It’s been a long season for the six teams in the Toronto Floorball League Elite Division. After a twenty game regular season and a hard semi-final series, Game 1 of the finals is here. It features the two best teams from the regular season, The Northern European Express (TNEX) and the Viking Escapades.

The Northern European Express defeated Carlos’ Bulldogs 2 games to 1 in the semi-finals in dramatic fashion. Trailing 4-1 entering the third period, TNEX rallied to tie the game 5-5 and win in a shootout when GM Brett Stein scored the only goal.

Team Salming was knocked out at the semi-final stage for a second straight season by the Viking Escapades, who also won their series 2 games to 1. In the decisive game, the Vikings won 6-3 despite being outshot 27-16, thanks in large part to Sam Garrison’s stellar goaltending.

Tonight, Monday May 12th 7:45 PM, TNEX (19-4-0) take on the Vikings (15-6-2) in Game 1 of the Toronto Championship Finals. Game 2 takes place Thursday, May 22nd at 7:45 PM and Game 3, if necessary, will be played Monday, May 26th at 7:45 PM. All games are played at West Toronto Collegiate (330 Lansdowne Ave @ College).

Don’t miss what promises to be an excellent series between two of the best floorball teams in the province. Admission is always free. For more information, visit www.playfloorball.com

All the classes from Grades 1 to 8 had a chance to experience the exciting game of floorball on Monday May 5, 2008, at St. Charles School in Bradford.  Students had a chance to watch some awesome floorball footage, including clips of zorro. They all learned the basics of floorball and were able to try out the moves in fun scrimmages.  “I first saw floorball on Breakfast Television and I absolutely loved it”, said Sharon Brinkos, of the St. Charles School Parent Council Group, who helped set up the clinic.  Some of the teachers who help run the intramural floor hockey league, like Mr. C. Bouchard, are also very interested in adding a floorball league. Way to keep the students active and having fun!

A big thank you to Ms. Brinkos and principal Jayne Greer for setting up the clinic at the school!  We hope your enjoyment and interest in floorball continues to grow, as you begin to establish a floorball program at St. Charles!

Juha Mikkola and Eileen Lam hosted a clinic in Newmarket at Terry Fox Public School on Tuesday April 28, 2008. Elementary school teachers from the Toronto District School Board, York Region District School Board, and Simcoe County District School Board learned about floorball and how it could be successfully implemented into their schools. In addition, they got a chance to learn the rules and play a very competitive game that ended in a shootout!

Thank you to Julie Anderson for the opportunity to spread floorball fever!

On Monday April 28, 2008, Juha Mikkola and Eileen Lam continued their clinic roadshow and traveled to Barrie to host clinics for two local schools. In the morning, students at Assikinack Public School enjoyed a presentation on floorball and got a chance to try out the sport. “This is better than hockey!” commented TJ, a student who enthusiastically volunteered to be the goaltender. Although the school does not yet have equipment, many of the teachers are keen to learn more and hopefully acquire a set in the near future.

In the afternoon, Juha and Eileen arrived at the neighbouring Allandale Heights Public School. Students from King Edward Public School were also present for a transition/orientation day, as some of these students will be attending Allandale Heights next year. Both groups of students got a chance to experience floorball and had a great time. Lucky for them, Allandale Heights just purchased a brand new set of floorball equipment, which hopefully they will put to good use!

Thank you to Principal Ken Downs for organizing clinics at both schools. We hope your interest and participation in floorball will continue to grow!

On Friday April 25, 2008, OFUF’s Juha Mikkola and Eileen Lam, OFUF intern from OISE/UT, visited Sherwood Secondary School to host a floorball clinic for PHE teachers of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. Sherwood S.S., a pioneer in the Canadian high school floorball scene, was the perfect place for HWDSB teachers to sample the growing sport. Aided by four players of Sherwood’s floorball team (a couple who did some mean zorro moves), teachers from 18 different HWDSB schools learned to stickhandle, goaltend, and score!


