The tournament All-Stars are now posted to the Canada Cup web site.

Canada Cup - Day 3 Report - by Judy Joseph

USA takes Number one Seed leading up to Athens at Canada Cup –
Great Britain wins bronze medal

The United States won a close 33-32 final to win the Canada Cup, an International Pre-Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Tournament involving National Teams from five countries.  The game was a close affair with the US leading throughout in front of a capacity crowd at Bonsor Recreation Centre in Burnaby, BC.

The US had leads of 17-14 at half time and 24-22 after three-quarters.  The game was tied at 30 with two minutes to play but the US kept possession to take the win and the number one seed leading into Athens.

"Getting that top seed was our goal coming into the tournament," said USA Head Coach, Kevin Orr.  "But the Canadians came out to play today.  It was a fantastic finish to a great tournament."

"I am so proud of these guys," commented Canadian Head Coach Joe Soares.  "They fought until the end.  We're not too concerned about the seeding.  It just means a different pool to play in Athens."

The US won a bizarre semi-final over Germany to get into the finals as the Germans slowed the game down to a snail's pace to counter the States' firepower.  The game was tied at one after one quarter but the US eventually prevailed 13-7.  The Canadians had a tough semi in the morning as they fought to get by Great Britain 30-27.

"It's not what we do here that counts," added Soares.  "It's what we do in Athens that's going to count."

In the bronze medal game, Great Britain defeated Germany 36-29.

"Our tournament didn't exactly go as planned," said Steve Palmer of Great Britain.  "We did better last week in Birmingham (where they defeated Canada).  The good thing is we didn't lose our ranking so we're definitely on track for our goal of gold for Athens."

In the battle for fifth and sixth place, Belgium defeated Canada Ice (the Canadian developmental team) 38-32.

The tournament All-Stars will be announced later this evening at the Canada Cup banquet.

Canada Cup - Day Two Report - by Judy Joseph

Semi-Finals set at Canada Cup –
USA Goes through the Round Robin Undefeated

BC Wheelchair Sports Association (BCWSA) is hosting the Canada Cup, an International Pre-Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Tournament involving National Teams from five countries, at Bonsor Recreation Centre in Burnaby.  On day two, the United States downed Canada 43-31 to take top spot in the pool with five wins and no losses.

Though the US had leads of 19-15 at half-time and 26-24 after three quarters, both head coaches conceded their teams didn't play their best on the day.

"We played the US toe to toe for one quarter," said Canadian Head Coach, Joseph Soares.  "We didn't show up for the rest, they outplayed us."

"I don't think we played well at all today," countered USA Head Coach, Kevin Orr.  "We were out of position a lot on defense.  Canada was really strong, showing their depth."

Indeed, Canada, the reigning World Champion, did go to their bench often with Soares making several substitutions.

"Those young players on Canada's bench got valuable playing time.  That experience is only going to help them later on," added Orr.

Both Canada and the United States had to wait until the end of the Great Britain & Belgium game to determine who they will play Sunday in their semi-final games.  The team from Britain defeated Belgium 42-36 leaving Germany, Great Britain and Belgium all tied with two wins and three losses.  By virtue of a tiebreaker, Belgium was deemed fifth and will take on Canada Ice (the Canadian developmental team) for fifth and sixth place tomorrow.

Canada will now take on Great Britain in their semi-final while the US has Germany to contend with Germany.

"We defeated Germany by 11 points earlier in the tournament but we'll have to take control earlier in the game," continued Orr.  "We know Germany has two fast players so it will be our job to take them out of the play."

As for getting up to play Great Britain, Soares has no doubt his team will be up to the task.  "We'll be ready to play tomorrow.  It's not too hard to focus.  It's simple for us.  All we have to do is win."

In other games today, the US had wins over Great Britain (43-29) and Canada Ice (49-20).  Canada had a 46-34 win over Belgium and defeated Germany 48-36.  Belgium fought to a close 37-36 win over Germany while Great Britain defeated Canada Ice 51-29.

