Friday, July 21 - 11:10 a.m.
Consider this Jay Jalbert's patriotic penance.
Jalbert, an effervescent and multi-talented midfielder, is as much a reason as anyone that the U.S. is playing for its seventh consecutive ILF world championship tomorrow against Canada (3:30 p.m., CSTV). His most visable contribution, of course, was the game-winning goal with three seconds remaining in Team USA's 13-12 victory over Canada in a round-robin game Sunday. But Jalbert's impact stems beyond that.
Consider his remark before the games began, comparing the U.S. playing for a lacrosse championship in Canada to Russia playing the U.S. in hockey during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. "Guys, this is lacrosse," he said, "and we're the Russians." That message stuck with his teammates. Kyle Sweeney even referenced it in post-game remarks yesterday.
Also, Jalbert's "around-the-world" goal (he corrected me from calling it a behind-the-back goal, because it involved catching the ball on his right shoulder and shooting it from his left hip) yesterday against Australia could not have been more timely. Jalbert just seems to be saying and doing the right things at the right place and time.
So what's this "patriotic penance" business?
Here's the story: Jalbert was in Turin, Italy, in February for the 2006 Winter Olympics. He was there with his father's production company, which was filming for the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). He's also a good friend of U.S. ski team phenom Bode Miller.
Less than 48 hours before Miller's slalom event, Miller and Jalbert were playing hoops at nearby court with other members of the Miller entourage. Miller drove past Jalbert, went up for a lay-up, and landed on his cousin's foot, rolling his ankle severely.
Miller did not finish in the slalom. Nor did he medal in any of his events thereafter.
Perhaps if Jalbert was a better influence (Jalbert also says the two of them went out just about every night in Turin, at Miller's behest), things would have turned out differently. When asked about it yesterday, Jalbert laughed.
"It was pretty bad, too," said Jalbert, sipping on a cup of coffee that looked too small in his hands. "We definitely went out every night. I said, 'You sure you want to do this? You've got a race tomorrow.' He's wired differently than everyone. He thinks differently."
As for the 6-foot-2 Miller's hoops game, Jalbert said, "We play hoops all the time. He's good. He can dunk, but I can bust him off the dribble."
Thursday, July 20 - 12:15 p.m.
There's another Powell in the Team USA family. Bella Marie Powell, daughter to Casey and Lisa Powell, was born yesterday around 3:30 p.m. at St. Joseph's Hospital here in Ontario. You know what that means, right? Bella is technically a Canadian citizen.
Great timing, too. Yesterday was a day off for the U.S. team, so Casey went to the hospital when Lisa went into labor shortly after 10 a.m., and was there for everything. "When I started to see her head was when it really hit me," he said this morning.
Uncles Mike and Ryan Powell were also on hand. Mike had a video camera, and was interviewing nurses, documenting Bella's birth.
Paul Cantabene, meanwhile, has officially amended the name of his clan to include his three suite mates and their new family member. It's now the Bella-Canta-Powell Nation.
The U.S. and Australia meet today in a championship semifinal at 4 p.m., with Canada and the Iroquois Nationals playing in the ensuing semifinal at 7:30.
Wednesday, July 19 - 9:22 p.m.
So I watched the first half of the Canada-Finland crossover game tonight, and it was a debacle -- 11-2 at halftime. It's 22-2 now, midway through the fourth quarter. I was interested to watch because Kyle Sweeney, the U.S. team long-stick midfielder who has become quite chummy with the Finnish players (some of the other players even joked that Sweeney would carry their flag tonight), said Finland hatched an Armadillo-like plot to play two men -- a goalie and defenseman -- inside the crease as tandem goalkeepers.
No dice. Come to think of it, it might have behooved them to do so. Still, Finland's players were raucous even after winning a faceoff -- this is gravy for the Yellow Division winners. U.S. team head coach John Desko left when I left. "Not much to scout here," he said. Earlier today, Australia defeated Ireland -- badly--to set up a U.S.-Australia rematch in a championship semifinal tomorrow at 4 p.m.
