Jordan Burke Retires. Who Will Replace Him?

     Yesterday the Boston Cannons and Jordan Burke announced that Jordan Burke had retired from Major League Lacrosse.

      Burke leaves the Cannons as their all-time leader in Games played in goal, wins, saves, and also was the 2011 Championship weekend MVP the year the Cannons won the title. Burke leaves behind a great legacy as one of the better Goalies in the MLL. Burke currently sits in the top 10 in several areas for Goalies in the MLL. Wins 34 (7th in MLL History), Games Played in Goal 67 (8th in MLL History), Minutes Played in Goal 3,623 (7th in MLL History), Saves 910 (6th in MLL History), Goals Against Average 12.50 (6th in MLL History), Save Percentage 54.7% (10th in MLL History).

     The question now is who will replace Burke? The Cannons now have four Goalies on their roster, Jack Runkel, Jack Murphy, Eric Hagarty,and Cameron Bell, which would explain why the Cannons recently selected the Endicott Goalie in the last round in this years collegiate draft.

     In my mind I think it might be a battle between Jack Runkel and Jack Murphy for the starting Goalie position unless the Cannons make a big move to get a big name goalie. Here is what I like about these two goalies. First let me talk about Jack Runkel.

     I’ve been saying this for a long time Runkel could be the Goalie of the future for the Cannons once Burke retired, and that chance is coming a little earlier than I expected. The first thing that you have to love about Runkel is his size he is big guy at 6’4 225 lbs. who can really take up a good portion of the net, and sometimes for goalies being big can help them, and it seems like Runkel uses his size to help him big time in his play. Runkel has always been a winner since his time in college at Loyola including winning a National Championship in 2012 his first year as a starter when he took over the starting position after being the backup for the first three games for Loyola. Not only did he win a National Championship but he also set a record for the least goals allowed in a National Championship game allowing only three goals to Maryland. Runkel finished his career with Loyola with a 42-7 record, and allowed only 7.71 goals per game, and had a save percentage of 56.9. Runkel’s resume is pretty impressive in 2014 (his Senior Year) he was an USILA All-America. He was also 2014 Patriot League Goalie of the Year.  In Runkel’s rookie season he saw playing time in two games for Chesapeake Bayhawks playing a grand total of 35 minutes. But in those 35 minutes that season Runkel managed to get a win for the Bayhawks, and had a save percentage of 50% allowing 9 goals, and having 9 saves that season. Following that season Runkel was picked up in the third round of the Supplemental draft by the Charlotte Hounds. Runkel saw time in 97 minutes last year but struggled with the Hounds at times finishing with a record of 0-2. He also had a tough time making saves allowing 26 goals to making only 22 saves.

     Now time to look at Jack Murphy he is local Massachusetts guy from Cohasset, so if he starts he would be a hometown hero just saying. Murphy originally attended Mass Maritime for one year before he decided to transfer to Fairfield University where he had an outstanding career. Murphy took over the starting job as a Junior and started every game from that point on for Fairfield. When Murphy graduated he left Fairfield as their He fifth all-time leaders for saves 321. Murphy does not have the imposing size of Runkel but is still pretty big height wise at 6’1 but compared to Runkel he is really not that big. From what I’ve seen from Murphy he is very good at seeing the ball well and making some big time saves as well. Murphy saw no time between the pipes last year for the Cannons in his first season.

     When it comes down to it neither goalie Murphy or Runkel have really seen much actual playing time in their Major League Lacrosse careers but this is the chance these two have been waiting for. If I had to make a choice right now of who I think is starting between the pipes when the season starts I would have to choose Runkel based of his past at Loyola and his little bit of playing time so far in his MLL career.