Off The Grid

It is has been quite a while since my last post...some would say I was "off the grid" so to speak.

I have not really been hiding, but there has been a lot going on.

November was one of the craziest months I have been through...kind of a Yin and Yang month.

On November 1st, I was honoured to be inducted to the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

We had a tour of the Museum in the afternoon, followed by the induction dinner at night.

                      Me, Patti, Cort, Sue, Steve, Sue, Brad and Mom...in front of the "Wall"

The Ceremony was in Niagara Falls and there was a great group that came along in support.

                                                     Patti and I sharing a toast.

 

                                                        

                               The Boys (Cort - Tippy - me -Don - Brad W - B Hall - Brad S)

                                         Stu and I (Stu is a big reason why I made it into the Hall.)

It was incredible night to be sure. I won't bore you and replay my speech on this night...but I would like to thank all that came to the big event. Patti, Mom, Aimee and Matteo, Steve (Tippy), Don and Rosie, Stu and Laura, Brad and Sue, Brad and Carolyn, Cort and Sue, Brian Hall. Thank you all!!

Special Thanks to Mom for all of her years of support. You are amazing.

Thanks to my brother Steve who helped to organize this night and make it incredible.

Such a great "High"...but things quickly came down, as on November 12th I went in for a total right hip replacement. I have been living in pain for some time, and the time had arrived to fix it.

Once again, my brother Steve, (who is really having a good month in my eyes) - helped to arrange my surgery in Newmarket. Steve works for Zimmer - specializing in the products needed for hip and knee replacements.

Surgery went great  - And here is my new hip.

                                                  My New Hip. - Looks good (to me)

This whole adventure I found amazing. I am now 4 weeks plus after surgery and am progressing at an amazing rate.

I have been doing my exercises and am getting stronger.

                              Yes, I do have a "ballet bar" made by my buddy Brad Sanderson. It has been great to help with my rehab.

Special thanks to my wife Patti, who has gone above and beyond to help in my rehab.


SO, as you see...I have had a little bit going on...but I am making my comeback.

Btw - Raptors are in First Place - Leafs are rolling - So all is good in the sporting world.
                                   
 

Ray Rice - NOT!!

A few years back...I started passitonsports.ca

Here are the word directly from my About Us page.

Our Mission

To provide an opportunity ro share your feel good sport story and to show gratitude to those who have helped along the way.

Our Vision

Inspiration. Attitude. Enthusiasm. Gratitude: Pass It On.


Ray Rice a professional Football player with the Baltimore Raven of the NFL has been in the sports news 24/7 this week. To me, his story is not sports news. It is a disturbing story, and I am not going to bore you with the details here...it bothers me that much....I am not giving even my opinion on the subject.  Is is NOT a sports story... to me.

...and guess what? Every day there are "feel good" sports stories, and I am here to keep you up to speed.

Let's review what is going on.

• US Open Tennis. The big guns Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both lost in the Semi-finals to big underdogs. The tourney was won by Marin Cilic a 14 seed and I can tell you this, for his friends and family, this is a great sports story.

                                  Marin Cilic - 2014 US Open Tennis Champion Marin Cilic

• The Victoria Shamrocks and the Six Nation Chiefs are playing this week for The Mann Cup, Canadian Senior A Lacrosse Championships. Six Nations are hosting and the tough series is tied at 2 games each. Six Nations have a fantastic year going, already winning the Founder's Cup (Junior B) and The Minto Cup (Junior A). If you get a chance slip down to a game. This is the best box lacrosse in the world....and you can go to a game for $20.

                                                     The Mann Cup.

• Canada Men's Soccer team defeated Jamaica on Tuesday night 3 to 1. This is big soccer news. Read the story from Gareth Wheeler from TSN....his article is Titled: A Feel-Good Night for Canadian Men's Soccer.

(man....I like the ring of that title).

• The Tour Championship in the PGA Starts tomorrow. Top 30 golfers play Thursday to Sunday...and The Fedex Cup Champion will take home a cool bonus of $10 Million Dollars.

• It is a great time of year for sports fans......NFL has started....NHL and NBA are around the corner.
• ...and Blue Jays are still "in it" - they really are.
• ...and Toronto FC Soccer...might make the playoffs for first time ever....they might.
• Canadian College Football....Canadian Football League etc. etc.

Every single day there is another "feel good" sports story. Watch for them...share them with friends...and don't forget if you have a feel good story of your own you can got to www.passitonsports.ca and become a member for free...and write your own feel good story.

Enjoy.

Mike

 

 

MOB Lacrosse Championship - 2014

I may not be the only one saying this.  Where did the summer go??
The CNE opened today...and MOB Lacrosse is over. Two sure signs of the warm summer nights slowly disappearing.

