how 'bout them pens n'at...

get out your brooms and start sweeping. the pens just owned the sens in 4 games. it pretty much wasn't fair from start to finish. the pens demolished the sens in every single aspect of each and every game. the offense was on fire. the defense played spectacular. and fleury was playing like a man possessed. all i can say is, lord stanley lord stanley bring me some brandy!

midwest lacrosse fest...

this past weekend rocklacrosse went to the midwest lacrosse festival at ohio state university. 16 teams attended, and games were setup in a tournament fashion. each team was guaranteed 4 games, after which playoffs seeds were determined. you could then play an additional 3 games, including the tournament championship game.

on the weekend, the rocklacrosse team went 3-2, losing to cincinnati in the first round of the playoffs. our wins came against ohio dominican, denison, and our huge rival kentucky. our loses came to the always-talented ohio state and cinci. overall i'd say the weekend was a success. we played extremely well early on in the weekend, but exhaustion took its toll in our later games. we are now 8-2 on the season.

not even fair...

the rocklacrosse team just finished up their stretch of 4 home games in about 2 weeks. we won all 4 games, going undefeated at home for the season. all of the victories were pretty much lopsided. here's how the games went:

vs. toledo 9-0
vs. youngstown state 21-0
vs. akron 22-4
vs. penn state-behrend 18-0

in 4 games, we scored 70 goals and allowed only 4. not even fair...

lots of lax...

i'm pumped. the rocklacrosse team has 4 games coming up in the next 6 days. the following weekend, we have a tournament at ohio state. so if you count that, we have the potential of playing 11 games in 9 days. that is awesome. right now we're 2-0. we are heading into this weekend playing youngstown state on friday, akron on sunday, penn state-behrend on monday, and iup on wednesday. i am fairly confident about all of these games, and i feel as though we could go into ohio state undefeated. we just had a big shutout victory against toledo, so we're trying to keep rolling from that.

pens in the playoffs

the win last night over the devils put the pens in the playoffs regardless of what happens in the last 8 games or so they have left. i saw this coming, but i'm still way way beyond excited about it. my family has season tickets, so i've been to a couple playoffs games in my day. and there isn't anything like being in the arena in that plyoff atmosphere. you can't beat it. i just hope this year its not another disappointing first-round blowout.

march madness

i'll say it. i am not a fan of basketball. i am not a fan of march madness, and how there's going to be like 8000 games played over the next month. basketball is already unbearable to watch as it is. then march madness and the ncaa tournament comes along and makes me want to carve out my eyes with a spatula. i don't mean to offend anyone who plays and/or loves basketball, but i just don't get it.

sid back in the lineup

i'm pretty happy that sid's finally back in the pens lineup. although geno was able to do an outstanding job without him, sid just brings a whole different level to the game. when he's out there, you know something sweet is going to happen. he's flashy without even trying. and it was nice to see him flying around the ice in his first game back, another indication that his high ankle sprain is now a thing of the past. hopefully all roads lead to lord stanley's cup.

a.o. getting 5 points...and he's still behind geno

last night the washington capitals absolutely demolished the boston bruins 10-2. in the game, ovechkin got a hat trick and recorded 2 assists, giving him a total of 5 points for the game. and with less than 20 games left in the season, the race for the scoring title continues on. and you'd expect, since ovechkin had a 5 point night, for him to be atop the leader board. but no, geno malkin is still 3 points ahead of him. how 'bout them apples a.o.?? i feel like geno is going to win the scoring title...he's been on a tangent since sid's been out, and he's showing no signs of slowing down. let's go pens!

cancelled..

so yea, our lacrosse home game for this weekend got cancelled due to terrible field conditions. turns out, there's about 1.5-2 inches of straight ice laying right on top of the turf of the football field. and because of this, the maintence workers were told not to plow the field because they would tear up the surface. this was strangely similar to what happened for our first home game last season against the very same opponent. we were scheduled to have the stadium for the game, but the university would not plow the 8 inches of snow off. so using hand shovels, our lacrosse team cleared the entire field so that we could play a game that weekend. this year, we weren't so lucky, or eager. ohhh well. i'm not happy about it, but at least i don't have to run around in the snow and cold.

