The game is now in the 4th quarter, and the US is nursing a 7 point lead.

The turnovers went fast and furious both ways in the game, but the US dominated overall when it counted, and is the well-deserving winner of this game and these Games.

Raise a pint to our neighbours to the south, and these Games now count 2 of the 3 available medals to teams from the Americas Zone.

It's been a good Games with great hosts. Beijing is in the books with bronze for our team, and gold for Team USA.

Congrats to all!

Both Canadian referees saw work today, with Pierre-Alexandre Brière currently reffing the gold medal final between the USA and AUS. His father, Gilles Brière reffed the NZL-GER game that decided 5th place at the Paralympic Games.

The score in the gold medal match is currently 8-6 for the USA.

Well, now I'm annoyed.

The schedule I posted below came directly from ParalympicSport.tv, and my assumption was that the times listed were Beijing time, which I know is exactly 12 hours apart from my time here in EST.

From that, I thought I'd be watching the CAN-GBR bronze medal rugby game AFTER the CAN-AUS gold medal basketball game, and that's the info I sent out to people who had asked me... and that's also what time I planned to wake up the next morning, after so many days of middle-of-the-night watching.

However, when you take a look at our own posted schedule of the games, it's over already, and it would have played live here at 1:00 am EST, as it was scheduled for 1:00pm Beijing time.

The good news is that we won, and Canada are the proud winners of Paralympic Bronze medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games.

I hope to hear from the team athletes and staff soon - they are very happy to hear some of the support that has been coming for them from back home.

CONGRATULATIONS TEAM - looking forward to seeing those medals!

I've posted photos from our last three games to the CWSA's result page:

http://www.cwsa.ca/paralympics-2008.html

I'll make links from these small photos to larger ones tomorrow once I've put some sort of watermark on the large images.

All shots were taken by Kevin Bogetti-Smith.

Great shots Kevin!!!

Alman stips Whitey to take the last-goal opportunity over to the Australians, who score with 7.7 seconds left.... Canada brings it up to score the tying goal, but can't get through the Australian wall... call a time out with 0.6 seconds left, giving the Canadians one final throw in for the tie....

... which comes up short.

Win for Australia who will meet the US in the gold medal final.

Congratulations to the Aussies. We'll meet GB for Paralympic bronze.

Ryley sends a big pass in to the key, which is intercepted by Canada's 0.5 Jared Funk to send the game in to OVERTIME.

How do you spell EXCITEMENT?

With 6.2 seconds left on the clock, Team Canada gets what we hope will be the last goal. Australia takes a time out to see if they can set up a goal with the remaining time... we'll see soon...

Contact violation on Ryley Batt... he goes off to the sin bin.

1:30 minute left... will we run out the clock and take it to Overtime?

Canada possession, taking our final time-out, down by 1 with 2:10 left on the buzzer.... and Simard takes it in to tie the game at 36.

Our trios of 3s are going to have a few things to say about taking it to the Australians, and of course, their defensive partners are going to make it happen.

A very exciting 1st quarter from Beijing, with Canadians capitalizing on a turnover captured by Ian Chan, and scoring last in the quarter to put the canucks up 9-7 over the aussies.

There was some choppy play on the court, but the players were allowed to play their game without a lot of penalties called.

This is TENSE!

33-33 in the 4th quarter, Australian possession... 4 minutes left.

We need a turnover, and we need it NOW.

Regardless of what the commentators said repeatedly in the recently re-played NZL-GER pool match, the Kiwis will not be in the 5th/6th game tomorrow. They merely have the crossover games tomorrow, which pits them against the #4 team in the opposite pool, which will see them playing the Chinese. Meanwhile, the Japanese, who placed 3rd in Pool A will meet the Germans, who placed 4th in Pool B.

The winners of the NZL-CHN and the JPN-GER game will meet in the game for 5th, while the losers of those two games meet to decide 7th place at the Paralympic Games.

I've seen two different scores for the GB - GER game, so I won't post either of them. However, they did both agree that GB defeated their main European rivals, so I'll post a victory for the Union Jack team up on our results page.

