The Iroquois Nationals will be the host team at this year’s World Indoor Lacrosse Championship that will be held on the Onondaga reservation in central New York. Coming off a third place finish at the field games in Denver last summer—it was the highest they have ever finished in field—Onondaga expects a higher finish with the box lacrosse games where they normally take second as Canada has never lost gold in box lacrosse.
This year, however, the team will be a very talented one with many NLL and NCAA players taking up roster spots. It looks like the team will go in a different direction this year being younger and having many new faces on the defensive end. Some of the defenders that have looked impressive during tryouts and making final cuts have been Alex Kedoh Hill, Jeremy Thompson, and Marty Hill.
Kedoh had a break out year for the Bandits and Jeremy just won a World Championship with the then-Edmonton Rush. Marty had spent time during the winter with the NLL Rochester Knighthawks and CLax Ohsweken Demons. Right now he is looking for his third straight Mann Cup with the Six Nation Chiefs along with playing Sr B with the Six Nation Rivermen.
Among other members of the defense will be New England Black Wolves player Bill O’Brien who will add size to the back end. Tyler Garrison of the Vancouver Stealth was a surprise because many did not know he was Native American but he will help this team out a lot in defensive transition. Sid Smith has been banged up this summer but he will be back well before the worlds and should be playing for the Chiefs again next week.
Some young players to watch out for are Rochester Knighthawk practice player Brier Jonathan and former draft pick Wenster Green, as both are having strong summers with the Oakville Rock and Peterborough Lakers. Some other young players getting a shot are Adam Bomberry, Shane Francis and Josh Becker. Also Vaughn Harris will most likely play out the back door.
Goalies will be Angus Goodleaf and Warren Hill, which is not a surprise. Six Nation Arrows goalie Doug Jamieson will also get a shot at the roster it seems.
For offense it is tough to replace Cody Jamieson in the lineup but they still have many talented forwards. Having Cody would only help in achieving gold at the games. As of now the left side looks like Jerome “Hiana” Thompson, Jeff Shattler, Johnny Powless, with Roger Vyse and Josh Johnson rounding out the group. All these guys will be able to put points up for the offense to have success.
For the right side you have young guns Lyle and Miles Thompson, Randy Staats and veteran Craig Point. The Thompsons along with Randy should be very exciting to watch. For Point he has a rocket of a shot and is such a solid player for both the Rochester Knighhawks and Chiefs. Brett Bucktooth is also in the loop and did very well for the Black Wolves last NLL season but it seems he will be playing transition for this team come September. Brett had a large leadership role in Denver last summer and it looks like it will translate over to the WILC where he will be playing in front of his hometown crowd.
This team may not look like the same roster as it did in the Czech Republic in 2011 but with some familiar faces and players with a high caliber of play will make this team a favorite. Beating Canada is always tough but the Iroquois are prepared to win gold.
