2009 Supplemental

Today we had the MLL supplemental draft where we acquired 12 players to fill the roster for the 2010 training camp. I went heavy with midfielders today for a reason. I'm a big believer that the MLL is a midfielders' game and when you have guys who can create from up top, beat their defender and draw the slide it initiates the offense. We picked up Pat Heim who was the #1 overall pick in 2007 out of college. Pat took the year off last season but he indicated to me he is hungrier than ever to get back on the field and compete. He is a vey dangerous dodger and has a laser of a shot on the run both lefty and righty. He's very good in transition and can play on the defensive end if need be. With the 3rd pick I took Billy Looney, another up and down midfielder who came out of Navy in 2007 as well. He and Pat both played for Chicago in their rookie season so there's some familiarity there amongst the two. Billy like Pat is also a very good dodger and shoots well on the run. Being from Navy and playing for a former coach of mine (Richie Meade), Billy is also a very intelligent player and is extremely tough. The last midfielder I took with MLL experience was Glenn Adams from Wesleyan who played the past two seasons with the Long Island Lizards and has been a thorn to the Cannons when we faced the Lizards. Glenn is very quick and has good wheels, he has a nasty right to left split and can get his hands free for good high percentage shots. I've seen him mature as a player the past two seasons and we're hopeful he hits his stride with us. The rest of the midis I drafted are rookies that have high accolades with their former schools and we'll see if they have what it takes to make it in the MLL.

I took two defensemen in the draft, Dan Cocoziello and Chris Atwell. Coco was a highly decorated college defenseman out of Princeton and began his career with the Outlaws before suffering a knee injury that kept him from playing with the Toronto Nationals last season. He's healthy and we want to add some depth to our already strong shut down defensive personnel. Atwell is a 6'6" monster out of Fairfield and my good buddy Ted Spencer told me about him last year but we couldn't get him into camp unfortunately. He's got the physical skills to play in this league, we just have to see if he has the mental toughness to earn a spot on the roster.

On the attack we brought back Mike McDonald, a kid we were really high on last year. He played in a couple of games before our veterans joined us after the NLL season concluded. Mike is a tough kid that goes hard 100% of the time. What will determine if he hangs around this year is if he can get over the hump when defended by some of the premiere defensemen in the league. Jake Byrne joins us via San Francisco and Washington. He's got a lethal shot and is a 2 point threat. We need to see if he can make good decisions and hang around.

It was an exciting day for sure. Although we're still 4+ months away from training camp, the supplemental draft always gets the juices flowing as we're one step closer to the 2010 squad. To see the complete draft list from today go to www.bostoncannons.com

Make sure you're checking in with me, if you have a question or just want to comment on our draft picks shoot an email to bd@lax-school.com

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Until next time........

STILL WAITING FOR SOME HOCKEY CHALLENGES!!!! WHAT'S THE MATTER YOU SCARED???