What a difference a year makes.

In February 2023, Romar Dennis stood next to Premier Lacrosse League co-founder Paul Rabil on the podium at The St. James, a sports complex in Springfield, Virginia. Rabil presented Dennis with the Golden Stick award, given to the leading scorer of the Championship Series, an offseason tournament played in a modified version of Olympic Sixes format between the PLL’s top four teams from the previous season.

While Rabil smiled and handed over the trophy, Dennis looked down and kept his lips tight. Standing on the other side of him was the entire Chrome team, jubilant because they had just beaten Dennis’ Atlas in the title game of the inaugural tournament.

“That was definitely a a miserable experience,” the Calvert County native and former Loyola standout said. “It was a terrible feeling because we lost. The individual trophy didn’t make a difference on my day, on how I felt after that night or any day after. I think getting that close and losing is as bad as it gets.”

Since the Championship Series is going to be a similar style to what is played in the Olympics in 2028, players want to take the event seriously and believe it can be an important part of the lacrosse calendar moving forward.

“It’s so up and down,” Dennis said. “Besides halftime, you can’t really look down at your phone or get up and go get a drink. It’s constant action. If you blink, you’ll miss something cool. It engages and keeps you entertained the entire time.”

The PLL returns to The St. James for the Championship Series at a time when the league is bringing a franchise to Maryland and enhancing its schedule to include traditional home and away games as well as tour stops.

Dennis will get another chance at a title. This time, however, he is with a new team and is going into the tournament with a clean slate.

The 28-year-old was traded mid-season from the New York Atlas to the California Redwoods. He said he can go into this year’s Championship Series with a more positive attitude than in the previous season when he was upset about his playing time the previous year and felt like he had something to prove.

“I can play looking forward to building on something that I can build on in the summer as well as opposed to just kind of trying to see if I can still do it,” he said. “I feel more encouraged to play for a coach that I feel like has my back as opposed to last year.”

Dennis isn’t the only Baltimore-area native getting a second chance to play in the Championship Series, either. Marcus Holman (Baltimore) and Jake Carraway (Annapolis) each will be playing in the event, and like Dennis, they both will be doing so with new teams.

Only a few weeks after playing in the tournament in 2023, both Holman and Carraway left their respective teams during the PLL’s free agency, with Holman moving from the Utah Archers to the Boston Cannons and Carraway going from the Atlas to the Philadelphia Waterdogs. Both enjoyed successful summer seasons with their new teams and are looking forward to seeing what they can do the second time around.

“Watching film from last year, I look at myself and am like, ‘Wow, that’s almost a completely different player,’ ” said Holman, who was an MVP-candidate in the 2023 summer season. “I was playing with a new-found energy in a new locker room and with a new group of teammates. How does the saying go? ‘No man steps in the same river twice because he’s not the same man, and the river is not the same river.’”

One of the big takeaways from the inaugural event was the impact the two-point shot can have. Because the Championship Series field is smaller than a regulation field, the league kept the two-point line but moved it in two feet from 15 to 13 feet. This was a sweet spot for some strong shooters, namely Dennis and Carraway on the Atlas. New York led the league in scores per game and two-point goals; their 38 two-point goals were 26 more than the second-place Archers.

Dennis led the league with 15 two-point goals, while teammate Bryan Costabile finished second with nine, and Carraway finished tied for third with six.

Despite being a key contributor to the Atlas, Carraway was hampered with a groin injury. He struggled running and changing directions; while he tried to just go out and play offense to just shoot, he described dodging as excruciating, and when he got caught in transition and stuck on defense, he said, “it wasn’t pretty.”

Carraway said this year, he’s completely healthy, ready to prove himself, and enjoy the experience.

“It’s a fun version of the game,” he said. “Sixes is very fun for a guy that has been a shooter his whole life and likes to be on offense in short quarters with a shorter two-point arc with no long poles hacking my arms.”

Garrett Epple (Baltimore) is one of the few natural defenders selected for a roster that will have to adjust to playing without a long-pole. A three-time All-Star and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, Epple had some experience playing short stick with the San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League, the box version of the game, and thought his knowledge would be beneficial.

He said he always has a short stick on him, even just to fool around at practice, but he also coaches high school lacrosse at Calvert Hall and has been practicing with his players.

He knows he’s there to bring a defensive presence, but he said if the Redwoods are going to be successful, then he’s going to have to help in transition and on offense as well.

“One of the other aspects of me playing is I’m a lefty as well, so you definitely need at least two or three, ideally, lefties on the field at any given time running an offensive set,” he said. “I think we’re a little short on lefties, which gives me an opportunity to stay on the field, which is what I’m looking forward to.”

The Championship Series begins Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. with round-robin group play between the Utah Archers, Boston Cannons, Philadelphia Waterdogs, and California Redwoods. The semifinals will be played Saturday with the winners advancing to the finals Monday afternoon.