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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Paul Rabil Signed by San Jose

Former Johns Hopkins standout Paul Rabil will officially begin his indoor lacrosse career this year. San Jose successfully signed Rabil, who was the second overall pick in the 2008 draft, before December 22, 2008. While Rabil will certainly have an impact on the development of the game, the San Jose Stealth and their fans are just as excited to have the 6'3", 225-pound Rabil joining forces with All-Stars Colin Doyle, Jeff Zywicki and Eric Martin, along with the rest of the Stealth roster.

Rabil won championships at Hopkins in 2005 and 2007. As a Bluejay, he received the McLaughlin Award given to the nation's most outstanding NCAA lacrosse midfielder in 2007 and was nominated for the Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to the "Most Outstanding" collegiate lacrosse player in the United States, in 2007 and 2008.

The Boston Cannons took Rabil with the first overall pick in the 2008 Major League Lacrosse draft. He currently endorses Maverik sticks and pads and Under Armour shoes and apparel.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Full 2009 National Lacrosse League Schedule

1 Philadelphia Buffalo Sat, Jan 037:30 pmHSBC Arena
2 Toronto New York Sat, Jan 037:30 pmBankAtlantic
3 Minnesota Portland Sat, Jan 0310:30 pmRose Garden
4 Colorado Portland Fri, Jan 0910:30 pmRose Garden
5 Calgary San Jose Fri, Jan 0910:30 pmHP Pavilion
6 Philadelphia Rochester Sat, Jan 108:05 pmBlue Cross
7 San Jose Minnesota Sat, Jan 108:00 pmXcel Energy
8 Buffalo Toronto Sat, Jan 107:00 pmAir Canada Ctr
9 Boston New York Sat, Jan 107:30 pmPrudential
10 Portland Colorado Sat, Jan 109:00 pmPepsi Center
11 Edmonton Calgary Sat, Jan 109:00 pmSaddledome
12 Rochester Buffalo Fri, Jan 167:30 pmHSBC Arena
13 Portland Edmonton Fri, Jan 169:30 pmRexall Place
14 Calgary Toronto Sat, Jan 177:00 pmAir Canada Ctr
15 New York Boston Sat, Jan 177:30 pmTD Garden
16 Rochester San Jose Sun, Jan 188:30 pmHP Pavilion
17 Boston Philadelphia Fri, Jan 238:00 pmWachovia Center
18 Edmonton Portland Fri, Jan 2310:30 pmRose Garden
19 Philadelphia Boston Sat, Jan 247:30 pmTD Garden
20 New York Rochester Sat, Jan 247:35 pmBlue Cross
21 Edmonton Colorado Sat, Jan 248:00 pmPepsi Center
22 Buffalo Minnesota Sat, Jan 248:00 pmXcel Energy
23 San Jose Calgary Sat, Jan 249:30 pmSaddledome
24 Buffalo Edmonton Thu, Jan 299:00 pmRexall Place
25 Edmonton San Jose Sat, Jan 313:30 pmHP Pavilion
26 Portland Boston Sat, Jan 317:30 pmTD Garden
27 Toronto Rochester Sat, Jan 317:35 pmBlue Cross
28 New York Colorado Sat, Jan 319:00 pmPepsi Center
29 Buffalo Philadelphia Fri, Feb 068:00 pmWachovia Center
30 Minnesota Calgary Fri, Feb 069:30 pmSaddledome
31 Edmonton Toronto Sat, Feb 073:30 pmAir Canada Ctr
32 New York Boston Sat, Feb 077:30 pmTD Garden
33 Colorado Minnesota Sat, Feb 078:00 pmXcel Energy
34 San Jose Portland Sat, Feb 0710:30 pmRose Garden
35 Philadelphia New York Sun, Feb 087:00 pmPrudential
36 Boston Philadelphia Fri, Feb 138:00 pmWachovia Center
