What a Surprise

The Score network broadcast some action from the NCAA Division 1 Men's Lacrosse Championship. While searching for something to watch Friday, I saw lacrosse as an option and immediately flipped to it. To my dismay there was no game on at the time specified but I persevered and found the two semi-final games were going to be aired the following day. Upon further review, I found that the championship game was going to be broadcast also.

After having their season cancelled last year due to criminal investigations involving team member's, Duke scored with only three seconds remaining in their semi-final game against Cornell on Saturday to earn the victory 12-11. That game-winning goal came just fourteen seconds after Cornell tied the game. In the other semi-final game, John Hopkins University defeated Delaware 8-3. Duke was unable to complete their cinderella season and lost 12-11 in the championship final.

Cudos for The Score for showing the games and congratulations to John Hopkins for their victory.

Host Team Wins the Cup

Yesterday, in a battle of the Western Hockey League final, the host Vancouver Giants defeated the Tigers from Medicine Hat 3-1 to earn the right to drink from the Memorial Cup. Earlier in the tournament Medicine Hat pulled out a 1-0 victory but lifted by the home fans, Vancouver won when it counted. Unfortunately, I did not see much of the game as I was entertaining my father and was cooking dinner while the game was on (ham with a sweet pineapple sauce and scallop potatoes, for those curious).

The first two periods were close as they ended the first frame knotted at zero and each team scored a goal apiece in the second period. It was not until there was less than five minutes to go in the third when Vancouver took the lead 2-1. They then scored an empty net goal in the last minute to put the game away.

For the other two teams involved: Plymouth Whalers fought hard to get to the semi-final game by beating the Lewiston MAINEiacs 2-1 in overtime in their last round robin game to force a tie breaker game. They then went on to beat the same team in the tie breaker game before losing badly to the eventual cup winners 8-1 in the semi-final contest. Next years tournament will be held in the Ontario Hockey League city of Kitchener, where the host Rangers lie in wait.

Congratulations to the Vancouver Giants!

For more in depth information visit the MasterCard Memorial Cup website.

Canada Retains Title

The 2007 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship ended with the same result as the inaugural event in 2003, at least in the top three spots. Team Canada won an exciting overtime contest against the Iroquois Nationals 15-14 to retain the title of world champions while the team from the United States beat up on an injury laden team from England winning 17-10 for the bronze medal. With this tournament win, Canada became the first nation to hold both the indoor lacrosse title and the field lacrosse title at the same time (Canada won the 2006 field lacrosse tournament in London, ON last summer). Canada will go for the world lacrosse triple crown in 2008 when the world once again comes to Canada for the under 19 World Lacrosse Championship.

The final standings for the 2007 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship are as follows:

1. Canada
2. Iroquois Nationals
3. United States
4. England
5. Scotland
6. Australia
7. Czech Republic
8. Ireland

Five areas are interested in hosting the 2011 tournament including Ottawa, ON, the Czech Republic, Australia, Iroquois Nationals, and one other country (possibly England).

Streak Ends at Four

After going 0-4-0 to start the season and being held scoreless in all four contests, Toronto FC finally earned their first win, stopping their losing streak at four. Being outscored 10-0 in their first four games, Toronto FC was in desperate need of a goal and Danny Dichio fulfilled that need in the 24th minute of their fifth game last Saturday afternoon. Toronto FC went on to score two more goals in that contest en route to a 3-1 victory. That win stopped the longest losing streak in Toronto FC history at four and became the first win in their current two-game winning streak, also the longest in club history (don’t worry fans, the team is new so there will be streaks lasting longer…on both ends).

Toronto FC earned their second straight win Wednesday night, again in front of their home crowd, by shutting out the Houston Dynamo 1-0. The two wins have propelled the team out of the league basement and has, more importantly, given the team and their fans hope.

2007 MasterCard Memorial Cup

Tomorrow, May 18, is the start of the 2007 Memorial Cup to decide the National champion of the Canadian Hockey League. The four teams competing in the ten day tournament are the host Vancouver Giants, the Western Hockey League champion Medicine Hat Tigers, the Ontario Hockey League champion Plymouth Whalers and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Lewiston MAINEiacs. The tournament opens Friday at 9:00 PM Eastern with the Vancouver Giants facing the Plymouth Whalers and will end next Sunday at 1:00 PM Pacific with the championship game.

