Vancouver WaveRider and Team Canada’s
Blair Zimmerman went down to Anaheim for a floorball tournament a week of so back. The actual tournament has been very well documented on the Floorball Ontario website but I wanted to add a few more insights from the BC player:
The tourney was held in an arena with two rinks that are mainly used for roller hockey. 6 intermediate teams, including San Diego, Fresno, San Francisco, Anaheim x2 and Cal Tech and I believe 6 beginner teams who were mostly playing
for the first time.
The teams were quite serious about their floorball.A
similar make up to Vancouver. Most were Europeans who had played the game and knew the rules. There were quite a few ex-Canadian Hockey players along with some who were new to the sport and loved it for a hard run and workout.
The skill level was good. The teams were even and play was organized. With a bigger surface, passing and getting set up were more evident. Most teams came from a small core group who play religiously
together a couple of times a week. San Diego, the team that won, plays on a tennis court
outside! Fresno seemed to have a bigger mission, like us, trying to grow the sport and introduce it to schools.
The games were two 15 minute periods, running time, with the last two minutes being stopped time with a 5 minute intermission.
As the tourney got started late … and was behind all day. The 5 minute intermission was cut to 1 or none.
Our team, Anaheim, had 4 subs to start and 2 for our last game. We played 4 games and could have played up to 5. Our first game was at 8:40 and the last one at 4:30. Between reviewing the game, meeting new people, simply resting or trying to watch others play, the day flew by.
Thanks for the report Blair!
Blair also shared with me that he believes the standard of Vancouver compares really well with California and if the WaveRiders had been there as a team may have done very well! There’s lots in common between us and our West Coast Neighbours – let’s hope some of them can make it up to Vancouver in May for the 1st Annual BCFF Floorball Challenge!