Kahnawake well represented at LAXNAI 2024

LAXNAI, the largest annual North American box lacrosse invitational tournament, returned to the Utica University Nexus in Utica, New York, this past weekend to host 57 teams across five different divisions, including the brand new 35-and-older Masters Division.

Among the 57 teams were three Kahnawake squads: one U15, one Masters team, and the Club24HEAT, who competed in the men’s division. All three teams medaled, with Club24HEAT winning bronze and the other two each winning their respective divisions.

“It's always a pleasure to watch a Kahnawake team step onto the floor and compete,” said Connor Wilson, LAXNAI’s tournament co-director. “Those teams played hard and fast and showed great skill and teamwork, as well as a flair for the dramatic.”

Curtis Diabo was the coach for the U15 Kahnawake team, his first time bringing a team to LAXNAI.

Although the team was called Kahnawake, Diabo also included six players from Akwesasne on the 14-player roster.

“I wanted to build my team differently to create new friendships, and just take a different route,” said Diabo.

At first, he was not sure his plan was going to work.

“Before the tournament started, I was a bit nervous. ‘Are these boys going to get along? Are they going to trust each other out there?’” said Diabo.

“Let me tell you, these boys went out there and trusted each other, they leaned on each other, they worked hard for each other. The chemistry of this group was amazing. It was a pleasure to be on the bench with this group.” 

LAXNAI games are much shorter than a usual game of box lacrosse. Instead of the usual time of three 20-minute periods, teams play two 15-minute periods, played with running time – meaning time does not stop when play does. 

That short amount of time is one of the reasons why teams are made up of fewer players than usual, including Diabo’s U15 team.

“I wanted everybody to be involved in the game by not sitting and waiting on the bench too long for their next shift,” said Diabo.

The U15 team went undefeated during the tournament, winning all four of their matches. In the finals, played on Sunday, October 20, they defeated the Hodinohso:nih Select U15 team 12-3.

Along with teams from the community, many Kahnawa’kehró:non also played and coached other teams all over the tournament.

This included Al Jones, who coached the ECE Select team in the U18 division, after the team’s founder Brendan Gorman asked him if he and his son Darris would like to join the team.

“This tournament is very cool, because there isn’t always a specific hometown team. There are players on teams from everywhere. It lets people showcase more skill on other teams and make new friends and play with new teams and new players,” said Jones.

His team included local laxers Stone McGregor, Leland Lahache, Marcus Diabo, Wyatt Cross, and his son Darris. The rest of the team was made of players from the United States.

“That was cool to have that much influence on our team. It was also cool for our boys to go and play with guys from the US,” said Jones.

ECE Select started their tournament strong, winning both their opening games 11-4 against Hodinohso:nih Select and 13-2 against Tri-City. Despite the prolific goal scoring in the first two games, they still slid to fourth overall in the standings, keeping them in contention for gold but giving them a matchup against the first-seed Snake Island Muskies.

“We came out pretty slowly, and they came out fast,” said Jones, of their semifinals matchup. "They're short games, so there's no room for error. They went up four goals right away, and we had none. We tried to regroup, we did kind of get back into it, but they ended up beating us.”

After the 7-2 defeat against the Muskies, they faced off against the Ottawa Loggers in the bronze medal game, ultimately losing 9-3.

Both Diabo and Jones were also on the roster for the Kahnawake Masters division team, one of four in the division’s inaugural year – although Diabo missed two games due to coaching obligations and Jones was unable to play in any games.

“We created the full pads Masters Division this year so that older players could still get out there and play the game we all love so much,” said Wilson. “We dialed the contact back a little bit, but it was still real box lacrosse, and every Masters player I spoke to had a big smile on their face. We expect this division to grow quite a bit, as this year was a bit of a trial run, but it ended up as a total success.”

Diabo and Jones both agreed with Wilson.

“It was nice to see some legends rip it up,” said Jones. “A lot of the top players, which was very cool, were from Kahnawake. Their team was mixed, they had some guys from the US to help out, but it was nice to see our boys stepping up.”

Along with Diabo and Jones, the Masters team included Kirby Joe Diabo, Kerry Goodleaf, Blue Cloud Lahache, Louis Alfred, Sr., and 53-year-old Mike Benedict, Jr.

Diabo played in two games, including the gold medal game.

“It was a pleasure to share the game with those men,” said Diabo, who tallied one assist in two games.

The Kahnawake Masters went undefeated in four games, ultimately claiming gold after defeating Team Poland 11-6.

Kobe McComber was a part of the Club24HEAT team, who played in the men’s division. He was asked to join the team after two years of not playing lacrosse.

“I'm currently an amateur bodybuilder. I spend most of my time at the gym. It can benefit you in lacrosse, but the sort of training I go for just makes me a bit more stiff. I definitely had to brush up a bit on my agility work leading up to the tournament,” said McComber.

He also said that it took some time for him and his teammates to get used to the short games.

“It was odd. Everyone kept looking on the scoreboard. We were never really sure how much time was left,” said McComber.

He compared the feeling to a practice game, where everyone keeps going and stoppages are few and far between.

“Of course, the intensity was still there,” said McComber.

Club24HEAT started off the tournament hot, with five straight wins, before losing their semifinals game 7-2 against the Rochester Bats.

That sent them to the bronze medal game against the Seneca Marksmen, and it was a game to remember.

The teams traded goals back and forth, until with 30 seconds left in regulation, Seneca scored to tie the game 4-4.

“It just feels like a dagger in your back, and now you have to reset all over again. It almost felt like it was all for nothing for a second,” said McComber.

The game went to overtime, and Club 24 scored less than two minutes into the extra frame.

“We were so relieved, like ‘It's over. Finally,’” said McComber.

McComber said that their coaching – with two professional lacrosse coaches – helped them keep them calm and collected during games.

“Having those guys behind us on the bench, it just really kept us cool,” said McComber.

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