When you think of the Boston Cannons, you think of Paul Rabil, Matt Poskay, Ryan Boyle, Jordan Burke, and other cogs in the lineup for the championship season. Who you don’t think of is Mike Stone.
Stone has seven goals in three games this season, including a hat trick against the Hamilton Nationals this past week. Last season he had five goals overall in six games. “I’m having a blast playing this year.” said Stone. “I came into the season motivated to contribute, and I decided that more than anything I was going to play as hard as I can and enjoy the experience. The camaraderie on our team is great, and it is a ton of fun getting together each week and competing.”
Behind the efforts of Stone and others, the Cannons are 3-0, and tied for the best record in Major League Lacrosse with the Denver Outlaws, who the Cannons hit the road to play this week. “Denver has a very talented team and is going to be a difficult test for us.” Stone explained. "I think the best thing that we can do is continue to play as we have the first 3 games this season.
“It has been important for us to get this season off to a strong start. We have been focused on not allowing last year’s success get in the way of our success this year, and we have been able to do that so far despite missing some valuable pieces of our roster.”
One thing that has helped Stone and the Cannons is the entire offensive unit being back. “I think we have put together a strong offensive group each week, even while some of our guys were out with NLL/coaching commitments. We had some young guys step up and do very well. With all of our offensive players back on the roster, we’re going to continue to play the way we have so far this year.”
What do the Cannons need to do to win in Denver this week? “Take care of the ball, be unselfish, and play together.”