May 4, 2010
Scoring will be a key for Cannons
by Scott Souza/
Ryan Boyle will look to lead a revamped Cannons scoring attack this season.
A year ago, Ryan Boyle had to get used to a whole different cast of teammates as one of the newcomers on the Boston Cannons roster.
This spring, the 29-year-old is facing a similar learning curve. Only he won’t be the newcomer, it will be everyone else on the Cannon attack who's changed.
Boyle is the only one of Boston’s top six scoring attackmen back on the roster this season. Among the top four scorers, Marshfield, Mass., native Sean Morris (21 goals, 42 points last season), Matt Alrich (21 goals), and Brandon Corp (11 points) all have joined the new LXM Pro Lacrosse Tour, which combines lacrosse and concert events.
That leaves Boyle (45 points, team-high 23 assists) to carry the load at the outset.
“Any time you lose that type of firepower from an offensive standpoint, there’s going to be an adjustment,” Boyle said two weeks before the opening of training camp on April 23. “My immediate reaction was: ‘Where are we going to fill in the blanks? That’s a lot of production, and a lot of goal scoring, how are we going to replace that?’
“We can’t replace them as individuals. But we have some guys with the potential to help replace their production.”
The Cannons not only need the new attack to fill the scoring void, they need just a little bit more than the unit produced last year. In 2009, all seven of the team’s losses were by one goal, including a playoff loss to Denver.
Some of the help to replace the scoring and get the team over the hump could come from the college draft in June. Immediate help will come from converted midfielder Matt Poskay (15 goals in 7 games last summer), and possibly converted midfielder Kevin Buchanan, acquired in a January trade with Washington.
When word circulated that the Cannons might be thin on attack, Poskay was quick to volunteer.
“I’m kind of excited about it,” said Poskay, recently named a team co-captain. “It will be good to be on the field the whole game rather than rotate in with all the other middies. I think I can be creative in finding the seams and really attack the net on 5-on-4s, and 4-on-3s, when the defense is not settled yet. That’s a good time to find those open lanes and score goals.”
Cannons coach Bill Daye is confident the transition will work, based on Poskay’s finishing ability and the way he maneuvers around the crease. Helping his confidence is the way the coach feels Boyle can make the whole thing click.
“When we picked up Ryan last year we expected a lot out of him,” Daye said of Boyle, who was reassigned from the Philadelphia franchise following the 2008 season. “What he does for us is not all about scoring goals. It’s making sure everyone is in the right place at the right time and distributing the ball. He is a guy who can get the ball to Poskay, get the ball to (reigning Major League Lacrosse MVP) Paul Rabil in the right place for them to score.”
Once Boyle joins the Cannons following his box lacrosse run with the Orlando Titans of the National Lacrosse League, he knows there will be some pressure on him, but he feels it won’t be much different than the pressure he felt last summer when he joined an established attack as an outsider.
“My job is just to get used to it,” he said. “Last year, there was a big learning curve playing with all new guys. This year, it will be a lot of new guys again. But with some of the guys who are returning, it will be up to us to work with each other and build up our experience real fast. It will help having worked with Matt in the midfield before. Now I will just have to keep more of an eye on the matchups out there and make sure everyone adjusts accordingly.”
Fortunately for Daye, changes over the rest of the field will be less dramatic in 2010. The Cannons return nearly the entire defense from last year’s playoff squad, and have Rabil leading what should be a strengthened midfield corps this spring.
“The defense will be a very veteran group and we’re excited they’re all returning,” Daye said. “Midfield was one area we felt we needed to improve and we think we addressed that in the supplemental draft. We’ve added more guys with lacrosse experience and more depth. We feel we’ll be better off with more competition there.”
On defense, team co-captain Chris Passavia, Ryan McClay, Mitch Belisle, Jack Reid and Kyle Sweeney are all Cannons veterans.
At midfield, Rabil (33 goals, 53 points), Greg Downing (18 goals) and Justin Smith (8 goals in 9 games) should get plenty of help from offseason trade pickup Brad Ross (Toronto), as well as supplemental picks Patrick Heim — a former Major League Lacrosse No. 1 draft pick — Glenn Adams, and local hopefuls Chris Ajemian, Matthew Smalley and Mike Stone. Look for draft help here, or for Buchanan to slide back from attack, if necessary.
“When you look at offense in our league, you see a lot of it is initiated in the midfield,” Daye said. “With Rabil the top returning offensive player in the league, there’s no doubt teams will be keying on him. But that should open it up for other guys to dodge when Rabil forces teams to slide.”
Kip Turner established himself as the team’s No. 1 goalie late last season, and last year’s early season starter Mike Levin was traded in the four-player Buchanan deal. But Daye is also eager to watch the development of Jordan Burke, whom the Cannons protected as a third goalie in the supplement draft last September.
“You need two goalies in this league,” Daye said. “On any given night, one guy can have a bad game and you need a second goalie to turn to when that happens.”
Daye also brings back faceoff man Chris Eck, who blossomed last season into one of the top pros on the draw.
After training camp and scrimmages, the Cannons open the season May 15 at home against the Denver Outlaws.
“It’s exciting to get back,” Boyle said. “You look at what happened last year with all the one-goal losses and the (first-round exit) in the playoffs, and it didn’t end the way we wanted it to end. A lot of it was execution. There are always some things you could have done differently strategically, but it’s up to us to play better. We have to go out and prove we can do it this year.
“The organization has definitely progressed and we’re looking to move forward to bigger and better things. We have a legitimate chance to challenge for a championship.”
