College Crosse Prospectus: Tewaaraton Awards Announced

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Let’s get this post going up, on a Tuesday!

What You Missed

Former lacrosse player Chris Hogan had a big game for the New England Patriots. I don’t think you heard that anytime in the past 36 hours.

Lacrosse The Nation

We brought this to you yesterday that North Carolina goaltender Brian Balkam left Saturday’s scrimmage against High Point because a ball went through his mask and hit his eye. Luckily, he only has a black eye and is fine, but there’s now video of the freak injury, thanks to Balkam himself.

He’s a warrior no matter what.

The Tewaaraton Foundation announced that former Cornell player Mario St. George Boiardi is the recipient of the Spirit of Tewaaraton, while former Virginia women’s player Cherie Greer Brown and former Army player Peter Cramblet will be this year’s Tewaaraton Legends.

Update on Cleveland State getting ready for lacrosse.

UMass is out there getting set for the season!

Ohio State put together a great video from their Buckeye Lax Fest from Friday.

Folks...

At Syracuse, everything has to be of fire status. Including the posters.

I guess Lehigh and Bryant scrimmaged each other this weekend and they didn’t tell us! Sad!

At least the Lehigh website let us know about how the Mountain Hawks are doing during practices!

"I like the overall vibe and mood of the team right now, where there is this professional feel to them," said [Kevin] Cassese. "They're really mindful of their bodies, nutrition, hydration, recovery, rest and also, with how hard they push themselves – from getting extra lifts in, extra shooting sessions to the way they handle sports medicine treatments and preventative treatments. They dive into the film and you see guys carrying their playbooks home with them to study at night.

"There seems to be a commitment that has been raised up a notch, and I think that's a really good sign," Cassese continued. "Hopefully, they're learning that it's going to take a little bit bigger effort in order to recreate the winning culture that we had here a few years ago."

Senior co-captain Ian Strain echoed Cassese's sentiments.

"It's great to have the guys back on campus. We spent a lot of time at home, working to try and prove something this year," said Strain. "We're young. We have a lot of guys who are stepping on the field for the first time and the older guys are there to support them. I think we're ready to show people that we're ready to make some noise this year."

Penn State’s excited for their scrimmage with Army this weekend.

Shawn Stepner from ABC2 in Baltimore stopped by Towson lacrosse practice!

Could a new chest protector reduce the risk of cardiac arrest? More from Paul Ohanian on USLaxMagazine.com.

Recent research studies have yielded promising results for an equipment intervention to help reduce the likelihood of commotio cordis. The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) may soon approve a performance standard for chest protectors after testing on a mechanical surrogate. The proposal is eligible for final balloting at NOCSAE’s winter meeting Jan. 27.

“This is an unprecedented breakthrough in sports protection,” said Mike Oliver, executive director of NOCSAE. “Scientists have pinpointed the exact cause of commotio cordis, including the critical moment of occurrence in the cardiac cycle and the required threshold to prevent the injury.”

Dr. Mark Link, a board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist and worldwide authority on commotio cordis, conducted substantial research with NOCSAE funding. He tested 12 chest protectors varying in composition on a mechanical surrogate absorbing ball impacts. More than half of the impacts sustained without any chest protection resulted in ventricular fibrillation. Four of the 12 chest protectors significantly decreased the incidence rate to 20 percent or less.

Among products that he has tested, Link said that the HART Protector, produced by Unequal Technologies, may be the closest to meeting the proposed NOCSAE standard. “I am reasonably optimistic that this chest protector ... has the potential to significantly reduce the risk of commotio cordis,” he said.

Michigan senior Ian King is trying to be more of a leader than a scorer, pens Efe Edevbie of The Michigan Daily.

Being an offensive spark plug is nothing new for King, who has tallied 68 goals and 29 assists through his first three seasons for Michigan. It is not the most significant thing expected of him, though.

“If he’s leading and he’s letting the game come to him and being a steadying force on our offense and not ‘the guy’ on our offense, we’re going to be in pretty good shape,” said Michigan coach John Paul. “There’s going to be times where we need him to be ‘the guy’, but that can’t be his mindset day in, day out. We want to take that pressure off him and just have him play lacrosse.”

Kyle Jackson served in that role for Michigan last season before being drafted seventh overall by the Rochester Knighthawks in the 2016 National Lacrosse League Draft. He left the program as the all-time leading scorer, with 113 points. While King claims filling Jackson’s shoes will be a collective effort, the reality is that King is the most notable returner. With another full season ahead of him, King needs just 16 points to shatter Jackson's record. Still, the Wolverines' staff is hoping he assumes a role as a leader more than a scorer.

“I think we have a lot of good freshmen that are coming in and filling spots,” King said. “We lost a lot of points with Kyle Jackson, but if there is any added responsibility (for me), I’ll take it, but I don’t think there is.”

Philly Jawns

The Eagles hired Mike Groh as their new wide receivers coach. Can Nelson Agholor catch on with this guy?

World News

The next Star Wars movie will be called The Last Jedi.

Video of the Day

Here’s Migos rapping to the children’s book Llama Llama Red Pajama.

Make sure you follow us on social media!

Facebook: College Crosse

Twitter: @SexyTimeLax

Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell