The results of the first two scrimmage games at the North American Cup are IN!

The rosters of the two Canadian teams were a bit mixed up from the cast of usual suspects, with both our 0.5 players getting court time on each team.  There were a few other roster swaps, so you couldn't really call either team the 'Nordiques' or the 'Ice'.

Similarly, things were hard to see on the American side, with all 26 candidates still in the running for selection to the final US team of 16 players.  The US made a good rotation of their players in each of the two scrimmage games, giving their guys a chance to strut their stuff.  The Red 'n White Canadians leaned heavily on their rookies and newer players, for greater exposure to the large pool of US athletes. New national team players Allan Chartrand and Sue McRae played well in their début, while national squad member Trevor Robinson showed some good stuff in the second half of his game after throwing off some early jitters. Ian Chan also had a strong game.

For lack of a name for the American teams, I'll just call the first US team Chunn's Gunns and the second US team Kirkland 'n Cohn's Stones.  Why?  No particular reason other than I know that Cliffy, Bryan, and Andy were on those teams.  The Gunns came out on top of Canada-1 by a 2-point margin, 31-29, while the Stones edged Can-2 by a pebble, 24-23.

The rain is coming down hard in Birmingham, and as the rain pounded down on the venue's metal roof, the sound was amplified so that it sounded like thunder.  I always thought that thunder should be shown on the court, and not heard on the roof, but I'm sure we'll hear far more 'natural' thunder in the big game on Saturday.

The next two games today have Canada-1 rolling against The Stones, while The Gunns take a shot at Canada-2.

~That is all~