Team NW returned to beautiful Victoria BC to try and erase last year's championship loss and finally drink from the Cup at the SummerSlam tournament. Incredible weather and great competition made for a memorable weekend. Friday night the famed Victoria nightlife started off right with a spectacular stage show at Team NW's favorite hangout, Monty's. Saturday Team NW had their first game against a spirited Cascade squad composed of veteran players from the PNLA. Team NW looked good, maybe too good. After a convincing win in game 1, Team NW came out unprepared and lost the day's second game to Victoria 7-4 in a hard fought game on the Devil's astroturf.

Team NW shook off the loss and spent the afternoon in the sun watching the legends of Canadian World Lacrosse dismantle the "competition" in the Master's division. The Guzzlers, a team consisting of some of the greatest players ever to pick up a stick including Bill Marechek, Kevin Alexander, the Hamilton brothers, Al "Zoo" Zuzula and many more former World team members delighted the impromptu Team NW beer garden with spectacular play.

Sunday morning Team NW lined up against Sturgis 911 in the semi final on a perfect natural grass field. Tensions flared in the first quarter when Sturgis looked to play the goon card, but both teams settled down and battled back and forth for the remainder of the game. Sturgis played strong defense and finished with precision on offense to take a 3 goal lead into the fourth quarter. Team NW would not be denied and tied the game in the final minutes on a great garbage goal by Ryan Painter. Matt Spies scored a beautiful bounce shot to seal the victory for Team NW early in OT.

The Final game brought Victoria and Team NW back to the astroturf cauldron inside the velodrome. Team NW regained their first game form and shot to a commanding 5-0 lead. But no lead is insurmountable for the steely Victoria team and sure enough they fought back to tie the game late in the third quarter on the backs of Fred Jenner and Darren Reisig. Team NW controlled the ball, with Tournament MVP Neil Warf winning key face-offs down the stretch. Colin Lake scored a low to high rocket shot over Jeff Gombar in OT to cap the day. Two stellar games with OT wins over great teams from Canada made beer from the cup all the sweeter.

Team Northwest Roster:

Attack
Colin Lake
Ryan Painter
Willard Ostrander
Scott Carlyn
Kyle Warf

Mids
Matt Spies
John Tamerlano
Neil Butterfield
Brandon Fortier
Jordon Bayly
Dan Frankel
Eli Sonkin
Marc Bissell
Erik Norwood
Neil Warf
Doug Foster

Defense
Dejon Hush
Spencer Evans
Greg Erhnman
Dave "Wunda"
Travis Bradley

Goalie
Dylan Meyers