cancup, originally uploaded by look2.

CANADA CUP 2008
The Canada Cup is the biggest floorball tournament and pinnacle event in North America. It is a tournament for everyone as there are divisions for kids, youth, women, elite and recreational players. Organizer, Juha Mikola’s passion for the game and extensive experience of playing in tournaments around the world show in his many thoughtful, organized details for 2008. It is of no surprise there are a record 38 teams registered. I am sure this will be the best one to date.

Last year was my first time to participate in the Canada Cup and it was not only a weekend of great fun but also a huge learning experience of how the game is played. Here you can witness the best players from North America and also Europe. The floorball competition was awesome. The floorball community is great and here I made many new friends. This is an event I highly recommend for anyone who plays floorball.

This year Vancouver is teaming up with players from Montreal and Toronto to form another National Select team of players who represent hard work, fair play and strong sportsmanship. After taking the silver medal in the intermediate division 2007, this year we are competing in the elite division. Competition will be tough and we will have to play our best floorball yet to come out on top. Good luck to our BC boys, Greg Beaudin, Chris Mohn, Markus Moisio and Blair Zimmerman!

Blair Zimmerman- Team Canada Member

TorontoSun, originally uploaded by look2.

Today’s Toronto Sun features a full two-page spread about the tournament. The Toronto Sun reaches an average of one million two hundred thousand readers per day. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Catching the floorball fever by Nick Heffernan

Mats Sundin grew up playing floorball. Maple Leafs teammate Alex Steen was still playing floorball after he turned pro.

And the Leafs’ other Swede — defenceman Anton Stralman? Yeah, he’s a floorball disciple, too.

That’s floorball, as in floor hockey, with a couple of Scandinavian twists — a sport which has caught fire in Europe and is rapidly making inroads in Canada and the United States.

Next weekend, York University will play host to the Canada Cup, the biggest floorball tournament in North America, with 39 teams and 600 players from around the world.

That’s just a fraction of the 3,900 club teams and 300,000 players registered with the International Floorball Federation, which is lobbying the IOC to include the sport in the 2020 Olympics.

Finland’s Juha Mikkola can take a lot of credit for developing the sport in Canada.

Want to read the rest? Pick up a copy of today’s Toronto Sun newspaper or visit the Toronto Sun online.