Team Canada and “Canada’s Team”
Championships and Champions:
Team Canada and “Canada’s Team”
by Ted Montour
I thought I would start by ‘closing my book’ on the 2010 National Lacrosse League. I reviewed my notes from the Champion’s Cup game and revived a few thoughts.
The Toronto Rock capped a genuine comeback season with their appearance, while the Washington Stealth had been the ‘best in the West’ all winter. Jamieson Keosterer owned the faceoff circle from the opening whistle, and enabled the Stealth to strategically dominate ball possession and dictate game tempo; Tyler Richards stoned Kasey Beirnes and the rest of the Rock shooters for the first twelve-and-a-half minutes, and was in their heads the rest of the way, while the Washington transition game, embodied by Paul Rabil, significantly deflated Toronto’s pressure defence. Toronto was forced to play too much catch-up in the contest, notwithstanding pulling out to a 9 – 5 lead early in the third quarter, and consequently were unable to respond to Washington’s closing surge.
Both these teams are well-positioned to dominate their respective divisions, the Stealth because they are a peaking but still young team, and the Rock because they have re-established a solid management and bench staff to provide a stable environment for their own exciting youngsters.
As to the NLL as a whole, I have a couple of parting shots: — I think that “pressure D” and the growing value of a strong transition will continue to erode “traditional” offence / defence platooning, and that is, in my estimation, a good thing; and, another season goes by and STILL no league-wide TV deal. I stress ‘league-wide’ because any deal that excludes or renders as an after-thought the Canadian audience will be doomed.
With the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Men’s World Championships starting this week, and last-minute developments on several fronts, it seems I’m not entirely remiss in waiting to comment. Canada is defending its title in Manchester with the ‘living memories’ of the 1978 upset win over the USA almost as fresh as those of 2006. It has not, however, been smooth sailing “across the pond”.
I commented previously on what I still believe is an egregious error, cutting 2006 All World attackman Jeff Zywicki. On paper, Canada’s attack does not lack for finish, but rather for a feeder. I don’t see John Grant in this role, even if his knee holds up over the Championship pool and medal schedule, and the rest of the guys are dodgers and catch-and-shooters . I raised this issue in a recent conversation with Team Canada General Manager Johnny Mouradian, who opined that “… our style is that anybody can feed …”. But a primarily feeding attackman is like a quarterback, and there can be only one, and no doubts about who that one is.
The midfield has an abundance of firepower, and a premier two-way middie in Jordan Hall, and I don’t think this group suffers from the loss of Gavin Prout. But if part of the reasoning was, as stated, Prout’s penchant for penalties, how do you rationalize keeping Billy Dee Smith and his career pattern of lack of impulse control and undisciplined penalties, often at the most inopportune moments in big games? And Zach Greer has more MLL PIM’s, at attack, than either Prout or Smith.
The defence is once again anchored by Brodie Merrill, and I expect that he will see time at both close defence and LSM, depending on the opposition’s ‘threat profile’. The imponderable on the back end is Chris Sanderson in goal. I’ve read his blog, and I have no doubt that he is as fit as he can possibly be, and there is no doubting his “warrior spirit”. But if for any reason he is unable to compete, it is impossible for his team-mates to play in front of his back-up with the same confidence as they have in him. Opposing shooters will do their best to test him early and often, and no amount of rehabilitation, training, and taking of shots from friends however skilled and well-intentioned, can match game conditions. I wish him and his family and loved ones well — his affliction has also touched my family, and I understand ‘whereof he speaks’.
The big question, the only question really, is whether this team can beat the US side for the gold medal again. I do not have a ready answer, nor can I fall back on sentiment, because I do not have a dog in that fight [See Iroquois Nationals 2010]. GM Mouradian also observed to me that Team Canada, not unlike the Iroquois Nationals, is unpredictable, the implication being (in my opinion) that collective and individual box lacrosse skills render that unpredictability an advantage. I think, quite bluntly, that based on recent performance, Team Canada is in danger of being out-coached by Team USA, and that could be the difference in a gold-medal game.