The Paralympic web site offers extremely detail oriented game reports, so if you want to break it down for any of our games, just look for their play by play option under each game and you'll be able to envision the entire game, such as this one from our CAN-USA semi-final match.

The US started with 3.0 Zupan - 2.0 Kirkland - 2.0 Chunn - 1.0 Lyduch, and we countered with 3.0 Chan - 3.0 Lavoie - 1.5 Simard - 0.5 Paradis. Cliff Chunn played iron man throughout the game, and Bryan Kirkland wasn't far behind, logging over 30 minutes of game time. 11 of the 12 Canadian players saw the floor in a flurry of activity from the Canuck bench.

Meanwhile, I've reached our Team Manager, Marco Dispaltro, who is back in the village with the guys, who are relaxing playing poker, or sleeping, while the coaches review more video and finalise our game plan for the gold medal match with the Kiwis. The attitude for now is relaxed, but they will be charged and pumped tomorrow for the big game.

It's especially gratifiying to beat the US after they've steamrolled over the rest of the field, much as they did at the 2002 World Championships in Sweden. Since they are our neighbours, we know them so well, and match up quite well against them. In addition, the guys find it in them to raise their level when playing the Americans, and the crowd seemed to be on our side.

Speaking of the crowd, the Aussies will be cheering us big time in the final against their Oceania rivals from New Zealand, who used primarily four players in their last win against GB. Oughton and Johnson, their 1-2 punch, played iron man rugby, while Gerry Tinker played about 30 minutes of their game. Birthday boy Buckingham, who celebrates his b-day tomorrow, played over 22 minutes in the game against the Brits.

Some of our players really raised their game against the US, with Alberta's Al Chartrand dominating in his matchup against the US 2's, playing world-class rugby. Al was put down rather viciously by Kirkland and banged his head hard on the court... so perhaps that was the motivation he needed to dominate. Mike Bacon and Daniel Paradis did an excellent job of keeping Kirkland in the box, and were picking machines throughout the game. Ian Chan had a masterful 'monster game,' while our Warrior, Garett Hickling, was back to his legendary form.

Things are looking good... more tomorrow!