All games are being broadcast on the Rogers Sportsnet stations. Here is the schedule:

• Friday May 18 9:00 PM ET - Plymouth vs Vancouver
• Saturday May 19 4:00 PM ET - Lewiston vs Medicine Hat
• Sunday May 20 4:30 PM ET - Lewiston vs Vancouver
• Monday May 21 8:00 PM ET - Medicine Hat vs Plymouth
• Tuesday May 22 8:00 PM ET - Lewiston vs Plymouth
• Wednesday May 23 10:30 PM ET - Medicine Hat vs Vancouver
• Friday May 25 8:00 PM ET - 3rd Place vs 2nd Place (Semi-final)
• Sunday May 27 4:00 PM ET - Championship Game

World Indoor Lacrosse Update

Today is an off day for the participants of the 2007 ILF World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, leaving them time to prepare for the quarter final round and wander the streets of Halifax. I figured this would be a perfect time to provide an update of this event.

At the end of round robin play, Canada and Iroquois finished first in their respective groups, winning all three games, and earned a spot in the semi-finals. Behind Canada in Group A is USA at 2-1 followed by Australia at 1-2 and Ireland at 0-3 completes the group. In Group B, England at 2-1 occupies the 2nd spot followed by Scotland at 1-2 and the Czech Republic at 0-3 sits in last place.

Play resumes tomorrow with the two last place teams battling it out for some respect along with the two quarterfinal games. In the first of the quarterfinal matchups, USA plays Scotland while in the second quarterfinal game, England will play Australia. The winner of these two games will go on to the semi-finals to face either Canada or Iroquois while the losers will play each other to decide fifth and sixth place. The winners of the semi-finals will play for gold on Sunday while the losers will compete for the bronze medal. Both medal games will be televised on Sunday on APTN and Iroquois' semifinal game on Saturday will also be televised.

World Junior Hockey Championship

Canda will be the host country for three of the next four World Junior Hockey Championships. The 2009 tournament was previously given to Canada as well as the 2012 tournament. It was just announced on Friday that Canada has also been given the right to host the 2010 tournament making it the first time Canada is to host back to back World Juniors. The host city for the 2009 event will be Ottawa, Ontario (December 26th, 2008 to January 5th, 2009) while the host cities for the 2010 and 2012 events have yet to be determined.

For more information please visit hockeycanada.ca.

2007 Royal Bank Cup

For the second time in four years, the Aurora Tigers are Junior A hockey champions of Canada following a 3-1 win over the host Prince George Spruce Kings in the final of the 2007 RBC Royal Bank Cup on Sunday night at CN Centre.

-You can see the entire article at hockeycanada.ca

2007 IIHF World Hockey Championship

The 2007 IIHF Worlds Championship ended yesterday with Canada beating Finland 4-2 to earn the Gold medal. The Bronze medal game saw the host team from Russia defeat Sweden 3-1 in a dominating performance. The IIHF World Hockey Championship will be held in Canada for the first time ever next year with Halifax and Quebec City as the host cities.

The final tournament rankings are as follows:

1. Canada
2. Finland
3. Russia
4. Sweden
5. USA
6. Slovakia
7. Czech Republic
8. Switzerland
9. Germany
10. Denmark
11. Belarus
12. Italy
13. Latvia
14. Norway
15. Austria
16. Ukraine

Streak Extends With Cup Win

John Grant Jr. led Rochester to the Knighthawks’ second ever Champion’s Cup and the team’s 15th straight win. For his three goals and five assists performance, Grant was named game MVP. Pat O’Toole was also solid in net for Rochester making 42 saves in the win.

Both teams had trouble finding the back of the net early in the first quarter, despite some good scoring chances by both sides. Rochester finally got the scoring started at … of the first quarter then extended their lead to two on a spectacular over the shoulder goal by John Grant Jr. The first quarter ended with a 2-1 score after Dan Dawson scored a goal late in the opening quarter for Arizona. The second quarter started with Arizona on the power play where they promptly scored to tie the game. The score remained tied for just over two minutes when Shawn Williams scored the first of five straight goals to give Rochester a 7-2 lead. Craig Conn scored his second of the game and reduced Arizona’s deficit to four goals and after one more goal by Arizona, the second quarter ended with Arizona trailing by three in a 7-4 game.

The third quarter began much like the first as it took almost five minutes for the first goal of the quarter. Mike Accursi scored his third goal of the game for Rochester … seconds before Arizona answered back. Rochester then scored two straight goals to gain a five-goal lead before Arizona scored their sixth goal of the game to take a 10-6 deficit into the last quarter. Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Rochester gets back their five-goal lead with a goal by … Arizona, leg by Craig Conn, then took over and scored four straight goals to climb back to within one goal with nine minutes to go. Regaining their composure, Rochester gets back a two-goal lead on Bill Greer’s first goal of the playoffs. Despite outscoring Rochester 5-3 in the last quarter, Arizona could not complete the comeback and fell to the Knighthawks 13-11.

