The final results are now posted on our results page.  The Ice moved up two spots on the ranking after losing a 1-point game to the TNT, and then defeated the German team by the same margin.  At one point in the 3rd quarter, the Ice were leading the TNT by 5, but the same sort of mistakes that have riddled the team all tournament long reared up once again.  Those problems will be worked on in drills and team meetings in the week of preparation before the next World Class tournament in Lakeshore, which starts in only five days.

It was a national team final game, bucking the long trend at this well-established international tournament.  The under-seeded Kiwis, who in my books should have gone in seeded 1st, were unable to run away from the Belgians, who many suspected would be rather tired by Sunday's games, as they only have a bare-bones roster of four, only three of whom are Belgians.  Subbing for their native Nickel starter Koen Delen was Swiss player Roger Suter, who fit in well with the Belgium system, and earned himself Best Point Five honours in so doing.  Iron Man Rugby - 'ya gotta give them credit!

The Hoveround Lightning ended up being the top USQRA club team at the tournament, placing 3rd after a somewhat yo-yo game, which echoed many of its other up-and-down games over the course of this tournament.  Belgium and Hoveround earned 5 of the 9 All-Tournament honours, with Canadians Ian Chan and Garett Hickling picking up the best high pointer awards.  For some reason I can't fathom, Mark Zupan of Texas earned the MVP Award, "leading" his team to an uninspiring 2-4 record, and 8th place overall.  I still think they were lucky to get past Tampa, and probably should have had a 1-5 record, but hey, that's just me.

Taking another look at the seedings, the under respected Kiwis gained 5 spots on their seeding, while the Ian Chan led San Diego Bushwhackers moved up 4 ranking spots.  The over hyped Australians and the under performing Brits both moved down 4 spots.  I would have seeded our Canada Ice team 10th, which if all other things were equal, would have placed them in a pool with Hoveround, Texas, and Tampa, but hey, you get what you get, and you make the best of it.  We moved up (again), gained some experience and valuable lessons, and it will make the team better.  I'm looking forward to the tournament next week! 

~That is all~