Thank you to Anthony Herrington and colleagues who helped coordinate this fun session!

Read the latest issue of the OFUF’s Floorball News, an electronic newsletter written with schools and community centres in Ontario in mind. This month’s issue features information about free floorball clinics, great coaching resources, Team Canada and much more.

The OFUF is currently seeking 2 individuals to represent Ontario for 2 new Committees being formed for the Canadian Unihockey/Floorball Federation.

We are seeking 1 person to sit on the National Championships Committee to assist in developing the structures and policies that will determine how and when National Championship events are held and the eligibility regulations for participation. The second committee being formed is in preparation for the 2009 World Women’s Floorball Championship. The committee will be responsible for setting the guidelines for selecting the team personnel, from GM, Coaching Staff, and players, as well as establishing criteria and schedules for player evaluations and representation.

Responsibilities for both roles will include regular communication with the other Committee Members (1 from each province, as well as 1 CUFF Board representative) either through email, or conference call with the end goal to present recommendations to the CUFF Board for approval.

Anyone who may be interested in serving on one of these Committees or has any questions regarding these positions, please contact Paul Charbonneau, OFUF & CUFF Vice-President at paul.charbonneau@floorballontario.com or by phone at 647-588-8008.

Randy Sa’d, from Markham, Ontario, is a member of Team Canada competing at the Floorball C World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. Randy, along with team mate Sam Garrison and coach Paul Charbonneau, make up Ontario’s contingent on the national team and they will be providing regular blog updates for Ontario floorballers about Canada’s progress at the Worlds.

To contact Randy, please email him at randy.sad@floorballontario.com

It’s been a busy few days and I haven’t had much time at my computer but I’m here now and have tons of news.  I’m going to keep things simple because the situation is pretty cut and dry.  Our team assumed we had wouldn’t have much trouble in the round robin because of the competition in our pool.  We weren’t shocked at the fact that none of our opponents in the first round put up much of a fight.  After beating France, we rolled past Liechtenstein 10 - 1 and then Australia, 11 - 1.  Our defense is playing solid and our Quebec players and power play are tearing it up on offense.  The reality is that we haven’t really been tested since our exhibition matches.

This tournament can pretty easily be divided into three tiers based on the quality of the teams.  In the top, Canada, Slovakia and Spain; in the middle, France, Australia and Liechtenstein; in the lower Korea, Serbia and Georgia.  The key match in the round robin is clearly the one between Slovakia and Spain that we just finished watching - in the semi finals, the winner would play Australia and the loser, Canada - this is based on us finishing #1 and Australia #2 in our pool.  Given the disparity in the quality of the teams, finishing at the top of the B Pool would be extremely important for Slovakia and Spain.  Our team’s impression was that Slovakia is stronger than Spain but that the match would be tightly fought.   The game was a complete 
rollercoaster.

Slovakia dominated in the early minutes, scoring once and squandering many opportunities.  Spain made mistake after mistake and looked horribly uncomfortable but things started to change as Slovakia took silly penalties.  Spain notched the tying goal and eventually took a lead; one weak goal that appeared to be tipped and one on a bad turnover.  Slovakia eventually tied the game but had their rhythm thrown off by the success the Spaniards had.  At some point it seemed as though both teams had become rather equal; no one team dominating the other as odd chances were exchanged.

In an unexpected turn, Spain capitalized to take the lead 3 - 2 and then again on a horrible turnover to extend the lead to 4 -2 while in the third period.  Slovakia was still clearly the more skilled team and had the advantage of a packed house of chanting fans behind them; we knew it wasn’t over.  They marched down the court again and again and it seemed as though Spain was content to just try to kill the last five minutes.  In an odd series of plays, the Slovaks got the ball to the front of the net and when it was jarred loose, a free man banged it in.  They had new life with the lead cut to one, 4-3.

