Saturday was day one of the Boston Cannons three weekend training camp. The biggest news out of camp was the absence of Ryan Boyle, Matt Poskay, Brad Ross and Kevin Buchanan. Buchanan was playing with the NLL's Buffalo Bandits in Toronto, while Poskay and Boyle were coaching college lacrosse. Ryan Boyle was announcing a college lacrosse game on ESPNU, thus the practice was not mandatory.
"The first day was great" said Boston Cannons general manager Kevin Barney. "A little cold compared to how it has been the past few weeks in Boston but the guys came ready. We put them through conditioning testing from our partners at CATZ Training and then a good 2 hour practice session. The effort and intensity was there all practice and that was great to see on day 1."
Barney said that the practice yesterday was mostly for the newer players and local guys who want to get a practice in. He mentioned players like Mike Stone and Jon Hayes, two local players, as standouts.
"We have players who came on late last year like Mike Stone and Jon Hayes, along with new players from the Supplemental Draft and our try-out that we are excited to see more of in training camp. All of the them were impressive today and showed they are here to compete not only for a roster spot but for a starting spot. We will be missing our NLL guys on opening day so the opportunity is there for all of these guys to play and show that they can compete at this level. Its up to them to earn the chance during training camp and then perform at the start of the season."
Some of those NLL players are Kevin Buchanan (Bandits), Mitch Belisle (Minnesota Swarm) and Pat Heim (Philadelphia Wings). Players like Jack Reid and Paul Rabil, normally NLL guys, are not playing in the indoor league this season so they will be ready for the start of Cannons season.
The big loss for the Cannons this off season was midfielder Max Quinzani. The Cannons left the Duxbury native unprotected for the expansion draft, and lost him to the Charlotte Hounds, who then spun him to the Long Island Lizards for attackman Matt Danowski.
"Max was a tremendous player for us, his semifinal performance is one that will live in Cannons history forever." said Barney "We have several options from the numerous attackmen we have in training camp, and Kevin Buchanan also played attack several games for us the last two seasons. Our game winning goal in the championship was scored by Buchanan playing attack. So while we will obviously miss Max, we are very happy with our options."
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