Windspeaker Sports Briefs - October 2012

Rabbit in Norway
Wacey Rabbit once again finds himself playing professional hockey in Europe. Rabbit, a 25-year-old forward, is a member of the Lorenskog Ishockeyklubb, a squad that competes in Norway’s pro league.

Rabbit, a member of the Blackfoot Nation from the Blood reserve, had also played overseas during the 2010-11 season. He spent that year with a Croation-based franchise, Zagreb Medvescak, which participates in Austria’s pro circuit.

Rabbit, who was chosen by the Boston Bruins in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft, is off to a decent start with his Norwegian squad. He was pointless in his team’s season-opening 9-1 victory over a club called Tonsberg on Sept. 13. But two days later, in his team’s home opener, Rabbit scored once and added two assists en route to a 9-3 triumph over Rosenborg Elite.

Lorenskog is one of 10 teams in Norway’s pro loop. A year ago it placed second in the regular season standings and advanced to the best-of-seven championship series, losing in six games.

Rabbit spent the majority of last season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the San Antonio Rampage. He earned 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in 71 regular season contests. And he was pointless in 10 playoff contests. He also appeared in three games (earning four assists) last season in the East Coast Hockey League with the Cincinnati Cyclones. During his pro career Rabbit played with two other AHL franchises, Providence Bruins and Milwaukee Admirals.

As for his junior career, Rabbit concluded it with style, helping the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants win the Memorial Cup in 2007.

Iroquois Nationals host worlds
Some Canadian lacrosse fans won’t have to travel that far to attend the next world men’s indoor (box) lacrosse championships. That’s because the Iroquois Nationals have been awarded the rights to the tournament, which will be staged in September of 2005.

The roster of the Iroquois Nationals is traditionally a fairly even split between Aboriginal players who live in Canada and the United States. The semi-finals as well as the gold-medal and bronze-medal games of the 2015 world tournament will be held at the First Niagara Center in downtown Buffalo. The arena, which has a capacity of about 19,000, is home to the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres as well as the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League.

Also, all of the tournament’s round-robin and quarter-final contests will be held at the Onondaga Nation Arena near Syracuse. As a result, this is believed to be the first time that a world championship will be staged on Aboriginal land.

For southern Ontario fans the Buffalo arena is mere minutes from the Ontario/New York border. And the Onondaga facility, which can accommodate about 3,000 fans, is under a two-hour drive from another border crossing.

This world championship is held every four years. Eight clubs participated at the last event held in 2011 in the Czech Republic capital of Prague. The Iroquois Nationals captured the silver medal at the tourney, which was won by Canada.

Organizers anticipate between eight and 12 squads will compete at the 2015 tournament.

Hoops teams head to Winnipeg
Men’s Aboriginal basketball teams from across Canada and the United States will be headed to Winnipeg for a mid-December tournament. As of mid-September, 19 clubs had registered for the Peg City Basketball Tournament, which was scheduled for Dec. 14 to 16. Besides a Winnipeg club, other Canadian entries were from British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

And the American entries thus far were also spread out. Confirmed teams were from the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington. Several others are also expected to take part as the registration deadline is not until Nov. 30.

The tournament will feature a maximum of 32 clubs, which will compete in a double knockout format.

The registration fee is $875 per club. The winning squad will be awarded $10,000. Besides a trophy, team members will also be presented with jackets.

Also, the runner-ups will receive $2,000 and hooded sweaters while members of the third-place team will get $1,000 and T-shirts.

Matches will be staged at four different facilities in Winnipeg. They are the University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba, Red River College and Canadian Mennonite University.

The tournament will also include a three-point contest and a slam dunk contest, open to all tournament players.