Old Blue Wins 6th
Straight
Can-Am
Championship
In the
best tradition of the Old Blue RFC, a small
squad of players shook off an early pool
loss to win the 33rd Saranac Lake Can-Am
Tournament to cap a weekend of beautiful
weather with their 6th straight Can-Am
Championship. Old Blue has appeared in 31
of the 33 Saranac Lake events and has
reached the final 24 times, winning a record
13 titles.
Considered one of the largest and best run
rugby events in the world, the Can-Am
Tournament was created in 1974 by the
Mountaineers Rugby Club of Saranac Lake, New
York. The inaugural event was an eight-team
affair that included Old Blue and quickly
doubled and then mushroomed into a
mid-summer tradition with 100 teams
converging on the Adirondacks, making it one
of the largest rugby tournaments in the
world and the largest in the Western
Hemisphere. There is competition in six
different divisions, including one for
women.
The weekend
started off for some Old Blue players on
Friday night at Pier 40 in New York City
where they
entered the ‘bullpen’ for the New York
Nights as the Knights took on the New Haven
Warriors in AMN Rugby League playoff match.
The Knights defeated the visitors 26-22.
With
part of the roster still en route, Old Blue
lost an early Saturday match to White Plains
3-10. This loss
ended a record string of 18 consecutive
Can-Am tournament wins for Old Blue. Both
teams were pretty sloppy in a back and forth
game. A try just before the whistle, and
White Plains
was up 3-7 at
half time. Although Old Blue was on the
White Plains
goal line for the
last 10 minutes of the match, they were
unable to score. This was Old Blue’s first
loss at Saranac in 6 years.
When
an unknown team called ‘Rugby Class USA’
failed to appear, and White Plains lost to
Ottawa 10-12 in an afternoon pool match, Old
Blue saw an opening with the potential for a
three-way tie in its pool, which would be
decided by point differential. To make it
to the championship match, Old Blue would
need to beat Ottawa
in the last match
of the day, and win big.
Ottawa
saw multiple trys
run in on them by Old Blue’s speedsters Ryan
Rogers and Chris Wilkins. Rogers
also made many
kicks including a 50 meter penalty goal.
Ferocious defense all game the Exiles to two
tries. Old Blue Captain Paul Abrams was
another stand out in the match, continuing
to play after an injury to his buttock. A
final score of 50-14 gave Old Blue the match
win, the pool win (by point differential)
and another trip to the finals. In an
interesting twist, Old Blue’s opponent this
year, the Brockport Doggies, were led by
current and long time Old Blue Danny
Kennedy.
The
Men’s Premier Division Final kicked off on a
beautiful summer afternoon at North
County
Community College
. It was the
closest final in years, giving the 500 in
attendance an exciting end to the long
weekend.
Rogers
took the kick off and instantly pulled his
hamstring. The first half was very back and
forth with Old Blue scoring first on a
Rogers
penalty kick. Brockport replied by touching
down first to go ahead 7-3. Dustin
Plumadore answered back with a try of his
own. Picking the ball up from behind a
ruck 30 meters out and scampered in under
the posts to score his first try for Old
Blue. Plumadore was born and raised in
Saranac. His father Jan, currently the
Chief Administrative Judge for New York
State, played for Old Blue and Dustin's been
a part of Old Blue’s Saranac roster for the
last 6 years. A Brockport penalty made it
10 all.
Old
Blue Head Coach Paul Keeler made several
changes to the line-up, and those moved
opened up the match. Old Blue’s C. Wilkins
bullied through the line to score and give
Old Blue a 17-10 lead. Rogers
was still able to
kick with his pulled hamstring, adding a
penalty. Brockport scored a few penalty
kicks to keep the match tight. Old Blue
finished when the flyhalf took the ball
behind their own 22, giving it to Wilkins
who crashed the line and passed to an
oncoming Rogers
who took it all
the way to the other 22 before dishing it
off to Chris ‘
Kenya
’ Otundo who
touched down in the corner. The final score
saw Old Blue on top 25-19.
Old Blue Roster:
1-Conway, 2-Callendar, 3-Mayers, 4-K.
Wilkins, 5-Scott, 6- Plumadore, 7-Ellison,
8-Abrams, 9-Martz, 10-C. Wilkins, 11-Otundo,
12-Rogers, 13-Doherty, 14-Robert, 15-Martin,
16-Gentry, 17-Paul, 18-Floyd, 19-Kleiner,
20-McGeachy, 21-Pell, 22-Sammy
Old Blue flanker Aaron Ellison
was selected Tournament MVP. Ellison
became the 15th Old Blue MVP in Old Blue’s
13 Tournament titles. There were co-MVPs
in the first year (1974) when Nick Rossetti
and Dick Handley won; and the outstanding
Chimere Okezie won the MVP one year even
though Old Blue lost the final.
After the match, Jan Plumadore hosted his
son and the other Old Blue players at his
house with a barbecue and swim in
celebration of a great championship weekend.
Recently retired Old Blue prop Rob Perle
was also in attendance after officiating
four matches in his first Can-Am Tournament
as a referee.
