First Times A Charm

<p>We're back from an unplanned week off, and we are back with a super episode to make up for it.<br /><br />The Maryland Charm are your inaugural WLL champions. They went into Subaru Park and beat the California Palms 16-13. We break down how a team built for the field game finally proved it, why the halftime goalie switch to Jennika Cuocco looked insane and then wasn't, and Alex Aust Holman going from holding the iPad on the sideline all season to hat trick hero in the championship. We also get into what we'd change about the WLL heading into 2027, from the schedule to the playoff format.</p><p><br />Over in the PLL, the Atlas are a mess. Worst defensive goals against average in league history, tense postgame press conferences all year, and now Gavin Adler going on Stick Talk to explain exactly why he left for the Waterdogs, including a claim that Mike Pressler didn't know the salary cap had gone up when he made his offer. We talk through what that means for Pressler's job and whether this roster, on paper, could still win it all next year.</p><p><br />We also run through the PLL's regular season awards. Faceoff, goalie, midfielder, and coach of the year are fairly settled. Rookie of the year is a genuinely crowded field. And MVP versus attackman of the year turns into a real argument about whether Michael Sowers or CJ Kirst deserves to be the guy, including why we think the "CJ broke the goals record so he should win everything" logic doesn't hold up. We close that out with a preview of this weekend's playoff games.</p><p><br />Canada and the US played for PALA gold, and Canada scored the last four goals of the game, including Alex Simmons' game winner with ten seconds left, to steal it from the Americans. We look at what, if anything, from these rosters carries over to next summer's world championships, and it turns out the answer is almost nothing.</p><p><br />We close out with the Ottawa Black Bears reportedly headed for a dispersal draft, which would put Jeff Teat back on the market, plus the Madison Taylor situation getting more complicated after the Big Ten's new rule on professional athletes.<br /><br />If you want to keep up with all of this between episodes, the Lax Lifers Club is where our community lives year round. <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://discord.gg/vpcaWBv6AU" target="_blank"><b>Join Here</b></a></p>