For U.S., Road to Gold Goes Through Canada
by Neil Stevens | LaxMagazine.com
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Team USA captain and defenseman Chris Schiller is all too familiar with the abilities of Canada's John Grant Jr., his longtime teammate with the Rochester Knighthawks. "He's the best player in the world," Schiller said. © Larry Palumbo |
PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- The United States breezed past Australia 28-2 on Thursday to earn a Friday semifinal berth against Canada in the world indoor lacrosse championship, and coach Tom Ryan didn't even use leading scorer Casey Powell or first-string goalie Erik Miller.
The Americans had to play the quarterfinal game because of an 11-10 round-robin loss to the Iroquois Nationals earlier in the week. Canada's players, who got a bye after their 3-0 romp through their robin-robin pool, got in a rigorous practice.
Paul Rabil led the onslaught against the Aussies with six goals. Sean Morris got four, Drew Westervelt, Kevin Buchanan, Brendan Mundorf and Matt Alrich three each, Greg Downing two and Joe Smith, Mitch Belisle, Bill McGlone, Kyle Hartzell and Chris Schiller one each.
Ginny Capicchioni played the first half in the U.S. net in making her second tournament appearance as the only woman to ever participate in a world indoor championship. Jake Henhawk played the second half.
It's a confident American squad that now goes up against two-time defending champion Canada.
''We wanted to come here to win the gold, and we know we have to go through Canada to do that,'' Powell said. ''We're disappointed with our loss to the Iroquois, but this is a matchup we knew we were going to have to face sooner or later.
''They have a great team. They seem focused, and we're going to have to play our very best game to beat them.''
The Nationals, a perfect 3-0 in the round robin, play the other Friday semifinal against the Thursday night England-Czech Republic quarterfinal winner.
Miller has been out of the NLL for a couple of years, but he has looked sharp and is familiar with all of the Canadian forwards he'll face.
''I've played against them before,'' he said. ''It's going to be tough.
''They're great shooters in a great offense, but I've got a great defense in front of me. I need to make the saves I'm supposed to make and I need to make a couple of saves I'm not supposed to make.''
Canada defeated the United States handily during the round-robin phase of the last tournament, in Halifax in 2007. But this is a much better U.S. team, said Canadian head coach Ed Comeau.
''The caliber of indoor play in the U.S. is phenomenal now,'' Comeau said. ''We think they have a very good team here, one that is certainly capable of winning in this tournament.
''They are very athletic. Casey Powell, Drew Westervelt and Brendan Mundorf are very creative players out the front end and are capable of putting up big numbers against any team. We know we have to control them, keep them from having big nights.
''Defensively, they've got a lot of good athletes -- Paul Rabil running the floor; Chris Schiller, Jarrett Park and a lot of other good defensive players who are able to take off and create transition. We've got our hands full, and we'll have to be prepared. We're going to have to make sure we stick to our principles and game plan to be successful.''
Comeau said the matchup will be good for the sport.
''There's an indoor lacrosse history between Canada and the U.S. dating back to the first international competition, the Heritage Cup of 2002, so we're looking forward to a great game. We're going to have to be at our best to beat them.''
Canadian captain Colin Doyle said he'll treat the game as an NLL game, since all the participants other than Miller are NLL players.
''Everybody's role will be a little different here, and everybody has to focus on doing his job,'' Doyle said. ''If everybody does his job right, we'll get a solid team performance that will be tough to stop.
''There's a lot at stake, and we don't expect them to roll over by any means. They are going to be ready to play and play hard. It's going to be a great challenge. I think our guys are ready for it.''
Brodie Merrill will have his eye on Powell all the way.
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Josh Sanderson has four goals and 10 assists in just two games for the Canadians, who will be the favorites Friday against Team USA in the FIL world indoor championship semifinals. © Larry Palumbo |
''Casey is not somebody you can shut down,'' Merrill said. ''You just try to check him hard and make him earn anything he does. You try to limit his chances as much as you can. He's so skilled and creative with the ball and quick and athletic. He's tough to match up on, so we're going to play a team system to try and shut him down, because one guy can't do it.''
Dan Dawson is a teammate of Powell with the NLL's Boston Blazers.
''Casey is the best player I've ever played with,'' Dawson said. ''It was a joy playing with him in Boston, and I wish him all the best, but we're going to be going as hard as we can. He's a true competitor, so I know he'll be doing the same.''
U.S. defenseman Matt Alrich has faced Doyle, Dawson and the rest of Canada's forwards often in the NLL.
''We have tons of respect for those guys,'' he said. ''They're great players, and we're looking forward to a good test.''
John Grant Jr. will be one of Canada's big weapons, and U.S. captain Chris Schiller knows him well. They were NLL teammates in Rochester for many years.
''There's really no secret to stopping him,'' Schiller said. ''You can't do it with one guy.
''You've got to have a whole team defensive scheme. He's the best player in the world. We're going to think about it tonight, see what we want to do. But again, it's not all about John Grant on that team. They have a whole roster full of superstars, so we've got to game plan for everybody.''
There are a multitude of examples of players who are teammates in the NLL but who are opponents in this tournament. U.S. defenseman Kyle Hartzell is a Washington teammate of Canadian forward Rhys Duch.
''We've just got to go out and play hard lacrosse for 60 minutes,'' Hartzell said. ''We can't let up for one minute. They're going to get all we've got, and we're going to get all they've got, so it's going to be a really tough game. It's going to be a battle.
''The only reason we're out here is because we believe we can win. We wish we had won that game against the Iroquois. We came up a goal short. We're looking past that now. We have to face the Canadians a day sooner than we'd have liked to because of that, but we wouldn't be out here if we didn't think we could beat them. That's why we put together this team, and we're going to give them hell.''
U.S. forward Kevin Buchanan will be up against fellow Boston Blazer Kyle Rubisch, a Team Canada defenseman.
''It'll be exciting,'' Buchanan said. ''Rubisch is a great player. I've got a good scout on him though after playing with him in practice and in games every weekend. He's a great kid. I'm very excited about playing against him.''
The loss to the Iroquois has certainly spurred on the Americans.
''We've still got a bitter taste in our mouths over the loss to the Iroquois, but we're trying to get past that,'' Schiller said. ''We're still not where we want to be, but we're getting there.''
Ryan said the U.S. players will have to play a near-perfect game to get past Canada.
''[Thursday's] game was obviously a bit lopsided, but we've been moving the ball well and we've come together and played some pretty good defencs, so I'm happy where we're at,'' he said. ''[Friday] will be the true test. We're going to give it our all and see what happens.''
