New England West 2021

[Justafan]

I'll agree to disagree with some on the tourney. It would be tremendously exciting and the kids would love it. Yes, it is frustrating to be the best team throughout the season and the not be crowned champ because of one slipup in May but it is also very frustrating to be co-champs after a regular season and not have a playoff. Kids hate that. Where I take more issue with Woodstick is his dismissal of OOC games. It is 2020. Kids who play top level high school lax are extremely attuned to the national scene. They read these message boards, they read IL, they stream each others games, they pay very close attention to national polls. No one is suggesting that AOF drive to play some random public school in NJ. But times have changed. The school doesn't lose its tradition if its OOC lax lineup changes. The kids (and to be trite, that is who these discussions should focus on, not dads or old alums) would VASTLY prefer to play, say, Haverford or Culver or Calvert Hall, than Canterbury or Millbrook. Yes, travel is an issue and some of the closer comparable level publics from NY are not an option due to scheduling rules but there are plenty of teams around the country demonstrating that where there is a will there is a way with the travel. As far as "traditional rivals", for most schools those are already their league opponents. Outside of Deerfield with Exeter and Andover and to a lesser extent Lawrenceville, what are the important OOC rivals that West-1 teams are wedded to?

Again, once I hear "its about the kids" or "the kids will love it" and the best one "it as about the experience" my BS meter hits tilt.

There is plenty of great competition throughout the NE private schools without having to travel to Indiana to play Culver (which is a plane ride away unless you think that the kids are getting on a bus for 12-13 hours) or 4 and 6 hours respectively to Philly and Baltimore.

BS? LOL. Let me guess, you use a flip phone and still use a checkbook. Trust me, it is not BS. And playing a team like Culver is not the same as playing most other schools around the West 1 schools. What I would really love to see is a true end of the year national championship. But I have no idea how to realistically make that happen. There are soo many challenges in making that happen, that I don't think it ever can happen.

[WoodStick]

I'll agree to disagree with some on the tourney. It would be tremendously exciting and the kids would love it. Yes, it is frustrating to be the best team throughout the season and the not be crowned champ because of one slipup in May but it is also very frustrating to be co-champs after a regular season and not have a playoff. Kids hate that. Where I take more issue with Woodstick is his dismissal of OOC games. It is 2020. Kids who play top level high school lax are extremely attuned to the national scene. They read these message boards, they read IL, they stream each others games, they pay very close attention to national polls. No one is suggesting that AOF drive to play some random public school in NJ. But times have changed. The school doesn't lose its tradition if its OOC lax lineup changes. The kids (and to be trite, that is who these discussions should focus on, not dads or old alums) would VASTLY prefer to play, say, Haverford or Culver or Calvert Hall, than Canterbury or Millbrook. Yes, travel is an issue and some of the closer comparable level publics from NY are not an option due to scheduling rules but there are plenty of teams around the country demonstrating that where there is a will there is a way with the travel. As far as "traditional rivals", for most schools those are already their league opponents. Outside of Deerfield with Exeter and Andover and to a lesser extent Lawrenceville, what are the important OOC rivals that West-1 teams are wedded to?

Again, once I hear "its about the kids" or "the kids will love it" and the best one "it as about the experience" my BS meter hits tilt.

There is plenty of great competition throughout the NE private schools without having to travel to Indiana to play Culver (which is a plane ride away unless you think that the kids are getting on a bus for 12-13 hours) or 4 and 6 hours respectively to Philly and Baltimore.

BS? LOL. Let me guess, you use a flip phone and still use a checkbook. Trust me, it is not BS. And playing a team like Culver is not the same as playing most other schools around the West 1 schools. What I would really love to see is a true end of the year national championship. But I have no idea how to realistically make that happen. There are soo many challenges in making that happen, that I don't think it ever can happen.

Exactly, because as you said, it is all about the kids and their experience. If you and your offspring have a real desire to win a championship, just head back to your local public school and give it a go.

And for the record, I have a rotary phone that hangs on my kitchen wall, but it does have a really long cord so I can sit down at the kitchen table, and I prefer to use cash which I track every week with my passbook

[Can Opener]

I’ve just never been a fan of league titles essentially being won/lost on random Wednesdays in April.

+1

+1

[NElaxtalent]

Playoffs or not? Fine either way. We'll defer to the NEW1 wisdom.

I, for one, am just grateful my son has the opportunity to practice & play with/against great competition that (hopefully) prepares him for the academic/athletic challenges ahead.

Full disclosure: He isn't playing for one of the NEW1 title contenders but for a +.500 team that is "in" virtually every game. Staying at his public HS would have given him a few more thrilling state championship game experiences but that is only 5% of the spring season. Growth/development (in all aspects) were a higher priority b/c we didn't think the public HS was quite going to "get him there".

