August 4, 2010
Boston is a perfect fit for the Cannons' Buchanan
by Scott Souza/
Kevin Buchanan has fast become a fan favorite with the Boston Cannons. (photo: Boston Cannons)
As one facet of Kevin Buchanan’s career was taking off, another might have been coming to an end.
The second-leading scorer in Ohio State University men’s lacrosse history graduated from Columbus with a degree in health services in 2008. The Los Angeles Riptide grabbed him with the fifth overall pick in that year’s Major League Lacrosse draft. Since Buchanan was starting his career in California, it was an ideal fit.
But the paths of Buchanan’s work in medical diagnostics and lacrosse diverged over the next two years, and the growing split neared a breaking point. The Riptide folded; with no West Coast franchise, Buchanan wound up with the Washington Bayhawks for 2009. His indoor rights belonged to the Minnesota Swarm of the NLL. Even at age 23, time was not on his side when it came to meeting his commitments.
“Due to work, I wasn’t able to play (indoors) last year – I played in only one game – and it was due to my career and practices,” he said. “That’s tough. How do you play me, just coming into town for the game, over someone who practices?”
He potentially faced the same dilemma this summer after relocating to Boston late last year. Even the relatively short trip to the Baltimore area each weekend to play for the Bayhawks threatened his future in the MLL. Only this time, there was a ready-made solution, a trade to Boston.
Buchanan spoke with Bayhawks general manager Spencer Ford about trade possibilities as soon as he learned of his pending move. On Jan. 28, he was dealt to the Cannons – along with the 14th and 20th overall picks in the June 2010 draft – for John Christmas, Ray Megill and Mike Levin.
“We knew Kevin was moving here and if we could make something work that made sense for both teams, we wanted to try to make it happen,” said Cannons coach Bill Daye. “Kevin is a great player who is able to do a little bit of everything. It was something that took a little while to get done, but we finally got a deal that worked for both of us.”
It especially worked for Buchanan, who most likely would have sat out the summer had he not been able to play for Boston.
“If I weren’t so local, it might not have been an option to play,” he said. “It … prolonged my career in the league.”
Buchanan and the Cannons have made the most of their arranged marriage. Through nine games, he was fourth on the team with 27 points and tied for second in goals with 17, playing both attack and midfield. An MLL All-Star, he won the freestyle shot competition at Harvard Stadium on July 8 when he scaled the back of a player and coach behind the net, stood barefoot on the crossbar, and dumped the ball over the netminder’s shoulder to the delight of nearly 12,000 fans in his adopted hometown.
“(UNC coach) Joe Breschi, whom I played for at North Carolina and had Kevin as a player at Ohio State, had nothing but raving things to say about Kevin,” Daye said. “Not just as a lacrosse player, but as a great person.
“I’ve gotten to know Kevin now and he’s a great kid. He does anything you ask of him. It’s always about team first and he’s put up some great numbers for us. He played attack at the beginning, and once we got some depth there [adding Duke grad and Duxbury, Mass., native Max Quinzani in the draft], we moved him up top and there he gives us a very strong midfield.”
Buchanan also gives the Cannons another player they don’t have to fly in each weekend, someone who can participate in area camps and events year-round to build up interest in the sport and team.
In that way, the deal was not only a win-win for the Cannons and Buchanan, but for the MLL as well.
“Whenever we see a player move to a new city, we urge teams to think if there is a way to make this type of thing happen,” said MLL Commissioner David Gross. “It works for three reasons. It keeps it simple for the players; the travel is difficult when you have another full-time position. Then, it keeps costs down for the teams; if you fly guys in from everywhere, it becomes a bigger expense than payroll. Third, it’s hard to promote a player who’s not in your market. The more players who are local, the more they can get out in the community, the more they can make the fan connection that we think is so important.
“When (Newton North alumnus) Mike Battista was on the Cannons (from 2001-06), Mike had the biggest cheering section out of everyone,” he added. “You have to sell tickets.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business.”
Gross said the league tried to relocate players closer to their hometowns or residences when it contracted in 2008. The Chesapeake and Long Island franchises are now mostly local – allowing them to practice midweek if they choose – while Boston is getting there after its first seven picks in this year’s draft were either from New England or went to college in New England.
Gross cited last year’s parity – all three playoff games were one-goal games – as proof the league has done it well.
He said Long Island is now so saturated with area talent that it has a hard time accommodating New York-based players who want to suit up for the Lizards, actually putting them at a “disadvantage” when it comes to making trades.
Wall Street and Madison Avenue may draw players to the Lizards, and Capitol Hill and K Street will lure some to the Bayhawks, Buchanan believes Boston has its own drawing cards, from education to the mutual fund business to, as in his case, the medical industry.
Playing those cards to work a trade worked for him with the Cannons; now he hopes to hatch a similar deal that enables him to join the Boston Blazers of the NLL this winter.
“I would definitely like to play for the Blazers,” said Buchanan, who played in college with Blazers forward Gary Bining. “It’s easier on me and it’s easier on the franchises as well. It just makes sense.”
And it would go that much further to help Buchanan turn from a lacrosse vagabond into a bonafide “New England sports star.”