Meanwhile, I'll catch a few zzz's before heading out to a tournament that starts in 6 hours. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to a Stingers BBQ afterwards in North Gower, despite the calls for rain.

Later!

In the game held earlier today in Beijing, Japan defeated China handily enough to secure 3rd place in Pool A. The Americans are still holding on to their margin of 3 to 4 goals in the remaining Pool A game. Team Canada needs some turnovers, but either opponent we'd meet next will be strong, so I'm not too concerned with the result of this game.

When some of the players were exchanging some smack on the court, we can only guess what was going on. We hear a little bit of the crowd noise, but not much of the audio at court level. It would be great if we could both hear as well as see the game.

Oh, and James - please hand your colleague our player pronounciation guide that I sent you. :)

Turnovers went in both directions for the rest of the quarter, often with key plays from Dave Willsie, and the Americans scored last goal to maintain their 3-point goal margin.

The audio mics of the two announcers makes it seem as if they are in two sepearate worlds, but the audio seemed to get clearer as the game went on.

I'm reminded that I sent something out to people a few weeks ago that I haven't echoed in here. Well-wishers to the Canadian National Team can reach Team Canada's rugby athletes and staff in Beijing by using this e-mail address that I've set up:

team-canada-rugby -AT- cwsa.ca

Obviously, you'll have to substitute the word -AT- for an @ symbol... but spelling it that way makes it harder for the bots to pick up the address.

The teams trade a few goals, with the outcome of the game now having been long established.

Our 2nd pool game at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games is now a wrap, with Team Canada defeating the very popular host Chinese team by a final score of 57 - 25.

Good work Team Canada!!!

51-21 for Canada now with about 4 minutes remaining. Wearing black for Canada right now are: Hickling - Whitehead - Hirschfield - Funk.

Team Canada makes a substitution with the final two minutes left, with the 3 - 2 - 1.5 - 1.5 lineup of Whitehead - Willsie - Simard - Schmütz taking it to the buzzer...

The quarter finishes 43-17 for Canada.

The announcers made a couple of good points just now, as they noted how talented the Chinese have become with such a short time in the sport, with some impressive efforts and skill sets being evident on the court. They would certainly gain a lot of knowledge by playing both as a team more often internationally and also for a some of their players to play in an international league that will expose them to a higher, and more regular variety of higher-level competitors than what they would find domestically. Let's hope they reach out. I'm sure they'd find some help available.

The score is now 45-18 with about 7 minutes remaining in the game.

Canada is now running with G - LKD - Hirschy - E with China countering with ZILIN Pan (3.5) - HAN, Guifei (3.0) - YU, Zhongtao (1.0) - SHAO Dequan (1.0).

Say got spun and went down, but on the good side, he called a timeout on his way down, and his last name was finally heard... or at least a close approximation... nice improvement - thanks!

You know, the announcers could just call our #9 "Say"... ;)

Starting the 3rd quarter, we see both teams using their female players, with both Erika SCHMÜTZ (CAN) and ZHANG Wenli (CHN) on the floor at the same time, which is a first at the Paralympic Games.

Team Canada is using their Ontario line of Whitey-Willsie-Crone-Schmütz, with subs being called after 4 minutes of play, and the score being 34-15 in favour of the Canadians.

19-10 for Canada now in the 2nd quarter, with about 4 and a half minutes remaining in the quarter. A new shift of players is out now, and I believe that all players have now been in this game.

Right now, we're playing with Chan - Willsie - Luangkhamdeng (Loo-ong' calm-deng for the announcer who, as she said, just butchered his name) - and Hirschfield.

We've now doubled the score and made it 24-12...

... and closed off the half scoring the last goal with about 7 seconds left to make it 27-13. China had a good drive for the goal, but the Canadian defence was ready for them and stopped them in time.

The other day I had mentioned a few other rugby blogs of note.

To that list, I'd add that of my colleague, John Bishop, who is the VP Communications for the IWRF.

Justin Frishberg, from the GB team has now started up his own blog, and since I had promised to post it's address, here you go... In case you missed it earlier, Kiwi captain Dan Buckingham's blog is only a click away.

