The win is now official - although it was by a three-point margin over the re-invigorated Germans. Here is Cathy's report:


It was a nail biter! What should have been a romp against Germany, was anything but today in first round action in Athens! Canada succumbed to the Paralympic jitters and Germany capitalized.

The Germans took a 3 goal lead early in the first quarter off of a couple of bad passes which resulted in turnovers. Canada was playing catch up from that point. Late in the second quarter some great defense by Canada tied the score going into the second half and Germany with no time outs remaining.

Germany had clearly done their homework as they eluded the Canadian defense for the remainder of regulation play, hoping to score the last goal of the 4th quarter to win by one. They misjudged the strength of Canada´s half court defense and 0.5 Daniel Paradis batted the ball away forcing the game into overtime.

It was all Canada during the overtime period. With both the offense and the defense finally kicking in, we forced the Germans into making two costly contact fouls and finished the game with a 33-30 victory.

"It was not a pretty win, but it was a win and we will take it, said Quebec athlete Daniel Paradis." Captain David Willsie echoed those sentiments and noted that "the team has some work to do tonight in preparation for our game against Great Britain tomorrow. I think you'll see a very different team tomorrow."

Canada plays Great Britain at 12:00 noon local time.

For more information, please contact Cathy Cadieux at 011 30 6936 127 088 (in Athens) or Don Lane at 1-613-523-0004 (in Ottawa).