NILL Getting Ready for Season 2

The NorthCoast Indoor Lacrosse League, a 7 v 7 indoor lacrosse league in Duluth, MN is preparing for its second season of play beginning December 9.  Teams are still being formed and players may also register as Free Agents and be placed on a team.  Go HERE to register.

New for the 2012-2013 season is a Middle School Division that will offer game play for kids grades 5-8.  This season will also include 12 games, up from 8 last year.  We also expect an 8 team league including two teams from Grand Rapids and one from Brainerd.  Last season we had 6 teams.  In addition, we expect at least 3 Middle School level teams.

For more information, please visit the NILL Website.  Schedules will be finalized once the teams are set.  Game dates are as follows:

2012-2013 NILL Game Dates:

Game 1 - Sunday December 9
Game 2 - Friday December 14
(off for holidays)
Games 3 & 4 - Sunday January 6 (doubleheaders)
Game 5 - Friday January 11
Games 6 & 7 - Sunday January 13 (doubelheaders)
Game 8 - Sunday January 27 - @ UW-Superior Fieldhouse (tentative)
Game 9 - Friday February 8
Game 10 - Sunday February 24 - @ UW-Superior Fieldhouse (tentative)
Game 11 - Sunday March 3 - @ UW-Superior Fieldhouse (tentative)
Game 12 - Sunday March 10 - @ UW-Superior Fieldhouse (tentative)
Playoffs - Sunday March 17

Join us for the second exciting season of NILL!

Fargo Fall Ball Tournament

Several Northern Minnesota lacrosse teams participated in the 2012 Fargo Fall Ball Tournament in Fargo on October 20-21. Brainerd, Fargo and Grand Cities joined Winnipeg for the first ever Fall lacrosse tournament to take place in Northern Minnesota.

 Brainerd finished as the runner-up in the tournament, losing to Winnipeg in the Championship game. Grand Cities began the tournament with a win over Fargo and then dropped consecutive games against Brainerd and Winnipeg. Congratulations to Winnipeg as the first Fargo Fall Ball Tournament champion! Looking forward to more lacrosse action in the North in the off-season.

Thunder Ducks Lax Take Home First SOLL Championship

The first Superior Outdoor Lacrosse League (SOLL) 7 v. 7 Championship Sunday included some close games and exciting lacrosse play.  Games were played at Park Point in Duluth, MN.  With every team in the league having at least 2 losses, the championship was up for grabs.

In game 1, the #3 seed Honey Badgers took on the #6 seed Free Agents.  The young Honey Badgers team, with their two elder statesmen, were looking to warm up against the Free Agents in anticipation of a match up against the #2 seed Brojans in the next round.  The Free Agents however, had other things in mind.  

SOLL regular season scoring leader Scott Wishart #17

The game was close throughout with the score being tied for the majority of the game.  Young James Holak, a 6^th grader and new player to the Free Agent team helped to keep the game close by leading the team with 3 goals.  Jack O’ Connell, also a 6^th grader and new to the Free Agent team helped to control the high scoring Honey Badgers team on defense.  The Free Agents held the Honey Badgers to 8 goals and the game ended with the Honey Badgers eking out an 8-6 win in the first round of the playoffs.

Iziah Schramm, playing lacrosse for the first time ever this summer also scored 2 goals for the Free Agents along with Treven Smalley with 2 goals.  The Honey Badgers were led on offense by Dan O’Connell, Bryce Holak and Jesse Larson who each scored 2 goals.  Holak and O’Connell also added an assist each.  Aaron Kilpo added a goal and an assist and Andy Holak scored one goal.

The second game of the night featured #4 Fighting Aye-Aye’s against #5 Broseidon.  The score was knotted up for much of the game before the Aye-Aye’s pulled away behind the prolific scoring of Frank Napoli and Cooper Carlson to win 20-13.  Napoli poured in 8 goals and added 2 assists while Carlson scorched the net for 6 goals and 1 assist.  Tyler Kolquist added 3 goals, Steve Halver added 2 and Mac Johnson pitched in one goal.  Zack Zierden led the way for Broseidon with 5 goals while Zach Galo and Kevin Marshall added 3 goals apiece and Luke Hannan tallied 2 goals.  TJ Vallie saved Broseidon from even more scoring by standing tall between the pipes with 14 saves.  

