Thunderstruck!

After two days of intense competition at the Vancouver Invitational, the Ontario Thunder clinched the D1 title and the Portland Pounders and Seattle Slam booked their place in the D2 final!

D1: Thunder Guaranteed 1st Place with a Day to Play

With two more wins on Day 2, the Ontario Thunder clinched the top spot in the round-robin tournament.

They opened their day with a 50-34 win over Team BC in which all of their players got on the court. Teenage rookie Rio Kovaks had a great game for the Thunder and showcased his potential against his fellow up-and-coming athletes from BC.

The Thunder had a tougher test in the evening’s feature match-up with Team Germany. The Germans knew that a win would keep their title hopes alive and brought great intensity to the match.

Their experience would ultimately prove to be the difference maker, as they used several crucial offensive adjustments to stretch their lead and ended up with a 57-49 win to clinch back-to-back titles.

Messy Middle

While the D1 title is already decided, a wild Saturday means there are still plenty of bragging rights up for grabs in D1.

After an 0-2 start on Day 1, the Alberta Roughnecks beat Quebec and BC on Saturday to push their way into the 3rd place with a game left. The team was particularly impressive in a 59-45 win over Team Quebec.

While the Roughnecks rose, the Lightning crashed on Day 2. They had two tough losses falling 63-52 to Germany and 57-50.

Despite being without a win, Team BC continues to show great improvement. After a couple of lopsided losses on Friday, they put together a pair of gritty performances in competitive matches on Day 2.

Standings

Team	Wins	Losses	Tries For	Tries Against	Try Differential
Thunder	5	0	279	243	+36
Quebec	3	2	259	242	+17
Germany	2	2	243	202	+41
Alberta	2	2	224	219	+5
Lightning	2	2	224	223	+1
BC	0	5	199	285	-86

D2: Pacific Northwest Rivals Continue to Roll

Portland and Seattle are set to meet in a 2nd consecutive Vancouver Invitational final. Saturday saw Portland defeat BC Development twice, winning 52-28 in their final pool match and 39-35 in a much tighter semifinal.

After dropping their semifinals, BC Development and the Alberta Bighorns will meet in Sunday’s 3rd place game.

Sponsor Shout-Out

We’d like to send a huge thank you to Murphy Battista LLP and ChairStuff for supporting the Vancouver Invitational and providing Saturday’s lunches for all the athletes and volunteers.