Happy Thanksgiving!
Today is a day to give thanks to what and who we are grateful for in life. For many, Thanksgiving is the only time of year when many of our family can actually be in the same place, so spend as much time with them as you can! The bond of family is the closest bond that a group of people can achieve, that is why it is our number one core value. Flip once said, “when we are truly successful as a team, we are cohesive family. It might sound strange to say that I demand that we function as a true ‘family’ unit. Within that family, I am Papa. We are only as good as we are all together. I preach it. That doesn’t change even when the faces do.” Flip knew the importance of family. Take these words to heart, and be with your family this Thanksgiving Day. Love the ones you’re with and cherish those who have passed, they are all here in spirit with all of us as we enjoy this day together.
This year’s Thanksgiving, much like every other year, generally takes place a week or two after the conclusion of our Fall season. This year’s Fall season went extremely well. We have 43 new players representing the states of California, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Oregon, Illinois, New York, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Utah, Arizona, Washington, and of course, Colorado! Of these 43 new players, we have welcomed four attackmen, 25 midfielders, seven defensemen, and four goalies to the team. Many of these players are quite skilled and show an enormous amount of potential. All of these new players, as well as their family, are wonderful additions to ours. We are beyond thankful that these good people decided to choose our family.
Our new and returning players have done much to contribute to our family identity both on and off the field. Regarding our players and the field, we have been busy this fall. Our coaches and players have been working together four days a week in order to develop a team that can go deep into the spring season this year. Our points of emphasis each day have been to play fast, keep the ball off of the ground, and to always outwork the other team. Hard work is another one of our values, and it will characterize the team’s style of play this spring.
In order to test our mettle this Fall, we had originally planned to scrimmage against the University of Northern Colorado, Adams State University, CU Denver, Denver University Club. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts and some inclement weather, we were only able to play our Green and Gold scrimmage and Adams State University. The Green v. Gold scrimmage was an eventful one with Gold getting the win over Green with a score of 10-8.
Our only scrimmage against a team other than ourselves was Adams State University who made the trek up to Fort Collins on November 4th. The Rams won 8-4, and we were able to see a short preview of the talent that we will put on display this spring. Luckily, scrimmaging was not the only way our players got to express their competitiveness this Fall.
The CSU Box Lacrosse League was a way for our players to work on their stick skills in a fast paced environment. Each year, the four captains draft roughly 16 person teams and compete against each other in a round robin style. Deryk Delahanty’s team, the Ryk Flairs, were the champions with a final record of 3-1. Pictured on the right is the night that the Flairs won it all. Frank Culhane’s team, Frank’s Tanks, came in second place with a record of 3-2. For third and fourth place came Grant Alfred’s Goonies and Derek Adelman’s team, the Adeldads. All four of these teams competed extremely hard against each other and showed a lot of grit. Kyle Robinette, while on Frank’s Tanks, lead the CSUBLL with 24 points (13 goals and 11 assists). Deryk Delahanty came in second in points with 20 (14 goals and 6 assists). Frank Culhane lead the league in saves and save percentage with 81 and 68.78% respectively.
To kick off our Spring season January, the Rams will be scrimmaging 4 NCAA programs; Denver University, Colorado Mesa, Colorado College, and CSU Pueblo. The players and coaches can’t wait to get back out there and compete for a championship this year. Our sense of family and our work ethic has become strong this year, and we can’t wait to see what kind of greatness we can achieve. Below is our spring schedule. Happy Thanksgiving, and GO Rams!