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Placid Photos: Better Late Than Never

LAS wasn’t able to make it up to the annual Lake Placid Lacrosse Tournament and even though a number of people promised to send us photos and recaps, not so many ended up delivering the goods. Oh well!  Now at this point everyone knows that perennial tourney favorite, Graph-Tex, got back on top in the Open Division with guys like Kyle Harrison, Jovan Miller, Kevin Dougherty, Jake Plunkett and Joe “I take summer ball SERIOUSLY” Walters leading the charge.  I love seeing a team like Graph-Tex put on a great show with a stacked team every summer.  It really adds superb local flavor to a lot of tournaments.

Kyle Harrison (left) with teammates after another big Graph-Tex win


Rusty Red
took home the Master’s Championship with a solid base of older Cornell grads as well as some guys from Hopkins and other top level D1 schools. With guys like Vinny Sombrotto and John Gagliaridi still tearing it up at a high level there was also some online jabber about the Master’s Champs being able to beat the Open champs.  Let me just say this… No way. Experience is great and the Masters have it in Spades, but the current Open teams feature a lot of younger guys with lots of experience themselves who are still in top form. Can’t compete with that!

The ArtofLax gets busy in goal during some Master's Action

Anyway, there was a lot of other action up at Placid and IL did a great job on the top teams so I’m just dropping some pictures I found on friends’ facebook pages from the less hardcore divisions.  The uniforms were pretty solid overall and the scenery in the background is flat-out beautiful.  I’m really hoping to make it back up to Placid in 2011 and to put the icing on the cake, I will finally be eligible to play Master’s Lacrosse!  Can’t wait for that experience…

StuFunk rocked some pretty nice, simple plaid shorts...
Lucas Riglis and the Buffalo Soldiers always bring the heat in the uniform department.
LacrosseRecruits co-founder, Chris Meade, gets back out there in the Open Division II
Placid also takes care of their refs with some snazzy gear. Well done.
On Sunday, Chris Meade's team's uniform had totally changed. Impressive or just crazy? Impressive.
This is just what happens when old men run into each other: they fall down. Go boom.

Placid was always a whole lot of fun when I used to go up there to play as a college kid.  I only made it up 3 times and my team probably won 2 or 3 games in that entire span of time (we did play in the Men’s Open Div 1), but the experience was always worth it.  First, you get to play a couple of really good lacrosse games.  Second, you only have 1-2 games per day so you can also WATCH some really good lacrosse games.  Third, the nightlife is top notch.  Fourth, finally and possibly most important, the Lake Placid location is one of the best around – especially for a lax tourney.  Next year I can add a Fifth: I get to play Master’s and feel relatively young again!

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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.