MOB (Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington) Lacrosse has just completed it's 9th year. We first handed out the coveted Campbell Cup in 2006.

The MOB is a group of players....men/women/age range of 21 to 65. - We compete every summer in a friendly game of lacrosse and an occasional beverage to follow the game.

This years championship games were exciting. The underdog, last place Blue Thunder team managed to sneak into the final against the tough Gold Rush team. The Gold team had great goaltending all year and tonight was no different as Ron Larose led his team to victory and the Campbell Cup. Gold was led by Mark Fryer with 3 goals and "gutty" Brad Wales chipped in a pair.
Final Score  Gold 7 Blue 5.

                                       Gold Rush - 2014 Campbell Cup Champions



There were some other awards handed out on this great night.

My assistant this year...and CFO (Classy Friend and Organizer) Chris Kluczynski surprised and humbled me by coming up with an new award in honour of me being inducted into the OLA Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

  Chris showing us the new award. The McMillan HOF Most Valuable Player award.

 The award will be presented annually to the MOB Lacrosse Most Valuable Player and this years winner was an easy choice.

          Black Storm Goaltender Brent Thompson is presented with MOB League MVP Award.


Another very important award from the MOB is the Scott Smith Award, presented annually to the player who embodies the spirit of the MOB, show up weekly, plays with sportsmanship week in and out.

     Dave Johnston (black) presented the Scott Smith award to Jim "Styx" Walker (gold). Also in the picture is Jesse Smith (Scott Smith's son) and me. Congrats Styxie....well deserved.


In the second game of the night...Red Heat defeated the First to Worst Black Storm (sorry guys) to win the Toilet Bowl with a score of 8 to 6.

                                                   Red Heat wins the MOB Toilet Bowl.

 

 

 

I want to thank everybody for another great year of lacrosse. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Mike

Canadian Lacrosse Pride

The 2014 World Championships of Lacrosse in Denver, Colorado are over....and what a great ride it was.

I don't even know where to begin...
- should I start with the incredible final game featuring the USA vs Canada?
 (which Canada won 8 -5)
- or the awesome preliminary games (involving  37 countries)?
- or maybe it is the majestic views of the Denver landscape.

I should probably tell you what happened in our division...the Festival, in which me and 21 of my buddies took part in the Grand Masters Division (50 plus) in an 11 team (very competitive) tournament.

                               Our Molson Canadians had local fans (thanks Brad)


I am exhausted, yet incredibly fulfilled. My excitement was not limited just to lacrosse. I am a very lucky man, as I was able to visit a beautiful city (Denver), while playing the best game in the world (lacrosse), all the while spending time with my beautiful wife Patti, my sister Laura and family, my Mom was there, my son, two of my brothers...etc. I could go on...but on this vacation...I NAILED IT!

When we arrived on Friday, July 11, we drove straight to the mountain town of Frisco, CO., where we spent the next four days enjoying the mountains. We stayed in a cabin with a river in the backyard, a hot tub and the smell of mountain air.

                                     Me and Warren (Colorado river - Coors - Focusing)

On the Monday we headed to my sister's place and prepared for our first game from the Tourney. (the big boys that is) - We saw Canada romp to an easy win over Japan.

Wednesday was tournament day. We started against team Harley....a formidable opponent. You may have heard this line before....we could beat them...but we did not. We lost 8 - 6 (sloppy game)

We then played Team Israel...and handled them easily. Our next game was against an old foe...Mr BOH....we knew it would be a tough game...and it was a must win. (We were up by 4 - we lost) - and it hurt big time. Mr. BOH and Team Harley would go on to play in the championship game. We should have been there.

Our next game we were down, came out flat. Down 7 - 2 late in the 3rd quarter...something clicked. It was a great comeback and we won 8 - 7 in triple overtime. Yahoooo - that felt good.

Our final game was against the England Lions Lacrosse Club. True Gentlemen of the game on and off the field. It was a pleasure to play the again (last time was 2010 - Manchester.) We won this game, but our English friends, short of players and weary. After the game we shared a photo and a cold beer. Fitting end to a tremendous tourney.

                                  The Molson Canadians and The England Lions.

                                    Myself , my English buddy Martin and my brother Steve.

I cannot express how grateful I am for so many things....my teammates, my family and friends and even my opponents. This event was everything I had hoped.

I am going to share some pics....and even some MVP picks that I made.

How to pick an MVP is not easy....so instead of picking one.....I picked a few.

      Silvana - words cannot describe. You are the best Sil - Thanks for everything. (even the gummies)

My pal - Stu Aird. - Played long pole...was amazing as always....(and played for two teams - winning Gold with the other team)

Gary Walker played Attack and was fierce. He had a phenomenal Tourney (I forgive the green shirt)

Warren Dimarco. Yes he was the organizer...he put up with all of us, and did a fantastic job. Aside from that though...he played great, winning faceoffs, hounding loose balls and scoring goals. Well done Warren D.!!