[ctbagataway]

Welcome to the league, NE, I hope you son has a tremendous experience (academically, socially and athletically). One of the best things about this league is that nearly every game is a rock fight. Any team can beat you, so teams need to bring their A games all season long. That is a far more difficult task than having 5 or 6 games that matter with a number of creampuffs sprinkled in. Of one thing I am sure, there will be more than a few victories this season that your son will remember as much as any high school championships. It might be beating Salisbury (or pick another top team) to prevent them from winning the league outright, but it will mean just as much to your son and his squad as any championship. Best of luck and keep posting!

[Justafan]

I'll agree to disagree with some on the tourney. It would be tremendously exciting and the kids would love it. Yes, it is frustrating to be the best team throughout the season and the not be crowned champ because of one slipup in May but it is also very frustrating to be co-champs after a regular season and not have a playoff. Kids hate that. Where I take more issue with Woodstick is his dismissal of OOC games. It is 2020. Kids who play top level high school lax are extremely attuned to the national scene. They read these message boards, they read IL, they stream each others games, they pay very close attention to national polls. No one is suggesting that AOF drive to play some random public school in NJ. But times have changed. The school doesn't lose its tradition if its OOC lax lineup changes. The kids (and to be trite, that is who these discussions should focus on, not dads or old alums) would VASTLY prefer to play, say, Haverford or Culver or Calvert Hall, than Canterbury or Millbrook. Yes, travel is an issue and some of the closer comparable level publics from NY are not an option due to scheduling rules but there are plenty of teams around the country demonstrating that where there is a will there is a way with the travel. As far as "traditional rivals", for most schools those are already their league opponents. Outside of Deerfield with Exeter and Andover and to a lesser extent Lawrenceville, what are the important OOC rivals that West-1 teams are wedded to?

Again, once I hear "its about the kids" or "the kids will love it" and the best one "it as about the experience" my BS meter hits tilt.

There is plenty of great competition throughout the NE private schools without having to travel to Indiana to play Culver (which is a plane ride away unless you think that the kids are getting on a bus for 12-13 hours) or 4 and 6 hours respectively to Philly and Baltimore.

BS? LOL. Let me guess, you use a flip phone and still use a checkbook. Trust me, it is not BS. And playing a team like Culver is not the same as playing most other schools around the West 1 schools. What I would really love to see is a true end of the year national championship. But I have no idea how to realistically make that happen. There are soo many challenges in making that happen, that I don't think it ever can happen.

Exactly, because as you said, it is all about the kids and their experience. If you and your offspring have a real desire to win a championship, just head back to your local public school and give it a go.

And for the record, I have a rotary phone that hangs on my kitchen wall, but it does have a really long cord so I can sit down at the kitchen table, and I prefer to use cash which I track every week with my passbook

My offspring? LOL.

You are all over the place and missing the point here. This is not an opinion, this is hearing it from the kids on the teams. They would like to play the best teams in the country as much as possible outside of their NE1 schedule. That is all. The most important thing to them is to win the NE west 1 title outright. You seem to be taking offense to something here. Not sure what or why. This is not to knock any other teams in new England. But if you think that the kids from Brunswick, Bury, Deerfield, and so fortth would not like to play Culver, Hill, insert team at a neutral location at like homewood field or something, you are crazy.

[NElaxtalent]

Welcome to the league, NE, I hope you son has a tremendous experience (academically, socially and athletically). One of the best things about this league is that nearly every game is a rock fight. Any team can beat you, so teams need to bring their A games all season long. That is a far more difficult task than having 5 or 6 games that matter with a number of creampuffs sprinkled in. Of one thing I am sure, there will be more than a few victories this season that your son will remember as much as any high school championships. It might be beating Salisbury (or pick another top team) to prevent them from winning the league outright, but it will mean just as much to your son and his squad as any championship. Best of luck and keep posting!

Thanks. He really enjoyed it last year/season. Academically it's been a terrific growth experience and likely provided the difference in getting accepted. Athletically he missed a few key/close games due to injury (both L's) so probably rushed his return and was hampered by a nagging injury all season/summer. Knock on wood . . .

[Laxxal22]

Three West 1 teams in the IL/UA top 25. Pretty insane. https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... ason/55994

[MA Lax Fan]

Shouldn’t be in the rankings if you have kids on the team playing a 5th year of HS lacrosse.

I know it’s brought up every year but it has to be said.

[Laxxal22]

Shouldn’t be in the rankings if you have kids on the team playing a 5th year of HS lacrosse.

I know it’s brought up every year but it has to be said.

