Cultivating the Creator's Game

Very good article about growing the game of lacrosse in Montana.

Cultivating the Creator's Game 

 Montana's fastest growing sport is the oldest in North America 

  by EDNOR THERRIAULT

Rain was spitting and a cold wind had the few dozen sideline spectators pulling their winter coats tightly around themselves as they watched the Hellgate Knights lacrosse team play its home opener against the Big Sky Eagles. Lacking access to high school facilities, the teams played at DeSmet School, west of the airport. The tiny schoolyard was barely big enough to accommodate a regulation lacrosse field and one sideline was just six inches from the asphalt basketball court.

The whistle blew. A Hellgate midfielder won the face-off and quickly ran the ball upfield. He passed to a waiting attacker, who was immediately confronted by an Eagle defender. Panicked, the attacker fired the ball toward the far sideline, hoping a teammate was there.

Five yards off the corner of the goal, Hellgate's Spencer Schultz leaped high into the air to spear the ball with his stick and save it from sailing out of bounds. As he came down, he rotated toward the goal and curled his stick down low, sneaking a shot an inch or two beneath the goalie's stick and into the goal. Schultz pulled off the move in one seamless motion that left jaws gaping both on the field and along the sidelines.

After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd went nuts. If only more people had been there to see it. 

Lacrosse is still an anomaly in western Montana, an exotic "prep school sport" they play Back East. The West is catching up, though, with high school and college programs thriving in Washington, Oregon and Colorado. Even the University of Montana has a club team with a national championship under its belt. But it's taken more than 400 years for the oldest game in North America to make steady inroads throughout the Treasure State.                                                                  

Lacrosse's origins are hard to pin down. European explorers and missionaries first witnessed American Indians playing in the 1630s, but different precursors of the game, such as shinny and double ball, were part of Native culture for centuries. The age of lacrosse is usually placed between 400 and 1,000 years, but many tribes familiar with the sport believe it has been around longer than they have, a game that was played by the animals before man even existed. 

The Native version of the game was a deeply spiritual undertaking; it is still referred to by tribal members as "The Creator's Game." American Indian lore tells of games sometimes lasting for days. The playing field frequently stretched for miles, involving as many as one thousand players on each side. Games were played to entertain the Creator, but also to heal the sick, train and strengthen warriors and as an alternative to war itself.  PLEASE GO HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE

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!

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!

Coverage of Duluth's All-State Selections

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!

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!

More Coverage of Last Weeks Playoff Win

Coverage of Duluth's 9-3 Playoff Victory

Fox News 21 coverage of Duluth's 9-3 opening round playoff win over Providence Academy.

MBSLA Bracketology!

I feel like this might be risky to do and invite all kinds of scrutiny, but that's what putting together a blog like this is supposed to do.  Generate conversation.  Plus, I do have a horse in the race, and I hate to jinx that team or be a "Debbie Downer."  Anyway, here goes my bracket predictions from the first round on.

Round 1:

MontiQuois  vs. Proctor

Proctor has improved tremendously over the course of the season.  Big Luke Hannan has been a force at attack for the Rails this Spring.  However, MontiQuois has the experience, they're deeper and they'll win this one.  MontiQuois by 7 over Proctor.

Waconia vs. St. Louis Park

St. Louis Park is too strong for Waconia.  St. Louis Park by 10 over Waconia.

Northfield vs. St. Paul

This should be a good game.  Northfield has a good team with strong midfielders.  St. Paul however is by far the best 3 seed in the MBSLA.  St. Paul is a good team and will ride their attack to a win over a good Northfield team.  I think it will be close.  St. Paul by 2 over Northfield.

Providence Academy vs. Duluth

Duluth should be too strong for Providence.  Playing in Duluth and experiencing the LOOOONNNGGG drive North that northern teams do on a regular basis down to the Cities should be the nail in the coffin for Providence.  They'll sleepwalk through a quarter and by that time it will be too late to beat a good Duluth team, though Providence isn't a bad team.  Duluth by 7 over Providence.

St. Cloud North vs. Fargo

This should be a good game and is a tough one to pick.  I think Carter Schulke at attack for the Warriors will be the difference in this game and Fargo will provide a minor upset with a win over St. Cloud North - though it will be close.  Fargo by 1 over St. Cloud North

Mankato vs. Hudson

We already know Hudson won this one 19-2.  So, Hudson by 17 over Mankato

Shakopee vs. Henry Sibley

Same with this game, a 15-8 win for Shakopee.  Shakopee by 7 over Sibley.

