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Vail Shootout Day 9 – 5:30 pm
After nine long days, the Shootout has finally come to a close. All of the scores and info has been compiled and will hopefully hit the webpage soon. Team 21’s 12-7 upset win over Reebok gave them the Men’s Elite Championship with Dos Brisas Lax won the Women’s side with a similarly comfortable victory.
There was a nice crowd at the men’s game. Maybe 9-1000 people or so. Team 21 used great teamwork on defense and some great individual efforts as well to get their victory. It’s an especially sweet one for the Cornell-based Team 21, who play for the memory of Mario St. George Boiardi. Boiardi wore #21 in college where he suffered a fatal injury while playing lacrosse.
Since then, his friends and family have honored his memory not only with a team up here in Vail, but also a foundation that bears his name. You can visit the website at www.boiardifoundation.org.
Team 21 has been at or near the top for several years, but this is their first championship. It was well-earned as they perhaps defeated a more talented overall team, but played with passion and ability all game long.
Before I go, I’d like to thank some people who have made this all possible. First are the tournament organizers Jim and David Soran, Flip Naumburg and Brian O'Farrell. Their dream continues to live on and in many ways, I think this was one of our best tournaments yet.
Perpetual tournament coordinator Connie Streich’s job is never finished and we all admire her for that.
Andy Sharp toils all week on the computer keeping the website up to date and even freshened up the look of the whole thing on the first day and a half here.
Brian Carpenter, Mike Sutherland and Kale Nelson were great as the "grunt" workers and they keep the wheels greased around here.
Michelle Secor and her staff of eager ladies kept the women’s side fully up to date and covered well. Extra special thanks to Allison Bailey who combed through the scores and compiled reports from the women’s side all week long – and usually early enough that I could enjoy dinner with everyone else!
Pat Gartland and his crew on the Boys High School side were great as usual, keeping that side of the tournament running smoothly and doing it in First Class.
My boys from CSU were on point this week as Garrett Fugier, Luke Cantwell and Clayton Wilbanks all pitched in mightily.
Our table crews were awesome, keeping old men and young whippersnappers alike in line all week too. Nikki Soran, Frank Bailey and Sam Boyd were given the prestigious Earl Bill Award for “best staffers” and they all deserved it. Both the Metcalfe brothers were great this week, as were our perpetual table bees.
Tournament photographer Dave Gottonborg tirelessly takes and prepares images for our website and for purchase. He’s clicking away all day and then Photoshopping all night, sometimes up until well after midnight while the rest of us are either in the hot tub or out on the town. Jeff Phillips-Strain created the program that everyone enjoyed as well, so due props to him also.
The trainers, of course, were paramount in treating injuries and making sure my skin didn’t resemble a lobster by the end of the tournament so I thank you for that.
Also, without saying goes thanks to the referees, all of whom had to endure all the heat and strain that the rest of the staff did as well.
I have to thank my wife Tiana too for somehow putting up with this lacrosse lifestyle and letting me run wild like a little kid all year long. I promise that we will take a vacation that doesn’t involve lacrosse soon.
Last are the fans. Thanks to so many of you for writing in and expressing everything from gratitude to disgust at our coverage. We do this for you and we hope everyone enjoyed what we are able to put out.
So that will wrap it up for me and my little blog here in Vail. I certainly did not know what it would become when I started it, nor did I even envision doing one at all when I first got here. One promise I made to myself was that I would earn my keep this week after missing last year’s tournament. I hope that I have been able to inform and entertain over the past 9 days and at least appear a little bit of use. I know that I wasn’t out under the beating sun all day long, but I assure you that I have been working.
And while I’ve missed the creative side of writing, I think that I may just take a little break now. We have our CSU Ram Camp in a week and then after that, it’s just Outlaws for the rest of the summer.
Thank you again for reading. I do hope that you have had as much fun reading as I have writing. Until 2009, loyal bloggership! I look forward to it already.
Vail Shootout Day 9 – 10:00 am
Good morning from the last day of the Shootout. Today we will crown our champions in the Men’s and Women’s Elite Divisions and play out the remainder of the consolation games. The Men’s Elite Championship between Reebok and Team 21 takes place at 1:00 pm at Ford Field. At 11:00 am, Team Rock-it Pocket takes on Brine Elite for the Consolation Championship and 9th place in the tourney. That will be our best performance since our surprising 3rd place finish in 2005.
Doing this blog has been a lot of fun. At current count, I’ve written over 8,500 words and 14 pages of a Word document about the tourney. The most satisfying thing has been just to hear the keyboard rattle away again. I don’t often get to write without a leash, as it were, so this has been especially nice.
My prediction for the game today has Reebok coming away with a win in the 10-7 range. Doc Schneider has been an animal in goal for Reebok and they have a lot of weapons that can do damage on the offensive end of the field. But Team 21 has some exciting players as well, not to mention goaltender Jake Meyers, who can keep his team in the game with athletic stops of his own.
I’ll be leaving for Ford Field to hopefully coach Rock-it Pocket to a Consolation Championship in a few minutes and then back after the Reebok/Team 21 game with a recap and final thoughts. Thanks again for reading and come back next year for more coverage!