From New England Lax Journal:

March 4, 2009

Impact player

Mitch Belisle (left) is earning a reputation as a hard-working and hard-hitting defender, as the New York Titans’ Jordan Hall can attest. (photo: Brian Clark/New England Lacrosse Journal)

by Justin Rice/

Whether he’s appearing in new media or old, no player on the upstart Boston Blazers has drawn more publicity to the indoor lacrosse team during its inaugural season than Mitch Belisle.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the defenseman — who was featured in a Stuff magazine photo spread called Bodies by Boston — works in the team’s communications office by day. More likely, however, it has everything to do with the vicious hit Belisle laid on Jarrett Park of the New York Titans in Boston’s home opener on Jan. 17.

The hit brought the biggest cheers from the TD Banknorth Garden crowd during the 13-9 loss when Belisle stormed out of the penalty box and blindsided Park, jarring the ball, the helmet and the wind from his unsuspecting opponent and former teammate.

And as of Feb. 10, the YouTube clip of the hit had received more than 22,000 views (you can see it at www.laxjournal.com).

“That was a 1-in-100 chance. I just happened to be coming out of the box and he wasn’t looking at me,” Belisle said after the game. “Jarrett is one of my good friends and I would expect him to do the exact same thing to me if I was in that situation. I’m interested to go talk to him after the game.”

While many traditional and casual lacrosse fans might see the hit as a cheap one, Blazers coach Tom Ryan seems to be of the mindset that any publicity for the National Lacrosse League is good publicity.

“Normally, defensive guys don’t get the limelight like that, but when you blow up Jarrett Park like he did … you don’t see many hits that big in any sport,” Ryan said. “I think everyone in the league has seen that a few times. It’s brought attention to our sport to the point where people are taking notice and saying, ‘That’s a tough sport.’ That’s, as I said, one of the bigger hits that you’ll see in any sport. I do believe Mitch has a photo of that hanging up in his office.”

While he might not be used to so much hubbub around him, Belisle is no stranger to receiving accolades within the annals of lacrosse.

At Cornell, Belisle won the Schmeisser Cup as the nation’s top defenseman and was a first-team All-American as a senior.

Graduating in 2007, Belisle moved to New York City to work for the ratings agency Moody’s. After spending a year analyzing credit mortgage securities by day and flying to Los Angeles on weekends to play for Major League Lacrosse’s Riptide, Belisle was laid off from his job as the financial crisis rocked the world and Moody’s lost 90 percent of its business, according to Belisle.

“I moved there right when everything started to collapse on itself. Obviously, it was an eye-opening experience being in the market when I was,” the 23-year-old said. “It was definitely a little taxing. I was so busy and always on the move. It was a good experience and fun. I got to see two great parts of the country. It was fun but definitely tough on my body, and by the fall I was ready for a break.”

Belisle called the layoff a blessing in disguise, because he’s not a person who can sit in front of a computer all day. After he was let go, he moved to Los Angeles and coached at lacrosse camps when he wasn’t playing for the Riptide.

His future with Los Angeles’ outdoor team, however, ended when the team’s ownership group declined to renew its stake in the franchise. Shortly after he was laid off, the former New York Titan was happy to be drafted by the Blazers with the second pick in last June’s NLL dispersal draft. And in February, it was announced that his MLL rights would belong to the Boston Cannons.

The move to Boston was somewhat of a homecoming for the 5-foot-10, 195-pounder, who lived in Bourne, Mass., as a teenager and whose grandparents live in Westwood, Mass.

“I love Boston,” said Belisle, who lives with several teammates in the city’s North End. “Growing up in New England, I have a lot of family here in Boston. It’s a historic city and a little more manageable than New York. It fits my personality and lifestyle well. I like the city and hope to be here a long time.”

With a father in the Coast Guard, Belisle was bound to move around during his childhood. He was born in Severna Park, Md., and attended grades 8 through 10 in Bourne before moving back to his lacrosse-crazy home state for grades 11 and 12.

Upon arriving on the Cape, Belisle was dismayed at his lacrosse options, in that there were none. So his parents helped start a youth lacrosse program in Bourne, where Belisle also played varsity hockey as an eighth grader on one of the top Division 3 teams in the state.

“It was exciting to be part of something new, just like here with the Blazers,” Belisle said of Bourne’s youth lacrosse program. “And it was good to go back to Maryland and have a chance to go back and play [lacrosse] at a high level.

“I learned how to play [lacrosse] in Maryland and fell in love with the sport,” Belisle continued. “We moved back to Maryland and we had a hockey team but it just started. It was almost an exact flip-flop in sports.”

Belisle didn’t let that stop him from excelling on the ice. He won the Yvonne Labre award for the best public high school hockey player in Maryland and his team lost in the state semifinals his senior year of 2003.

Focusing only on lacrosse at Cornell, Belisle was moved from the midfield, which he played all his life, to defense. The team won at least a share of the Ivy League title all four years of his tenure, including an undefeated season his sophomore year. And while he’s proud to say he never lost to Cornell’s chief rival, Princeton, Belisle’s team did lose to Duke with three seconds left in the national semifinals his senior year.

The heartbreaking losses kept coming after Belisle was picked 13th overall in the MLL draft by the Riptide. Two years ago Los Angeles lost in the championship game, and last year the Riptide lost in the last minute of the semifinals. Last year his NLL team, the Titans, lost in the Eastern Conference finals.

“It’s been a pretty unfortunate stretch,” said Belisle, who in February was named to the MLL Eastern Division All-Star team. “I like to think it’s not my fault.”

Belisle was finally on the other end of a last-second stunner (coincidentally, against the Titans) on Feb. 7 at the TD Banknorth Garden. Kyle Ross scored the game-winner for the Blazers that night with a half-second remaining for a 9-8 victory.

Belisle snagged three loose balls in that game to bring his total to 29 through six games this season. He also had two goals in those six games. That’s all in addition to his duties in the team’s front office. Blazers forward Dan Dawson said Belisle is not only the backbone of the team’s defense but also the team’s traveling secretary and clubhouse manager, coordinating the team’s itinerary and schedule.

“Not only is he a good teammate, but he’s kind of our organizer,” Dawson said before commenting on how quickly Belisle has adjusted to the indoor game. “You talk about a guy who never stops working for 60 minutes, that’s Mitch.”

But his role as the team’s ambassador in the media has also earned Belisle nicknames such as Playboy and Baby Face.

“He’s a good-looking guy, he’s got a great personality,” Ryan said, speaking to why Belisle has become the Blazers’ poster boy. “It’s kind of a combination of a lot of things, but the bottom line is he goes out and he plays hard and he’s been at the right place at the right time and has come up with some big plays.”