Becker vs. Grand Rapids

This game may be closer than expected.  Becker isn't a bad team and we never know which Grand Rapids team we'll see - the team that thumped Shakopee and St. Louis Park or the one that lost to Proctor and almost lost to Waconia.  I think we'll see the latter in this game (Mr Hyde).  It will be a close one but... Grand Rapids by 3 over Becker

QUARTERFINALS:

Now it starts getting tough.  Here goes...

MontiQuois vs. St. Louis Park 

This should be a pretty good game.  MontiQuois is still a good team and if Oliver Winsor can get on a roll scoring at attack, MontiQuois could challenge in this one.  However, I think Siguenza dominates at the "X" and gets the ball to big Matt Harkema enough for the Orioles to move on.  Plus, I see MontiQuois spending too much time in the penalty box which will be the dagger.  Because of the penalty minutes, I think St. Louis Park wins this one fairly comfortably.  St. Louis Park by 6 over MontiQuois.

Duluth vs. St. Paul

Ughhh.  This is a tough one.  This is a really good St. Paul team.  They played Hudson tougher than anyone all season, coming close in both losses.  This is a really good Duluth team too.  I think Duluth squeaks by in this one because I think the Chargers have a little better defense.  Duluth by 1 over St. Paul.

Fargo vs. Hudson

Fargo is an up and coming team with a few good players, but they don't have the depth.  Hudson is a very good team.  This one probably won't be close.  Hudson by 10 over Fargo.

Shakopee vs. Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids seems to play to their competition.  They beat a good Shakopee team handily earlier in the season and I see them doing it again in this game.  We get the "Dr. Jekyll" Grand Rapids team this time.  Grand Rapids will roll.  Grand Rapids by 5 over Shakopee

SEMIFINALS:

Here we go!  This is where heroes are made (in the prediction world anyway...):

St. Louis Park vs. Duluth

Oh no.  This really IS a TOUGH one!  This game could really go either way...it really could.  Both of these teams are very good.  I hate to do it (Northern Lights Lacrosse, eh!), but I'm going to pick St. Louis Park in this one.  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.  How can you pick against them anyway?  They've been in the MBSLA Championship game something like 5 of the last 6 years.  They always rise to the occasion at the end of the season.  St. Louis Park by 2 over Duluth.

Hudson vs. Grand Rapids

Two northern teams in the Final Four.  How cool is that?  Hudson is too strong however and their beast at "X"  McKay Potter, will dominate again and Grand Rapids will not be able to get the possessions they'll need to pull off the upset.  Hudson by 4 over Grand Rapids.

MBSLA Championship Game:

St. Louis Park vs. Hudson

This one is simple.  Hudson dominated the regular season match ups and they'll do it again.  We'll have a new state champion in the MBSLA in 2013.  Hudson by 3 over St. Louis Park

STATE CHAMPION:      HUDSON

Duluth Chargers Lacrosse on Fox News

Yet another news piece about the Duluth Chargers lacrosse team. The Chargers may be the most popular sport in Duluth this spring!

Final Regular Season MBSLA Top 10

Not too much has changed in our final regular season Top 10 for the

2013 MBSLA season.  Hard to believe the regular season is over and we're heading into the playoffs this week.  It was a challenging season that saw every team play fewer games than scheduled due to weather cancellations.

