Hall qualifies for Beijing

Heading into last weekend’s World Cup regatta in Duigsberg, Germany, Hall needed to beat fellow Canadian team member Mark Oldershaw in the C-1, 1,000-metre event in order to qualify for this summer’s Games in Beijing. The race served as a dramatic tiebreaker between the two rivals, with Hall having beaten Oldershaw in the same race a week before at a World Cup event in Szeged, Hungary. Not only did Hall defeat Oldershaw, he beat the rest of the pack, finishing first in the event in three minutes, 50.109 seconds, chopping about three seconds off his previous best to capture his first ever World Cup race. He also defeated one of the true superstars of the sport, three-time Olympic champion Andreas Dittmer of Germany, by nearly a second and a half.

Afterwards, Hall said he talked with his coach, Michael Creamer, the person he said deserves equal credit for his success, and both came up with a simple strategy. That was, to simply go hard throughout the race@T1:.

Shamrocks hit the road and come home victorious

The West Island based-Quebec Junior B Lacrosse League Montreal Shamrocks travelled to Laval on Saturday night to complete a home and home series against the Rebels. When the final whistle had blown, head coach Paul Lehmann’s troops had registered their second consecutive win by a score of 9-0. Team captain Jason Martin led the way with three goals while Thiery Boislard, an underage 14-year-old, chipped in with two goals and an assist. Mitch Hannigan picked up the shutout.

Despite the win, Shamrocks general manager Jean Boislard expressed concern over conditions at Richard Trottier Arena in Laval.

“The floor of the arena was simply too damp and too dangerous to play lacrosse on,” he said.

The win completed a sweep for the Shamrocks in the series. They defeated the Rebels 12-3 last Wednesday night at the Dorval Arena.

The Shamrocks are in action tonight in Dorval when Longueil pays a visit. Game time is 8 p.m.