How did the Boston Cannons win their first MLL championship since 2011. What challenges did the 2020 MLL season face due to COVID-19. Who were the key players that led Boston to victory.
The Unprecedented 2020 MLL Season
The 2020 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) season was unlike any other in the league’s 20-year history. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, what was originally planned as a 10-week season was condensed into a nine-day tournament held in Annapolis, Maryland. This compressed format presented unique challenges for players and organizers alike.
Adding to the unusual circumstances, the tournament was played without fans in attendance, creating a surreal atmosphere for the athletes accustomed to crowd energy. Despite these obstacles, the tournament showcased highly competitive lacrosse over its first seven days, setting the stage for what promised to be an exciting championship weekend.
COVID-19 Disrupts Championship Weekend
Just as the semifinals were set to begin, the MLL faced yet another pandemic-related setback. A player tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the league to first delay and ultimately cancel the semifinal round. According to the ESPN broadcast, three Chesapeake Bayhawks players had tested positive for the virus.
As a result of these positive tests, both the Chesapeake Bayhawks and the Connecticut Hammerheads withdrew from the tournament. This unexpected turn of events left only two teams remaining: the Boston Cannons and the Denver Outlaws, who would now face off directly in the championship game.
Boston Cannons’ Path to Victory
The Boston Cannons entered the championship game at a disadvantage, with five players opting out due to health concerns. Despite this setback, the team rallied behind a stellar offensive performance from attackman John Uppgren and a formidable defensive effort.
John Uppgren’s Breakout Performance
Uppgren, a fifth-year pro with an impressive collegiate career at Tufts University, stepped up when it mattered most. He scored a career-high five goals in the championship game, providing the offensive spark Boston needed to secure the win.
Defensive Dominance
Boston’s defense played a crucial role in the victory, particularly in the fourth quarter where they held Denver scoreless. Goalie Nick Marrocco was instrumental in this effort, making 10 saves throughout the game. His performance included two critical stops against the legendary John Grant Jr. in the second half.
The Cannons’ defense also managed to neutralize Denver’s Ryan Lee, who had led the MLL with 18 goals during the regular season. In a testament to Boston’s defensive prowess, Lee was held without a point in the championship game.
Key Moments and Plays
Several pivotal moments shaped the outcome of the championship game:
- Justin Pugal’s buzzer-beater: With just 0.3 seconds remaining in the first half, Pugal scored a two-pointer, giving Boston an 8-6 lead and crucial momentum heading into halftime.
- Boston’s third-quarter surge: The Cannons extended their lead to 11-6 early in the second half, with Pugal contributing defensively by blocking a shot and forcing a turnover.
- Denver’s comeback attempt: The Outlaws mounted a charge midway through the third quarter, scoring three goals in just 43 seconds to narrow the gap to 11-9.
- Uppgren’s response: Boston’s star attackman scored his fifth goal of the game with 6:29 remaining, helping to secure the victory.
MVP Bryce Wasserman’s Emotional Journey
The 2020 MLL Most Valuable Player award went to Boston’s Bryce Wasserman, whose performance throughout the season and in the championship game was pivotal to the Cannons’ success. Wasserman’s journey to MLL stardom is a testament to perseverance and hard work.
In a post-game interview, Wasserman shared an emotional story about his lacrosse journey. He recalled a recruiting tournament in Maryland in 2011 where he failed to score any goals or assists. That disappointing experience became a turning point, driving him to outwork everyone in the sport.
Wasserman’s dedication paid off, as he contributed a goal and an assist in the championship game, building on his impressive tally of 14 goals during the regular season. His MVP award and championship victory served as a powerful validation of his years of hard work and determination.
The Impact of Opportunity in Professional Lacrosse
The 2020 MLL season highlighted the importance of providing opportunities for aspiring professional lacrosse players. Justin Pugal’s story is a prime example of how these chances can lead to significant contributions at the highest level.
Pugal, who went undrafted after his college career at Stony Brook, earned a tryout with the Cannons through perseverance. He not only made the team but also earned a selection to the MLL All-Star game. In the championship match, Pugal’s two-point goal at the end of the first half proved to be a crucial momentum shift for Boston.
Denver’s Valiant Effort in Defeat
While the Denver Outlaws fell short in their championship bid, they displayed resilience and skill throughout the game. Chris Aslanian led the Outlaws’ offense with three goals, including two back-to-back scores that sparked a brief comeback in the third quarter.
The game also marked the final professional appearance of John Grant Jr., one of the most prolific scorers in MLL history. Although held to just one goal and one assist in his final game, Grant’s impact on the league and the sport of lacrosse is immeasurable.
