Wildcats White Out the PENmen in OT Thriller

Despite looking like he belongs at the Magic Kingdom signing autographs, this is not one of the Seven Dwarfs. This is in fact, a Penman, the mascot of Southern New Hampshire University. Why they would name their team after a journalist like myself is completely beyond me, but that's a whole 'nother blog. What I do know, however, is that they have a Division II lacrosse team that has literally trounced us every single year and twice on Sundays for the last 4 that I've been involved. One year it was close, but every other time, they basically showed us why they were D2 and we were exactly what every player and coach hates, "Just a club." And to start the game, we were on pace for another one of these embarrassments. With a miscommunication of the starting time, the original field not being plowed, and our flat demeanor, we came out and went down 7-1 to start the game, and it was as ugly as one of Don Cherry's suits.

But, they call it halftime for a reason, and if one team can score seven in a half, there's no reason the other can't do that in the second. The beauty of live sports. We did exactly that, possessing the ball, keeping it simple, and slowly but surely creeping back into the game. A few man-up goals, an unsettled or two, all backboned by sound defense and great goaltending, suddenly their 7-1 half was matched by us starting the second 7-1 and we were in a 9-8 game. We tied it up with just over a minute remaining, and almost closed it out in the final seconds, but of course, a game like this had to be settled in overtime.

They call it sudden-death, but it seemed more like a dragged-out, waterboarded death. 10 minutes of overtime play, and probably 8 saves to boot. Back and forth, SNHU would have a great chance and our goalie would make a great play, feed, and then we were going back. Then we'd dodge, and shoot, and their goalie would literally stand on his head to keep his boys hopes alive. We hit the crossbar. They hit the crossbar. There were literally no fingernails left in the stands. That is, until sophomore Evan Flower, received a pass about twelve yards out and ripped a duck into the side panel, quietly giving himself a gentleman's 6 goals on the day. The bench erupted and stormed the field, debris everywhere, and it was official. The Wildcats just topped SNHU for the first time, and it couldn't have come at a more opportune time. With our two toughest games of the season this week in beautiful Colorado, a win like this can only help. It can boost team morale and create the positive vibe we need, and it reminds us that even if we are already written in for a loss in some people's books, that someone still invented the erasable PEN(men).

Wildcats Make Bacon of War Pigs

In the words of Black Sabbath:

Now in darkness world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees the war pig's crawling

We finally got out of the Field House and back onto Memorial last week. Sure, practicing outside in the 20 degree weather is no picnic, but everyone seemed to be amped to have an entire field worth of space to work with. After only two days outdoors, we had our first test of the season, a club called the War Pigs, who are based in NH but tout players from hotbeds like MD, LI, NJ, and of course the big daddy, MA. The team was comprised of recently graduated college players, so it was a good place for us not only to start off but to be reminded what an entire game feels like, the spacing of rides and clears, and the finer points of a game that we can't touch on indoors. We rolled, 11-4, with three of their goals coming in unsettled situations. At the other end, goals came from everywhere on the field. Some beautifully crafted chone pieces, and some garbage rebound goals. It doesn't matter who had what, because in today's day, I'd like to remind everyone that nobody asks "How" its always "How many?" I mean, even the great Bill Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet said that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. (English degree) If you want to check out photos from the game, there's 367 of them right here, starting with the most beautiful one on there.

Our next test will be against Division II Southern New Hampshire University, this coming Sunday. And for once, the "PenMen" are coming to Durham instead of the other way around. After that, we're moving to MCLA games for good, rallying up our top 25 and heading out west to Colorado to face two of the top 25 teams in the country. Stay Tuned. And as you could have guessed, I give you...War Pigs. And since everyone and their father has heard Sabbath, here's a cover by Cake to keep you on your toes.

You Be The Judge

Before I officially start blogging about my final UNH season, something has been brought to my attention that I need to share in a public forum. As is such, I figured that this blog would be the best place for it, also seeing as I have blogged about our Commy community that is the Red Army. The best summer club in the country has been robbed blind, with nothing to do except complain on blogs. Take a look at our Logo (top) that was coined in the summer of 2008, and placed on our uniforms. The sickle and lacrosse stick, edged out. A timeless symbol for a timeless team. Now look at the kits on the bottom. Ignoring the fact that their uniforms are incredibly rad, our logo along with our team name have been stolen like a Vanilla Ice track and stamped all over on these uniforms. We contacted them, told them to cease and desist. This "club" claimed they came up with the team name by themselves (please) and that they paid someone to make the design. (AKA Google Red Army Lacrosse to find our website). In the words of King Leonidas, This Is Madness.