Hudson finishes the season in the MBSLA undefeated and ranked #1.  Their only blemish on the season came to Verona, WI in a tournament played in Madison, WI.  They finish their season with a 9-4 win over Shakopee.  Duluth remains at #2 after picking up two wins this week against two Top 10 opponents, MontiQuios 11-7 and in OT against Northfield 8-7.  Duluth added Northfield after Hudson pulled out of their scheduled Saturday game and it almost cost them a perfect regular season.  Northfield played well at home and this end of the season overtime test may help prepare Duluth for the rigors of the playoffs to come.  St. Louis Park remains at #3 after beating Shakopee.  St. Paul moves up to #4 while Shattuck-St. Mary's drops to #5.  We just feel that St. Paul's strength of schedule warranted this move up (their only losses came to #1 Hudson and #3 St. Louis Park).  MontiQuois moves up to #6 based primarily on their better record.  Having seen them play, this is still a good team.  Northfield is at #7 but I see MontiQuois and Northfield as similar teams and probably are about even.  Four of Northfield's five losses have come against 4 of the top 5 ranked teams in the state.  This is a good team.  The first round match up between St. Paul and Northfield should be the best first round match up in the MBSLA.  Grand Rapids comes in at #8.  This is another team that is similar to MontiQuois and Northfield.  We put them in just below Northfield based on the strength of victories against common opponents.  Northfield's games against common opponents are just a little stronger.  To round out the Top 10 we move Fargo up to #9 and drop Shakopee to #10.  We almost replaced Shakopee with St. Cloud North at #10, but didn't see enough compelling reasons to do so.  As such, let's call St. Cloud North #10b.

The final Northern Lights Lacrosse regular season MBSLA Top 10:

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	PREV
1	Hudson	8-0	1
2	Duluth	11-0	2
3	St. Louis Park	9-2	3
4	St. Paul	5-4	5
5	Shattuck-St. Mary's	5-1	4
6	MontiQuois	6-3	8
7	Northfield	5-5	6
8	Grand Rapids	5-3	7
9	Fargo	4-3	10
10	Shakopee	5-5	9

MBSLA Top 10 May 20

There's quite a bit of shakeup in the MBSLA Top 10 after last week's action.  Some upsets and up and down performances affect some teams while at this point in the season we feel pretty good going with our gut and putting teams in the standings about where we think they should be regardless of who they beat or who they lost to.

Hudson stays at #1 after beating two more very good teams this week, St. Louis Park and a very good St. Paul team who keeps playing Hudson close but can't get over the top, dropping another one by a 9-7 score.  Duluth moves up one spot to #2, remaining undefeated at 9-0 after beating Grand Cities and Fargo last week.  That would have set up a showdown of the only two remaining undefeated teams in the MBSLA this Saturday to end the MBSLA season, a showdown of #1 versus #2 until Hudson pulled out of the game THIS MORNING.  This is a disappointing development as Duluth is ready to play but apparently Hudson doesn't want to.  Duluth was also willing to play on Hudson's home turf (almost 3 hours from home) and yet Hudson still doesn't want to play.  In what would likely have been the spotlight game of the week, Hudson decides to pull the plug.  C'mon Hudson!

Getting back to our rankings after that disappointing development, St. Louis Park moves up to #3 based on their upset of previously #2 ranked Shattuck-St. Mary's.  That, and we really feel that St. Louis Park is a top 3 team even though they dropped another game to Hudson.  Shattuck-St. Mary's drops to #4 after their loss to St. Louis Park.  St. Paul jumps all the way up to #5.  This is a good team.  All of their losses have been to either Hudson or St. Louis Park.  They've played Hudson closer than any other team so far this season, losing both games by only 2 goals, both 9-7 losses.  There's little doubt in my mind they are a top 5 team in the MBSLA.  Northfield climbs from #9 to #6, another big jump.  Again, this is as much gut feeling as results based, but Northfield's results have been pretty good as well.  Northfield pounded Waconia this week.  This is a Waconia team that just upset previously #5 ranked Grand Rapids.  As such, Grand Rapids drops to #7 this week.  Grand Rapids was all over the board this week, losing by one goal to upstart Proctor 12-11, beating previously #4 ranked Shakopee easily 11-5 and then dropping another 1 goal game to aforementioned Waconia 8-7 yesterday.  This is still a good team, but after last week, they should drop in the polls.  MontiQuois remains at #8 this week picking up two uneventful wins but doing nothing to cause them to drop in the poll.  Shakopee comes in a #9 this week after falling all the way down from #4.  Grand Rapids beat them decisively and they also lost big to Shattuck.  This years Shakopee team just doesn't seem quite as good as last years.  Rounding out the top 10 is Fargo.  Fargo won two and dropped another to #2 Duluth on a muddy (VERY muddy) track.