37 Toronto Buffalo Sat, Feb 147:30 pmHSBC Arena
38 Calgary Colorado Sat, Feb 149:00 pmPepsi Center
39 Rochester New York Sun, Feb 158:00 pmMSG
40 Buffalo Toronto Fri, Feb 207:00 pmAir Canada Ctr
41 Boston Minnesota Fri, Feb 208:00 pmXcel Energy
42 Minnesota Philadelphia Sat, Feb 217:30 pmWachovia Center
43 New York Rochester Sat, Feb 217:35 pmBlue Cross
44 Colorado San Jose Sat, Feb 2110:30 pmHP Pavilion
45 Boston Calgary Sun, Feb 225:00 pmSaddledome
46 Colorado Edmonton Sun, Feb 228:00 pmRexall Place
47 Minnesota Toronto Fri, Feb 277:30 pmAir Canada Ctr
48 Philadelphia Edmonton Fri, Feb 279:30 pmRexall Place
49 Calgary New York Sat, Feb 2812:30 pmMSG
50 Minnesota Buffalo Sat, Feb 287:30 pmHSBC Arena
51 San Jose Boston Sat, Feb 287:30 pmTD Garden
52 Toronto Rochester Sat, Feb 287:35 pmBlue Cross
53 Philadelphia Portland Sat, Feb 2810:30 pmRose Garden
54 San Jose New York Sun, Mar 017:30 pmPrudential
55 Calgary Edmonton Fri, Mar 139:30 pmRexall Place
56 Colorado San Jose Sat, Mar 143:30 pmHP Pavilion
57 Toronto Boston Sat, Mar 147:30 pmTD Garden
58 Minnesota Philadelphia Sat, Mar 147:30 pmWachovia Center
59 Buffalo Rochester Sat, Mar 147:35 pmBlue Cross
60 Rochester Toronto Sat, Mar 217:00 pmAir Canada Ctr
61 Portland Buffalo Sat, Mar 217:30 pmHSBC Arena
62 Colorado Calgary Sat, Mar 219:30 pmSaddledome
63 Minnesota San Jose Sat, Mar 2110:30 pmHP Pavilion
64 Minnesota Colorado Sun, Mar 228:00 pmPepsi Center
65 Toronto Calgary Fri, Mar 279:00 pmSaddledome
66 Portland San Jose Sat, Mar 283:30 pmHP Pavilion
67 New York Buffalo Sat, Mar 287:30 pmHSBC Arena
68 Colorado Philadelphia Sat, Mar 287:30 pmWachovia Center
69 Boston Rochester Sat, Mar 287:35 pmBlue Cross
70 Calgary Minnesota Sat, Mar 288:00 pmXcel Energy
71 Toronto Edmonton Sat, Mar 289:00 pmRexall Place
72 San Jose Portland Sun, Mar 296:00 pmRose Garden
73 Boston Toronto Fri, Apr 037:30 pmAir Canada Ctr
74 Rochester Colorado Fri, Apr 039:00 pmPepsi Center
75 Calgary Edmonton Fri, Apr 039:00 pmRexall Place
76 Philadelphia New York Sat, Apr 047:30 pmPrudential
77 Buffalo Boston Sat, Apr 047:30 pmTD Garden
78 Edmonton Minnesota Sat, Apr 048:00 pmXcel Energy
79 Rochester Calgary Sat, Apr 049:00 pmSaddledome
80 Colorado Portland Sat, Apr 0410:30 pmRose Garden
81 New York Philadelphia Sun, Apr 052:30 pmWachovia Center
82 Rochester Buffalo Fri, Apr 107:30 pmHSBC Arena
83 Portland Calgary Fri, Apr 109:30 pmSaddledome
84 Edmonton San Jose Fri, Apr 1010:30 pmHP Pavilion
85 Toronto Philadelphia Sat, Apr 117:30 pmWachovia Center
86 Buffalo New York Sat, Apr 117:30 pmPrudential
87 Rochester Boston Sat, Apr 117:30 pmTD Garden
88 Portland Minnesota Sat, Apr 118:00 pmXcel Energy
89 San Jose Colorado Sat, Apr 119:00 pmPepsi Center
90 Edmonton Colorado Fri, Apr 179:00 pmPepsi Center
91 Calgary Portland Fri, Apr 1710:30 pmRose Garden
92 San Jose Toronto Sat, Apr 187:00 pmAir Canada Ctr
93 Boston Buffalo Sat, Apr 187:30 pmHSBC Arena
94 Philadelphia Rochester Sat, Apr 187:35 pmBlue Cross
95 New York Minnesota Sat, Apr 188:00 pmXcel Energy
96 Portland Edmonton Sat, Apr 189:30 pmRexall Place