Along with John Grant Jr., two other Knighthawks scored a hat trick, Mike Accursi (3G, 2A) and Shawn Williams (3G, 3A) while Craig Conn was the only player from Arizona to complete the hat trick, finishing with five goals and three assists. Dan Dawson was held to just one goal in the game but had seven helpers for eight points and his Arizona teammate, Derek Malawsky, amassed seven points on six assists and one goal. Rob Blasdell made 48 saves for Arizona in the loss.

Something’s Missing, And It’s A Good Thing

While watching a TSN broadcast of the IIHF World Championship, something struck me as missing. The commentary and in-game analysis was not quite what I remembered TSN providing in past years; Pierre McGuire was not a part of the commentary crew (I hope we are still getting the analysis we need even without Pierre because according to his TSN bio, "McGuire gives viewers the analysis and commentary they want - and need - to hear"). After his debauchery of the World Junior Championship a few years ago, I am surprised he still has a commentary type job anywhere. As it turns out, Pierre is not involved in the above-mentioned event at all and the games have been very enjoyable to watch. Even though Bob Errey’s commentating has been less than stellar, he is far less annoying than Pierre is. He does not repeat himself every minute and he holds himself very professionally. I guess the first part of the title should be corrected because Pierre’s commentary is not missed at all but his absence is a very good thing.

On a side note: Canada will meet up with Finland in the Gold medal game tomorrow at 12 pm eastern. Canada played their best game in the semi-final match against Sweden, beating them 4-1. If they carry that play into the final game, they will be bringing home Gold.

Where’s the Coverage?

With three major sports networks and a television station that is supposed to represent all aspects of the country (history, heritage and current events), one would expect television coverage of a world sporting event, especially when the said event involves one of the country’s national sports that is being held on Canadian soil. This does not seem to be the case when it comes to the sport of lacrosse and in this case the World Lacrosse Championship.
Lacrosse, just like its winter counterpart hockey, is one of Canada’s national sports although, unlike hockey, it does not get the recognition as such. TSN claims to be Canada’s leader in sports but they all but ignore the sport of lacrosse. Rogers Sportsnet only show games from the professional National Lacrosse League and ignore the Major Series Lacrosse league, a summer league with participation from many of the professional players from the NLL. To give Rogers credit, they did show a MSL and OLA Junior “A” game of the week on their local station in some areas of the province last summer. Then there is The Score, which used to show Toronto Rock games early in their history but to the benefit of lacrosse fans, let Rogers Sportsnet take over the past two or three seasons. The Score does show the scores of some, if not all, the NLL games so they at least acknowledge the sport.

Not one of these sports stations provided broadcasts for the World Lacrosse Championships from London, Ontario last summer but instead the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had to step up and broadcast Team Canada’s games. CBC might step up again and show Team Canada games from the indoor championships but as of now, there is no indication of this happening. It looks like us Canadians will have to tune into APTN to get any coverage from this tournament.

Lacrosse has been labelled the fastest growing sport in North America and it is time that the sports networks in this country realize the increasing interest in the sport and start broadcasting more games. Not to have any coverage of a world event such as the upcoming World Indoor Lacrosse Championship on a major sports network is absolutely ludicrous. It is time for the major sports networks to acknowledge and help the growth of Canada’s national sport, lacrosse.

Spontaneous Internal Combustion Does Exist!

Just look at the Jays the past two weeks if you need proof. They are not playing to their potential, but then when your starter cannot even get through three innings what does one expect? Sending Towers to the pen and putting "who can hit my hanging cheese ball the farthest”, Zambrano, into the starting rotation was perhaps the dumbest move made by the team this year. It is time for Gibbons to wake up and manage or take a hike. If this play keeps up all month, the Jays will be out of playoff contention before the all-star game.

A New Season, A New Hope

As many professional sports leagues are in the midst of their playoffs, some of the smaller amateur (?) leagues are underway or are set to begin. The OLA and Can-Am Senior “B” lacrosse leagues are heading into their fourth week of play while the Intercounty Baseball League began this past weekend. Not to forget the Major League Soccer league that started April 7.

In OLA action, the Ajax-Pickering Rock and the Brooklin Merchants are atop the East division with a 2-1 record while in the West, the defending President’s Cup Champion Wellington Aces are leading with a 3-1 record. The host team for the President’s Cup, the Owen Sound Woodsmen, is off to a slow start losing all three of their games so far. The OLA season consists of a 14 game schedule for each of the six competing teams with seven home games and seven games on the road. The OLA regular season ends on June 30 while the playoffs will be over by August 15 at the latest. The Can-Am season is two games longer than the OLA with the nine teams playing a total of 16 games (eight at home and eight on the road). Tonawanda Braves are leading the league with a perfect 3-0 record while the Newton Golden Eagles and the Six Nations Sting are close behind with a perfect 2-0 record.