Kids all over the country think they can just scoop a quick Google search and become members of the KGB? Do I wear Hopkins Gear and tell chicks I'm on the team? That I came up with the Blue Jay logo completely on my own with no accreditation to the fine learning institution of Johns Hopkins University? Just imagine if an expansion team in the MLB just casually decided to use the Boston 'B' as their logo. There would be riots in the streets, people would be outraged leaving only the women and children safe. This will end well for the (real) Red Army, I promise you. If we have to go old school, and settle it on the field, we will fight tooth and nail for the rights to our logo that was so craftfully designed over several years. We will not back down, we will not be intimidated. We are the Soviets. Long Live The Army.

P.S This is exactly what I needed to get me fired up for Blogging season. Getcha popcorn ready.

Happy Birthday to the Blog!

I know that I have been slow on the blogging lately, but quite frankly, nothing has really been happening in our lacrosse world up here. We've been practicing three nights a week in the Field House, we're hosting our Wildcats Lacrosse clinic this weekend, and we're less than a month away from opening our season, but these are all things I have already mentioned to the world.

However, I'd like the world to also know, that the blog has officially been up and running for an entire year. Actually a little bit longer, as the first post was Feb. 4, 2009. That's right, an idea that started from me being bored in my filthy apartment has grown into a year long phenomenon and will even be passed on next year to someone new while I'm in the real world, with a real job that doesn't include first person slang and Bruce Springsteen videos. So check out the new website, (the blog gets copied and pasted there as well) and get ready for some serious blogging once the snow melts and the ball starts rolling. For now, just go out there and sing happy birthday (right now) and try your best to do better than this little guy. Long live the blog.

Coming Attractions for 2010

Just a little video I made this morning to get the world fired up for our season. Song belongs to Deadmau5.

'Cat Nip Is Back! (sort of)

Well, I finally got my new username and password to do some solid write ups for the national MCLA website, www.collegelax.us , and posted my first one of the new millennium which you can conveniently find right HERE. I'll try to update periodically up there about game updates, spring trips, or anything else that might interest those blog-readers who have yet to discover this blog. The first one is bland, strictly a press release about our new schedule. So mark your calendars at home and get your popcorn ready, because remember, CatNip is not just for cats. To read all of my old Cat Nip columns to prepare your brain for the phenomenal writing you will endure this spring, click on the logo on the right column....or right here if your lazy.

New Website Up and Running

We have finally caught up with the times, dumped our old, broken down, HTML based website and have launched something spectacular. We're still getting some of the kinks out with domain name, which will soon be easily accessible at www.UNHLACROSSE.com but you can check it now here for now. Just click ENTER and you will be sent to the new and improved website that features sections for multimedia like pictures and videos, along with a fully functioning store that you can purchase some UNH Lax swag, and. . . sadly to say, a section entitled Blog. That's right, I have been informed the the blog will be moving from here to there sometime soon, but will still function from here as well. I feel like Conan, but the truth is that it looks cleaner there, not to mention it gives you access to everything else UNH just a click away. So bookmark the new site, check it out, buy some merch and enjoy our new eye-friendly website courtesy of internet savvy Vice President Dan Hutchins.

Wildcats to Host 4th Annual Wildcats Lax Clinic

(Insert Your Son HERE)

Quite frankly, it would be un-American of us lacrosse players not to share our knowledge to the younger Granite Staters who look up to us in such a deserving light. So, without further ado, I am proud to announce that we will be hosting the 4th annual Wildcats Lax Clinic on Saturday, February 13. After a phenomenal turnout last year, we can only hope that more parents and kids will spread the word so we can top what we did in 2009. The clinic will be from 9am-1pm and offers copious amounts of benefits for the kids taking part. Along with getting to meet the best blogger on this side of the Hampton tolls, each player will be provided with:

• Snacks, water, refreshments.
• A UNH Lacrosse Clinic reversible pinney
• One on one instructions from the entire UNH squad
• Head and assistant coaches will be present as well
• Instructional drills along with controlled scrimmages

The clinic is $50, but wait, there's more! If you have more than one child interested in coming, it will only be $35 for each additional kid. Us college students understand the tough economic times, but this truly is a deal that should have been pitched by the late Billy Mays. So if you have any sons interested in learning some new skills and drills, or just wanna get a full gear run in before the season starts, please email our new team president, Tom Nazzaro at tjr26@unh.edu and he will get you all set up. If you don't have any younger kids, help out our cause and tell your friends, co-workers, Fantasy Leaguers, mailmen, and really anyone that might be interested, and it will be greatly appreaciated.

