New England Black Wolves Should be Declared 2020 Champs

New England deserves credit for their fantastic season...

This NLL season was shaping up to be one of the league’s best. The Halifax Thunderbirds (in their first season) set NLL teams ablaze. Calgary hoped to defend their title. Saskatchewan yearned a return to their glory days. Philadelphia was in the midst of a remarkable turnaround. Lots of excitement. Unfortunately, 2020 is a lost season. Thanks to COVID-19, all games are cancelled. This season is a bust.

What a shame. Loads of high aspiring teams with dreams that’ll never come to fruition. Imagine if Halifax won the title in year one? What if Philadelphia rebounded from a horrible first season and won it all? We’ll never know. That said, with the season practically cancelled, NLL leadership should declare the New England Black Wolves 2020 champs.

New England conquered the east division (8-3). Arguments can be made for division winners Halifax (8-4) and Saskatchewan (7-3). Beating Saskatchewan, come playoffs time, is nigh impossible. Halifax has the best defenseman in the league (Jake Withers).

That said, New England topped both. The Black Wolves silenced an electric SaskTel Centre with a 12-8 upset. Halifax’s fiery offense was extinguished in a 16-10 drubbing. Those are definitive victories. Nothing controversial about them. In both games, New England was better. In addition, New England hoists impressive victories over Toronto (12-8) and Philadelphia (8-7 and 9-7).

New England boasts the NLL’s second-best defense (101 goals against). Saskatchewan finished first with 93 goals against. New England’s defense smothered offensive opposition. Offensively, New England finished with a top five offense (5th). The Black Wolves tallied 135 goals.

Individually, Callum Crawford (33 goals, 43 assists) was en route to MVP status. Crawford dominated the league. I personally watched Crawford tear through New York’s defense. No one was topping Crawford for league MVP. Beside Crawford was the NLL’s top rookie in Andrew Kew (15 goals, 28 assists). This dynamic duo, alongside others, made New England the league’s top team.

During a full season, New England may have faltered. However, this is an unusual situation. With an unusual situation, NLL should make an unusual decision. New England was the NLL’s best regular season team. With no playoffs, and no way to unseat them, the league should give New England fans a consolation prize for the franchise’s best season. Let’s have a final celebration for the 2019/2020 NLL season. Announce the New England Black Wolves as NLL champs

Conclusion

Should the NLL declare a champion? Who do you think would have won it all? How do you think Corona has affected the league? Whatever your thoughts, air them by connecting with me on Twitter or Instagram. You can also comment directly onto this article by subscribing. By subscribing, you’ll be notified whenever I publish a new article. Any and all support is appreciated.

With the onset of Corona, and the lack of lacrosse news, I’ve slowed down my posts. I took the last month and a half off with finals occurring. Also, with me training everyday for my own season, I was feeling a bit burned out (with lacrosse). I’ve tried to get creative for new posts in this unprecedented time. Obviously, at this time, I thought I’d be writing about the new NCAA champion and the start of PLL/MLL games.

That said, thank you all for your continued support. Stay safe and for those of you still playing, keep training!