College Crosse Prospectus: Denver Hockey Draws From Denver Lacrosse’s Success

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for April 6, 2017.

What You Missed

Who are the best clearing and riding teams so far this season?

Syracuse defeated Hobart, won the Kraus-Simmons Trophy, and won by...SIX GOALS.

Hobart fans were so excited for the rivalry game, some of them decided to egg the Syracuse team bus.

Could Reverse Survivor dwindle down to one team this weekend?

Duke assistant coach and John Danowski’s son Matt Danowski mentors one of the best attack units in all of college lacrosse.

Lacrosse The Nation

As the Frozen Four (and The Master’s) gets underway today, Denver hockey BOSS Jim Montgomery has been seeking guidance from Denver lacrosse BOSS and overall OG Bill Tierney, from Nate Ewell of College Hockey Inc.

The college setting allows coaches like Montgomery and Tierney to share insight and ideas – there weren’t similar colleagues to connect with when Montgomery was winning titles with the Dubuque Fighting Saints, for example. That’s clearly something Montgomery has embraced.

“Any time I need guidance, whether it’s how to run a program, how to handle Frozen Four moments, I go to him a lot,” Montgomery said Wednesday following his last practice before the semifinals. “He’s a great man. Any time anyone spends two minutes with him they will understand why he’s won so much. He understands people and people naturally gravitate to him because of his leadership skills.”

Tierney occasionally watches Montgomery’s practices; he did the same at Princeton basketball coach Pete Carril’s practices early in his head coaching career. Similarly, Montgomery has taken in some of Tierney’s practices.

While there are some similarities between hockey and lacrosse, Montgomery hasn’t gathered breakout or power play tips from Tierney. Instead, when asked what he’s picked up from ‘Coach T’, Montgomery points to team building, structure and an overall approach.

“First is to trust yourself and trust your game plan,” Montgomery said. “And a big thing is something he didn’t tell me, but I’ve seen it watching his practices: you’ve got to care about your players, so that they care.”

Denver plays Notre Dame tonight. They’re both lacrosse schools.

Speaking of things getting thrown at Syracuse:

Penn State FOGO Gerard Arceri hopes to bounce back against Maryland after a horrendous performance against Ohio State, pens Paddy Cotter of The Daily Collegian.

“He’s a competitor, so he was disappointed,” coach Jeff Tambroni said. “For the first time all year he outthought himself. Against Ohio State, he just looked off from the very start. It’s not uncommon for him to lose a couple of faceoffs, but the way he was losing them — he just looked a little bit uncomfortable in his approach.”

Drake Kreinz, who was the primary faceoff man for the Nittany Lions two seasons ago, replaced the struggling Arceri. He won a few faceoffs, one of which resulted in an immediate goal for the Nittany Lions but was still overmatched.

Arceri’s teammates also believe the freshman will bounce back from his lackluster performance.

“He’s a really mentally tough kid,” defenseman Chris Sabia said. “When he first came in, he was a mental enigma. After getting to know him, I think he’ll be perfectly fine come this week.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Terps BOSS John Tillman thinks highly of his seniors as Maryland will have their Senior Day game this weekend.

Look who went to Duke’s practice:

And we learned something new about Danowski and his family.

Go birds.

Inside Lacrosse’s Dan Aburn asks if this is the best freshman class ever.

Another question to pose is why and how? Why are these freshman so impactful? How did they get to such a level to be instant contributors and stars?

Some may point to this year’s success as a victory for early recruiting or the sophistication of summer club ball, but the objective evidence to support such a claim is lacking. Another important consideration is the experience gained by those who participated in the U-19 World Championships, in which [Mac] O’Keefe, [Dox] Aitken, [Michael] Sowers, [Jared] Bernhardt, [Bryan] Costabile, [Ethan] Walker and [Tre] LeClaire all starred.

Post-graduate years can also account for such performances; post-grads tend to enter the college ranks more physically, mentally and technically developed. [Michael] Kraus and [Joey] Manown both took PG years.

Then there is the possibility that this class is just special, a once-in-a-decade anomaly and the players in it are just better than those who have come before or will come after. Regardless of how this group of freshmen got here, it looks like their impact will have an out-distanced impact on the DI landscape through the 2020 season. If this class pans out like the freshman class of 2009 or 2001 did, we could bear witness to some great careers.

The Gucci man Paul Carcaterra brings Anish Shroff along to chill with Virginia BOSS Lars Tiffany.

Hofstra hopes to continue to defy the polls even at 9-0.

Mercer alumni made it a great weekend for the current Bears.

Inside Lacrosse released their first Bracketology post.

Matt White of USLaxMagazine.com has a great profile on Air Force BOSS Eric Seremet and how he gave the Falcons a facelift.

“We had to change everything,” Seremet said. “We really had no choice.”

For 2011, Seremet and assistant Bill Wilson, a former head coach at Dartmouth, overhauled the team’s recruiting, focusing first on Colorado and other non-East Coast states where the sport was growing fast. Among their first local finds was Erik Smith, a football and lacrosse star from Denver who had been headed to Dartmouth. In more traditional hotbeds, Seremet and Wilson sold their small roster to players like Mike Crampton, a New Jersey attackman, as a chance for playing time.

“I didn’t want to go somewhere and ride the bench for three years,” said Crampton, now an Air Force instructor pilot in Columbus, Miss.

“The culture started to change with that group,” Seremet said. “We started to recruit a little better in defining the responsibilities here and the expectations of cadet life.”

Peep some photos from Kevin Tucker of US Lacrosse of the La Salle (my dogs)-Malvern Prep game.

Philly Jawns

Noted Washington Redskins fan Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be racing in an Eagles colored paint scheme for his race in Pocono in June.

World News

The Senate will vote on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch later today.

Video of the Day

It’s Master’s day. It has the greatest and most peaceful theme in all of sports.

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