                   The McMillan/Ross/Neely fan base were at every game....Thank you all.

                                       Patti  and I (thanks babe for being such a great fan)

We went 4 wins and 2 losses....ended up in fifth place. Not what we wanted...but what the heck.

 

The Canadian pride at the event was fun to be a part of. The final game saw Canada play heavily favoured USA and the sea of Red Shirts at the game (thanks to Jason Donville) was great to see. When a US superstar went down in a heap...a chant of FIFA rang out from the crowd. I am not going to say who might have started the chant...but she plays in our MOB summer league and is a great physio.  ;-)

 

Well done Canada. Well Done.

Canada Day 2014

What a great country to live in. We have so much to be proud of, the list would be endless.

I spent a day at the Burlington Waterfront with two amazing women.

                                       Patti enjoying some strawberries.

                                           Mom and me on the Pier.

It was a great day...and of course being a sports lover, I must update you on some great "feel good" sports news...most of which you already know.

Canada Day - Blues Jays win 4 to 1...the team has been struggling lately...but keep this in mind, we are still in first place.

World Cup Soccer - It has been such a great World Cup this year but alas, Canada is not in it...but I heard rumours we have that figured out: we are trying to host the event in 2026, and the host team gets to play. That is good sports management.

Wimbledon - 2014. I am loving Canadian Tennis right now. Milos Raonic won today to move on to the quarterfinals.

                                       Milos has an overpowering serve.

How about the Wimbledon sweetheart Eugenie Bouchard? - she combines skill, with incredible talent and is a fierce competitor. When she is interviewed - 100% class. She is Canadian through and through. She too has moved on to the quaterfinals. Go Genie!!

                                       Genie fights for every point. Love her.


However the big sports story on this Canada Day is Lacrosse. Patti and I are 9 days from heading to Denver to see my sister Laura and her great family, and I am playing Lacrosse with 22 amazing guys in the Grand Masters Division of the World Championships of Lacrosse. I cannot wait. Our team is the Molson Canadians. We have 11 teams in our division and competition is fierce. I like our chances though. A long list of lacrosse players that have been playing the game for a very long time.

Here is the link if you would like to check it out.  Denver 2014.

I will do some blogs to update you.

Lacrosse + Canada + World Championships = a really good time.

 

This was our team in 2010, Manchester England. We are younger and faster now so this time we should win the Gold. That is our goal.

 

Take care and Happy Canada Day!!

A Proud Canadian.

It is no secret. I am a proud Canadian. I love this country and all that it stands for.

Canadian athletes make me proud, and I love to cheer for the great athletes that make us all proud.

Now it is my turn. July 11th, Patti and I are heading to Denver to visit my sister Laura, her husband Greg and their four fantastic kids, Jamey, Lindsay, Olivia and Jackson. This is the only reason for my visit...well, sort of.

Did I mention the the World Field Lacrosse Championships are also being held in Denver? The same week as my visit? Wow, what a great coincidence...a chance to see my relatives and at the same time - Lacrosse. Oh, I forgot to tell you...22 of my buddies are also going to be there.

I am excited. While the World Championships are going on, there is also a "Festival Division". This is where all ages can play in the tournament as well. It is amazing how many teams are participating.

Click on this link and then click on "Nations". It is astonishing how many countries are involved in this great tournament.

http://www.worldlacrosse2014.com/landing/index


The festival division is no different. Check out all the different divisions:
http://www.worldlacrosse2014.com/festivals/participating_teams

I am playing in the Grand Masters Division. (50 +).

Our team is known as the Molson Canadians.

I will give you a quick rundown of our team.

Goaltenders -Solid. Ted Sawicki and Brad Sanderson...we are in good hands here.

Long Pole - I am going out on a limb here to say I believe our Long Poles (Defence for you non-laxers) ...our Long Poles might be the best of the tourney. Stu Aird, Brian Shanahan, Kevin Steritt, Steve McMillan, Bob Simpson and Jason Donville. A formidable group.

                An example of a "long pole" Mitchell Wales (son of Grand Master Brad Wales)

Our Attack - Solid. Ivy Leaguers Pete Follows and Gary Walker, along with UMass star Jim Weller and the incomparable Scott (Strongheart) Aird. Scoring goals should not be a problem for this group of stars.

MidField. -  A talented group of players, but injuries and inexperience may play a factor. The key for this midfield is to keep the lines changing and continue to put fresh legs on the field.

All in all, this is an amazing group of guys that I am proud to know. Going to Denver to play the game we love against teams from around the world. It does not get any better.

