New additions to ECAC leauge

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in America. Sporting stores have to order more lacrosse equipment all the time just to keep up with the demand. The ECAC league is the eastern cost athletic conference. This really has nothing to do geographically because there are teams from the eastern border to Denver Colorado. The league is looking to expand with two brand new division one teams. The two new teams are Michigan and High Point. The league is to expand so they can get more national attention. “It’s difficult to say because the schools that make up the ECAC all belong to other primary conferences,” Keeling said. “If the Big Ten would come up with a lacrosse conference it would have to take Ohio State and that would change the dynamic. We want to be one of the strongest conferences in the country.” This league could be great with all of the different geologic locations.

http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2011/04/27/ecac-expansion-likely-horizon-could-include-michigan-high-point

Martin hits it big

In the lacrosse world if you don’t play division one, two or three you are probably not that good. You will not have a future in lacrosse if you did not play NCAA lacrosse. Conner Martin played club lacrosse in California at Chapman University and is one of the biggest rising names there is. He first hit the lacrosse scene will making videos on You Tube about the life of a California lacrosse player. He is going to be joining one of the upcoming lacrosse brands in Flow Society. Conner said “From my head to my toes I can’t feel my legs! That is how excited I is to be a part of Flow Society. They are a brand that aligns very well with what I do as an athlete and with my Con Bro Chill nonsense. The way they love our game, have fun and deliver loud, bright colored gear m makes my head spin with all of the possibilities and fun we are going to have. At the end of the day, they want to support me being me, and I’m ecstatic about that. This is going to be Boom Town.” He is really excited about this whole process. He is living the dream in being sponsored by a lacrosse company and being able to play in both the indoor and outdoor professional leagues. 

 http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2011/04/06/flow-society-announces-brand-collaboration-with-connor-martin

Players get fair trial

The Duke lacrosse case is known around to the country as a dark time for lacrosse. Players from one of the best teams in the nation were accused of raping a stripper. The facts of this story are crazy and the city of Durham rushed too quick into the case. The city had some sort of grudge against this team and decided to try and bring the heaviest punishment they could. In the end this backfired. A US judge is now letting the players file a civil rights violations case.The judge said about the police "singled out as especially serious the players' charge that authorities may have rigged or fabricated evidence to support stripper Crystal Mangum's false report that she'd been raped at a team party." This gave people a bad view of lacrosse and these players do deserve something.

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12584208/article-Judge-rules-on-lacrosse-suits?instance=homesecondleft

Bighamton coach leaves

What would you do if you woke up to an email from your coach leaving? This is what happened to the Bighamton lacrosse players. There coach left because he felt that three of his players were not treated right by the school. Three lacrosse players were suspended because their role in a fight. These kids where there to break it up and they are the ones who got suspended. The school said it wanted to act swiftly and the Stephenson feels like the school did a very poor job. He called out the school saying "They have become so scared of the media that they will not act fairly with regard to the student athletes' judicial cases,". This is a nightmare for the school because this will hurt the team and athletic department a lot. I feel bad for the players who lost their coach and a person they looked up to.

http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2010-11/news/032011_binghamton_lacrosse_coach_ed_stephenson_resigns_in_protest_of_disciplinary_action_taken_against_players

Division 2 team shuts down

Grand Canyon university will be shutting down their men's varsity program. The team has been around since 2008 and has made strides in division 2. The team is part of the western conference with other teams in Colorado and California. The team had high hopes of the program going division one someday with the growth of lacrosse. The school is trying to make the jump and did not see lacrosse being financially able. The only division one men's lacrosse teams are Denver and the Air Force Academy. The school thought it would be way to hard to continue the program at any level. The coaching staff wants to become a varsity club team and still try and keep the team together. "The idea was if we're utilizing athletics as more of a marketing tool to show off our success, why are we offering programs we can't fully fund? Let's just [end the program] now and move on," said Baker. This just makes it sound that the AD is giving up and that is not good for the sport. It is a shame to see a program close its doors after a couple of years.

http://www.laxmagazine.com/blogs/author/coyne/03.10.11_at_6.15_p.m._by_Jac_Coyne

Better Way to follow the Sport

The premier online lacrosse magazine has revamped its website. US lacrosse is a membership magazine but has a free online version. It is updated everyday with scores and stories though the lacrosse world. In 2009 the magazine switched companies and has only seen its website soar. It knew it had to make the page more visually pleasing. You can now follow your favorite team online. This helps people who are die hard fans who only want the news about their team. There are more writers being added everyday and this helps the sport really to spread. Everyone has a different opinion on the sport and now it is more represented with all the new ways to blog on the website. The magazine is now has a mobile platform so you don't need a computer. The sport is taking off just like the way it is being covered.

http://www.laxmagazine.com/blogs/author/dasilva/03.02.2011_at_4.08_p.m._by_Matt_DaSilva

Rough times in Calgary

A team that is sitting in first place and has the fourth best attendance has a problem. This team is the Calgary Roughnecks of the NLL and they are in a finical crisis. The team might not have enough funds to complete the rest of their schedule. Owner/general manager Brad Banister made a plea to his fellow Calgarians. His team is about to go under if there is no help. He sent out a letter last week asking for help with his team. There needs to be finical backing so the team can even pay the players. For this team to even break even they need to sell 12,500 tickets to the rest of their home games. "It would be an absolute shame to see something that has impacted the youth of the community disappear" said the captain. This team has been around since 2001 and with the league always in flux that good.

http://www.laxmagazine.com/nll/2010-11/news/022411_national_lacrosse_league_notebook_banister_not_going_to_quit_on_calgary_whipper_wants_one_more_ring_finneran_supports_powell_bandits_sold