The Premier Lacrosse League Thrills Fans With Another Great All-Star Weekend

ARTICLE BY GARY GROOB | COLUMNIST AND CO-HOST OF NLL LACROSSE TALK ON SPANGLISH SPORTS WORLD AND SPANGLISH WORLD NETWORKS

TORONTO. - The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) gave us their version of the All-Star game and Skills Competition this past weekend.

Does it really matter that the score was a lopsided 33-13 for Team Baptiste over Team Farrell? Nope! Not even a little bit. To have all these players on the same field doing what they do best was what the game was all about. We were able to witness highlight reel goals, spectacular plays, great goaltending, and a chance to see great sportsmanship throughout the game. Twenty five players had at least one point in this game.

Rule Changes:

The PLL had the fans vote on a few rule changes for the games and picked two to use during the All-Star game.

1. The 2 point arc was brought closer to the goal by two feet. During the season, the arc is 15 feet away from the net, while in this game it was only 13 feet back.

2. Bonus Ball Time. This meant in the last two minutes of every quarter goal values would be doubled. We actually had a chance to see a four point goal in this game.

Did the rule changes affect the game?

There were 11 two point goals in the game fired from beyond the arc. A substantial difference from a normal game in which we would see 3 or 4.

Bonus Ball time had 6 players score. All of them were inside the arc. We did not witness a four point goal in this game.

Were The Rule Changes Effective?

Both changes enabled the teams to score more frequently, giving fans plenty of opportunities to cheer for their favorites. While only Team Baptiste seemed to take advantage, there was always an opportunity for Team Farrell to get on a run and close the gap at any time. Marcus Holman of Team Baptiste won the overall Most Valuable Player award with 7 points in the game (1g, 1-2 pt. g, 4a).

The Skills Competition: There were five categories challenged for in this competition. Hardest Shot, Freestyle, Fastest Player, Goaltending, and Shooting Accuracy.

Hardest Shot was won by Jarrod Neumann with a 116 mph shot. Neumann actually qualified for the finals with a 118 mph shot.

Freestyle was won by Michael Sowers over Connor Farrell. This competition actually came down to a tie breaker, with both competitors wowing the fans with electric shots and great props.

Fastest Player was won by Jack Rowlett who left no doubt in anyone’s mind winning by a body length over the field. Goaltending competition was won by Kyle Bernlohr who stopped an impressive 9 of 12 shots from point blank range. Shooting Accuracy was won by Marcus Holman for the third consecutive year. Holman was a perfect 5 for 5, while his closest competition was 3 for 5.

All in all, the fans in attendance, as well as the fans watching on ESPN and TSN were treated to another spectacular event held by the PLL. The best players in the world doing what they do better than anyone in the world!