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.

Golf Tournament

So next weekend is Homecoming, which I'm sure everyone and their uncle is excited for due to the massive amounts of shenanigans that will be taking place. However, it also the annual UNH Men's Lacrosse Golf Tournament. So tell your parents, friends, uncles, loaded friends, alumni, professors, bosses, roommates, highschool coaches and really anyone that you think might like to play golf, eat food, and drink some beers (see: noun; Everyone). Not to mention, doing all this while donating to the essentially fundless UNH Men's Lacrosse team. It's simple math, an incredibly fun day for everyone + less fundraising for us + feeling good about donating to a good cause = UNH Men's Lax Golf Tourney. The form you can print is HERE , and send a check along with with the names and emails of the foursome playing. The video of me is below. Look forward to seeing you all there.

2010 Stick Regulations: UPDATE

Alright, so everyone knows about the looming rule changes about head measurements that is coming with this spring season. If you want to read the official rule book along with all of the rules, you can catch the PDF HERE. Otherwise, I'm here to hit you with the SparkNotes. So, as comprehensive a list that I've seen is as follows. And for player's on the team, I'm going to be putting in a larger order in the winter that will get us a pretty solid deal. So check out these heads, do your research, and that way when the time comes it'll be smooth and painless.

WARRIOR

• Evo Ti X
• Spyne
• Razer X
• Evo X
• Revo X
• Mojo X
• Evo Pro X6
• Revo Pro X6
  

BRINE

• Gospel
• Clutch X
• Edge Asset X
• Franchise X
• Recruit
• Voyce X6
• Cyber Pro X6

GAIT

• Torque 3
• Bedlam
• Flow
• Showtime

STX

• Super Power (what yours truly uses)
• X10
• Professor
  

MAVERIK

• Juice
• Bazooka
• Vision

UPDATE: Check out the Diagram at the top. We can use sticks both on the middle or on the left side.

I Wanna Blog Right Na,Na,Na

Alright, well I have several things to relay to the world, and instead of doing several clever posts with enlightening videos and what not, I'm gonna put it all here. Why? Because it's Friday morning, and I'm in bed still feeling the effects of the 2 dollar Grateful Deads I decided to splurge on yesterday evening. From the top:

1. If you look to the right ---> you will see that I posted an Akon track. Akon will be rolling into Durham October 8th for our Homecoming concert. Yeah, I know it hasn't been announced yet, but being the Face of UNH I have an inside scoop. So anyone here that is down with some Kiss 108-esque beats you should check this show out. And if anyone questions your source, tell em The Boss sent you.

2. On the same note, Akon is only a pre-show to the real festivities of Homecoming weekend. The morning after the concert is a day that I would call the best day of the year, but it's second only to CountryFest. The UNH Men's Lacrosse Golf Tournament is the 9th, at the beautiful Ledges course. To all the fathers reading this, I would highly reccomend you get involved with this because your irresponsible sons probably forgot to tell you. The course is amazing, the day is filled with every player on the team, tons of alumni, full blown barbeque, and basically a boatload of shenanigans. Not to mention that all of the profits will go to our club, and everyone knows we could use the loot. If you want to get a foursome together, you can email me at Michael.MaloneyJ@gmail.com and I'd be more than happy to hook you up with a registration form. I'll be playing, just look for the guy with the plaid pants about 2 feet away from the pin.

3. On a completely different and serious note, I just want to remind everyone that today the anniversary of the tragic attacks on the World Trade Center 8 years ago. Everyone knows someone who is connected to these attacks, so take today and be thankful. Shake hands with a firefighter, thank an ROTC kid that's cruising around campus in fatigues, and take two minutes to call your mother and tell her that you love her. Everyone was affected by 9/11, and today is not only a day for rememberance, but day that we can look forward to the future and be proud to be an American. These colors don't run.

4. And while I'm on the topic of running. . .Us 'Cats opened up our preseason yesterday with some time trials of a mile, a 40, and a shuttle run. It was the best conditioned group of hacks I've seen in my four years here, especially when you factor in that we came in cold, with barely any training, just weeks after summer lifestyle ended. Everyone was under 8 minutes in the mile, and we had over 30 freshman come out and give it their all on day one with no intentions of leaving. So bookmark this blog on your Firefox because I'm coming back harder and faster than Brett Favre could ever dream of. And to all the players on the team I have one more thing you should be thankful for. Just be glad you're mile didn't end like this kid's. . . . . . .

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back

To quote old school rap sensation Mase himself, in one of his catchiest beats:

"Hello boys and girls. How are you? You know, today is going to be a wooonderful day. Today could be a wonderful day for many reasons. We might get mail from the postman. Or, we might just get a song from Mase. Because I'm Back...Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. . .

Well, I had a hard time deciding which track would lead us into this new school year, and had Mase himself on the burner but again, this is a family website and I understand that my older demographic may not be so keen on the hip-hop and/or potential lyrical issues. So I went with the greatest American artist of all time, but more importantly the inspiration for my psyudonym.

That's right we are all back in Durham, for what I will be referring as my Farewell Tour throughout this year. We are beyond full swing here at Young Drive, and encourage any and all visitors. So prepare for a few changes on the blog, some new content, and possibly even postings from some of my colleagues here in the duplex (probably not).

So check out that Mase vid, get down with some Bruce and COME ON UP TO Whit next Wednesday, September 9th at 6pm. All vets must be there and any rookies that are interested in balling out with the best talent that the 603 can offer. Oh and Markley, don't forget to bring your abs. (See what I did there with the 'come on up'? Pretty savvy. The kid's still got it.)

2010 Stick Regulations

As everyone probably already knows, this season the rules have changed for what heads are legal and what heads aren't. After some advising by Coach, I want to take this opportunity to tell EVERYONE that they need to be up to speed come lacrosse season. Yeah, it burns that we all have to buy new heads (especially if you're a senior), but it's better than getting a 3 minute locked in penalty because you were a meathead over the summer. If you aren't using one of the following heads, you're stick is ILLEGAL (list subject to update):

• STX SuperPower (recommended and used by yours truly)
• Warrior Spyne
• Maverik Juice
• Reebok 6k
• Reebok 9k
• Brine Edge X 2010 (old Edges are illegal, defensemen)
• There will be more heads coming in September including a new Clutch, Cyber, etc. Stay tuned here and I'll let you know when I know.
  

All of these heads can and should be bought at your local ComLax retail stores. There is one in Portsmouth just minutes from UNH, but if you aren't in D-town yet then you can check out stores in Franklin, Weymouth, Nashua(NH), Framingham, Danvers, Kingston, Berlin, Medford, and 24-7 on www.ComLax.com

A Loogie, Cleared Benches, and a Goal from the Boss: Another Day, Another Dollar

The Red Army played its last game of the regular season on Sunday night, and it was far from regular. Completely abnormal to say the least. We went into the 9p.m game undefeated, with a playoff berth already clinched, so our bench was slim based on time and circumstances. The 90 percent humidity made it feel like we were breathing underwater, but these things happen. However, in a tie game, with 9 minutes left to play, one of our defensemen had a questionable hit on a HopLand (yes that's their team name) attackmen. Standard. They start jawing back and forth and eventually get close enough so their birdcages are touching eachother and the verbiage is slowly progressing into language not suitable for TBS. Then came what I'll call the "Spit heard round the world." Said attackman launches a loog at our defensemen, who being a male, responds with a punch, and then that's where the metaphorical feces hit the fan. People bombing from the benches, attackmen and goalies coming from opposite ends, refs, league officials coming in the from the sidelines to moderate. I even think I saw Don Zimmer get thrown to the turf. Eventually the madness is controlled, both players ejected and suspended for a week, with two furious teams, chippiness increased, and we still had nine minutes play to play. (Ed note: this is a minimum contact MEN'S LEAGUE.) Well the game went on, and in the strangest event of the evening...WE LOST. 8-7. But, you know, it happens, I mean even Ali got TKO'd once.

