shepherd in the formation of the NABLL. They talk about their vision for the league and for the game, the challenges of making the new league work and the excitement that players and teams have to get the NABLL started this summer.

Also, news from the world of lacrosse including the TLL/OLA law suit, college lacrosse getting started, the PLL announcing locales for this summer, the ALL East getting under way, and some of the players making waves as the NLL nears the one-third mark of its season.

Check out the NABLL on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CX3x4vghPpR/