The first final four game featured the #1 seed Thunder Ducks against first round winner Fighting Aye-Aye’s.  This game was close until the final minutes of the game when the Thunder Ducks pulled away to win 14-11.  Scott Wishart, the regular season scoring leader, led the Thunder Ducks with 5 goals and 5 assists while Mike Hillman scored 3 goals, Alex Rogers scored two goals and added one assist, Frank Rush added one goal and one assist, and Nick Teresi, Beau Hughes and Tanner Fritsinger each pitched in with one goal.  The Aye-Aye’s were led by Frank Napoli with 5 goals and Cooper Carlson with 3 goals.  Steve Halver added two goals and Tyler Kolquist scored one goal.

The next game proved to be one of the most exciting games of the season with the score knotted up nearly the entire game and ended with a controversial call.  The #2 seed Brojans took on the #3 seed Honey Badgers for the right to play in the first SOLL Championship game.  The game see-sawed back and forth with no team ever leading by more than 3 goals.  The Brojans led by 3 goals late in the game and it looked like it would be a #1 versus #2 championship game before the Honey Badgers stormed back to tie the game.  The Brojans would then take a one goal lead right up until the end before a late goal by the Honey Badgers would tie the game again and send it into overtime. 

BRAVEHEART!

The final overtime period would be decided by Braveheart.  Bryce Holak came out for the Honey Badgers and Doug Jensen would take the face off for the Brojans.  Holak won the opening faceoff and took the ball down the field before solid defense by Jensen and good goalie play would force Holak’s shot to go wide.  Jensen then took possession and made a contested shot on goal that was saved by the 2012 SOLL saves leader Pat O’ Connell, with another fearless play in the net.  On the ensuing loose ball, Holak would pick up the ground ball while Jensen’s head would come off his shaft.  Holak’s shot on goal would be saved by goalie Tyler Altringer making a tremendous play on the ball.  With a new stick Jensen would take the ball upfield again.  Amazingly, on another ground ball, Jensen’s head would come off his back up stick!  This time Holak, with Jackson Schwartz rushing on the field to cover for Jensen, would come down the field and bury the ball in the back of the net for a 16-15 Braveheart win for the Honey Badgers.  There was some confusion on the final play and a questioning of whether or not to continue play after a player’s head comes off his stick in Braveheart.  An explanation of the ruling based on a conversation with head lacrosse referee Dan Heldt can be found HERE

Doug Jensen led the Brojans and all scorers with 7 goals.  Joey Keating scored 3 goals, Graham Gallop and Brad Sandeen each added 2 goals and Ben Dunnell scored one goal for the Brojans.  Bryce Holak led the Honey Badgers with 6 goals while Jeff Wright would add 3 goals, Jesse Larson and Jack Norlen chipped in with 2 goals each and Dan O’ Connell and Aaron Kilpo each scored one goal.  Both Tyler Altringer and Pat O’ Connell were strong in the net.

The Honey Badgers would continue their strong play into the final Championship game with the #1 seeded Thunder Ducks.  The Honey Badgers played well, hanging with the Thunder Ducks goal for goal until the second half.  The Thunder Ducks would pull away from the Honey Badgers to take the first SOLL Championship with a 15-12 win.

2012 SOLL Champions - Thunder Ducks

Alex Rogers led the Thunder Ducks with 6 goals and one assist while Scott Wishart had 3 goals and an assist, Beau Hughes and Nick Teresi added two goals and Mike Hillman and Nevada Shelton each added a goal.  Frank Rush added an assist.   The Honey Badgers were led by Jesse Larson with 4 goals, while Aaron Kilpo, Bryce Holak and Dan O’ Connell each had 2 goals and one assist and Andy Holak added 2 goals.  Jeff Wright added one assist.

2012 SOLL Runners Up - Honey Badgers

The first SOLL season was fun and high school players continued to improve their lacrosse skills over the summer.  We're looking forward to our upcoming winter lacrosse season with the 2nd season of the Northcoast Indoor Lacrosse League starting play in December.

North Coast Jaxx Summer Travel Team

The North Coast Jaxx is a new summer travel team based in the Duluth area.  This new team will compete at the U16 level and will work with the Minnesota Jaxx, a well-established and successful select lacrosse program in the Twin Cities metro area.  This will be the first summer travel lacrosse team opportunity ever in Northern Minnesota and will hopefully be a catalyst for more growth of the game in the Northern part of the state.

