Grant has not lost an MLL 2014 MLL CHAMPIONSHIP
“It was worth every second. i have an offseason to rehab, compared to one moment to
win the championship.” —Anthony Kelly, who played on a partially-torn Achilles’ tendon
history, for the aging legend, 39-year-old Grant. Seaman also acquired defenseman Michael Simon and a 2014 draft pick that proved to be faceoff man Brent Hiken, an essential replacement late in the season for the ailing Kelly. Grant’s brilliant regular season included a torrid three- game stretch coming out of the FIL World Championship
break. Grant, who didn’t play for Canada after being denied a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone, had 23 points in those three games. He finished with 28 goals with 26 assists in 12 regular season games and led the MLL in playoff scoring. Mundorf played in just eight games for the Chesapeake Bayhawks, who missed the playoffs.
MLL IN ATL
Rochester will stay put in 2015, but Atlanta made a strong case for an MLL franchise, drawing more than 4,000 fans to a regular-season game and more than 8,000 fans to the championship game. MLL commissioner David Gross said the league is targeting 2016 to put a team in Atlanta. Liam Banks, a former MLL player and the founder and CEO of LB3 Lacrosse, is helping to lead the charge to bring a team there.
Grant reluctantly embraced his role as assistant coach for Canada as his countrymen upset Team USA for the gold medal in the world championship just outside Denver, Grant’s new home. He coaches at Valor Christian (Colo.) High, plays also for the NLL’s Colorado Mammoth and will soon sport a gleaming fifth MLL championship ring.
playoff game since 2007, a 10- game winning streak. Denver coach B.J. O’Hara was with Grant when the streak started with the Rattlers in 2008. “That’s one of the big reasons we brought him in,” O’Hara said. “He’s a winner and that’s what we need.”
It took a while for Grant to get untracked in the championship, limited largely by MLL Defensive Player of the Year Mike Manley.
“Sometimes that can hurt a team, when you have a guy going to the net a little too much,” he said. “I settled in, we played a team game the second half, and took advantage of some opportunities.”
Despite playing with a
partially-torn Achilles tendon, Kelly won 14 of 25 faceoffs in the final. “It was worth every second,” he said. “I have an entire offseason to rehab it, compared to one moment to win the championship.” It was the first MLL title for
Kelly, a 10-year MLL vet in his third season with the Outlaws. “I had half the doctors telling me I was crazy because I was at a high risk to rupture my entire Achilles,”’ he said. “It was pretty scary going out there every shift knowing that that could be it.” Seeing “Train’’ grit it out in what Schwartzman called his best game of the season inspired awe from the goalie who has spent all eight of his pro seasons in Denver. “It was huge for him being out there and big for our team from a mental standpoint,” Schwartzman said. “Physically, he held up well for a guy with a torn Achilles.”
O’Hara gambled that Kelly could excel through the pain,
RIGHT: MICHAEL SIMON CAME TO DENVER IN THE GRANT DEAL, A BOLD TRADE THAT SENT FORMER MLL MVP BRENDAN MUNDORF TO CHESAPEAKE.
LEFT: ATLANTA MADE ITS CASE FOR AN MLL TEAM.
44 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » october 2014 A Publication of US Lacrosse
©KEVIN LILES
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