Local Big Time: John's Hopkins Joel Tinney is a Magician.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

John's Hopkins Joel Tinney is a Magician.

Joel Tinney is a Magician

by, Billy Mumphrey

John's Hopkins Canadian Junior Midfielder, Joel Tinney is back performing magic.

The Culver Academy graduate, arrived at Hopkins for the 2015 season with a mission. As a Freshman, Tinney showed the lacrosse world what he was, a tough rugged scoring machine. Tinney racked up 28 Goals , 10 Assists, 31 Ground Balls, 9 Turnovers and was voted the Big Ten Rookie of the year. Tinney's career as a lacrosse legend was on pace and taking form. Here are his freshman year highlights.

Then it all came to a screeching halt. Joel Tinney violated an NCAA rule and subsequently was suspended for the entirety of the 2016 season with a loss of a year of eligibility. Hopkins remained that Tinney stayed in good Academic standing with the school, and Tinney took his punishment in stride.

The real question on everybody's mind though was, will the Joel Tinney that returns to the 2017 Hopkins Squad be the same Joel Tinney who they had remembered? And the answer was no; he's even better. In the first four games this season, Joel has produced 7 Goals and 4 Assists. One of Joel's trademark moves is "the hidden ball trick." Tinney has pulled this move off, which is one of the harder moves to pull off, twice this season, and once in an overtime win against a mean Loyola team. (See Below.) He's even gotten the all-evasive Sportscenter lacrosse highlight.

Joel Tinney has shown people that sometimes second chances work out and work out better than expected. He's shown the younger lacrosse generation that you may make mistakes but with hard work and grit you can overcome these adversities. The season is long and we will watch and see how Joel Tinney and a super talented John's Hopkins team performs. I bet they do pretty good. They got the Magician.

#55 Joel Tinney in white, hidden ball trick against Navy.