We will do our best to make your children good enough to play at Syracuse, but hopefully they will know their roots and choose UNH instead.

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a safe and relatively sensible holiday season. I for one, had a phenomenal Christmas and a shocking New Years Eve, but now comes the time when people decide to make "resolutions" to make themselves feel like they have a fresh start, and I must begin to think about graduating college, but more importantly my final year of collegiate lacrosse. Yes, I still have the Red Army Dynasty to look forward to, but I am a ripe 22 years young, in the prime of my athletic career, and I'm looking to do this last year right.

So, chronologically, the first matter of business of me going hard is the 2nd Annual Febru-HAIRY competition. While abroad, I heard of this legendary tradition held in Minnesota every year, where men take 28 days to simply be men. No shaving is allowed, no trimming is allowed, and it becomes a competition of who can grow the gnarliest beard in one (short) month. This year, I am encouraging all of my teammates, coaches, fans and parents to join me again in this camaraderie-driven, team building journey in growing beards, and then seamlessly transitioning into what I like to call Mustache March. Some will be red (see below), some will be patchy, most mustaches will resemble those seen at Taco Bell, and some people will just plain scratch out of the competition(Pun intended). I admit, that last year I caved, probably around the 14th for some unknown reason, but this goes back to me doing it right on my farewell tour. I will consistently shave in January, so my Februbeard can be one for the ages, to contend with the Sullivans, Donovans, and Srebniks of Febru-hairies past. The blog will have pictures of these beards, and you guessed it, it will end in a poll. If you think you can contend, feel free to send me a picture and I will gladly enter you into the mix. Good luck gentlemen, it will surely be a long, itchy road, but the end result will be worth it. Plus, who doesn't like having an excuse to be grizzly, and make a hater look bad in the meantime? I can see it now. . . .

"Dude, that beard is haggard. You look like hell."
"Bro, it's Febru-hairy. Look around, your the only one without a beard."
"Oh crap. You lacrosse guys are so rad. I wish I could hang with you all."
"Later, Hater."

Merry Christmas from The Boss and The UNH Wildcats!

In the most predictable blog post of my career, I give you unquestionably the greatest Christmas Song of all time. If you can watch Clarence do the Santa Claus voice and not at least smile, you have some internal issues and need to see Dr. Drew.

22: Doin Work

Well, first I want to thank everyone who came up to Maine this weekend in a surprise weekend that included debauchery, shenanigans, an epic 180 and everything in between, all under the roof of a rented 26 bedroom house for all of us to celebrate me slowly morphing into a responsible adult. Apparently, the planning for these festivities have been going on since October, stretching all the way out the way out to Denver, and somehow despite my several snitch friends, I remained in the dark until everyone walked in. Yep, the Boss just turned 22, but based on the past three days, it doesn't seem like me or anyone associated with me is slowing down quite yet. Thank you to everyone that got involved, especially the one that planned it all, and I hope it was worth it. As a token of my appreciation, I give you a montage of the greatest 22 that ever lived. Emmitt Smith? Roger Clemens? Doug Flutie? Big Black's Biceps? No, thank you. Ladies and gentleman, the inventor of swagger in lacrosse. A hero for the many players out there that realize playing well just isn't enough, and that you better look good and make people remember you along the way. I give to you, Mikey Powell.

Gettin, Gettin Some Heads

After hassling bros since the beginning of Fall Ball, getting kicked in the shins by Microsoft Excel, and exchanging several hundred phone calls/emails with my main people at ComLax (shameless), all of the gear has finally arrived in Durham. A cute +6,000 dollar order of 54 new 2010 heads, 12 helmets, 6 shafts, loads of protective gear and mesh for days, it's all here, ready for you to claim before the Christmas season, so you can string up, and break in your new head over break and ball out with your little brother. Because if you show up with a brand new stick to start the spring that hasn't been touched yet, it will be painfully obvious. So on your way out of Durham, take that quick left down Young Dreezy and pick up your stuff so it's not filling my living room anymore. And if you are one of 5 people that hasn't paid, you better get here before you leave, or the reprucussions will be deadly.

