Our Finnish friend Christian Kortman may have recently returned to Helsinki but he continues to play an important role in our Canadian floorball community.  Christian is now our Finnish rep for FLOORBALL CANADA’S National Team Committee.  He will be helping us recruit, assess and select Canadian players living in Finland for upcoming U19 World Floorball Championships.  A huge thank you to Christian.  We are very lucky to have him on board!

BC Floorball President and Team BC Player Greg Beaudin will be re-joining the Off-Ice instruction team at the Sentinel Hockey Academy in West Vancouver.

“Recently in Calgary, Hockey Canada staged a Floorball clinic and tournament for 103 Hockey Canada Skills Academies and their directors. Floorball was embraced with overwhelming positivity as an off-ice training system for elite hockey players.  It’s the same reaction that we received at the Sentinel Hockey Academy over the past two seasons and I’m charged up to see some great results transfer out on to the ice.  In the world of competitive Hockey and honing skills to compete with best, it’s essential for young players to be engaged through activities that combine both fitness and fun.  Floorball is extremely fun to play, it’s a great workout without the risk of major injury, and it builds  up some essentials skills such as stickhandling and body position.  European hockey pros like the Hossa Brothers, Pavol Demitra, Forsberg, Naslund and Gaborik all grew up playing Floorball at school and continue to train with Floorball in the off-season. ” says Greg.

If your Hockey Team, Hockey Association, Hockey Academy, or Youth Sports Group is looking to learn more about Floorball, please contact the BC Floorball Federation at info@bcfloorball.com

Thanks to Chris Muschamps, we are happy to announce that there is new drop in night at Champlain Heights in East Vancouver.  Starting July 4th, we invite you to play on Fridays from 8-10 PM.  Cost is $7.  If you need a stick, rental is $2.  For shower privileges, you need to take out a membership with the CC at $4. Address is 3350 Maquinna Drive.

http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks/cc/champlain/index.htm

winners!, originally uploaded by BC Floorball Federation.

2nd Annual BCFF Floorball Challenge SUMMARY

The 2nd annual BCFF Floorball Challenge held on May 24th brought together close to 60 players. Whereas most of the day was for our “older” players, we also invited back all of the kids from the youth tournament to take part in a special mini series. For many, the best part of this tournament was seeing the love of floorball shown in the kids enthusiasm, all the fun they had and all the great plays they pulled off at such a young age.

The tournament brought out an extra effort from many of our regular players. The matches had a lot of electricity and many battles within. Teams were extremely even with most games ending in a simple one goal difference. Top spot could have gone to anyone. Strong goaltending all over was one of the big stories of the day as the games were much lower scoring than anticipated. Greg Beaudin was one of the few that was able to break though with some consistency and ended up as top scorer of the day with 9 points.

The other story that came out of the tournament was the impressive showing by our younger players, of whom some are still only 12 and 13 years old. Because of their strong play over the year, we wanted them to be challenged to a higher level and be part of the BCFF tournament.  It was an immensely difficult task for them to walk on to the court and play against such bigger, faster, players, but after a few shifts, these youngsters quickly settled in to their own game and showed what excellent skill, as well as determination, they have. Not only did they fit in, they all played an important role on their respective teams and had a long list of hard earned compliments from their teammates at the end of the day. Jamie Turner, 12, just 12 years old (I have to repeat it as I don’t believe it), pulled off a hat trick on many a nice play with team captain Christian Kortmann, leading them to victory in the bronze medal final. Jamie had 4 goals and 2 assists on the day giving him third spot on the points leader board! We were extremely proud of all of the younger guys play!

In the gold medal match, Stefan Siegenthaler’s team was up against Greg Beaudin’s. Again, goaltending was excellent at both ends, stopping many nice shoots and end to end rushes. Stefan’s team, of mostly Swiss players, had a tireless effort which was key in holding off the offensive attacks by Greg and the rest of his roster. It was neck and neck right down to the final buzzer, but Stefan’s team came out on top, 2-1.

MVP went to Stefan. It was a treat to watch the 21 year old Langnau Tiger going through two or three players at a time, unloading some wicked shots, if you could see them, that absolutely no-one could stop. Congrats to this years gold medal winners.

Gold Medal Winners:

Stefan Siegenthaler
Scott Douglas
Christian Abaecherli
Har the Journalist
Matthias Nanz
Tobias
Nicholas Durrans
James McLachlan

The Breakaway contest was won by Michael Lindgren’s Team.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out on the day. Thanks to Vincent Chan for taking control of scorekeeping. Thanks to Cafe Artigiano for their kind donation and keeping my coffee addiction in tack. Easily the best coffee house in Vancouver! Also, thanks to Taylors Crossing who took great care of us at the after party.

We had so much fun, we are hoping to have a Summer Tournament in August with some kind of Island/Beach/Deck (or all three) theme on the side. Stayed tuned!

BC would like to put together a team to participate in the US OPEN FLOORBALL Tournament in Anheim, August 23 & 24th.  We can go with between 8 and 16 players.  If you are interested in attending, please contact Blair at blair.zimmerman@bcfloorball.com.  More details at http://www.usopenfloorball.com/

Is your room mate tired of listening to your floorball stories?
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Floorball Junkies of all sizes, countries & backgrounds would love to hear from you at http://www.floorballforums.com/

The gang is all here!

It was great to see so many kids come out and participate in the Fair Play Youth Floorball Tournament held at the Roundhouse last Saturday. There were 4 teams in each category of ages 10-12 and 13-15. All 8 teams that competed can be congratulated for truly showing excellent sportsmanship in all areas. They were respectful to their opponents, they followed the rules of the game as well as the call of the ref. A great floorball group!

