Grow the Game®

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on reddit
Share on whatsapp

Wilson’s Wheelhouse: Stringing, Recaps And More!

I’m back with another Wheelhouse post catching you up on the most exciting lax action I could find.  We’ll travel all over the country, world and  internet in search of sweet lax action.  Come on, get your fill.

The Upstate/Iroqouis Top String has definitely garnered some interest.  Some people can’t get it to throw without hitting the plastic (tip: your mesh probably isn’t secured tightly enough to the sidewalls at the top), some think it’s a gimmick while still others are worried about catching the ball.

Some Aussies even gave Daniel a hard time because they think he’s becoming a Sepo.  He still says “mate” and he’s not talking about reproduction so I think he’s still got some Aussie street cred.  For those of you that don’t know, Aussies call Americans “Sepos”, which is short for Septic Tank Yank.

For some reason, Aussies seem to think this is offensive to us.  It’s not.  But we’ll let their lame attempt go since most of the people down under still dress like it’s 1993.  I mean, Jesus Jones was great and everything but it’s time to move on.

I tried out the Upstate Top String myself (and also dyed up a new Maverik Bull head) to try it out and I haven’t had any problems with it whatsoever.  Maybe that’s because I can string a mean stick and know what I’m doing… for the people struggling out there it’s all about one thing: Practice.  And yes, AI3, I AM talking about practice.

When you’re all practiced up and feeling confident, you’ll be able to create sweet masterpieces like this:

I kept my top string a little closer to old school. When done right, it works 60% of the time, everytime.

The above dye job is pretty basic but I like how it ended up.  Here’s another dye job I did for a player on the New Zealand national team.  The design is sort of “brick” inspired as this current team is really creating the building blocks for a strong future of lacrosse in the land of the Kiwis, or, as I like to call it, “the broken boot”.

Brick City! B&W heads are tough to dye... imperfections really stand out more in this much contrast.

This dye job came out only ok and I’m going to blame the head.  That’s right, I’m making excuses.  The Brine Clutch X just isn’t a great head to dye because there are limited areas that are ripe for bigger designs and the thin plastic really limits what you can do.  That being said, the head really pops in person because of the color contrast.

Now we’re going to get away from the superfluous and into the super sweet action that every spring week delivers.

On 4/20 Army took out Lafayette and after knocking off the Leopards and Navy the previous weekend, Army is looking like an NCAA tourney bound team.  Their tall keeper, Tom Palesky, has been playing well and the defense in front of him has size, skill and is not afraid to play physical.  In other recent D1 action, Syracuse took out Rutgers last Sunday and absolutely none were surprised.

In NCAA D3 action, it looked like the NESCAC was going to be able to save some face in 2010 when Middlebury beat RPI 9-6, and Tufts beat Endicott 14-9.  Of course Williams went on to lose to Plattsburgh 17-15 (really? Plattsburgh? gross.) and the saved face was immediately lost.

Cortland continued to roll up North as they easily dispatched a quality St. Lawrence team 13-4.  If the Red Dragons don’t make it to the NCAA Finals as the Northern representative, I’ll be shocked.  The only teams that even have a shot are Conn College, Tufts, Geneseo and maybe Naz or St. John Fisher and most of those are considered long shots. Conn, with their zone and disciplined offense may have the best shot.

None of the Southern teams had any huge games (unless you count Stevenson dismantling a decent St. Mary’s team 16-3 as huge).  Salisbury rolled over Mary Washington 18-7.

We had some really tight MCLA games this week with Tennessee just barely squeaking out a W over Tennessee Wesleyan 9-8.  UConn needed OT to beat Central CT State 11-10.  UNH needed THREE OT periods to beat Stonehill by that same score.

Colorado State knocked Michigan State down a peg or two in the battle of the Color Green State by a score of 13-7.  MSU is competitive this year but CSU is the real deal.  Don’t be surprised if the Rams make it all the way to the MCLA Finals this year where they’ll probably play another team from Michigan.  That game would be tighter, I think.

HS State Championships are already close in Florida and Louisiana while the teams up North and out West are still going at it furiously.  You can even check out a recent post on HS lax in NYC right here!  There will be more lax this weekend so come back and check out the next Wheelhouse post on Saturday.   In fact, come back before then… we’d love to have you.

Also in case you hadn’t heard the ACC tourney is getting it ON tonight.

UVA faces Duke as the No. 1 seed in opening round of ACC Tournament at 5pm followed by UNC at host Maryland (7:30 est).  So much sweet lax in one night it’s outrageous.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About the Author: Connor is a life-long lacrosse player who doesn’t know when to give up on the game.  He played and coached at Wesleyan University and now plays for the Southampton LC in NYC.  Connor lives with his fiance in Brooklyn and thanks her for allowing him to keep the dream alive.

Contact him at connor@lacrosseallstars.com.