ROCKLacrosse...1-0

yep. the rocklacrosse team defeated kent state last week. it was awesome. so now we're 1-0 going into a game this weekend against penn state-behrend. this should be a good game, but i'm pretty confident we will win. our goal for the season is to go undefeated and win a national championship, and so far we're on track for that. only time will tell...

victorious...

last night was the season opener for the rocklacrosse team against kent state. this was a divisional game, and it was a must-win for us to make it the playoffs. we started off the game terribly, and it wasn't looking good for us. we weren't able to execute anything and we were totally letting them control the game. when the second half begin, we came out firing though. we started ripping shots and took the lead. we dictated the tempo of the game and completely shut them down. we ended up winning the game 14-9. the score seems a little closer because in the fourth we put in our backup goalie as well as fourth and fifth liners. overall i'm happy with the win. we could've done better, but we got it done when we needed. next game is march 1st against penn state-behrened at home. should be sweet.

zednik's near-death experience

the other night, flordia panther richard zednik had his carotid artery sliced by a teammate's skate during the thrid period of the hockey game. when his teammate got up-ended, he fell face first towards the ice. this sent his legs flying up in the air. and zednik, being in such close proximity, was cut across the neck with on of the errant skates. zednik skated off the ice on his own power, holding his glove to his neck. as soon as he was helped off the ice, he went unconcious. he was rushed to emergency surgery, where they repaired the artery. he is now in stable condition.

when i heard about this, i was shocked. you always think something like this can happen, but it never does, so you aren't accustomed to it. i thank god that the youth leagues require players to wear neck guards. because my cousin is a hockey player, and i cannot even imagine how muhc worse the situation could be without proper medical staff around like at an nhl game.

8 days til the season starts...

there is officially 8 days until the lacrosse season starts. pretty sweet. over the weekend, i went to a league meeting at ohio state. all of the teams in our conference were there. the meeting was overall a pretty big waste of time, except for the end where we all had a chance to finalize our schedules and whatnot. another high point is that our team is going to be receiving a plaque for going undefeated in the one tournament this past fall season. now that the season's getting ready to begin, i have to start thinking about what cool design i want to shave my sideburns into. last season was the mutton chops, lightning bolts, and civil war era burns. so this year, i've got to do something risk and dangerous.

terrelle pryor decides to wait...who didn't see that coming

pryor was supposed to announce his college decision yesterday...and he didn't. the entire nation was anxiously awaiting terrelle's decision, and then he ended up saying that he needed more time to decide. i've been calling that since day one. there's no way pryor is going to speed up his decision because of the media. first he's going to ohio state. then he's heading to oregon. then pitt comes into the picture?! and then it's back to ohio state, then penn state, and even florida. what i really wanted pryor to do was show up at national signing day with a bag of like 9 or 10 hats, and then wear each one of them just to tick everyone off. that would've been something to tune into and see.

that apple notebook you can put in an envelope

while i was watching the super bowl, i saw for the first time the commercial where they take the notebook computer out of the envelope. i kind of just sat there and stared at the tv screen. my first reaction was "wow". my second was "why the hell would they make a computer so small?!" i mean, don't get me wrong, i love the fact that technology is advancing in such a way that a computer can now fit seamlessly into an envelope. but honestly, does it need to be as thin and light as a frisbee? if i ever saw one in person, i wouldn't know whether to log on or throw it like the hammer to start off a game of ultimate.

more lacrosse

as a i said last time, i'm starting to get pretty pumped for the season. we just found out this week that we're going to have three-hour saturday practices at the field house. and the best part about it...full pads and full contact. this is really awesome because it gives us a chance to get in game situations without having to go outside in the crappy weather. i was getting a little worried because we have our first game coming feb. 20th, and we wouldn't have been able to have much game-situation practice. i'm also excited because i get to go to ohio state this sunday for our league's scheduling meeting. this is the first meeting i am attending. i was told that i am almost certainly taking over the team in the next couple years, so it's necessary for me to go to this meeting to learn the protocol and whatnot. thinking about being the president of a university club sport is kind of overwhelming, but at the same time i am up for the challenge.

lacrosse season

i am starting to get pretty pumped up. on sunday, we had our first lacrosse workout/practice. after finishing up our workout portion, we got out our sticks and gloves and started throwing around, which was the first time we did this as a team since the fall season ended. we had an extremely successful fall season, losing only two games. so for the spring season, we're all aiming for a national championship. the past two years we've lost in the playoffs, and after this year we are losing a lot of key starters. so everyone realizes that this may be our best shot at winning it all. and after practice sunday, we're all starting to get pumped up and back into the winning mindset. should be good.

about me

my name's mark crawford. i'm almost 20. i was born in pittsburgh, pa, and i graduated from north hills high school in 2006. i am currently a sophomore at slippery rock university, when i am a health/physical education major. i am very athletic, and enjoy playing sports all of the time. i have been playing lacrosse for about 10 years, and i am currently a member of rock's men's lacrosse team. i am also a huge hockey fan, and i enjoy playing deck, roller, street and ice hockey. being from pittsburgh, the steelers and pens are number one. i hate the pirates, and i think they are a disgrace to the city...but that's just me.