The only thing more difficult than building a championship team is sustaining a championship team. Don’t be surprised if the Steinfeld Cup casts a long shadow in Denver. It will be interesting to see whether the team will step out into the light or wilt under the pressure of being the reigning MLL champions.
The road to back to Atlanta started back in September when the team announced their 23 man protected roster. There weren’t too many surprises here. Pretty much everyone on the list got a good deal of field time for the Outlaws last season.
There were a couple of notable outliers though. Colin Dunster saw time early in 2014 and managed five goals and an assist in six appearances. Not bad for a rookie on the top team in the league. Still, once the NLL guys returned to the sidelines his minutes dried up. Noah Molnar was the other surprise name on the list. He only saw action in two games last year and managed one assist.
All told the Outlaws protected 4 attackmen, 12 midfielders, 5 defensemen, and 2 goalies. Overall, not too surprising.
More than Flintstones Vitamins
The next milestone leading to the start of the season was the supplemental draft, which took place in December. Out of the fourteen players the team picked up, the Outlaws re-acquired some familiar faces. Ethan Vedder, Jeff Froccaro, and Aaron Prosser were all affiliated with Denver in 2014 and will get a shot at another tour of duty in 2015.
The most surprising move of at the supplemental draft was the trade of star attackman Curtis Dickson to the Florida Launch in exchange for Dickson’s Team Canada teammate, goalie Dillon Ward.
The retirement of Lee Zink leaves a gaping hole in the Outlaws’ close defensive corps, which the team will try to fill with Tim Henderson. The West Point product doesn’t play the same cerebral style that Zink did, but he will definitely bring some sandpaper to the back line.
Fresh Meat
The end of January brought with it the cusp of the college lacrosse season, and for both NCAA and MLL fans the collegiate draft provides built-in storylines for the following six to seven months.
The Outlaws had eight selections in the draft and by all accounts the rich got richer. Not only did the Outlaws get a quality defenseman in Max Schmidt by dealing their third round pick to the Ohio Machine, but they picked up some marquee players. Schmidt should be able to step right into the line up and help bolster the defensive side of the field. He played in 12 games for Ohio last year and cleaned up 20 groundballs in the process.
And what about those draft picks? Let’s take a quick look at who the Outlaws selected and what they’ve done in college this year through the first week of March.
Round 1, Pick 8: Nikko Pontrello, Attack, Loyola (Maryland)
Last year Pontrello scored over fifty goals for the Greyhounds. MLL fans will understand why – he had Justin Ward feeding him the rock the entire year. This year Loyola doesn’t have a natural quarterback like Ward and Pontrello’s numbers have slipped a bit. After six games Pontrello is tied for second on his team in scoring with 19 points. The good news is that it’s balanced scoring on 9 goals and 10 helpers. If Pontrello can crack the lineup, and he should get some runs early in the season while the NLL is still playing, don’t be surprised to see him at midfield. Give him time and space and he can make opponents pay, but he needs someone to get him the ball.
Round 2, Pick 15, Wesley Berg, Attack, Denver
Berg was one of the top 5 players in this draft and the fact that he dropped to 15th overall is still laughable. The Outlaws aren’t afraid of taking Canadian talent (hell, they held Curtis Dickson’s rights for years and that paid dividends in 2014) because of their NLL commitments. Berg was an absolute beast last year. Like Pontrello, his numbers have dipped thus far in 2015, but that is mainly due to the sheer number of threats the Denver offense possesses. There is no need for Berg to shoulder the brunt of the Pioneers’ offense, and as such he’s not lighting the box score alight, but he’s still a major cog. He’s familiar with many of the former Pioneers on the Outlaws already and played with others on the gold medal winning Team Canada. Don’t be surprised if Berg’s transition is smoother than most, or if he runs out of the box for the Outlaws either.
Round 4, Pick 30, Carson Cannon, Defense, Denver
Cannon is another hometown pick and he’s having a decent year for the Pioneers right now. He’s not tearing up Division 1 right now, but he’s a solid presence. He could see some time early in the year, but if Denver makes a deep run into the NCAA tournament Cannon’s potential playing time might be affected because that would reduce the gap between the start of the MLL season and the return of the NLL guys. If he sticks with MLL, it might be another year until Cannon gets his shot.
Round 5, Pick 38, Dan Taylor, Attack, Lehigh
Remember when I said it was laughable that Berg dropped to 15? Well Taylor at 38 is downright egregious. Lehigh isn’t having the season they’d like at the moment, but Taylor continues to tear up the Patriot League. He’s currently tied for second in Division 1 with 5.6 points per game (and he’s the highest scoring Canadian in the NCAA so far this year as well). Taylor can fit in just as well as Berg, and he will probably be available sooner if Lehigh’s season continues on its current trajectory.
Round 6, Pick 45, Michael Richards, Midfield, Penn State
Richards is a good midfielder on a decent Penn State team. He has 2 assists to go along with 5 shots (3 on goal), 6 GBs, and 4 turnovers this year. Nothing really stellar on the offensive side of the ball and it will be interesting to see if he gets some of those open early season runs for the Outlaws.
Round 7, Pick 48, David Dickson, Midfield, Bucknell
Dickson is another major talent that slid way down in the draft for no apparent reason. He’s been injured early this year for Bucknell, but his leadership and skill have made an immediate impact since his return. Last week he hung 1 goal and 4 assists on Lehigh. Dickson could have a bright future as a facilitating midfielder in the pro ranks.
Round 7, Pick 52, Joe McCallion, Midfield, Penn
McCallion is having a great senior campaign for the Quakers. He’s second on the team in scoring with 19 points (13g, 9a). He could be another late round steal if he can crack the line up and get consistent runs.
Round 8, Pick 60, Nick Osello Midfield, Notre Dame
A native of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Osello is a hometown pick for the Outlaws. He’s contributed 6 points (3g, 3A) to Notre Dame this year and is facing off at 43.5%. Those aren’t MLL faceoff numbers by any means. It’s hard to tell where Osello will fit in with this team, but the Outlaws wouldn’t have picked him if there wasn’t potential for him.
Bet You Can’t Bocklet Just One
The Outlaws held open tryouts on March 7th, and announced on Monday that they signed Mike Bocklet based on his performance there. Mike is the older brother of current Outlaws Matt and Chris Bocket. Mike played college ball at Fairfield University as an attackman and is the current head lacrosse coach at Division III Purchase College, in Purchase, NY.