This week I think we need to mention a couple of honorable mention teams.  Becker has been playing well of late and sports a 5-3 record on the season.  Amazingly, Proctor in only their second season in existence with a very small base of students to work with, has shown remarkable improvement, as evidenced by their upset of #7 ranked Grand Rapids last week and 4-4 record.  Proctor truly is a success story worthy of mentioning.  St. Cloud North, with a victory over Becker early this season is still a player and have an inside track on a playoff berth in the West.

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

Honorable Mention:  Becker (5-3), Proctor (4-4), St. Cloud North (2-4)

Growth of Lacrosse in Duluth and Grand Rapids

More news coverage of Northern Minnesota lacrosse in the Duluth and Grand Rapids area. A nice piece about how the sport is growing in our area and what the future might hold.

MBSLA Top 10 May 13

There's some shakeup this week in the order of our Top 10 based on results of the past week's games.  We move Hudson to the top spot in this week's poll.  It's mostly just a gut feeling, but we've been a bit more impressed with Hudson's wins this year than Shattuck-St. Mary's, thus Shattuck's drop in the polls to #2 despite not losing a game yet this season.  Hudson feels like the best team in the MBSLA right now.  Duluth jumps one place to #3 after picking up a big 5-4 win over #5 Grand Rapids in a game that likely determined the top spot in the North Division.  Duluth remains undefeated on the season and this team has been generating a little excitement along the North Shore.  Shakopee drops two places to #4 after their loss to upstart Northfield.  Grand Rapids remains at #5 just one spot ahead of St. Louis Park despite their two losses.  We keep Grand Rapids ahead of St. Louis Park primarily based on their impressive head-to-head victory over the Orioles at the Grand Rapids Shootout.  St. Louis Park remains at #6 after picking up a big 6-5 win over St. Paul and a huge blowout win over Sibley.  The Orioles are a very good team and could easily end up in the championship game again this year.  St. Paul stays at #7, and this is a good team despite their three losses - all one or two goal losses to top teams in the state (St. Louis Park, Hudson).  MontiQuois finally picks up some wins and shows that they're still a competitive team.  They come in at #8, up a spot from last week, with wins over St. Cloud North, Becker and Wayzata and a close loss to St. Paul.  Northfield proves they're for real with a big win over Shakopee.  They move up a spot to #9 despite their 4 losses - all to Top 10 teams including the #1 and #2 teams in the MBSLA.  Fargo hangs in at #10 dropping two spots from #8 while not playing a game last week.

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

Coverage of Duluth's MBSLA North Victory over Grand Cities

Game Coverage of Big MBSLA North Battle

Northland News Center Channel 6 coverage of last nights big MBSLA North battle between Duluth and Grand Rapids.  Duluth jumped out to a 3-0 lead.  Grand Rapids battled back to tie it 3-3 before Duluth followed with two goals to take a 5-3 lead in the 4th.  Grand Rapids would add another to make it interesting before falling in a close one 5-4.

MBSLA Top 10 May 6

Not too much changes from last weeks Top 10, but there were some shifts based primarily on

results (that do not count on teams MBSLA records) from last weekends Grand Rapids Shootout Tournament.

Shattuck, Shakopee and Hudson all remain in the top 3 spaces (we anticipate changes here next week though! :-).  Duluth remains at #4 despite going undefeated and winning the Grand Rapids Shootout tournament with a 6-4 victory over Grand Rapids.  In the tournament, Duluth beat St. Cloud North twice, Fargo again and Brainerd again in addition to the Championship game victory.  Grand Rapids moves up to #5 with a big win over St. Louis Park in the tourney.  As a result of this, St. Louis Park drops to #6 behind Grand Rapids.  St. Paul moves up to #7 with a couple of nice wins against MontiQuois and big over Sibley.  Fargo moves up a spot due to MontiQuois' drop to #9 in the poll.  MontiQuois played their first two games of the season and lost both, however to good St. Louis Park and St. Paul teams.  St. cloud North drops out and Northfield moves into the Top 10 at #10 on the strength of their strong games against Shakopee and Shattuck.

