2008 World Lacrosse

NEWS ARTICLES

Canada prepares for Gold Medal game vs. USA

July 11, 2008

COQUITLAM, B.C. - Canada will play in the Finals at the 2008 ILF U-19 Men's Lacrosse World Championships against U.S.A. July 12 at 2:30 p.m. at Coquitlam's Percy Perry Stadium. The winner will take the gold medal, the loser will take home the silver.

Team Canada finished in second place in the Blue Division with a 4-1 record with their only loss coming against the USA in a 16-15 Overtime defeat on July 6 in front of a crowd of appoximately 2100. Canada won their semi-final matchup on July 10 against the Iroquois Nationals by a score of 23-12 in front of approximately 2500. USA won the Blue Division with a 5-0 record and by knocking off England 25-5 in their semi-final game they gained a berth in the gold medal matchup.

The matchup will mark three tournaments in a row where the U.S. will take on Canada in the gold medal game. The last time was in Towson, MD, U.S.A. in 2003, and previously was in Adelaide, Australia in 1999. This game will be the ninth time the two teams have played each other over the 20 year history of the tournament; the U.S. has won all eight previous games. Here are the scores of the eight pervious matchups:

1988 - Adelaide, Australia - USA 16 Canada 4
1992 - Hempstead, NY - USA 22 Canada 6
1996 - Tokyo, Japan - USA 24 Canada 3
1999 - Adelaide, Australia - USA 12 Canada 9 (round-robin)
USA 14 Canada 7 (gold medal game)
2003 - Towson, MD - USA 14 Canada 10 (round robin)
USA 19 Canada 10 (gold medal game)
2008 - Coquitlam, B.C. - USA 16 Canada 15 OT (round-robin)

Will history repeat itself or will Canada finally get it's first gold medal on it's third try? Team Canada is not the only team that has struggled to beat the USA, in fact no one has ever beat the U.S. team in Under-19 tournament play. The team is a perfect 35-0. In the early tournaments the U.S. team was way ahead of the competition and blew teams away, but over the past two tournaments the gap has been closed and Canada and Iroquois are closing in on them.

That gap was almost closed completely earlier this week in the tournament as Canada had built up a 14-7 lead heading into the fourth period of their round-robin matchup before USA stormed back and tied the game at 15 with only 26 seconds left and then won it in overtime. Craig Dowd scored five goals in the fourth period including the game-tying goal to send the game to overtime. It was the first time USA had ever been pushed to overtime in tournament history.

Canada seemed to let up in the fourth period last game and allowed the US team to get back in the game. Canada goalie Remington Steele faced 13 shots by the Americans in the fourth period and played very well despite allowing eight goals in the period. The majority of the goals were high percentage shots in tight that Steele didn't have much of a chance at stopping. If Canada builds up a lead like that again in the finals you can be sure they won't let up this time around.

Canada's Jayson Card (Caledon, Ont.) scored three goals in the third period in the losing effort. Card leads Canada with 22 goals. Mark Cockerton (Oshawa, Ont.) had two goals in the game and is second behind Card with 17 goals. Andrew Feinberg leads USA with 19 goals, followed by Dowd and MacKrides with 18 and 17 goals respectively.

Everyone involved in the tournament, including most of the teams, were expecting a USA vs. Canada final in the Gold Medal game being played on Saturday.

Remington Steele played the entire game against the USA July 6 and also played the entire game against Iroquois on July 10. It would appear that Steele will be the number one goalie for Canada and should get the nod over Crawford in the matchup once again as he has played a superb tournament thus far. Adam Ghitelman should be the man in net for the U.S. team as well since he played the entire first game against Canada and started the semi-final game against England. Tyler Fiorito got some playing time in the semi-final after the game was out of reach for England.

Both teams practiced early Friday morning and then took part in a skills competition on the stadium grounds where all the teams participated in hardest shot contests, long shot contests and an obstacle course. It was a chance for all the teams to join together and have some fun before the tournament comes to an end after the gold medal game on Saturday.

The bronze medal game will be between England and the Iroquois Nationals and will be played at 11:00 a.m. at Percy Perry. Fans can purchase passes at the front gate for the entire day which will feature both games for as little as $20. The tournament will conclude with the gold medal game at 2:30 p.m. followed by an awards ceremony directly afterwards.

For stats, ticket information, standings and a schedule of the tournament log in to the official tournament website at www.2008worldlax.com.

Sat Jul 12, 2008

USA WINS GOLD, STILL PERFECT AFTER 19-12 VICTORY OVER CANADA

Sat Jul 12, 2008

IROQUOIS NATIONALS CAPTURE BRONZE MEDAL WITH 19-10 WIN OVER ENGLAND

Fri Jul 11, 2008

CANADA PREPARES FOR GOLD MEDAL GAME VS. USA

Thu Jul 10, 2008

TEAM CANADA WILL PLAY FOR GOLD MEDAL VS. USA

Thu Jul 10, 2008

TEAM USA NOW 35-0 IN U-19 PLAY; WILL PLAY IN GOLD MEDAL GAME

Wed Jul 9, 2008

USA PUTS 34 GAME WINNING STREAK ON THE LINE IN SEMI-FINAL GAME AGAINST ENGLAND