Full Printable Copy Available Here.

Monday, December 29, 2008

NLL Rosters Announced

The National Lacrosse League announced its official 23 man rosters today. The indoor league begins on Saturday, January 3, 2009 with three games.

MINNESOTA SWARM
In: F Kevin Buchanan, F Andrew Watt, D Kevin Fines, D Joe Out: F Andy Secore (drafted), F Keith Cromwell (unsigned), D Ian Rubel (unsigned)
Minnesota returns 17 players from their 2008 squad, a team that went 10-6 and had a share of first-place in the East Division. The Swarm used a balanced attack in 2008, and the same is expected in 2009. All-Star Ryan Ward and 2008 Rookie of the Year Craig Point lead the charge, with 20 goal scorers Chad Culp and Sean Pollock returning as well. Back-to-back Defenseman of the Year Ryan Cousins, transition star Ryan Sharp, and pure defender Jon Sullivan are all returning in front of All-Star goalkeeper Nick Patterson. Not much has changed (besides the division, the Swarm will play in the West in 2009) in Minnesota, but the Swarm are hopeful that first-round rookies Kevin Buchanan, Andrew Watt and Joe Cinosky can contribute quickly. Travis Hill is expected to continue to take the majority of faceoffs for the Swarm.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

How I Got Started

As my profile states, I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. As a young lad, my parents dressed me in Iowa Hawkeye garb because that was the thing to do. Everyone on both sides of my family was a Hawkeye fan except for my older brother. At a young age, he knew he wanted to be an engineer, specifically an aerospace engineer. He knew he wanted to go to Iowa State. I followed in his footsteps in my desire to be a Cyclone.

My mom was into sports, but rarely had time to sit and watch anything. My dad pretty much hated all athletics and encouraged the rigorous mathematics and science based lifestyle of my older brother. Needless to say, there were not many opportunities in my house to watch a ton of sports at a young age. Luckily games were always on at the relatives' homes.
I liked the big three (football, baseball, and basketball) from the start because they were readily available; one cousin was always watching the Hawkeyes and another always had the Cubs on WGN. Once I had my own TV (as opposed to the family's tube), I discovered hockey. So long basketball...I will say that soccer was instilled in me at an early age. The same Hawkeyes watching cousin played soccer and lived on the same side of town as me. My dad responded by putting me in soccer. Unfortunately I was a chubby kid and did not like to run. Plus my friends all played baseball. I begged him to let me switch. After the first couple of games, I realized how boring baseball really is.
Since ice hockey was extremely limited and expensive when I was younger, I played a lot of roller hockey. We created our own league and played at a few locations on the south side of Des Moines all the way through high school. I continued playing recreational ice hockey at Iowa State and still play to this day.I started getting back into soccer around the turn of the millennium. The Des Moines Menace were highly influential in that decision. For less money than an Iowa Cubs game, I could watch fairly decent soccer in a great atmosphere. I got to know several players over the years, including current Columbus Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum. This also led me to getting an expanded cable package, which included Fox College Sports.