Play continues tomorrow (Sunday, June 27, 2004) at 9:00 a.m. for semi-finals while the final is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Canada Cup - Day One Report - by Judy Joseph

National Team has great start to Canada Cup –
Germany poses first upset with win over Great Britain

BC Wheelchair Sports Association (BCWSA) is hosting the Canada Cup, an International Pre-Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Tournament involving National Teams from five countries, at Bonsor Recreation Centre inBurnaby.  Play began today with finals taking place Sunday, June 27, 2004.

Canada, the reigning World Champion, started the tournament off right with a 25-13 win over Canada Ice (the Canadian developmental team) and then scored a 37-36 squeaker over Great Britain who had defeated Canada at a tournament last weekend.  Great Britain suffered an upset loss to Germany earlier in the tournament.

Canadian Head Coach, Joseph Soares, said he didn't have to motivate his team after the upsetting loss last weekend.

"We felt that we had a deeper bench then Great Britain so we played everybody and eventually the fatigue set in on them," said Soares.  "We need to clean some things up in our game and we're just about there."

Top scorer for Canada was BC's Ian Chan (Richmond) while Troye Collins finished with a game high 19 points for Great Britain.

In the last four competitions between the Germany and Great Britain, Germany has come out on the losing end.  But today, Germany pulled out a 26-25 win over Great Britain.

"It was a very hard game for us," said German Head Coach Haiko teNeues.  "But our discipline and tactics were good and we had a good concentration level from all of our players."

Top scorer for Germany in the game was Andre Leonhard with 10 points while Collins was the high scorer for Great Britain with 12 points.

In other games today, the United States had two wins with a 44-33 defeat of Germany and a 50-33 win over Belgium.  Canada Ice suffered two more losses as Belgium won 36-31 and Germany won 27-23.

Play continues tomorrow (Saturday, June 26, 2004) at 9:00 a.m. when Canada takes on Belgium and the United States goes up against Great Britain.  Games continue all day until 5:00 p.m.

BCWSA is a not-for-profit organization devoted to providing opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities.  Since being founded in 1971, the association has worked to provide access to quality programs for athletes with disabilities.  This has always been the focus and continues to be what drives the association.  In partnership with other
Provincial Wheelchair Sports Associations across Canada, BCWSA is dedicated to promoting wheelchair sport and community awareness.

____________________________________________

For more information, contact Gail Hamamoto Doré, Director of Sport Development for BC Wheelchair Sports Association at 604-737-3195, E-mail: ghd@bcwheelchairsports.com

For media inquiries contact Judy Joseph at
250-247-7850 or cell 604-788-5609 or Brian Pound at 604-817-6658 (cell).

2004 Canada Cup

The 2004 Canada Cup is under way, with a Canadian inter-squad game starting things off in one gym, while the Americans run into the Germans in the next gym.

Canada's development team is here to gain more international experience, but it contains two members of our current Paralympic team who will soon be traveling to Greece.  Those players are Manitoba's 0.5 Jared Funk, and the newest member to the team, Quebec's Raymond Lizotte.  Both players are veteran members of previous national teams, with Jared being part of our 1995 team at the first World Championships in Notwil, Switzerland, and Raymond was a member of our 8-player team at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, where rugby was a demonstration sport.

I've posted a few sample photo lineups for each team on the official web site of the Canada Cup, but those lines can change at any moment, and frequently do. 

I heard a rumour that our high performance coordinator, Marco Dispaltro, may be coaching the development team, but I won't change the roster until I hear it from the Marcoman himself.  Whatever the result, it will be a good warmup for both teams. 
The development team meets Belgium in the next timeslot at 14:00, while Team Canada plays their final game today against Great Britain at 16:00.  The day won't be over for the development team, as they'll have a close encounter with the Germans at 6:00pm.

Blogger has a new commenting system, which I have yet to install in this Blog - it'll be live for your feedback sometime over the weekend.

