Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 12/2/11
From Press Releases and Staff Reports
Hill School senior goalie Brennan Donville has been named to represent Canada at the 2012 FIL Under 19 Men’s Field World Championships being held in Turku, Finland, the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) has announced.
The team also features assistant coach Taylor Wray, head coach at St. Joseph’s University and former captain of the Philadelphia Wings.
Donville, who has committed to Cornell, is a transfer from St. Michael’s College School.
The selection of the final 24 players was not an easy one and follows a successful final selection camp held over the November 25-27, 2011 weekend in Oshawa, Ontario. The camp offered 50 spaces for players who were selected from the over two hundred player applications received since the player application period opened. The final selections also come after many weeks of Team Canada coaching staff and scouts, who are scattered throughout the country, seeking out players, watching them in action and comparing notes on prospective players and those up and coming for future programs.
Being selected to attend the camp was an impressive accomplishment and the players were put through their paces.
Team Canada Head Coach, Brodie Merrill – a recent acquisition of the Philadelphia Wings – summarized the final selection camp, “as expected, the players performed very well and conducted themselves with class on and off the field. The players experienced a lot of lacrosse in a short period of time and I was impressed with how they handled themselves.
“They showed strength through adversity and were able to sustain a high level of effort in order to compete throughout the entire weekend. I think it is a reflection of how important the national program is to young Canadian lacrosse players. All 50 players are fully capable of representing Team Canada and should certainly feel proud of their effort and their role in the process of achieving our program objectives. We are confident in the team we have selected and confident in the process we went through to get to this point. The focus will now quickly shift to preparing the team for Finland.”
Merrill’s comments were echoed by the CLA’s National Team Director of Men’s Field, Dave Huntley, “The level of play at this camp exceeded the already high expectations we had going in. The level of athleticism and skill demonstrated by the players speaks volumes about the development of these athletes at the local and provincial level and bodes well for the future of Canadian lacrosse. Our coaches had a lot of difficult decisions to make in coming up with the group that will represent Canada in 2012.”
Defensive Coordinator Wray said, “this was certainly one of the deepest and most talented pools of defensive players we have ever had at Team Canada U19 tryout. The final decisions were extremely difficult, but I feel we have selected the best group to represent our country and give us the opportunity to win the World Championship. It is a versatile group of athletes with great speed, toughness, skill level and overall athleticism. We focused on selecting players we felt would operate well within the defensive system and would be able to able offer benefits to our transition game. I’m really looking forward to coaching this group.”
CLA Vice President of International Competition, Stewart Begg, has been with the Team Canada program during each step of the selection and shared his thoughts on the process and future of Canada’s national teams, “the CLA is very proud of the effort and investment our coaching staff and scouts have put into our national team program and long term strategy. Young lacrosse players will see this team take to the field in Finland and will be inspired and infused with pride just as our Head Coach, Brodie Merrill was, who as a young lacrosse player, witnessed Canada come back from an 11-1 deficit in a world championship game against the US in 1998. The future could not be more exciting for young lacrosse players who dream one of day of playing for Canada.”
Canada’s 2012 U-19 National Team:
First, Last, Province, Club, NCAA School
Dan Lintner, Ontario, Whitby/Oshawa, Cornell, 2010
Joe French, Ontario, Mimico, Georgetown, 2013
Turner Evans, Ontario, Peterborough, Ohio State, 2011
Reily O’Connor, Ontario, Whitby/Oshawa, Georgetown, 2011
Zack Herreweyers, Ontario, Wallaceburg, Loyola, 2012
Reegan Comeault, BC, Langley, Ohio State, 2011
Jesse King, BC, Victoria, Ohio State, 2011
Wesley Berg, BC, Coquitlam, Denver, 2011
Brian Cole, Ontario, Oakville, Maryland, 2011
Joel Tinney, Ontario, Guelph, Hopkins, 2014
Kyle Jackson, Ontario, Sarnia, Michigan, 2012
Tyler Albrecht, Ontario, Oakville, Cornell, 2012
Chad Tutton, Ontario, Whitby/Oshawa, UNC, 2011
Jay Lindsay, Ontario, Burlington, Uncommitted
Ian MacKay, Ontario, Port Elgin, Vermont, 2013
Derek Searle, Ontario, Hamilton, Cornell, 2012
Danny MacDermott, BC, Richmond, NYIT, 2010
Aaron Moroney, Ontario, Whitby/Oshawa, Towson, 2012
Leo Stourous, Ontario, Brampton, Uncommitted
Tyler Gilligan, Ontario, Whitby/Oshawa, Marquette, 2011
Kyle Trolley, Ontario, Peterborough, Notre Dame, 2011
Brennan Donville, Ontario, Oakville (Hill School), Cornell, 2012
Hayden Johnstone, Ontario, Toronto Beaches, Stony Brook, 2013
Ross Bowman, BC, New Westminster, Uncommitted
Men’s Field National Team Director – Dave Huntley
Head Coach – Brodie Merrill (ON)
Offensive Coordinator – Matt Brown (BC)
Defensive Coordinator – Taylor Wray (AB)
Substitution Box/Faceoff – Geoff Snider (AB)
Goalie Coach – Angus Dineley (ON)
Offensive Coach- Scott Browning (BC)
Defensive Coach –David Summerville (ON)
The 2012 U19 Men’s Field World Championships will be held July 12th to 21st in Turku, Finland. Team Canada will be playing for gold against Australia, Bermuda, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Iroquois Nationals, Netherlands, USA and Wales.
Leave a Reply