By Jon Brazeau
cmhl writer 

The Irish Shamrocks will need more than just luck when they defend the Canadian Cup in December.

The Shamrocks are the two-time defending champions of the Canadian Multicultural Hockey Championships and with 19 other teams gunning for the title this year, going for the three-peat may be the team’s toughest challenge yet.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge because we love it,” said Mike Devine, head coach of the Irish Shamrocks. “The Greeks are after us, the Macedonians are after us and we love it. We wouldn’t want it any other way because I’d rather be chased than be the chaser.”

The Shamrocks won the inaugural tournament in 2005, defeating the First Nation (Objibwe) Thunderbirds in the final, 8-4. In 2006, the Shamrocks captured their second Canadian Cup with a win over the Iroquois Silverhawks, 6-2. Devine said things just happened to go their way throughout both tournaments.

“We’re competitive but you can lose any game you go into,” Devine said. “The Greeks, the Italians, the Serbians and especially the Polish team, those guys are probably as good as we are but last year and the year before we just seemed to win the crucial games.”

Shamrocks general manager Ryan Land attributes his team’s success to having a strong united squad who know how to win and he is looking forward to keeping that group intact this year.

“We have a good core group of guys who have played together for years, we’re all friends and know each other and our coach is great, he knows what he’s doing behind the bench,” Land said. “We’ve added a few guys this year but other than that we’re just going to go with the same core players.”

But if the Shamrocks hope to capture their third consecutive title, a few teams are making sure it will not be easy for them. The Serbian White Eagles are just one of the teams hoping there will be a new champion crowned on Dec. 30.

“We’ve made a few changes, I think we’ve got better,” said Peter Zezel, coach and general manager of the Serbian White Eagles. “With the guys we have and the guys we’re going to have, we’re going to have more quality players and that will help us down the road.”

With the challenge for the 2007 Canadian Cup on the line, Devine said he is looking forward to the tournament and what is in store for his team.

“It’s a fantastic tournament at Christmas and it’s only going to get better and bigger and teams are going to get more competitive when they know they have to come to a certain level,” Devine said. “It’s fun for our guys because it unites players who normally play against each other [in other leagues] and at times hate each other and we bring them into a group where we’re all in the same boat being Canadian of Irish decent.”

For the complete 2007 Canadian Multiculutural Hockey Championships schedule, please check the Canadian Multicultural Hockey (CMHL) Inc. website, www.cmhl.ca.