~That is all~

Our second game of this year's NAC was against the Brits, who once again, showcased new players on the international scene. It wasn't our best effort, and we went to down to the Brits by a two-goal margin, 36-38. The final game in the regular round was against the Americans, who at least we know well, as their line-ups have not changed as often as have those of the Brits.

I'm hoping to receive some game commentary later on, but for the moment the final results will have to suffice, and the 2000 Paralympic champions flexed their muscles on the way to a solid 33-27 win over the 2002 World Champs.

This set up two cross-over games, with #1 USA taking on #4 Canada, and #2 Great Britain against #3 Germany. The seeds held, but the margin of victory in the 2nd USA-CAN battle narrowed to 4 goals, 39-35, which coincidently enough, was the same score that the Americans beat the Brits in their opening game of the North American Cup.

Team Canada was determined to beat the Germans in their final game of the tournament, and avenged themselves upon them, winning the 3rd place game 35-41, while the Americans took out the Brits 41-34.

Consider all of these games as learning experiences, since the same teams will meet in a few days on the Canadian west coast, along with the Belgians, who are ranked 5th in the world, and a Canadian development team. This time, the results will count towards the seeding at the Athens Paralympic Games this September.

The Canada Cup features a full international panel of classifiers, offering teams a rare chance to get their players one step closer to PPS, or Permanent Paralympic Status, which is something that all players aspire to become.

The guys from EAT Films are going to be in Vancouver, and hopefully they will be able to get more good material towards the film that they are producing, which focuses on our sport and the Canadian Head Coach. Maybe they'll even be able to get another article in Maxim Magazine, such as their last submission, which came in after the Canadian upset at the World Championships in Sweden. Apparantly, they now have a distributor for the film, and it will be on the lineup at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

2004 North American Cup

Our national wheelchair rugby team is now down in Birmingham, Alabama, at the 2nd annual North American Cup.  This event is part of the "America Series" that is organized by U.S. Paralympics, and it has expanded this year to include new teams.

This year's version of the NAC has the Brits and the Germans coming to the land of grits, along with the two North American heavyweights in the sport.  GB is ranked 4th in the world, while the steadily improving Germans are #7.  All four teams will again meet in Vancouver next week, and in Athens in September at the Paralympic Games.  There are also top ranked wheelchair basketball teams here from AUS, CAN, GBR, and the hosts from the US.

The format over the next few days will see us play all three national teams today, followed by final games tomorrow. There will be no cross-over game, so in order to get to the final, we'll have to place 1st or 2nd in the pool.

Things started off awkwardly for the Canadian rugby team upon arrival in the States, with one passport vanishing into thin air, and then our medical kit following suit, as it took several extra for the fully-loaded medkit to appear at our Birmingham hotel, with most of the contents missing when it finally wheeled it's way back in to our lives.  Much of the $1000+ contents were re-purchased in Birmingham, but other things will have to be re-acquired once we again hit Canadian soil.  However, on the bright side, we're getting pretty good at filling out airline claim forms, since our chairs routinely get crushed en route to our tournaments.

On the court side of things, we had one good and one bad practice in preparation for our first game, and the bad practice was re-enacted on the court in the game against Germany, with a two-sided turnover fest giving the game to the Germans.

You can check out the scores from the tournament, courtesy of John Bishop's speedy fingers.

Wendy Gumbert, one of the staff from the US team, wrote a piece on the USQRA Forum about their first game of the tournament, where they shrugged off the GB team by four goals.

Our next game starts at 14:00 local time, when we run into the Brits, followed by a showdown against the host country at 18:00.  We'll pretty much have to win both of these games to get in to the final, which is scheduled to go at 18:30 tomorrow.

Our second game has now finished, and the Brits took us 38-36.  Ashe and Collins are looking fast on the floor, and we were playing catch-up for much of the game.

The coaching staff is having a meeting with the athletes now to address some of the areas where we need work, but it's better to draw out those things now than it would be for them to surface in Athens.

All is well - sometimes a loss can reap more benefits than a win - it's all in what you learn from the experience.