September 17, 2011
Cannons celebrate their first MLL title
Boston shakes off years of playoff busts
by Scott Souza/
Coach Bill Daye - who played two seasons with the Cannons and has been on the coaching staff for seven - hoists the MLL's Steinfeld Trophy. (photo: Getty Images)
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On the way to his team’s first Major League Lacrosse championship, coach Bill Daye says he never considered the thought that was inescapable for most Boston Cannons fans early in the Aug. 27 semifinals against Chesapeake.
The rain was relentless in Annapolis, Md., that afternoon as the Cannons sought to both beat the defending champion Bayhawks for a spot in the MLL title game, and beat back the game-altering effects of Hurricane Irene. For the first quarter-plus, it looked like neither was going to happen. With soaked sticks and uniforms adding sluggishness to some of the fastest and most instinctive players in the world, and a soggy field dulling the typically crisp attack of the MLL’s most potent offense, the Cannons found themselves down, 6-1, in the second quarter as the top playoff seed.
It conjured disappointing images of playoffs past. There was last year when the Cannons also were the top team through the regular season, only to lose to the Bayhawks in a first-round playoff game.
There was two years ago, when the Cannons’ numbing succession of one-goal losses sent them home early again with another near miss in the semifinals.
In the first 10 seasons of Major League Lacrosse, one of the league’s flagship franchises had experienced little playoff success. One victory in nine postseason games. Not one MLL crown.
And so here it was. Arguably the most talented — and easily the most decorated — team in the league, facing a five-goal deficit amid one of the worst storms the East Coast has seen in decades.
Here we go again?
Not so fast.
“This team had been through so much this season that thought never crossed my mind,” Daye later claimed. “We’d had a lot of games where we were down and had come back. We’d faced every situation on the field, and we’d been able to pull together. It’s been such a resilient, confident, hard-working group.”
The one thing the Cannons had on their side was time, and they wasted little of it getting back in the game. It was 6-5 by halftime, tied at 8 early in the third quarter, and 13-8 in the fourth after seven consecutive Cannons goals.
Chesapeake rallied, however, nailing a two-pointer with just over two minutes left in regulation, and tying the score with just 37 seconds left to play.
Here we go again?
Not this time.
After goaltender Jordan Burke snuffed a Bayhawks’ chance, Max Quinzani took a pass from Ryan Boyle, and the Duxbury, Mass., native shuffled in the winning goal through the sloshy synthetic turf with just 1.2 seconds on the clock for a 14-13 triumph and a spot in the MLL finals.
“We knew what we had to do in a game like that,” Cannons attack Matt Poskay said. “You just keep fighting and you figure out a way to do it late.”
Boston had 11 different goal scorers in the victory.
“I was talking with Paul Rabil the night before the game and we were talking about how, in years past, in the playoffs we haven’t stayed true to our game,” MLL All-Pro faceoff man Chris Eck said of the unselfish play and balanced scoring. “We’ve been the top seed in the past playing like that and then we’d get to the playoffs and it’s like we’re trying to reinvent the wheel instead of staying true to what got us there.”
All that remained was figuring out how to beat the Hamilton Nationals and capture the Steinfeld Trophy the next day. The team had a meeting Saturday night before Daye sent the players their separate ways to sleep off the rain-swept war they’d just fought. The coaches were a different story. They met deep into the night as Hurricane Irene’s winds howled outside the hotel windows. Daye said he was then up at 5:30 the next morning watching tape, anxiously awaiting the second MLL title game in franchise history.
When the game started, it was all Cannons. They relentlessly attacked the Hamilton goal, building an 8-4 lead in the third quarter through outstanding defensive play and an offense that whipped the ball from one scoring threat to another and made the Nationals’ heads spin.
“That’s kind of our thing,” said Poskay, who scored three goals in the title game. “When we dodge, and cause the other team to double, and work the ball around, we’re tough to stop.”
But after 11 years of waiting and the most miserable playoff record in league history, everyone had a feeling this one wouldn’t come quite so easily. Twice in the fourth quarter, Hamilton closed within a goal as it hoarded possession while Boston’s quick-transition chances went awry. Despite being dominated most of the afternoon, it was the Nationals with momentum heading into the season’s final minutes.
Here we go again?
Not on your life.
When the Cannons’ Pat Heim re-established a two-goal lead, the Nationals answered just 13 seconds later. But with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, Kevin Buchanan drove the crease and his acrobatic spin move may become the iconic goal in Cannons history, giving the team a 10-8 lead.
Cody Jamieson’s goal with 32 seconds left gave the Nationals one last hope, but that was stymied by the pressure of Boston’s midfield and the staunch defense in front of Burke, the championship game Most Valuable Player.
The jinx was over; history failed to repeat itself.
This time — at long last — the Cannons were the last team standing.
“It’s an awesome, awesome feeling,” Eck said. “In years past, it was always disappointing to lose that last game. To come through this time, with your life on the line, was phenomenal. I was lucky enough to win two Patriot League titles (at Colgate) in college, but this is even better than that. We competed against the best players in the world, and we won.”
It completed an 11-year mission for the franchise in which the urgency built tenfold in this year’s training camp. As the only top seed ever to fail to win championship weekend — twice — coming off last year’s collapse, and with league expansion threatening to break up the Boston roster this winter, the singular goal of a championship fueled this team from the very beginning.
“When we started training camp, I put it right on the table,” said Daye, who played two seasons for the Cannons and has been on the coaching staff for seven. “In years past, the goal was to get to championship weekend and then we’d see how it goes. This year it was about winning that one last game. No doubt about it.”
The tipping point of the run may have come before the playoffs even started. In what was technically a meaningless game when it came to seeding, the Cannons were down a goal in the waning moments of their home finale against lowly Rochester when Buchanan scored the tying goal with one second on the Harvard Stadium clock. Brad Ross then scored 27 seconds into overtime for a 16-15 victory and a huge momentum push heading into the two-week break before the playoffs.
“That Rochester game was so important,” Daye said, “because of the way we executed with a minute left. You saw that again in the Chesapeake game.”
“That was a great way to end the season in front of our fans,” Poskay said. “We got to relish that knowing we had a couple of more games together.”
So while Cannons fans understandably fretted facing the five-goal deficit early in the semifinals, Daye could stay calm. He had confidence his team would rally and hold the ghosts of frustrations past at bay. He had confidence — despite the rain and the daunting early hole — this year was still going to be different.
Here we go again?
More like “Here are your Boston Cannons — 2011 Major League Lacrosse champions.”
This article originally appeared in the September-October 2011 issue of New England Lacrosse Journal.
Scott Souza can be reached at feedback@laxjournal.com
