This year’s MLL All Star game will be taking place in a city that does not hold an MLL team, Palm Beach County, Florida. The sunshine state will hopefully bring nothing but sunshine after dealing with tropical storm Debby.
It’ll be Young Guns versus Old School in this year’s all star game. The Young Guns will be coached by Boston Cannons head coach Steve Duffy. The Old School team gets the old school coach in Ted Garber from the Ohio Machine, who was a coach during the MLL’s inaugural season back in 2001.
Enough about the game itself, though, let’s turn things to the All Stars that were selected from the Chesapeake Bayhawks.
Two players have been selected to the Young Guns that will represent the Bayhawks and they are midfielder Ben Hunt and defender Michael Evans.
Ben Hunt played midfield at North Carolina and was drafted 28th overall in the 2009 MLL Collegiate Draft by Chesapeake. In his 25 games with the Bayhawks, Ben has recorded 41 goals, 6 two-point goals, and 12 assists with 23 ground balls. This season, he has played in five games, tallied 10 goals, 2 two-point goals and 4 ground balls.
Defenseman Michael Evans is making his third appearance as an All Star. He’s part of that pesky defensive core for Chesapeake, which is now ranked second in goals against. Evans was also selected in the 2009 draft as the 18th overall pick out of Johns Hopkins. Normally, Michael is assigned to guard the opposing team’s top attackman, which he obviously does very well. He has recorded 13 ground balls in his 33 games with the Bayhawks, including one this season.
Now on to the players that will be representing the Bayhawks on the Old School side of the tracks.
First up is attackman Drew Westervelt out of UMBC. He was acquired by Chesapeake this season from the Denver Outlaws as part of a trade in October 2011, after spending his entire career with Denver since the 2007 draft. Drew was sent to the Bayhawks for Jeremy Sieverts and Joe Cinosky. Since joining Chesapeake, Westervelt has played in seven games, recorded 14 goals, 9 assists and 17 ground balls. Drew’s first MLL All Star game was back in 2009, where he had one goal and one assist.
Steven Brooks is our next candidate. The midfielder out of Syracuse was drafted by then, Chicago Machine, making the 2008 All Star game as a rookie. He was traded to Chesapeake in February 2011 and played in 11 games for the Bayhawks, tallying 10 goals, 2 two-point goals, 5 assists and 8 ground balls. This season, Steven has played in all eight games, recording 17 goals, 2 two-point goals, 5 assists and 5 ground balls.
Out of Virginia is Midfielder Kyle Dixon. Drafted second overall in 2006 by Chesapeake, he has acquired 102 goals, 33 two-point goals, 58 assists and 82 ground balls. This season, he has recorded 13 goals, 10 two-point goals and 8 assists. Kyle was named to the 2007 and 2008 All Star teams.
Last but not least is one of the bash brothers of professional lacrosse, Nicky Polanco, who rounds out the Chesapeake Bayhawks for the Old School team. This guy is one of the biggest names in the lacrosse world. If I was an attackman, I wouldn’t want to meet this guy on the field, ever.
Nicky Polanco will be playing in his ninth All Star game, only missing two since being drafted fourth overall by the Bridgeport Barrage in 2002. He was traded to the Bayhawks this season after the Lizards acquired the rights to C.J. Costabile. This season, Nicky has played in five games scooping up 17 ground balls.
Unfortunately, defender Brian Spallina will not be making his way to Florida, as a last minute obligation will keep him from traveling.
A total of seven players are going to Florida for the All Star game from Chesapeake. That’s the most players from one team in this year’s All Star match up. The game will take place on Saturday, June 30, with events starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, at Florida Atlantic University Stadium.
