The New England Black Wolves traveled to the Air Canada Centre on Jan. 27 to take on the Toronto Rock. Waiting for them in Canada was the player nicknamed "Captain America."
Tom Schreiber.
Schreiber — the reigning, two-time Major League Lacrosse MVP and 2017 NLL Rookie of the Year — scored five goals and added five assists in the Rock’s 21-9 beatdown of the Black Wolves. He was joined by fellow American Kieran McArdle, who chipped in one goal and three assists.
Despite the success of Schreiber and McArdle, as well as the pair of Americans on the Black Wolves — Brett Manney and Kevin Buchanan — the NLL as a whole has a very small number of American players. According to an article on the Lacrosse All-Stars website, only 16 American players (not including those who were born in the States but play for the Iroquois Nationals in international competition) made NLL teams out of training camp in 2018, while only nine were selected to active rosters.
That means nearly half of the active Americans in the NLL featured in New England’s tilt against Toronto, a sobering fact to Buchanan.
