Here are two great previews on Boston's new indoor lacrosse team. John Powers at the Globe did a terrific piece and captured many of the newsworthy human interest storylines that the Blazers are generating. It will be fun to watch the team's progress on and off the turf of the TD Banknorth Garden. I am wishing the Blazers the very best in 2009:
Boston Globe on the Boston Blazers:
Blazers are fired up to return to GardenBy John Powers, Globe Staff
Mitch Belisle can see the Garden from his North End apartment and the view gets him jacked up. "You walk outside before Bruins and Celtics games and the fans are pouring in," says the defenseman for the Blazers, the revived version of Boston's professional indoor lacrosse team, which opens its season on the road Saturday against the New York Titans.
That's the dream, that fans also will flock to Causeway Street on Saturday nights during the next four months to see the building's newest tenant take on the Philadelphia Wings and the Portland LumberJax and the San Jose Stealth. "People are looking for things to do in Boston in wintertime," says club president Doug Reffue.
It's been 12 years since the original Blazers folded amid a puddle of red ink after nine seasons in Worcester and Boston. Now they're back under new management as an expansion entry in the 12-team National Lacrosse League in a town with half a dozen other established pro franchises (including the outdoor Cannons), resuming amid the worst times since the Depression.
"The silver lining in a bad economy is that if we can make it work now, we can make it work when times are better," reckons owner Tim Armstrong, a Littleton native and Google vice president who captained Connecticut College's lacrosse team.
The Blazers' renaissance was supposed to have happened last year, but when the NLL season was canceled temporarily amid a wage dispute (that later was settled) and the team had to give back its playing dates, the franchise decided to wait until now to get underway. "It allowed us to go through a dry run to prepare for what a season would be like," Armstrong says.
The delayed entry, which Armstrong acknowledges was "a costly benefit," allowed the Blazers to sit in on player drafts, evaluate talent, watch other franchises in operation, and get their front office up and running. "We paid to learn," says Armstrong, "but it was well worth it."
The Blazers, who'll play their Garden opener a week from Saturday against New York, return to a lacrosse landscape that is far more favorable than it was in 1997. The sport is booming, with participation more than doubling over the past eight years. "It's blown up to where kids 5 and 6 are playing," says Tom Ryan, the club's coach and general manager.
Last season's NCAA men's championships attracted more than 145,000 spectators to Gillette Stadium during Memorial Day weekend (and will return this year) and Major League Lacrosse has held its outdoor championships in Boston three times. "Now when people see a lacrosse stick," says Dan Dawson, the Blazers' star forward, "they have an idea of what that is."
The task for the Blazers is to educate potential fans about the indoor game, a six-a-side condensed version that is played on a carpet inside a hockey rink and that is fast, bruising, and high-scoring.
"Inside the glass, balls are flying all over the place and people are hitting each other," says Belisle, a Bourne native who played at Cornell and for the Titans when he worked in New York as a financial analyst for Moody's. "One of my buddies told me, 'It's the most lawless sport I've ever seen. I didn't understand all of it, but I loved every minute of it.' "
Something for everyone
Indoor lacrosse attracts an eclectic demographic - families with kids, lax diehards craving a winter fix, and young guys into mixed martial arts. What the Blazers plan to give them is a high-voltage night of speed, crunch, and scoring (a combined 25 goals on average) with a chatty emcee (local comedian Tony V), a dance team (the Sparks), a halftime show, videos, thunderous music, and T-shirt tosses, all for a throwback price.
"The recession is our biggest opportunity because we have such compelling value," says Reffue, a former marketing executive for Polaroid, Brine, and Yankee Candle. "You can get four tickets, a pizza, and parking for $100. That's unheard of anywhere."
The challenge for the Blazers is to get back into the city's sporting conversation after more than a decade out of it, at a time when the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins dominate the daily chitchat far more than they did in 1997, when only the football team made the playoffs. "There's a lot more noise now," acknowledges Reffue.
What should help the Blazers' rekindling is that the team is using the same name and playing in the same building as its predecessor. "We ran a name-the-team contest and the fans overwhelmingly thought we should be the Blazers," says Reffue. "It made a lot of sense staying with the old brand."
As well as at the old address. When the former club moved to the old Garden for the 1992 season after three years at the Centrum, the idea was to perform in the biggest house in the region. That hasn't changed. "Playing in the Garden gives us instant credibility," says Ryan, a Bowdoin grad who played three seasons for the old Blazers and won a title with the Wings.
Now, all the new Blazers have to do is lure people inside, which is why coach and players have been doing plenty of missionary work, preaching the gospel of indoor lax to the uninitiated. "Getting the word out there," says Belisle, who works in the front office along with Dawson. "People love the sport when they come to find out about it."
