Lukas Mikelinich has progressed as a student, athlete and all-around person, much like the Lehigh men’s lacrosse program he’s now leading. Often overlooked, Mikelinich has used a hard-working attitude to become an All-League defenseman and senior co-captain for a Mountain Hawks’ program with high aspirations entering the 2015 season. He embodies the type of attitude, mindset and identity that head coach Kevin Cassese wants in his program. “In high school,…
NLL Roster Stability: How Safe Are Jobs Season-to-Season?
Before the NLL season began, I looked into how year to year roster continuity affected on field performance (https://inlacrossewetrust.com/tracking-the-roster-stability-of-the-nll/). The quick summary is that while championship teams are slightly more stable from previous years, there is a very large range which does not indicate the presence of a statistically signification correlation. Rebuilding teams can also have immediate success unless they dip dangerously low into the range of about 30 percent…
Minnesota’s Goaltending Conundrum
The Minnesota Swarm are two games into the 2015 season and are already struggling between the pipes. In the offseason the Swarm swapped goalies with the Edmonton rush, trading Tyler Carlson and in return getting Brodie MacDonald. Macdonald got the start in the season/ home opener on January 3rd against a very talented Colorado Mammoth team. While Macdonald spent most of the game keeping the Swarm in the contest, they…
NLL Radar: Top 10 Sophomores
It is a tough job to make let alone crack a NLL roster year in and year out with a new draft every year and players going in and out of lineups due to injury’s or job issues. So making it to the second year in your pro career is an accomplishment in itself and this year’s sophomore class has many big name players in it. The two teams with the…
MSL Draft Player Protection Analysis
The 6 Major Series Lacrosse franchises protected two players apiece for the upcoming MSL draft that takes place this Sunday (January 25th). While there was some fairly easy protections made, in the cases of Johnny Powless, Quinn Powless, Reilly O’Connor, Shane MacDonald, Turner Evans & Danny Lomas, a couple teams had tough decisions to make on players. The Brampton Excelsiors in particular had the toughest decisions to make , with the protection…
NLL Radar: Keep Eyes on JGJ, Ward and Thompson
John Grant Jr – with the OT winner last weekend, he has helped the Mammoth stampede their way to victory. One of the most talented players ever to pick up a lacrosse stick, viewers will be in store for a show. Dillon Ward – what can you say about Dillon other than “brick wall”. Yeah, he let in some shots he should have saved against Calgary but that happens with…
NLL Rookie Report Week 3: Bandits and Stealth Young Guns Lead Pack
Week 3 of the NLL season was a quite one, as just one game was on the schedule. The Buffalo Bandits, after having a bye week in week 2 of the NLL season, traveled to Vancouver to take on the Stealth. Vancouver was coming off a devastating 20-11 loss to the Toronto Rock, and bolstered their defense with the signing of Colin Boucher and the activation of hulking 6’3, 220…
MLL Draft Needs: Ohio Machine
The Ohio Machine had quite a turnaround season in 2014 after owning the worst record in the MLL at 2-12 the year before. Thanks to several key acquisitions through trades, the MLL Draft and the LXM player pool, the Machine made the MLL Playoffs as the No. 4 seed after going 8-6. The Machine lost to the top-seeded Rochester Rattlers 15-11 in their semifinal game and as they prepare for…
NLL Power Rankings: Week Three
Only 1 game this past week in the NLL, but this week everyone is in action. The Toronto Rock kick it off Friday night as Buffalo shuffles in, then they travel to Rochester for a Saturday night game against the Knighthawks. The Swarm will face the Black Wolves, Edmonton faces Calgary, and Colorado with battle Vancouver. NLL Power Rankings Week 3 (1)1—Toronto Rock (2-0) Has two big games…
MLL Top 40 Prospects: 20-11
11. Kevin Rice, Syracuse Orange Attack- Rice’s numbers speak for themselves. 80 points? 80?!? Rice translates to be a very good player in the pro ranks and is one of the top prospects from his own school, Syracuse, that is producing the most draftees this season. He does basically everything you want in an attackman and should be an impact player right away. 12. Charlie Raffa, Maryland Terrapins Faceoff- Isn’t…