Mann Cup 2009--game 7 tonight
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.
Go Bellies!
Labels: Brampton Excelsiors, Mann Cup 2009, New Westminster Salmonbellies
One more sleep
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!
Labels: Mann Cup 2009, New Westminster Salmonbellies, Queen's Park Arena, WLA lacrosse, wooden floor
