April 8, 2022
By Adam Ruffner

• Three AUDL teams—the DC Breeze, Los Angeles Aviators, and New York Empire—will be heading down to Medellín, Colombia next week to compete in the annual TEP international tournament. The event will act as both a showcase for the new SKY-AUDL initiative, as well as a preseason primer for the three featured squads. The two showcase exhibitions will take place on Saturday, April 16 and will be available live on AUDL.tv. 

  • Los Angeles Aviators vs Latin American All-Stars — 8:30 PM/ET

  • DC Breeze vs New York Empire — 10:15 PM/ET

    

The LatinAm All-Stars will feature two AUDL players with Tampa Bay’s Hector Ordoñez and Joc Jiménez—the former 2019 Aviators all-star and newly named SKY-AUDL ambassador—both representing the host country Colombia. Both matchups figure to be great games, but I’m really intrigued to see the DC-New York rivalry get a warmup before their Week 1 showdown in the “Game Of The Week”. 

• Six AUDL players and a head coach were announced as selections and alternates for the USA National Team roster that will compete at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. 

  • Khalif El-Salaam, Atlanta Hustle

  • Nate Goff, Chicago Union

  • Jack Hatchett, Portland Nitro

  • Raphy Hayes, Portland Nitro

  • Kaela Helton, San Diego Growlers

  • Eric Taylor, Carolina Flyers

  • Jack Williams, New York Empire

Only 14 players total were selected to formal roster, with six players announced as alternates. The USA National Team has claimed gold in each of the last four World Games competitions.

• As reported on by Evan Lepler earlier this week, Carolina’s Allan Laviolette has suffered a torn ACL and figures to miss the 2022 season. Laviolette had a career year last season, leading the Flyers in assists (45) and compiling 4847 total yards of offense on his way to earning an All-AUDL Second Team nomination. Carolina finished with the number one scoring offense in the league last season on their way to winning a title, and Laviolette was a main driving force of the Flyers’s offensive successes. One of this team’s main strengths is its depth and lineup adaptability, but this is a major loss coming just three weeks out from the team’s season opener against Atlanta.
   

• The Ottawa Outlaws have announced Nick Boucher, Jeremy Hill, and Carson Turner as captains for the 2022 season. All three players have played a minimum of four seasons with Ottawa; the Outlaws are still searching for their first playoff appearance as a franchise. Boucher went supernova in his 2021 debut weekend with the Outlaws, totaling 19 scores and over 1700 yards of total offense in Ottawa’s 2-0 sweep of Toronto and Montreal. An injury derailed much of Boucher’s season, as he made just two more appearances after his sensational two-game performance. When he’s in the lineup, the Outlaws offense has enough talent and experience to put them in the hunt for the third playoff spot in the East Division.
   

• Continuing more roster spot announcements, Colorado inked veteran defender and 2021 Spirit and Equity Award winner Joe “Smash” Anderson. A member of the 2012 Connecticut franchise, Anderson returns to the AUDL ten years after participating in the inaugural season. And for an expansion team that will feature a lot of new talent, Anderson is a perfect fit as a learned team leader.
   

• If you haven’t already, be sure to check out some of the team podcasts coming out. Carolina and New York both dropped new episodes this week. Also a shameless plug for my own "Swing Pass", which airs every week on Wednesdays. 
   

• We are just three weeks (21 days!) away from the 2022 AUDL opening pull featuring Atlanta versus Carolina.

​