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Lax Link-O-Rama

Sure, it’s only the end of January but can’t you just feel the lacrosse coming?  With the exception of the NESCAC and maybe one or two other conferences, practice has started up for MCLA and NCAA teams alike.

We all heard the news that Virginia and the other Gait sponsored schools (Siena, Jacksonville, Gettysburg, etc) will be rocking Cascade for most of the regular season at the very least (and our very own 412 broke the news! Great job!).  Gait is pulling back on their release of the Flow helmet to make sure they get it right.  Don’t release things just to release things.  Make sure it’s worth it.  I like that attitude and it speaks volumes to their new commitment to developing top notch products.

Gait is now owned by Jarden Team Sports (kind of like Talon being purchased by Easton-Bell Sports last week!) and anything that allows Paul Gait to focus on the lax aspect of the company will only help.  It seems like in order to be a relatively new AND successful lax company you need to be owned by a bigger company these days… of course, then there is always Maverik bucking the trend and being all… Maveriky.  So maybe not.

Duke’s goalie has been suspended.  This can’t be good for them although they do return one heck of a group of longpoles.  I was never that impressed with Schroeder and Brady couldn’t beat him out last year as a soph so it’s not the end of the world.  The real reason this is news is because it has to do with Duke, lacrosse and breaking the rules.

I hope we can begin to move past this fascination (yet I type this as I cover the story myself) but for many, it will remain a hot topic for years.  I’m trying to move on as well.  Enough is enough.  In other Duke related news, it looks like Crotty will play for the US Team in their scrimmage with Duke. AND it looks like Shawn Nadelen is going to miss the World Games because he just had surgery on a torn ACL.  While this is a big loss for Team USA, they can replace him with a number of excellent poles, including Duke’s Mike Manley.  Small world after all.  Great news too that you can see the US-Duke game on TV! Lax on TV in January.  AWESOME-O!

Lax.com checks in with Cuse in what has become a yearly story for someone.  Usually, I would say “Cuse gets enough love” or “we all know they’re going to be nasty… again” or even “what is this? 2007?” but this year there seem to be a lot of doubters so the piece is really justified.  Sure Brooks, Nims, Hardy, Abbot, Perritt, Smith, etc. are gone but White, Amidon, Jamieson, Keough, Desko, Galloway are all back and a Thompson brother is there and they picked up some really good recruits.  Cuse will find a way to run, gun and score.  If their D can keep up, they are a real threat to three-peat.

Lax.com also does a fantasy league, which is cool if you’re into that stuff.

Navy has been picked by many as the prohibitive favorite to take the Patriot League and with teams like Army, Bucknell and Colgate all greatly improved over the past couple of years, this actually means something now.  A Navy AQ is no longer a lock by any means but it does look like they’ll pull it out this year… or at least have a good shot at it.

Canadians play field lax in college too but in the CUFLA (Canadian University Field Lacrosse Assoc.) and they’re coming out with awards… now.  I know, it’s backwards but hey, it’s Canada.  So just go with it.  In regular Canada, boxla rules the roost and to get caught up with all the spicy NLL action you can always check out the excellent NLL Insider run by IL.

If you like the fighting aspect of indoor then check out the action from the Orlando-Philly game.  Snider whups some dude and then Smith for Orlando follows suit.  Pretty good stuff!

E-lacrosse has some new stuff (well new only in that it wasn’t there last month… but I digress) including lots of convention video and some youth lax video from California.  Their forum section is great, but only if you want to buy a Blackberry.  WTF?

We’ve been updating you on the Miami tournament (1, 2) and will keep the posts coming as we get more content lined up.

If you want to beef up on your D1 lax knowledge and you don’t want to do your own research, then check out IL’s preseason coverage for D1 Men’s Lacrosse.  Is all the info perfect?  Are all of their assumptions spot on?  Of course not.  Why?  Because it’s simply not possible.  This isn’t football or basketball where teams are analyzed within an inch of their lives (and even then the prognosticators and researchers STILL make glaring mistakes) or where revenue generation is in the millions or billions of dollars.  This is lacrosse and we let the season play out because that’s just how we roll.

The IL staff was nice enough to let me know that behind the wonderful mind of Tommy Kehoe, IL will also be providing massive D3 previews.  Needless to say, I am more than relieved and can’t wait to check them out!  Thanks Sean!

Speaking of D3 lax… My boy from Wesleyan, Shem Johnston-Bloom has just been named as the Head Coach of the new program starting up at Thiel College in PA.  Shem was a beast on the foosball field and only joined the lax team as a senior (just like I did if you switch the sports around) but he immediately took on the role of a leader by putting the team above himself from day one.  He’ll make a great head coach and LAS wishes him and Thiel the best of luck!

So we go from one coach… to another coach.  Jack McGetrick of Bellarmine has been diagnosed with Cancer and his NCAA Division 1 team is going up to Michigan to scrimmage the MCLA Wolverines to raise awareness for the “Everyone works for Jack” movement that will assist Coach McGetrick in his fight.  Great to see MCLA and NCAA teams forging relationships and it’s even better that it’s for a good cause.

Next week, 412 and I will be starting our bipartisan, honest gear reviews.  We have goods from most of the major suppliers so if you’re a smaller company (or a hesitant larger company) that is interested in getting the word out, PLEASE send me an email so we can get you involved and give you a chance to shine!  You can use connor@lacrosseallstars.com.

Ok, you’ve made it all the way to the end.  Congratulations!  If you actually made it this far, you might be the kind of person that US Lacrosse is looking for!  There is an open call for interest in participating in the US Lacrosse Board Committees so if you think you’ve got what it takes, then by all means, submit and application.  I’m thinking about it myself… after all, I love lax and I love giving back.

It’s getting laxy out there.  Bundle up.

Side note: When you’re lifting, don’t be like this guy…

[fvplayer src=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=k8RcDb_wZfQ” splash=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/k8RcDb_wZfQ/hqdefault.jpg” caption=”ORIGINAL deadlift passout video 329″]
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About the Author:
After helping to start the program at Weston HS in Massachusetts, Connor Wilson went on to play at Wesleyan University. Post-graduation, Wilson stayed on and coached at Wesleyan for 2 years. He also played in Australia and the American Lacrosse League. Currently Wilson plays for the Southampton Lacrosse Club in NYC and enjoys dyeing lacrosse sticks, eating breakfast sandwiches and a pretentious writer’s bio on LAS. Contact him at connor@lacrosseallstars.com.