LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Well, Denver came out harder and executed their game plan of staying on Michigans hands, and getting the better of the off-ball movement. As a result, they were the better team for 70% of the game today and got the win. Denver's focus on team defense and ground balls was a bit better than Michigan, ...

I am expecting Michigan to win comfortably on Saturday by 3-4 goals. The Wolverines come in very hot and confident and the Pioneers have regressed after a good season start, playing poorly for much of their last game. The usual face off advantage DU has will probably be mitigated (or perhaps elimina...

DU deserved to lose that game with 22 turnovers, and were only the better team for about 40% of the game. Full credit to Villanova, who walked through the door that DU so kindly opened for the Wildcats. In my view, this DU team was poorly-prepared and basically unmotivated until half time, which is ...

Winning cures most of the problems. DU really doesn't have any star players this year, and still plays a rather blah style, and that it makes it very hard for anyone outside of Denver to care very much about this team. But now that the NCAA Selection Committee has Denver ranked #4 by the solid body ...

Denver avoided the trap game in Providence, and got the late goals they needed to pull away on PC's senior day -- those games are always tricky and PC has really improved, too. The Pios had a boatload of turnovers (21!), and I am sure Matt Brown and his staff will be trying to clean this up as the p...

Great home win vs the Hoyas, especially in that final quarter when Denver took over the game when it needed to be won. Given the 9-2 record and a #4 RPI, DU is now in the driver's seat and looking at hosting an NCAA game if they finish strong and run the table in the BE. Now it's on to face a pretty...

Good bounce back 9-6 win for the Pios on the road against Ohio State in Columbus to go to 6-1. That's a win they needed to have, and they got it. Stathakis dominated the face-offs, Kleban made 13 saves and the balanced DU offense took care of the rest against a non-top 20 OSU team. Still a lot of wo...

The DU performance vs Yale showed me that this Denver team is just not a top 5 program this season right now. Not at all.. The poor Denver effort level on ground balls, the poor performance on faceoffs, the many hit goalposts and the way Yale manhandled them on DU's field before a sellout crowd was ...

Inside Lacrosse update on the Scrimmages - Nothing very exciting to report

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... e_vignette

I've written this before, but to recap, here is the problem with ethnicity-based Olympic teams: The much bigger issue is the legal evolution of the IOC's stance on indigenous nationhood. While the idea is very appealing from a current social (and anti-colonial) perspective to recognize the enormous ...

The Olympics are getting larger and larger, with over 10,000 athletes and thousands more support staffs needing to be housed in a modern summer games as new sports are being added. Adding more athletes requires more costs to the organizing committee. That's why there are smaller numbers of national ...

Geographically, Denver would make a lot of sense. They are affiliate members of the PAC12 in women’s gymnastics so they have a relationship with the conference. Denver is a Big 12 affiliate in women's gymnastics, not Pac-12. I don't think there is any chance Denver would move to the Big 12 for lax....

Some interesting DU non-league scheduling tidbits emerged from coach Matt Brown's Oct. 5 podcast with Quint Kessenich: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lax-all-stars/episodes/QL-Denver-Head-Coach-Matt-Brown-e2a6q1l - Denver is playing at Johns Hopkins to open the season this year in Baltimore...

I love it! A great day for the game we love. Certainly, putting the Olympic rings on the game of lacrosse would easily fill a 20,000+seat stadium in LA in 2028 and the six-on-six format will be appealing for TV. Of course, this brings up the long-simmering issues around the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) ...

This is deeply concerning...

https://www.sportskeeda.com/ice-hockey/ ... rce-center

Pios get a new field for 2024. Like the idea, but the execution seems a bit garish to me...

Do you think the recruiting has suffered b/c of their record, or b/c there's more competition for top prospects from CA, Canada, etc.? If Mark Matthews, Wes Berg, Tyler Pace, etc. were HS juniors today, they'd be much more sought after by the top traditional programs than they were 10 yrs ago. Pers...

Pioneers announced that they are getting an Covid extra year from seven senior players - Sillstrop, Connell, Edinger, Stathakis, Hangland, Mercurio and DiBennedetto. https://denverpioneers.com/news/2023/8/21/mens-lacrosse-denver-mens-lacrosse-keeps-seven-seniors-for-fifth-year-in-2024.aspx?fbclid=Iw...

I would expect almost zero significant changes for the Pios this year. Brown was running the show before and he will continue to do so. Tierney was clearly focused on the officiating and seemed oblivious on tape about who was subbing in and out. Brown had a few good games where they tried to get th...

Harvards weight room, locker room, training room and other amenities are neck and neck with Columbia’s for worst in the Ivy. I saw each school last fall. Its a negative and it does impact recruiting. They lost multiple players last year that they offered because of the facilities. Wow. Turning down...