Before that game, I saw an intense meeting between Denmark and Korea. (I'm kind of glad Team USA had a bye today so I could scope out the lower divisions.) Korea, coached by University of North Carolina head coach John Haus, was down 7-1, but came back to eventually take a 9-8 lead. Denmark forced overtime with a goal inside of 30 seconds, and won it with a goal in the first of two overtime frames.
Haus, who coached Korea in its 2002 debut and has been involved with development efforts there as a clinician, said "the progress made in the last eight years has been tremendous. They are coachable. They're very into it. What they got out of this more than anything was that they battled, and they got satisfaction out of it - that's a good thing."
Haus, of course, has come under fire in Chapel Hill because of back-to-back losing seasons there. "This is certainly more relaxing," he said.
Also encountered Team Scotland assistant coach Bob Russell, father of Scottish and Baltimore Bayhawks goalie Matt Russell. Bob Russell, who was born in Scotland, has thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering his Scottish roots with his two sons (Matt's brother Kevin is an attackman out of St. Lawrence). Particularly, he's enjoyed getting to know 67-year-old goalie John Marr, who has developed an interesting rapport with London's female 20-somethings.
More so than that, Scotland operates as a clan, with chiefs (Marr is one of them) and "gillies," or rookies. Chiefs, according to Russell, collect charges for certain transgressions by gillies (Matt Russell is one of them). For instance, it's $15 if you wear underwear under your kilt.
On asking his son about it, Bob said, "I felt strange asking a 23-year-old Ensign in the U.S. Navy this but, are you wearing underwear? 'Cause that's the first thing they'll check."
If you ask me, it's a lose-lose - either you're out 15 bucks or, since they're going to check anyway, you'll have to relive the exhibitionist nightmares of those turn-and-cough physicals of yesteryear.
Other charges include use of the "'E' Word." England must be referred to as the "Evil Empire." Also, gillies cannot say "yes," or they're charged. They must say "ay." Beyond that, gillies are also beer runners.
Interesting dynamic, those Scots have. But it's worked. Scotland's 3-1, coming back from seven goals down to Italy (behind Matt Russell's 26 saves), to win 13-12 in overtime in its most thrilling game. Russell and co. play the Czech Republic tomorrow, with the winner earning the chance to play for sixth place.
Back to Team USA:
* I confirmed with Mike Powell the following: He is dating a Baldwin -- Brooke Baldwin, the niece of famous brothers Alec, Daniel and Stephen Baldwin. The two met at Syracuse. "You're diggin' deep, aren't you?" he postured. I laughed. Also, he was called Mikey when he was younger, but maintains no preference. Of Canadian head coach Frank Nielsen, Powell said he had a few barbs for the lithe attackman, that went "in one ear and out the other. He's a hot head." By the way, a team activity last night included dinner, drinks and an assortment of games at a local funland of sorts. Powell bowled the best of any player, knocking down a 174 -- only to be bested by his mohawked nephew, who bowled a 188. What do they feed these kids? (Consequently, Mike Powell and US Lacrosse Men's Division Director Jody Martin took two-of-three in pool, playing 8-Ball against Casey Powell and Jay Jalbert. Martin sank both winning 8-balls.)
* More Powells -- Paul Cantabene, an alternate midfielder on this U.S. team, appeared to have an unlucky suite assignment when he was bunked with all three Powell brothers. But he's taken a liking to them, boasting now about his "brothers" in the "Canta-Powell Nation." Good to see Cantabene putting on a team front despite not being able to dress for these games.
Tuesday, July 18 - 12:57 p.m.
The U.S. leads Japan, 8-0, after one quarter - not particularly missing Casey Powell's offensive presence.