Denver’s loss can be partially attributed to their struggles with ball control, as they committed 24 turnovers during the game. A miscommunication following a timeout in the final minutes proved particularly costly, effectively ending their chances of a last-minute comeback.
The Significance of Boston’s Championship Victory
Boston’s 13-10 victory over Denver marked a significant milestone for the franchise. It was their first MLL championship since 2011, ending a nine-year drought for one of the league’s original teams. This achievement is particularly noteworthy given the challenges posed by the unique 2020 season format and the last-minute changes to the playoff structure.
The Cannons’ ability to adapt to the evolving situation, overcome player absences, and maintain their competitive edge throughout the tournament is a testament to the team’s resilience and depth. Their championship victory serves as a fitting conclusion to one of the most unusual seasons in professional sports history.
Reflections on the 2020 MLL Season
The 2020 MLL season will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most challenging and unconventional in the league’s history. Despite the numerous obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the MLL successfully completed its season and crowned a worthy champion in the Boston Cannons.
This season demonstrated the adaptability of the league, its players, and staff in the face of unprecedented circumstances. It also highlighted the passion and dedication of lacrosse players who were willing to compete under difficult conditions to pursue their love of the sport.
While the season was shorter than usual and lacked the typical fan experience, it still provided high-quality lacrosse and compelling storylines. From Bryce Wasserman’s MVP performance to John Grant Jr.’s final professional game, the 2020 MLL season offered moments that will be remembered by lacrosse fans for years to come.
As the league looks ahead to future seasons, the lessons learned and resilience displayed during this unique tournament will undoubtedly inform its approach to growth and development. The success of the 2020 season, despite its challenges, bodes well for the future of professional lacrosse in North America.
Boston Wins First MLL Championship Since 2011
Boston Wins First MLL Championship Since 2011 | USA Lacrosse Magazine
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Boston Wins First MLL Championship Since 2011
Sun Jul 26 2020 | Brian Logue | Pro
MLL
PHOTO BY MAJOR LEAGUE LACROSSE
Bryce Wasserman was named the 2020 Major League Lacrosse Most Valuable Player after helping Boston win its first league title since 2011.
The most bizarre season in Major League Lacrosse’s 20-year history ended with one of the league’s original franchises claiming just its second overall title. Boston beat Denver 13-10 on Sunday afternoon to hoist the championship trophy for the first time since 2011.
The league’s 20th anniversary 10-week season was truncated to a nine-day, fanless tournament in Annapolis, Md., due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After seven days of highly-competitive lacrosse in searing heat set the stage for a much-anticipated championship weekend, the league was dealt another curveball.
Ahead of Saturday’s semifinals, a player tested positive for COVID-19. The league first delayed and then ultimately cancelled the semifinal round. According to the ESPN broadcast on Sunday, three Chesapeake Bayhawks players tested positive. Chesapeake and Connecticut both withdrew from the tournament, leaving Boston and Denver to compete for the championship.
The Cannons, playing without five players who elected not to play in the championship due to health concerns, rode on the back of attackman John Uppgren and a standout defensive effort. Uppgren, a fifth-year pro who poured in over 400 points while leading Tufts to the NCAA Division III finals three straight years, had a career-best five goals.
5 goals today, 5 goals all this week
Have yourself a day @TheRealUppy pic.twitter.com/LE3HhMVeg2
— Major League Lacrosse (@MLL_Lacrosse) July 26, 2020
Boston’s defense held Denver scoreless in the fourth quarter and the Outlaws’ Ryan Lee, who led the MLL in the five-game regular season with 18 goals, was held without a point in the championship game.
Boston goalie Nick Marrocco made 10 saves in the victory, twice denying the legendary John Grant Jr., in tight in the second half. The 45-year-old Grant, had a goal and an assist in the final game of his career, which end with him as the leading scorer in the league’s history.
.@OnThaRoccs, @BostonCannons are pic.twitter.com/Mx4ZINAwSc
— Major League Lacrosse (@MLL_Lacrosse) July 26, 2020
Denver’s offense never seemed to get in sync, finishing the game with 24 turnovers, none more emblematic than a miscommunication after calling a timeout with just over a minute to play. Trailing just 13-10, Denver was trying to set up a final comeback push, but a pass sailed back near the midline and Boston ran out most of the rest of the clock.
The championship was an emotional one for the Cannons’ Bryce Wasserman, who was named the league’s 2020 Most Valuable Player. Wasserman, a Texas native who played collegiately at Monmouth, had a goal and an assist for the Cannons after scoring 14 goals during the regular season.