It was on FSC that I really discovered lacrosse. Of course I had seen lacrosse on TV before and knew of it from American Pie (like everyone else in the free world). But FSC featured many games every week and I got to witness Hopkins lacrosse on a regular basis, including a certain guy wearing number 18. This led to me to adopt the Blue Jays as my lax team since there would be no loyalty concerns with other schools (like Michigan, ISU, and Florida) in other sports. I watched them lose the NCAA championship in 2003 and win it all in 2005 and 2007 (only to be disappointed again this year).Those early games hooked me. Soon I discovered Major League Lacrosse and the Long Island Lizards. As the league expanded westward, I became a bigger lacrosse fan. I realized that lax is the closest thing, in terms of play and speed, to playing ice hockey on grass.

As I watched more and more lacrosse, I realized that I would very much like to try it. I bought some kiddie sticks to mess around with and discovered how much fun just throwing and catching could be. That led me to get some adult stuff and find a way to bring lax to Des Moines. I researched area leagues and teams before I began this blog. Now, after almost three months, I feel like I have really started something here. There seems to be consistently growing interest in lacrosse in Des Moines at the adult and teen levels. I am getting better responses to my polls and have a very strong feeling that there will be some sort of men's league this summer.

Thank you for your continued dedication and support. Together we will make lacrosse a permanent fixture in Des Moines and Central Iowa from this day forward. Have a Happy New Year.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Demons' Colors

You may have noticed that I changed to deadline on the poll to pick the Des Moines Demons' colors. The current poll will now close at the end of 2008. Everything will be explained within the first few days of 2009 - including the results of the poll. Please vote if you have not already done so and be sure to vote in the other polls as well.

It's almost here!

Christmas is just around the corner!Santa love lacrosse!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Tonight is the First Night...


I'm not Jewish, but Happy Hanukkah!

What I Want For Christmas This Year Part 2

I love these Long Island Lizards Warrior Superflys
But I would gladly take these Brine Exodus gloves (also adorned with the Lizards' color and logo)
A Long Island Lizards Cascade Pro-7 would be nice
And what Long Island Lizards collection would be complete without a Nicky Polanco Jersey?

Saturday, December 20, 2008

What I Want For Christmas This Year Part 1

My Christmas List is all about the Des Moines Demons this year. Since Red and Black are leading the poll, I feel comfortable enough going with those colors. Because Iowa summers are super hot, I think that white is the best choice for helmets; they are stock items on Great Atlantic Lacrosse and most other websites. So let's get this going just in time for Santa...

Either of these Warrior Woodrow Shafts would be awesome

I'd love a Warrior Blade 2.0
Of course a White Cascade Pro-7 is my lid of choice
The white and red Warrior Superflys would go great with the Demons' colors
Warrior Burn detachable mid cleats would be so sweet on my feet
For bodily protection, I'd like the Warrior Players Club Shoulder Pads and Arm Pads

European Lax

Historically, Iowa's non-native settlers are of European descent. The majority of the state is still ethnically German, although there are quite a few of the Dutch and British variety (English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh) amongst us white folks. I come from English and German stock (with a bit of Native American tossed in for good measure).
What does this have to do with lax? You may not know this, but lacrosse has jumped across the pond. Europe has its own championships and European clubs even compete in the world championships.
This post is to make you aware that lacrosse is even bigger than you realize. It also serves to show you that people everywhere are picking the game up. Of course the pics I have posted are of Germany and the British home nations in action, but astute readers will see some Italians in action as well...

Props for Polanco Posters!

Check this message I got from the Long Island Lizards:
I sent Nicky some of those pictures you did of him.. he thought they were sick and wanted to get some copies...
Pretty bad ass! It's always good to learn that you can impress a professional athlete like Nicky Polanco even with no design experience. I will be sending them as soon as I get a response...

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Shuffled

I moved a couple of items around and added a new link box today. You'll notice a "Hot Topics & Big Stories" box in the upper left hand corner. That currently includes links to some of the biggest news on this site and will change as new stories hit.

The subscription link has been moved to just under the week's articles. I moved the archive link to just under the current articles. I am hoping that this slight tweak will be beneficial to my readers.