Turning to baseball, the Intercounty Baseball League began play this past weekend with three games Saturday and four more on Sunday. The result of these games: the Guelph Royals are tied with the defending champions Brantford Red Sox at 2-0 while the Hamilton Thunderbirds and the Kitchener Panthers are sitting in the cellar with an 0-2 record. The IBL consists of nine teams scattered throughout Southern Ontario playing 36 games each, including several scheduled double headers. The regular season goes until July 22 and includes an all-star game on July 7 in Brantford.

Finally, Major League Soccer, with the new addition Toronto FC, is already a month into their season. The league leaders after about five games played are the Kansas City Wizards in the East at 4-1-0 while the Houston Dynamo and the Colorado Rapids both have an even 2-2-1 record in the West. Toronto FC is in last place overall with a 0-4-0 record while Real Salt Lake only has three ties in five games for second worst overall and bottom rank in the West.

The OLA Junior “B” lacrosse season has also started and is into its fourth week. Other seasons starting this month include Major League Lacrosse starting May 12, OLA Junior “A” lacrosse starting this weekend and Major Series Lacrosse starting May 24. This summer is sure to be packed with sports. The only question is which event to attend?

One Game to Decide it All

We are fast approaching the Champion’s Cup Final. The match-up for the title was decided over a week ago when Rochester and Arizona defeated their opponents in the divisional finals. Rochester, with a league best 14-2 record in the regular season, earned home field advantage throughout the playoffs, however, due to a scheduling conflict at Blue Cross Arena on Saturday, the league has decided to have the game played in Arizona instead of rescheduling the game or having a neutral site host the game.

Bringing a 16-2 season record into the game (including the two playoff games played), Rochester is the favourite to win, even with the change of venue. They bring an all-time second best 14 game winning streak into the game as well as being the top scoring team in the regular season. They had the league leader in points this year in John Grant Jr. with 111 points, and two others in the top ten. In head to head competition, Rochester won their only meeting this season but lost in their lone visit to Arizona 14-4 back in 2004.

Arizona counters the league best offence with the league’s second best goaltender in goals against average as well as a defence that allowed the third fewest goals in 2007. Moving the game to Arizona works to Arizona’s benefit as they only have one win in Rochester in three visits. As well, Arizona has a 67.7% win percentage (23-11 record) in Arizona all-time as opposed to a 40.5% win percentage (15-22 record) away from the confines of the Jobing.com arena. Leading Arizona offensively is the second best point getter this year in Dan Dawson with 107 points.

Both teams are full of talented players and could win this game. Arizona will be trying to capture their first championship after losing in Toronto in 2005 while Rochester will be going for their second championship. Rochester should win this game but they will have to want it more and they should after having the game moved from Rochester to Arizona. Rochester has also appeared in the playoffs all thirteen years of their existence in the league but only have one championship to show for it. If Rochester keeps those two facts in mind and play to their potential then they will win; if they take Arizona lightly, Arizona can easily steal the win.

The 2007 MLB Season Can Officially Begin

Most players in professional sports live by the rules and procedures of the league they play in, whether they are league MVP’s or kids just out of college. They respect the league, the teams they represent, their teammates, and some players even respect other players in the league. Roger Clemens is not one of these players. He lives by his own rules.

While most players were working hard to secure a spot on a team in spring training, Roger, or should I say Mr. Clemens, was sucking down whiskey sours on his hobby farm in Texas or on some golf course working on correcting his slice; in other words, he was not among the players at spring training. Is He too good for spring training? Many teams would be more than happy to overpay to have him on their team, even at age forty-four. Maybe he just thinks he is above the league so the normal rules and procedures do not apply to him. Whatever the reason, it seems that MLB, along with some individual teams, is bending over backwards to accommodate Roger in his attempt to cling on to his youth.

This year, three main teams were in the running for Clemens: the Houston Astros, the Boston Red Sox, and the hated New York Yankees. Well today, Clemens again showed his lack of respect for the game by interrupting the Seattle/Yankee game to announce that he will be joining the New York Yankees for this season, what’s left of it. In my opinion, he should have stuck to his 2003 decision to retire while everyone still held him in high regard and could remember him as a great player. Instead, Roger decided to tarnish his image, the league’s image (which is hard to do after the steroid scandal) and his great accomplishments by continuing the circus show of his.

Thankfully, the ‘suspense’ is over (at least for this year) with Clemens’ decision to continue playing so the 2007 season can officially begin.