Canada claims Cockerton Cup
photo courtesy of Paul Yates/Vancouver Sports Pictures
Playing
on home soil, with the expectations of victory every game comes with its fair
share of challenges.
But
Canada persevered as they demonstrated a dominance at a whole new level in capturing
the Cockerton Cup on Saturday night at Langley Events Centre, defeating the
Iroquois Nationals 19-12 in the gold-medal game at the 2019 World Lacrosse
Men’s Indoor World Championship.
Canada
trailed just twice (and both times by only a single goal) before they seized
control in the second quarter, turning a 6-5 lead into a 10-6 advantage at the
half. From there, Canada never looked back, shutting the door on the Iroquois
Nationals to win the Men’s Indoor World Championship for a fifth consecutive time.
All five
victories at the quadrennial event have come at the expense of the Iroquois
Nationals, and for a fifth straight time, it was the United States again
winning bronze as the Americans defeated England 11-8 in the third-place match
which preceded the gold-medal game.
Just how
dominant was Canada at the event? In six games – four during the round-robin
and then the semifinal and final – the team outscored the opposition 110-44
with an average margin of victory of 11 goals per game.
Over 360
minutes of lacrosse, Canada trailed just five times for a grand total of 9:28.
And they were tied for just 22:36 of game action.
But they
did all this with the weight of being expected to win, especially with the
Championship being contested at home.
“There is
a lot of pressure representing Canada and the success that they have had,”
admitted Canadian head coach Glenn Clark.
“Relief
is the best description, and excitement, obviously,” he said when asked to
describe the feeling of accomplishing what everyone fully expected them to do.
“It is a long week, you put a lot into it and there is a lot of pressure
representing Canada and the success the have had.”
“The
expectations were big, especially playing on home soil, especially myself,
growing up 10 minutes down the road,” said Port Coquitlam’s Curtis Dickson.
“This is my third gold medal on the world stage, but it is extra special to be
able to do it in my own backyard.”
Dickson
scored five goals in the gold-medal game along with two assists.
“Honestly this is a really talented team
and great coaching that taught us to stick to our guns and make sure we got
better every game and I think the systems were in place for us to succeed and
the players showed up in the big moments,” said Canadian defender Matt Beers.
Players
and coaching staff alike relished the fact they were able to celebrate the
Championship at home with friends and family in attendance.
“It is a great feeling winning it on home
soil and obviously you have a lot of family members here to share it with. And
the truth and the reality is, these are the people who have supported you to
get to this place, so it means a lot to have that opportunity,” Clark said.
In
Saturday’s championship final, Dane Dobbie led all scorers with 10 points,
including three goals, with Robert Church (four goals, one assist), Mark
Matthews (one goals, five assists), Dhane Smith (three goals, one assist),
Chris Corbeill two goals, one assist) and Ben McIntosh (tone goal, two assists)
rounded out Canada’s scoring.
The
Iroquois Nationals were led by five goals and six points from Zed Williams
while Randy Staats and Cody Jamieson had a goal and three assists apiece.
Tehoka Nanticoke (three goals), Lyle Thompson (one goal, two assists) and Kyle
Jackson (one goal, one assist) completed their team’s scoring.
Jamieson
was named the Most Valuable Player. He scored 11 goals and 28 points in four
round-robin games and added another three goals and 10 points in two playoff
games.
Staats
and Matthews were named as the forwards to the All-World Team. Transition
player Joel White (United States) and Canadian defenders Graeme Hossack and
Kyle Rubisch as well as goaltender Mike Poulin rounded out the team.
The
President’s team (the all-star team for the non-Blue Division teams) consisted
of forwards Robert Raittila (Finland) and Matthew Taylor (Australia),
transition player Adrian Balasch (Austria), David Beckmann (Germany) and Markus
Mattila (Finland) on defence and Germany’s Craig Wende (goaltender).
Following each team’s final game, one
player or staff member was selected as a recipient for their team’s Spirit of
Lacrosse Award.
The winners were: Bob Carter (Australia),
Rintaro Fujita (Austria), Sean Ferris (Canada), Walter and Flavia Rojas (Costa
Rica), Roman Pokorny (Czech Republic), Andy Downing (England), Pentti Pekkonen
(Finland), Scott S. Stapleford (Germany), So Ka Ho Godwin (Hong Kong), Jeff
Dowling (Ireland), Gewas Schindler (Iroquois Nationals), Andrew Alderman
(Israel), Alejandor Trias (Mexico), Arttu Sesselaar (Netherlands), Dylan Cowman
(Scotland), Uros Matijasevic (Serbia), Tomas Rydlo (Slovakia), Curt Kinney (Sweden), Marion van Jackowski
(Switzerland), Jim Starkey (United States) and Brent McCauley (Officials).
The 2019 Final Standings were:
1. Canada
2. Iroquois Nationals
3. United States
4. England
5. Israel
6. Finland
7. Czech Republic
8. Netherlands
9. Australia
10. Germany
11. Ireland
12. Serbia
13. Slovakia
14. Austria
15. Sweden
16. Scotland
17. Switzerland
18. Hong Kong
19. Mexico
20. Costa Rica
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