[Editor’s Note: Today we have a guest post from our resident lacrosse guru, Jared Buccola, who’s been covering the Premier Lacrosse League {PLL} for UW for the past couple years. He’s here to break down the special unis for the PLL Championship Series. Enjoy! — PH]
by Jared Buccola
Hello, and welcome back to the newest episode of Uni Watch’s look into the Premier Lacrosse League. Today, we’ll be discussing the Championship Series. Before we dive into the uniforms, let’s touch base on what I am actually talking about here.
The Championship Series is an off season tournament, comprised of the top four finishing teams from previous Premier Lacrosse League season. This year, that includes the New York Atlas, Maryland Whipsnakes, Boston Cannons and Utah Archers.
Additionally, the teams will be playing a different format of lacrosse called “sixes”. Sixes is just that, 6v6, compared to 10v10 in field lacrosse. The game takes place on a smaller field, and there are no specialty positions (defense, midfield, attack). All players run up and down the field, encompassing the responsibilities of all the positions. There is no stoppage of play, or faceoff after a goal, instead the ball is put back into play by the goalie, and play continues, similar to basketball. This promotes a fast paced, high scoring game.
Now to what you’re actually here for, the uniforms.
New York Atlas
Starting from the top and for the first time in their history, the Atlas will have matte navy blue helmets. The light blue cage adds nice contrast, but the horns feel lost because they’re also primarily navy. Had the colors been swapped within the horn, they would stand out more. The Atlas will sport light blue jerseys and shorts, with horn sleeve stripes and gradient pin stripes. The alternate “NY” logo takes center stage this time, and we see the “CR” patch in memory of Callum Robinson, a former PLL player and Atlas member who was killed in Mexico in 2024.
Maryland Whipsnakes
Not to be confused with the Maryland Terrapins, but the “Whips” wear their familiar Maryland flag motif. This year’s uniform is red/white/red, with the alternate “M” logo on the jersey and a subtle flag pattern on the sleeve. The helmet has a “Whips” decal, and the flag stripes down the top.
Utah Archers
The Archers arrive with a tri-color combo of orange/blue/white. The helmet has the “Utah” wordmark (man I love that state outline in the “A”), but I prefer their polished/matte helmets over the chrome. The blue jersey has a large team logo, angled mountain sleeve stripes and a garish ad patch. The white shorts carry over the same mountain stripes, jersey number and a round team logo, kind of a busy lay out.
Boston Cannons
Another tri-color combo as the Cannons trot out in blue/red/gray. A first for the Cannons, wearing a chrome blue helmet with the primary logo and red/gray accents. The red jersey has the alternate “B” logo and a simple sleeve stripe pattern. The gray shorts have a vertically oriented stripe to match the sleeve, and a circular logo.
The Championship Series starts February 11th, and will air on ESPN+
Love em. Love the lacrosse feature. The PLL has some great looks.
Would love an NCAA lax review!
Second!
Hey, thanks for the positive words. Definitely chatting a NCAA lacrosse breakdown with Phil. It’s a big task, so we may just aim for the tournament.
Yes A NCAA Review would be fantastic! I Love your reviews and the Lax Feature. The PLL has some great jerseys and helmets.
Hey, an NCAA review is a possibility. Thanks for appreciating our little lacrosse spotlight!
The Utah Archers did so much of a better job than the Utah Hockey Club so far.
Hahaha you’re not wrong! Not to mention, two of the three options for Utah are already existing lacrosse teams!
Boston should have used the Barrage’s “b ball logo since the PLL owns all the MLL properties.
You’re right! For team’s that have MLL history, that would be cool if they referenced them during throwback weekend. Also, if the PLL expands, I would love to see the Dallas Rattlers
So …. there are four other teams playing this week.
#justsaying
We heard you, Hurd. Hope you enjoy the WLL breakdown
If the players are making better money in this new league, more power to them, but PLL is basically a traveling tournament.
Really hard to support (or care about) a team that might play once in the area it claims to represent.
It’s not even like the majority of any of the team’s rosters are made up of players from either the state/city they “represent” or even attended college in that state.
You could almost literally throw a bunch of jerseys in a pile and ask players to pick them out and get the same results in building the teams.
Love the lacrosse content!
The new WLL teams are also playing in the champs series this week, would love to see any coverage there. Maybe some nice skorts vs. shorts debate, lol.
Maybe some NCAA lacrosse too?
Hey! Heard on the WLL and was happy to write that up! An NCAA review would be fun, a big undertaking, but something I’d be willing to do!