Lets take a step back and evaluate what makes an offensive weapon in college lacrosse. First you need to have clean and savvy stick skills. Second you need to be able to dodge past defenders in the open field and in tight spaces. Thirdly one has to be able to shoot the lights out of the ball. And lastly, the attribute that is a necessity to any and all successfull lacrosse players; undeniable toughness- who out there possesses these such attributes?? Well i will give you a hint, it isn't our tough and athletic, but stick skill lacking New Yorkers, and it sure is not our wall ball expert, wusses from Maryland. But maybe, just maybe there is a hybrid of the two out there somewhere. It is this writers opinion that the perfect hybrid can be found chopping down a tree and drinking a Labatt Blue just north of us in good old Canada

In talking with some Canadian college lacrosse players who crossed the border, and their coaches i learned that they had a great deal of adjusting to do in a short four year window if they wanted any shot of becoming a successful college lacrosse player. In fact just getting noticed and asked to play for a college team with no outdoor experience is a great feat in it and of itself. When talking with coach Dom Starsia of the University of Virginia with regards to A.J. Shannon he said that he wasn't convinced that A.J. would be a great lacrosse player at the college level and was apprehensive in recruiting him in the first place.

Starsia: "I heard about A.J. at a coaches convention from Jim Bishop, (an old box lacrosse coach who coached Dom in a pro league during the mid 70's) he said there is this kid coming up the pipeline that you should give a look in to in the next few years. So i wrote "A.J. Shannon" on a napkin and put it in one of my folders. Two years later by accident it fell out of the folder, i saw it, and decided to give him a call." In retrospect I think it is safe to say that he is happy he made that call.

Also elements of the outdoor game that you would think would be an advantage for a box player become obstacles. For example one would think that if you were used to dodging in a small spaces such as in box lacrosse and then were given the opportunity to dodge in open areas then that would be easy. Not necessarily true. When talking with A.J. Shannon who was co-captain of the national champion Virginia Cavs, and pro outdoor, and indoor player with the Pride and Bandits respectively he said his transition wasn't exactly an easy one.

"All I heard about was how easy it was to dodge in field lacrosse, so i was optimistic and eager to give it a shot. They wanted me to play attack at first. I was able to run and get a step on most of my defenders with my speed and strength, but when it came time for me to shoot with a long pole on me it was a little different then what i was used to. When I was moved to Midfield during my sophomore and junior years i ended up with a short stick on me again just like old times, because Chris Rottelli would always draw the longstick, and I feel that is when i really started to excel at the college level."

In talking with other Virginia lacrosse players i got the feeling that A.J. was being a little too humble with me during our interview. Calvin Sullivan who was a teammate and roomate of A.J.'s for four years said: "Playing and watching A.J. for four years was a pretty cool experience. He is one of those players that can just do anything well, dodge, shoot, finish, and play defense, fortunately for him he didn't have to play much defense because we were lucky enough to have some of the best short stick middies in the country for four straight years. But i mean look at him now he plays some defense in the indoor league, so i mean that just proves there is nothing he can't do."

A.J. isn't the only Canadian player that has been getting noticed recently. Can anyone say Jeff Zywicki. Well he has quietly reached a mark at Umass last season that has only been reached by one other person in the schools history, and his name was Mark Millon. Scoring over 40 goals, while adding over 20 assists. He scored 41 goals, and had 21 assists. Those are some pretty impressive numbers to put up for one player while having Chris Fiore, and Kevin Leveille on the same team.

When talking to Umass head coach Greg Canella he had this to say about Jeff: "Jeff's skills have really developed over the past four years. He is a player that isn't really one of those technically sound players, he does a lot of things such as shooting the ball underhand, or throwing multiple around-the-backs a game. He is a real nifty player who has a knack for just being able to score. I feel that the fact that he had played box lacrosse his whole life before college helped him have really sharp stick skills, and that is what sets him apart from most other players."

With all this being said, the previous information shouldn't really come as a huge surprise. Lets examine the past 15 years in competitive lacrosse. Tom Marechek, John Grant Jr., John Tavares, and who are those two brothers again, oh yeah the Gaits.. Let me paint another picture for you: summer of 1998, in my opinion the most exciting, and entertaining lacrosse game ever witnessed. In fact I challenge anyone to post a better game. And if you did watch this game you would be lying to yourself if you weren't secretly pulling for the Canadians to pull off the upset.

This article wasn't written to say that Canadians are the best lacrosse players out there, but it was written to give some insight on a group of players that are talented, humble, tough, and who aren't afraid to mix things up. And as lacrosse players ourselves, there isn't one of us out there that wouldn't mind being characterized like that...