US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2027-8th Grade Fall 2022/Summer 2023

Top tournament alert .....NLF nothing but the best teams in the country EXCEPT......only 6 top 25 teams will be playing in it . Only 6 lol.

The best of the best ....haha

Will the "older" Express 2027 A team be playing in the 2026 bracket where the reclasses belong ? Should be an interesting weekend .

Haters be hating. I'm sure all of you will be on TourneyMachine checking the scores, just wishing your teams had made the cut. We'll see you at tryouts next week. Good Luck to you all!

Whatever you say S2S dad

What are haters hating exactly ....you're go to when you have no answers is "haters gonna detest "? Yes sign me up for a team that has no explanation as to why they block teams out then call a tournament the " best of the best " with only 6 of the top 25 teams there . You're too much . Have fun getting smoked this weekend if you're not part of the top 6 teams

its as if you can't understand this whole thing is a business. Marketing, Strategy, etc. what are you?

If you're now talking from a business standpoint that's understandable and I agree with you .But from a youth lacrosse competitive standpoint I wouldn't say it's the best competition. So what you're saying is blocking teams out is good business ? Fair enough . We agree on something .

Correct. Build hype, lock teams out. Now everyboyd will jump through fire to get on a team that plays at one of these events. FOMO. Brilliant.

Here's the problem with your " business strategy" as you describe . In the real business world you don't throw tantrums and block out clients/customers. Its bad for business and all catches up to you . As a result only 6 teams in the top 25 will be at your tournament. Seems like it's catching up to you already .

The 6 teams in the top 25 are the only real 6 teams, the rest are National teams. The NLF attracts the top TEAMS, and top talent. College coaches aren’t coming to the NLF to watch Shore, Igloo and the Rebels play. They want to see the best, and the best 2027 teams are simply 91 Machine and Express Haugen Reclass.

Right ......is that why BBL was also thrown out of the NLF? They only lost to machine by 1 goal and spanked the Haugen reclass team . So why aren't they there ? Oh right ....Timmy tantrums

If you want to be the best, you need to beat the best

Just got to the fields to get a primo spot. they are looking amazing. Gonna be a great day to watch the best players ball out.

I literally couldn’t sleep last night. The anticipation and excitement was like 12/24.

Let’s gooooooo boys!

I’ve been hearing for years that reclass is common practice across many lacrosse hot beds. The reaction to 2027 express leads me to believe that is no longer the case? Would’ve thought a handful of reclasses is just par for the course hence the new rules next yr 🤷🏻‍♂️

Given all the sensitivity and crying about express, I guess the 2027 age group got ahead of the phenomenon and everyone has a pure and of age roster?

The best of the best......go look at the football scores from the first games ...all 10-1. Have a great time with your " fillers "....best of the best hahaha

Iron sharpens iron unless you're the NLF....then iron cuts cardboard until you get to the only 6 clubs that can compete there . Awful

What happened to Machine?

NLF posting that they have over 300 d1 college coaches there . Stop lying youre embarrassing yourself . Sad

There were alot of coaches around the fields at Lehigh yesterday. I don’t know about 300, but all the top D1 programs were in attendance. The coaches don’t exactly hide themselves.

0-3 last 3 games played

Don’t worry either 91 or express will win it again!

At 2025 games wall to wall coaches. More than all prior tournaments combined. If you aren’t at nlf it’s a major problem.

Major problem hahaha.....clubs outside if nlf still sending kids to top D1 schools . Nice try NLF director . Stop making stuff up with your " filler " tournament. Only 6 of top 25 teams there ....relax

2027BBL can beat anyone? .... not exactly but since they are closer to a 2025s possibly. Worst hold back organization on the east coast

Machine did too poorly yesterday to win it all. I guess we can wait and hear about how it’s all the holdbacks fault.

Hee haw boys!!!! Sorry I haven’t been posting much over these two days. I’ve really been soaking it all in, cheering on the boys, and talking with more than a few scouts. THIS is the place to be, no doubt.

Got to get a good nights rest for the ‘Chip tomorrow! More to come, talk soon!!

BBL is the only team missing that truly should be at NLF. No other team could truly compete or they are all star/ National teams that are not what NLF is about. You can judge that if you want.

