An Edmonton football star
We talked about prairie football a lot last summer and fall. Edmonton had one really good team and one really bad team. Right now, we’ll talk about the really good team.
Make us proud, Jerit. (Photo: Edmonton Wildcats)
The Edmonton Wildcats played for the national junior football title in the fall, but didn’t come home with the crown.
The season done, there’s one Wildcat still playing.
Receiver (and Prairie Football Conference and Canadian rookie of the year) Jerit Lambert is going to play for the World Team of America. He’ll be joined by two other Canadian Junior Football League stars (Ottawa Sooners punter Tyler Crapigna and St. Leonard Cougars defensive back Mike Dubuisson). There are 31 of Canada’s best under-20 footballers on the team.
That team will face USA Football’s junior squad as part of the NFL’s Pro Bowl festivities January 30th. The game is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but you can watch it on the NFL Network, 10am our time. (Check your local listings or call your cable/satellite provider.)
Lambert had a good year, making 28 catches for 457 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also returned kicks 550 yards, with one kickoff run back for a touchdown and one punt taken in for a score.
The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) had 100 players to choose from, so Lambert certainly must have impressed. The Team World roster will have 43 players from eight countries and four continents.
Champion Concordia
Here's the Thunder in action earlier this season. (Photo: Jason Bouwmeester)
I was actually caught by surprise today when Jason (Remember him? The guy you’re supposed to be helping achieve dreams.) sent along some more great soccer photos of the Concordia Thunder.
The surprise came in the fact the Thunder won the national title this weekend.
Yeah, I hadn’t heard anything about that either. At least the London Free Press is all over this.
That aside, let’s talk about what sounds like a great game.
(Photo: Jason Bouwmeester)
Also, it’s got a great name: 2009 Big Kahuna/adidas Canadian Colleges Athletics Association Women’s Soccer National Championships. There will be a test, so memorize all of that.
Alesha Weicker put in an early goal, which was quickly countered by the Fanshawe Falcons. (Bias alert: I went to Fanshawe.) Nothing was settled in regular time.
It looked like nothing was going to be settled in extra time either. Sudden death shootouts loomed.
But Laura Ellis sniped home the winner with seconds to go.
Weicker took tournament MVP honours, while teamamtes Kelly Anderson, Trish Arnds and Lindsay Monkman made the All-Star roster.
There you have it, Edmonton. The Concordia Thunder women’s soccer team is the newest champion in the city of such. It’s also their first title.
Next year’s tournament is right here in Edmonton, hosted by NAIT. Could we be so lucky as to see an all Edmonton final? We have one year to wait.
In related CCAA sports news, the national Cross-Country championships will be hosted in Camrose by Augustana, this weekend.
(Photo: Jason Bouwmeester)
Go for the Intergold
We’ve tried to keep up with the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) as best we can this season. The one thing to know is that Edmonton has one good team and one bad one. The Huskies didn’t win once. The Edmonton Wildcats, however, are the prairie champions.
This weekend the Wildcats take on the Ontario champs, the Ottawa Sooners. The winner of this “Intergold Cup” game will take on the winner of the B.C. Football Conference for the national title.
The ‘cats have won 3 national championships, and were last playing for the big win in 2006. It’s been a lot longer since they brought home the Canadian title though. That last one came in 1983, against the Ottawa Sooners. (Could that be a good sign of at least an Intergold win?)
The Wildcats went 6-2 in the regular season, outscoring opponents 324-163 (though, they just shellacked the Huskies). In the playoffs they beat the Calgary Colts here in Edmonton, then went Saskatoon to beat the Hilltops for the Prairie title.
They’ve got some of the best receivers in the country, and the PFC rookie of the year, Jerit Lambert, is one of them.
Ottawa’s got a solid defense, allowing the second-fewest points in the nation, and will be tougher to put points up against, so it could be quite the battle on the field.
Your 2009 Edmonton Wildcats.
Wildcats win!
Remember the other day, when I was talking about playoff football in Edmonton?
Well…the Edmonton Wildcats used their wily defence to claim victory over the Calgary Colts. Linebacker Matt Lalande set a PFC record with two, count ‘em two, interceptions run in for touchdowns.
That means Edmonton, second-best after the regular season, will face the top team in the Prairie Football Conference.
Watch for an Edmonton-Saskatoon Hilltops showdown next weekend (in Saskatchewan) for Prairie supremecacy.
A win next weekend means a chance at the national title.
