The Alex Hrebesky Memorial lacrosse tournament is set to kick off in less than a week. What is the Alex Hrebesky tournament? It is probably the best hidden gem in all of box lacrosse. Several terrific box lacrosse players battle it out, and this year is the 21st tournament. The best American box lacrosse players (not in the NLL) travel there with several star Canadian players (not in the NLL) along with excellent European players. The tournament is in Prague, and we are going to highlight each division and the best teams.
You can follow ILWT for tournament updates along with a player blog from Boston Megamen goalie Scott Komer.
Group A
BC Pioneers (Canada): Led by Chris Fox, the Pioneers are a strong group. Several of their players have played in college or in Canadian juniors, but they fall short of Kahnawake.
Kahnawake Rapids (Iroquois): Kahnawake will likely be the team to come out of this division. Led by current/former NLL players Logan Kane, Alex Kedoh Hill, Mike Thompson, Roger Vyse and Brandon Francis, they have some of the most experienced players in the tournament.
Goldstar Tel Aviv (Israel): Led by Barrie Blizzard head coach brad MacArthuer, the Goldstar is better than they will get credit for. Chris Leone will be in net and several team Israel players are on the roster.
Group B
LC Custodes (Czech): One of the top teams in the European Lacrosse League, the Custodes are led by top ELL scorers such as Radek Skala, Dominik Pesek and Petr Puope with Dominik Sika in net, one of the best goalies in Europe. They should win this group.
Deutschland Adler (Germany): Another team from the ELL. Former Boston Rockhopper Jamie Plunkett is the head coach and his roster includes top ELL scorers Artjom Merjasch and Jiri Ullman.
Polish Eagles (Poland)
Group C
Green Gaels (Canada): The Gaels are led by some pro players such as NLL draft pick Dylan Goddard and Barrie Blizzard forward Roscoe Smith. OBJLL player Kevin Conroy is also on the roster. They finished third last year and have won the tournament twice, in 2007 and 2010.
LimeGreen Riggers (Ireland): Sean Gibson leads the way with the team based out of Dublin and this is their eighth season in the tournament. Former Simon Fraser player Bryan Scott is also on the roster along with former Huntsville Hawks player Cole Greenaway. Dean Stewart is the returning leading scorer from last year with four points.
Vienna Monarchs (Austria): This is the team’s 21st tournament, having been in it since the beginning.
Group D
Boston Megamen (USA): The Megamen are the favorite to win the tournament. Roster includes former Philadelphia Wing George Castle, former Canadian Lacrosse League MVP Chris Attwood, Blizzard goalie Scott Komer, former NALL stars such as Andrew Wasik, Matt Hickman and Josh Rachmann along with former Bombers assistant coach Frank Menschner. This is their ninth tournament and they last won in 2012.
TJ Malesice (Czech): The 1996 champions, they have not finished very high other than in second in 2007.
Glasgow Clydesiders (Scotland): This is a very mixed bag roster. Their first team was last year and they finished 17th, but they have players from Canada, USA, Italy, Germany, Scotland and England.
Group E
London Knights (England): London finished in seventh last year and is the only English team in the tournament.
Bundeswehr Lacrosse (Germany): Based out of Munich, this is their second year after finishing 11th last year.
Turku Titans (Finland): In 16th place last year, Turko took a step back. However, they might be the best team in their group this year.
Group F
Nova Scotia Privateers (Canada): Connor Wilson from LaxAllStars.com is on this team. They finished fourth last year andhave been in the tournament since 2008. The team is based out of Halifax.
Kahnawake Tomahawks (Iroquois): This team will be in the Quebec Senior Lacrosse League in 2014. Their goaltender is Derek Collins from the Barrie Blizzard and the roster also hosts pros Dwight Bero, Ian Crawford and Tim Bergin. Likely the favorite of this division.
LCC Wolves (Czech): Last season was their first in the tournament but they finished 8th, and they are a strong team from the ELL.
Group G
SK Lacrosse Jinzi Mesto (Czech): An all Czech team, they won the whole thing in 2005 and 2006, but finished in 14th last year.
Bats Bratislava (Slovakia): Finished 13th last year and the only Slovak team, though plenty of Czechs are also a part of it.
Team EuroLaxCo (France): Marco Hill from the CanAm is the only Canadian in this all-French roster. They finished in 20th last season.