P.S. -- the baby epidemic is not solely a Team USA phenomenon. Tom Marechek, Canada's injured attackman who has yet to play a game in these ILF Championships, left Baltimore for London reportedly just 12 hours after his child was born.
Tuesday, July 18 - 12:10 p.m.
Babies are being born.
Doug Shanahan's daughter, Riley Lynn, was born last night in Chicago, at 6:45 p.m. She's a shade over seven pounds. The guys gave him a round of applause this morning before boarding a bus for the team photo. Captain Casey Powell, meanwhile, left for a local (London, Ontario) hospital and missed today's game against Japan to be with his wife, Lisa, who is also due to give birth.
Speaking of Powells, Mike and Ryan Powell did some dorky comb-overs for the photo, oddly appropriate. Speaking of Mike, I heard last night that he's dating Alec Baldwin's niece, Brooke. Confirmation on that later, as I also heard that Canadian coach Frank Nielsen got in Mike's face during the post-game handshake after Sunday's 13-12 U.S. victory.
"That's how you shake hands, young man?" Nielsen mockingly asked him.
Mike just continued down the line. Mike's 23 points (8g, 15a) heading into today's game against Japan had him tied with Canada's John Grant Jr. atop Blue Division leaders.
Monday, July 17 - 3:43 p.m.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to sitting down with Mike sometime soon to get details on these exchanges. Regardless, it'll finally give me the opportunity to learn just what he prefers to be called - is it Brine-branded Mikey, or is it just plain Mike? Or has reuniting with his former Syracuse coach John Desko brought him back to being Michael?
Answers to follow...
Seldom during this stay in London, Ontario, have I had opportunity to see some of the terrific non-U.S. action happening here. With games every day, and an all-access privelege when it comes to Team USA, I've spent more time in the dorms playing hall hockey and watching cheesy-but-inspiring '80s movies, at team meetings, with team parents and in the locker rooms than I have watching these other countries. Sounds a little bit ethnocentric, I know, but hopefully the in-depth manner in which I've interacted with these 23 players will reveal itself in a more-personal piece that I'm assembling for the upcoming issue of Lacrosse magazine.
It might not.
With that in mind...huge win for Team England today in the game preceding Team USA's bout with the Iroquois Nationals. England, which went winless in 2002 and lost its first three here, defeated Japan today, 9-8, in a critical Blue Division game. The Japanese are strong. U.S. head coach John Desko said they communicate more on offense than many teams do on defense.
England's goalie, Ben McCallister, came up big with 13 saves to stifle Japan. The Japanese scored three goals within the fourth quarter's first eight minutes to close within one, but McCallister answered the call. Peter LeSeur, co-captain of 2005 Division I champion Johns Hopkins, had three goals and an assist in the win
Here's the real crux of the win: England, one of the original four nations to play internationally, ran the risk of being demoted to the Red Division with another winless showing. That may have jeopardized its bid for the 2010 ILF World Championships.
Last Thursday, the ILF granted England a host bid to have the 2010 games in Manchester.
To visit the official event web site and keep abreast of the other games this embedded journalist has failed to cover, click here. (photo courtesy of the English Lacrosse Association)
Saturday, July 15 - 6:04 p.m.
The heat is on.
The U.S. was actually lucky to get a 10 a.m. game this morning with some cloud cover. Canada and the Iroquois Nation, on the other hand, were not as lucky. According to Frank Erle, facilities manager at TD Waterhouse Stadium, turf temperature (which accounts also for heat being absorbed and emitted by the turf) reached a peak of 143 (!) degrees Fahrenheit during the game. It wasn't much better on the track surrounding the turf, which still registered at 112 degrees.
And it's only going to get hotter. According to local weather services, the current temperature in London, Ontario, is 31 degrees Celsius - or about 88 degrees Farhenheit - after climbing all day. But the humidity earlier was at 83 percent. Tomorrow, they are calling for a high of 36 degrees Celsius (or about 97 degrees Fahrenheit) with as bad or worse humidity. Combined with the hot artificial turf at TD Waterhouse, it will be steamy when the U.S. plays against host Canada at 4 p.m. in an internationally televised affair.
