Royals to defend NCBS title at USBOXLA Nationals in San Jose
Royals, California Collegiate Box Lacrosse League (Photo: San Jose Seals)
This week, the best of American box lacrosse will be making their way to San Jose, California to attend the USBOXLA Nationals, easily the country’s most-attended & biggest box event ever held.
The Nationals attracts thousands of players from all over the United States & Canada. A total nine rinks are needed to contain all of this year’s potentially record-breaking tournament.
Youth, high schoolers and adults take part in the multi-day event, but so does the National Collegiate Box Series, the US Box Lacrosse Association’s answer to Junior A lacrosse from north of the border. In 2022, the NCBS ran leagues in Colorado (CCBLL, established 2017), Ohio (OCBLL, 2018), Connecticut (CTCBLL, 2020), Upstate New York (UCBLL, 2020) and California (CACBLL, 2021), as well as their newest chapter based in the Mid-Atlantic region (MACBLL), which pulled players from Philadelphia, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia (DMV).
Hawkeyes, Upstate Collegiate Box Lacrosse League (Photo: UCBLL)
National Lacrosse League teams like the San Diego Seals, Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks, as well as Albany FireWolves owner Oliver Marti have founded leagues within the NCBS, while some of USBOXLA’s strongest youth clubs (LXTC, Resolute Lacrosse, etc.) support, manage and fuel leagues with players, coaches, officials and other staff. Often past & present NLL players coach NCBS clubs too.
NCBS alumni who have since been drafted, signed or rostered in the NLL include: Trevor Baptiste (Philadelphia Wings, CCBLL), Mac O’Keefe (San Diego Seals, CTCBLL), Moose Whinery (San Diego Seals, CCBLL), Jack Jasinski (Panther City Lacrosse Club, OCBLL), Jack Hannah (Las Vegas Desert Dogs, OCBLL) and others.
Each of those six previously mentioned leagues will send their post-season champion to San Jose to compete for the NCBS’s national title, including last year’s champions, the Royals out of California, who beat Upstate’s Armory in a thrilling 12-11 OT finale.
This year’s final-six sides in San Jose include:
Stoneflies (CCBLL)
The Stoneflies, one of the founding four teams to start the first-ever NCBS league in Colorado back in 2017, will be attending their first USBOXLA Nationals after beating the Blizzard 17-12 to be crowned CCBLL Morrow Cup champions. Having played box lacrosse at a high level for most of his career, the team is led by University of Denver attackman & 2022 CCBLL MVP Richie Connell, who averaged nearly 4 goals per outing this summer. The Stoneflies have a pair of experienced goalies in Chandler Nayman (University of Colorado) & Emma Mielke (Niagara University), both of whom have backstopped in box for several years now.
Rivermen (OCBLL)
The Rivermen have become a regular fixture at Nationals, making their third straight trip representing the state of Ohio on US box lacrosse’s biggest stage. Led by the high-scoring Hannah back in 2019, the Rivermen upset the CCBLL’s Fighting Bison to become the first-ever NCBS National Champions that summer. While Hannah is busy turning heads in the Premier Lacrosse League, and other high-profile names from 2019 are no longer in the NCBS, the Rivermen are still stocked with some of the best ball players in the state (Ohio ranks extremely high in USBOXLA membership numbers) and should make noise at Nationals, again.
Revolution (CTCBLL)
It’s been over a month now since the Revolution were crowned kings of Connecticut, getting by the Generals & Coyotes in super-close contests to take the state. Coached by American NLL great Mike Regan & Alberta’s Andrew Kirkaldy, the Revolution are likely looked at as a bit of an underdog in San Jose. The same could be said in both of their post-season matches too, yet here we are. Both landing spots on the All-CTCLL Second Team, if the Revolution find success in San Jose, expect powerful performances from Cooper DeMallie (Middlebury College) & Chris Crapanzano (University of Scranton), a pair of outstanding American box prospects. Crapanzano, a former Team USBOXLA selection who represented the association in British Columbia, had previously participated at the USBOXLA Nationals during the event’s Midget All-Star Game in 2017.
Chris Crapanzano, Team USBOXLA 2017 (Photo: Sherri Thomson)
Hawkeyes (UCBLL)
Considered a favourite by many, the Hawkeyes bumped the Buffaloes & Rapids in the Upstate playoffs and will undoubtedly present difficulties for the three teams they see to open in San Jose (Grays, Revolution and Royals). Led by arguably this summer’s top talent in Nick Miller (St. John Fisher College), the Hawkeyes have legit depth up and down their lineup. Other notable names to keep your eye are Zach Terry (Queens University of Charlotte) up front and Patrick Mitchell (Canisius College) on the back end. The Mearns Cup winners (yes, named after former NLLer & current St. Bonaventure Head Coach, Randy Mearns) are coached by Bradley Voigt, Brenden Dobbins and long-time NLL leader, Knighthawks’ vet defender, Dan Coates.
Royals (CACBLL)
Having played in just a two-team region in California, it wasn’t 100% clear what we’d be getting when the Royals got to Nationals last summer. Well, they turned out to be good, really good. What should be worrisome for their coming-soon competition, they look just as good if not better a year later. Coached by Seals star Cam Holding, the team again sports a number of talented box players from high-end collegiate programs like Princeton, Brown, Loyola, Delaware and many others. Back is Blue Hen Jake Govett, who over the last three NCBS seasons has easily been a Top 3 talent nationwide, scoring the goal of the summer during 2022’s tournament. Govett will be available in the upcoming NLL Entry Draft, and could (probably should) be the first American drafted on the day.
Grays (MACBLL)
The series’ latest expansion entry, the Mid Atlantic’s Grays went undefeated during the region’s playoffs (outscored opponents an overwhelming 25-10) and look very legit leading into their first-ever Nationals trip. Led offensively by Johns Hopkins’ goal-getting middie Jacob Angelus, teams need to be prepared to deal with a forward cast that isn’t afraid to rip regularly, because finding the back of the net frequently is something the Grays had success with this summer too. The MACBLL team has a dynamic defensive game that can put up points on the press, and should have one of the more athletic lineups in San Jose. As the Royals showed last summer, being an expansion team doesn’t mean you’re just happy to be invited, and the Gray are likely looking to do more than simply soak up that San Jose sun.
See the NCBS tournament schedule at the USBOXLA Nationals here.