But that was the regular season, and now it's time for the playoffs. So to steal from my favorite blogger out there, Cue The Video!

The Weekend That Was

Welp, no Erin Andrews news for you here, but it was quite an eventful weekend worth at least a little blog post to boot. Several vital members of the Wildcats made the trip up to Durham this weekend to move some stuff in, shake some hands, set up a home, get in a quick swim, and be on their way. Needless to say, this was a successful endeavor, from a legitimately iced out pair of sunglasses to a UN inspired WisWall jump, this truly makes the poll question at right that much harder to pinpoint. I mean, when even when an off the ballot silent assassin Brennan Duke is making waves with a strong performance, you know the competition is lethal.

And that was just Friday and Saturday. Sunday, I battled heat, lack of sleep, an enticing outdoor public pool, and another unkown slowing element (see Hangover) to make my way down 95 because of my undying devotion to the Red Army Lacrosse Club. In a game that was more up and down than a RollerCoaster Tycoon park, we found ourselves in quite a little second half bind.

We we're up 5-2, and rolling pretty, and suddenly we were down 7-5 with just minutes to play. Under the Kremlin's discipline, we snapped back into gear and tied it 7-7. Then on what looked to be the final drive of the game, a missed behind the back attempted rip ended up getting chased down on the endline and we had one chance left. I found myself with the ball in the corner, game tied, with 9 seconds left against a defender whom I played HS with at Walpole. Summer league, yes, however, this was a dream situation to be in. To be the the Adam Vinatieri, the Carlton Fisk, the Brett Favre, or (dare I say it?) the AARON BOONE of Franklin Men's Open League Lacrosse could potentially be the highlight of my twilighting athletic career. Drove right, cut back left, lost the defender, got to GLE and with one second left laid out horizontially trying to tuck the ball past a keeper with a Gait-esque wrap around that was just begging to win an ESPY. Stuffed. Goin' to OT.

So we go on to win the draw, possess the ball, get an open drive, shoot, score and win. Great, grand, wonderful. But, despite not fulfilling any dreams, the Army remains undefeated at 4-0 and will be playing during prime time at 8p.m next Sunday, you should come, it's only an hour and a half from Durham and it will surely be a show. I mean, we're playing a team called (no joke) The Flying Chinchillas.

Also, quick little shout out to Jim Naz, hear he's a big fan of the blog. As a broke college student with a generally abrasive sense of humor who watches Jeopardy everyday, I'm glad that I'm making a difference somewhere....................even if it is Braintree.

Walpole Contends for Best HS Team in the World, Gets Snubbed

Laxpower.com: LaxPower is proud to introduce the National Online Lacrosse Tournament, the first-ever virtual national high school lacrosse championship. Sixty-four teams qualified for the 2009 NOLT, with the following schools receiving berths.

• The top-ranked team in each state* and the top team in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council, according to LaxPower's final Power Rankings (PR) for the 2009 season
• The 24 highest-rated teams remaining in the country based on their final Power Rankings for the 2009 season, with any ties broken based on strength of schedule
  
• Winners will be determined based on votes from a panel of LaxPower experts and LaxPower's computer Power Rankings

Sounds like a pretty legit idea, I suppose. Assemble a national tournament of the best teams from around the country. Square 'em up and let one group call themselves the best team in the nation by some bushleague formula. Fine. But here's where it gets a little salty. Just two days after announcing the bracket, the first "games" were "played." Here's the results from Walpole vs. Ithaca, NY:

(8) Walpole Rebels (MA) 98.85
(9) Ithaca Little Red (NY) 98.79
1: Ithaca - Excellent game, but good goaltending and D wins out.
2: Ithaca - Strong leadership and goaltending allows the Little Red to advance.
3: Ithaca - The key to the postseason is good goalkeeping, so I give you A.J. Fiore.
4: Walpole - The Rebels have too much talent at both ends of the field
Computer: Walpole

