Well, I thought I was over it, but watching the final moments of regulation play in Game 7 of the Mann Cup still makes me feel so sad.
But, that little mishap didn't need to be the end of the game--or the series. We still had 10 minutes of overtime. We just didn't use that time to our advantage.
In the end, though, it was an amazing series and the Bellies rocked. And every single year the team takes what they've learned and applies it to the next season, always with positive results. Perhaps next year will be the Bellies' turn to win the Mann Cup on the road.
Interesting comments about referee Mark Gardonio (from the Newsleader):
"It wasn’t that play that drew the ire of the Salmonbellies, it was the officiating of Ontario referee Mark Gardonio. After the game, irate defender Ian Hawksbee walked down the hallway to yell at the officials. Salmonbellies head coach Bob Salt said Gardonio has cost them all three games they’ve lost in the series claiming Gardonio’s turn-of-possession calls kept the ball in Brampton’s sticks. Salt also said the constant calling for mops to wipe up sweat off the Queen’s Park hardwood floor gives the Excelsiors a chance to catch their breath. That takes the advantage away from what Salt believes is his team’s superior conditioning in the transition game. 'It kills us,' said Salt of the mopping."
Yup, Gardonio makes a lot of weird change-of-possession calls and often even stops the Bellies mid-run only to give them possession (which they already had). And there's his obsession with mopping. Too bad we can't give Gardonio a delay-of-game penalty. All three Brampton wins have been in OT, all three with Gardonio reffing, and in at least two of those games, Gardonio's calls drastically changed the outcome. Hmmm.
It's been quite a rush watching this series between two such evenly matched teams.
In game four, the Bellies outshot the Excels 56 to 37, winnng 8 to 7 in regulation play and tying the series at two game each. In game five, Gill's hat trick led the Bellies to a 10-8 victory, and one game away from the Mann Cup. But Brampton put up a tremendous fight in game six and dashed the Bellies' hope for a Mann Cup championship in six games. And while a Brampton win was somewhat disappointing for fans, the game itself wasn't. The Bellies played well and Roik was outstanding in net, intuitively stopping shots, it seemed. In some cases, he had no way of seeing the actual play, with so many men in front of the net.
For a while there it looked as though the Bellies would take game six. Kyle Ross's tie-breaking goal seven minutes into the period brought tears to my daughter's eyes (I'm not exaggerating). But then, for reasons unbeknownst to me, the ref gave Brampton possession. Whether this call caught the Bellies off-guard or not, I don't know, but Bramptom's Mike Hominuck made a behind-the-back shot into the net, tying it up again. (This irked me somewhat because we've been commenting all series how Brampton's behind-the-back passes and shots have a really low success rate--bummer that this one went as planned). Then, with 15 seconds left in OT, Brampton called a time-out. I hate when that happens. I've seen too many game-altering shots in the last second or two of play. And of course, I was right to be concerned. Dan Dawson scored the game-ending goal with 1.5 seconds on the clock.
Tonight's game could go either way. But one thing's for sure: it's going to be one heck of a battle for the Mann Cup.
Last night’s Mann Cup game was the most intense game I’ve ever seen—way too close for comfort, from a tie of one all at the end of the first, 4-3 for the Bellies after the second, 5 all after the third, 7 all after the first 10-minute overtime, to ending with a contentious goal about three minutes into the sudden-death OT. Talk about stressful!
My daughter’s convinced that Colin Doyle stepped into the crease BEFORE becoming airborne to score the winning goal, and I’m sure a lot of Bellies fans agree with her (can’t comment on the Brampton fans because they’re too few and far between at the Barn). Teddy Jenner of NLL Insider thinks the goal was clean based on Doyle’s being airborne before crossing the line, but perhaps Jenner didn’t look at Doyle’s pre-airborne stance. In any case, I’d be less bugged by that goal if it hadn’t been Doyle’s. I hate giving that guy another reason to be smug.
And speaking of Doyle, when I watch him play, I’m reminded of a certain local city's girls’ lacrosse team of a few years back. They could change the entire tone of the game by convincing refs that minor, clean hits were somehow worthy of penalty. How’d they do it? By embellishing every little hit, every minor infraction. Colin Doyle, a 30-something-year-old man, uses the tactics of a 12-year-old girl—and is known for it. In fact, even his supporters admit that he embellishes injuries (although they try to avoid the using the word "fake"). To each his own, I suppose, but I certainly wouldn’t want faked injuries and melodrama to be my legacy to a sport that’s known for its speed and roughness.
So, let’s look at the effect of Doyle’s antics on last night’s game. In the second period, Kyle Ross and Bubba Westwood got two minutes each (for elbowing and high sticking, respectively), which they likely wouldn’t have got if Doyle hadn’t exaggerated. The result? Brampton scored twice on the powerplay, tying the game at 3 all. At the bottom of the third, Doyle’s melodrama resulted in a 4-minute checking-from-behind penalty to Rory Smith. Harsh as that one was, the Bellies not only managed to kill the penalty but Cliff Smith was able to score. Still, the game might have ended completely differently had the Bellies been playing with the full complement. Why the refs allow Doyle to get away with his cheap and not-so-subtle antics is beyond me. The fans don’t buy it, though. And frankly, if I wanted to watch grown men writhe in pain over fake injuries, I’d watch soccer.
But like I said, it was a thrilling game, and I get a lot of comfort knowing that the Bellies haven’t played their best game yet. Maybe tonight they can tie the series.
