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On Thursday, NLLInsider.com published legendary coach Bobby Allan’s take on the 1978 Team Canada gold medal in England. Here Jim Calder helped pull together more thoughts and memories from the players and coaches involved in that landmark victory. The Canadians defend their 2006 gold medal beginning next week, July 16 in Manchester, England. InsideLacrosse.com and NLLInsider.com will have full coverage of all the action from across the pond.

Don Barrie – Asst. Coach
•    I remember Bob, Gus and I going over to watch the Americans practice while we were in Manchester, wondering how we would ever match-up with that team.

•    Later, I remember sitting on the floor of the dorm after the loss to the Americans in the round robin discussing how we might transfer the box skills of the team to the field if we ever got another shot at the Americans.

•    Until you are part of a championship team that went through so much adversity to win, you do not realize how close you become with those involved. Some of my best memories in sport revolve around that team.

Mike French – #14

•    There are many, many great memories from ‘78.  In general how we came together after our first loss to the U.S.  How we trusted each other under Bobby Allan’s leadership.  I also think the extra-man play that we never perfectly executed until the overtime against the U.S. when everything worked to perfection and Stanley was wide open for my pass and ultimately the winning score.  I also think the camaraderie amongst all teams (countries) in the dorm where we all stayed together and interacted was very special.  So many other events…Gypsy and the “white shoes”.

•    I was one of the first to attend a U.S. college (with Jimmy, Hunts, Gypsy, Greves, Calder and a few others).  Now I look at the Canadian influence that we have in the Division I, II and III levels in the NCAA and that makes me feel extremely proud that we were able to pioneer the growth of Canadian field participation as a result of our victory.

Brian Jones  #23

•    The England goalie wanted to get a goalie stick from Flintoff; turns out the goalie’s sister owned a wee British Pub and we went there to meet him and his sister. I learned never to drink toe to toe with an Englishman!!!!! The next day was the changing of the guards. It was cold out and I didn’t mind.

•    Correct me if I am wrong but I thought it was a classy act of the Americans bringing champagne down to our room after the championship game.

•    Gus and I where euchre partners in the Boro (Peterborough) one night at the hotel on the tenth floor. Not sure who we where playing but every time we lost he would throw the deck out the window. Eventually the police showed up but they couldn’t figure what room we where in. It was priceless the next morning when we where leaving the hotel.

•    ’78 was a great experience – lots of memories and more importantly all the friendships.

Fred Greenwood #3

•    Playing exhibition games; every team we lost to we beat in the return match. Watching Carm use his stick as a “scythe” on an American opponent in an exhibition match in Peterborough. The recipient was incredulous; he actually said, “You can’t do that”. We just laughed.

•    On the bus to the final, “Wass” and the rest of us: Can a da! Can a da!

•    After winning, jumping up and down for joy, calling home, saying we won. Incredible.

•    The trading of sticks and sweats with opponents at the get together.

•    Having a grant in aid to Cornell in 1968 (didn’t go) and playing on Eastern National teams in the early 70s made me realize this game I liked. (tactics and open field: awesome). I began coaching high school. The game has grown in leaps and bounds. Must be over 250 kids playing south of the border today.

•    We experienced a “trip of a lifetime”. Lifelong friendships. To be “underdogs” and win, there is no better experience in sport.

Jim Branton #25

•    I enjoyed being a part of the Canadian team and am proud of what we accomplished, but that was a long time ago. If I am mentioned somewhere down the road as being a small part of that team, I am happy with that. I’m very busy as a construction teacher and coaching in the Oshawa Minor Hockey Association.

Pat Differ #24

•    Lead up to trip: all those flights back Friday nights and bus trips to play games, then back on the plane Sunday night and to work Monday morning. “Whatcha do on the weekend?”… “Oh.. nothin.” How sore my legs were from the different type of running compared to box.

•    During games: the weather! And feeling our way around the field. It was hard being so far away from everybody out there. Somewhere, just before the last couple of games the feeling that ball control was the secret, just like box. Especially during the last game, watching the last face-off meltdown by the U.S. guys when Wass was cheating on the draw. (What else is new?)

•    After the victory: Bobby saying in the dressing room “We didn’t do bad for not knowing what we’re doing!” My feeling was that something kind of unexplainable had just happened. How we all shared in the experience as a team.