The level of play also deserves praise as it was the highest we have seen to date. Many of the players had there best performance to date. Most impressive was how the kids played as a team, working the ball around the court, passing to each other equally, unselfishly.

In the 12-15 age group, the Red Devils went undefeated and had a close final match against the Sentinel Spartans, just edging them out 9-6. Special note to Matt Durrans on the Devils who is only 8 and stood his own and them some to this high intensity match. Dingos took third and the Eagles fourth. MVP went to Jamie Turner of the Red Devils. Team with best Sportsmanship went to the Dingos.

In the younger age group the snickerdoodles also went undefeated and took gold. The Snickerdoodles really played as a team and it was this teamwork that allowed them win gold over the Flames. The Moose saved their best match to the end and took bronze over the Mighty 4s. Snickerdoodle’s Kevin Fabian and his strong defensive played was awarded MVP. Team with best Sportsmanship went to the Moose.

A huge thank you to the kids for their excellent behavior. Also to the parents and their support. There must of been close to 50 watching. Special thanks to all the volunteers, the coaches, refs, scorekeepers for their kind and caring attention of the kids. Also to the staff of the Roundhouse; especially Steve and Josh.

Kevin Fabian on the Snickerdoodles breaks out on a rush against the Flames.

Roundhouse Eagles go over tactics with coach and volunteer extraordinaire Andi Vogel.

Spartans Blake Newton has hand out to congratulate gold medal winner Jamie Turner.

We are happy to announce the 2nd Annual BCFF Floorball Challenge will take place on Saturday, May 24th from 8 AM-6 PM at Mulgrave in West Vancouver. We have a great mix of players so far, both men and women, some who have played many years in Europe and others who have just started playing the game. It will be a day of great fun and good chance to play some competitive floorball. All are welcome.

Tournament format is individual registration. $50 including lunch. Teams of 9 players will be drawn. Each team will play 4 games. Games are 2×15 min. periods. Teams are coed. Banquette party to follow, location tba, please RSVP. Limited spots left. First to sign up will be accepted. Please contact Simon Lam at slammy@gmail.com to register.

2nd annual BCFF Floorball Challenge
Saturday, May 24th, 8-6
Mulgrave School, West Vancouver
Individual registration. $50/player. Lunch included.
Contact Simon Lam at slammy@gmail.com to register

*Depending on registration, details may change.

Lauri Hannelius competed in his third WFC with Team Canada. Lauri played a key role on defense, helping the team win bronze, netting 7 goals and three assists. Now that he has had a chance to rest, he shares some thoughts on the Championship.

Aside from winning the bronze, coming oh so close to making it into the gold medal match, how did it go? How was the team?

After losing the semifinal to the coming champion Slovakia everybody was feeling quite empty. Our goal was to play in the final and win the tournament, but we ended up third which is also good result thinking about it afterwards. Team Canada was better than ever and we had three good lines who could all score goals. I was very satisfied of the newcomers in Team Canada. New players from Quebec contributed a lot to the team playing together as a line and were dangerous whenever they stepped on the field. Also the new Canadians from Europe found their place right away on the team and gave hard times to the opponents. Both new goalies were surprisingly good and we could have put either one in net. Also the players who were already with Team Canada in 2004 and 2006 were very important to the team and like I said I was very satisfied to the team this year. Too bad we didn’t get the chance to taste the gold together.

We were happy to see that on the scoresheet and live video you had a strong tournament. Were you happy with your performance?

I was quite happy with my own performance; both defensively and offensively. Our line played well, especially on power play. We easily had the best power play in the tournament.

I imagine Team Canada improved in many ways. To prepare for 2010, what is Team Canada missing? What is our new weakness?

The team improved a lot from the last WFC, especially offensively. We played the round robin with three clear wins with a goal difference 33-5. That shows the offensive power and also good defense but still I would say that defense might be the weakness if I have to find something. In the first three games the opponents weren’t really dangerous and it was maybe too easy round robin. Then in the semifinal we met the strong Slovakia which was a totally different quality opponent. Maybe we weren’t quite ready for them defensively and I’m not talking about only defenders but the hole defensive play with all five players. So maybe that is something that we have to improve.

How was the quality of play at the WFC?

The quality of play in the WFC C-division was divided pretty much in three groups. At the top were Slovakia, Canada and Spain which could all do well in the B-division as well. Then came Australia, France and Serbia, who had no chance against the top teams. And then on the bottom there was Liechtenstein, Korea and Georgia who are more or less beginners. The top three teams showed some good floorball and the IFF officials were impressed also of their game. I’m sure that when the WFC system will change to 2010 championship, these teams will be much higher in the rankings than
they are now.

-Lauri-

illustration by Koki Norimatsu

Mulgrave Junior School has recently had the pleasure of welcoming guest instructor and national team member Blair Zimmerman to introduce the new (for us) and exciting game of floorball to our grade 4-6 students. From a teacher’s perspective, floorball is a perfect fit for our students, as it focuses on skill development, involves plenty of running, and has very little contact.

From a student perspective the game is very exciting, everyone can play it, and it resembles our country’s national pastime…hockey! Without a doubt the introductory clinic was a huge success and now Mulgrave Junior School is ready to offer teaching units and extra-curricular activities in floorball. Thank you Blair for coming in and enthusiastically presenting this great game to Mulgrave.

Gareth Ronald-Jones
Mulgrave School, West Vancouver

Please contact BCFF to arrange a Floorball Demonstration of your own.