Those of you who are looking for some stats previews of tomorrows games can absorb your fill of information, both interesting and extraneous, through the links on this page of the BOCOG site.

~That is all~

Nice transition on Paralympic TV, with a very exciting rugby game being followed by the CAN - AUS women's basketball game.

Go Neuf, Goose and Team Canada!!!

GB is running with - Collins (2.5) - Ash (the new 2.0) - Barrow (2.0) - Roberts (1.5)
and NZL is countering now with a 3 - 2 - 2 - 1 lineup.

38-36 GB with 1 minute left...

Overly long pass runs well past Klinkhamer... who was not happy...

32 seconds left... Buckingham ties it up!

11 seconds to go... GB trying to score... COLLINS GETS THROUGH!

Game over!

GB wins the very critical #4 vs #5 pool match, and is in a very strong position, with two remaining games to play in their pool.

At any wheelchair rugby tournament with 8 teams involved, the pool match game between those seeded 2nd and 3rd in their pools are the most intensely fought, and the most eagerly looked forward to.

Unlike many sports, rugby advances the top-2 teams in each pool to the medal rounds, and delegates the bottom two ranked teams in each pool to challenge only for 5th place.

This sort of format makes this game the turning point for many national team programs. Currently, the Brits are ranked 4th, and the Kiwis 5th, but the with the history of success on the New Zealand side, a win by GB (and they're still holding their 2-goal margin) would be an upset in many minds.

GB 29 - 27
in the 4th quarter...

62-59 CAN with 3.3 seconds left...

GER with 1 last attempt...

failed...

CAN wins by 3!

Congratulations to the Canadian men's wheelchair basketball team!

Anderson with 29 points

60-57 CAN

less than 1 minute left...

48-46 CAN

GER 43 - CAN 42

at the end of the 3rd Quarter.

41-34 ...

43-34 ...

Anderson with the ball...

foul on #14 for GER...

For the rugby fans who are also fans of wheelchair basketball, we have a few people in at the venue who can give us some score updates (Dispaltro, Frost and Whitehead).

The score at half time is 26-23 for GER over CAN.

Update: GER 39 - CAN 34 (3:03 left in the 3rd)

On the CWSA web site, you'll soon see a series of newspaper articles linked near the bottom of the page, alongside the lists of referees and classifiers who will be working at the Games.

I'll likely be adding more sections like that, especially when the rugby games start in a few days.

Meanwhile, I came across an interesting blog by NZL 3.0 - Dan Buckingham, which you might find interesting....

There we go... the story links are now posted. I also came across a story that mentioned that GB's Justin Frishberg would also be writing a Beijing blog, and I'll post the link up in here when he starts it.

The Canadian Team has now settled in safely to the Athletes Village, after a trouble free flight. The only problem was one missing bag, which has since shown up. The team quite likes the look and feel of the Athletes Village, which is far superior to the Athens facility in 2004.

Most of our team members were already in China earlier this year, and at this point, they are just acclimatizing and “getting the lay of the land.” They are now wrapping up the details and making sure that they have everything that is needed to start our competition on the 12th.

The CPC is doing a great job and they’re doing everything they possibly can to support our team. We’re still missing some phones, but they’re working on it, along with our venue freezer and the egg crate foam mattresses for the players.

The players all worked on their chairs today with Stéphan 'Magic Hammer' Charbonneau, our Equipment Manager... Steph had a very busy day!

We still don't have the final rosters of all the teams, but our best guess as to the teams are outlined on our Paralympics Page. Of course, both Australia and Germany will have to drop one player from the posted lists (which are from their roster that competed at the 2008 Canada Cup), as their roster will only be 11 players.

The only teams to have 12 players will be ourselves, the Brits, and the Chinese, who all have female players on their rosters. Coincidentally enough, they are all 1.5 classified players (#4-CAN Erika Schmütz, #4-GBR Josie Pearson, and #5-CHN ZHANG, Wenli).

Starting on September 12th, we'll be playing one game a day for three days in our pool, which will see us playing Japan, China, and the United States. Every game is crucial, and will be played with a high degree of focus and respect, as our opponents will also be well-prepared. Crossover games will be played on the 4th day and finals on the 5th and final day, September 16th.