By the way, to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, use the following formula:
TF = ( 9/5 X Tc) + 32
Speaking of Canada-U.S., it'll be interesting to see whether the international officials will alow the two teams to play their physical brand. The U.S. was nabbed for 16 penalties today in its win over England. It's been kind of unbearable, with touch fouls and violations being called ad nauseum, so as to slow the games to a halt. But when all's said and done, Team USA might benefit from tighter officiating against the sometimes-brutal Canadians.
Canada defeated the Iroquois in a more tightly contested game, 12-8.
In player news, USA's Doug Shanahan has been performing well despite the birth of his first child weighing on his mind. Back in Chicago, Shanahan's wife, Jess, is due Monday to give birth to a girl, whom the couple has already named Riley-Lynn. Both his and her family are in Chicago with the mother-to-be.
"She's a great girl and she supports me 100 percent," Shanahan said today. "A lot of the guys are having a hard time understanding why I'm here, and why she's OK with it. But lacrosse is my life, and while we don't get paid, being here and playing for Team USA will provide me with future opportunities professionally. It has its financial benefits in other ways. We planned this.
"By the time I get home she (the baby) will be four days old. I definitely want to be there, but I'm sure she won't care I wasn't there for the first four days of her life."
Saturday, July 15 - midnight
Burning the midnight oil again. Australia was a bit of scare for the U.S. team players. For 25 minutes, they looked like the unseasoned ones, hawking penalties like sidewalk tokens. Apparently, veteran official Al Blau's address to the team about the more stringent international rules was not heeded. But goalie Trevor Tierney (pictured) bought them enough time and the Powells put on a show. Hard to believe Team USA was actually down 4-2 at one point in what became a 20-8 blowout.
Head coach John Desko is unhappy with the faceoff situation - only it's not a matter of his personnel, but rather the conditions of the faceoff area at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Some of the turf is torn up there, but more significantly, there are no markings. More than half of Thursday's faceoffs were won or lost on violations. "It is what it is," Desko said.
I stuck around for a good portion of the Canada-Japan nightcap, as did much of the Team USA staff. When I left about five minutes into the third quarter, the Japanese only trailed 9-6. When I eventually returned home at about 10:30 p.m., the local news reported an 18-7 Canadian victory. Looks like both Blue Division juggernauts needed to shake off jitters. But the other lesson of the day? Don't sleep on Japan.
Back in the dorms, the U.S. players put on a mock fantasy draft, in which they assembled a team of players - American, or not - from past ILF championships. Those playing currently were deemed off limits. They have yet to determine a way to score this competition, and when they asked Desko, he kind of just rolled his eyes and left the team room. From there, the talk turned to the "favorable maturation" of teenage actors from "Saved By the Bell," Tiffany Amber Thiesen and Elizabeth Berkley among them. Too bad Kyle Harrison wasn't around to dish the dirt.
Team USA plays England Saturday morning at 10. Blog you then...
Friday, July 14 - 2:04 p.m.
Mike Powell intends to give every player a Mohawk which he will bear as coif for the remainder of the ILF World Championships. First victim? His brother, team captain Casey Powell. Talk about taking one for the team.
Friday, July 14 - 1:27 p.m.
OK, so it actually is Friday. 1:27 p.m. Two hours, 33 minutes until Team USA makes its highly anticipated debut against Australia. The press around here has been terrific. The Canadian Broadcasting Company, which will broadcast live every Canada game (including Sunday against the U.S.) and the championship final, did some extensive filming of the Powell brothers and other Team USA players yesterday during the team's scrimmage against Japan (Needless to say, the long-haired fellow operating the camera got a little ticked when I promenaded behind Ryan Powell just as he was filming his signature shot. Sorry, buddy.) And the U.S. players have garnered some celebrity status - including Casey Powell getting a shout-out from 67-year-old John Marr of Scotland during opening ceremonies yesterday when Marr was presented with a flask for his many years of international play (and he's still playing.) And everyone wants to take their picture with Mike Powell - some guy even made his girlfriend take a picture with him.
