[CCC] Trafalgar Square Street Hockey Champions!

[Hank Liao]

Dear All,

You may or may not recall, but the Cambridge Canadian Club sent down a 
team, the Cambridge Maple Leafs, to take part in the inaugural Trafalgar 
Cup Street Hockey tournament in London as part of the Canada Day 
celebrations there. We were interviewed live on CBC Newsworld, so if you 
need some amusement you can watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uILflYdqhOc

You can also take a look at some photos from the matches and cup 
presentation here:
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/cdnclub/trafalgarcup/

It was a great time and my spine is still tingling. If you want to hear 
how Cambridge defied the odds and performed a stirring come back from 
behind victory to win the Cup, read the tournament report at the end of 
this email.

Yan, Manish, Lizzie, Chris, Calum, Hari you guys were great!

Hank


Tournament Report
Trafalgar Square, London
June 30

The day began with continuing uncertainty about the team. Last minute 
dropouts prompted last minute call ups and Half-Blue Hari Kunduri heeded 
the call. The packed train ride down to London proved uneventful, yet 
upon arrival a player mysteriously disappeared. Worry began to set in, 
as another player couldn't make the train, and the team was down to 
five. Lizzie's boyfriend and de facto team manager cum stick boy cum 
photographer bravely accepted to fill the avoid if needed. Luckily, Yan 
had only stepped out to show some guests to the hotel, and was at the 
Square when we arrived. Trafalgar Square was decked out in red and white 
when we arrived, maple leaf flags were everywhere and the place buzzing 
with people. Several sightings of hockey sticks and kit on the tube and 
during the walk there indicated we had come to the right spot. It was a 
blistering hot day, with temperatures hovering in the 30s and the sun 
beating down relentlessly.

The first match of the tournament was between the sponsors, Petro-Canada 
and what was likely one of the two Legion teams. This being the first 
street hockey tournament for Canada Day, every team watched on 
tentatively as no one was sure how the 4 on 4 play was going to evolve 
and how Dennis the referee was going to call the 15 minute game. This 
game was decided fairly quickly though, as Petrocan jumped to a quick 
3-0 lead and cruised to a 8 nil victory. The sponsors had set the bar. 
The next two matches proved to be much more closely contested affairs at 
4-1 and 3-2 (or somewhere thereabouts). The Cambridge Maple Leafs played 
last, which was a boon. Since the two teams with the best 
goal-differentials advanced to the final, we knew we had to win by 4 or 
more goals.

When we stepped out  on to the rink, the anticipation started to build. 
Cambridge was taking on the High Commission Team, the Red Room Rockets. 
They were a big team and sure to have some star canucks compared to our 
rag tag bunch of players. With the drop of ball, we were off. The first 
couple of minutes looked evenly matched, as the Captain and Chris 
watched from the bench, with neither team getting any good chances. But 
then a shot was directed in front of the net, and Lizzie McNeely quickly 
pounced on the ball and from short range buried Cambridge's first goal. 
Maybe it was the mango bubble tea beforehand, or the many hours spent 
watching Wayne's World, but Lizzie was transformed from a girl who'd 
never played hockey before to becoming Cambridge's golden girl. The goal 
sparked the team, and with substitutions after the first shift, Chris 
came on on defence, and Hank on offense. With Hari's constant 
encourangement, "we need more goals!", captain Hank quickly netted a 
natural hat trick to put the game away. The flurry of goals seemed to 
sap the energy from the Rockets and the game ended 7-1. Chris, Yan and 
Hari rounded out the scoring. Cambridge was in the final!

The final was played a half hour afterwards. Whereas the Maple Leafs 
were still recovering from the all out effort and having just played, 
Petro Canada was well rested and eager to take us on after scouting us. 
The effects of the fatigue and sun were apparent right away as Cambridge 
came out flat. Nicholson's stellar goaltending was tested early and 
often. The Cambridge defense lapsed when they left a man uncovered to 
the left of the goal, and a perfect pass later Petrocan was up 1-0. The 
goal seemed to trigger urgency in the Cambridge minds and the offense 
began to ratchet up the intensity. After some good cycling, a pass sent 
to the point was buried into the lower corner by Manish Shah with 
Pronger-like accuracy tying the game. Petro Canada would not ease the 
pressure though and halfway through the 20 minute match, their star 
player scored another from far out. The referee slowly counted down the 
time, 4 minutes remaining...  2 minutes... 1 minute. Cambridge played 
desperately to get the next goal, but the Petro Canada forwards' 
backchecking was phenomenal. With 30 seconds left, Hari managed to free 
himself in the slot. The captain with the ball at half spotted him and 
feathered a pass. Hari one timed it into the top corner tying the game 
just as the buzzer sounded!

Disbelief cropped up on the Petro Canada faces and the Cambridge team 
began to believe they could win it all. The overtime was played 
frantically with both teams trading chances. But Calum and the Cambridge 
defence stood strong. After the 2 minutes in extra time, the referee 
called for a shoot out, best of three and then next goal wins. The 
goalies were sharp. The Petrocanada first shooter made a nice move, but 
missed the net. Hank took the first Cambridge shot, rattling it off the 
goaltenders leg for a save. The next 6 shooters were turned away, and 
the crowd was getting tense with anticipation. The fifth Petrocanada 
shooter went in quickly and for deke, but this again was saved by Calum, 
the Blues goalie. The Maple Leafs fifth shooter was Yan and he went in 
coolly, and with quick shot rifled one into the bottom lefthand corner. 
Cambridge won!

We all collapsed in sheer joy as the crowd cheered us on. We were all 
exhausted but ecstatic by this unbelievable come from behind win. 
Cameras started rolling in, photos were being snapped. The organisers 
got us together and the High Commissioner presented us the Trafalgar 
Square Cup and prizes. We paraded it around like we had won the Stanley 
Cup as we were declared champions of the inaugural Trafalgar Square 
Street Hockey Canada Day Tournament. Unbelievable.

Hank







-- 
Hank Liao
Machine Intelligence Lab, Research Student
Cambridge University Engineering Dept.
+44 (0)1223 332754 W
hank at cantab.net      http://mi.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hl251/