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Thursday, August 15, 2013

MOB Lacrosse - 2013 Finals

Another MOB lacrosse season has come and gone, and while it was still a great group of guys as always, this season had a distinct difference.

MOB Lacrosse has prided itself for years in being extremely competitive and yet still a lot of fun. The standings were always very close from top to bottom, with the winner always being a big question mark.

Somehow that never happened this year.

Red Heat got out to a fast and furious start and never looked back, while Black Storm got stuck in the mud early in the year, and continued to spin their wheels all year.

Blue Thunder and Gold Rush were tied for second the standings and played solid all year.



Wednesday night was The Finals.

Game one would see what is commonly called the "Toilet Bowl", the battle of the two "losers" of the semi-finals from the previous week. It would be a very strong Blue Thunder hosting the lowly Black Storm. The game had an extra element as The Blue Goalie on this night would be none other than my brother "Tippy". I was on the injured reserve and decided to coach my Black teammates. I thought perhaps I would lead them to the promised land, and maybe get picked up by a NLL team once they saw my coaching skills in action.
My first move was to see if my other brother Don, could blow a shot past our brother, and get the Blue team on their heels. It worked to perfection as my bro bounced a beauty past his younger brother. Black Storm was alive. The game was back and forth from there, and was actually quite entertaining. Early in the third period the score was tied at 5-5. it was anybody game at this point. Blue made it 6 - 5, when Dan Tavares dropped a "teardrop" over the shoulder shot that found the bottom right corner of the net. Black pulled it's goalie to try to get back in the game, but Blue grabbed the ball and scored an empty netter. It was over. The painful Black Storm Season had come to an end.
Fred Rooymans led the way for Blue with 3 goals and 4 assists.

Between games all 4 teams met at centre floor for a special award. The Scott Smith Award is given annually to the MOB player that demonstrates Commitment to the game, camaraderie and fun.
This years winner really made it simple. He showed up and played every week with energy and a smile. He often played 2 games a night to help out, which he did more often than he would admit.

The winner of the 2013 Scott Smith Trophy was Brad Sanderson.

                                                Congratulations Brad!!!


THE FINALS. - RED HEAT VS GOLD RUSH!

This game had all the makings of a classic. Great Goaltenders at each end. Gold Rush would have the great stopper Ronny Larose, and Red (who had been led to first place by Randy Tollefson) would have to borrow a goalie on this night....and guess who?? - It would be Brad Sanderson to step up one more time.

This would not be a high scoring games. Both teams are quick and would break out quickly, but also get back on defence just as quick.

There were some goals early by both teams as they felt each other out. The game would be back and forth all night and was very entertaining. Gold held a lead late, but a penalty shot was awarded o Jordan Steip and he fired the ball in the top corner to tie the game up. On the powerplay to follow Captain Kyle Johnston scored a beauty. to make it 6 - 5 late for Red. But...it was not over as Frank Lechowski scored a spectacular goal to tie the score. We are going to Overtime. 5 minutes of play, sudden death, first goal wins the championship. There were lots of chances, some great plays and great goaltending....and then it happened. Kyle Johnston fired an underhand past the goalie with 0.1 seconds left on the clock. Red Heat Wins. Red Heat Wins.

What a great Masters Lacrosse game it was. The "near"capacity crowd loved it.

Jordan Steip had an amazing game for Red scoring 5 simply beautiful goals.

                                              Kyle Johnston takes the Campbell Cup.


                              Red Heat - 2013 MOB Lacrosse Champions. Congrats!!!!

**Interesting Facts.

- Red Heat became the only First Place team to win the Campbell Cup (very curious stat) in MOB History
- Brad Sanderson becomes the only goalie to lose the Toilet Bowl and win The Campbell Cup
- Steve Tippy McMillan becomes the Toilet Bowl Winning goalie in two leagues. (is that good?)


Thanks to all who make MOB Lacrosse....The Best Masters Lacrosse League!!