But everyone will be pretty happy today, when ceremony ends and competition begins. Australia is a significant foe for the U.S. in the Blue Division, with U.S.-based players such as Brendan Mundorf (UMBC, San Francisco Dragons) and Wes Green (Adelphi, Long Island Lizards) posing scoring threats. But faceoffs will be most interesting. Whereas the U.S. selection committee opted against putting a pure faceoff specialist like Paul Cantabene (an alternate here in Canada) on the 23-man roster, the Aussies boast one of the MLL's best in Peter Inge (also fo the San Francisco Dragons).
Primary faceoff men for Team USA are Kevin Cassese, Kyle Harrison and Doug Shanahan. Harrison knows Inge and has faced off against him during the MLL season. He acknowledges Inge has a better and quicker move off the draw, "but he's not as athletic as I am," Harrison said. "Let him win the faceoff, but I'll still get the loose ball."
Still, you know Cantabene will be itching on that sideline. Stay tuned to Lacrosse Magazine Online for coverage.
PS -- London strikes me as an environmentally-conscious city. It's kind of like Towson, Md., only cleaner. There's a college campus (University of Western Ontario) set on the outskirts of a city that enjoys a balance of grass and a few skyscrapers. A local TV commercial talked about converting 80 percent of the city's energy resources within two years. The hotel rooms include separate bins for recyclabe items and signs above the light switches that say "Turn it off please! Saving energy saves everything!" That's dandy and all, but why then did I see while jogging a handful of hippy-looking young adults defiling Victoria Park with spray cans, painting red and blue lines into the grass and sidewalks for a game of frisbee golf? Seems oxymoronic, to me.
London, Ontario--It's after midnight Thursday (or is it Friday?), and I've decided to collect my thoughts after a busy day in Ontario that included: a Team USA scrimmage against Japan, a reception with the mayor of London, a US Lacrosse reception, and opening ceremonies of the 2006 ILF World Championships.
Tomorrow (or is it today?), the U.S. Men's Team will open sesame on its bid for a seventh consecutive world championship. Team
1. This means something...to a lot of players. The Team USA reception hosted by US Lacrosse was evidence of that. Newly named captains Pat McCabe and Casey Powell both spoke with fervor. Casey relayed a poignant remark made by Jay Jalbert during the team's down time after the
2. 
Nicky Polanco's ready - Tell the Japanese attackman who was hacked to pieces by Polanco in the first quarter today that this was only a scrimmage. His bruises will dispute that. Polanco, arguably the most social of this bunch, had a different demeanor today. He was business. I asked him about being an alternate on the 2002
3. Kevin Cassese thinks it's "awesome..." to be a part of something big again. The
Among other revelations and observations today:
- Ryan Powell recently became engaged.
- John Gagliardi, while at home, keeps a strict performance diet. He has five meals delivered to him every morning...by Kyle Sweeney. The company which issues the meals does not deliver to
- Pat McCabe is 37. Joe Walters is 21.
- Trevor Tierney does yoga and, during some team stretches, handstands. He's also keeping a rather entertaining diary for Major League Lacrosse. Click here.
- Kyle Harrison is obsessed with trashy tabloids, like US Weekly. He's excited about the new Justin Timberlake song, but nervous he is missing out on the good celebrity gossip due to his Team USA obligations in
- After a rough first night's sleep Tuesday,
More tomorrow (or is it today?)...
Be sure to check back to Lacrosse Magazine Online for more blogs, game stories, features, photos and analysis as Team USA embarks on the 2006 ILF World Championships.
