Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Unicode included a lacrosse stick and ball in its beta version of Emoji 11.0, released yesterday.
Months remain until Unicode releases its final version for phones in 2018, but North America's oldest sport at least has survivied the first round of cuts for a spot on the training team.
It's been a hot topic in the lacrossee community, as are most that involve the sport's fluctuating proximity to the mainstream. As one scribe put it, “Our long national nightmare is over.”
2. Hopefuls to make the final 23-man roster for the 2018 U.S. men's national team will get their final chance to shine in the Team USA Spring Premiere, set for Jan. 6 in Bradenton, Fla.
The event at IMG Academy will bring the 48 training team members together for practices, a youth clinic, a fundraising dinner, and the all-important Blue-White game as coach John Danowski and his staff make their final evaluations. The game begins at 4:30 p.m. and tickets are available here.
The coaching staff will host a coaches clinic prior to the game, and US Lacrosse will run an officials clinics as part of the event.
3. As the National Lacrosse League season approaches, Neil Stevens breaks down the West Division and takes a look at potential candidates for head coaching positions within the league.
Division champion Saskatchewan came very close to winning its third straight NLL championship, but GM-coach Derek Keegan did not stand pat during the offseason. The Rush acquired 2016 NLL Goalie of the Year Evan Kirk from New England in one significant trade and obtained Toronto's first-round picks in 2018 and 2019 in another, at the expense of veteran forward Adam Jones. Will the Rush be able to hold off Calgary, Colorado, and Vancouver again?
Among coaching candidates for the future is Darris Kilgour, a league hall of famer that coached for 10 seasons following a standout playing career of the same duration. As a defenseman, he helped the Buffalo Bandits win three Champion's Cups. In 2008, he guided that franchise to another as its coach. The Bandits did not renew his contract after a losing season in 2013, though he has been coaching the indoor game elsewhere since.
4. The NLL has taken another step to boost the visibility of its product, yesterday announcing a streaming partnership with CBS Sports Digital.
The partnership will provide fans the ability to stream live and on-demand games via the subscription service SportsLive. The deal with CBS Sports Digital follows the March inception of the NLL's two-year agreement with Twitter to stream a game of the week. Bloomberg reported an average audience of 344,000 per game last season.
5. The Dallas Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse successfully have re-signed two players that previously filed for Player Movement.
BREAKING NEWS: @J_Boltus2 and @JohnLade40 have re-signed with the Rattlers for 2018. Full release here: https://t.co/KgTCo237Wv pic.twitter.com/f5IuRhodnD
— Dallas Rattlers (@RattlersLax) December 5, 2017
Attackman Jeremy Boltus finished second on the team last season with 20 goals. The Army graduate has spent the last three seasons with the former Rochester Rattlers following a one-year deployment in Afghanistan. Thank you, sir. In 34 games to date with the Rattlers, Boltus has scored 71 goals and added eight assists. He earned MVP honors in the 2015 MLL All-Star Game by scoring six goals. Prior to deployment, he spent a season each with Hamilton, Charlotte and Denver.
Defenseman John Lade will return for his seventh season with the Rattlers, having led their non-faceoff players in ground balls with 43. He finished second on the team with eight caused turnovers. A member of the FIL U19 World Champion U.S. team in 2008, Lade started his college career at Villanova before transferring to Syracuse. The Boston Cannons drafted him in 2011.
Dallas waived attackman Eric Fannell and defenseman Greg Danseglio to make room for Boltus and Lade.
6. Need a gift idea for the lacrosse fan in your family or circle of friends? US Lacrosse yesterday published online its Holiday Gift Guide.
The guide originally appeared in the December edition of our print magazine. Some of the discount codes expire before others, so you'll want to check it out today. Being too old to make worthwhile use of any of the lacrosse equipment or training devices illustrated, the author likes those Team USA Nike sweatpants (hint, hint). Size: large. Size after New Year's Day: XL.