League MLL Based in Boston, Massachusetts General manager Kevin Barney Arena/Stadium Gillette Stadium | Home stadium Harvard Stadium Head coach Sean Quirk Founded 2001 | |
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Colors Navy blue, red, silver, white Location Boston, Massachusetts, United States | ||
The Boston Cannons are a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They have played in the MLL since the 2001 season and won the MLL Championship in 2011. From 2006 to 2008, they were in the Eastern Conference. From the league's inception in 2001 through 2005, they were in the American Division. With the MLL contraction for the 2009 season from 10 to 6 teams (due to the state of the U.S. economy), there is currently only one division/conference. The team's home field is Harvard Stadium, but played at Gillette Stadium during the 2015 season.
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Boston cannons 2014 season highlights
Franchise History
The Boston Cannons is one of the original six teams of Major League Lacrosse (MLL). MLL was founded by Jake Steinfeld, Dave Morrow, and Tim Robertson. The Boston Cannons Founder and President is Matt Dwyer. From their inaugural season of 2001 through 2003, the Cannons played their home games at Cawley Memorial Stadium in Lowell, Massachusetts. In their inaugural 2001 season, the Cannons finished with a record of 3-11 but still qualified for the playoffs finishing in second place in the division. In 2004, they moved to Nickerson Field at Boston University where they played through the 2006 season. In 2007, they moved to Harvard Stadium in Allston, a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts which is less than 2 miles from Nickerson Field and also less than 2 miles from the Cannons' main office in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston qualified for the MLL playoffs 2001-2006, 2009-2011 and 2015. The Cannons won the 2004 and 2005 American Division championships.
On March 20, 2007, the Cannons completed a trade with the Washington Bayhawks. In the trade, the Cannons gave up Connor Gill and Ryan Curtis and in return they acquired Michael Powell, Ben DeFelice, and a 2008 conditional draft choice. After the 2008 season, Powell left lacrosse to pursue a career as a singer with his band "Villains Trust". The Cannons selected Paul Rabil as the first overall pick in the 2008 MLL Draft.
2011 championship season
The Cannons won the Steinfeld Cup for the first time in 2011, defeating the Hamilton Nationals 10-9. Boston went 9-3 in the regular season, their best record since going 10-2 in 2005. After losing to Chesapeake 13-9 in the 2010 semifinal, the Cannons avenged the Bayhawks by defeating them 14-13 in the 2011 semifinal. Boston became the fifth charter franchise to win a championship. By 2011, the Cannons were one of four charter franchises still in the league that started with six teams in 2001. The other three remaining charter franchises (Lizards, Bayhawks, and Rattlers had all previously won at least one Steinfeld Cup (The defunct Barrage had won three). Head coach Bill Daye stepped down a month after winning the Steinfeld Cup, citing he wanted to spend more time with his family. As of 2016, Daye is still the franchise's all-time leader in coaching victories with 43 and the only head coach with multiple playoff victories.
2013–present
The Cannons in 2013 and 2014 finished 5–9 and 6–8. This included a 1–5 start in 2013 leading to Steve Duffy's firing on June 10. John Tucker took his place and played .500 for the rest of the season. After the Cannons missed the playoffs for the fourth time in franchise history in 2014, Tucker led the team back to the postseason in 2015 as the 8–6 fourth seed. They played the New York Lizards and lost 16–15 in overtime. The Lizards went on to win the Steinfeld Cup.
John Tucker left the Cannons after the 2015 season to become the first head coach and general manager of the expansion team Atlanta Blaze. On October 8, 2015, Sean Quirk was announced as the sixth head coach in franchise history. In an odd 2016 year in which seven of the league's nine teams, including the Cannons, finished with identical 8-6 records, Quirk's team was not rewarded with one of the four playoff spots after tie-breaking procedures. On December 20, 2016, it was announced that John Tucker would be returning to the Cannons as the team's offensive coordinator in 2017. Tucker was fired mid-season by the Blaze after a 3-7 start.