Around the league teams are preparing for the upcoming 2013 CLAX season. The Canadian Lacrosse League heads into their second season with new goals after a successful inaugural season. The Canadian Lacrosse League has changed over this past year as 3 new franchises were introduced with the Niagara Lock Monsters, Barrie Blizzard and Toronto Shooting Stars. The Canadian Lacrosse League has been strategic in their decision to move away from the stigma of having two teams in the same arena and instead spread their market. The results so far so good as the all three expansion teams look ready to run and be contenders for the Creators Cup. Thanks to the wealth of talent in the Canadian Lacrosse League and trades made by these teams, they have all put themselves in a position to win. This is good news as usually the risk that is associated with new teams is that they will struggle the first few years but in this case the manger’s and coaches seem to have everything under hand.
Some things do not change as the Ohsweken Demons and Iroquois Iron Men will once again be sharing an arena. These two teams will have no love lost for each other this season though as the Demons defeated the Ironmen in the Creators Cup expect both teams to be at the top of the standings this year. The success for both the Demons and Iron Men has brought the Canadian Lacrosse League new opportunities as Aboriginal teams from the Eastern Ontario community of Akwesasne and Kahnawake expressed interest in joining the Canadian Lacrosse League so perhaps by 2014 the league may once again grow.
This season will be a proving ground for the league to prove if it is viable as they need to be able to attract fans in these new Markets and show some growth in the second season. It will be interesting to see how this season progresses and to see if the expansion franchises can be successful in drawing a fan base.
