Don’t fear the folkloric Jersey Devil. It’s the Trenton Terror that is real.
But now fans of the new Professional Box Lacrosse Association team might be wondering whether the league was actually a myth.
After playing its first game of the season on Dec. 30 at the Cure Insurance Arena, the Trenton Terror — one of nine teams in the new PBLA — was suddenly put on hold as of Tuesday.
“We made a difficult decision to postpone the remainder of the inaugural season,” said PBLA owner Carmen Kesner. “Our vision is to implement a fast, physical, safe, and exciting experience for our fans and players. We believe we have been able to create this experience, but we feel there are elements we need to improve upon. For that reason, we are halting the season to re-organize the league and team operations.”
When asked for more information about the sudden decision, the PBLA responded to an email only to say officials there weren’t providing any more interviews at this time.
The news also caught players off-guard this week, after having just played their fifth game Friday night, beating the Elmira Renegades 13-12.
“I was shocked and extremely disappointed at the decision to put a hold on the season,” Trenton Coach and General Manager Luke Wiles told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday. “The on-floor product is excellent and as a franchise we were doing extremely well in first place.
“I’m proud of the work we accomplished in a short time. I have hope that the league can restore the season and finish what we started even if it is a shortened version. "
Wiles said he was appreciative of all the people involved in this “massive undertaking” and he wanted to thank “the people who bought tickets and came out to support us.”
He even declared his team “The Champs” as they are currently in first place and joked that the team might have to do a banner-raising ceremony.
Box Lacrosse, a modern version of the game created by the Iroquois, or ‘Haudenosaunee’ originated in Canada when field lacrosse was brought indoors during the 1920s and 1930s making use of hockey arenas that were vacant in the off-season.
Each team on the field consists of five players and a goaltender. Protective equipment is minimal. There is a 30-second shot clock and the action is fast and furious.
The stated intention of the PBLA, when it announced its new teams, was “to bring back the pure excitement of professional box lacrosse focusing on the reintroduction of American players.”
One of those American players is New Jersey’s own Sean Quinn, of Summit, who plays for Trenton.
He credits his father, who played lacrosse at Loyola College, with teaching him everything he knows about the sport, along with other coaches later in life.
“Ever since then I was a lacrosse guy,” Quinn said. “It’s been my whole life.”
Quinn and the team were doing well in this first year — sitting atop the league standings and the team scored a league-high 20 goals in one game.
During Friday night’s game, the unexpected last of the season, youngsters with the Robbinsville Lacrosse Association suited up and took the field between the first and second periods for a scrimmage. The RLA is a non-profit youth sports organization that features boys and girls teams pre-K through 8th grade.
Ben Parrott was one of the organization’s players that left their seats in the stands to take the field and play in the scrimmage, a daunting challenge for a 10-year-old.
Still wearing his replica game jersey of Trenton Terror player Adam Yee, Parrott was interviewed “post-game” in the locker room before the young players returned to their seats.
He said that as he played, he got less nervous being on the big field under the Friday night lights of the arena, which seats 7,605 for hockey or lacrosse.
“When I’m looking at the field from the stands, it looks a lot smaller,” Parrott said, “But when you first get on it, it looks a lot bigger.”
Among the other spectators in the sparse crowd Friday night, Ryan Dajczak, of Ewing, and his wife Brittany were seated in the front row where they could bang their hands in short rapid-fire bursts on the glass barrier to show their appreciation for the athletes’ play.
“I was really excited to hear that lacrosse was coming to Trenton, so I had to buy season tickets,” said Dajczak who grew up in Hopewell and stated playing lacrosse in the second grade.
As part of the news on Tuesday that the season — which was supposed to last through mid-April — was coming to an abrupt end, the PBLA also announced that season ticket holders will be contacted and will receive a full refund for the duration of the season.
“The postponement was surprising,” Dajczak said when reached on Tuesday. “It’s really unfortunate it had to end this early after starting. I am hoping that they can get everything re-organized for next year and actually come back again.”
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Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com
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