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

Northern Minnesota Teams Faring Well in Most Recent Coaches Poll

 North teams ranked #3, #4 and #6 in most recent coaches poll

MBSLA State Rankings | May 6, 2013

RANK	TEAM	2013 RECORD	PREV.
1.	Shattuck-St. Mary's Sabres | South	3-0	1
2.	Hudson Raiders | East	2-0	3
3.	Duluth Chargers | North	5-0	5
4.	Grand Rapids Indians | North	2-1	7
5.	St. Louis Park Orioles | East	5-1	4
6.	Fargo Warriors | North	2-2	NR
7.	Shakopee Sabers | South	2-0	2
8.	St. Paul Celts | East	3-2	8
9.	Northfield Raiders | South	1-3	NR
10.	St. Cloud North Knights | West	1-2	9

Watershed Weekend for Northern Minnesota Lacrosse!

For the first time in the history of the Grand Rapids Shootout, two northern Minnesota teams battled for the

Clearing fields for the tournament

Varsity championship when Duluth squared off against Grand Rapids on Sunday.  It was a watershed moment for northern Minnesota lacrosse and perhaps an indication that northern Minnesota lacrosse has taken a big step forward.

In it's 5th year, the Grand Rapids Shootout has grown into one of the top tournaments in the state of Minnesota.  Drawing teams from throughout the state, North Dakota and Canada, this weekend of lacrosse is remarkable, even more so this year with the late April snows and cold weather.  Tournament organizers went above and beyond to pull off the tournament this year, clearing 8 fields of snow a couple weeks prior to the event.  Heavy equipment and snow piles over 10 feet high were required to allow the tournament to go on.  A huge thank you and congratulations to all of the tournament organizers and volunteers who worked so hard to make this tournament happen.  Under very difficult circumstances, the tournament came off without a hitch and had to be the best yet!

Duluth and Grand Rapids battling for a ground ball

With teams from Varsity down to U13, there was something for everyone.  Northern Minnesota teams fared well.  In the Varsity Championship, Duluth won their first ever Grand Rapids Shootout with a 6-4 victory over Grand Rapids.  To get there, Grand Rapids defeated perennial power St. Louis Park 9-3, while Duluth beat St. Cloud North 8-4.  In the championship game, it wasn't easy for Duluth.  Grand Rapids jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead before Duluth even knew what hit them.  The Chargers however didn't panic and methodically chipped away at the Grand Rapids lead, rattling off 6 unanswered goals and helped along the way by several Grand Rapids penalties and a stellar Man Up unit.  It was exciting game and bodes well for lacrosse in northern Minnesota.

At every level, northern Minnesota teams fared well.  The U13 tournament, which included two teams from

James Holak of Duluth U13 moves upfield against Grand Rapids

Duluth and two from Grand Rapids, an exceptional showing of growth at the younger levels, grew tremendously from the previous year and featured some excellent lacrosse play.  The Fargo U13 team fielded one of the top teams in the tournament as another testament to the tremendous growth of the sport in the north.

Teams are already looking forward to next years Grand Rapids Shootout.  Looking forward to more growth for the game of lacrosse in northern Minnesota!

MBSLA Top 10 April 30

Finally, after a week with a few games and no snow, we have enough to base our first in-season MBSLA Top 10 poll on.  The biggest mover is Shattuck-St. Mary's who looks like a squad that will go undefeated again in 2013.  Until they're beat, we'll leave them at #1.  Shakopee barely stays at #2 with a narrow 7-6 victory over Northfield.  Is Northfield that much improved over last season to give Shakopee that much trouble in their first game?  With only one game played, we'll need to see more data.  Hudson moves up one spot on the strength of their solid victory over then #1 St. Louis Park and win over a pretty good St. Paul team.  We move Duluth up one spot on the strength of their 5-0 record and solid victories over St. Cloud North and Fargo.  We felt the St. Cloud game was a early match-up to watch, and Duluth finally beat St. Cloud North for the first time ever.  Duluth also beat a much improved Fargo team and had 3 shut-outs in their other 3 wins.  St. Louis Park drops to #5 with their loss to Hudson.  This is still a very good team and we drop them below Duluth simply because of their records at this point.  MontiQuois easily could have remained at their #3 spot, but we dropped them because they haven't played a game and we have no data to go on.  The other teams that moved up have shown that they can win already this year and we rewarded them for those victories.  Grand Rapids stays at #7 with a nice win over Fargo in OT and a loss to a good St. Louis Park team on a snow covered field.  St. Cloud North drops a couple spots on their loss to Duluth.  They beat Becker and their other loss shouldn't count since it was essentially their JV squad that played against Proctor.  Fargo drops one spot with their losses to two Top 10 teams, Duluth and Grand Rapids.  However, this team is good and deserves to be in the Top 10.  The coaches poll should start giving them a little love.  St. Paul stays in the Top 10 despite two close losses to two very good teams - Hudson and St. Louis Park.  Sibley hasn't played a game yet so we have no data to go on, but St. Paul has shown they are a pretty good team.  The game tomorrow night between St. Paul and Sibley should show us which team should be in the Top 10.

