The United States sent a shockwave through Canadian lacrosse on Saturday, winning the inaugural Heritage Cup, in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the 21-16 final score indicates.

Deb McAllister Outsider's Guide   Canadian captain Jim Veltman defends Tim Soudan during Saturday's Heritage Cup game.

In the week leading up to the game, Jim Veltman was quoted saying he wanted to assert Canadian dominance on the indoor game the way the Americans have on the field game.

Veltman's script went up in flames.

The Americans showed their athletic supremacy with dominating speed and physical play, while the Canadians failed to show their superior skill. Perhaps it was the choice of helmets -- the Canadians wore field lacrosse helmets, while the Americans were wearing hockey helmets which are more commonly used in the Canadian box game.

The game began as expected, with Veltman getting the first loose ball on the opening draw. Josh Sanderson rang the first of many pipes for the Canadians, and then things began to unravel for the Canadians. Team USA was playing tough defensively, forcing a couple of turnovers and getting a shot clock violation. Dan Teat hit the second pipe for Canada, then Veltman made a great play for no result. "Scoop" picked up a loose ball at center and fought for a shot after the defense was all over him the whole way in, but American goaltender Dwight Maetche made the stop.

Marshall Abrams went off for holding at 6:53, but the Americans did a nice job killing the penalty, the only threat coming when Colin Doyle rang the third pipe for his side.

Jake Bergey finally got the game's first goal, over nine minutes into the contest, off an incredible feed by Roy Colsey. "Rocket Roy" got the ball along the right boards and immediately went cross-floor to Bergey at the shooter's spot.

Jamie Hanford got the second goal just six seconds later. He won the ensuing draw, scooping the loose ball himself, and went right down Broadway, splitting the defense.

Not long after that, Regy Thorpe grabbed a loose ball and hit Bergey with a breakaway pass while Bob Watson was scrambling to get back in net. Les Bartley was trying to spark his offense with a sixth attacker. Watson got there, but Bergey was able to beat him. Tom Ryan struck exactly one minute later, assisted by Maetche.

Deb McAllister Outsider's Guide   Two Mounties guard the Heritage Cup prior to its awarding to the Americans.

Rob Blasdell replaced Watson in the Canadian goal, but that didn't stop the bleeding. John Grant went off for checking from behind at 14:17, and Mike Regan got inside with a fabulous face dodge to convert the power play chance just eighteen seconds later.

After fifteen minutes, the United States led, 5-0.

Watson returned to start the second and while the Americans pressured him right off the draw, he answered the call. His forwards couldn't match it, though, fumbling away four chances in the early going. Tracey Kelusky missed a ball that would have sent him in on a breakaway, then Hanford came flying off the bench to deny the slower Pat Coyle on what would have been another breakaway. Gavin Prout couldn't handle Watson's breakaway pass, either. Finally, Canada got a two-on-none, but when Jim Moss fed Glenn Clark, Clark hit Canada's fourth pipe of the day.

At the other end, Regan scored his second of the game, showing some real power by going right through Coyle despite being held. A half-minute later, Bergey completed his hat trick by going top shelf from the shooter's position, then followed up thirty seconds after that with a sweet, one-touch bounce shot from the point that beat Watson. Colsey made a nice pass on the first of the two quick Bergey goals and Ryan did the same on the second. Blasdell came back in the game and jaws were on the floor as the Americans led 8-0.

Dan Stroup finally broke through for Canada at 7:23, ending a quarter and a half of shocking American shutout ball. Colin Doyle assisted on that goal, then hit Canada's fifth pipe of the day with a one-touch shot on a ball coming off the back boards. Moss went off for a slash at a few minutes later and Cam Woods was called for holding a minute after that. Colsey hit a pipe from the point but when the ball came back around to him he made a great diagonal feed to Bergey on the crease, who scored the two-man-advantage goal on a one-touch underhand shot. John Tavares soon scored shorthanded on a hidden ball trick with Gary Gait, but Jay Jalbert cashed in the second power play just 29 seconds later. Kevin Finneran opened his account at 13:20 and Jalbert scored in transition at 13:36 to close out the first half scoring.

