Team Canada played well yesterday in games against Lakeshore and the Can-Am Slam.  With no player seeing more than 16 minutes of court time, everyone got a chance to play.  The team continues to work out the kinks and fine tune the execution of plays as we prepare for the Paralympics Games in Athens.

The Team faces a tough challenge tomorrow morning at 09:00, as they take on the U.S.  In other action later today, Team Canada plays the German Rebels at 13:30 EST, followed by Great Britain at 16:30.

In terms of experience at the highest level, the European Champion Brits have the deepest team, with 6 returning athletes from their Sydney Paralympic team, and 9 from their 2002 World Championships team.  By contrast, the Americans have 1 athlete rostered from their gold medal winning team in Sydney, and 4 in total from their Worlds team from Gothenburg.  The Germans show similar stats, with 1 and 3, all of which are illustrated on our results page with small graphics ( Sydney 2000, Gothenburg 2002).

The only "upset" according to the seedings at the Derby yesterday was when the German club team, the Rebels, beat the Texas Stampede, which at this tournament, consists of more local players than their full roster, which typically lists Kiwi star Gerry Tinker (2.0) and former Boston Pittbull Bob Boothby (1.5).  The Germans won 44-31, and go on to play for the championship, while Texas meets three other teams in the battle for 9th.  The other teams on the 'wrong side' of the tableau include the Japanese national team, and two quickly created teams, the Can-Am Slam (which features Canadian National Squad players Steven Dunn (3.0) and Daryl Stubel (2.0)), and the East Beasts, who are being allowed to play with more than 8.0 points on the floor.