The Professional Lacrosse League (PLL) suspended players Matt Gaudet and Austin Staats on June 6 following a physical altercation between the two players at a hotel they both were staying at prior to their teams’ games.

The PLL has turned its investigation over to its Discipline and Conduct Committee in order to look further into the incident, which has largely been kept under wraps by all parties involved.

“The league has become aware of an altercation between Matt Gaudet of the Chrome Lacrosse Club and Austin Staats of the Chaos Lacrosse Club. Both players have been suspended indefinitely pending further investigation by the PLL Discipline and Conduct Committee,” the league said in a statement on Twitter.

The most notable detail that had the lacrosse community abuzz was a video posted to Twitter of Gaudet’s bloodied and mangled finger, which had seemingly been partially bitten off by Staats during their fight. Interestingly enough, Gaudet is currently the teammate of Randy Staats, the brother of Austin.

This is not the first time Gaudet has found himself embroiled in controversy in the league. Just one season ago, he was widely chastised for his controversial behavior while mic’d up during a game. He continually verbally attacked the opposing goalie for the Chaos, Blaze Riorden, with many calling his on-field behavior unacceptable. He followed up these antics by openly denigrating Riorden’s play during a post-game interview while Riorden stood right beside him.

The PLL has not announced when they plan to conclude their investigation, and until that time, it is unknown what the ramifications for Gaudet and Staats will be.

On Saturday, Canadian lacrosse player Brodie Merrill of the Boston Cannons scored an incredible goal when he launched an 80-yard shot right past former Syracuse University goalkeeper John Galloway of the Rochester Rattlers.

Boston Cannons’ Brodie Merrill Scores Lacrosse Hail Mary

The Rattlers led 14-12 with just 3 seconds left, but Merrill, 34, fired the deep shot, and since a shot from that distance counts for two points in Major League Lacrosse, his goal tied the game at 14 and sent it to overtime.

Davey Emala ultimately scored in the extra session to give Boston a 15-14 win over Rochester.

The Cannons’ Mitch Belisle was originally going to throw the ball up, but Merrill told him to hold off.

“I just looked up at the clock to see that there were three seconds left,” said Merrill. “Mitch [Belisle] was about to throw it and I said, ‘Mitch, Mitch, I’m going try to shoot it here.’

“I whipped it as hard as I could, Merrill said. The way the lighting was, it went off into the dark and I saw the reaction from the guys.”

“The guys persevered, head coach Sean Quirk said. “Davey Emala finished it off and had a great goal. I’m really proud of them. And then we have to talk about how there was Brodie being Brodie, I guess. He let it go and we saw him sunk it to put it into overtime.”

From time to time, lacrosse teams do hidden ball tricks to catch their opponent off guard and score an easy goal.

Yesterday, Syracuse decided to pull one off against Virginia. After goalie Bobby Wardwell saves a shot, defenseman Brandon Mullins looks like he scoops up the rebound and gives it back to his goalie. Little do the Cavaliers, the television crew, and probably most fans know that while Wardwell is trying to clear, Mullins is on the other side of the field. With a quick feed to Kevin Rice, the Orange are able to fool everyone and grab the goal.

Syracuse went on to win the game 15-9 and end up as the #1 team in the nation in this week’s polls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmNnlrD2piI

Well first thing, I had no idea that the National Lacrosse League allowed fighting: I have seen only a handful of NLL matches, but have never caught a scuffle. It appears, like hockey, there are enforcers on some teams and in the above video New England Wolves’ Bill O’Brien shows why he is one of the best.

And while a hockey fight is about balance and position, a lacrosse one is just about wailing on an individual until he cannot take it anymore. I have seen street fights that looked prettier than this. Still, this little moment, which has gone viral, has somewhat peaked my interest in the NLL. If intensity is running this high, maybe next time I will seek out and watch a game.