See you next year.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Lake PLacid Lacrosse - 2013

Last week was a vacation week for me...and not that you need to know every thing in my life....it was a good sports week and I have to share.
 
I started to pack for my trip...and when I turned my back, I realized that the Duke of Exeter wanted to join me. Alas, I had to say no. A word he has heard a lot in the last few weeks.
 
 
 
 
Last week was our trip to Lake Placid for our annual Field Lacrosse Tourney. Once again it was an amazing time with some great people. Our Grand Masters Team is preparing for the World Championships to be held next year in the summer of 2014 in beautiful Denver, Colorado.
 
 
Our team was a little bit shorthanded this year. Our star Long Pole Stu Aird had rotator cuff surgery, but he made the trip anyway...as our head coach and did a great job running the bench.
 
In our first game we were playing a very tough team, Mr BOH... however we went out quickly went out to a 2 to 0 lead, only to see that quickly disappear, and we were behind after the first quarter
6 to 2.
We had "jet lag" I guess, and by the time we settled in, we could not make up the difference...losing 12 to 8.
 
The next morning, at 9am (early) - we came out slow again and were behind 5 - 2 to Griffin's Lacrosse...but on this day, we fought back and took the game 7 - 5 to even our record.
 
Saturday, 9am again we would again play early - 9am against Team Tarzan, a beautiful day in Placid. This was a classic field lacrosse game, back and forth battle. Tarzan scored late to tie the game at 9, forcing overtime. Halfway through the 3rd overtime, Team Leader Warren Dimarco caught a pass, the Tarzan defence split like the Red Sea and Warren D. drilled it in the top corner. We win!!!
 
The great think about Lake Placid is there is always something going on. After our tiring Saturday morning game, we found out that Team Canada was playing Team USA in World Junior Hockey....and for $15 we sat at centre ice to see the likes of youngster Conner McDavid, Max Domi etc play hockey.

                                             Canada/USA Junior Hockey - Great Seats
 
This is all part of their training camp...and I think the Canadian Coaches had a lot to talk about after this game. 5 on 5 Canadians were dominant...but, when you play 2 men short....twice. Not good.
The American squad killed us on Special teams....scoring 3 power play goals, 1 short handed and 1 four on four. Final score USA 5 Canada 1.
 
A lot of fun nonetheless.
 
Moving onto Saturday evening at 6pm, we would play The Remnants...a team ranked 3rd overall going into the tournament. It would be an epic battle. Our goaltender Ted Sawicki was nothing short of spectacular in this game, leading us to a 6 - 4 victory. It was a great game, one of the guys on the other team said that was the best goaltending he had seen at this level.
 
All in all a great result for us, going 3 wins against only 1 loss.
 
Here are the results.
 
 
 
 
Special Mention
 
Goaltender - Ted Sawicki - Awesome tourney
Long Pole - our long poles were tough all weekend.....special mention to Kevin Sterritt - played great
Midfield - the midfielders were short all weekend - did a lot of running (in our mind it was running).....and fought hard as a group - a lot of running
Attack - Pete Follows, Gary Walker were great......but once again the scoring leader was Scott (Grant Jr)  - alias Strongheart, alias The "Minesweeper" - he used his own brand of Table Hockey Lacrosse to lead the way with 8 goals.
 
Special thanks to Stu Aird for coaching us, and most of all to Warren Dimarco..."organizer Supreme" - for getting us down there.
 
I would personally like to thank Lisa and Ashley of the Millcroft Physiotherapy and Sports Injuries Clinic  in Burlington, for rebuilding me before I left, a very sore Achilles and a bad hip, thanks to them I made it to Placid, and played the four games, although you could clock my speed with a Sundial. I appreciate all that they did.

Here are a few pics.

                                   Pete and Gary - Our Shooters! (beautiful background too)


                                           Kevin, Scott and Warren (tailgating begins)



                                           Warren and I - post tournament celebration.



                                                     The Molson Canadians