Do not adjust your monitor -- 12-2, Americans, at intermission.

Off the opening draw of the second half, Tavares rang Canada's sixth pipe of the day. Jalbert went off for a hold at 1:25 and it took Kelusky just three seconds to convert. (Grant was announced as the scorer, though) Tavares scored at 1:53, then Grant really did score at 4:05, getting a pick just off the ball and making a great catch of an equally impressive feed from Gait. Grant showed incredible hands in such close quarters and Gait showed a real soft touch. Hanford went off for holding at 4:26 and it took Doyle just 25 seconds to convert, assisted by Gait and Tavares. All of a sudden, 12-2 turned into 12-6.

20 Toe Photo   Team USA poses with the Heritage Cup.

The way they came out of the half left me with a strong feeling that the Canadians took their opponent lightly at the start of the day. However, the Maple Leafs took a major step back following Clark's slashing penalty at 5:33. Regan scored from the top, with a bomb of a bounce shot, a minute later. Finneran then squeaked one through with an underhand shot at 7:22 while getting rammed to the turf and losing his helmet.

Bartley pulled Blasdell for an extra attacker but Prout's resulting shot found iron a seventh time for Canada. Watson came back in for the extra runner, but couldn't stop Regan on a beautiful diving shot across the top of the crease. Dan Teat got one back, though, rounding out the third quarter scoring but leaving the home team down by eight goals, 15-7, entering the final quarter.

Moss rang Canada's eighth pipe of the day on their initial possession of the quarter and Stroup scored the next time down, but Regan got it right back seconds later with an awesome solo effort. He took a hard whack to the facemask without flinching, curled inside and bounced one into the top corner from the doorstep. Talk about a hard angle up!

Doyle got Maetche moving with some nice fakes and finished well at 2:19. After a Tim Soudan goal, Veltman scored on a breakaway by changing to his right hand for a split second. As soon as Mateche bit, Veltman changed back and stuffed it home. Grant scored a highlight reel goal at 5:03, reaching back against the grain to fire an absolute bullet with the shot clock winding down after chasing a loose ball across the top from his left to the right side. Jalbert and Soudan then scored for Team USA, then Finneran potted a pair to conclude the American scoring.

Erik Miller relieved Maetche in goal and the Canadians opened up on him. Kelusky scored first, just eight seconds after the change. Stroup got another just nineteen seconds later. Gait scored at 13:43, then Tavares and Grant each got one in the last minute.

Turning 21-11 into 21-16 might make the score look nicer, but it doesn't change the lesson learned in this game -- the Americans will not go down easily next year in the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship. However, Canadians still must be considered a slight favorite.

Three stars: Mike Regan was my first star of the game for his five goal performance, because all of his tallies were high quality and he was a constant threat. Jake Bergey was my second star, scoring five goals of his own but playing so quietly in the second half. Dwight Maetche was my third star because the Americans could not have won without his stellar goaltending throughout the game.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
United States                         5  7  3  6  --  21
Canada                                0  2  5  9  --  16

UNITED STATES                 CANADA
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Regan          5 - 2     7    Tavares        3 - 4     7
Soudan         2 - 4     6    Doyle          2 - 2     4
Bergey         5 - 0     5    Kelusky        2 - 2     4
Colsey         0 - 5     5    Gait           1 - 3     4
Finneran       4 - 0     4    Grant          3 - 0     3
Jalbert        3 - 0     3    Stroup         3 - 0     3
Maetche        0 - 2     2    Veltman        1 - 2     3
Panos          0 - 2     2    Teat           1 - 0     1
Thorpe         0 - 2     2    Coyle          0 - 1     1
Hanford        1 - 0     1    Prout          0 - 1     1
Ryan           1 - 0     1    J Sanderson    0 - 1     1
Slate          0 - 1     1    Woods          0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           NA    Shots on goal           NA
Saves made by (GA)      NA    Saves made by (GA)      NA
   Maetche (11)                  Watson (20)
   E Miller (5)                  Blasdell (1)

       *** ALL STATS UNOFFICIAL UNTIL VERIFIED ***