DON GERRY

On behalf of the Organizing Committee and the executive of the Golden Horseshoe Touch Football Association, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants of the 2005 Early Bird. This year’s event which featured 54 men’s teams and 15 women’s teams result in a number of highly contested Championship games.

In the Men’s Tiers 1 the Ottawa Canadians won the Championship and continued their domination of the other “AA” teams by not allowing a point until the Championship Game against the Burlington Piranhas.

Tier 2 saw an impressive Montreal Maroons team under the guidance of Fred “The Mayor” LaChance capture the “A” Championship over the improved Toronto Force, The Maroons definitely showed all that they will be a team to recon with as the Tour progresses. In the “BB” Championship the Toronto Allstate Titans led by National Team Coach Russ Henderson outlasted the Kingston Brass Monkey’s in the tournaments closest Championship game. The “B” Championship game was won by the Mississauga Hawks over the Montreal Magic Patriots featured a few familiar faces from the Rattler dynasty. The “CC” Championship saw the Ottawa Outlaws sending the St Catherines Ti-Cats home without scoring a point in the final.

In Tier 3 the Hamilton Raiders defeated the Hamilton Orangemen to capture the “C” Championship, in a game that featured possibly the best up and coming quarterback in the Raiders Mike Cripps. The Mississauga Rebels defeated the Oshawa Hawks to take the “DD” Championship.

The Tier 4 “D” Championship pitted the Hamilton Wolves against the Oakville Bearcats with the Wolves coming up big to claim the title. The final men’s Championship featured the Ottawa Invictus defeating the Burlington Not So Young Offenders in a well played close game.

In the Women’s division the Toronto Rockets upset the pre tournament favorite Toronto Shock in the semi finals before eventually losing to the Montreal Raiders who captured the “A” Championship. The “B” Championship saw an all Ottawa finals as the Titans defeated the Fury. The “C” Championship was won by the Toronto Merge as they shut out the Toronto Extreme.

In closing I would like to acknowledge the efforts of a number of individuals, who without their help the Labatt Early Bird could not function. My endless number of relatives and friends that run and maintain the Tournament Headquarters (Lisa Gerry, Mary Gerry, Daryle Gerry, Sue Gerry, Mary Monaghan, Fred Monaghan, Maureen West, Paul West, Karen (soon to be Gurman) Rusnak, Cory Gurman, Bill Orr, Jen Orr, Lindsay Jones, Jay Jones, Dave Jones, Meagan Gerry, Tim Gerry, Matt Gerry, Bill Messel, Pat Kitchener, Dan MacNab, Kelly Dzmieanko, Luke Dzmieanko, and Stan Dzmieanko). The GHTFA Exectutive (Dave Nelson, Rick Little, Bill Fournier, and Terry Roberts), Touch Football Ontario Members (Ed Laverty, Gord Laverty, Sean Monaghan, Russ Henderson, and Dave Thompson), Labatt Canada John MacLachlan and Referee in Chief Doug Richardson.