June 24, 2013

Northern Lacrosse Teams Fare Well in 2013

Northern Minnesota lacrosse teams represented the North well in 2013.  The Duluth Chargers
2013 MBSLA 3rd Place Duluth Chargers
completed the most successful season in Northern Minnesota lacrosse history by finishing the season winning the 3rd place game at the MBSLA State Tournament and sporting a 14-1 record in the MBSLA and 19-1 overall.  Duluth also became the first Northern Minnesota team to win the Grand Rapids Shootout tournament with their victory over Grand Rapids.  No matter who won that game, a Northern Minnesota team would have set a new standard.  The Grand Rapids JV team finished the MBSLA season as the JV Division runner-up, losing a closely contested game to Hudson in the Championship game.  Fargo won their first playoff game over St. Cloud North and Proctor made the playoffs for the first time in their two year history.  The North Division also had All-State selections in Duluth defenseman Tanner Fristsinger and honorable mention Fargo attackman Carter Schulke and Duluth midfielder Cooper Carlson.  It was good year for northern high school lacrosse in 2013!

June 14, 2013

Final 2013 MBSLA Top 10

With the MBSLA season culminating in a State Championship victory for #1 ranked Hudson,
Northern Lights Lacrosse is releasing their final Top 10 of the season.

Photo from MN Lax Hub
Our "bracketology" predictions proved to be almost eerily accurate unfortunately at the expense of northern Minnesota teams.  Becker was the bracket-buster and blew up some of our predictions from the beginning.  Our prediction of St. Louis Park beating Duluth in the semi-finals for the right to play in the Championship game was all too accurate and a tough pill to swallow for this northern Minnesota lacrosse fan.  In our bracketology predictions we said, "The difference:  Duluth will have to travel 2+ hours to a neutral site for this one.  They'll sleepwalk through the first quarter and the Orioles are WAY to good to allow Duluth to overcome an early deficit.  Duluth will fight back, but in the end, St. Louis Park wins."  That statement proved to be spot on.  Duluth made the long trip down to a neutral site at Minneapolis Washburn (2.5 hours for Duluth; 16 minutes for St. Louis Park), they slept through the 2nd quarter and were down 8-2 at halftime after giving up 6 goals in the second.  Duluth did fight back and outscored the Orioles 5-3 in the second half, but it wouldn't be enough in their 11-7 playoff loss, their first loss of the season.  Other than the Becker upsets, our playoff bracketology was correct for every other game in the playoffs!

Hats off to Becker for a great run in the playoffs.  And, talk about battling back!  Duluth jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable 11-1 lead in the first half of the 3rd place game.  They were taking their frustrations out on Becker and then a light switched off for Duluth and on for Becker.  Becker battled back in the second half, and in the end Duluth eked out a 14-13 victory to take 3rd place in State.  Becker placed a very deserving 4th place.

On to our final rankings.  Hudson clearly earns the top spot with a nice 9-5 State Championship victory over St. Louis Park.  St. Louis Park moves up to #2 after beating Duluth in the semifinals and then battling mightily against Hudson in the State Championship game before falling in the end.  It was the Orioles 6th trip to the state championship game in 7 years.  Duluth drops to #3 after losing their first game of the season in the playoffs to St. Louis Park.  Duluth completes their most successful season in club history with a 14-1 season record.  St. Paul remains at #4 after beating a good Northfield team and then losing in the playoffs to a very good Duluth team.  St. Paul's Junior attackman Jesse Rice may be the best MBSLA player we've seen play all year.  Shattuck-St. Mary's stays at #5.  MontiQuois stays at #6 after beating a surprising Proctor team and then dropping one to runner-up St. Louis Park.  Becker moves into the Top 10 at #7 after their spectacular run through the playoffs eventually finishing 4th at the state tournament.  Props to Becker!  Northfield drops to #8 and despite a losing record (5-6), this team was good.  All of their losses were to Top 5 or playoff teams.  They deserve their spot at #8.  Grand Rapids drops to #9 after losing in the first round of the playoffs to Becker.  Unfortunately for Grand Rapids, Mr. Hyde showed up as we predicted and they dropped their opening round playoff game.  Fargo rounds out the Top 10 at #10 after their solid opening round victory over St. Cloud North (just as we predicted :-).  Unfortunately for them, their next playoff game was against eventual state champion Hudson.