WHO:  The team will be open to any Northern Minnesota lacrosse player and will be composed primarily of players from the Duluth area, Grand Rapids and other Northern Minnesota lacrosse communities like Brainerd and St. Cloud.  Tryouts and practices will be held in the Duluth area.  This means it will primarily be open to current 9th and 8th graders.  There may also be a few Sophomores that would meet the U16 age requirements.  The cutoff for this team for 2012 would be players born on or after 9/1/1995.

WHEN:  Try out date is set for 2:45 p.m. Saturday, May 12 at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth, MN.  Try outs will be approximately 2 hours long and will be held after the 7/8 lacrosse games are played in Duluth.  There is NO COST to try out.  All experienced Northern Minnesota lacrosse players in the U16 age category are encouraged to try out. Registration form and waiver must be completed before tryouts.

Online registration form for tryouts can be found HERE

At a minimum, 20 players will be selected to fill the roster.

SCHEDULE:  The team will participate in two summer tournaments and the Homegrown Summer League in the Twin Cities. 

June 15-17 - Star of the North Games lacrosse tournament, Rochester, MN - High School Junior Varsity division

July 27-29 - Cherry Bomb Lacrosse Tournament, Traverse City, MI - High School "B" division

Homegrown Summer League - 8 game season starting the week of June 11 and ending the week of August 6.  The team will have the option of playing once per week during that period or doubleheaders every other week to reduce the amount of travel down to the Twin Cities for league games.  Practices will likely be twice per week.

COST:  The North Coast Jaxx will make every effort to keep costs as low as possible.  The primary goal of the North Coast Jaxx is to create more off-season lacrosse opportunities for players and grow the game in Northern Minnesota.  The player fee will simply cover the costs to participate.  This is entirely a non-profit endeavor.

To ensure that all players will be able to participate, the North Coast Jaxx will offer fundraising opportunities for players to help cover their player fee.  These opportunities will be announced as they arise.  Please contact the North Coast Jaxx if you're interested in fundraising opportunities to help cover your player fee.

CONTACT:  Andy Holak will be the team manager.  Interested players can email the North Coast Jaxx at trailrunners@gmail.com for more information. 

Additional information and updates can be found on the North Coast Jaxx webpage

Updates can also be found on the North Coast Jaxx Facebook page.

How to Become a Better Lacrosse Player Away from the Field

How to Become a Better Lacrosse Player Away from the Field

1.  Play wall ball.  Go to the nearest school and pass and catch against the wall. 

2.  If there is an outdoor field or goal nearby – use it!

3.  Play catch at the park or in the backyard with a teammate, friend, parent, or sibling.  If they do not have a stick, have them use a baseball glove and tennis ball.

4.  Place an obstacle in your backyard (pylon, lawn chair, garbage can, etc) and work on your one-on-one moves.  For example, head fakes, shoulder fakes, stick fakes, change of pace, roll dodges, face dodges, bull dodges and split dodges.

5.  Practice cradling in your bedroom, in front of the TV, walking around the house, walking down the street...anywhere!  Practice with you non-dominant hand a equal amount.  Work on stick tricks to improve your feel for the ball and stick skills.

6.  Run around the block while cradling the ball.  If you have a treadmill, jump on the treadmill and practice cradling while running a mile or two on the treadmill and getting a workout in at the same time.  Just start slow so you don’t get shot off the back of the treadmill and injured.

7.  Work on loose balls in your backyard.  Being good at ground balls can make the difference between a first teamer and someone riding the pine.  Practice your groundballs!

8.  Put a piece of tape on a chainlink fence and, using a tennis ball, shoot at it.

9.  Improve your footwork - Improving footwork is an underrated way to improve as a player. So much of what lacrosse players do on the field relies on having quick feet and proper footwork.  A great way to improve footwork is to lay down a training or agility ladder and go through a few routines repetitively. Another excellent way to improve footwork and lower body coordination is with a jump rope. Jump ropes are inexpensive and they don’t take up a whole lot of space. Dedicating 20 minutes per day to a jump rope routine can very quickly improve a player’s footwork and foot speed.