The Slovaks pushed and pushed, creating several perfect opportunities - I was literally jumping up and down in my seat because the action was so intense and it looked like on three or four occasions, they pretty much had the ball in the back of the net.  Like in the first period, the finish just wasn’t there as the minutes became seconds and soon there just wasn’t time to generate another opportunity.  Heartbroken, the Slovaks choked in front of their home crowd.  They out-chanced and out shot their opponents but fell to a very hot Spanish goalie and some bad luck finding the back of the net.   We couldn’t have asked for a more entertaining game to watch.

What does this mean for us?  Well, we will play the Slovaks in the semifinals tomorrow at 2:30 pm (8:30 am EST).  We believe they are the tougher of the two but ultimately if we want the top spot we will have to beat both teams.  The guys were kind of hoping for a storybook final with the hometown crowd going crazy but that won’t be the case. We are all very excited for tomorrow’s game and know what we have to do.  We do face one disadvantage though; we haven’t been tested by a quality opponent since we played our exhibition matches.   Many questions are left to be answered as a result.  Have the defensive issues we encountered in the exhibition matches been answered or have we simply not faced a solid offence since?  Have we found our scoring touch and taken our offence to the next level or were we simply privy to weaker lines of defense?  I am pretty sure it’s some combination of both and at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what the answer is - tomorrow one team will move onto the finals and we know what we need to do in order to make sure that is us.

Hope you can catch the match tomorrow - we need all of the support we can get!

Paul Charbonneau, originally from North Bay, Ontario, is a member of Team Canada’s administrative staff competing at the Floorball C World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. Paul, along with players Randy Sa’d and Sam Garrison, make up Ontario’s contingent on the national team and they will be providing regular blog updates for Ontario floorballers about Canada’s progress at the Worlds.

So far, Canada is looking strong.  With two very comfortable wins against France and Liechtenstien have qualified us for the semi-finals.  Tomorrow’s game against Australia will decide the Pool winner and get the easier draw for the playoffs.
In th exhibition games it took us some time to get a feel for each other’s styles, making a few mistakes on the defensive side of the ball, and paying for it. But as we’ve progressed through the games, mixed in with a few practices, the team has been able to make the right adjustments and minimize these mishaps, although against lesser opponents.  Canada’s next 3 potential opponents are definately going to be tighter competition.

On a personal side, being here to get a first-hand experience of the level of play, watching and learning from Canada’s best players has provided me with a lot of great tips and ideas that I hope to bring back with me to help Ontario players develop their games.  The refereeing style is definately different from what TFLers are used to.  There’s a lot less slack given to flagrant stick fouls and the game is far more physical that what is normally acceptable to us.

Two players that I’ve enjoyed watching and learning from are Seppo Lattu and Phil Schuler: both move in completely different ways, but each of them are highly effective in their roles.  Seppo runs with the best of them, but can change direction on a dime and is great at positioning himself to protect the ball against the boards, even while moving at full speed.  Phil on the other hand, is a pure shooter, but looks as smooth as silk when he moves.  With his short, quick steps, he stays low to the ground, making his lethal shot even more effective and deceptive.

To date, this trip has been everything I could have asked for — great floorball, tons of new things learned, meeting some great people and even reconnecting with some old friends.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the TFL’s good buddy, David Benedig has come to all of our games and dropped by the hotel the other night.  David says hi everyone back in Toronto and wishes he could come back and play with us again.

That’s it for now.  I’m looking forward to the rest of the tournament and to Canada taking home the gold.

Canada opponents today, Liechtenstein are making their first appearance at the World Championships this year and therefore expected to be the weakest team in the round robin in Canada’s division. The Canadian team perhaps assumed this was going to be an easier game than against France, but they realized that the team they were facing not only had an amazing goaltender who made great stops on the Canadian shots, but also good players, most of them playing in the 4th division in Switzerland.

The first period was a slow start for Canada and even though they dominated the game, many of the passes were intercepted by their opponent and after a period the score was 2-1.

