With an enormous amount of offensive power on the Charlotte bench, there can only be so many consistent guys. With the MLL Collegiate Draft to take place in less than 12 hours, the Hounds made the decision to trade Owen Blye to a hurting Boston Cannons team for a 2014 fourth round Collegiate Draft pick.
Former Terrapin Blye saw limited time on the field in his rookie season with the Hounds, sitting behind Matt White, Eric Lusby, Matt Danowski and fellow Terp Ryan Young. Blye, along with Jesse Bernhardt, was one of the first Junior captain pairings since Bob Ott and Randy Ratliff were in 1978.
Owen is a tall offensive threat, standing at 6’3”. One of his special talents is driving from behind the net. We remember how silly he made the Hopkins defense look after literally getting his defender tied up in the net during their 2012 regular season matchup.
I like him going to Boston. Not that he wasn’t a good fit in Charlotte, but because Boston needs an offensive threat and a feeder with great vision. Also, Blye will learn a lot from Ryan Boyle. He also can be used as a hybrid as he ran some midfield during his time at Maryland. As a former teammate of Blye’s, I think he will do great things with Boston.
Blye will also be reconnecting with his former high school coach and newly hired defensive coordinator for the Cannon’s in Tom Slate. Slate has coached in the MLL before, assisting the Philadelphia Barrage and was head coach of the Denver Outlaws and San Francisco Dragons.
Don’t forget to tune in to tonight’s MLL Collegiate Draft. It starts at 8:30 pm and can be viewed on the MLL YouTube channel.