A few key points regarding the incident that kicked off the Game 1 brawl:
"After the game he [Don Scott] reviewed the game tape and the referees’ game sheet and as a result New Westminster’s Bobby Snider was assessed a three game suspension. Now it has been made known that while both teams and Scott agree that Ian Hawskbee was the actual player who hit Colin Doyle, the game sheet says it was Snider. New West could have appealed the decision but then they would have put Hawksbee on the hot seat and could have lost him for three games."
and more importantly:
"Scott also commented that in his mind, the check on Doyle was a legal shoulder to chest hit and that it was the resulting head on head collision that did the damage."
So a lousy call not only gets the wrong player suspended for three games for what was apparently a clean hit, but it also sets off the largest bench-clearing brawl in recent lacrosse history. Grrr.
On another note, Jenner also reports that Chris Gill will be retiring after the Mann Cup. This makes me sad. C'mon Bellies, win it for Chris!
Here are a few clips from game 2 in the Mann Cup series. The footage isn't as dramatic as the game 1 brawl, but there's some good stuff in there. (Video for both games by Kaede.)
As for the game, well, it was okay, I suppose. The first period was a good one for the Bellies, and they ended it with a 3-1 lead. Both teams went through a bit of sluggishness midway through the second period, but Brampton managed to emerge from it, while the Bellies seemed to have lost too much momentum. By the end of the second, the teams were tied at 7 apiece, then tied at 9 apiece by the end of the third. In OT, Brampton scored four more times, while the Bellies managed just one more goal. Final score 13-10 for Brampton.
Game 3 is Monday. Same time, same place. But different winner, I hope.
Well, I knew it was going to be a rough one, but I didn't expect a bench-clearing brawl. Here are a few clips of the fights that took place just after Colin Doyle went down. I didn't see what happened to Doyle, but the Bellies took a high-sticking penalty for whatever it was. But to be honest, Doyle seemed fine at first, then went down in an exaggerated manner (with what looked to be a lower body injury), got up again, then went down again. The high-sticking call and a leg injury don't match up, so I have no idea what really happened. But I'm thinking Doyle will be just fine tomorrow.
As for other observations: -Every time the Salmonbellies scored, the Excelsiors (Cosmo and another player) would jump on the scorer. -The heavy-set, neckless ref was lousy--to the point of giving Brampton two goals they shouldn't have gotten. The first one, the ref closest to the nets called it a non-goal, but the heavy one overode his decision from across the floor. And the other goal that Brampton was given didn't go in, plain and simple. Hope that guy doesn't come back to ref again this series. He's the worst yet. -The Excelsiors weren't nearly as good as I expected them to be. The Bellies didn't even play their best game, yet they totally dominated. Maybe Brampton's suffering from jet lag. -In all, there was about three hours' worth of penalties.
This is it. Tomorrow night is Game 1 in the 2009 Mann Cup Championship. In honour of the fact that New West is hosting its first Mann Cup series since 1995, I’ve come up with a list of 10 great things about WLA lacrosse in New West:
1 The wooden floor—What can I say? It’s sleek. It’s green. It has the Salmonbellies logo on it. And it’s the only wooden lacrosse floor in Canada and likely in all of North America.
2 Shaggy—Shaggy’s the floor wiper-upper and a heck of a cool character. He’s especially popular with the kids, even us big ones. Sometimes he gets louder cheers than the players—and he’s certainly more popular than the refs!
3 George—George sells the 50-50 tickets, and dang it, one of these days he’s going to sell me a winner.
4 The organ—Okay, I’m not a huge fan of Camptown Races and Little Brown Jug being played during a lacrosse game—and I definitely don’t like to hear the theme from Jaws when the Bellies are shorthanded in their own zone, but heck, the organ is retro, Queen’s Park Arena is retro, and the Salmonbellies are one of the oldest sports franchises around, so I’m willing to compromise for the sake of atmosphere.
5 The city itself. New Westminster is a lacrosse town. Not a day goes by in the summer when you don’t see at least one kid walking around in Salmonbellies shorts, and you often see several walking around with lacrosse sticks in their hands. The city’s also home to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, located just a few minutes (on foot) from QPA. If you’re in the neighbourhood, check it out.
6 The team. The guys are great. They’re active in the community, they volunteer their time to coach kids in the summer, they show up from Minor lacrosse registration and meet the kids, and they even sent lacrosse gear to the troops in Kandahar.
7 The staff. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the Coquitlam staff swear at Bellies fans, and how often I’ve seen one of their staff flip the bird. I can’t imagine the Bellies’ crew doing that.
8 The fans. Okay, sometimes we’re a bit rowdy and we really hate shoddy reffing, but we’re a good bunch—really we are (but please forgive us for booing the 50-50 winner of that one play-off game. That was totally uncalled for. Booing 50-50 winners definitely crosses the line. Booing Ref Radar, on the other hand, is totally acceptable and even expected in some sections of the stands).
9 Queen’s Park Arena aka The Barn. The building goes back to the 1930s. Originally intended to be a civic building, it soon became the venue for hockey and box lacrosse, which was invented in the 1930s. Pieces of the original tongue-and-groove wooden floor (which was installed in 1938) grace the back wall of the arena. (For more history on lacrosse in New West, check out my May 2007 article from The Walrus, An Upstream Battle.)
10 The calibre of play. The games are action-packed and even the teams that are lower in the standings put up a darned good fight and keep the fans entertained. But tomorrow night, we’ll be some amazing lacrosse between the Salmonbellies and the eastern division champs, the Brampton Excelsiors. Go Bellies!