I have a couple of more ideas in mind and may change things up a bit more in January, but time will tell. If you have any suggestions post them below or drop me a line.

Thanks for reading!

Nicky Polanco Motivational Poster

Here is another poster I made while working on my Warrior Nation profile. What do you think?
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Summer League?!?! +Updates

Is there a chance that the Central Iowa Lacrosse Association may have a summer league for adults? It is becoming more likely all of the time. First of all, more and more people are voting in the polls, more people are responding favorably to my hounding about picking up lax, and a few area college players have expressed interest as well. Best of all, I finally made contact with the coach of the Valley lax team (ok, technically he made contact with me), Zach. He reached me through the "Des Moines Lacrosse League" Group-o-Matic site, which a few people have joined.

In our two brief email conversations, we talked about our options for getting men's lax up and running this summer in the Des Moines metro. One idea is to have scheduled scrimmage practices at a reserved location (which I am not yet at liberty to name) and another is to have a full blown men's beginner lax league. Our shared vision incorporates teenager players with adults to fill out teams. Based on Zach's predictions and the response I have so far received, we could be looking at four teams. The games would most likely be weekly at the location mentioned above. I do not have cost figures as of right now, but I have no plans to profit from this league. Ultimately it will come down to whether we will have to pay for field time, goals, etc.

For the time being, we are planning to ignore NCAA and NFHS regulations and allow players to wear hockey gear if that is what they have. Full face masks (cage style) will be required of course...

Some sort of liability waiver will probably have to be created. A method of arranging teams to balance the novices/experienced players and the teens/adults will have to be devised as well. That will happen as the time draws closer. Some sort of "uniform" system will be decided upon too. Again, I want to create a league that is as close to free as possible. The plan is to have enough men with at least a year of experience under their belt to field a GPLL travel team. That bridge will be crossed when we come to it...

In the mean time, Valley is planning on playing more lax games this spring. I believe most will be against Omaha area schools, but will know more once I get the info from Zach. All of that info will be posted on this site as it becomes available.

With the holidays rapidly approaching, I will not be doing a lot of extensive blogging. I do have an interview that I have to write up, but that will probably not happen until after Christmas (unless we get a super bad ice storm or something that cancels work and/or my family's plans on Saturday). This time it is an ISU player. I will have some exciting news sometime within the next week, but cannot divuldge that information until I have been given the authorization to do so. After that, who knows?

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Cup O' Kryptonite

If you love coffee...
If you love comics...
Then you need to stop by Cup O' Kryptonite!

If the video does not appear, click here.
4521 Fleur Dr # F
Des Moines, IA 50321
(515) 974-0515

Kyle Harrison Motivational Poster

Here is another poster I made while working on my Warrior Nation profile. What do you think?
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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Nicky Polanco Motivational Poster

Here is another poster I made while working on my Warrior Nation profile. What do you think?
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Saturday, December 13, 2008

The Luck Ran Out in Chicago.

Bad news for all of you Shamrox fans out there (Adam Stillman & Mitch MCElman at the UofI included), the franchise has folded. Well, technically it has been suspended for the upcoming season. All of the Shamrox players have been dispersed throughout the league.

League officials blame the economy and quietly redid the schedule. The truth is that the franchise has been for sale for over a year and was not drawing the type of crowds expected in a market like Chi-town. The owners were located on the west coast and found it difficult to run the team from afar.
Hopefully the team will rebound in a year...

Friday, December 12, 2008

Paul Rabil Motivational Poster

Here is another poster I made while working on my Warrior Nation profile. What do you think?
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Thursday, December 11, 2008

American Hockey League All Star Voting

The AHL has now opened up the voting for the 2008 - 2009 All Star Game. Be sure to vote for your favorite Chops players!

I realize this is not lacrosse related, but still...

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Kyle Harrison Motivational Poster

Here is another poster I made while working on my Warrior Nation profile. What do you think?
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Tribe 7