Worlds 2008- Saturday ....the Final Stanza

Nation,

Very exciting Friday. The Worlds will conclude today, with finals in the men's, mixed and women's divisions.

Now... we sit and watch.

Open

As predicted, Canada advances to the finals and will play the USA. Japan and Britain will battle for Bronze.

It's really going to be a epic match that will stay in people's minds for the next 4 years. It might also be a final call for many of the great Canadian players that have lead us for years.

Women's

Canada is left asking themselves what happened in the semis, after blowing a 3-0 lead over the USA, Team Canada rebounded to win the bronze over Australia.

Japan will play USA in the finals. I honestly don't know who the crowd will cheer for. I hope they are kind to the Yanks.

Mixed

If there was one thing to be proud of as a Canadian on Friday, it was the mixed team's victory over a great American squad.

As most of us thought in the pool (to the right), Mixed was the division where we thought we had the best shot at gold. Facing the americans in semis seemed like a huge barrier, but this team answered that challenge. Shout out to my boy Scotty Hislop, as well as Tiffany Lin, Kate Crump, Andrea Cheng, and Eammon Watson.

It's not over yet- Japan awaits in the final.

Masters

Another heartbreaking loss to the Americans, but a silver medal to remind them of just how well they performed this week.

As predicted, Pete Knowles emerged as a dominant cutter and helped keep Canada close, but the US (considerably better than the 2004 version) were able to win 15-13.

Jr Open

Our Junior team wins the silver medal, suffering a heavy 17-7 loss to our American rivals.

The Germans win the bronze.

Jr Women

Japan further states their emergence to the elite levels with a lopsided finals win over Australia.

Our women finish off a tough worlds with two great wins. They finish 5th. The United States beats Cinderella team Columbia and takes the bronze, winning by one point.

Worlds 2008- Friday Key Games

Nation,

What looked like a poor Worlds Performance for Canada has turned out to be one that shows promise heading into the final rounds.

Canada updates in bach division

Open

Canada Plays their semis against Great Britain. Our team has lucked out in the semis, as Japan and the USA square off in the other semi. However, GBR will look to do everything in their power to pull off the upset.

While John Hassell, Miek Grant, Kirk Savage and Mark Roberts have lead the team in goals and assists, one can see balanced scoring throughout the roster. That's a sign of team depth and good coaching (employing everyone and saving the best for the finals)

Women's

Canada plays their semi against Team USA today, and it will be a very daunting task. USA has lost already in this tourney (to Japan), but their UPA dominance and goal differential in this tourney has to make Canada the underdog.

The other semi has rivals Australia versus Japan. 2004 silver medalists Finland are nowhere to be found in the top 8.

Mixed

Canada lost a heartbreaker 16-15 game to the USA yesterday, but they are still alive and in the semi finals. They will have a rematch versus the USA, and look to reverse the outcome today. Given the back and forth nature of Thursday's game, our coed squad is definitely capable of winning the match and moving on.

Once again, Japan and Australia are in the other semi.

Masters

Canada takes on Australia in the semi, while the USA takes on New Zealand on the other side of the playoff.

It's looking like Canada and USA will have a duel in the final, and Canada will attempt to make up for the dissapointment of the 2004 Worlds loss.

It has been a team effort stat wise for Canada. Expect Pete Knowles to really step up in the final two games

Jr Open

Canada lsot to Australia and were blown out by USA in the prelims. However, they regrouped and find themselves in the finals versus archrival USA.

Mark Llyod of General Strike/Western fame is flat out dominating the tournament. Ian Chan is a goal scoring machine. The Ottawa juniors have given almost zero in terms of goals and assists.

Patrick Roberts and Grant Lindsley will lead the USA into this great battle.

Jr Women

Canada has taken a major step back this year and finds themselves fighting for 5th place. It is very deserving of it's own article once Worlds has concluded.

Australia and Japan will duke it out for Gold. USA tries to beat cinderella story Columbia for Bronze.

Jordan Meron has emerged as a star for Team Canada, scoring 23 goals in the tourney thus far.

Worlds 2008- Exciting Game

Nation,

I'm following this nail biter via the Internet.. it might be the match up of the tournament..

http://www.wugc2008.com/game/X602

LogJam 2008 Results

Nation,

Trip to St Alban's was an interesting one. Here's a breakdown on the weekend

The Tournament and Town

• St Alban's is a little over 5000 and has a great little town feel to it
• It's almost impossible for the town's restaurants to handle a tournament rush for dinner, so plan accordingly
• The fields are directly accross the street/road from a nice hotel call La Quinta. You'll never get that close at any other tourney
  
• Field food was good on day one, absent on day two
• Water was great and refilled often
• Fields were of good quality. Some fields were REALLY narrow though
  
• Tournament format was cool. Late Saturday start, 6 games for everyone, stresses performance in the round robin

Our Team

• We went down with a smallish roster and hoped we could play our best on point one. That didn't happen
• We had a miserable first two games versus Providence (we want that one back) and Chuckwagon (Should of been closer, but the better team won)
• o-2 to start a weekend where we expected to go to semis, we then took off with some great wins versus Prankster Robotics, Good News Everyone, and Magma on Sunday morning.
• Knowing Prankster went universe with Chuckwagon, we hold out hope that theywill beat Providence and allow us into the semis. It doesn't happen.
• We end up playing for 5th versus Red Hook. A great game that sees us take half, and then falter in the second half. Outside of one aggro player (who Polish Prince silents with a taste of his own rough medicine) it's a great fought game in the rain.
• Overall, good bonding weekend for the boys and a nice tune up for nationals

Tourney Results

• Chuckwagon pleases the local crowd and wins the Open tourney over Montreal A in the finals
• Ambush (our adopted women's team for the weekend) wins the women's title over Missconnduct

Mixed Up Results

Nation,

Brief rundown of the weekend:

Saturday

• Montreal's RIP takes Pool A with a 4-0 Day, 3 teams go 2-2 and local coed "A" squad Bytown Flatball Club goes 0-4
  
• Onyx takes Pool B with a 4-0 day, while Ringer pickup team Phella goes through a 2-2 day. Monster, Ontario regional champs, has a tough 1-3. Underrated Liquid puts together a solid 3-1 day in the pool of death
• Polatouches and Tabasco (I told you to watch out for them!!) move into quarters by winning their pool.
• Big Fish of Ottawa goes undefeated in pool play and D.I.R.T. is the class of the junior pool

Sunday

• Like most ringer teams, Phella gets better with each game and makes it to finals versus RIP
• Quebec City's B squad wins the 9th place bracket
• The Company from Waterloo wins the 19th place bracket
  
• Ottawa Junior B (O2) has a fantastic sunday and finishes above the Ottawa Junior A team
• RIP takes the final and wins the tournament in time cap 13-9

Congrats to RIP the consolation pool champs, and to the organizers and volunteers.