What made this night really special is I went with my two brothers and my Mom.
Steve (Tippy) a long time Lacrosse goalie who has won a Mann Cup (Senior A Lacrosse) - a Presidents Cup (Senior B Lacrosse) and A Vanier Cup (Canadian University Football)....and has never met a booster club he couldn't make a friend. He still plays Masters Lacrosse.
Don - played lacrosse for years, was an enforcer in the day (his lacrosse stick - and old wooden Mackenzie was a thick as a Maple tree), I could hardly lift it. He could crosscheck like nobody I have ever seen, a lot of bruised shoulders and arms. He still plays Masters Lacrosse.
Mom - what can I say, she has been to a million lacrosse games. Constant positive support from day one. Always an encouraging word to say, a relentless volunteer, and anyone that organized a lacrosse event, were always happy to have Mom on the team. She still watches us play Masters Lacrosse.
I did some quick math and I realized that between the 4 of us there is roughly 200 years of lacrosse experience. WOW. What a number. Really cool.
One thing that is not on my Mom's resume...she has never been to a Toronto Rock Game. Thanks to the generosity of Tippy, we finally made it happen...and we decided to go the whole deal.
We started at the Real Sports Bar to make a donation to the cash strapped MLSE. A great meal though and prepared us for the game.
Next - it was game time....looked like a solid crowd....of around 10,000, not sure. After the Banner raising, the game was on...and the Rock came flying out of the gate....and before the banner above has even stopped waving....it was 5 - 0 for Toronto, the rout was on.
Hang on a minute, this is lacrosse and no lead is ever safe, and Calgary started to chip away at the lead, it was shaping up to be a good game.
In an effort to give Mom the whole experience (and the fact that we were thirsty) we took a stroll down to the "Bar" at the ACC for a halftime banterfest. We saw a lot of lacrosse guys, always a great trip down memory lane.
By the time we got back to our seat in the 3rd quarter it was 7 to 6 for Calgary....they traded goals back and forth but then late in the game Calgary scored to put it out of reach. Final score on this night was Calgary 12 Toronto 9.
***note*** We all enjoyed the game and the atmosphere but I am compelled to add my cheap editorial, and that being.....even My Mom commented on the Defence off and Offense on and vice versa during the game, it slow the game of lacrosse down huge. I don't like it (I don't like it). I really don't like it. The New CLax league has addressed that in their league. Check them out this weekend with games in Oshawa and Brampton. Check out the schedule at http://www.clax.ca/
Sports news.
Canadian Milos Raonic won an ATP event yesterday. I watched this match, and if you have not seen this kid, make a point to watch him. his serve is phenomenal and he had 36 aces. Wow!
Milos Raonic
I don't like the offense off, defense on stuff either. No accountability and the defense can take liberties too and as you said it slows the game down. Back in the day if someone was playing the fool, payback was usually coming.
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