In the second period, Canada got its groove back and started the machine by quickly scoring at the beginning of the period. Canada was dominant all throughout the game and clearly demonstrated its talent and control of the ball and of the play.

Canada could count of a little more than 7 fans today - a record so far! Thanks to Seppo Lattu’s family who came to watch the game. The timing was perfect as he won today Canada’s Player of the Game honours.

Furthermore, Canada made a very good impression yesterday. Here is what we can read on the International Floorball Federation (IFF) website following yesterday’s game:

The second match between Canada and France clearly showed the fast development of Floorball. It looked like a number of the B-division teams might have a hard time with these two teams. The teams played tough, but fair and with a lot of speed and a high technical level. France did not have the strength to resist the repeated fast counterattacks made by the Canadians, who won the match with clear numbers 12-3. 
FIRST PERIOD

As for all their other games since arriving in Bratislava, Canada was the first to take the lead with a goal by Simon Leblanc assisted by Patric Ducharme at 4:37 into the first period. Canada showed its dominance early in the game with their good and agile passes and good positioning, but just like yesterday’s first period against France, a lot of passes were blocked in the Liechtenstein defensive zone which made scoring for Canada harder.

Seppo Lattu had a good chance with less than 5 minutes to play in the period but the goaltender was able to stop it and Liechtenstein attacked right after and scored at 15:21. 8 seconds later the Québec line replied to take back their lead with a goal by Patrice Paré on a pass by Patric Ducharme. The score was 2-1 for Canada.

The period ended on a one-man advantage for Canada when Liechtenstein got a 2 minute penalty for obstruction. Canada sent its power play line hoping to add to their lead before the end of the first period, but Canada was not able to capitalize and therefore the period ended at 2-1, the exact same score after 20 minute of play as in the game against France yesterday.

SECOND PERIOD

The Canadian team came back on the field and started the period with a bang with Ryan Andreotti scoring unassisted a little after one minute into the period, followed, a few moments later by a goal by Seppo Lattu on a pass by Philip Schuler. Quickly, the score was 4-1.

Canada took advantage of another power play after 3 minutes of play for incorrect hit from a Liechtenstein player so the power play line was on and sure enough added to their lead with a goal by Philip Schuler assisted by Simon Leblanc. Canada was in the lead 5-1.

Canada took their first penalty at 12:35 for having too many men on the field and that gave Liechtenstein an opportunity to get back in the game, but Canada took instead the opportunity to add another goal, this one short handed by Simon Leblanc on a pass by Stéphane Laporte putting the score at 6-1.

Liechtenstein took another penalty with a little over 5 minutes to play for obstruction and Canada attacked again with their power play line allowing Eric Ulli-Vanasse assisted by Patric Ducharme to score Canada’s 7th goal of the game. Short after, Canada scored yet again with less than 4 minutes to play in the period. The score was 8-1 thanks to a goal by Philip Schuler on a pass by Jean-Olivier Vörös.

THIRD PERIOD

With a 7-goal lead, Canada started the third period with the same energy and some changes to the lines. On a delayed penalty in the beginning of the period, Canada had a few good chances to add to their lead but it wasn’t until their one-man advantage that Philip Schuler scored, following an amazing exchange of passes from the power play line in the offensive zone. The Canadian team continued its attack as Seppo Lattu scored their 10th goal a few moments later on a pass from Patric Ducharme.

Liechtenstein got another penalty, this one for incorrect hit with a little more than 3 minutes to play in the game but no goal was scored during the rest of the third period.

Final Score: Canada 10 - Liechtenstein 1

 

Next game for Canada is on Thursday against Australia, so there will be no update tomorrow.

For the official game stats, please visit:

http://www.floorball.org/default.asp?sivu=5&alasivu=251&kieli=826
 
To watch the games live on Web TV, please visit: 

http://www.robur.sk/floorball/schedule-sk.php

Article courtesy of Sophie Ferland - Team Canada Media and Communications