 
RANK TEAM RECORD PREV
1 Hudson 12-0 1
2 St. Louis Park 12-3 3
3 Duluth 14-1 2
4 St. Paul 6-5 4
5 Shattuck-St. Mary's 5-1 5
6 MontiQuois 7-4 6
7 Becker 9-5 NR
8 Northfield 5-6 7
9 Grand Rapids 5-4 8
10 Fargo 6-4 9

It ended up being a very good and very exciting MBSLA season after a very rough start with the slow Spring and eternal Winter.  Here's to hoping for an earlier Spring in 2014 and an even more exciting MBSLA season!

June 4, 2013

All-State and All-Conference Awards Released!

For the first time in club history, Duluth has an all-state player.  Senior Defenseman Tanner Fritsinger has been named to the MBSLA All-State team.  In addition, Duluth's junior Midfielder Cooper Carlson was named All-State Honorable Mention.  Fargo senior attack Carter Shulke was also named All-State Honorable Mention.  Congratulations to these northern Minnesota lacrosse athletes!  More proof that the game is growing in the North!  See the entire MBSLA All-State team on the MN Lax Hub website.


Also released today was the 2013 MBSLA North All-Conference team.

2013 MBSLA North All-Conference

Team
Name
School
Position
First Luke Hannan Proctor Attack
First Brody Carlson Duluth Attack
First Carter Schulke Fargo Attack
First Bryce Holak Duluth Midfield
First Cooper Carlson Duluth Midfield
First Aric Foster Fargo Midfield
First Logan Anderson Grand Rapids Defense
First Tanner Fritsinger Duluth Defense
First Tanner Brandt Fargo Defense
First Graham Gallop Grand Rapids Long-stick Midfield
First Beau Hughes Duluth Faceoff Midfield
First T.J. Vallie Duluth Goalie
Second Chase Hunter Grand Rapids Attack
Second Tanner Lindstrom Grand Cities Attack
Second Jesse Larson Duluth Attack
Second Frank Napoli Proctor Midfield
Second Bodin Nichols Brainerd Midfield
Second Carl Kasse Grand Rapids Midfield
Second Sean Thompson Fargo Defense
Second Seamus Mackinaw Duluth Defense
Second Jake Wick Proctor Defense
Second Nick Gaasvig Grand Cities Long-stick Midfield
Second Nick Zerfas Grand Rapids Faceoff Midfield
Second Daniel Evenson Fargo Goalie
Honorable Mention: Alex Halverson, Fargo, attack; Dan O'Connell, Duluth, attack; Connor King, Fargo, attack; Trevor Hopkins, Grand Rapids, midfield; Christian Hansen, Grand Cities, midfield; Logan Ecklund, Proctor, midfield; Hunter Wieczorek, Duluth, defense; August Cadotte, Duluth, defense; Brady McDonald, Grand Cities, defense; Mike Nowicki, Duluth, long-stick midfield; Zack Zierden, Duluth, FOGO; Jake Young, Grand Cities, goalie.

Congratulations all!

June 3, 2013

Becker Bracket Busting!

Becker has been the big bracket buster in the MBSLA playoffs so far this season as they've now moved into the Final Four semifinals with a victory over Shakopee.  Becker received a forfeit in their play-in game and then went on to defeat favored Grand Rapids, the #2 seed from the North, 8-5.  In the quarterfinals they defeated the #1 seed from the South, Shakopee 8-5.  They now move into the semifinals to play the winner of tonight's Hudson vs. Fargo game.  Will they continue to bust the bracket and make it to the Championship game?  Let's wait and see!