Canada vs USA    

On Friday, February 5th and Saturday, February 6th at Saltfleet District High School in Hamilton, it’s our best against their best, only this time it’s on the floorball court, in a contest that will ignite your passion for this great sports rivalry.

Be proud! Cheer hard!

Come out for an action-packed weekend, highlighted by what will surely be an intense battle between Team Canada and Team USA. See the best floorball talent ever assembled on Canadian soil, studded with elite European-Canadian players. Click on the team names for full rosters. The winner of the 2-game series will claim the title of North American Champions, and earn a spot in the 2010 World Floorball Championship in Finland.

 

There will also be excitiing exhibition matches and a Men’s National Championship game between Ontario and Quebec.

 

Team Canada’s Official Sponsor, FloorballPro / Salming, will have booths set up showcasing the latest and greater in floorball gear for the beginner to the fanatic.

 

When and where is the tournament, and how do I get tickets?

Single Day tickets are $5 each, or $10 for all three days.  There are a limited number of tickets available so be sure to buy yours now - just follow the links to Tickettrunk.com below.  Tickets will also be available at the door.

The marquee match-ups will be played at the following times:

 

 

 

 

Friday, February 5 - Single Day buy tickets here

11:30am-2:30pm - Canada vs USA Game #1

Saturday, February 6 - Single Day buy tickets here

11:00am-2:00pm - USA vs Canada Game #2

5:00pm-6:30pm - Team Ontario vs Team Quebec - Men’s National Championship Game

Weekend Pass - buy tickets here

 

 

Venue location is marked on the map, below:

Saltfleet District High School

108 Highland Rd. W

Hamilton, ON L8J 2T2

Saltfleet District High School

 

 

Here is the full schedule for the weekend:

Friday
9:00am-10:00am - High School Tournament of Champions Game #1
10:00am-11:00am - High School Tournament of Champions Game #2
11:30am-2:30pm - Canada vs USA Game #1

Saturday
9:00am-11:00am - Men’s U19 training camp (click here to register)
11:00am-2:00pm - USA vs Canada Game #2
3:30pm-5:00pm - Ontario Selects vs Canadian All-Stars Team
5:00pm-6:30pm - Ontario vs Quebec - Men’s National Championship Game

Sunday
8:00am-9:30am - Ontario Selects vs Quebec
9:30am-11:00am - Quebec vs Canadian All-Stars
11:30am-1:00pm - Ontario vs Ontario Selects
1:30pm-3:00pm - Ontario vs Canadian All-Stars

 

The official Hotel for this year’s National Championships and Qualification matches is:

The Holiday Inn Express

QEW & Centennial Pkwy,

51 Keefer Court

Hamilton, Ontario L8E 4V4

Tel:(905) 578-1212

www.hiexhamilton.com

The tournament rate is $99 for up to Quad occupancy by using CNF as your booking code.

For more information, contact:

Paul Charbonneau

Event Manager, Floorball Canada

Tel: (647) 588-8008

Randy Sa’d

President, Floorball Canada

Tel: (416) 970-2529

Special Thanks to:

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of new articles about North American floorball have popped up on the Internet. Be sure to check them out!

Happy Surfing. As always, if you know of any North American floorball articles we have missed please send us your links so we can add them to the website.

The organizers of the East Coast Tournament taking place September 1-2 in Raleigh, North Carolina have released the official teams list:

All,

Here is the final team roster for ECT 2007 on Sept 1st and 2nd:

1. Innebandy Chicago
2. Boston Puukadet
3. Toronto Floorball Club
4. Montreal Floorball Club
5. Philly Stormers
6. Team California
7. NYC Floorball Club
8. TFC Team #1
9. TFC Team #2

No new teams will be entertained at this point without penalties. There are still individual players registering for the tournament. If by August 15 we have enough to create a “tourney team” then we might have a 10th team or we will play with 9 teams which should be fine too. Please send me your final team rosters by August 15th.

FloorballPro will will be ECT sponsors again this year. Please support our sponsor by checking out their booth during the tournament.

Looking forward to another exciting floorball tournament this year ! This will be 5 years in a row !!

More info will be posted here as we get closer to the tournament:
http://trianglefloorball.org/ECT2007/ECT07Main.htm

Thanks,
Arup

For more information, please contact Arup Chakravarty or visit the 2007 East Coast Tournament website.