Also, you should all start following me on the newfangled thing that all the kids are talking about, Twitter or at least favorite that page because it's public. That has up to the second updates of what's happening, and during games in the spring we're going to be updating the scores LIVE! So you can know I scored a goal, from your couch, just seconds after as they are still sewing the net back together. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Jolly Kwanzaa, and Happy Festivus for the Rest of Us.

Here is what 54 heads look like on a very excited college student. Why? Because I can.

(click to enlarge, props to BrokeDrake for the photo)

Wildcats Take A Shot Against Cancer

(click to englarge)

On a rare serious note, I'd like to use this platform to thank and extend the best of luck to UNH Lacrosse Alumnus, Mike Bowen (at left with the yellow vest). We recently rounded out our fall ball season with a game against in conference rival BU, honoring Mr. Bowen who has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer. We will be honoring Mike all season in Durham, using his inspiration to help us win, and hopefully he'll be using us for the same reason.

Here is a write up from team President Dan Milano:

Mike Bowen, a former Division 1 lacrosse player here at UNH, said it best when he said “we are a family.” He was referring to the brotherhood and extended family that is men’s lacrosse here in Durham. Mike played lacrosse for the Wildcats from 1971 to 1975 but has been faced with a game of his own – a battle against brain cancer. Nick Petri, a former teammate of Mike’s here at UNH, alongside with help from Whitney Pillsbury, Coach Jake Sullivan, The Rivers School, current members of the men’s lacrosse team, and the men’s lacrosse team at Boston University organized a game to honor Mike’s devotion to the game and the lacrosse family in Durham. The game was played Saturday, November 7th at The Rivers School in Weston, MA between Boston University and the University of New Hampshire. Mr. Bowen greeted the team prior to the game and gave the Wildcats more than enough inspiration to take the field against their division rival terriers.

The game marked the end of an exciting fall ball season for the Wildcats and was a great display of the progress they have made. The Wildcats took a two goal lead into halftime at which point the “take a shot against cancer for mike” campaign began. Parents and fans of both teams were given the opportunity during halftime to take a shot on Wildcat goalie Jake Katz by making a donation in Mike’s name to fight cancer. The second half was no different from the first with the Wildcats jumping on the Terriers and increasing their lead. Contributions were made at both ends of the field. Seniors John Kasper and Tim Wyeth had standout games at the defensive end while rookies Joe Gardiner and Mark Bumann opened eyes at the attack position. At the final buzzer the Wildcats enjoyed an 11 – 6 victory that marked the end of a great day. Mike Bowen joined the team on the field after to thank everyone and share some words of wisdom. It truly was a picture perfect ending to a promising fall ball season. Our thoughts remain with Mr. Bowen as he continues his ongoing battle off the field.

Who Ya Got?

Here you go. As promised, a couple of pics from this year's UNH Lacrosse team from Halloween. Poll is to the right, so have a vote and let me know who you think got dolled up the best for the last day of October. Also feel free to comment underneath, its anonymous. Winner of the poll will get absolutely nothing.







(Fake Cigarette prop for costume. Smoking Kills.)

HalloweenTime

I know, I know. . .I've been away for a while, but a triumphant return is not too far away. Promise. Quite frankly, nothing too special or suitable for the internet has been worth blogging about this busy October. However, on the eve of college's greatest holiday, sitting here at the ComLax world headquarters bumping some Wale beats I had an inkling. We have a team of very good-looking, educated, creative adults with bountiful amounts of ideas for costumes circling around, so what better way to judge them than right here on the blog? So after this weekend of reckless debauchery and shenanigans, I will post up some tasteful pictures of Durham's top laxers in full garb and get a little poll going of which Wildcat has the best costume. Come one, come all prepare for costumes that are funny, ironic, tasteful, tasteless, offensive, shocking, embarassing, witty and everything in between. Prepare for the worst, but expect nothing short of the best photos to spice up your otherwise mundane Monday morning. Happy Halloween from the Boss and remember kids, sift through your candy before you eat it to make sure there's no razor blades in there.