And they're off!

Our team is down at the US Paralympic High Performance Centre at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama, mixing it up with the other countries which make up the toughest opponents in the sport: #1 Kiwis, #4 Brits, and those southern rivals of ours from the US, who are ranked 3rd. The North American Cup, which features the top international teams in basketball, as well as in rugby, started this morning.

Yup, Murderball is back on track, picking up from where it left off at the end of the movie, with several familiar faces, although some of them now sport different colours.

In the red, white, and blue corner, you'll see the familiar tats of Mark Zupan, the poster boy for the movie, along with the blond locks of Phoenix Heat player Andy Cohn, and the steady presence of club teammate 1.0 Scott Hogsett. Phoenix had a banner year in USQRA play, although they'll miss the familiar speed offered by the Heat's Japanese import Shin Shimakawa, who remains the guy to beat internationally on the straightaway. They'll see him dress in the colours of the rising sun next weekend at the Canada Cup.

For the Canadians, team captain (and lead singer) Dave Willsie still drives the offence, while injured co-captain Garett Hickling helps out the coaching staff from the side. Seven of the 12 members of this year's Canadian team were on the national team at the Athens Paralympics, including 3.0 stalwart Ian Chan, who got some decent screentime in the popularly acclaimed documentary Murderball.

The Kiwis and Brits didn't get a lot of exposure in the movie, although there was a brief glimpse of the Kiwi «haka», which I suspect was thunderously displayed for those who watched their first game today, which was against the Brits, who upset them by a 2 or 3-goal margin. The Kiwis came here with a small 7-player team, while GB sports 10 players in their lineup.

The Brits are now coached by Joe Soares, another key figure in the Murderball movie, and are looking to improve their 4th place ranking, as that is where they placed at the 2004 & 1996 Paralympics. They placed no better than 5th at the 2 previous world championships (5th in 2002 and 7th in 1998). The Brits used their top line for most of the game, while the Kiwis played everyone equally.

Team Canada wants to try a number of lineups to see what works and what does not in this international tournament, and as such, saw quite a few lineup combinations in their first game today, opening up the tournament against the US. After a last-minute bench change, things got underway and quickly saw the US take advantage of some poor passes and turnovers, which showed our team as a bit rusty after a long break in competitive play.

The final score against the Americans was 43-36, and allowed us a chance to use the 4-deuce lineup quite a bit, along with several other new lines.

The last I heard, the Canadians were up against the Brits in wheelchair basketball by 3 pts in the 3rd quarter. [Editor's note: Canada won by 13]

Our 2nd of 3 games today will be against the Kiwis at 13:00, while the Americans mix it up against Joe's Brits. Both games promise to be exciting contests, and sets up a new and growing rivalry between GB and the USA. Full scores will be posted by the USQRA to their North American Cup page as they become available.

Other Links:

Team composition - 2006 North America Cup

Team profiles: (from the Canada Cup web site)

#1-NZL – #2-CAN – #3-USA – #4-GBR –

Articles:

June 13, 2006 - Lakeshore press release
June 15, 2006 - USA Today article