Football Frenzy
(Image: EFCL.org)
There’s so much football this weekend, this post can barely contain the action and excitement.
You’ve got the Eskimos home to the Lions tonight in a CFL matchup that is made more important by the Eskimos’ recent losses.
Don’t forget that you still have a little bit of time to buy really cheap tickets through the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues, if you’re a member of your community league or you become one in the next two hours.
Don’t think, just do it!
(Image: PFCfootball.com)
Sunday, over at Clarke Park, the Edmonton Wildcats host the Calgary Colts in a Prairie Football Conference semi-final. That’s right, playoff football!
The Wildcats finished the PFC season in second, and seem to always face the Colts in the playoffs. That game goes at 1pm.
Whew. It’s almost lucky the University of Alberta Golden Bears aren’t playing football this weekend. (But U of A teams are active in plenty of other sports.)
…But what if the Wildcats win and end up hosting the championship, while the Bears are home next weekend…Hmm, keep the woolies at the ready.
Huck it, chuck it, football!
Those poor, poor, Huskies.
They didn’t win a game all season. Thankfully, for Edmonton, the Wildcats did alright and will be in the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) playoffs.
The Huskies even had a chance to win their one game of the season at home, against their Edmonton rivals. Instead, the Huskies got thumped (again) 46-7. There’s always next year.
While the Huskies will be waiting for next summer after losing all eight games, the Wildcats take second place in the PFC with a record of six wins and two losses. They’ll be hosting a battle of Alberta this coming weekend (Sunday, October 11) as the Calgary Colts come up the highway for a semi-final showdown.
The other playoff game sees a battle of Saskatchewan with the Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder squaring off. Regina was the top team in the league, going 7-1 for 14 points.
After that it’s the league championship (October 18), and the Prairie winner then heads to the national junior football playoffs.
Get out to Clarke Park this weekend and cheer on your Edmonton Wildcats!
Fight Night
Valimaki (left, in the white trunks) ended up taking this match. (Photo: Jason Bouwmeester)
The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.
But after discussing things further since Friday, we’ve decided to share some details with you.
TFC (The Fight Club) 8: Salvation filled the Shaw Conference Centre with sweat, blood and choke-holds Friday night. A lot of the fighters are from Edmonton, too.
Including Edmontonian Victor “The Matrix” Valimaki, who defeated Lew Polley in a decision, to take the Light-Heavyweight championship. (Both pictured to the left, slugging it out.)
The main event was Edmonton’s Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford taking on Markhaile “Showtying” Wedderburn for the Welterweight title. Ford must have been fueled by the hometown crowd since this one didn’t even go one round. Ford took the match with a “rear-naked choke” not even 90 seconds in. That’s usually how Ford wins a match, when he’s not punching his way to victory. (more…)
Are you ready for (some) football?
Edmonton Eskimos aside, there’s other football going on.
Seriously.
On Friday, the University of Alberta Golden Bears beat Simon Fraser Clan 28-16. Not bad against the top offence in the Canadian University football. It’s also not a bad way to get win #1 on the season. Saskatchewan comes to town this Friday.
(While we’re talking about the U of A, here’s how all the Bears and Pandas did this weekend.)
There was also some Prairie Football going on at Clarke Park. (My inability to read a schedule means this wasn’t a one month league…)
You know when sports guys say a game was over before it began? (Usually meaning one team is nowhere near as good as the other.) That really was the case between the Edmonton Wildcats and Edmonton Huskies.
We could sit around and pick this game apart, but I’m simply going to say the Wildcats won 72-0. I think that sums things up.
The loss leave the Huskies in last place in the Prairie Football Conference. They’re starting to give me that Detroit Lions feeling…
Both Edmonton teams are on the road this week. The Huskies look for their first win against Saskatoon, the best team in the league (*gulp*), while the Wildcats roll their momentum into Regina. The two Edmonton teams will then finish the season facing each other at Clarke Park, October 3.
