Professional Lacrosse | Blazing ahead: professional lacrosse franchise comes to Boston

    In a city bursting at the seams with professional franchises, National League Lacrosse is banking that Beantown can adopt one more.
    After a 12-year hiatus, professional indoor lacrosse is making its return to Boston in the form of the Boston Blazers, a team that will assume the Blazer moniker with a tip of the helmet to the former, but unrelated, Boston Blazer lacrosse franchise of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League that competed from 1992 through 1997. The Blazers will become the 13th team to compete in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) starting with the opening of the 2009 season in January.
    With the understanding that the team is entering one of the most fan-intensive markets in the nation, Blazers executives said they are optimistic that the team will become a mainstay in the Boston sports culture.
    "We believe that the city of Boston and the greater New England area is the perfect place for indoor lacrosse, and the TD Banknorth Garden is the ideal home for our eight-game regular season," Blazers Team President Doug Reffue said.
    "Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, and recent surveys by US Lacrosse [the national governing body of lacrosse] show that participation in lacrosse throughout New England has grown by 500 percent in the past decade," Reffue continued. "We think the combination of those facts bodes very well for the Boston Blazers as we launch our franchise."
    The team was purchased by Google executive Tim Armstrong in early 2007, and the franchise attempted to join the NLL for the beginning of the 2008 season.
    In late 2007, however, complications arose with the league's collective bargaining agreement. When other unforeseen logistical issues cropped up soon thereafter, the team was forced to disperse its players back to the league's twelve other teams and regroup for another — this time successful — attempt to join the NLL for the 2009 campaign.
    With the Blazers' acceptance into the league official and the season a few months away, discussion moves to the team's potential performance in a city that has recently enjoyed winning seasons and titles from teams like the Red Sox and Celtics.
    "In order to play for the Blazers you must be tough and athletic," head coach Tom Ryan said. "We have something to prove to the fans of Boston and to ourselves. The Blazers will be characterized by effort and attitude."
    Last weekend, the team hosted the NLL entry draft and scouting combine at the TD Banknorth Garden in what is the last major step towards constructing the 2009 squad. The Blazer squad will be headlined on offense by the brother tandem of Dan and Paul Dawson, as well as No. 1 overall draft pick Daryl Veltman, a graduate of Hobart College in New York.
    "Daryl was an All-American and the leading scorer in the ECAC, and he has a very promising future with our team," Reffue said.
    Defensively, the team will be anchored by recent UMass-Amherst grad Jack Reid. Reid won't be the only local face, however, as Ryan and assistant GM Randy Fraser have made it a point to keep a hometown feel to the Blazers. Attackman Sean Morris, a native of Marshfield, Mass. and a UMass alum, is among the Blazers who call the Bay State home.
    This summer the team also took strides to dig deep roots into the Boston sports community in order to ensure that its first season would be a success. The team made appearances at various local community events, including the NCAA Lacrosse Championships at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. in late May.
    The team hopes that the time it took to meet local lacrosse families and reach out at tournaments and events will pay dividends in terms of attendance come January.
    "One of the most important goals we've set for our franchise is to welcome the youth lacrosse community of New England with open arms," Reffue said. "We've been doing that throughout the spring and summer."
    The team also hosted an interactive fan day, called Blazers Day, in conjunction with the draft Saturday and invited over 20 youth teams from around New England to participate. Reffue said he hopes the weekend went a long way in helping to build a local fan base.
    "We thought it was very important to work together with the NLL to stage the best combine and draft in the league's 23-year history," he said. "To accomplish that goal, we staged Blazers Day, a full day of activities and promotions to reach out to our fans. From all of the feedback we heard from league executives, our players, coaches and the many fans who attended, Blazers Day was a tremendous success."
    The team also hopes to make a splash with area college students. Citing the team's proximity to the T and the fast-paced, hard-hitting nature of the NLL, Reffue said college students would likely be drawn to the Garden for Saturday night contests.
    "Blazers tickets are affordable, and our games will offer tremendous entertainment value to the college crowd who love to enjoy a night out," Reffue said. "We hope that Tufts students take advantage of the great ticket prices, jump on the T and come out to support the Blazers."
    In the end though, the Blazers management knows that Boston fans place heavy emphasis on winning and a team's on-the-field results.
    "Our goal for this year is to win games and play hard so that the fans of New England will be proud to support us," Ryan said. "Despite being an expansion team, our goal has to be to get in the playoffs."
    The Boston Blazers will roll out the turf for the first time in January, making their return to the Garden Jan. 17 against the New York Titans.