Canada came out on top of the #6 seeded Australian team by a 5-goal margin. :) The final score was either 39-34 or 39-35, as there was some sort of controversy over the final goal.

The Canadians were extremely disciplined, taking only a single penalty late in the game.  Our team started off really strong, and only had a small breakdown in the 3rd quarter to mar a nearly perfectly executed game plan.  Both the offensive and defensive players showed a lot of intensity, which we'd expect from them in such a key game.

The Aussies started with their 2.5 - 2.5 - 2.5 - 0.5 lineup, and changed over to their high/low 3.5 - 3.5 - 0.5 - 0.5 lineup in the second quarter.  Brad Dubberley, their perennial allstar, seems to have a nagging shoulder injury that is limiting his effectiveness on the court.

Unlike some other sports, where you get several shots at the top of the podium, in wheelchair rugby, you have to finish in the top two spots of your pool in order to move on to the medal round.  A team that places 3rd or 4th in their pool only gets the opportunity to compete for 5th place.  Similarly, the bottom two teams after the pool round compete in crossover games for 9th.

With the win over Australia, the 3rd ranked team in the pool, things look better now for the defending world champions, who after today's two games sit on top of their pool, tied with Great Britain with 3-0 records.  The Brits, with controversial player Mark Fosbrook on their team, have been raking up big points and huge margins of victory over their opponents.  Fosbrook is currently classified as a 3.5R player, and is being closely watched by the classifiers.  He had previously been classed out of the sport at other major international tournaments, but has been playing as a 3.5 within the British League since being classed out earlier.

In other games, the first upset almost occured between Japan and host New Zealand, as Japan scored in the final quarter with seven seconds left on the clock to tie it up, only to see their chances fade when the Kiwis took the winner with two seconds left on the clock.  The score on the scoreboard appeared to be 34-32 for the Kiwis, but we're awaiting the final stats on that one.

In earlier games today, the Aussies handily beat the Swedes, and GB won in a blowout over the Dutch.  The American site has a post about their 17-point victory for their team over the Germans, so their game today was nothing like the narrow 1-point victory the Americans had over the Germans at the Canada Cup less than three months ago.

The closest game involved #9 Denmark, who squeaked past #12 Switzerland by a 28-27 score.

I'll have more information, including all of today's game scores, in about 90 minutes.