This article takes an in-depth look at where the players at Chaos Lacrosse Club come from.
Do you know the players who are from the same hometown? Which players attended the same high school? Which players were fierce conference rivals at college?
Read on…
Chaos And The Tour-Based Model
The Premier Lacrosse League has a tour-based model with all the clubs coming together at weekends to the same venue.
This means that the Chaos Lacrosse Club doesn’t have a permanent base to call its home.
But you’d be wrong to think that the coaches don’t care where their players come from. The fastest way to establish a team culture in a young club is to have a core set of players who already know each other.
When the PLL was first set up, they had this to say about forming the teams:
…these teams have been built around players who have played in colleges together or played rivalries against each other…
Divya Goel, 2019
Players have come and gone since the inaugural season. That’s clear from our lists of the Chaos rosters since 2019. However, there is still a pattern at Chaos of higher representation from a few colleges and conferences.
Which Colleges Are Chaos Players From?
This map shows the twenty states represented by Chaos. Just scan across for the logo!
The current team comes from nineteen NCAA Division 1 colleges across these states.
Albany and Penn State have two apiece.
The University of North Carolina is the highest-represented college with three alumni on the roster.
North Carolina players at the club
Let’s take a closer look at the players from the University of North Carolina. After all, their representation may swing your loyalty if you are a Tar Heels fan.
Chris Cloutier and Tanner Cook are two Canadians from Ontario. Tanner is younger by three years and graduated in 2021. Chaos selected him in the 2021 college draft.
They picked up Chris Cloutier in the same season but in a trade with Atlas. Chaos had to give up their third-round college pick in the following season to get the seasoned attackman.
This pair have one more thing in common (the same school) but I’ll get to that later.
Jack Rowlett is a Virginian who was selected by Chaos in the 2019 college draft.
Other colleges
Plenty of colleges have one player at Chaos. Both Army and Navy are represented.
- Army, West Point
- Dartmouth
- Denver
- Duke
- Georgetown
- Hofstra
- Michigan
- Navy, Annapolis
- Providence
- Robert Morris
- Stony Brook
- Syracuse
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Yale
Former Rivals At Chaos
It may seem like having players from so many different colleges doesn’t make for a big percentage of the roster with prior history.
But the North Carolina players at Chaos would have a traditional rivalry with the other colleges in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Chaos has players from three other colleges in that conference:
- CJ Costabile, Duke, 2012
- Thomas Kelly, Virginia, 2011
- Brett Kennedy, Syracuse, 2022
As you can see by the graduation dates, there is quite a gap between the two veterans and the younger player.
You can be sure that all the younger players in the Atlantic Coast Conference were familiar with the college exploits of CJ Constabile.
CJ was an All-American for each of his four years at Duke. He famously scored the overtime goal against Notre Dame to give the Blue Devils the 2010 national championship title.
Tommy Kelly has a different college story but it could be just as inspirational to young players who are struggling to get a place on their team.
Kelly did well early on in his freshman season at Virginia. But he lost his way academically and his parents took him out of the school. That was the end of his college career.
Five years later, he was an MLL All-Star. The PLL was founded two years later and Tommy Kelly was in the inaugural Chaos roster of 2019.
Hometowns and High Schools
We’ve looked at the colleges, but what about the players’ hometowns and high school?
Tommy Kelly and Troy Reh both come from Rocky Point in New York, although there are about eight years between the two men.
They both attended Rocky Point High School, but not at the same time.
Wes Berg and Challen Rogers come from Coquitlam in British Columbia. They went to school at Dr. Charles Best, a year apart.
Dhane Smith and Chris Cloutier come from Kitchener in Ontario. By the way, we reckon that Dhane is one of the top earners at the Chaos Lacrosse Club.
Four players from Ontario went to school at The Hill Academy:
- Tanner Cook
- Chris Cloutier
- Kyle Jackson
- Ian MacKay
Cloutier and MacKay were in the same year. Jackson was a few years ahead of them while Cook was behind them.
The Hill Academy has quite a number of players in the PLL. You can find more in our articles on Atlas players and Archers players.
Canadian Players At The Club
Chaos has ten Canadian players on their roster, which is more than most clubs in the PLL.
Here is the list.
| Name | College | Grad Year |
| Wes Berg | Denver | 2015 |
| Josh Byrne | Hofstra | 2017 |
| Chris Cloutier | North Carolina | 2018 |
| Tanner Cook | North Carolina | 2021 |
| Chase Fraser | Neumann | 2017 |
| Kyle Jackson | Michigan | 2016 |
| Ian MacKay | Vermont | 2018 |
| Challen Rogers | Stony Brook | 2016 |
| Dhane Smith | Conestoga | |
| Ryan Smith | Robert Morris | 2021 |