To fan the flames, the Blazers have been out and about the city - at the Frog Pond rink opening, the Christmas tree lighting on the Common, and at a Globe Santa appearance, and are doing outreach programs at area schools. "If they haven't already, people in Boston will see the Blazers," says Armstrong.
They'll bump into the players shopping at Haymarket, see them scarfing scungilli on Hanover Street. "We're not really the norm when it comes to pro athletes," says Dawson, an Ontario native whose younger brother, Paul, also plays for the club. "Fans get to interact with us."
There'll be autograph sessions after games as well as postgame parties at The Greatest Bar on Friend Street, where fans can mingle with the players, most of whom will be able to walk home. That's unusual for the NLL, which traditionally is a fly-in league for weekend warriors who practice only once before games.
Truly a home team
Here, more than a dozen of the Blazers live in four North End apartments arranged by the club, with five of the players settled into the 'Blazer Den' on North Washington Street. "We could have found a more economical place to put the guys, but we thought it was important to have them here," says Ryan. "To be able to wake up each day and see the Garden is motivating. It's inspiring."
It's also convenient. The players get together for impromptu workouts, running sprints and practicing their shooting against the wall at the playground on Prince Street, and have dinner together at local restaurants. "We get to know each other on and off the floor," says Dawson. "It's great for team camaraderie."
Quick bonding will be essential if the NLL's newbies want to hold their own. While the Blazers have two of the league's better players in Dawson and goalie Anthony Cosmo plus top overall draft pick Daryl Veltman, they also have the league's youngest roster, which includes a couple of UMass products in defenseman Jack Reid and forward Sean Morris. Still, their coach feels that his club can singe a few rivals. "We're trying to make the playoffs this year," Ryan says. "That's a lofty goal, but it's not unrealistic."
The Blazers aren't only competing with the rest of the league, but also with their fellow Garden tenants whose championship draperies hang from the rafters. Losing teams don't live on Causeway Street these days. "It's up to us to perform," says Armstrong. "We're not looking for any gifts from the city."
For now, the franchise has what it needs - an owner who says he's "committed for the long haul," a first-class building, prime-time Saturday home dates (five of the eight follow Bruins matinees), an eager team, and a fresh start after a dozen years out of the local picture. Same name, new opportunity. "There's a blank page that we can write on," says Reffue.
John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.
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Boston Herald on the Boston Blazers:Tom Ryan and his signature dreadlocks helped put indoor lacrosse on the map in the United States. Though the 2-foot long interlocked coils of hair are gone, the coach of the newly revived Boston Blazers hopes that lacrosse fans and families around the Greater Boston area will gravitate toward the fast-paced, hard-hitting and economic friendly sport when it returns to TD Banknorth Garden later this month.
The Blazers will be one of 12 teams playing in the National Lacrosse League, which kicks off its season tomorrow, and the game of indoor lacrosse offers plenty of features that make it an instant hit with many fans. For example, games feature a 30-second shot clock that makes for fast-paced action from end to end, rules that allow for cross-checking, occasional fights and tickets starting at just $5 each.
“It’s one of the fastest growing sports in America,” said Ryan. “Something we expect lacrosse fans in New England to really gravitate to.”
The original Boston Blazers were members of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992-97 before disbanding. Ryan was a member of that Blazers team for its final three seasons.
The reinvented Blazers will play a 16-game schedule, with eight home contests played at the Garden. With the economy struggling, the Blazers hope to provide the local community with a cost efficient alternative to some of the other pro sports in town. Season tickets can be bought for as low as $40.
“That’s the hope,” said Nancy Hamilton, the team’s marketing director. “Obviously we would love to get families into the Garden. That’s the idea behind having the low ticket prices.”
According to Hamilton, the Blazers are relying on grassroots marketing to get the word out. The team has also hired two players - Dan Dawson and Mitch Belisle - to help promote at local schools and around the community. The team also will be involved with a promotion at The Greatest Bar called “The Greatest Ticket Deal” which will allow fans to purchase four tickets, a beverage and a pizza for $20.
“Boston has been a great hub for lacrosse, and they did really well back in the old days, and we’re looking to bring that same enthusiastic approach to the new team,” said Dawson. “We’re working with youth lacrosse teams, doing bar appearances, whatever we have to do to get our names out there.”
Ryan also has brought in some local players to drive interest, including three-time All-American Jack Reid from UMass. He will anchor the defense along with Belisle, who played at Bourne High.
Sean Morris, a Marshfield native who also played at UMass, has seen lacrosse grow in the area while playing with the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse. He expects to see the same happen with the Blazers.
“It’s just so entertaining,” said Morris. “I do love the (outdoor) MLL but it’s two separate arenas. No knock on Harvard, but having the fans right on top of you, banging on the glass, makes for an incredible atmosphere. It’s entertaining for kids, adults, college kids and that’s why I think it’s going to take off for us.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/other_sports/general/view.bg?articleid=1142579
