A quick review of team schedules (no information yet on Grand Rapids' schedule) reveals a few games to pay attention to in the early northern lacrosse season.
April 9 -
Brainerd vs. St. Louis Park - in only its second season of varsity play, the Brainerd Warriors lacrosse team is jumping into the 2011 lacrosse season with both feet. In a very early season test, Brainerd will take on the defending MBSLA state champion St. Louis Park Orioles. How Brainerd comes out of this early season match-up should tell Northern lacrosse observers an awful lot about the scrappy Warriors.
April 18 - Brainerd vs. Orono - did we say the Warriors were scrappy? Scrappy, crazy, confident, maybe all three as they travel to Orono to take on the state runners-up Orono Spartans in their second game of the season. That's the toughest opening schedule in the MBSLA. Brainerd had a very solid first varsity season winning 4 games and playing competitively in the majority of their games. They return a strong senior laden squad led by all-conference attackman Zach Brown. How they fare in their first two games will tell us something about this team and how they'll compete in the MBSLA North Division.
April 22 - Fargo vs. Brainerd - the new Fargo lacrosse team opens their season against a good Brainerd team. This match-up should tell us something about where the Fargo program is at in their first season of MBSLA play.
April 25 - St. Cloud North vs. St. Paul - St. Cloud North, with the second best North Division record among the remaining teams, has a score to settle with St. Paul after dropping a quarterfinal game last season in the state playoffs against the Celts by a 1-0 score. The Knights should provide a good glimpse of what they can achieve in 2011 if they can come away with a win against a tough St. Paul team that finished the regular season last year with an undefeated 10-0 record.
April 30 - Duluth vs. White Bear Lake - the Duluth Chargers first real test of the season may come against a White Bear Lake team that made the state tournament playoffs last season. Duluth returns a strong senior laden team that finished second to St. Cloud South last season in the MBSLA North, with South being their only conference loss of the season. Led by the likes of all-conference d-pole Nate Pratt and a host of solid senior scorers in Ian Wieczorek, Zach Thompson, Matt Jeanetta, Jack Maddy and Dan Padden, the Chargers may be the pre-season favorite in the MBSLA North.
April 30 - Duluth vs. Brainerd - In the second game of the day, Duluth takes on a Brainerd team that should be much improved in their second MBSLA season in what could be a battle for supremacy in the MBSLA North.
May 1 - Duluth vs. St. Cloud North - This game pitting the top two remaining teams could decide who wins the MBSLA North Division and should be a good battle between two established northern lacrosse programs.
Practices begin next week for some northern lacrosse teams. Looking forward to seeing how these games play out in the MBSLA North.
