Canada is undefeated at the World Lacrosse Championships, heading into the semifinals with a perfect 5-0 record after a 17-6 win over England on Tuesday.
The Canadians got two goals apiece from John Grant, Dan Dawson, Zack Greer, Kevin Huntley, Corey Small and Shawn Williams in the win, while Garrett Billings, Kevin Crowley, Rhys Duch and Jordan Hall scored singles. The win wrapped up the round robin portion of the tournament for Canada.
Canada was dominating England before a third-quarter rain storm slowed the action.
If everything goes according to plan, or at least predictions, in the semifinals, then Canada will face the United States in the final on Saturday. The way it appears now, coach Dave Huntley’s squad could play Japan in the semifinals Thursday, but the Canadians won’t know for sure until after the play-in games Wednesday.
Against England, it was 5-2 after one quarter and 11-3 at halftime before the rain came. Each team scored twice in the third and, after the rain stopped, Canada increased its lead in the fourth quarter. Lewis Ratcliff and Mark Reynolds scored two goals each for England and Adrian Bennett and Evan Roberts got one each.
Despite efforts made by the U.S. government, Britain refused to allow a Native American lacrosse team, the Iroquois Nationals, to enter the country with passports that were issued by their tribal federation.
The team came upon problems when they were trying to exit the country using passports that were issued by their tribal federation. They were en-route to the sports betting online favorite, World Lacrosse Championship.
When the team initially faced problems with their passports, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped in to help. She agreed to waive U.S. passport regulations in order to allow the team to travel using their Iroquois Confederacy passports. Later, when the team faced problems with the British government, the U.S. promised to expedite their passports as quickly as possible; however, Britain did not budge. The team was not allowed into the country and had to forfeit yesterday’s opening tournament match.
Sadly, not only were the players not able to attend the first match, it is not looking too hopeful for future matches either as they do not want to be forced to use an American passport because they say it does not speak of their true identity.
Due to the issues with travel plans, many of the players have been stranded in New York. They have reported to have incurred thousands of dollars of expenses due to the fiasco. When director James Cameron heard of the ordeal, he donated $50,000 in order to make up for the expenses.
Ironically, the game of Lacrosse originated with the North American Indian tribes and was later adopted by European colonial cultures.
With the 2010 Major League Lacrosse season more than halfway over, the race to qualify for the Steinfeld Cup playoffs is still very tight. No team has been eliminated from playoff contention, as only three games separate first place from last place in the standings. The league leaders are the Boston Cannons, currently 5-2 and undefeated so far at home this season. Right behind them in a tie for second place are the Chesapeake Bayhawks, Chicago Machine and Denver Outlaws. Still in the hunt for one of the four playoff spots are the Long Island Lizards and the Toronto Nationals.
Leading the way in individual achievement is Boston midfielder Matt Poskay, who has scored an astonishing 30 goals, beating out his nearest competitors by ten goals each. Despite the huge goal advantage, he sits only three points ahead of Peet Poillon, the Chesapeake midfielder who has 11 assists to go with his 20 goals. The current assist leader is Boston attacker Ryan Boyle. His 21 assists – many to Poskay – combine with the six goals he has scored himself to tie him for fourth place in the points standings.
There are five games remaining for each team until the start of the playoffs on August 21. On July 8th, the MLL All Stars will take on the US Men’s National Team at the MLL All-Star Game in Boston.