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Gold at Lakeshore

The final day of competition at the Demolition Derby had three of the four games decided on the court, while the game for third place was conceded by Hoveround to host Lakeshore, as both teams are still hurting from their quintuple overtime playoff game from yesterday, that was won by Lakeshore. In all other games, the higher seeded team won each game, with the Bushwhackers getting past Portland 35-33 to secure 5th, and the TNT ending Sweden's hopes of winning a game, by putting them away 40-35.

In the Championship Game, Team Canada controlled the flow from the beginning, never really feeling threatened by Texas, and led by two or three points throughout the game. Perhaps the quote of the tournament was from US Paralympian and Portland Pounder Will Groulx, who exclaimed 'You guys are killing me - you're running hockey lineups!' since Canadian coach Benoit Labrecque used his full team to maximum advantage on short four minute shifts.

Coach Labrecque commented that some sweet turnovers were created by the speed of 3.0 Canucks Fabien Lavoie and tournament MVP, Ian Chan, while the keepaway skills of G and Whitey kept the game out of reach for the frustrated Texans. It created a nice team-dominated game that saw the full roster contribute to the tournament victory.

Team Canada will be leaving the sunny south in waves starting this evening wherever possible, or tomorrow morning for the bulk of the group. However, our Florida Project athletes will remain down south under the guidance of our coaching staff until the end of February, and have several tournaments on the horizon, including the Capital City Clash and another event in Denver, Colorado, where they'll feel right at home in the snow.

~That is all~

2 down, 1 to go

The first two days of results can now be reviewed at your leisure. The games involving Team Canada have either been lobsided wins or extremely narrow victories. The first opponents were from the west, and a team that we see at the Vancouver tournament on a regular basis, the ever-improving Portland Pounders, who sport in their lineup the ever-changing classified Paralympian Will Groulx, along with 3.0 Lynn Nelson and their experienced player/coach Ed Suhr. The end result was a 16-point balance on the positive side for our goys.

Our second game of the Derby was against the TNT, which features two members of the US 2004 Paralympic Team (2.0 Cliff Chunn and 3.0 Wayne Romero), along with perennial allstar and former Paralympian 0.5 Eddie Crouch. The end result was a comfortable 20-point margin of victory for the cold climate boys in red & white.

On Saturday, we played our final pool game against the top-seeded opponent, the 2004 USQRA Division 1 champs from Texas. The Stampede's lineup was fortified with the Team USA's captain, 3.0 Mark Zupan, along with fellow US Paralympian 1.0 Norm Lyduch and British impact 2.5 Troye Collins from the GB Paralympic Team. With those three players and experienced 1.5 Boston Boy Boothby, they presented a tough challenge, which the Canadians met with a 1-point victory to win Pool "A". Luckily for both teams, we'll meet again the next day...

Meanwhile, in the next gym, a momumental game was happening between Lakeshore and Hoveround, who both play each other a lot, and have a nice rivarly going on in the southeast. It took 5 OVERTIME PERIODS to come out with a winner, and nobody who was polled around the gym could remember any game going on that long – sounds like a true battle – hope we hear more about it soon.... (hint, hint...).

Our final game on Sunday would decide which team made it to the gold, and which team got delegated to the bronze match. We were up against Hoveround, who had recently lost the marathon game against Lakeshore. They play a strong key defence and were formerly coached by former Team Canada coach Joe Soares. We knew what to expect, but having that knowledge and taking advantage of it are two very different things.
Their main lineup consists of 1 Brit, and three Florida boys, 3.0-2.5-2.0-0.5 (Pat O'Connor - GB's Ross Morrison - Dave Jenkins - Joel Post). Mister Morrison in the mixture gives them nice speed, skilled hands, and a tall body, which is a sweet combination of assets in one player. However, their small bench team was tired after their marathon, and played a low scoring key defense / keep away style game against us which kept the score tight throughout the game, such that with 10 seconds left to play in the game, we were down by 1. Fabien Lavoie gets the ball, rushes near the Hoveround key, and calls time out with 5.8 seconds left on the clock. We then subbed out 3.0 Fab and 1.5 Patrice and brought in the BC boyz, 3.5 Garett Hickling and 1.0 Trevor Hirschfield, leaving fellow BC Bandit 3.0 Ian Chan on the court with 0.5 Daniel Paradis from the Quebec Impact. Ian throws a long pass to the far end of the key.... goal for G. Tie game. We zoom on back to the key, except for Ian, who remains to put pressure on the Hoveround offence. He steals the ball, gets spun, and while being spun calls another time out.

We rush back in the key with 2.4 seconds left. Ian throws another bomb on the far side of the key to the capable hands of Captain G for another goal, game over.

Repeat after me: Ehm Vee Pea, Ehm Vee Pea, M.V.P!

I'll check in with the team following their final game of the tournament.

More from the Journal when we return...

Murderball reviews

The documentary that was finally cut and edited all so shortly before the Sundance Film Festival has been getting some impressive reviews, including some insight from Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times, Adia Waldburger from Park Record.com and Jason Calacanis.

No news from Birmingham as yet, but I'll try to catch up with them after their next game.

The 2005 Demolition Derby will move in to full throttle tomorrow morning.

Action starts early at the Lakeshore Foundation down in Birmingham, Alabama. The guys have been reviewing a lot of video as well as training in the facilities that have been provided for us at that great facility.

This time we are down to a single team at this tournament, which features the top-4 teams from last year's USQRA Division 1 Nationals, along with the Division 2 Champs and the rebuilding Swedes.

