College Crosse Prospectus: Vancouver Stealth bought by NHL’s Vancouver Canucks

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here’s everything you need to know for June 19, 2018.

What You Missed

TD Ierlan is unsure of where he’ll be going, but it sounds like it’ll either be Cornell or Yale. And St. Bonaventure is going to the MAAC.

Our Year in Review series continued with the Marist Red Foxes.

Syracuse and Jacksonville players are in Montana teaching players lacrosse.

Lacrosse The Nation

Quick plug: Thanks again to the NJIT Highlanders and head coach Travis Johnson and assistant coach Alex Lopes for allowing me to take a look inside their facilities and talk to them about the program. You’ll see something come out later today!

In NLL news, the Vancouver Stealth are being purchased by the Vancouver Canucks and will play in Rogers Arena next season under a different name.

“First and foremost, I would like to thank Denise Watkins for her many years of passion and commitment at the helm of the organization, which included bringing a championship to the franchise in 2010,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “This is another pivotal moment for the League and we are honoured and thrilled to have the Aquilini family and Canucks Sports & Entertainment leading our Vancouver franchise in one of the most relevant lacrosse communities in North America.

”We are very excited to welcome the National Lacrosse League to Rogers Arena,” said Jeff Stipec, COO, Canucks Sports & Entertainment. “I would like to thank Denise Watkins and the Stealth staff for all they have done to establish and develop the NLL in Greater Vancouver.”

”British Columbia has a rich lacrosse history and people from across the country and around the world know how important this market is to the game,” continued Stipec. “We look forward to continuing to grow the game, both on the floor and in the community. We can’t wait to get to work.”

Former Syracuse Orange players Dom Madonna, Joe DeMarco, Ben Williams, and Scott Firman are transforming the faceoff game, from Niko Tamurian of CNY Central:

Enter Real-Rep Pro, from X-Factor Lacrosse. Engineered by Liverpool-native and former SU goalie Dom Madonna, while the business end of things was started by former Orange face-off specialists Ben Williams and Joe DeMarco and teammate Scott Furman.

It’s a device that offers life-like resistance and torque as a training face-off artist tries to win a simulated face-off.

The idea and concept started while the trio was in their senior capstone at SU. As part of the Panasci Contest at the Whitman School at SU, a contest where Real-Rep Pro took home a first prize of $20,000 for development. Money that’s still being used today.

Madonna was a student at the engineering school and was recruited to use his expertise to tinker and arrive at the perfect model to effectively allow face-off specialists across America be able to train without a partner and to their exact specifications.

Former ESPN anchor Michelle Bonner wrote about one of her son’s gym teachers, former UMass defenseman Mario Lopez for US Lacrosse Magazine:

“Massachusetts lacrosse, at the time, was not respected,” [Rob] Falvey says. “The school was good, but players in upstate New York didn’t respect us. They did after they saw Mario play.”

It’s been nearly three decades since that warm afternoon at Alumni Stadium, but Falvey’s narration of the Minutemen’s matchup with Syracuse is flawless.

“In 1989, Mario’s a freshman, we’re playing Syracuse in our last regular season game. They are No. 2 in the country and they have the best player in the country [Gary Gait]. Mario is covering Gary, and this is a big deal. We’re losing 7-1 and end up coming back to lose by just one [10-9]. Everybody knew who Mario was after that game. There was no better pat on the back for a guy than being asked, as a freshman, to cover Gary Gait.”

“That Syracuse game was definitely a highlight for me,” Lopez says. “I was 18-years old, a freshman and charged with covering Paul and Gary Gait. I was playing at home, the place where I grew up, in front of 13,000 fans. I was able to cause a few turnovers, which was a huge confidence boost for me playing Division I for the first time. That game let me know I could play against the best and hold my own.”

Villanova men’s and women’s players are spending time in Italy this summer!

Speaking of Wildcats, former Nova standout Brian Karalunas graduated from Stanford Law!

Relive Monmouth’s trip to Germany and the Czech Republic!

Harvard Crimson seniors Joe Lang and Sean Coleman (a La Salle College High School product) remember their time playing in Cambridge.

Shoutout Ohio State for opening up a brand new recruiting Twitter account!

Lafayette’s Conor Walters is working in New York City this summer at Deutsche Bank.

#WeMadeIt

Philly Jawns

The judge in the Meek Mill case is withholding ruling on his request for a new trial.

World News

Jay-Z was named Puma’s Creative Director of Basketball Operations.

Video of the Day

Because the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl, take a look inside the iconic “Philly Special” play.

That’s it for today! I’ll see you out there! Make sure you follow us on social media!

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Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell