Calgary lacrosse player part of silver-winning team

Accolades keep pouring in for Jeff Shattler.

Yet the 26-year-old Ojibwe, who stars in the National Lacrosse League with the Calgary Roughnecks, is not entirely satisfied with his latest feat.

Shattler was a member of the Iroquois Nationals squad that won the silver medal at the world indoor (box) lacrosse tournament, which concluded on May 28 in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

Shattler and his teammates were downed 13-6 by Canada in the gold-medal contest.

“I’m not really satisfied (with the silver medal),” said Shattler, who was born in Edmonton but moved east at the age of two and grew up in Toronto. “I don’t believe we played to our potential in the final.”

Shattler, who recently bought a condo in Calgary, was pleased though with an honour that was bestowed upon him earlier in May. For his efforts with the Roughnecks this past season he was selected as the NLL’s most valuable player.

Shattler was one of the Iroquois Nationals’ top offensive players in Prague. He finished third in team scoring accumulating 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in five games.

But he registered only a pair of points, including one goal, in the gold-medal battle.

“We just weren’t capitalizing on our chances,” Shattler said of his team’s efforts in the championship match.
Yet Shattler will still have his share of fond memories from the world tournament in Prague.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “I enjoyed it over there. Our only real games though were playing against the (United) States and Canada.”

Eight teams participated in the world tournament.

The Iroquois Nationals had a pair of relatively easy contests at the start of the event. They registered a convincing 23-3 triumph over Ireland in their opener and then downed the host Czechs 25-5.

The Iroquois Nationals’ first true test of the tournament came in their final round-robin match, where they scraped out an 11-10 win against the U.S.

Then, in the semi-final contest, the Iroquois Nationals had to square off against the Czechs once again. They earned a 19-6 victory in that match to advance to the gold-medal game.

Duane Jacobs, the Iroquois Nationals head coach, said he was impressed with Shattler’s play in Prague.

“He played well for us,” Jacobs said. “He’s an excellent lacrosse player. He fit in well with our team. He runs the floor well and has a lot of skill.”

Shattler and his teammates were thankful they were allowed to compete in Prague. Last summer the Iroquois Nationals were involved in a well-documented passport controversy that prevented them from participating in the world field lacrosse championships in England.

Officials from the United Kingdom didn’t allow the Iroquois Nationals members to travel to England with their Haudenosaunee passports.

Though Shattler had been named to the Iroquois Nationals team that was to compete in England, family and work commitments would have prevented him from taking part if the team had been allowed to go overseas.
This year Czech officials allowed the Iroquois Nationals to travel to Prague with their Haudenosaunee passports. The majority of the team members flew out of Montreal.
“To get across with Aboriginal passports was a huge movement,” Shattler said.

But since he was flying out of Calgary and joined the team in Prague, Shattler said he travelled with his Canadian passport.