Continental Indoor Lacrosse League

Continental Indoor Lacrosse League
Sport box lacrosse
Founded 2011
No. of teams 10
Most recent champion(s) Cleveland Demons (2015)
Most titles Colorado Sabertooths (2)
Official website CI2L.com

The Continental Indoor Lacrosse League (CILL) is a senior men's semi-professional box lacrosse league in the United States. The league presently consists of eight teams with a geographical footprint centered on the midwest region of the U.S. The CILL was formerly known as Midwest Indoor Lacrosse Association (MILA), but due to expansion teams forming outside of the midwest region the league was renamed the Continental Indoor Lacrosse League[1] in March 2013.

History

Minto Cup winning veteran goalie Dave Holding. Grand Rapids Dragonfish goaltender since team's inception.

2011

On August 27, 2011 Grand Rapids defeated Columbus 18-17 (OT) in the first-ever MILA game. Columbus went on to have the best record and were the top seed for the inaugural championship playoff, which Columbus withdrew from the day before the event. Second-seed Grand Rapids Dragonfish went on to claim the first league championship by defeating Chicago 13-7 on October 1, 2011. Chicago had advanced with a 26-1 semifinal win against Milwaukee.

2012

Columbus Brew player (white) sails past Detroit Coney Dogs' Owen Blank (yellow) as he attempts a dive shot on Coney Dogs goalie Devan Mighton (black) during 2012 season.

In the off-season, several expansion teams were announced for the second season of MILA. St. Louis Pride, Pittsburgh Octane, Southern Ohio Box Lacrosse, Cleveland Demons, Detroit Coney Dogs and Nebraska Fighting Perkins were all announced before the end of the calendar year. Three more teams (Madison Capitals, Minnesota Jaxx and Colorado Sabertooths) were also announced for the 2012 season. Nebraska never materialized and a group from Indiana took over the franchise rights, adding Indy Swagger to the league.

Colorado was crowned champion after the 2012 season, when 10 teams competed in league play. St. Louis and Nebraska/Indy failed to get their teams off the ground.

2013

Expansion was again on the off-season agenda as the Upstate Bears were named the 11th league member in February 2013. With the new geographical boundaries, the league again changed its name. In March 2013 MILA became the Continental Indoor Lacrosse League.

In May 2013 a league administration[2] was announced. Grand Rapids GM Russ King was named commissioner of the CILL. Detroit GM Owen Blank (secretary) and Ray Kincaid (treasurer) of Chicago were also appointed.

Seven teams made up the CILL in 2013, with Colorado going undefeated to win the regular season and #1 seed for the CILL Cup playoffs. The Sabertooths went on to defeat Chicago 14-11 in the championship game and were crowned CILL Cup champions.

Grand Rapids Dragonfish shooter (black and orange) and Detroit Coney Dogs defender (yellow) look on as Coney Dogs goalie Devan Mighton (black) traps ball (2012).

2014

Cleveland Demons announced that they will return to the CILL in 2014. The Demons competed in the league starting in 2012, but went on a 1-year hiatus. The CILL announced that the Lansing Hot Rods would join the league as full-time members after playing a limited exhibition schedule in 2013.

Just prior to the season the Colorado Sabertooths announced[3] that they would not play in 2014. Soon after, the Columbus Brew pulled out of the season after multiple cancelled games. Detroit Coney Dogs withdrew from league play after one game and a forfeit due to low player numbers.

Championship weekend took place September 27, 2014 in Chicago. Third place Milwaukee declined to participate so it became a three-team event. Second place Grand Rapids defeated Pittsburgh Octane 20-7 in the semifinal to advance. Later that evening, the Chicago Outlaws defeated the Grand Rapids Dragonfish 20-13 to win their first CILL Cup.

2015

Leadership change came in the spring when A.J. Collier II took over as CILL league commissioner. A schedule was released in early July with nine teams set to compete.

Just before the regular season it was announced that the expansion Minnesota Ox would be joining the league as a probationary team. Minnesota will play exhibition games in 2015 in hopes of full league membership for the 2016 season.

2016

With the 2016 CILL Winter Meeting that took place on March 19th, the CILL heard the application for the addition of a new franchise. The St. Louis Centurions head coach, Troy Hood gave a presentation to the CILL Board of Commissioners and the new franchise was accepted as a new member of the league. CILL Commissioner A.J. Collier II had quite the agenda planned and it appears that the CILL is well on its way to be the premier amateur adult box lacrosse league in the United States.

Teams

Team City/Area Arena Founded Joined Head Coach
Chicago Outlaws Naperville, Illinois Players Indoor Sports Center 2011 2011 A.J. Collier II
Cleveland Demons Hudson, Ohio NC Soccer Club 2011 2012 Dave Blue
Detroit Coney Dogs West Bloomfield, Michigan Inline Hockey Center 2011 2012 Owen Blank
Grand Rapids Dragonfish Cedar Springs, Michigan Cedar Rock Sports Plex 2011 2011 Russ King
Grand Valley State Lakers Allendale, Michigan Kelly Family Sports Center 2011 2015 Kevin Scheiber
Indianapolis Copperheads Indianapolis, Indiana Ellenberger Park 2015 2015 Ken Levinberg
Lansing Hod Rods Lansing, Michigan Lansing Soccerzone 2013 2014 Jake Murphy
Milwaukee Marauders Brookfield, Wisconsin Brookfield Indoor Sports Complex 2011 2011 Les Crichton
Minnesota Ox Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota Veterans' Memorial Community Center 2015 2016 Larry Lamb
St Louis Centurions Ballwin, Missouri Midwest Sport Hockey 2016 2016 Troy Hood
Pittsburgh Octane Cheswick, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena 2011 2012 Dan Shea

Former Teams

Pittsburgh Octane goalie Tom Roule in 2014.

** = were added as expansion teams, but never competed in league play[4][5]

Cleveland Demons runner Hans Rydquist in 2014.

Champions/CILL Cup winners

Year Champion Finalist Score
2011 Grand Rapids Dragonfish Chicago Outlaws 13-7
2012 Colorado Sabretooths Grand Rapids Dragonfish 13-6
2013 Colorado Sabretooths Chicago Outlaws 14-11
2014 Chicago Outlaws Grand Rapids Dragonfish 20-13
2015 Cleveland Demons Grand Rapids Dragonfish 13-7

Administration

References

  1. ↑ "MILA becomes CILL "to reflect growing influence and geographical area"". ILindoor.com. 7 March 2013.
  2. ↑ "League Administration". CILL. 31 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sabertooths Will Not Play In CILL In 2014". Colorado Sabertooths. 2 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "CILL History". CILL. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Ontario Lacrosse Almanac" (PDF). Old School Lacrosse. 17 January 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.