“2011 I came up here to Maryland in my first recruiting tournament,” Wasserman told Courtney Fallon in a postgame interview on ESPN. “Zero goals, zero assists. I remember sitting with my dad at the BWI Airport, crying my eyes out because I didn’t think I was going to be good enough to play at the highest level in college and the pros. From that day on, no one in this sport has outworked me. This is the culmination, right? I can’t wait to go back to that airport covered in champagne.”
Wasserman wasn’t the only one to appreciate the opportunity the MLL provides.
Boston’s Justin Pugal played a huge role in the championship.
Initially undrafted coming out of Stony Brook last year, Pugal later eared a tryout with the Cannons and parlayed that into a season in which he was ultimately selected to play in the MLL All-Star game.
On Sunday, he buried a two-pointer with 0.3 seconds remaining in the first half, his first professional goal, to give Boston momentum and an 8-6 lead heading into halftime.
BUZZER BEATER by @JustinPugal_15 pic.twitter.com/teBbQ1uoA0
— Major League Lacrosse (@MLL_Lacrosse) July 26, 2020
The Cannons stretched the lead to 11-6 in the second half with Pugal doing more damage. On one possession early in the third quarter, he blocked a shot from Lee with his knee and then later stripped Grant of the ball to give the ball back to Boston.
Trailing by five, Denver mounted a charge midway through the third quarter. Chris Aslanian scored back-to-back goals and Max Adler won the faceoff and scored after Aslanian’s second to cut the lead to 11-9. The three Outlaw goals occurred in a span of just 43 seconds.
Uppgren had the answer for Boston, scoring his fifth of the game with 6:29 to play and Challen Roger added another with 3:42 to play.
Aslanian scored his third goal of the third quarter with 1:48 to play to make it 13-10, but Denver went scoreless over the game’s final 16:48.
Denver, which has won three MLL championships, lost in the final for the second straight year and the seventh time in franchise history.
Aslanian and rookie Daniel Bucaro each had three goals to lead the Outlaws and Adler won 14 of 25 faceoffs. Christian Knight made 13 saves while allowing nine goals.
Uppgren’s five goals led Boston and Mark Cockerton added a hat trick. The Cannons had nine forced turnovers, led by Zach Goodrich with three.
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MLL Championship History – OurSports Central
October 5, 2019 – Major League Lacrosse (MLL) News Release
Since its founding in 2001, Major League Lacrosse has awarded the Steinfeld Trophy to that year’s MLL Champion. Each year, the game is played at a predetermined neutral location. The Championship Game has taken place in ten different states with Colorado set to be the eleventh.
Boston, MA has hosted four MLL Championships (2004, 2005, 2008, 2012), the most all-time. Eight different MLL teams have won championships. The Chesapeake Bayhawks are tied for the most titles with five (2002, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013.)
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Team History
The following identifies each teams appearances and records in the MLL Championship Games.
Year-By-Year History
2001
Champion: Long Island Lizards
Runner-Up: Baltimore Bayhawks
Score: 15-11
Location: Kennedy Stadium, Bridgeport, CT
MVP: Paul Gait (7G, 0A, 7PTS)
Attendance: 6,745
2002
Champion: Baltimore Bayhawks
Runner-Up: Long Island Lizards
Score: 21-13
Location: Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
MVP: Mark Millon (5G, 2A, 7PTS)
Attendance: 5,596
2003
Champion: Long Island Lizards
Runner-Up: Baltimore Bayhawks
Score: 15-14 (OT)
Location: Villanova Stadium, Villanova, PA
MVP: Kevin Lowe (Game Winning Goal in Overtime)
Attendance: 6,593
2004
Champion: Philadelphia Barrage
Runner-Up: Boston Cannons
Score: 13-1
Location: Nickerson Field, Boston, MA
MVP: Greg Cattrano
Attendance: 8,279
2005
Champion: Baltimore Bayhawks
Runner-Up: Long Island Lizards
Score: 15-9
Location: Nickerson Field, Boston, MA
MVP: Gary Gait (6G, 0A, 6PTS)
Attendance: 6,829
2006
Champion: Philadelphia Barrage
Runner-Up: Denver Outlaws
Score: 23-12
Location: The Home Depot Center, Carson, CA
MVP: Roy Colsey (4G, 2 2-PT G, 8PTS)
Attendance: 5,374
2007
Champion: Philadelphia Barrage
Runner-Up: Los Angeles Riptide
Score: 16-13
Location: Paetec Park, Rochester, NY
MVP: Matt Striebel (3G, 3A, 6PTS)
Attendance: 5,288
2008
Champion: Rochester Rattlers
Runner-Up: Denver Outlaws
Score: 16-6
Location: Harvard Stadium, Boston, MA
MVP: Joe Walters (2G, 2A, 4PTS)
Attendance: 8,481
2009
Champion: Toronto Nationals
Runner-Up: Denver Outlaws
Score: 10-9
Location: Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, MD
MVP: Merrick Thomson (2G, 3GB, 2PTS)
Attendance: 7,003
2010
Champion: Chesapeake Bayhawks
Runner-Up: Long Island Lizards
Score: 13-9
Location: Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, MD
MVP: Kyle Hartzell (First Defenseman to Win Championship MVP)
Attendance: 6,445
2011
Champion: Boston Cannons
Runner-Up: Hamilton Nationals
Score: 10-9
Location: Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, MD
MVP: Jordan Burke (9GB)
Attendance: 5,027
2012
Champion: Chesapeake Bayhawks
Runner-Up: Denver Outlaws
Score: 16-6
Location: Harvard Stadium, Cambridge, MA
MVP: Ben Rubeor (2G, 0A, 2PTS)
ttendance: 7,384
2013
Champion: Chesapeake Bayhawks
Runner-Up: Charlotte Hounds
Score: 10-9
Location: PPL Park, Chester, PA
MVP: John Grant Jr.
