FIL World Championship coordinator Matt Brown — all
Jordan Hall (left) and Geoff Snider wrap the championship shield in a special team talisman — Sanderson’s so-Canadian denim jean jacket.
working together for the fi rst time just a few days before the start of the tournament in Denver — settled in and zeroed in on plans, starting from Ward on out. They would throw different looks at the U.S. offense, with a zone scheme and quick slides to stars Rabil and Rob Pannell. Ward would gobble up shots that made their way through. They re-worked the offense, one they learned would be without John Grant Jr. a week before games began. In the fi nal, Canada executed its game plan to perfection with Snider winning 50 percent of the faceoffs, owning the ground ball battle, and its offense holding the ball for extended periods of time to stop the up-and-down fl ow that favored Team USA.
He wasn’t expecting to just give the jacket to Ward to start off, but that’s what happened, as Merrill talked to the other 22 players, coaching staff and support staff about what his friends and former teammates meant to the Canadian program.
“It crossed my mind that I didn’t want to put any more extra pressure on him,” Merrill said of Ward. “But more than anything. I just wanted to give him some confi dence. He was our guy. Chris had been the goalie for the last four championships. It was time for Dillon. It was his time. He’s a younger guy, but I think more than anything, I just wanted to show my belief in him and our team’s belief in him. We were 100 percent behind him.” Ward, a more corner-of-the- room type, took it all in along with a team that generally skewed young. Only Merrill, faceoff man Geoff Snider, midfi elder Kevin Crowley and defender Matt Vinc played with Sanderson in 2010, for example. “It wasn’t necessarily a weight, but you knew what it meant to some of the older guys on the team,” Ward said. In a losing effort in the opener — Canada gained an early 3-0 lead but eventually the U.S. grabbed momentum and went on a 8-0 run
A Publication of US Lacrosse 63.3 SAVE
PERCENTAGE BY CANADA GOALIE DILLON
WARD IN SEVEN GAMES.
spanning 35 minutes in a 10-7 win — Ward was a bright spot with the 18 saves. “We got a goaltender,” Canada coach Randy Mearns said afterward, also mentioning “Chris Sanderson and Kyle Miller are smiling up top right now.” But the jacket was only to be passed out after wins, so Ward kept it for two more days, before handing it off to Snider after a win over England.
It was all happening. The players and coaching staff led by Mearns, defensive coordinator Taylor Wray and offensive
“O Canada!” was sung loud and proud that night, with gold hanging from their necks. The FIL named Ward tournament MVP, after which he was handed the jean jacket, to top it all off. It was a bit snug, over the red-and-white 37 jersey. “It’s Chris Sanderson’s,” he said with a beaming smile, walking into a victorious Canada locker room where the celebration was already on. It was a place where Sanderson would have yucked it up and been in the center of attention had he been there. But he, and Miller, were. Don’t tell anyone in that room otherwise. “Legends never die,” Ward said. LM
Adam Jones douses his former Canisius and current Canada coach Randy Mearns.
September 2014 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 43
©SCOTT MCCALL; ©TREVOR BROWN (RM)
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