High-scoring side notes from the PFC: Scoring 35 points in the first quarter has been done three times in Canadian Junior Football history…This is the second-best shutout for the ‘Cats, since they won a 2003 game 79-0…83-0 is the largest margin of victory in Canadian Junior Football…
Edmonton Rush 2009 Entry Draft Results
First: apparently, no one at the 2009 National Lacrosse League entry draft on Wednesday had a camera, because the only pictures I could find were on the NLL website, embedded in a flash player, of people who have nothing to do with the Rush. Thanks, INTERNETS. Since I couldn’t find a relevant picture (and I tried moderately hard, folks), I chose instead to google image search “lacrosse”, and of the choices that came up, this one (it was on page 3) was my favorite:
…because, despite its “lacrosse” tag, it clearly has nothing whatsoever to do with the sport. Although, may I just say that lacrosse would be even more awesome if we somehow incorporated this kind of weaponry. Food for thought; perhaps we’ll see “U.S. Army Attack Missile” as the first pick overall in next year’s draft (fingers crossed).
The Rush scored pretty well at Wednesday ’s entry draft. They wheeled and dealed their way into the 9th pick overall, trading Rich Morgan to the Minnesota Swarm, and ultimately getting Corey Small from the university of Albany (the OTHER U of A, for those of you keeping track at home).
From the Rush’s press release:
The talented forward [Corey Small] finished third in scoring with the Great Danes, netting 31 goals in 10 games. Small also finished third in the Ontario Junior ‘A’ League scoring derby with 38 goals and 39 assists for 77 points in 21 regular-season games for the St. Catharine’s Athletics.
“Corey plays with a ton of heart and has a great knack for coming up big in clutch situations,” noted [GM & Head Coach Derek] Keenan.
The Rush already had 12th pick overall, which they used to get Ontario Junior League forward Scott Tinning of the Brampton Excelsiors.
Other picks were Dane Stevens, Brett Mydske, Geoff McNulty, Shane Lopatynski, and Craig Zeeh. A complete list of first round picks is available on Wikipedia.
The Rush open their home regular season on Saturday, January 23 against the Buffalo Bandits. Also, the Edmonton Sun goes more in depth on the draft here.
Prepare to be Rush-i-fied, NLL.
Get it? Because I’m talking about the Rush? Wanna get some Neil Peart all up in ya? Anyway, we’re all friends here, and as the old saying goes, if there’s one thing friends love, it’s slappin’ da bass (that one’s just for you, Samsonow). And if there’s another, it’s a lacrosse draft. Or something like that.
Yep, we’re all going to be on the edge of our internets today, as the National Lacrosse League (NLL) Entry draft gets underway. The event will be streaming on the NLL website, as the league’s 11 teams choose from the best up and coming lacrosse players out of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Canadian junior lacrosse system (and if anyone knows anything about junior lacrosse in Canada, feel free to fill us in on how all that works).
The Rush have six picks on the way, their best being 12th overall, and the NLL Insider has a rundown of the top draft choices here; this year’s event is in Buffalo, and starts at 5 p.m.
Here’s the schedule of picks for the Rush:
Round 1 – (12 overall)
Round 2 – (14 overall)
Round 3 – (25 overall)
Round 4 – (42 overall)
Round 6 – (48 and 52 overall )
And while we’re talking schedules, the Rush have also released their sked for the upcoming season. Tickets available through Ticketmaster, or get more details on the Rush website (if you’re into lacrosse, seriously, look at the team’s ticket options because you can get season tickets in the Golds for like $400).
How ’bout them Wildcats?
The CJFL. For Canadian Junior Football.
The Edmonton Wildcats aren’t messing around this short Prairie Football season.
After an opening weekend win over Calgary, the Wildcats went into Winnipeg and thumped the Rifles 60-22, Saturday. Nice going boys. That means the Wildcats have two wins, no losses (2-0) and sit tied for first place in the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) with the Regina Thunder.
As for Edmonton’s other PFC team, the Huskies, they did not fare so well. They lost again.
It wasn’t as bad as last week’s drubbing, but the Huskies had the unfortunate position of playing a Calgary Colts team looking to avenge a loss in Edmonton. It didn’t matter if it was to the other Edmonton team. The Colts beat the Huskies 36-21. The Huskies sit at the bottom of the PFC, tied at 0-2 with the aforementioned Winnipeg team.
This coming weekend (August 22, 23) both Edmonton teams are home at Clarke Park. On Saturday, the Wildcats look to continue winning against the Saskatoon Hilltops (1-1). On Sunday, the Huskies look for a win against their scoreless brothers from Winnipeg.
Are you ready for some (Prairie) Football?
In the end, the Thunder rolled.
I know you can easily get distracted when the big team is on the TV, but there’s other football ’round these parts. And the Golden Bears aren’t even back at school.