 

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	PREV
1	Shattuck-St. Mary's	2-0	10
2	Shakopee	1-0	2
3	Hudson	2-0	4
4	Duluth	5-0	5
5	St. Louis Park	4-1	1
6	MontiQuois	0-0	3
7	Grand Rapids	2-1	7
8	St. Cloud North	1-2	6
9	Fargo	2-2	8
10	St. Paul	1-2	9

MBSLA Coaches Poll April 29

MBSLA State Rankings | APRIL 29, 2013

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	PREV.
1.	Shattuck-St. Mary's Sabres | South	2-0	1
2.	Shakopee Sabers | South	1-0	2
3.	Hudson Raiders | East	1-0	4
4.	St. Louis Park Orioles | East	3-1	3
5.	Duluth Chargers | North	5-0	5
6.	MontiQuois MontiQuois | West	0-0	6
7.	Grand Rapids Indians | North	2-1	8
8.	St. Paul Celts | East	1-1	9
9.	St. Cloud North Knights | West	0-1	7
10.	Henry Sibley Warriors | East	0-0	10

Proctor Rails - 2013 Season Preview

Proctor Rails 2013 Season Preview


High School: Proctor, MN

Coaches:

Ben Blaeser - 1st year

Last Year's Record:

1-9

Key Returning Players:

Proctor returns their leading scorers junior midfielder/attack Frank Napoli and sophomore attack Luke Hannan.  The Rails also return their talented goalie junior Noah Schramm and much of their defense. 

Key Newcomers:

Proctor has several new and athletic players this season.  With an infusion of new players, Proctor hopes to get them up to speed and ready to play by the start of the season.

Team Strengths:

The Rails will be strong at attack with Napoli and Hannan returning and should be able to put some points on the board.  With Schramm, they are also strong at goalie.

Games to Watch:

Big games this season will be against local rivals Duluth and Grand Rapids.

Season Outlook:

With their two leading scorers returning and a talented goalie, Proctor is hoping to improve on last seasons 1-9 record.  If they can find some improvement on the defensive side in front of Schramm, the Rails may turn some heads in 2013.

MBSLA Pre-Season Top 10 Coaches Poll

The MNLaxHub has posted their MBSLA pre-season Top 10 coaches poll.  Very similar to our Top 10, but we would definitely include Fargo whereas MNLaxHub omits them.

MBSLA State Rankings | APRIL 11, 2012
PRESEASON

RANK	TEAM	2012 RECORD
1.	Shattuck-St. Mary's Sabres | South	7-0
2.	Shakopee Sabers | South	11-6
3.	St. Louis Park Orioles | East	11-5
4.	Hudson Raiders | East	10-2
5.	Duluth Chargers | North	8-4
6.	MontiQuois MontiQuois | West	13-3
7.	St. Cloud North Knights | West	11-2
8.	Grand Rapids Indians | North	8-7
9.	St. Paul Celts | East	5-8
10.	Henry Sibley Warriors | East	4-9

2013 MBSLA Season Gets Underway...sort of

The 2013 MBSLA season is underway!  Well, sort of.  Late season snow and abnormally cold temperatures have forced many more cancellations and postponements of games than games played.  But, a few teams have been able to play games.

Fargo Warriors (in white) vs. Hellgate Knights in Billings, MT

St. Louis Park began the season as the #1 ranked team in the MBSLA and didn't disappoint with an 11-4 win over Becker.  Duluth, the #5 ranked team in the state, started the season with a bang, defeating STMA at the Husky Stadium dome in St. Cloud 15-0 behind balanced scoring and stifling defense.  They completed the weekend with a scrimmage against St. Cloud North at the Husky Stadium dome on Sunday.  Proctor then played STMA and dropped a close one 9-7.