It's worth noting that there is a 12-hour time difference between Beijing and EST, and that they are AHEAD of us, so while it's around 1pm here in Ottawa on Tuesday, it's now around 1am on Wednesday morning in Beijing.

That's all for now - more coming tomorrow!

June 27th

Victory over Japan in a game full of ups and downs

Shaky start for Canada but by the end of the 1st Q, Japan had used all their time outs and we were up. At halftime we were up by 4 with the ball and then we released the foot from the gas pedal and Japan made it close, we won the game by 1.

China in the 2nd game: The Chinese are still improving but still have a long ways to go, hopefully their program will stick around for a long time;)


Marco

June 26th

Notes from Marco

Classification is still ongoing, Crone is a straightforward 1.5 but with uncommon speed. I believe its got to be the new chair;)

Practice was early this morning, passing mostly, lots of guests attending our practice (Brazil, Argentina, Finland, Germany, USA and others)

A couple of video sessions for our boys and on to the games

June 25th


Notes from Marco

Its practice time, we will be on court from 14:30 to 16:00.

We have 14 athletes here Funk, Paradis, Hirschfield, Crone, Simard, Chartrand, Luangkhamdeng, Murao, Willsie, Chan, Lavoie, Whitehead and not playing are Schmutz and Hickling.

We will have a special guest practicing with us Juan Foa from Argentina for both our practice sessions before the action starts on Friday against Japan at 11:00 am.

This tournament is a prelude to Paralympics as all the combatants are here and the pools will be the same so we have USA, Canada, Japan and China in one pool and Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and Germany in the other.

Classification starts today and it will be interesting to see what comes out of this;)

At the Assembly yesterday we had 14 voting members USA, Australia, Canada, GB, New Zealand, Japan, Germany and China + Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, South Africa, Netherlands and Brazil and observers/ emailers from India, Argentina, Columbia, Austria.

Media game is at 13:00, Trevor Hirschfield will be representing Canada.

Xable.com, will be carrying 5 games this weekend starting on Saturday, I believe its 2 games on Saturday and 3 games on Sunday. John Bishop will be doing the play by play so don't miss any of the action.

Chérie Harris from New Zealand is now the new IWRF Secretary.

IWRF Sport Assembly (part 2)

- On the in-bound a player may bounce the ball as many times as he wants respecting the 10 secs in-bound rule;
- Chairs will be checked prior to tournaments and there will be random checks during tournaments;
- Sanction for an equipment technical foul will result in a technical foul being imposed along with a time out being taken away. In the event that a team doesn't have any time outs, the team will be imposed another technical foul (penalty) served consecutively;
- The point limit will be increased by 0.5 for each female player on the court;
- Any device to hold the ball resulting in a mechanical advantage will be eliminated;
- Flagrant foul: the penalty will be for a fragrant foul will be a personal foul and 2 technical fouls to be served consecutively. Also there will be a yellow and red card system similar to soccer/football that will carry the potential of a suspension for 1 game for a red card.

ThaThaThat's all folks!

IWRF Sport Assembly (part 1)

I'm currently attending the 2008 IWRF Sport Assembly as Canada's official delegate and voting member.

So all the rules voted here will be applied after upon the conclusion of the Beijing Paralympic Games.

The biggies:

- IWRF will become an independent international sport federation
- 12 seconds to cross half once the offensive team gets possession
- 40 seconds score clock once the ball is touched on court
- 4 x 30 secs time outs + 2 one minute time outs on dead balls to be used by the coaches.
- The formation of a commission to review the classification process
- 2 minute pause between 1st and 2nd period and the 3rd and 4th periods
- Introduction of a rule forbidding substitutions on frivolous equipment time outs (if you break your elbow or have a broken chair that would be different, but no more "My bandana is off center and I need a sub!"

Please also note that these rules only apply to sanctioned tournaments.