But this was also opening weekend of the Prairie Football Conference (PFC). A conference of football in which Edmonton has not one, but two teams. We’ve got the Huskies. And we have the Wildcats.
The PFC has four weekends of smash-mouth football. With 6 teams in the league there’s not a lot of room to mess around.
It also means you get one more regular season game from the Wildcats and Huskies over at Clarke Park.
As for this past weekend, the Wildcats beat the Colts of Calgary 35-21.
The Huskies, umm, played the Regina Thunder.
They lost. 51-11.
The extra point is good! Sadly, the rest of the points went to the other guys.
But we don’t have to talk about that. I mean, we can talk about the Eskimos if we want to talk about weekend lossses. Am I right? (This is where I pull my collar nervously.) We can just talk about how there’s great football for $10 (kids under 12 are free).
Next home games are August 22 (Wildcats) and August 23 (Huskies).
As an aside, writing this has me thinking about who would win a fight between a wildcat and a huskie. I couldn’t find that on the Internet (yet?) but here’s a fight between a taco and a grilled cheese sandwich.
Get him. The guy with the ball!
Huck it, Chuck it, Football!
Hey sports fans, the Edmonton Examiner has your Junior Football Preview. 
The Wildcats kick their season off at Clarke Park, Saturday night at 7 p.m. against the Calgary Colts (full season schedule here), while the Huskies start off Sunday at 1 p.m. (full season schedule here).
Also, the Wildcats need somebody to man their merch booth at home games; it pays about 40$ per 3-hour game. If you’re interested, more details available here.
This is me, pretending I know things about sports.
What the hell is going on over at the Rush? These guys must really mean business for the 2010 season, because I’ve never seen so much lacrosse excitement in my life – and I’ll have you know, I’m a bit of a lacrosse aficionado (…that means I don’t know anything about it, right?)! Lately it seems they’re ALWAYS hiring somebody, or trading somebody, or announcing something. This time it’s a trade; say bye bye to Dan Teat, ladies. He’s going to Philadelphia, home of cheesesteaks, the Fresh Prince of Bel-air, and lacrosse (apparently), in exchange for Derek Malawsky, formerly of the Portland Lumberjax.
And while we’re talking sports, since, let’s be honest, it doesn’t happen that often – the Capitals’ website is reminding anyone with
tickets to tomorrow’s game vs. the Tucson Toros that the start time has changed, because of a travel schedule conflict with the visiting team. The stadium will still be open at 2 p.m., but the game won’t actually start until 5 p.m. It should be a good time; I just got a facebook invite informing me that there’s also a breast cancer fundraiser going on, where the Caps try to set the world record for most pitches thrown before a game. Well, you just got an extra three hours to set the record in, boys. Make Momma proud!
Merrill-y All the Way….? (*sigh*)
We’re mere moments away from an Edmonton Rush news conference, where the team will officially welcome former Portland Lumberjax defenseman Brodie Merrill and present him with a Rush jersey. Suit up, Merrill!
They’re also going to announce the assistant coaches for the upcoming season.
Sadly, we will not be present, because as I mentioned here, we have jobs that keep us busy, all day long. But that doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about you, Edmonton Rush. That doesn’t mean we don’t love you.
Rush bosses say Merrill is “considered by many to be the best player in the NLL.” He was recently acquired in a dispersal draft, from the now-defunct Portland Lumberjax.
Merrill made headlines earlier this month, when the Professional Lacrosse Players’ Association tried and failed to earn him unrestricted free agent status, after the Portland Lumberjax folded.
I know absolutely nothing about either lacrosse or hockey, but I’m anointing Brodie Merrill the Ray Bourque of lacrosse.
That’s right, I said it.
Rush Trade
Courtesy edmontonrush.com
Edmonton Rush forward Mike Hominuck has been traded! He’s going to the Toronto Rock in exchange for a third-round draft pick in the 2009 NLL (National Lacrosse League) Entry Draft.
Hominuck first came to the Rush from the Minnesota Swarm halfway through the 2008 season. He went on to be Edmonton’s top scorer for the season.
The Edmonton What-Nows?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Edmonton Swastikas.
HOW HAS THIS NOT COME UP BEFORE? Surely, in this whole big, wide internet, somebody has like a great grandma who told them stories of when she used to play for the Edmonton Swastikas (if that’s the case, you had better email me, stat, with some details) – and you were all like, “I’m sorry great grandmother, WTF did you just say? No, no, keep talking, I just have to put this on the internet for EVERYONE ELSE TO ENJOY.”