With how much cr*p Ty takes on Twitter, I wouldn't be surprised to see him eventually separate a prep/private poll from the public poll. Until then, US Lacrosse does a PG-free poll: https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/high-scho ... nal-top-25

[ctbagataway]

Shouldn’t be in the rankings if you have kids on the team playing a 5th year of HS lacrosse.

I know it’s brought up every year but it has to be said.

May he who hath no players who have reclassed cast the first stone.

[RumorMill]

Shouldn’t be in the rankings if you have kids on the team playing a 5th year of HS lacrosse.

I know it’s brought up every year but it has to be said.

Welcome to the NEW1 thread!

[RumorMill]

Shouldn’t be in the rankings if you have kids on the team playing a 5th year of HS lacrosse.

I know it’s brought up every year but it has to be said.

With how much cr*p Ty takes on Twitter, I wouldn't be surprised to see him eventually separate a prep/private poll from the public poll. Until then, US Lacrosse does a PG-free poll: https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/high-scho ... nal-top-25

There are PG's and there are re-class. Some might argue the difference... and I suppose you could even have a re-class who PG's (which even I would say is excessive). But IMO, pretty much the same... therefore claiming the uslax poll is PG free is a stretch.

[Laxxal22]

I'm sure there are plenty of West 1 seniors (and seniors at other private schools) that are older than their PG teammates. I'm not trying to argue against that. The US Lacrosse poll simply doesn't include schools that admit postgraduate students. No West 1, Hill, IMG, etc.

[Superlite2]

not judging at all but the US Lax poll tries to differentiate yet Culver being #1 with a team made up of repeats and Brunswick #10 with repeats (along with many of the private schools on that list)....Hill/IMG are different beasts IMO..

I'm sure there are plenty of West 1 seniors (and seniors at other private schools) that are older than their PG teammates. I'm not trying to argue against that. The US Lacrosse poll simply doesn't include schools that admit postgraduate students. No West 1, Hill, IMG, etc.

[NElaxtalent]

Ahh, it must be Spring.

The annual Publics, Privates, Repeats & PGs topic. It has been discussed/argued about since at least the 80s (& prob well before).

Plenty of valid points on all sides. Perfect topic for a debate club

[NEWestFan]

Here we go again. Perhaps a twist this time. What is it about HS lacrosse that brings out this sensitivity to age? For example, why aren't fans equally sensitive to the NCAA D1 poll where there is a mix of teams with and without redshirt capability? i.e. the 4 in 4years IVY's or Patriot League vs the balance of 4 in 5year Teams. Particularly, now that we see redshirt starting to be used strategically and not just for medical purposes. e.g. UVA

[WoodStick]

Ahh, it must be Spring.

The annual Publics, Privates, Repeats & PGs topic. It has been discussed/argued about since at least the 80s (& prob well before).

Plenty of valid points on all sides. Perfect topic for a debate club

Forget Punxsutawney Phil and his shadow, best way to tell that spring is around the corner is the HS ranking debate when the polls come out. I for one do not understand why they just don't split them and be done with it. One poll for Public and one for Private and call it a day. Inside Lacrosse is basically doing that now with only 4 of their ranked schools being public.

[random observer]

My unsolicited 2 cents:

1. An extra year of age/development at the college is less significant than an extra year at the high school level.

2. Yes, repeating is a thing, and unless we're splitting hairs it is a similar advantage to a PG year. But on this site, the repeat argument is often used in bad faith to pretend the playing field is even in regards to age. Yes, schools like Brunswick or any of the MIAA powers have a handful of repeats, but so do the schools that use PGs. It's not like Deerfield or Salisbury are using PGs instead of repeats; they're using both. So I don't buy that having PGs is all of a sudden not any advantage whatsoever. I've also seen the reclass argument used as a strawman to pretend that PG teams don't have an advantage over public schools (reclassing is FAR more prevalent at private schools than publics -- so again, in addition to PGs, these schools also likely have more reclasses than their public school counterparts).

3. At the end of the day, I still don't really care when it comes to rankings. I'd rather include everyone. Privates have increasingly cornered the market in the rankings over the past 10-15 years, but the fact of the matter is that there are still great public school teams that can compete with privates, and their are private schools w/o PGs that can compete w/ private schools w/ PGs (for example, as has been pointed out many times on the NEW-1 board, Brunswick is at a disadvantage when it comes to PGs, but they have their own advantages to make up for it). As long as that remains the case, I'd rather see one ultimate ranking (for whatever such "ranking" might be worth or not worth) rather than split them up and act like they wouldn't be competitive on the same field.

[beastboyz99]

Deerfield at #4? Anyone have any insight as to why DA is consistently ranked highly for almost every preseason poll? I think DA doesn't even come top 3 in the league this year...