The World Lacrosse Box Championships are in full swing, with an absurd weekend of action that started on Friday night.
Yesterday’s contest between Canada and the Haudenosaunee will likely go down as one of the wilder games in tournament history. It did not appear to be heading down that path for the first half of the game.
Canada scored the first 9 goals and dominated play in the first half. In the first quarter, Canada held the Haudenosaunee team to just six shots, playing suffocating defence that extended to the perimeter of the offensive zone.
Canada’s Ryan Smith had a hat-trick in the first six goals for Canada, while Jeff Teat was in on almost every goal. Teat ended with a goal and 7 assists to lead the way for Canada.
But a Kason Tarbell goal early in the second period started the momentum for the Haudenosaunee, who pushed the score to 9-4 by the half. They found three more goals early in the third quarter from, Randy Staats, Tehoka Nanticoke, and Thomas Hoggarth.
Robert Church answered for Canada, but then came three more goals from Eli Mclaughlin, Randy Staats, and Zed Williams, which improbably tied the game at 10. Tanner Cook found the game winner less than a minute later.
On the game winner, the Haudenosaunee defence was sitting in a zone-type formation that focused on eliminating cross-crease passes. Canada moved the ball behind the net and a good cross crease cut from Robert Church opened up a crease for Cook to cut. He took the feed from Jeff Teat and put it past goaltender Doug Jamieson.
A breakaway from Mitch Desnoo put the Canadians up two with around two minutes left to play, then Matt Gilray deposited an empty-netter to seal the victory.
The Haudenosaunee now find themselves 0-2, but have played their two toughest contests. There will be plenty of positives to take from their epic comeback against Canada, which was a better effort than their 16-9 loss to the USA. That loss was the first victory for the USA against either Haudenosaunee or Canada in the history of the WLBC.
The big decision for Haudenosaunee will be between the pipes. Warren Hill played game one and lost to the USA, while Doug Jamieson started the Canada game. Jamieson was pulled, though went back in for the second half and held the Canadians to just three true goals in the second half (Gilray’s goal was an empty netter).
USA Rolls, History for USVI, and China Comeback
Bouncing around the rest of the tournament, the Americans took care of business yet again with a dominant 23-3 victory over Team England. Vegas Desert Dogs teammates Jack Hannah and Connor Kirst combined for 10 goals (6 from Hannah, 4 from Kirst), while Joe Resetarits had a goal and 6 assists. Hannah leads the Americans with 12 points in two games, including 9 goals.
Other than the Canada game, the best contest of the day was the overtime thriller between the US Virgin Islands and team Austria. Nick McEvoy scored for the USVI squad almost three minutes into overtime, as they won a shootout 19-18.
Austria’s Adrian Balasch scored with six seconds remaining in the game to tie it up, but the USVI found the resilience to win. Toronto Rock forward Josh Dawick is competing for Austria, and had 10 goals and 3 assists in the game.
Competing in their first world games, the victory was the first ever WLBC win for the USVI team.
Another barn burner came in the China vs Poland game. Trailing 10-7 with less than nine minutes remaining. They rattled off 4 goals to close the game, including a hat-trick from San Diego Seals prospect Ben Stewart, which included the game winning goal with just two seconds remaining in the game.
Check out highlights from both those games, and the rest of the WLBC below!
The other Sunday scores are below:
Japan 19 – Switzerland 8
Finland 19 – Greece 9
Slovakia 15 – Hungary 12
Netherlands 20 – Italy 16
Israel 25 – Belgium 3
Scotland 14 – Jamaica 12
Czechia 24 – Chinese Taipei 4
Hong Kong 23 – Mexico 7
USA, Haudenosaunee Women Dominate
On the womens side of the WLBC, it was a day of blowouts. The Canadians were off Sunday, but the USA was dominant with a 28-2 win over Team Hong Kong. Charlotte North scored 6 times and seems perfectly comfortable in the box. North trails only Ally Kennedy in scoring for the American side.
The Haudenosaunee team defeated Team England 15-6 on the back of five goals from Ava Gabriel. Gabriel had 40 points this season at Onondaga Community College, and brings that experience up I-90 to Utica.
In the other two games, Germany beat Finland 14-3, and Australia defeated Ireland 20-4.
Monday is a quiet day at the tournament, at least as it relates to Pool A. All of the Pool A teams are off Monday, while the Canadian women will take on Germany.
Make sure to follow LCD for updates from the WLBC throughout the week.