Canadian college (CUFLA) & D3 comparison

[justanotherperson]

Wasn’t really sure where to post this given the “international” forum isn’t exactly bustling with activity so posting a question for a friend:

What’s the talent / intensity of Canadian college lax as compared to US lax. I figured it was maybe comparable to mid d3 or high McLA lax but that’s just a guess. All I really know is: Canadian field lax is very different for them compared to their box lax, they play in the fall and they used to be more like a club as Canadian colleges don’t really do sports like the US but Canadian college lacrosse seems to have gotten much more competitive in the last 8 years or so

Anyone have any insight? Happy new years to everyone and may your lax year be fulfilling!

[laxfan13]

Out of curiosity and missing field lax in the fall, I watched some of the CUFLA playoff games the last 2 years on YouTube. Having a son play D3, I can tell you that you are not far off in your assessment. Mid D3 seems about right for the top teams and talent. Some of the teams and players are low D3 to college club level. I don't know much about MCLA so I can't compare there.

The only thing I didn't like about CUFLA is the running clock. Otherwise, fairiy entertaining.

[DeepPocket]

Wasn’t really sure where to post this given the “international” forum isn’t exactly bustling with activity so posting a question for a friend:

What’s the talent / intensity of Canadian college lax as compared to US lax. I figured it was maybe comparable to mid d3 or high McLA lax but that’s just a guess. All I really know is: Canadian field lax is very different for them compared to their box lax, they play in the fall and they used to be more like a club as Canadian colleges don’t really do sports like the US but Canadian college lacrosse seems to have gotten much more competitive in the last 8 years or so

Anyone have any insight? Happy new years to everyone and may your lax year be fulfilling!

I watch a fair amount of McGill lacrosse due to a family connection, and also agree with the mid-D3 talent level. I personally would love to see some crossover games. McGill sits just over 2 hours from St Lawrence, significantly closer than other top Liberty League competition.

[Dehuntshigwa’es]

RIT had 20 Canadian players last year. I’d say they are pretty good. They could easily field a group of competitive D3 teams

[Unknown Participant]

RIT had 20 Canadian players last year. I’d say they are pretty good. They could easily field a group of competitive D3 teams

If they stayed home, but it seems that the best hockey and lacrosse players come to the states to play NCAA if they want to play in college.

As an aside, I was at RIT v Lake State in the Ledyard Hockey Classic at Dartmouth Saturday night. RIT, 15-16 Canadians, 2 Euros and one American kid.

Lake State (Lake Superior State). hard up by the Canadian border, mostly American, 1-2 Canadians and 1-2 Euros (from memory so probably off by a cpl).

RIT won.

[justanotherperson]

Would definitely like to see some us college vs Canadian college games. Instead of the red river rivalry in football McGill could call it the st Lawrence seaway scrimmages. I get the feeling that field lax just isn’t as important to Canadian lacrosse but I could totally be off.

[DeepPocket]

Would definitely like to see some us college vs Canadian college games. Instead of the red river rivalry in football McGill could call it the st Lawrence seaway scrimmages. I get the feeling that field lax just isn’t as important to Canadian lacrosse but I could totally be off.

I did however forget to mention that collegiate field lacrosse in Canada is played in the fall, which would present a slurry of problems for crossover games.

[justanotherperson]

Yes. Knew that the Baggataway Cup champion is crowned in the fall but I assume they could cross scrimmage in the fall (probably easier than the spring) but I would guess it just comes down to logistics why they don’t scrimmage or maybe one country is more serious about it than the other. I don’t know.

[VTLaxGuy]

This is correct.

Norwich has hosted Bishops University from Canada for a fall scrimmage many times. Sometimes Castleton would join; other times St. Mikes (D2, VT) would be there. Fall ball for the US teams, end of season tune-up before playoffs for Bishops.

You could tell that Bishops had been "in-season" and a were little more crisp than the US teams who had limited fall practices; but overall the talent was not much different between the teams. The D3 teams top of roster guys were level with Bishops. When it came time to empty the bench, things favored Bishops.

[justanotherperson]

Thats interesting about Bishops and the VT teams. It looks like Bishops is one of the mid-high teams in CUFLA as well. I guess I cant draw too much from the scrimmage results but maybe more depth ay CUFLA then the D2 and D3 teams they played? With more international focus coming in with the olympics down the road, hopefully there will be more cross border games. I dont know know the geography of central and western canadian teams but maybe they could / or do play with some of the many midwestern D3 / D2 colleges in the north