So, to sum it up the three out of four analysts picked the Little Red to beat the Rebels. However, analyst number 4 (Eric Smith) works for Laxpower and is the only one covering the Northeast. So he is obviously more qualified to be "covering" this "game" than these other clowns. Walpole was also a higher seed by the computers because they were better, and the computer calculated Walpole would have won . So three schmos votes swayed this "game" when the expert and his highly intelligent machines were denied from was rightfully theirs.

To remind you, this was a simulated game, about 2 high schools, that really means absolutely nothing, and really involves no one reading this. But, it still is just one more reason that Walpole is still top dog around these parts for all of the haters. Because the likes of teams like Duxbury, Medfield, St. Johns, Reading, Marshfield, and all these other towns that get the pub didn't even come close to making it into the most important, fictional, meaningless, national tournament in the world.

Danny Crisafulli Named To MCLA All-Academic Team

Now a distinguished alumnus of the U, former Captain Danny Crisafulli was named a 2009 MCLA Scholar Athlete. The award was given to only 23 players in all of MCLA D-1, and to 43 total, So it is quite a little honor. Now, I'm not a math guy, never have been. But if you factor in 213 teams times about 35 kids per team, we're looking at about 7,455 kids playing MCLA ball. 43 over 7,455 off the top of my head looks like about .57% of players made the cut, but that's just a rough estimate. So, he is in the 99th percentile of scholar athletes in the MCLA, so call Danny up or drop him a T-Bomb with some daps for his accomplishments in Durham.

Despite honoring #18 with the credit he deserves, I wanted to make sure he didn't get on his high horse. So naturally, I wanted to post a couple gratuitous pictures from his prime college days and knock him down a peg or two. However, he seems to be smart (see above) and has his Facebook photos blocked...Kids these days and their technology

Red Army-6 Masteons-4

In another low scoring bout, the Army's incredible discipline was just too much for the Masteons, and their all of their purple glory. The win improves the east coast's best summer league team to 2-0 as we edged out Ron Mexico's Octaroons over the holiday weekend. This disciplined, unselfish play was displayed at its peak when, with a 2 goal lead and three minutes to play, the offense possesed the ball behind the net, cycling men through in order to run out the final ticks. That is until with 16 seconds left, and the Masteon goalie attacking x, the Army's fogo made an attempt to run at the open goal and was promptly taken to the turf. What a bender.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Blogging live from my cube at the New Balance World Headquarters, here's our winner. After discussing with several people via texts, calls, comments, etc, as well as our distinguished head coach's pull these are what were gonna go with. The poll that was at right was rigged by team President and my own roommate Daniel F. Milano as he voted for shirt 6 every single day, and even got his family involved in the voting. Reminds me of Black Sheep, when Governor Tracy rigs the Washington campaign for governor essentially screwing Al Donnelly. Despicable act.

Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good

Alright so here's the deal. We need new shooting shirts, plain and simple. Aside from being our amazing blogger, I also happen to be a fashion aficionado, and I've gotten a couple mock shooting shirts (which will look WAY better in person, trust me, I've seen em) with the prices listed next to them. If anyone is interested in any of these, please please write a comment and let me know the deal, and even who you are.

Obviously, I didn't pick the quote on the back of the last few, and would probably go with BEAST MODE, but thats just me. I like 1 and 6 a lot, especially because 6 has the high numbers and the saying, but one is too hot for anything youve ever seen in the MCLA, or any sort of lacrosse so that gets my vote. For the first time for real, COMMENT, it will have an impact. We are in NH, and DigiCam is the way to roll.

ED Note: Everything can change within these, they are just drawn up, it's all custom. And if you are a parent, tell your sons to give me a shout, or just let me know what you think would look good from the sidelines (especially if it has a nice big 2 on the back)