Challenge leads to bronze

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The club representing the Iroquois Lacrosse Association almost pulled off a major shocker at this year's Founders Cup tournament.

The ILA side was comprised of Iroquois players from both Canada and the United States, many of whom didn't know the majority of their teammates. And even though the club didn't stage any practices prior to the event, the ILA squad managed to win the bronze medal at the six-team tourney.

"Yes and no," said ILA coach Freeman Bucktooth when asked if he was pleased with the efforts of his charges. "We were expecting to bring home the gold. We had the talent to bring home the gold."

Though the ILA entry didn't play in a league, it was allowed to enter the Founders Cup tourney because any team can technically 'challenge' for the Canadian Jr. B title. The ILA's 25-player roster was chosen just two weeks prior to the tourney.

"One thing we had, and I can't praise the kids enough about this, was their attention," Bucktooth said. "The kids really listened to the instructional part of what we wanted to do. We thought that would be hard because they were all coming from different backgrounds." About half of the team's members were field lacrosse players from upper New York state clubs. The rest were either members of the Akwesasne Lightning of the Ontario Lacrosse Association's Junior B circuit or from the Quebec-based Kahnawake team which played several exhibition contests against OLA squads this year.

Bucktooth said his side looked like a cohesive unit right from its tournament opening game. "And each period we got better and better," he said.

In its opener, the ILA side was downed 13-10 by the host Mimico Mountaineers. But it managed to avenge this loss when the two combatants hooked up again in the bronze-medal match. The ILA handily won this outing 11-4.

Bucktooth though wasn't smiling after his club's 10-5 semi-final loss against the pre-tournament favorites, the Orillia Kings. "We had one letdown in that tournament and that was our semi-final game," he said. "For the whole game things just did not go right for us."

The ILA side qualified for the semis by posting a 2-3 round-robin record, good for the fourth and final playoff spot.