More to come later ;)

OT

Canada holding the ball for the last goal after winning the tip, Zupan with the penalty at 1:36, Zupan back

less than 30, what u gonna do when the pressure is on, less than 10

Score with 3.5

Canada wins 32-31

Down the final stretch

Less than 4 mins to go 29-28 USA

Zupan with the turnover, Canada ties it up, USA arrow

USA gets it back

Zupan called 10 secs no dribble Canada down 1

Lavoie with the pass to tie the game deflected by Kirkland to Simard, who scoops it up for the equalizer

31-31 going into OT

4Q

Canada scores to make the spread 1 but its now USA ball and the arrow.

USA setting up in the key

Lots of intensity out there, I wonder what Don Cherry would say?

with 4:08 left USA up 29-27 (Canada ball playing against US key defense)

3rd Q

USA with the ball and their World Championship gold medal team line up

Tie game, Canada arrow

USA forces a turnover but are forced to call time out (1 left) we have 2

Man Krikland is tall, the man makes s*** happen

17 all

Turnover Canada followed by a penalty, USA turning on the heat ready to go up 2, Canada ball though

Canada down 3 now after another turnover.

At this high level its a little difficult for people to keep up to insure the proper administration of the game.

Talking about function over ability...

Wilmoth wipes out Paradis near the goal line in an attempt to go for last goal after the expiration of time, Paradis seems ok, but i'm not sure about the chair.

Canada down 2 at the end of the 3rd Q

2nd Q part deux

Time out Canada still up 1 with the ball

Time out # 2 off the relentless pursuit of class 2.0? Nick Springer. Tell me this, are we looking at a superior conditioned athlete or the triumph of function over talent/ability? A class 2.0 covering anyone 1 on 1 in the world, interesting. Is there more to trunk and hips and thighs and...:) than meets the eye?

USA gets the final goal at 3.9 secs to cut the lead to 1 with the arrow to start the 3rd

Canada up 16-15

2nd Q

Canada starts with the ball and takes a 2 goal lead.

USA with already 2 time outs used, the pressure is on!

halfway through the 2nd Canada up 13-12 with the ball and Zupan in the box

Game 6, Championship game vs USA


Whoa, intensity was high yesterday, its been cranked up tenfold


Canada up 6-5 at the end of the 1st Q

Final thoughts Canada vs NZ

Canada showed good intensity in this game, did the little things well and capitalized on the opponents mistakes.

Refs were good, table officials were Lakeshore good

Now on to the finals

2:42 left in the game

NZ calls time-out to sub in a new ine up now rolling with the 2.5, 2, 2, 1.5 line

Vertical spin on Palmer, Canada going for last goal with 1:28 left

15 secs remaining. goal scored with 5.4 secs

For good measure NZ calls time out to attempt a last goal after they inbound the ball

Final score Canada 34 NZ 30

on to the finals at 13:00 vs the US

start of the 4th

Deuces in

Jump ball, possession back to the Kiwi's, turnover, Canada gets it back Murao with the steal and subsequent penalty on Tinker.

Canada playing keep away, turn over on the pass but shaky offense from NZ results in a jump ball, ball back to Canada. Giveth away, Taketh away, time out Canada up 3 with the ball and no time outs.

Canada back to to hi-lo, Buckingham with the penalty, Canada takes the full minute to score, halfway point of the 4th, Canada up 3 with the ball

Teams going goal for goal which works for us with less than 3 mins up by 4 (31-27)

3rd Q

Canada going for last goal with 2 minutes left, mission accomplished with 2.9 secs left

Canada up 25-22 with the arrow to start the 4th

Start of the 2nd, Buckingham with another spill (this one self inflicted), 3 bumps on the head to go along with a shiner

Tie game NZ possession

Canada forces a turnover and another

Beautiful execution on Canada's last goal attempt with 8 seconds left, double on Buckingham, Chan with the lead pass to Whitehead back to Chan with speed off the inbound who pushes deep into the front court back to Whitehead for the goal with 0.4 left 16-14 Canada at the half

CAN vs NZ (June 22 @ 9:00)

End of the 1st Q

NZ 8 CAN 7 (Arrow for Canada)

This is the game to decide who goes to the final

4th Q

Canada starts off strong again with a quick turnover on the deuces line up

Last time out used by Canada, USA with 3 remaining

Canada showed lots of intensity by the US proved to be too much for Canada to handle today.