To celebrate this event, passitonsports.ca have some Team Canada Shirts available, and if you want to do your country proud and purchase a shirt, go for it. A sample of the shirts can be seen on the PassItOnSports.ca website: http://www.passitonsports.ca/2014-fil-world-lacrosse-championships.html

Follow this link to order your shirt. There are Men's and Ladies...and Red or Black.

$25 tax included.

There are a few options for payment:

1. via PayPal
2. email me your order to mike@passitonsports.ca via interac email transfer
3. email me your order and pay by cheque or cash

Shipping is not included in the $25. If you need the shirts shipped, I will let you know how much it will cost you.

That is it. It is going to be a great July. Stay tuned to my blog for game updates.

Order your shirt today!


Go Canada Go!

Old School - Playoffs

I find the older I get, the more "Old School" I get.

This can be a good thing....or not. I find it depends on the situation.

For those of you that are not familiar what happened during the old school days let me remind you.

                                                                    The Leafs win the Cup

                                                             Wooden Lacrosse Sticks

                                                  The Underhand Free Throw

                                                           Fishing off the dock.

                                                  Table hockey.


Ah yes, those were the days. I miss them. You may wonder why I am reminiscing.
 

It is playoff time, and I think of days gone by when the playoffs are here.

Toronto Maple Leafs - Our beloved...oops sorry...."My" beloved Leafs missed the playoffs. They had a serious crash and burn, it was a phenomenal collapse, one for the ages....and drove me away from hockey for the year. I will "glance" at the playoff standings etc., but I really won't be watching. That may sound bitter, a poor loser perhaps, but that is not the case. I am just worn out from hockey and rhetoric. They seem to go hand in hand, especially in Toronto. The media likes the Leafs losing more than winning (my opinion). It is more fun to write about, to joke about and to offer suggestions to improve. It has driven me away from the game. This year any way.

Toronto Raptors - They are for real. I am loving it...team basketball...I am rearranging my life (and Patti's) to watch playoff basketball in Toronto. Jump on he band wagon with me...there is a lot of room.

Toronto Rock - The sweethearts of Toronto sports scene...always playoff bound...and are headed there again this year. they are in tough though...but we will cheer them on.


It is a "new" season. Let the fun begin.

How About Canada?

How about these Olympics? I am loving it.

When PassItOnSports.ca was launched, it was all about the "feel good" sports stories. I like the stories that people share that make us all feel good about ourselves, about our family and our friends.

If there is a better example of Feel Good stories than the Olympics, I don't know what it is.

I was up at 6am this morning..threw on my Team Canada Lacrosse Jersey, made a coffee and settled in to watch Team Canada vs. Team Canada. It can't get any better.

I am not alone. All of Canada is up, the bars are full, draught beer is flowing - Canada - Love it.

This Olympics has been so full of "Feel Good" Stories, I can't list them all.

How about?

• The Dufour-Lapointe sisters.

                                Maxime (10th) - Chloe (Silver Medal) - Justine (Gold Medal)

• Gilmore Junio gave up his spot in the 1000 m Speed skating event to team mate Denny Morrison - Morrison went on to win the Silver Medal......feels good.

                                                  Denny Morrison and Gilmore Junio

• Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth helps a Russian skier. The skiers ski was broken and Wadsworth ran out with a spare ski and put it on the Russian Athlete - How about that?

                                  Canadian Justin Wadsworth puts on ski to help racer finish.

•  Marielle Thompson and Kelsey Serwa win Gold and Silver in Women's Ski Cross.

                                                            Marielle and Kelsey

• The Women's Bobsleigh event was amazing. Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyes were trailing in the first three heats. In Heat 4, for the medals they had an amazing perfect run to win gold. It was so much fun to watch live. Very Proud.

Kaillie and Heather - These two great athletes will carry the Flag for Canada in closing ceremony.

• How About the Jennifer Jones rink in Curling? They won Gold for Canada, were undefeated and made us all incredibly proud.

                                                 Gold Medal for our Women Curlers

                                             Brad Jacob's Men's Curling Team won Gold also.

• How about Team Canada Hockey?

The Women's game against the USA might be one of the most amazing sporting events I have ever witnessed. Combine the skill with the drama, it is hard to describe how "Good" that made me feel. How Good that made Canadians feel. It was spectacular.

 

                                               Team Canada Women - 2014 Gold Medalists

• The Olympics wrapped up today. Team Canada vs Team Sweden in the Gold Medal Men's Hockey Game. It brings a country together. Coast to coast people are up cheering the boys on. We refuse to give "Our Game" away. Hockey is Canada, and we are so proud to cheer on our Team.

                                       Crosby scores late in second period to make it 2 - 0 Canada.

The Men's game is over - Team Canada won 3 - 0 in possibly the most dominant Gold Medal game I have seen. The boys did us proud!!

There are many stories I am not sharing here. This was a great Olympics and the Russians led the way in medals. Good on them.

Thanks Canada!!