Canada’s Men’s U19 National Floorball Team is recruiting volunteers to fill the following staff positions:

1.    General Manager
2.    Assistant General Manager
3.    Assistant Coach
4.    Trainer/Athletic Therapist
5.    Equipment Manager

The team will compete at the Men’s U19 World Floorball Championships in Norway, May, 2011.  Please note this is a volunteer position and all staff members are responsible for covering the cost of their transportation, accommodation and all other expenses in Norway.  Costs are estimated at $2400.  Collective team efforts will be made to fundraise to reduce this cost.  All applicants must have a valid passport, to expire on or after November 11, 2011.

We are looking for passionate, dedicated individuals with strong leadership qualities that are serious about being part of a winning team.  All members are expected to play significant roles to not only the team but also the development of the team starting as early as February 1st., 2010 and ending on May 31st, 2011.

For a more complete list of expectations and duties, please contact Blair Zimmeman, U19 National Team Committee member at zim@teamcanadafloorball.com.  To apply, please send cover letter and resume to Blair Zimmerman at zim@teamcanadafloorball.com no later than JANUARY 25th.

Floorball Canada thanks all those that apply however only those receiving an interview will be contacted. The successful candidate will be required to submit a criminal background check prior to accepting position.

Once again, thanks to the OFSAA Try-Day program, another school has embraced Floorball.  Read the following article from the Lindsay Post.  http://www.thepost.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1441497

The OFUF also recently introduced Floorball to the other 2 High Schools in the Lindsay area - IE Weldon and Lindsay CVI.  It appears that there is a new hub for Floorball in Ontario.  We look forward to hearing more news from the intramurals and possibly some inter-school matches.

This past October, the Floorball Ontario traveled up to Sault Ste Marie to St. Mary’s College for one of the Salming Road Show floorball clinics.  After spending the day introducing floorball to the Phys Ed classes at the school, it seems to have caught on quite nicely as evidenced from this recent article in the Sault Ste Marie News.

http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=21139

Congrats to “The Gongshow” for their victory and we look forward to hearing more from these up and coming players.

School courts floorball as new sport for all - The Liberal, York Region News - Jan 9, 2009.

To read the article, click below. 

http://www.theliberal.com/News/Sports/article/86600

To get your school involved and book a clinic of your own, click here.

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.

World tennis star Thomas Johansson, of Sweden, made headlines after a hard fought loss to Andy Murray at the Qatar Open.

Besides his obvious tennis skills, Thomas is an avid floorball player according to this match transcript on BBC Sports and his Wikipedia profile. Thomas has won nine world singles titles during his tennis career.

Photo copyright bbc.co.uk

China’s CCTV International, the English-language 24-hour news channel of China Central Television, China´s largest national TV network has reviewed floorball and its Olympic dreams.

Visit the CCTV’s website to read their article ‘Floorball aims for Olympic recognition’.

The Minnesota Wild’s Marian Gaborik became the first player since Sergei Fedorov in 1996 to score five goals in a National Hockey League game when he scored five and added an assist against the New York Rangers last night. Marian considers floorball to be one of his favorite sports and plays on a team in the summer with fellow NHLers Pavol Demitra and Marian and Marcel Hossa during the off-season in Slovakia.

“We [Gaborik and Demitra] play on a team with the Hossa Bros. [the Rangers' Marcel and the Thrashers' Marian] and you basically use a little different, shorter stick and a plastic, light ball,” Demitra told the Star Tribune. “It’s very difficult cardio and conditioning, but it’s great for skills. It’s not easy to handle the balls. You have to have a lot of skills to do it. It’s a fun game, but I think it really helped to strengthen Marian’s leg muscles.”

Congratulations on the great achievement, Marian. Mats Sundin, another NHLer who plays floorball, also scored five goals in a game back in 1994 while with the Quebec Nordiques. Read more about Mats and floorball at NYCFloorball’s website.

Links:
TSN: Gaborik’s great night inspired by Bure
PlayFloorball.com: NHL stars Gaborik, Demitra and Hossa Bros. credit floorball for on-ice success

Every year the Special Olympics host a celebrity floor hockey game as part of their annual effort to raise funds for Special Olympic athletes. This year Glenn MacDonnell, the CEO of Special Olympics Ontario, decided to change things up so the celebrity game would be floorball instead of floor hockey.

The celebrity floorball game took place at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto and featured a mix of Brampton-based Special Olympics athletes and celebrities who support the Special Olympics cause. Some of the celebrities present at the game included Leafs Legend Darryl Sittler, OHL standout and future NHL star John Tavares, TSN Hockey Analyst Gino Reda and Hall of Famer Bruce Hood, former NHL official.

Floorball was represented on the court by zorro-star and Team Ontario player Mike Woods, standout goaltender Sam Garrison and celebrity referee Juha Mikkola. The official floorball boards were set-up at the Westin and the stands were packed with potential Special Olympics Athletes who attended the event from schools all around Toronto.

Floorball was well-received by the Special Olympic Athletes and the celebrities alike. The crowd enjoyed the game which featured some great antics from Gino Reda, some spectacular goaltending from Sam Garrison - who kept John Tavares off the score sheet in regulation - and a couple of stunning zorro goals from Mike Woods. John Tavares in particular enjoyed playing so much he invited the OFUF to visit his school in Oshawa to host a floorball clinic sometime in the future.

Please check out TSN’s SportsCentre tomorrow morning for coverage of the event. We have posted photos from the Special Olympics event in our photo gallery. The OFUF would like to thank Special Olympics Ontario for the opportunity to contribute to this exciting event.

BC Floorball keeps attracting major attention out west. This time TheCrazyCanucks.com podcast features a shout out to floorball.