On Saturday, July 8, the best players in Major League Lacrosse travel to California for the league’s All-Star game. It’s the second consecutive year the Golden State will host the game.

While MLL in California is currently a special occasion, it used to be a staple. From 2006 to 2008 the league had two teams based in California: the San Francisco Dragons and the Los Angeles Riptide. Despite the franchise’s absence, the Riptide, in particular, is remembered fondly.

“I’m grateful for all the great players we had,” said former Riptide head coach John Tucker, who is now an assistant coach with the Boston Cannons. “The way I was treated and everybody on the team was first class. I couldn’t be happier with that result of what we did. It was a great time in my life.”

The Riptide was owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, who also owns the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer and half of the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings.

Los Angeles was one of four expansion teams in 2006, joining the Dragons, Denver Outlaws, and Chicago Machine, all part of the new Western Conference.

Longtime lacrosse figure G.W. Mix was named the president and general manager, and he was responsible for bringing Tucker on board despite the coach not following the pro league. Tucker admitted he thought putting a team in California was a challenge, but he was open to the opportunity.

“It was new for everyone,” Tucker said. “We saw ourselves as pioneers in certain respects. We didn’t know what to expect in terms of crowd or acceptance from the community. Once we were out there practicing and meeting the local people, we found out there was a larger community that supported the game. There were a lot of transplants from the East Coast that rallied around the team. We had really solid crowds.”

In the mid-2000s, most of the players were still based in the northeast, which made every game, even a home game, an away game for the players. That commonality, however, helped create a strong bond between the players.

“I was working in New York City at the time, so I’d be traveling,” said Greg Downing, a former Riptide midfielder currently playing for the Denver Outlaws. “I’d bring my gear in New York to the subway, then hop a flight Friday afternoon to Los Angeles. To catch the sunset in L.A. at practice was a great time, for sure.”

Former Riptide defender and current Cannon Mitch Belisle added how getting to see his teammates made the trip worthwhile.

“My favorite memory is I was working in New York my first year and the second year I got laid off and left finance and knew I didn’t want to do that,” he said. “I moved out to L.A. and drove out with (teammate) Wes Green part of the way. I met the team in Denver for a game. That was the first game of the season. I drove out there, played and drove out to California. That whole experience of driving out there, meeting with the team, it was exciting.”

The bond between Riptide teammates – Downing and Belisle were the team’s first two picks in the 2007 collegiate draft, respectively – made playing for the Riptide a special experience and set the tone for young players to reciprocate down the line.

“We had excellent veteran leadership,” said Downing. “They were great about incorporating everyone. It was a complete team effort and a lot of that stemmed from the older guys: Michael Watson, Jesse Hubbard, a ton of guys that really were great veteran leaders. That’s something I try to take from my days there. It goes a long way to develop a team. College, you’re with each other every day. You can’t help but develop good team chemistry, but only meeting on the weekends… it can be hard to develop team chemistry. Veteran leadership makes it a better experience for everyone.”

Belisle added those relationships carry on today.

“I have an old Riptide sweatshirt,” he said, “and every time I post a picture of it on Instagram, (former teammates) Greg Bice and Anthony Kelly comment on it.”

On the field, the team was successful.

The team’s worst record came in its first season, going 6-6 but missing the playoffs. The team had records better than .500 the following two seasons, making the playoffs both years.

The highlight came in 2007, when the team had a franchise-best record of 9-3, finished in first in the Western Conference, and reached the MLL Championship game, losing to the Philadelphia Barrage, 16-13.

“I was just talking to Ryan Boyle and Matt Striebel, who were on the Barrage, who we lost to in the championship,” Belisle said “We were talking about how we were down by one and got a bogus penalty. They scored with the flag down, and Matt Striebel scored again on the man-up.”

Although the team’s final season was nine years ago, a look at the roster shows many familiar faces. Members of the 2008 Los Angeles Riptide team include a number of players still playing in the league today: Downing, Belisle, Kevin Buchanan (Boston), Kyle Harrison (Ohio), Anthony Kelly (Atlanta), and Chazz Woodson (Florida). Tucker still coaches in the league, and Spencer Ford, a midfielder for the Riptide, is now the general manager of the Atlanta Blaze.

While no one knew how the careers of those players would go, Tucker said he wasn’t surprised by their longevity and admitted the team’s success was partially because of the dedication of those players.

“It just had to do with the research G.W. Mix and I did to find guys committed to the game,” he said. “We really made it a point to find those guys that were lacrosse rats and got them to be part of our roster. It wasn’t easy to fly out on Friday for a four or five-hour flight to L.A. and fly them home. Spencer was a guy we traded for because we knew he wanted to make his life in the game. It was, in some ways, easy. We didn’t have a large pool of talent out west at the time. We could probably do that now, easily. Overall, that was our biggest accomplishment, that we picked the right people to be a part of it.”

The team fared relatively well at the gate as well.

Los Angeles finished in the top half of attendance in the league each season, never more than 870 people fewer than the league average per game. The team’s best year came in its first, finishing third in the league in average attendance per game with 4,198 fans, only 97 fewer than the league average.

“It was neat to see (the fans) embrace our players,” Tucker said. “By the end of the journey, they really got into it. There was consistent attendance. They were impressed by the athleticism. It was cool to see the connections some of the young kids made with our players.”

The Riptide finished the 2008 regular season with a loss to the Dragons, then lost to the Outlaws in the playoffs. There would be no bounce-back or chance at redemption, however, as four teams – the Riptide, Dragons, Barrage and New Jersey Pride – all folded prior to the 2009 season. Additionally, the ownership group in Rochester folded, and the players and coaching staff were all moved to Toronto to play for a new team, the Nationals.

“I think the economy turning south, there were a lot of things under (AEG head Philip Anschutz’s) umbrella he had to cut,” Tucker said. “We fell below that line. We weren’t an income generator for him. It wasn’t just us; there were a lot of things. (It was) everything under this line, we’re not going to continue to support, and we happened to be under it.”

“The email G.W. Mix sent to the team, being a creative guy but a sad day, the subject was Riptide, capital R-I-P and then tide,” Tucker remembered. “It was really interesting and sad at the same time. We kind of knew it was coming, but then it was like, ‘Ugh, it’s all over.’”

The league was hit hard, down from 10 teams to six, but it continued to move forward. Players were placed onto new teams. Tucker got a job coaching the Chesapeake Bayhawks.

Still, some players wonder what could have been if the team had gotten another chance.

“I really feel like we would’ve continued to do a good job drafting and bringing quality players in and we would’ve vied for a championship for sure,” Downing said. “Kevin Buchanan, he was still young. Had we developed a little longer in the league, we definitely would’ve been right up there.”

There is no longer a physical manifestation of the Los Angeles Riptide, but the memories live strong. The players still reminisce with each other about their time with the team. At the 2016 MLL All-Star game, played in Orange County at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Stadium, one of the teams was named Team Riptide.

Additionally, the team apparel, featuring teal and orange colors with a shark for the logo, remains a nostalgic item in the lacrosse world.

“I still keep as much Riptide gear as I can,” Downing said. “A guy on one of the indoor teams offered me a decent amount of money for one of the sweatshirts, but I didn’t bat an eye shooting him down.”

Major League Lacrosse commissioner David Gross has said on multiple occasions that league games held at out-of-market sites – such as the 2016 and 2017 All-Star Game – are an attempt to gauge whether the city should be considered for expansion.

Atlanta is a good example of this. The league held the 2014 and 2015 MLL Championship games – in addition to several regular season contests – at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia, before announcing the stadium would be the new home of the expansion Atlanta Blaze beginning in the 2016 season.

The 2016 MLL All-Star Game was played in front of 4,217 people, nearly 400 more people than the league average per game. California remains an option for MLL expansion, and the people that were a part of the first venture west believe a team could find success and hope it comes to fruition.

 “I hope it comes back. That would be cool,” Tucker said “There’s a base established. It makes me happy. A lot more people play the game in that part of the country. They’d be playing in a good position. G.W. Mix has a marketing company that promotes the collegiate games playing in California. He’s a master marketer. I hope if it comes back, he’s part of something. He’s the guy that pulls the strings to be an asset to an owner. He does things the right way.”

Belisle concurred with Tucker.

“Now, seeing how the sport has grown and meeting kids who were five, six, seven, who came to Riptide games and are now in high school, no one knew what was going on other than the die-hard lacrosse fans. The people supported us though,” he said. “They still wear the shirts. It was a couple years ahead of its time with the success.”