•    From the time I was 7 until I was 42 I never missed a summer of lacrosse. Like most of us, lacrosse is who we are. The ’78 team was special and over all those years and different teams in different leagues East and West, that team experience was the shortest but steepest mountain to climb. We were all leaders and great teammates and the experience and result made me a better person with a stronger belief that anything is possible on any given day. Every moment from those days we shared was a very unique team experience. We were 100% dedicated to lacrosse anyway; being on this team was an honor.

Sandy Lynch # 27

•    Lead up to the trip – flat tire on our bus on the Sunday of the May long weekend on the New Jersey Turnpike and spending half the night along the side of the highway, limping along on the bus until we finally arrived into a small sleepy town early Monday AM and went to ‘Al’s Tire Shop’ for repairs. We were so tired, we were so giddy and everything was so funny, especially some of us helping Al fix the tire…..looking back, this hardship and adversity was great team building experience.

•    During games: dinner in London at Topo Gigio restaurant with Carm, Doug Hayes and some of the boys before going to Manchester.

•    Walking across some fields in Manchester to go to practice on the day between games — about 6 of us — and these guys all dressed in white came running out of clubhouse yelling and screaming at us…..I guess we were walking across their Cricket Pitch with our cleats on……(no Cricket in the Boro).

•    After victory: on-field celebration, party at the University of Manchester, Ashburne Hall, not sleeping all night, bus trip to London.

•    We came home and Stan Cockerton and I started and ran Men’s Oshawa Blue Knights Field Lacrosse team. The league and the team are still going strong…I got the trophy named after me for being one of six founders of league -Stan took over when I moved west in 1983.

•    Arriving in London and going to the Canadian High Commission in the UK………meeting Hugh Falkner on the steps coming out as we were going in…………Hugh was our member of Parliament for Peterborough at the time.

•    Jim Calder giving up the treasured #12 jersey to John Grant in the dressing room before England……the look of relief and pure joy in Stud’s face could only be truly appreciated by those who have known John and played with him before and knew what that number meant to Long John.

•    Final Dinner/Banquet on the Saturday night……the one English guy talked for over 30 minutes……when he was done, we all gave him a standing ovation…………(I think he actually thought he did a good job.)

Ted Greves #22

•    Lead up to  the trip – I can recall the fun trip that Art Webster and I took to Maryland, and driving down to Florida from Niagara that took 30 hours (I believe) to play in a tournament and rooming with Gypsy (Johnny Mouradian) at Carlton University while preparing for the World Championship.

•    During games – Losing 28 to 4 to the American Team and then going on to win in the final against the Americans in triple overtime.

•    After the victory – The bus ride from Manchester back to London after our world championship win and the terrific spirit on the bus. The spirits were flowing as well, and I had one of my funniest moments when we stopped at a rest stop/restaurant on the highway. Gypsy of course made an extremely funny comment and we couldn’t stop laughing for an hour. Also my wife and mother made the trip to England to see the tournament and our victory, which was doubly heart-warming.

•    As with any teams that are “winners” I have a great affection for the team and the sport. That was the last time I played field lacrosse.

•    I have played many sports for many teams but the three coaches that affected me the most in a favourable way in no particular order are Bob Allen (National Field Team), Bill Ware (Ithaca College) and Peter Conradi (Niagara Jr. B Warriors). There probably isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of one of them. That is probably why lacrosse has a special place in my heart. As well, lacrosse has given me two great friends in Mike French and Johnny Mouradian and the great times we’ve had and for that I will be forever grateful.

John Grant #12

•    Lead up to the trip – I remember our trips down to Syracuse to play exhibition games on Manley Field, stopping off at the Carling Brew store to stock up for our brewskies.

•    During games – It was so cold and miserable that most of us were bitching and chewing about the weather. I remember one practice, the sun came out, and we dropped our sticks and cheered. Five minutes later it poured down rain again. I remember at breakfast, Barry Bartlett stood up and gave us crap about all the negativity that he had to listen to about the weather, etc. He called us a bunch of wimpy Canadians. The next taping was at 2 and if he heard another negative we could tape ourselves. We gave him a standing ovation.

•    After the victory – I remember going crazy on the field after we won, singing victory songs and I remember sitting in the dressing room reflecting on our accomplishment and thinking that I was glad it was over, that we could get back to Canada and enjoy the summer. I traded my stick for a Bobby’s hat. Coming in to the Toronto Airport the doors opening up and the amount of people that were there to cheer for us was a great memory of what we had accomplished in representing our sport and our country.

•    Anytime you can represent your country while playing the sport that you love can only have a positive impact on you. This experience helped to further develop my National pride.

•    You never know what role you play in the History of the Game but our ’78 team put a lot of pressure on other Canadian teams to win. Finally, in 2006 at the World Championships in London Ontario, John Jr. asked if he could take my ’78 field helmet to the team’s dorm. As it sat on the table, players reflected on beating the US for the gold. On their way down to the stadium, they each tapped the helmet and wrote in magic marker ’78 on their helmets. They went on to win the 2006 World Championships and finally broke, according to Gary Gait, the “curse”.

Jim Calder #2

•    Lead Up – I was attending Hobart as a Junior at the time and tried out with the team when they came through Syracuse. Even though I had been born in Regina I have to say that I was by all definition an “American” at that point. I had only recently learned that I was still Canadian and eligible for the team just before Syracuse. Over the remainder of that spring I took a lot of long bus rides from Geneva, N.Y., to Toronto and Ottawa to meet up with the team. I remember we took a trip back to the US by bus one weekend and went through customs. Bobby Allan and the staff warned us to be on our best behaviour. The customs officer came on board the bus and was making his way through the bus asking questions of every player. He got to the back of the bus and we thought we were good until he made it to the “’Boro Section”. He asked John Grant what was his citizenship. John replied with his goofiest grin – “Canader – Sir!” We were ordered off the bus immediately and had to unload everything while they took their time searching every nook and cranny. Bobby and the management were not very happy.

•    Another Canadian moment was when Brian Jones took me to see a glitter band in Ottawa during a weekend training camp. We were drinking quarts of Extra Stock and the band was performing “The First Cut is the Deepest” and they had a fake razor that left a trail of fake blood on the lead singer’s face. For a lacrosse player entertainment doesn’t get much better than that!

•    During the games: I just remember how embarrassed and pissed off I felt when we got whomped by the US in the preliminary round 28-4! I had never been on a team that folded like that! Mike French took me aside and explained what box lacrosse series play was all about. We knew we only had one possibility of beating the US in the tourney and after the poor start we had that day the players intuitively knew that that wouldn’t be the day. So they let it go. It really set the US up for the second meeting. No matter how hard they would try to focus on us as a worthy opponent in the final – how could they? – given that score. Also – everyone who attended the final game was for Canada – the crowd was on our side because we were such underdogs.

•    I remember how Marshall Spence and Boyd Baragar (the two men who made Canada’s entry possible that year) worked over the US coaching staff at various functions in between the preliminary round and the championship. They actually caused a schism in the US braintrust, which affected the US team in the final game. Everybody did their part in ’78

•    One thing that Canada had that made up for its lack of field lacrosse experience (only seven guys with NCAA experience) was character. Most of the players on the team were captains and had Minto and Mann Cup experience. They were winners. Also – we had some real size – Doug Hayes, Ted Greves, Mike French, Carm Collins, Jim Branton, Murray Cawker, Brian Jones, Sandy Lynch – to name a few – were all big men – and they played with a physicality that the US hadn’t seen. Even the smaller middies, Jimmy Wasson and Johnny Mouradian, hit hard and often and played big.

•    After the Victory: I remember on the ride over to the stadium how quiet the bus was. I was thinking we were in trouble and that everyone was scared. And then the sticks started beating the floor about a mile out from the Stadium. I have never been on a louder bus – the energy made its way out on the street as we neared the stadium. I have met a US fan at subsequent world championships that was there that day and he heard the bus before it reached the stadium. He said it was unbelievable. We had nothing to lose and felt comfortable in our collective skin. I call that day “The Miracle in the Mud” as it was reminiscent of WWI and trench warfare. The field was wet and the sky was mainly grey and we were up to our ankles in mud around the face-off  “X” and in the crease areas. All I can say is that it was a helluva game. – Back and forth, hard hitting, good calls and bad calls…and we scored last in triple overtime!  We sang “we are the Champions” as we made our way off the field – everyone in the stadium stunned at what they had just seen – a 28-4 underdog winning the world championship! The evening’s festivities are a blur…the bus ride back to London was a blur……Crown Royal and lots of singing…….I truly believe this upset helped International Lacrosse to continue. Up to that point it had been all USA and the other countries were getting discouraged.  It kept it going.

•    Being a part of Team Canada and that improbable world championship changed my life. I subsequently moved back to Canada for good and have made my home and raised my family here. I have been involved with the game at all levels as an organizer, promoter and coach.

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