(4G, 0A, 4PTS)
Attendance: 3,892
2014
Champion: Denver Outlaws
Runner-Up: Rochester Rattlers
Score: 12-11
Location: Fifth Third Bank Stadium, Kennesaw, GA
MVP: John Grant Jr. (3G, 1A, 4PTS)
Attendance: 8,149
2015
Champion: New York Lizards
Runner-Up: Rochester Rattlers
Score: 15-12
Location: Fifth Third Bank Stadium, Kennesaw, GA
MVP: Paul Rabil (3G, 3A, 6PTS)
Attendance: 8,674
2016
Champion: Denver Outlaws
Runner-Up: Ohio Machine
Score: 19-18
Location: Fifth Third Bank Stadium, Kennesaw, GA
MVP: Eric Law (5G, 3A, 8PTS)
Attendance: 5,522
2017
Champion: Ohio Machine
Runner-Up: Denver Outlaws
Score: 17-12
Location: Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, TX
MVP: Marcus Holman (4G, 2A, 6PTS)
Attendance: 7,542
2018
Champion: Denver Outlaws
Runner-Up: Dallas Rattlers
Score: 16-12
Location: MUSC Health Stadium, Charleston, SC
MVP: Matt Kavanagh (4G, 5A, 9PTS)
Attendance: 4,086
2019
Champion: N/A
Runner-Up: N/A
Score: N/A
Location: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Denver, CO
MVP: N/A
Attendance: NA
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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
Trophies of the Russian Premier League
As part of the rebranding of the RPL, launched in 2018, the Premier League is introducing a new line of awards.
The entire group of awards can be imagined as a piece of jewelry, in which the goblet, as a unique and most valuable item, is made in the most complex and meaningful way, like a diamond in our collection.
CUP
The upper part of the goblet, like the classic soccer ball, is based on a truncated icosahedron, the so-called “Platonic solid”, a regular polyhedron. In the trophy, this polyhedron is built from intertwined ribbons. The peculiarity of such structures is that, despite the visual lightness and airiness, they are very durable. Examples in architecture are proof of this – Geodesic domes, Shukhov tower. This has a deep meaning – only a truly united and well-played team can become a champion.
The teamwork and cohesion of the team cannot be “touched” or seen in reality, one can only see the result of the presence of this strength in the team.
So in the goblet, the form, which seems light and openwork, is actually a very solid structure, which personifies strength, without which victory is impossible. A strength that only comes from the perfect interaction and strong bonding of the entire team.
The next meaning is connection and interweaving, which are born out of chaos and line up in an indestructible structure. At the base of the goblet, individual ribbons, like sprouts, stretch from a common base in order to gather into a single whole in the future. This metaphor can be described as follows: all the team players were once children and played football in the yards, everyone was still on their own, and no one could know that in ten years these guys would form a champion team, a winning team. After all, only a few out of thousands of boys playing street football become professional football players. Ribbons are pulled from the base, from the Russian football school, founded in the post-war years, when the Soviet team showed the best results in world and European competitions.
The third meaning, which cannot be dispensed with, is that Russian football has a past, and it is rooted in Soviet football. There is an image that is inextricably linked with the Soviet period of our country – a star. The regular soccer ball has pentagons, but no stars. In the presented trophy, both are present, but both images are not straightforward, there is a hint of the ball, but not a reliable image. In most football cups, the main attribute of the game of football, the ball itself, is corny. In this goblet, however, there is no direct use of this image, it is shown more subtly and elegantly. The Soviet star is also not depicted directly.
In conclusion, we can say about the main thing, about the main visual metaphor of the cup – this is a ball flying into the goal net at breakneck speed.
