I really started to get into lacrosse as my main sport at the very tail end of high school.  Up until that point I had pretty much picked up a stick on March 1st, played my season, and then maybe played a little summer league.  Then I put the stick in my closet and usually didn’t touch it until the following March when it all started up again.  In the fall and winter, I played soccer, basketball, pond hockey, and even wrestled (poorly I might add) for a season.  I loved playing lots of different sports, but even then the idea of a “perfect Lacrosse stick” was still on my mind.

Rotelli with a perfect Fleischner Traditional pocket.

But I never focused on my stick back then.  My dad would go to a sports store and pick out 3-4 sticks for me and my brother.  He’d choose them based on how sturdy there were, how much they cost, and eventually, even how offset they were.  The first year Warrior came out with the Revolution, most of the kids on the team ripped on it hard.  But I was using one because my dad thought it was good.  Turns out he definitely knew what he was talking about!

So with all of this effort put in by my father, I should have had a GREAT stick… but I didn’t.  I could barely string up a messy mesh pocket, I had no idea what I was really doing, and the traditional pocket I so badly wanted just wasn’t in the cards.  I had used them in the past, but once they shifted a little, or broke in weirdly, I couldn’t use them.  Or fix them.  So for the longest time, I stuck with mesh.

But recently, I decided that I had picked up enough skill stringing to finally tune up the “perfect Lacrosse stick”… but the only problem was, I still wanted the early 2000s equivalent of the perfect stick.  So I had to get to work and find a way to make it happen.  After all, the stringing was only a small part of the equation… I needed to find a head, and I needed to find a shaft.  THEN I could get to the pocket.

Welles Crowther, the man in the red bandana (and a national hero!) also used a perfect traditional pocket… but he did it on the Edge Ice.  Probably not for long though.  The Edge Ice almost always broke in a matter of days.  At least mine did.  Man, remember those things?  Crazy.

Welles Crowther - American hero.

My ideal head was a Brine Edge.  This piece of equipment changed the game, and set the new gold standard for lax heads.  It was stiff, sturdy, wide (but not too wide), and completely offset.  This head was just begging for a great traditional pocket… and everyone wanted to play with one (unless you were a die-hard Proton/Excalibur guy).  For a shaft, I simply NEEDED an old school titanium shaft.  Nothing else would even come close.

Kevin Cassese has a PERFECT pocket.

Instead of actually using an Edge though, I decided to try to find a new head that was similar in a lot of ways.  I was looking for a relatively open sidewall, a full offset, a sturdy design and a somewhat open face.  The head I ended up choosing was the Warrior Emperor.  It’s not nearly as stiff and strong as the Edge, but the sidewall design was pretty similar, the face was perfect, and the offset was just what I was looking for.  If Warrior were to redesign the scoop and throat of this stick, it could be a super head!  It’s almost like a new school Edge.

I'm liking the Emperor actually.

For the shaft, I went with a Silverfin first run Titanium Shaft.  Remember the original titaniums?  The weight, flex, feel, color?  Well, this Silverfin shaft has ALL of that.  It’s a perfect modern throwback shaft.  It reminds me of the sticks I used at Wesleyan from 2000-2003 in a major way.  GREAT SUCCESS!

Silverfin shaft does it right!

Now I had the head and shaft… time for the pocket!

I went with white leathers, because Brown leathers are just a little TOO old school for me.  I use them a lot, and they ‘re super stiff and strong.  I wanted something with a little more stretch, and white leathers were all the rage in the early 2000s.  Then I decided to go with a 6-diamond traditional pocket, and would go with a shooting string heavy set up near the scoop.  Nice middle pocket, great hold and minimal whip.  A pocket like that would have made you the most popular kid on the team back in the day!  Oh well, if I couldn’t be popular in high school, at least I can now string a sweet wand.  That’s some consolation, right?

Money in the bank.

5 Shooting strings? You know it.

Shooters!