On February 27, 2010, lacrosse fans from all over New England came together at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston to watch the 4-4 Boston Blazers defeated the 6-2 Washington Stealth upping their record to 5-4.
Looking around during pre-game time, you could see the crowd building up the excitement as the starting time clock wound down. Cheers were being chanted, dancing was taking place, faces were lit up with joyous smiles, and foam fingers were being pointed.
The anticipation increased and fans watched as the final seconds counted down to zero and they knew it was time, time for the sparks to ignite and the fire to increase into a blaze.
Next thing you know, Tik Tok by Kesha was playing and the Blazer’s very own Spark’s Cheerleading team was underway, mesmerizing the fans with their fascinating dance routine and their sparkling red dresses. Joining the Sparks was team mascot, Scorch.
Scorch had a way of lighting up the young future lacrosse players’ faces as he ran around the field with his fire engine red hair, boosting the noise level up to “Fired Up”.
Suddenly, the stadium went black, the crowd went wild, and the bagpipes, (played by Massachusetts State Police dressed in Scottish clothing) sounded throughout the Garden letting the fans know their Blazer’s were almost ready to put the fire out for the Stealth.
In ran the confident Boston Blazers high-fiving teammates and getting their heads in the game as red lights flashed all over the crowd and field. As the crowd settled down, the lights flashed over to another opening in the stands, and out came the Washington Stealth ready to put up a fight against the Blazers, who defend all shots, defend one another, who face any challenge, take hits, hit back, and find a way to win.
The ball was dropped at precisely 7:40 and the game had begun. Stealth had won the first face-off of the game but had the majority of their shots blocked by Blazer’s Goalie, Anthony Cosmo (44). Each time the ball hit against Cosmo’s uniform, and the shot was blocked, the words of “Oh Cosmo” roared throughout the stands.
Blazer’s saved shot after shot, recovered every missed ball, and were paid-off with a breakaway run followed by the first goal of the game scored by Mike Kirk (26) and assisted by Greg Downing (8). By then end of the first quarter the Blazers had taken 13 shots, made two and maintained the lead, whereas the Stealth took 10 shots and scored once, making the score 2-1. The Blazers, according to Captain “Dangerous” Dan Dawson, “Don’t leave anything up to chance, we outsmart teams.”
The Blazers won the face-off at the start of the second quarter but had missed quite a few of shots taken. Washington on the other hand went right up the middle of the field and took an open shot assisted by Eric Martin (25) and scored by Curtis Hodgson (6).“Daryl and I average ten shots a game, but my goal was to go to the net more.” That was exactly was Dawson (6) did, he went to the net and racked on more points to add to the score. Dawson scored one goal in the second quarter and assisted twice, once for Daryl Veltman (16) and once for Brenden Thenhaus (10). The second quarter came to a close and the score was 5-4. Blazers were still on top, playing with scorching heat.
Washington and Boston gathered up their things and headed down to the locker rooms to talk things over, while the die hard fans watched Franklin and Duxbury youth lacrosse leagues faced once another in a mini match up. Even for such a young age, you can see the Blaze in them. They checked one another as if they were professionals, made assists, and scored numerous back-to-back goals.
Following the youth game came the relay races between four nearby colleges, which included, Boston University, Wentworth, Umass Lowell, and the College of Fenway. Boston University ran the relay race as if their feet were on fire, so fast you’d think they were the captains of the track team. However, they hadn’t won yet. Next came the pizza eating contest between Wentworth and Boston University (Umass and College of Fenway had been eliminated), Wentworth won, making the score 1-1. To break the tie, a dance-off took place and Boston University just didn’t have their dancing shoes with them that day, Wentworth did. The crowd screamed ecstatically as Wentworth performed their winning dance off the field and the clock was set back at 15:00 minutes, ready for the Blazers to take the field for yet another winning half.
The third quarter began and things just weren’t looking good for the Stealth. The Blazers has scored another goal making the score 6-5, and were hitting the ball loose almost every time Washington retrieved it. A 2-minute penalty was called on Washington’s Eric Martin for checking the Blazer’s from behind. It was the Blazer’s house and by checking one of their player’s caused uproar from the stands. Shouts of “Take a seat,” were coming from every angle. That’s just went things turned bad for the Blazers, their fire was being put out. Stealth scored two goals putting them up by one with a score of 7-6 with almost 4:00 minutes left in the quarter.
At the 3:41 mark, Thenhaus (10) scored an incredible goal for the Blazers tying the score at 7-7; the Blazers were back on track, seeing a win in the near future. Thenhaus’s goal was the last scored of the quarter, only one quarter remained. Could Boston hold the lead?
Within the first minutes of the fourth quarter, Blazers, Gary Bining (9), scored an outstanding goal improving their score to 8-7. With Cosmo as the goaltender, and the defense leaving everything they have on the field, it was quite a struggle for Washington to put off a shot. “Our defense is great, holding a defense like that is great,” said Thenhaus when asked about the greatest asset of the team.
Back to back goals started to be scored for both teams. When the Blazers scored, Stealth scored right after and vise versa. With 1:30 remaining a timeout was called. “We talked about getting frustrated, and giving up quality shots. So, basically about shutting off creases and hustling to take care of the ball,” said Coach Ryan post-game. However, with the Blazers amazing fire squad, they were able to put out the Stealth’s fire at a score of 11-9 and come out with a win, bringing smiles to all 8354 faces that watched in astonishment.
During the press conference, Dawson stated, “We are very close to being a great team. The second half of the season has been a great start.” If the Blazers keep up the effort and hard work, they’ll be unstoppable. They’ll be a fire that can’t be put out, like a candle in a windless room.
Nicole Hayner is a sophomore at Stoughton High School.
The Blazers Beat is a student reporter program which provides high school students access to the Garden on game nights. Students will receive a media credential for a game of their choice, access to the post-game player and coach press conference and can write a game recap which the Blazers will help to publish with their local papers. For more information, contact Krista Olson, Marketing & Event Operations Manager at krista@blazerslacrosse.com.