Football Canada – Canada to face U.S. in Orlando

Ottawa (November 8, 2016) – Today, Football Canada unveiled its preliminary under-18 national team which will face off against their U.S. counterparts as part of the inaugural North American Championship on January 28, 2017 in Orlando, Florida. The series of games between USA Football and Football Canada features under-18 and under-19 national team competition.

The North American Championship builds on the rich rivalry developed between the two national teams as Canada and the U.S. have met in each of the first four gold medal games at the IFAF U19 (Junior) World Championships. Canada evened up its junior world’s gold medal game record, at two, following a 24-6 victory in China. In 2012, Canada defeated Team USA 23-17 to capture its first gold in Austin, Texas.

The U.S. and Canada’s national teams began playing an annual series of games in 2014. This upcoming January will mark the first time that the winter series of games between the two North American national teams is held outside of the International Bowl series. The International Bowl was established in 2010 as a USA versus the World game, played around NCAA national signing day.

“The series has grown tremendously and we’re excited to head to the state of Florida, where the first International Bowl game was held in 2010, and showcase our national team rivalry,” said Shannon Donovan, executive director, Football Canada.

The 40 players invited to the under-18 national team were selected from the 2016 under-18 national tackle football championship, the Football Canada Cup, held July 9-15 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Joining the players named today in Orlando is the Canada’s under-19 national team, which includes the 2016 Football Canada Cup all-star roster.

The under-18 national team will be led by coaches selected from the eight participating provincial teams that competed at the 2016 Football Canada Cup. Marco Iadeluca, head coach of Quebec’s 2016 gold medal winning Canada Cup entry, will serve the same role with the under-18 national team. The full coaching staff will be announced in the coming weeks.

Arlington, Texas will play host to the 2017 International Bowl series featuring action between provincial teams from Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario who will face U.S. competition.

Players invited to Canada’s under-18 national team

Pos.	First	Last	Hometown	Provincial team	Team 2016
QB	Andreas	Dueck	Winnipeg	Manitoba	Vincent Massey
QB	Ezechiel	Tiede	Lachine	Quebec	St. Paul’s (NH)
RB	Adam	Bennett	Upper Tantallon	Nova Scotia	Sir John A. MacDonald
RB	Chase	Brown	London	Ontario	Jr. Mustangs
RB	Alex	Gayle	Edmonton	Alberta	Jasper Place
RB	Grégoire	Martin	Saguenay	Quebec	Odyssée Dominique-Racine
OL	Logan	Bandy	Calgary	Alberta	St. Francis
OL	Thierry	Bernier	St-Eustache	Quebec	André-Grasset
OL	Peter	Brown	London	Ontario	Jr. Mustangs
OL	James	Duffey Jr.	Leduc	Alberta	Bev Facey
OL	Dylan	Estabrooks	Sackville	New Brunswick	Tantramar
OL	Tong	King	Winnipeg	Manitoba	Vincent Massey
OL	Nathan	Raymond	Redvers	Saskatchewan	Moosomin
REC	Alex	Groshak	Calgary	Alberta	St. Francis
REC	Noah	Johns	London	Ontario	Jr. Mustangs
REC	William	Marchand	Laval	Quebec	André-Grasset
REC	Glodin	Mulali	Moncton	New Brunswick	Harrison Trimble
REC	Evens	Passée-Coutrin	Verdun	Quebec	Dalbe-Viau
REC	Bryce	Scarrow	Waterloo	Ontario	Twin City Predators
DL	William	Desgagné	Saguenay	Quebec	Ch.-Lennoxville
DL	Alexander	Fedchun	Calgary	Alberta	Ernest Manning
DL	Emeric	Hamelin	St-Jerome	Quebec	Lionel-Groulx
DL	Lake	Korte-Moore	Ottawa	Manitoba-Silver
DL	Bryce	Liwiski	Saskatoon	Saskatchewan	Centennial
DL	Germain	Renaud-Dumoulin	Boucherville	Quebec	Ch.-Lennoxville
DL	Tanner	Schmekel	Regina	Saskatchewan	Riffel
DL	Jacob	Spencer	Brantford	Ontario	Cambridge Lions
LB	Lourenz	Bowers	Dartmouth	Nova Scotia	Dartmouth
LB	Gabriel	Pelletier	Quebec	Quebec	CNDF
LB	Spencer	Smyth	Dundas	Ontario	Varsity Tigercats
LB	Daniel	Teitz	Calgary	Alberta	Springbank
LB	Brody	Williams	Oakbank	Manitoba	St.Paul’s
DB	Sydney	Brown	London	Ontario	Jr. Mustangs
DB	Riley	Gabriel	Truro	Nova Scotia	Cobequid
DB	Randy	Gibuku-Mabengo	Québec	Quebec	CNDF
DB	Dru	Guimond	Riverview	New Brunswick	Riverview
DB	Louis	Lavaud	Vaudreuil-Dorion	Quebec	John Abbot
DB	Jake	Robertson	Thunder Bay (ON)	Manitoba-Silver	St. Ignatius
DB	Dillon	Zimmermann	Regina	Saskatchewan	LeBoldus
K	Antoine	Couture	Montréal	Quebec	Collège Notre-Dame

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About Football Canada

Established in 1884, Football Canada is the national governing body of amateur football in Canada and a proud member of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). Working closely with the provincial football associations, we develop programs and resources for players, coaches, officials in the three disciplines of Tackle, Flag and Touch Football. Football Canada’s vision statement is “from playground to stadium” where players can participate in the game of football throughout a lifetime recreationally, competitively and internationally. 

Contact Information:

Patrick DeLottinville

Coordinator, Communications

Football Canada

613-564-0003 x 226

communications@footballcanada.com