After ‘special year’ ends in semifinals, Brian Holman sees bright future for Cannons
· Yahoo Sports
“I was as satisfied as you can be for losing your last game.”
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It’s not the kind of feeling you might expect from a coach just days removed from a season-ending loss. But for Brian Holman, the Cannons’ semifinal defeat wasn’t what defined 2026.
Boston had come one game short of a PLL U.S. Bank Championship appearance. There was certainly disappointment, but when Holman reflected on the season, that feeling was outweighed by something else: pride in how far the Cannons had come and excitement about where they could go next.
“I just really love where we are as an organization and as a team right now,” Holman said. “I think we’ve made great strides, we solved a lot of problems, and we had a special year.”
In the aftermath of the 13-10 loss to the Philadelphia Waterdogs, Holman didn’t feel like the Cannons had let an opportunity slip away. And after watching the film with some distance, it only reinforced that feeling.
“I think pound for pound, [the Waterdogs] are the best team in the league,” Holman said. “… You know, two less saves by [Sean Byrne] and three less pipes by us, and two more saves by our goalie, we win that game by two or three goals. That’s how I felt watching film.”
Playing in the semifinals was a far cry from where the Cannons were a year earlier, when they missed the playoffs and entered 2026 without any clear sense of what the season might hold.
There were plenty of questions at the start.
“Where were we gonna get goals from with Ryan Drenner getting hurt? Asher [Nolting] was a question mark to begin this season. We knew that,” Holman said. “Marcus [Holman], he’s getting older; is he going to be able to perform? What is our defense gonna look like?”
As the season unfolded, the Cannons found a way to respond to each unknown.
Brian Kelly replaced Nolting early in the season, JC Higginbotham took over in net, and Will Donovan, a lifelong long-stick midfielder, moved to close defense as a rookie and quickly proved he could handle some of the league’s top attackmen. Throughout the changes, the roster remained steadfast.
“There was nobody on the team that blinked,” Holman said. “I credit JC and Brian because they were such great teammates, so guys had confidence and faith in them.”
In a season that began with uncertainty, two things surprised Holman as the team took shape: the leadership inside the locker room and the development of the team’s youngest players.
“The leadership has been better than probably any team I’ve ever coached in 40 years,” Holman said. “I lean on them, they lean on me, we just have really open, honest conversations.”
Marcus Holman, Colin Kirst, Jack Kielty and Zach Goodrich have been with Holman since he started with the Cannons four years ago, giving the group a level of trust that allows them to challenge each other, disagree and still move forward together.
With an influx of young players, the rookies were the talk of the season. But what impressed Holman was how quickly they embraced change, willingly taking on roles that were completely different from what they had played in college.
Hunter Smith, drafted as a close defenseman, moved to LSM alongside Ethan Rall – a position he’d never played. Jack Regnery was a difference-maker in the midfield after starring as an attackman at Tufts. No. 2 overall draft pick Mikey Weisshaar had to expand his game, learning to contribute in ways that weren’t always second nature.
“Mikey, for his whole life, has always had the ball in his stick,” Holman said. “… It took him a while to understand, ‘How do I play without the ball in my stick?’ [In the quarterfinals] he had three caused turnovers. In the beginning of the season, he wouldn’t even have run back on defense. As a matter of fact, he was running off the field on defense.”
Nothing to see here just a 3CT game from 🎱 pic.twitter.com/vECcdfGYDe
— Boston Cannons (@PLLCannons) September 1, 2026
It was a small example of a bigger theme that defined the Cannons’ season: players willing to put the team before what was familiar.
“The willingness for those guys to say, ‘OK, this is a different team, it’s a different game, I have a different role, and I need to play that role,’” Holman said. “All of them.”
As for what comes next, Holman’s first order of business is breakfast with Marcus. The younger Holman is an MVP finalist, having enjoyed a resurgent season at age 35.
“I just got off the phone with Marcus. We haven’t talked; we’ll meet next week for breakfast. We always do. Give it a week or two, and he’s like, ‘I’m ready to go,’” Holman said.
After that, the offseason work begins: end-of-year surveys, conversations with the 13 players whose contracts are up — including Higginbotham, Kelly, Kielty, Goodrich, Colin and Connor Kirst, Jeff Trainor and Marcus Holman — and, eventually, figuring out what the roster needs to look like in 2027.
It’s too early for Holman to know exactly what those needs will be. But at first glance, adding youth at short-stick defensive midfield is one area that comes to mind.
What comes next won’t necessarily look like this year, when six rookies joined the roster and quickly became part of the team’s foundation. But the philosophy will remain the same.
“I just want to continue to be who we are, adding pieces to the puzzle that will enhance us, but also will fit what being a Cannon is all about,” Holman said.