The Atlanta Blaze were a professional men's

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initially codified by Canadian William George Beers in 1867. Fi ...

team in

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...

(MLL). The Blaze became the ninth team in MLL as an expansion team for the 2016 season and played its home games at

Atlanta Silverbacks Park Atlanta Silverbacks Park is a sports complex in unincorporated DeKalb County, just outside Atlanta, United States that is currently used primarily for soccer. It was formerly the home venue of the Atlanta Silverbacks soccer club, from which the c ...

in Atlanta, Georgia.

Franchise history

On August 7, 2015, the MLL granted an expansion franchise to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

for the

2016 MLL season The 2016 Major League Lacrosse season was the 16th season of Major League Lacrosse. The season featured 9 teams (all in the United States) after the addition of the Atlanta Blaze via expansion. It was the first season since 2008 that the league fi ...

. The league had previously held several games there before including the 2014 and 2015 championship games which drew 8,149 and 8,674 people (the latter is a

Steinfeld Cup The Steinfeld Trophy was a trophy given annually to the winners of the Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere ...

record). The league suspended the Blaze for the 2020 season.

2016 inaugural season

The Blaze hosted the first game in franchise history on Saturday, April 23, 2016 against the storied

Chesapeake Bayhawks The Chesapeake Bayhawks were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland since 2010. They played in the greater Baltimore metro area beginning with the MLL's inaugural 2001 season, as the Balti ...

. Kevin Rice scored the first goal in franchise history only 44 seconds into the game, and Conrad Oberbeck scored 14 seconds later as Atlanta took a 6-0 lead to start the game. Despite the great start, the Blaze were not able to finish it out and lost 16-13 in front of 4,145 fans. After losing in Boston, the Blaze came back home on May 14 where they smoked the

Denver Outlaws The Denver Outlaws were a Major League Lacrosse professional men's field lacrosse team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They began playing in the MLL in 2006 as an expansion team. Since joining the league, the Outlaws have played in the ...

for their first win in franchise history by a score of 23-12. The rest of the Blaze's first year included some very questionable moves. On June 14, the Blaze traded their top draft pick,

Myles Jones Myles Jones (born March 15, 1993), is an American professional lacrosse player with Atlas Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League. He attended Walt Whitman High School in Huntington Station, New York, completed a post-graduate year at Salis ...

, to the Bayhawks after Jones had only played two games for the Blaze. On July 21, the team released Hall of Fame head coach John Tucker and replaced him with assistant coach David Huntley after a 3-7 start. The Blaze finished their inaugural season in eighth place at 4-10, ahead of only the

Florida Launch The Florida Launch were a professional men's field lacrosse team based in Boca Raton, Florida. They joined Major League Lacrosse (MLL) as an expansion team for the 2014 season until 2019. The team played its home games at Florida Atlantic Univer ...

. Former

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

and Thrashers executive Jim Pfeifer was named the team's new president on December 29.

2017 season

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, the Blaze returned much more competitive. The team still had playoff hopes as they entered the second-to-last week of the regular season, but a loss to the Rochester Rattlers eliminated them. However, they were still able to post an improved 6-8 record. Highlights from the season included a 17-4 drubbing of the

on July 1, playing in their first Fourth of July game in Denver, and

Kevin Rice Kevin Geoffrey Rice (born 13 January 1965) is a former English cricketer. Rice was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born in Morchard Bishop, Devon. Rice made his debut for Devon in the 1984 Minor Counties Cham ...

becoming the first Atlanta Blaze player to score 100 points in a Blaze uniform. On December 18, 2017, Blaze coach Dave Huntley died at the age of 60. Former MLL player Liam Banks was named the Blaze's third head coach. Before the 2018 Collegiate Draft on April 18, MLL commissioner Sandy Brown announced the league had approved the sale of the Blaze to Andre Gudger, founder and CEO of technology and investment company Eccalon. This came five months after former owner Peter Trematerra sold the team back to the league, a move that also included a lawsuit.

2018 season

The 2018 summer season was the best season that the Blaze had since their inception, posting a 7-7 record. They were one win away from their first playoff berth, but lost to the Denver Outlaws on the final week of the season to be eliminated.

2019 season and dissolution

During this season they had to move to

because their

Grady Stadium Eddie S Henderson Stadium (formerly Grady Stadium) is an Atlanta Public School football stadium located in Midtown Atlanta, south of Piedmont Park. The stadium is one of two stadiums owned and managed by the Atlanta Public School (APS) system, t ...

was being renovated. After, they ceased operations and were relocated to Philadelphia as the second incarnation of the Philadelphia Barrage.

Attendance

Despite drawing near sellouts for the 2014 and 2015

championship games, the Blaze have so far failed to draw similar numbers for their home games.League Attendance
/ref>

Season-by-season

Head Coaching History

Roster

MLL Award Winners

Rookie of the Year * Alex Woodall:

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Defensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY or DPOTY) is the name of an award given in sports for outstanding Defense (sports), defensive play by a single player over the course of a season. Many sports leagues award this type of award. League awards for D ...

* Liam Byrnes:

David Huntley Man of the Year * Scott Ratliff:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Draft history

References

External links

*
majorleaguelacrosse.com
{{Major League Lacrosse Lacrosse clubs established in 2015 2015 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Blaze