MIKE PAXSON DISCUSSES DRASTIC IRONMEN ROSTER CHANGES

MIKE PAXSON DISCUSSES DRASTIC IRONMEN ROSTER CHANGES
When Mike Paxson came onto the Los Angeles Ironmen roster, they won the 2007 World Cup and NXL Series Title. The only other current player to have played on that same championship team is Brandon Short. The following year, 2008, they won the Cup and NXL Title again. Coming into the 2012 season, although Short is still on the Ironmen roster, he wasn’t at the PSP Galveston tournament, the first event of the season. So, Paxson was the only player to carry over his experience into this season from those two championship years. Since then, the Ironmen haven’t seen another Championship. Will they be able to do it this 2012? What changes have taken place?



Here’s what Mike Paxson has to share about the new Ironmen roster and how the team is working out.

Coming into the Galveston PSP event, I felt we did well and really came together as a team, considering the major shift that has taken place. We should’ve been undefeated in prelims with a 4-0 finish, but instead, we missed it by incurring a loss, bringing us to 3-1, only losing to X-Factor by a single point.

X-Factor just slipped away from us, after the match I felt we gave it right back to them twice over. One of the reasons we struggled a little bit against X-Factor is because of how young our team is now. Our young players simply lack the experience needed to close games at the professional level. An example of this is when we only managed to score one point during the time that X-Factor had two major penalties on the scoreboard. Then, there was another time when our timing was off and our team just pushed too fast. Toward the end of the X-Factor match, it came down to a 2-on-2. One of the X-Factor players makes his move and comes down the field, shooting towards one of our players, but gets a penalty along the way. The refs pulled the X-Factor player out, but they also took our guy out, too. Before the refs could remove the other X-Factor player, because of their earned penalty, it was too late. The last X-Factor player managed to shoot our last guy on the field before he got pulled.

We go into overtime.

In sudden death overtime, even with the advantage (since they had to start with just 4 to our 5 because of that penalty) and even with shooting one of their players off the break, making it a 5 on 3 in the final overtime game, we still couldn’t close it and lost to X-Factor by one point.

On top of this, the weather at Galveston was tough on our players, which added to our grief. And when it comes down to it, X-Factor had the upper hand because they had the experience needed to close the game. One of their front players managed to dive into the snake, and then without hesitation, jumped up and finished the game by taking out three of our players. This experience is what we need to work on as a team.

Leadership Change of Hands
Billy Wing and Mikko Huttenen were both the guys with all the answers; they were our “go-to” leaders of the team. The torch has been passed down from Billy and Mikko and now I find myself playing a very important leadership role on this team. Which, honesty, I embrace, because it’s this moment I’ve been training and preparing for for all these years. I find myself fielding a lot of the questions our new players ask. Additionally, instead of SK just being our coach, he really stepped up his role on the team by also becoming the team’s manager. Also helping with much of what Billy and Mikko used to do, Kyle Spicka plays an integral part in doing things, like booking flights, hotel, and car rentals.

So what happened to Billy and Mikko? Billy Wing moved across the country and is now living in Florida, but is still working for DYE doing Sales. It’s easier for him to be located there because he can fly right out of Miami and reach his customer base. It’s a bonus for me because we get to see each other more often, since I live just three hours south of him.

Mikko has moved up to becoming Dye’s Vice President and his travel schedule has made it difficult for him to make it to our practices. He didn’t want to just show up to the tournaments to compete without training with the team first. When he has the time again, he will likely make his comeback.

Even with the extreme change that has taken place with the team, we have still managed to make it to the Galveston’s semi-finals (which will be completed at the second PSP event in Phoenix). We made it to semi-finals without the help of Scott Kemp and Brandon Short since they were unable to make it out for that first event. We went into Galveston with just a handful of players from the 2011 roster like Eric Humphreys, Kyle Spicka, Osvaldo Lopes, and LJ. Besides Ryan Martin, a former Dynasty player, who came on board with us back in December, the rest of our new roster is comprised of players new to the pro scene.


Los Angeles Ironmen starting a game at PSP Phoenix
What does the future hold for the Ironmen? And how did they fare at the Phoenix Open? Stay tuned right here at paintballaccess.com