‘Reserved, strategic and intellectual’: How Jeff Teat’s Doctor Strange-like traits can help Atlas overcome past playoff woes

You don’t need a superhero on your team to win a championship, but it sure helps to have one — or as close to one as you can get.

Jeff Teat might not have the prodigious size of the Hulk and volant nature of Iron Man, but the Atlas star possesses his own mastery that willed New York to a turnaround season in 2024.

“He’s such a cerebral player,” Atlas faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste said. “His lacrosse IQ is off the charts. In little moments, he’ll be like, ‘Hey when we get the ball down here, look for this.’ And it’s the exact play we should be doing. Or, ‘When the ball is here, cut there.’ Real simple.”

Conquering opponents by outthinking them, then outplaying them? It’s almost like Teat resembles…

“Doctor Strange,” Atlas attackman Xander Dickson said. “He’s sort of more reserved, strategic and intellectual, and that’s kind of Jeff as a player and person.”

Teat, the Brampton, Ontario, native and big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, joined Baptiste and short-stick defensive midfielder Danny Logan as a team captain this offseason. While Teat, 28, said the elevation is “just a letter,” it thrusts him even more into the spotlight as the best attackman in the league on a talented team looking to overcome its past playoff woes.

The No. 1-seeded Atlas were upset by the No. 5-seeded Maryland Whipsnakes in the 2024 semifinals in a game that was appointment viewing. Knotted at 11, the teams traded stops, turnovers, shots off the pipe and cunning saves for seven minutes in the sudden-death overtime until something had to give.

It did, ending with four Atlas players — including goalie Liam Entenmann — crouched over, staring first at the green and then at the ball in the back of their net. Then-Whipsnakes rookie Levi Anderson swam over Atlas SSDM Chet Comizio and slid the ball past Entenmann’s left shoulder for the victory, keeping the Atlas as one of four teams (along with the Boston Cannons, California Redwoods and Denver Outlaws) to still be seeking their first Premier Lacrosse League championship.

“Any time you fall short of your goals, it can definitely be disappointing,” Teat said. “Having said that, did we learn a ton? Absolutely. Was that game extremely entertaining for a lot of people? Yeah, absolutely. But I think for us, looking at ourselves, we didn’t get the job done.”

The Atlas were the last team in the 2023 playoffs, and one of the first teams out after the Cannons booted them in the first round. They also lost in the first round of the 2022 playoffs and were bounced in the 2021 semifinals by the eventual-champion Chaos. New York has never made a championship appearance.

With the team returning a cohesive, experienced core for what feels like the first time since its inception in 2019, the setbacks that have stifled New York feel vincible. Like Doctor Strange defeating Dormammu — the ruler of the Dark Dimension whom Doctor Strange frustrated into leaving Earth alone by trapping him in a time loop — vincible.

New York posts one of the best players, if not the best player, at many positions. There’s Teat, the 2024 PLL MVP, down low and Baptiste, the five-time and 2024 Faceoff Specialist of the Year, at the stripe. Last year as rookies, Entenmann saved 60.4% of the shots he faced and Tyler Carpenter was recognized as the league’s top long-stick midfielder. Defenseman Gavin Adler, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, and Logan, a three-time George Boiardi Hard Hat Award winner, are some of the most reliable lockdown defenders in the league.

The talent, coupled with the experience, is what Teat said he thinks will help the Atlas “take that next step.” And where he can, the newest captain said he’ll help “control emotions and the ebbs and flows of the game, and speak up when the time is right.”

Reaching the title game in a league where parity prevails will be made easier if Teat repeats, or somehow surpasses, his colossal, PLL-record 64 points last season, the fuel behind a 7-3 record for an Atlas team that won just two games the year prior. Though for Teat, the big picture is built in the little moments.

“We definitely understand any team can beat anybody on any single night,” he said. “For us, starting in training camp, any time we’re together, whether that’s during practice or in games, it’s just making small improvements. Over the course of the year, that can stack, and obviously we have to perform in the playoffs when it matters most. A lot of improvements [to make] over the course of the year, but if we take it step by step we’ll put ourselves in a good position.”

Teat often points out enhancements the Atlas can make, especially during a game. Whether ahead or behind, he does it with spiffing composure.

Last season when the Atlas were playing the Outlaws on July 5 in Boston, Dickson remembers a moment on offense when the team planned to invert midfielder Dox Aitken and have Dickson and Teat work the off-ball game with picks and cuts. Dickson asked Teat how he wanted the motion to unfold before the ball was put in play.

“Back up and give him room. Let’s both get out of here,” Dickson said Teat suggested. A dozen syllables: the cause for the proceeding goal.

Dickson and Teat faded upfield toward the midfield — “a lot higher than we’d usually be,” Dickson said — and focused on occupying their defenders. They didn’t cut, allowing Aitken the space to dodge and score on a short-stick defender.

“That was something where Jeff said it and Dox was able to have all that green space, turn and score pretty easily,” Dickson said. “That’s just how calm Jeff’s brain is. He didn’t overthink it.

“It’s really remarkable how Jeff can be that skilled and just think about the next play and how to manage the game. He’s a really good game manager. He’ll understand scenarios that you’re not even thinking about.”

The Atlas thumped the Outlaws 17-4 that game. Aitken had two points (1G, 1A), Dickson had three goals and Teat posted an astounding nine points (6G, 3A).

It’s those performances that often had Baptiste walking to the faceoff stripe grinning, shaking his head in bewilderment.

“To be able to watch that close up, let alone to be on the team to benefit from it, to watch that performance he put on all year was incredible,” Baptiste said. “I know how much he cares and how much effort, work, focus and dedication he puts into the game. To see all that come to fruition isn’t surprising to me, but is great to see.”

Those plays don’t mean much to Teat unless they’re attached to a victory, as he said last July after breaking the PLL points record in a loss to the Cannons.

“It’s a big reason why we play,” Teat said, “to win.”

To win, specifically, in the playoffs. In September. As it is every season, that’s the goal in 2025, a season that feels do-or-die for another talented Atlas squad looking to solidify its place in PLL history. To do so, it’ll need to tap into the ability to bind opponents and skillfully conjure the best from people at any moment to do so.

That’s not just Doctor Strange’s mastery, but Teat’s, too.