Coach Benoit Labrecque, who worked with a lot of substitutions at the Coloplast International, had been patiently wringing out a few wrinkles with the newer players in Tampa, will now have the full national team at his disposal, although we have made a few substitutions due to injuries and personal circumstances back home.

All the best to the Sask boyz back in the tundra. The 'bama boyz send their best from the sun and promise to go for the gold again at the Derby.

We'll see how it all plays out, starting tomorrow morning...

Well, it's been a few days since the team last checked in with me, and the results of the Coloplast International have now been posted to the US site. You'll notice a considerable amount of can-con in the All Tournament Team, which includes our own:

0.5 - Daniel Paradis (Canada Nordiques)
1.5 - Patrice Simard (Canada Nordiques)
2.0 - Allan Chatrand (Canada Ice)
MVP - Ian Chan (Canada Nordiques)
Sportsmanship - Harry DeBoer (London Annihilators)

Harry, who is the player/coach of the London, Ontario based "Annihilators," beat the Canada Ice team twice at this tournament. The regular Annihilator lineup was supplemented with American 2.5 Justin Patterson, from the Left Coast.

The Ice were running a balanced 4-deuce lineup for much of the time, with Say Luangkhamdeng looking sweet as the chaser. The Ice roster looks something like this:

1.0 Gerard Andruschak (BC Bandits)
2.0 Say Luangkhamdeng (BC Bandits)
2.0 Allan Chartrand (Prairie Dawgs)
2.0 Raymond Lizotte (Quebec Impact)
2.0 Trevor Robinson (Team Manitoba)
3.0 Steven Dunn (Nova Scotia Spokebusters)
3.0 Dale Nording (Prairie Dawgs)

The Nordiques were there to win, and win they did, this time over a Phoenix Heat team that included their Australian Paralympian 3.5 Brad Dubberley, and US Paralympian deuces Andy Cohn and Brent Poppen and 1.0 Scott Hogsett. I believe that Poppen will be ineligible to play for them in the post-season, but he'll be rostered with them at tournaments throughout the season.

Some of the members of the Canada Ice team have gone home by now, while others have remained to review game tapes with the coaching staff and the national team players. A few of them will be sticking around to absorb as much as possible at the Demolition Derby in Birmingham, where the team has now settled in anticipation of the upcoming tournament.

For some casual reading, well-known movie critic Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun Times, and a long-running television show that bears his name, has now seen and reviewed the Murderball documentary. There is also few photos of interest taken by Ebert, namely the producer/director team who produced the movie, and one of Team USA captain (3.0) Mark Zupan. These photos are in his Sundance Gallery #1.

~That is all~

Down in a place where they still know what the sun looks like, things have been rolling along since my last update. In Pool "A" action, where the Canadian content is high, with both the Ice and the Annihilators playing, we've seen some tough games thus far, and the seedings have held:

Phoenix beats London 52 - 41
Phoenix crushes the Ice 49 - 30 (tied after the 1st Quarter)
Hoveround over London 39 - 30
Hoveround got past the Ice 29 - 24 (although the score was tied after the 3rd Quarter)

Over in Pool "B", where we have our stronger team, Les Nordiques du Canada, we fared somewhat better:

Nordiques defeat Tampa 39 - 28
Denver beats up Sweden 43 - 29
Denver dumps Tampa 34 - 25
Nordiques humble Sweden 53 - 28

Aah... it's good to know I can still remember some sport call adjectives despite the fact that the pro players and owners have killed the NHL hockey season. Those guys should be lucky to be paid so handsomely for being involved in a sport they love. It's time to form a new pro hockey league, but I digress...

In player news, the Tampa Generals 3.5 Scott Burrows played in all his team's games yesterday, but will be attending a funeral today, and is undecided on whether he will suit up for the home town team on Sunday. Also, the Tampa coach, Joe Soares, is attending the Sundance Film Festival release of the acclaimed documentary Murderball. The movie has been well-received so far by players who have seen it, and the plot follows the Canadian and American national teams for the past 3-4 years, so we're quite happy that it has finally been wrapped up and released.

In today's early games, at 09:00, the Ice will take on the London Annihilators, while the Nordiques come up against an improved version of the Denver Harlequins. Each team will then have one crossover game in the afternoon to set up tomorrow's action.

~That is all~

The National Team and National Squad players are currently in Tampa, Florida at the 13th Annual Coloplast International, and make up two of the teams in this 8-team tournament.

The competition includes: The Phoenix Heat – Hoveround Lightning (without Willsie) – Denver Harlequins – The Swedish National Team,The Tampa Generals and our very own London Annihilators (with the Willsie but without the Whitey). Our Nordiques team is seeded 2nd while Canada Ice is slotted in to the #6 seed.

The Ice have London, Hoveround and Phoenix in their pool, while the Nordiques will have to face Denver, Sweden and Tampa before the crossovers.

Three games have been played thus far, with Phoenix beating London, the Nordiques beating Tampa by a score of 39-28, and no word on the Swedish - Denver match.

Back to shivvering in the Canadian cold.... it is pushing -40ºC with the wind chill factor today here in Ottawa, which is pretty much the same sort of weather that our two injured Sasksquashers are facing as they keep track on their team's results from afar. Tampa is looking like a good place to be from here.

More on the scores as they become available. Alternatively, you can check out the tournament site, as John Bishop is pretty quick at posting results.