There is a lot of excitement surrounding floorball in Austin, Texas. First the local club announced the Texas Shootout, a series of friendly games August 11th versus a floorball group from Dallas. The Dallas group have even ordered floorball boards, only the second set in the USA, and they will bring them to Austin for the matches. Now, Austin Fit Magazine has featured floorball in their latest issue:

FLOORBALL MAY SOUND LIKE something a six-year-old would invent out in the garage on a rainy day, but it’s a serious game, far surpassing anything from the land of make-believe. Originating in northern Europe and somewhat resembling ice-less hockey, floorball is played with specially designed sticks and a hollow plastic ball. A standard game consists of five players and one goalie per team, three 20-minute periods and about as much physical contact as a game of soccer. Little gear is required on the part of the players, shin guards are optional, and while the goalie dresses protectively he doesn’t take up as much space as his ice hockey counterpart. Fast-paced and lively, floorball is entertaining to watch and enormous fun to play, making it easy to see why tournaments are commonplace and national associations have sprung up from Malaysia to Iceland. Worldwide championships are even held every other year for both men and women (Sweden, Switzerland and Finland seem to be the powerhouses). On a smaller scale, floorball is fast becoming a common sight during lunch hours at school gyms and on countless playgrounds where the basic tools of the game are available. It’s also enjoyed right here in Austin every Tuesday night, so that Scandinavian transplants (and anyone who’s curious) can come out and to get their whiffle ball fix. Floorball is accessible to athletes of all abilities, is easy to learn and dangerously addictive. And while it may not be a mainstream pastime yet, it’s not just kid’s play either. So grab your sneakers, a bottle of water, and join the club if you think you have what it takes to hit the floor. For more information, visit austinfloorball.com.

To see the article in its original context, visit Austin Fit Magazine and click SPORTS -> CLOSER LOOK: FLOORBALL. For more information about floorball in Texas, visit Austin Floorball or Dallas Floorball.

Anaheim, California, the home of the Anaheim Ducks, welcomed a new type of hockey to Southern California today. The first annual Orange County (OC) Floorball Championship brought 10 teams across 2 divisions to the Anaheim Hockey Club to compete for SoCal floorball bragging rights.

In the competitive division, San Diego won the tournament, narrowly edging Caltech Floorball Club in an exciting final match that featured a shootout to decide the winner. The San Diego team also won last year’s California Cup so they are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with on the West Coast. In addition to San Diego and Caltech, Fresno International Floorball Club, Bay Area Floorball Club, Anaheim Hockey Club and Anaheim sent teams to the tournament.

In the beginner division four teams of complete floorball newbies, most of the them children, experienced the fun of floorball for the very first time. The Anaheim Hockey Club recruited players from their 100-team strong roller hockey league and said they could have had double or triple the number of teams with a little bit more time to organize things. The new players loved the sport and showed that the future of floorball is very bright in SoCal.

The tournament is the brain child of Erik Larsson (left), founder of FloorballCalifornia, who over a two year period convinced the Anaheim Hockey Club to host the event. The tournament was played in two huge roller hockey rinks and the temporary “boards” to close off one end of the rink were provided by the Anaheim Ducks. Unfortunately the real floorball goals did not arrive in time for the tournament so the goals were of the Wal-Mart variety. Despite some difficulties with the first-time referees, the tournament went off without a hitch. Erik was very impressed with the work done by the Anaheim Hockey Club and he is confident that floorball will really take off at the facility.

Spearheading the actual tournament organization was the AHC’s General Manager Ken Murchison (right, middle), a Canadian expatriate who recently purchased the hockey club. His friendly, energetic and mostly Canadian staff did a great job and were well liked by all of the tournament participants. Mishka Drury, one of the staff members and stars of the Anaheim Hockey Club team entry, found floorball to be a really great addition to their programming. “We already have plans to run multiple tournaments and a house league”, Mishka commented, “everyone who watched floorball was curious and wanted to learn more. As a hardcore hockey player, I can say that floorball is physically exhausting and it has a huge appeal for us as it’s a hockey team sport that anyone can play.”

Juha Mikkola of the Ontario Floorball Federation attended the tournament after an invitation to play for Team Anaheim. Despite a disappointing personal performance, with just one assist in four games en route to a last place finish with the team, Juha really enjoyed his time representing California. “It’s an interesting mix of players here, with some very skilled Europeans playing against some of the best American players in the country” Juha mentioned after Anaheim lost it’s fourth straight game by one goal to Fresno 4-3. “It’s the fun of floorball that counts here, even if they are not playing with the official boards, nets or all of the rules just yet”.

Vancouver was also represented at the tournament by Blair Zimmerman (on the right in the photo above with Juha Mikkola), a director of the BC Floorball Federation, who made the trek down to prepare for his appearance on the Canadian National Team in Toronto later this month. Blair showed some great skill on the court and used the time to try to pick up as many of the rules as possible. “I was surprised that all the teams played with a strategy - they were very cohesive and played as a unit” Blair mentioned after the games. “In Vancouver, we’re playing pick-up and I think we have to step it up. This tournament experience allows me to go back and implement some of the things I learned in our games.”

Juha would like thank Erik Larsson of FloorballCalifornia for the invitation to participate and Ken Murchison and his staff of the Anaheim Hockey Club for a great tournament. Best wishes to all who are involved with the development of floorball in California.

Additional Resources: