Tag: lacrosse

Recaplets: What the Truck, Edmonton Rush, MADJAM

My list of things to write about is always longer than I can manage, so from time to time I find it helpful to do some mini recaps, or recaplets. Here’s the latest edition:

What the Truck?!

Hard to believe we’re already in our fifth year, but it’s true! Our team of organizers has grown to seven this year, with the addition of Katherine, Mikhaila, and Su.

We’ve hosted two events already this year, with another three to go. Our season kicked off on May 23 at Churchill Square and thanks in part to amazing weather, we had record attendance. Sharon recapped it here, and even with more than 20 events under our belts, we’re still learning about things we can do better.

What the Truck?! at Churchill Square

Our second event took place on Sunday and was a much quieter affair, but it was our first attempt at brunch and we were just thankful it didn’t rain on us! We loved the location though, at 108 Street right in front of the Federal Building, so I think it’s safe to say we’ll try to return there again next season.

Our next three events are taking place on July 10 at Northlands Park, August 22 at TELUS Field, and September 11 back in Churchill Square. Hope to see you there!

Edmonton Rush win the NLL Champions Cup

I know I have already mentioned the big Edmonton Rush victory in my Edmonton notes, but I wanted to expand on it a little.

Edmonton Rush win NLL Champions Cup

Winning the title is always the goal but winning at home? You couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the 10th anniversary season. For me, the victory was made even sweeter as I was in the crowd with my brother. We have been attending Rush games since the very beginning. Actually since before the beginning, as we went to the training camp back in 2005 too! We travelled down to Calgary to witness the first ever Edmonton Rush victory in 2006 and while that was amazing, winning the title is something else.

Edmonton Rush 2015 Western Final

Here’s what owner Bruce Urban wrote:

“Ten years of blood, sweat and tears have amounted to this, our first Champions Cup title in team history. We’ve had to make some moves over the years, trades that haven’t been easy, but we did so knowing that we were building a championship calibre team, one that Edmonton could be proud of.”

I’m not sure if the Rush will remain in Edmonton, but I hope they do. There are lots of reasons it would make sense for the Oilers Entertainment Group to own the team, but it seems that ship may have sailed. Anyway, I’ve enjoyed being a fan for the last ten years and look forward to many more victories!

MADJAM

Back in early May I stopped by the finals of the second MADJAM event of the year, called the GDX Super Jam. You can read the full event summary here. At each of the MADJAM events, game developers have as little as 24 hours or as long as a week to build a game from scratch.

MADJAM April 25, 2015

There were 33 participants and 7 games involved in the GDX Super Jam. They had a week, and while some people spent 2-3 hours per day, others spent significantly more. It all paid off though as every team gets thorough, constructive feedback from the judges on how to improve (in addition to some great prizes).

The winning team was Nick Samoli and Jeremy Burns who built a game called “No One Was Here”. The judges praised their music, among other things. I talked to them afterward and while they put in a ton of effort, they wished they had had an artist on the team. Looking forward to seeing what they build next!

MADJAM April 25, 2015

The next MADJAM event is coming up in July at K Days. Participants will have a week and the winners will get admission for the last three days of the festival. Stop by and check out the incredible budding game developers we have here in Edmonton!

Bonus Notes

This was my first year as an attendee of Eat Alberta, after being a member of the organizing team. Sharon and I had a great time, which you can read about here. The organizing team did a great job!

After a few years of helping out with the digital side of the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, I have decided to step away from that committee. I enjoyed working with everyone there and am excited to see what they come up with for 2016. I look forward to keeping my attendance streak alive next year! Here’s my recap of the 2015 event.

I’ve got at least one more year to go as a member of the Edmonton Food Council. We announced our newest members a few weeks ago, and we just had our first meeting with the entire group last week. At that meeting we learned a lot about the food processing industry here in Edmonton, very interesting stuff. I feel like we have a decent foundation in place now, so hopefully we can take the Council forward more publicly in the year ahead.

Edmonton Rush take first win in Calgary!

Last night can only be described as sweet! The Edmonton Rush organized a bus to take fans from Edmonton down to Calgary to watch the Rush take on the Roughnecks, so Tom and I bought tickets to go. In all there was about thirty people on the bus, give or take, but there were far more fans in the Rush section (which was section 210 if you know the Saddledome). And man am I ever glad we decided to go – seeing the Rush record their first ever franchise win, and in Calgary no less, was awesome! Sure it would have been nice to win at home, but if you have to win elsewhere, might as well keep the Battle of Alberta alive while you’re at it.

The first half of the game was actually very tight, with no more than a goal separating the teams. Eventually we took a four goal lead (our first such lead ever) only to see it wash away almost as quickly. We were up by one goal with about 30 seconds left, and Calgary overturned the ball. Our goalie Campbell, who played an amazing game stopping 67 shots, got the ball and instead of killing time, decided to throw it up the middle! If you know how bad that is in hockey, trust me, it’s worse in lacrosse, and sure enough they tied the game with about 10 seconds left. We thought we were going to OT, but Bergman somehow saved the day:

Bergman scooped up a loose ball at centre and, with time running out, ran down the floor and fired a shot at Calgary goaltender Curtis Palidwor. The ball bounced straight out off Palidwor’s pad, hit Calgary’s Andrew Biers on the leg and bounced into the net as the final buzzer sounded.

It was crazy! I really didn’t think there was enough time left, but the goal was reviewed and it stood, and we’ll take it. Everyone in the Rush section went crazy, and Calgary fans started to leave and throw things on the field.

Some other things of note:

  • There was about 12,000 people at the game last night.
  • When the Roughnecks come on the field, they run through a small, crappy version of the Oiler’s famous oil derrick.
  • Even though we had some penalties, the game looked like one of our most disciplined this season. We need to stay out of the penalty box!
  • The dance team in Calgary is called the Drill Crew, and they are pretty good. Our Crush girls even did one dance at the game.
  • The screen at the Saddledome is not nearly as nice as ours, but they have little TV’s above all the urinals in the washrooms! And they have Tim Horton’s and Subway inside the concourse too!
  • Tom and I were sitting one row behind, and about 6 or 7 seats to the right of some of the Crush girls. With about three minutes left in the game they started looking back at us provocatively! As Tom said, “have the gods shone down upon me?” Turned out they just wanted someone to go buy them more beer – sorry girls, not when we’re about to win the game!
  • I was surprised that we were on an ordinary old bus. I kind of expected the Rush to have some fancy barbed wire bus plastered with Rush logos! I guess they have set expectations high with all of their other marketing stuff.
  • The Edmonton guys do a much better job of keeping things interesting, keeping the tempo up in the stadium as the game goes on. Rush home games seem like much more of an event!

The bus ride home was much more high energy than the ride to the game. As we drove away from the stadium, everyone started chanting “one and six, one and six!”

The Rush take on Colorado on March 3rd, where hopefully we’ll get our second win and move one step closer to the playoffs!

Read: Edmonton Rush

Edmonton Rush and Swollen Members

Post ImageI went with Tom to the Rush game last night and even though we didn’t win (lost 7-6 in regulation) it was a pretty cool night anyway! The half time entertainment was three members of Swollen Members, and they performed four songs including one from their upcoming album. But that wasn’t the best part.

Our row of seats must have been really lucky last night, because we all kept winning things! Tom was randomly selected to win a Rush prize pack and was chosen as a finalist in the Argyll Motorosports contest to win a quad! He got a couple t-shirts, a hat, wristbands to meet the team and cheerleaders after the game, and two tickets to the final game (so he has four total now). Shortly after that the guys next to us won a prize as it was one of their birthdays. And a little later the people at the end of the row won something too!

At the end of the game, the guys next to us left their t-shirt and wristbands at their seats (don’t ask my why) so we gladly took them! Tom and I each had a Rush t-shirt, so we went down to the field to meet the team and the Crush girls and to get autographs. It was pretty cool, and damn, those Crush girls are really hot!

The attendance at this game wasn’t as high as the first two home games, but it was still a very respectable 8,700 or so. We’re still winless, but at least we’re keeping it close. The first win will come sooner or later!

Read: Edmonton Rush

Edmonton Rush Inaugural Game

Post ImageMy brother got season tickets for our brand new lacrosse team, the Edmonton Rush, for Christmas so I was lucky enough to go to the season home opener last night at Rexall Place. We had really great seats, so we got to see everything really well (here’s a picture I took with my camera phone). Unfortunately the Rush didn’t win, but it was an excellent game and a great experience:

Fans at the Edmonton Rush inaugural game were treated to an exciting contest as the San Jose Stealth edged the Rush 10-9 in overtime at Rexall Place. Stealth rookie forward Jeff Zywicki notched the game-winning goal at two minutes 59 seconds into the overtime period to secure the win for San Jose in front of 11,385 fans. The contest was a defensive struggle for the better part of the game until the teams found themselves in a shootout in the final minutes. In the final four minutes of regulation, the two teams combined for five goals, including a game-tying goal by Rush forward Brad Dairon with just seventeen seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, sending the contest into overtime.

Entertainment was name of the game last night, and it was everywhere. Here are some of the highlights:

  • They don’t have an oil derrick, but the Rush players did come onto the field with fireworks, smoke and lights!
  • The Rush also have a dance team, called Edmonton’s Crush. That’s hot, as Paris would say!
  • We are the only lacrosse club to have a live DJ playing music, DJ Rush. If you’ve never been to a lacrosse game, and chances are you haven’t, you won’t know that they play music while the teams are playing! It’s great too because when we have the ball, its always loud, powerful music and when the opposition has the ball, it’s quieter music.
  • The Seattle Supersonic’s famous mascot Squatch was on hand to introduce our official mascot, his long lost cousin, Slush. Tom and I even got to “high five” Squatch.
  • Heard of Orange Country Choppers? Sure you have! And the Rush have their very own chopper, and man is it cool. We’ve also got a monster truck apparently.
  • The game did get violent at times, even though there were no fights. Tom assures me there is usually a fight.

There’s lots of tickets available if you want to check out the next game. And if you’re new to lacrosse, here’s a good introduction to lacrosse, including the rules of the National Lacrosse League.

Read: Edmonton Rush

Edmonton Rush Training Camp at WEM

Post ImageI watched some of the Edmonton Rush training camp today at West Edmonton Mall with my brother (and Kimmi too, though the lure of shopping was too great for her). Tom is a big lacrosse fan, so he was quite excited that he could check out the camp, though not so thrilled that the little kids got all the good stuff (like stickers). Wondering who the Edmonton Rush are? They’re our very own lacrosse team, and they play in the National Lacrosse League. They had a whole day of activities planned for today at WEM:

The Edmonton Rush will announce tomorrow, Saturday, November 26 at West Edmonton Mall’s Ice Palace its player roster for the 2006 NLL Season. Players will be introduced to fans at 11:00 a.m. and following introductions the Rush will officially open its 2006 main training camp.

The roster of 23 players and 3 practice players has been built through trades, signing of talented free agents, draft picks and an open tryout camp in October.

I’ll definitely have to check out a game or two when the season starts after the holidays. Apparently they have a really good “dance team” too, cheerleaders!

Read: Edmonton Rush