Canada won its second gold medal at the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship, held in London, Ontario, from 14 to 22 July. The Canadians defeated the United States in the final 15âÂÂ10 in front of 7,735 fans. It marked only the second loss by the Americans since the championship was founded in 1967. The first was Canada's historic 17âÂÂ16 overtime win in the 1978 final. Canadian Geoff Snider was the tournament MVP for his outstanding face-off performance, winning 19 of 28 draws in the final.
Australia beat Iroquois 21âÂÂ8 to earn the bronze medal. 21 nations played 72 games over the eight-day tournament, with Bermuda, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Spain making their debuts. The games were played in TD Waterhouse Stadium.
The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) every four years. The 2006 WLC was the last to be sanctioned by the International Lacrosse Federation, the former governing body for men. In August 2008, the ILF merged with the former governing body for women's lacrosse, the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations, to form the FIL.
For the round-robin phase of the tournament, nations were separated into blue, red, orange and yellow divisions according to strength. Each of the twenty-one nations was eligible to win the championship.
The Blue Division featured the six strongest lacrosse nations: Australia, Canada, England, Iroquois, Japan, and the United States.
Blue Division standings after pool play were:
Red Division featured the next five strongest lacrosse nations: Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales.
Red Division standings after pool play were:
The five countries competing in Orange Division were: the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Orange Division standings after pool play were:
The Yellow Division featured Bermuda, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, and Spain.
Yellow Division standings after pool play were:
With the nations ranked amongst their division, they played off for their final standings. The winner from each lower group played a lower-ranked nation from Blue division for their shot at the championship.
The final standings were:
The International Lacrosse Federation named an All World Team at the conclusion of the championship, along with four other individual awards.
John Gagliardi <br> Brodie Merrill<br> John Tokarua
Brett Bucktooth<br> Jay Jalbert<br> Geoff Snider
John Grant, Jr. <br> Michael Powell <br> Jeff Zywicki
Chris Sanderson - Goalkeeper<br> Brodie Merrill - Defence<br> Jay Jalbert - Midfield<br> Jeff Zywicki - Attack
Geoff Snider - Midfield, face-off