Defensemen Lee Zink Finally retires.

After 11 years in the MLL, Defensemen of the Denver Outlaws Lee Zink retires at the age of 33 due to "The timing just being right" said Zink in an interview with Inside Lacrosse. Zink also had a couple of other reasons of why he retired. Zink and his wife were expecting there first child which probably contributed to his retirement. Also, Zink said that most of, if not, all of his goals that he'd want to accomplish, he did accomplish which gave him the thought of ending his career. Also, Lee Zink is still finishing his Master Degree in Laws and is working in the oil and gas industry.

During his time in the MLL, Lee Zink played a total of 117 games (116 Starts), which is the seventh most played games overall. He played two seasons with the Baltimore Bayhawks, and the other Nine seasons with the Denver Outlaws. He picked up a total of 232 ground balls, took a total of 4 shots at the goal, and 1 shot on goal. Lee was also named Defense Player of the Year in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Zink was also selected to his seventh-consecutive MLL All-Star team and third-straight All-MLL team in his last season. Lee set a career high two time defensive player of the week in 2013.

During his time attending the University of Maryland and playing lacrosse there, Zink totaled 60 games (42 starts) at Maryland, where he scooped up 138 groundballs and scored one goal. Lee Zink was named the first team All-American as a senior, where he played 15 games (all starts) and collected a career-best 61 groundballs as a team captain. Also, he was named the William F. Schmeisser Division I Defensive Player of the Year and nominated for the Tewaaraton Trophy which was awarded to the nation’s top player. Zink also made the All-Atlantic Coast Conference team and the ACC All-Tournament team, ranked second on the team in caused turnovers (42) and 62 groundballs. During his junior year of college, he earned the third team All-American honors. Lee helped Maryland to a 7.25 goals against average, playing 16 games (15 starts) with 41 groundballs and a team-best 32 forced turnovers. Lee held his opposing man scoreless for four games in row late in the season during the Terps’ run to the NCAA Semifinals. Named Maryland Student-Athlete of the Week in his Junior year on May 4 after week in which he had 10 groundballs, 12 caused turnovers and first career goal. He posted career-highs with nine groundballs and seven caused turnovers at Notre Dame (5/3). Scored his first goal and caused five turnovers vs. Georgetown (4/28, earning Terp Vision Player of the game honors. Appeared in 13 games (12 starts) as a sophomore, scooping up 28 groundballs. He became a member of the NCAA's top defense, allowing less than seven goals per game, and during his freshman season, he played 16 games (0 starts) and registered eight groundballs. All in all, Lee Zink was a savage during his whole college and MLL career.

New 2015-2017 NCAA Lacrosse Rule Changes

On September 10th, the NCAA playing rules oversight panels (PROP) approved multiple rule changes for the incoming season of the 2015 Men's Lacrosse season. The highlight of these approvals are rules mostly regarding stalling, and the way face offs are commenced and there are also some other rule changes and additions. Some of which are visible shot clocks, a new timeout system and also some new uniform changes.

First off, the new rule of stalling also helped implement a new shot clock on the field so that players don't stall and take forever to make/score a goal and a new rule of shooting. They are currently saying that shot clocks requirements will be met on the release of the shot. This will be putting a lot more responsibility on the officials to determine a shot was made before the shot clock expires. Also, this will also put more stress on a defense men as knocking down a shot will no longer help them to kill the shot clock. When stalling is called, “A visible clock will enable everyone to see the start and stop of the clock when stalling is called,” said Jon Hind, committee chair and director of athletics at Hamilton College in New York. “We continue to refine and improve the methods used to deter teams from stalling.” In the beginning of the next season, all Division 1 teams will be required to display a visible shot clock, while in the next season in 2016, all Division 2 and 3 teams will be required to have the visible shot clock, all of these shot clocks being 30 seconds long. These new implements are having mixed feelings on everyone involved or interested in the world of NCAA Lacrosse.

Next, There have also been some changes to the rule of diving, face offs, a new timeout system and a couple of other small changes. Firstly, the new changes to diving is that in plays around the crease, if a player remains on the ground and released the ball before landing in or on the crease, the goal will be accounted for. If players are seen diving into the crease to make a goal, they will have that goal wiped off by official rule. This is a solid change in my opinion, any guy who can successfully tiptoe outside the crease until the ball has crossed the goal line, is a beast lacrosse player. Some other approvals are a new timeout system. Only the team that is in possession of the ball or entitled to possession are allowed to call timeouts, only when the ball is out of bounds. The defenses are going to absolutely despise this rule because this stops defense from coming up with better personnel and clearing schemes while the offense is rapidly, trying to move the ball or trying to carry momentum. Also, both teams will still have rights to call timeouts during all other dad ball situations. The other new rule change of the game is a change in the mechanics of face offs when they are proceeded. Players will no longer be able to carry and pick up the ball in the back of the pocket after a face off. Players will also still have to follow the rule of the 4 inch center line, and instead of the ball already being set in between the players, the official will now place the ball in the middle of the players once they are in position. The rest of the face off rules are still applied like the down, set rule. Lastly there were some uniform changes to the colors so that all uniform numbers are in contrast to the color of the uniform. For Example, light colored uniforms have dark numbers and vice versa. So, Some of these rule changes were really smart and solid changes and some weren't so good and shouldn't have been approved in my own opinion.