Machine got a tougher draw than any of the other favorites and just didn’t perform.Might be time to retire Spallina.

Right .....will be repeated again . Only 6 teams in top 25 there . You had two B teams in your top 8 winners brackets What a joke .

Not true

Why is that a joke? Congratulations to all the teams that mad fit into the winners bracket!

You were saying ? Oops ....that's called putting the cart before the horse . Both express and 91 went down . Go ahead keys heat how the competition was too notch when you had 2 B teams in your winners bracket . NLF has become a watered down joke of a tournament

Watered down is not a fair statement. Anybody who is anybody goes.the issue is with the format. Every game starting Friday morning is essentially a playoff. You could lose an 8-7 game in your first game and you are done.

Not true at all. The NLF goes a long way to keep out any teams that are “not members “ that have the ability to do well. Perfect example is legacy taz. They easily beat Wolfpack last week but today Wolfpack is holding the belt. If the NLF is a “premier” league they should be inviting any top teams regardless of their organizational affiliation. But they won’t. Because if a “non member “ wins it…….it’s bad for business

I pretty sure that non members can just make a call and go. Legacy Taz has played in the NLF, if last time it was on LI. It’s more so, I suspect, if you’re Igloo, Legacy, Rebels, etc. why support something you are not a member of. I would not.

incorrect. Non-members cannot just make a call and go. Legacy Taz has also, not ever played in an NLF event.

Correct that you can’t make a call and just get into an NLF tournament. Incorrect that legacy taz has never played in it. They did in 2017 which is obviously a long time ago. My whole point was that people say the nlf tournaments are a collection of the best teams in the country. This is simply not the case.

Other than BBL (who I agree should be there), name one non-national team that really could compete.

Plenty to complain about at NLF, but the quality of the teams in the elite division is way down on the list. The grass fields were poor, the officiating was terrible, and the seeding for the championship bracket was a joke. NLF put their preferred members in weak qualifying pools, while Machine, Madlax, Thunder and a Sweetlax National team all beat up on each other in the same pool and all failed to make the winners bracket. Thunder and Madlax would probably not have won the whole thing, but they were certainly far better than Laxachusetts Yellow and LI rage who had the same 2-1 records against far weaker competition. Thunder won the pool with wins over Machine and Madlax, but still got cut out of the championship bracket because they allowed more goals than other 2-1 teams that did not win weaker pools.

The Naptown pool play and seeding formula is far better than what NLF put on.

NLF has brainwashed you. Here's a long list of teams that has competed and can compete against any NLF team. BBL, 3D NE, ADVNC, Texas Nationals, Shore 2 Shore, 3D Georgia, 2WAY, Next Level, Annapolis Hawks. These teams have beat plenty of the top 2027 NLF teams. And would beat all of the filler teams in the tournament by 10. NLF created a great tournament where many of these teams used to go. They helped make it what it is. And now NLF blocked them all and shot themselves in the foot. Don't complain here. Go complain to your NLF club directors. More importantly, step back for a minute. Have you ever heard of blocking in any other sports? And are you really supporting it and NLF? Some NLF clubs are phenomenal. And the NLF can do some great things. This is not one of them and a shocking move and low point. It's totally correctable. Just stop defending it. Own it, correct it, and go back to the old better way. Open invite. Prove it on the field rather than the blog forums. Otherwise, move out of the way and let this event become a shell of its former self and be replaced by something that is better.

That is a pretty fair assessment of the situation. well stated.

Annapolis Hawks are a good call. Texas Nationals played in the 27 division last year (not sure why they weren't back this year). The rest are good teams, but aren't going to win it.

I'm not in favor of blocking other teams (it's totally wrong), but just pointing out that that the winning team has to get through a gauntlet of some of the best non-national teams in the country to win. All the teams you list should be there if they want to be, but NLF still stands as one of the strongest wins a club can achieve.

There were more than 6 of the top 25 teams there btw, and 6 of those are in the top 10 of the latest US Club Lax rankings (which I think we can agree are not totally accurate anyway).

But yes - it could be better. And agree that the NLF should reflect on ways to keep it relevant and make it better. They could start by stop blocking teams.