Three Northern Minnesota teams traveled out of state to find games.  Both Fargo and Grand Cities traveled to Billings to participate in a tournament there.  Fargo proved they're for real and deserve

their spot in the Top 10, going 4-0 in the tournament and defeating defending Montana State Champion Hellgate.  Grand Cities also played well and finished the tournament 2-2.  St. Louis Park participated in the Billings tournament as well.

Finally, Grand Rapids traveled to Omaha, Nebraska to play over the weekend.  No word on how they fared, but they got to play lacrosse and that puts them ahead of most of the MBSLA teams in the state.

Hopefully teams will get a chance to play this weekend after this latest round of snow storms passes though.  Pray for sunshine, warm weather and NO MORE SNOW!!!

Grand Cities Predators - 2013 Season Preview

Grand Cities Predators 2013 Season Preview

High School:  Grand Cities area (The Predators are made up of players from Grand Forks Red River and Grand Forks Central High Schools, East Grand Forks Senior High, and Warren-Alvarado-Olso High School, and South Middle School in Grand Forks)
 

Coaches:

Aaron Cabanaw – 2nd year

Cameron Willox – 2nd year

Brent Lindstrom – 2nd year

Kevin Bartholomew – 1st year

Last Year's Record: 5-12

Key Returning Players:

All of Grand Cities 2012 starters are returning this season led by Tanner Lindstrom (2012 Second Team All North Conference Attack and team scoring leader), Christian Hansen (2012 Second Team All North Conference Mid Fielder and team MVP) and Brady McDonald (2012 All North Conference Honorable Mention Defenseman). Other key contributors for the Predators include: Nick Gaasvig, Jake Dunham, Trey Deck, Christian Hogness, Pete Schirrick, Jake Young, and Tom Twedell. 

Key Losses:

Eric Melland, Corey Saiger, and Coach Kelly Hurt

Key Newcomers:

Coach Cabanaw says, "Nick Erickson and Matt Lunski will bring huge amounts of athletic ability to the club and depth to the midfield position and others like Jake Olson, have picked up the systems really quick and are already working into key positions."  With the addition of the athletic talent and the ability of the kids to pick up the necessary information quickly, Grand Cities is looking to hit the ground running the first game weekend in April.

Team Strength:

Coach Cabanaw says one word, "Confidence."  He continues, "With a majority of the team returning from their first year of competition last year, they know what is ahead of them and are preparing much harder heading into this season."  According to Cabanaw, a few players have changed positions from last year to better use their skills and talents to benefit the team and their success. Goaltending is settled this year with Junior Captain Jake Young and he is assisted by a defensive corps of Sophomore Captain and North Conference Honorable Mention Brady McDonald, Tom Twedell, and Gunner Bowman. Junior Captain Pete Schirrick and Connor Shea have picked up long poles to bolster the already strong defense.

Games to Watch:

 Coach Cabanaw believes, "The rivalry game which is always a game to see comes when we match up against Fargo. This year we host Fargo on May 18^th. Whether it’s during the regular season or in fall ball it always is a good game between the two teams." An important game comes when the Predators travel to Grand Rapids to open up Conference play on April 27^th.   This is also the first time they return to Grand Rapids since last year’s first round state tournament loss.  Grand Forks sees all of their home games as games to watch since these games present a great opportunity to showcase the game of lacrosse to a community that hasn’t had much exposure to the game.

Season Outlook:

With a year or more of competitive lacrosse under most kids belts Grand Cities is looking to build off the experience gained last year, and expect to make an appearance in the state tournament. Coach Cabanaw is excited about the opportunities several of his players have taken advantage of, "This past fall we had a few players that jumped at opportunities to play for other teams including Tanner Lindstrom, Christian Hansen, Nick Gaasvig and Tyler Lindstrom.  We hope that the success these boys had with teams outside the club can carry over when Grand Cities hit’s the field this spring." Coach Cabanaw is also excited about the opportunity to play outside during the weekend of April 13-14 when they head to Billings to take part in a lacrosse tournament there, "The Billings weekend will mark the first time we are able to get outside to play lacrosse. So far this season practices have been held indoors in a hockey arena. Although this isn’t the ideal situation to prepare for a season, the Predators have adjusted well to the circumstances and have done the work necessary to compete. Here’s to a great 2013 season and getting outside before playoffs start!"