Yep, I realize that back in 1916 the Swastika was a symbol of good luck, and hadn’t received basically the WORST P.R. campaign of any symbol ever. But somehow, that just makes this even better.
There’s a post on Yahoo sports post with more details here, including how back in the day “Swastikas” was actually a really popular team name. This kind of smacks of “A League of their Own.” But with hockey. And swastikas.
…so, will “Crackercats” be some kind of ethnic slur a hundred years from now?
E-ville Roller Derby: Putting the “fun” in fundraising.
As I mentioned previously, the purpose of my harrowing adventure in north Edmonton was to attend last night’s E-ville Roller Derby exhibition game.
We’ve already told you about the E-ville girls’ fundraising efforts to send three players to the upcoming Rollercon roller derby conference in Las Vegas. They’re at it again this Saturday, this time with a Garage Sale (at 12512 130 Ave., from 9:00am – 5:00pm) and Car Wash (at the Calder Domo – 12920 – 127th Street ).
I hung out and watched the game – and let me tell you guys, it was a seriously good time. I also got a chance to chat with some of the ladies (Ann Halen, Trailer Trish and CeeCee Sickness) during the intermission. They told me a bit more about Rollercon, their fundraising efforts and their respective cleavage – but that last part didn’t make the cut (sorry, boys).
SAYYY, by the way, the first person to leave a comment with the street address of the arena featured in this story wins a shiny new E-ville Roller Derby t-shirt (green, men’s, size large). Winner will be contacted by email. If you’ve won in the last 30 days, you can’t play again (sorry Derjis.)
Seals Hand Caps Back-to-Back Losses
Yikes. Tough weekend for the Edmonton Capitals. My brother Paul was there on Saturday night to take advantage of the team’s Saturday Night Movies promotion (it was “The Sandlot” this week, which I haven’t seen in forever. FORRR-EVVVVV-ERRRR).
In case you didn’t know about this, after certain Saturday night games, the Caps let spectators down on the field to watch a baseball themed movie on a giant screen. The next one is on August 1, when they’ll be showing “Mr. Destiny”. And before you judge, remember there are a finite number of baseball themed movies. I’m telling you about this late into the season, after they’ve already shown “Field of Dreams,” “A League of Their Own,” and “The Natural.” Let’s just be glad that, as of yet, “Mr.Baseball” hasn’t made the list. (more…)
I’m a Lumberjax and I’m O.K.
If you’re not following Edmonton Rush news (hey, some people like sports that don’t involve footballs and pucks, really) you might not know they scooped up some players from the defunct National Lacrosse League (NLL) team out of Portland, the Lumberjax.
There was also a trade today. Wow, lacrosse is busy.
Look at him "rush" around. Get it? Rush! (Photo: Chris Scherrer)
According to the Rush, they took a man “considered by many to be the best player in the NLL” with their first dispersal pick (the first overall). That would be Brodie Merrill.
Merrill’s even been to Edmonton before, since he was drafted #1 overall back in 2005, when the draft was held here.
Also picked up dispersal-wise is former Rush(er?) Matt Disher, a goalie, and D-man Pat Jones.
The Dispersal Draft done the Rush management said “You know what? We’re having too much fun with all this moving and shaking.” So they swung a trade.
The multi-player deal with the Minnesota Swarm sees the Rush send forward Ryan Benesch, defenceman Scott Self, and a 2009 first-round pick to the Minny, for forwards Scott Stewart, Ryan Ward, and Justin Norbraten and defenceman Richard Morgan.
Stewart and Morgan didn’t even get to try on their Swarm jerseys because they had just been acquired in the Dispersal Draft.
Who knew there more than two sports teams in this city?
And, of course, here’s the inspiration for the headline.
Hot Girls on Rollerskates want your Recyclables.
That’s right. The luscious ladies of E-ville Roller Derby are having a bottle drive this weekend, to help fund a trip to VEGAS, BABY, VEGAS!
They’ve been chosen to be a part of Sin City’s mammoth Rollercon convention, and they need to raise some scratch, stat. So if you have a big pile of empties you’d like to get rid of (I say “if” knowing full well that you obviously do, because it had to be said, because frankly your house is starting to look disgusting, you filthy pig), help them out!
The Derby girls will pick up your bottles (including milk jugs and tetra packs) from noon until 5 on Saturday. To arrange for pick up, send them an email here or check out their facebook page here.
