Wrapping up the weekend at the NSCLA Championships, I checked out as much of the playoff action as I possibly could, bouncing from game to game. West Coast Starz ('16), Leading Edge ('15) and Baltimore Crabs ('14) all left Franklin & Marshall with trophys in hand. Results can be seen below. 

One of the best aspects of lacrosse's growth Westward is that, as a reporter covering the recruiting beat, you get to see some wonderful sights.

The eighth annual Lake Erie Lacrosse Showcase and Festival, held outside of Buffalo in Fort Niagara, turned out to be a fantastic weekend of lacrosse for players and families from as far away as Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, as well as from Ontario and throughout New York State.

Brian Coughlin has been using his statistical analysis to keep track of pace all season. Some of his thoughts on the 2013 rule changes are below. To share your thoughts on the 2013 rule changes, answer our reader poll here.

If a quicker game was what you were hoping for after 2012, it is what you got.

After an off-season that saw some noteworthy changes in the rules, the average length of an NCAA DI men’s lacrosse game was reduced from roughly 2 hours 1 minute 31 seconds in 2012 to under one hour 55 minutes in 2013. The sample size, while small (few teams reported game times in 2012), did not include any overtime games and had the same number of television games.

The recruiting season kicked off in earnest this past weekend, with IL staff members spread out across the country for coverage of those who will be the game's next superstars.

The halfway point of the 2013 Major League Lacrosse season gives us an opportunity to re-assess, evaluate and critique. It’s also the perfect time to recognize those that have impressed and acknowledge a few off-the-radar players that may be in line for some hardware at the close of the season. In the past I’ve done an odds column for the gamblers out there, but I have been told that my knowledge of how gambling actually works is so miniscule that I should never talk about it ever again. Dude. I’m from New Hampshire. What am I going to bet on? How many times a day I see a guy load a dead animal into his truck? Today it was two. Two times. What do I win? A cup full of Sadness.