This month's featured hardshell is Dylan Maltz, who helped lead Maryland to three national title games and the 2017 National Championship. Maltz has remained heavily involved with the sport since graduating running lacrosse clinics across the world, coaching high school lacrosse and playing in the MLL.  

Looking back at the National Championship season in 2017, it was such an incredible run for that group. Down the stretch – what do you think made the difference for that team to make it to the pinnacle of the sport?

"We were just so bought in. It's really hard to just stay that focused especially [because] we made it to the [National] Championship game my sophomore year, and then it's like we're back our junior year and we lose again. Most people would quit, you know?  It's like, 'Wow, we were there twice, oh my gosh, it's done.' But as soon as that game ended, there is a picture I have of Colin [Heacock] and Matt [Rambo] and me sitting on the bench after we lost to UNC. We were just like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe that happened.' We thought we were going to win that game, you know? So I had it as a screensaver, I think Matt and Colin had it as a screensaver throughout the summer, throughout the fall. So when it came to be spring, we [took it] one game at a time but each game we play, we're going to just remember those feelings we had of losing the last two championships and we stayed bought in. We were just so motivated, like we're not going to lose, but we're not going to look ahead before the game and be like, 'We're going to win this thing'. We were like, 'We're going to go into this game and play every single second,' like it could slip away at any second because it did last year."

What made your experience at Maryland such a positive one, what did you love about being a Terp?

"I love the guys. The guys are awesome. As soon as I transferred in, they were just so welcoming. I remember when I first got there, Charlie Raffa – his arms were open wide. Even Michael Ehrhardt who graduated was back and I just remember how welcoming they were and it was just part of the culture there. They took things very seriously and they had a winning mentality. And then Coach Tillman, I mean my little brother is going to Maryland next year and he is the best. I love Coach Tillman, I was so happy to win that championship for him, because of how hard he works and how dedicated he is.  He's like a father away from home when we're there and he really cares about the group. Those are the kind of things.  We worked really hard, it wasn't always glamorous. But those kinds of things were cool, it was very blue collar and like I said, I can't say anything more about Coach [Tillman], he really meant a lot to me."

I heard you and Pat Young are going to be coaching together at Bishop Ireton – How did that come about what has that experience been like coaching back in the area?

"It's been awesome. I'm the offensive coordinator, Pat's the head coach, I know he had some connections reach out to him once they knew that the spot. Then, Pat reached out to me and I was full-time lacrosse and the only thing I really had going on in the spring was a couple of clinics here and there.  But it's been really cool, because I've never run a team the way we're running it right now. I lived with Pat for three years in College Park, so we're really close and to be able to run a team like this is cool. I'm running the offense and honestly it's helpful to have coaches – like in my past, having coaches I did at Maryland because they're probably the smartest coaches in the game and I'm able to use what they taught me and now teach these guys in high school. It's cool to be taught from Coach Tillman, who's the smartest coach in the game, and then using that knowledge and sharing it with these guys at Bishop Ireton."

I saw you were recently in Japan on what looked like a clinic tour. What was that experience like coaching in a part of the world where you don't usually hear too much about lacrosse?

"It was unbelievable. I started a lacrosse development company with Sergio Salcido who played at Syracuse, and we wanted to really help grow the game in a way that it's never really been grown before. Actually before Japan, we were reaching out to a lot of people on social media with Instagram and Facebook because we wanted to go international and we went to Norway. We did two clinics over in Norway, we did one in Oslo which is on the eastern side of Norway, and then one in Bergen on the western side.  Then we went to Japan this past February and I think it was an unbelievable experience just to be able to help grow the game and see how excited these guys are. We wanted to go over there and really become a resource for these guys because it's hard. They're looking at the U.S., the MLL, the future PLL and Division I Lacrosse – Maryland, Syracuse, UVA, all these big schools and we're big role models for them. So going over there and being able to tell them, 'Hey guys, we're going to teach you as much as we can. But when Sergio and I leave, feel free to reach out to us on social media, feel free to text us, feel free to message us. We'll get back to you guys with any questions you have, [even] if you want to talk life, we'll be there for you guys.' Which I thought was really cool and I know they really appreciated it, but it was a pretty unreal experience."

The emergence of the PLL has obviously been an interesting storyline this spring, what excites you about playing in the league and the potential it could have for the sport?   

"For me, a guy like Paul Rabil who is so much into the game of lacrosse and is such a bright person, I would follow him anywhere. Maybe it's cheesy to say that, but he's done a lot for the game…so what excites me is a guy like Paul, a guy like Colin Harrison, Tom Schreiber…all those guys are really smart and they are kind of the face of the game right now. They took it upon themselves to build and create this new league to try and make it so that guys can play lacrosse full-time, you know and follow what they're passionate about. NFL guys have an outlet, NBA guys, NHL guys, even the MLS guys, and so it's almost like why not us? Paul took it upon himself to do that and that excites me that he's that passionate to take such a risk. You don't know if it's going to work out, but he took a risk and he has so many bright ideas and now it's kind of coming into action. You can see it all over social media. The way he has gone about it on social media with the marketing is getting everyone excited, you know? [First, it was] the names and logos. Now the coaches…It's all this hype and this amp and everyone's getting so excited about it because it's going to be a really, really good product. If you look now at Instagram and social media, if you look at a lot of the players – they're training harder than they ever have because they know this is going to be such a great thing and such a big deal. It's going to be more competitive, that's what excites me is that everyone is working so hard now because they know this is going to be something big and they want to be a part of it."