Final score USA 38 Canada 30

Final standings for the double round robin portion of the tournament

USA 4-0
CAN 1-3
NZ 1-3

start of the 3rd

Canada with a quick start, creating a turnover and they capitalize

USA with Joel "will he stay or will he go" Willmoth, Groulx, McBride and Regier vs Lavoie, Chan, Simard and Funk, USA gets the turnover back.

Canada turnover on the inbound, USA 7up with the jump

USA setting up in the key against the 3, 2, 1.5, 1.5 line up

USA clicking on all cylinders up now by 8 (32-24) with the arrow to start the 4th Q

Wilmoth turns it over off of Lavoie pressure to start the 2nd Q

Canada turns it over 2 times, US up 3 (16-13)

Canada turns it over again, US by 4, USA height and power proving to be a little much

Turnover # 4 in this quarter

Turnover Canada, USA sends in fresh troups with the deuces line up, USA gonna go up by 6

Turnover # 6, USA up by 7

Canada gets the last goal and cuts the lead to 6 with the ball to start the 3rd

Whoa, gotta to love the intensity that a Canada vs USA brings

USA going for lat goal leading 12-11. Zupan called in and out at goal line

What a period!

USA -CAN subs

Whitehead-Chan-Simard and PAradis vs Zupan, Cohen, Groulx and Hoggsett at 4:08

USA wins the jump

Canada turnover

US turnover

Intensity is there

Canada has shown up

game time people

Sumner, Kirkland, McBride and Lyduch vs Lavoie, LKD, and the 1.5's

44 minutes to game time, boys have made adjustments, lets see how they come out

4th Q

Canada scores 1st but NZ answers

Class 1.0 Wakeford for NZ about to make is 1st appearance

NZ calls time out for a sub, Buckinham back in

Canada gets a turnover, maybe this will light up the team

Good pressure, but a reaching penalty (4:50) is called, NZ using the full minute

Canada showing some guts here, pushing NZ and forcing them to use 2 more time outs

Game in the books, learn your lessons and move on ASAP;)

Hold the phone, Canada with a flurry but falls a little too short

Final score NZ 29-27 CAN

USA at 17:00

USA 3-0
CAN 1-2
NZ 1-2

Start of the 3rd Q

Buckingham out and NZ reverts to the key defense.

Canada with the turnover on Palmer, Simard with the goal

Canada turns it over NZ back in the lead

Canada turns it over again, NZ looking to go up by 2

3:28 left NZ 17 Can 15

Arrow favors Canada

Canada playing uninspired ball

Time out Canada, 1 left

Buckingham back in the game, NZ pressing

Canada turns the ball over, 10 secs no dribble

NZ up 21-18

Canada turns the ball over, sloppy play

The wake up call hasn't come yet

Another turnover, wheels falling off the chairs, NZ up by 5, Canada calls an ill advised time out with 0.5 seconds left

Canada down 5 after 3Q 23-18

2nd Q CAN vs NZ

Still not many goals as NZ sets up in the key and Canada as trouble scoring against a well coordinated defense.

Buckingham still hasn't seen the floor but he's getting ready to sub in the late stages of the 1st half.

NZ up by 1 (11-10) with about 2 mins left in the half.

Canada so far has used 2 time outs and NZ hasn't used any.

NZ going for the last goal at 11-11

Simard knocked out at the key but NZ can't score.

11 draw through 2Q

NZ with the ball to start the 3rd Q

Canada vs NZ

Canada started with the deuces, they held their own but turned the ball over once.

Not many goals in this period as teams were prudent, setting up in the key and waiting for their opportunities.

NZ ahead of Canada 7-6 at the end of the 1st with the jump

USA vs NZ (June 21st, 2008 at 9:00)


Quick start by the US with Wilmoth, Kirkland, McBride + Regier and the Kiwi's never were in the game. Complete domination, US looking strong.

Final score USA 47 NZ 35

Next game at 13:00 CAN vs NZ