10.  Get in Shape - Having the stamina to play an entire game and make it through all those grueling practices the coach likes to run is crucial. Stamina is mostly built through distance running and cardio work. Doing something as simple as running around five or six miles per week for the two months prior to the season should be pretty adequate in getting a player the stamina he needs. Start off by doing a mile at a time, maybe three to four times per week. Once this distance becomes easy, try stepping up to two miles at a time. About two to three months of distance training should be adequate enough for gaining the stamina a player needs.

Weightlifting can help a player improve his overall strength, but heavy lifting is not      recommended for younger players who have yet to fully physically mature.  The goal of weight training is not to get hugely buff, but rather to improve core strength and tone the muscles most vital to a lacrosse player

Lavin Lacrosse to Sponsor NorthCoast Indoor Lacrosse League

The NorthCoast Indoor Lacrosse League (NILL) is happy to announce a partnership with Lavin Lacrosse.  The NILL is a winter indoor lacrosse league in Duluth, MN geared to provide offseason lacrosse opportunities for area high school players.  Lavin Lacrosse is a complete lacrosse supplier in Rosemount, MN.  Lavin is one of Minnesota's only lacrosse specialty stores selling a full line of lacrosse gear and providing custom team uniforms and apparel.  Lavin also supports the growth of lacrosse in the state and offers several excellent lacrosse camps including the well regarded UMD Bulldogs Lacrosse Camp in Duluth.

Lavin will be helping with league jerseys/pinnies and providing discounts on lacrosse gear to all league participants.  The NILL is encouraged by Lavin's presence and is looking forward to a very successful first season.

New Winter Indoor Lacrosse League Forming in 2012!

The NorthCoast Indoor Lacrosse League (NILL) would like to announce it will begin play on Sunday January 8, 2012.  The NILL is an exciting new offseason lacrosse opportunity for Northern Minnesota lacrosse players in grade 9 and up.  Games will be fast paced, exciting and high scoring.

All games will be played at the new Pioneer Park indoor turf field at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC).  The season will consist of 8 games and playoffs will take place March 18, 2012.

The NILL is designed primarily for local high school lacrosse players to hone their lacrosse skills over the winter and have some fun while the fields are still covered with snow.  The NILL is intended to promote improvement of lacrosse skills, lacrosse I.Q. and stickwork.  The safety of all players participating in the league is at the forefront and league rules are designed to encourage safe play and improvement of lacrosse skills.

If you're interested in playing, please visit the NILL website for more information.  To register for the league, please go to the Registration page and complete the online registration form.

Looking forward to some fun lacrosse play this winter in Northern Minnesota!

Winter Lacrosse in Duluth? Pioneer Park Opening Soon!

Great news on the winter off-season lacrosse front.  The DECC will be opening Pioneer Park soon!  There is now a great opportunity to form winter off-season lacrosse leagues and practice lacrosse year round indoors.  Opportunities for an off-season 7 v. 7 lacrosse league and other leagues are presently being explored.  The obvious concern for interested users of the park will be how much rental time will cost.

The full article from the Duluth News-Tribune follows:

Indoor soccer, other sports coming to Duluth's Pioneer Park

People soon will be able to play soccer, baseball, lacrosse and other such warm-weather sports in comfort nearly year-round in Duluth. By: News Tribune staff, Duluth News Tribune

People soon will be able to play soccer, baseball, lacrosse and other such warm-weather sports in comfort nearly year-round in Duluth.

The indoor athletic turf used in the Duluth Heritage Center’s Seitz Arena in spring and summer now will be used in the DECC’s Pioneer Hall during the winter, it was announced today at a news conference in Seitz Arena.

“The Duluth Heritage Sports Center is providing the community an excellent service by continuing its programming in Pioneer Park,” Deb Messer, DECC Board of Directors President, said.

DECC Executive Director Dan Russell estimated the turf could see 800 hours of service a winter at Pioneer Park, as Pioneer Hall will be known when the turf is there. For direct access from the DECC parking lot, a new entrance to Pioneer Park is being built across from the William A. Irvin.

The Minnesota Vikings donated the 210-by-120-foot turf to the Boys and Girls Club of the Northland in 2008 for indoor youth activities. The Heritage Sports Center has managed the turf and its programming since then. But the turf only has been available for use from April to September, when ice is put down in Seitz Arena. The DECC will have the turf available from November to March.