Tuesday, August 7, 2007

What about the Women?

My Canada Games Council coworker, who plays for a certain ladies team based in Toronto and Ottawa, asked me why I haven't done a women's preview. It's simply a matter of time to replicate a similar preview to that of the open pool.

However, I can list the ladies teams, and give some previews on the teams I know or have seen.

Capitals- Ottawa/Toronto

3 losses all season, 2 coming to Fury and one to Riot. Score wise, a close game with Vancouver at Flowerbowl. No Borders and Boston Invite titles this season.

So many great players from both cities to comment on. Just as Ali Lemay returns from injury, reports are Shannon Elliott will miss CUC 2007. Both great throwers.

#5 Anne Mercier is the one to watch. Lead U of O to a University Nationals title, starred at the World Juniors, a regular player in the UPAs in Sarasota at 16.. hopefully she'll play well for a long time.

Traffic- Vancouver

Have not seen them play, but I am sure no one is taking them lightly. With veterans who played on the 2003 National championship team that won a worlds berth, they know how to win. If the Capitals have a weakness, they will attack it.

Storm- Montreal

A strong 5th place showing at the Boston Invite. A much stronger game against the Capitals in Boston than the one at No Borders.

Sonia Krajicek is a well known performer. Alison Fischer and Amy Richardson are great throwers. Marion Van Horne is as great a player as she is an academic. Marion is already a fan favorite, so I don't need to say any more.

Team Alberta- Alberta

No one in the east knows what to expect from Team Alberta, but the expectation is that this will be a tough team, bigger and better than the one present at flowerbowl.





Diggers- Toronto


Toronto team with a mix of quality veterans and athletic newcomers. 10th at Boston. 3rd at No Borders.

Dark horse possibility. Wish I had seen them play more.

Crush- Vancouver

Another Vancouver team, that is seeded 3rd out of the west according to the CUPA site.

Scarlett- Ottawa

Great story here. After a inaugural season in which many players got
great experience and developed through Scarlett, Ottawa's second
team was hurt badly by a surprising number of Stella call ups (Sully Duhaime, Kate Crump, Nancy Symons, etc) and coed defections during year two. It was a VERY tough season, but many new players got nationals exposure and that helps the city.

Year 3 rolls around, and the Ottawa/Toronto merger allows Scarlett to have players otherwise not available to them. Amanada Sage, Carrie Lugg, and Vanessa Lyon are great examples. Justine Price and Deb Murphy are also on board, two of the most experienced players and coaches in Ottawa. As expected, the results and the experience are much better. Scarlett followed up her first top 10 finish at Montreal Jazzfest with a top 10 at No Borders.

Cheryl Wadasinghe and Sam Morris are two of the new players to watch. Cheryl's work ethic for off field workouts is impressive. Morris is tabbed as a natural athlete.

Salty-Halifax

This team is coached by former GLU player Scotty Macdonald. Awesome Guy.

This team has traveled to play top teams all summer, and one hopes this pays off at nationals.





QUB-Quebec City


Every single guy on the circuit reminds me how "great" this team is.

I see a lot of athletes on this team. I wonder how long it will be until this team makes a jump in the standings consistently.

Dice- Barrie?

Cross referencing the CUPA list and the CUC 2007, I guess that Dice may be the team name for Barrie's entry.

If that is the case, I look forward to seeing to former North Bay players- Deb Dugas and Pam Chadbourn leading the cause.

I think Barrie's ultimate program will continue to grow with its rising population. How much bigger can Toronto 'suburbs' reach?

Psycho- North Bay

Don't know them. Lots of great players come from North Bay though. The UWO women's team can attest to that.

Another plug for the annual Northern Flights tourney in North Bay. It rocks.

Amazone- Sherbrooke

Unknown (readers, help me out!)

Update: Sherbrooke insiders tell me this is the 1st Nationals experience for this team. The team will be led by Sherbrooke coed ladies who did not make nationals. The team will be similar to Chikitas (Jazz Fest) team that finsihed 3rd at Montreal Jazzfest. However, a few key women from Jazz will be playing for coed team Gecko during CUC 2007……set expectations accordingly.

Feisty- Toronto


13th at No Borders.

Glow- London

Interesting to see some London participation. GLOW is a new team, lead by some of the ladies who played either for coed team LUCifer or for the Western University team.

One player to watch will be Tanya Jackson. During College UPAs in the spring of 2006, the Western men's team took Ms Jackson with us to compete in open. Given that the fall before was her first taste of ultimate, I can attest that her performance as a solid o-line cutter was awesome. She helped us qualify out of Michigan sectionals, and she'll be a machine at nationals also.

XX- Toronto

Another Toronto team.

UPDATE: Sources say this team is made up of ladies from the coed team Zen Asylum (who did not qualify for nationals) and friends.


Catfish- Ottawa

A local team I don't know. I look forward to seeing the team and what they bring to the field.

UPDATE: According to the Ottawa coed legend Andrew 'Batch':

"I believe Catfish is the BigFish (Ottawa co-ed) women."

If this is the case, will the team be able to sneak Gavin Thompson in for a naked point? It will be interesting to see the ladies of Big Fish (and friends) play.

2 comments:

Batch said...

I believe Catfish is the BigFish (Ottawa co-ed) women. - Batch

jlo said...

Here's when working for VC comes in handy.

Dice are from barrie and I believe that you can find results of theirs (TUF and NoBorders at least) under "Barrie Women".

Feisty is a women's team in the Ultimate Experience stable. They should have No Surf and Motown results at upa.org to draw on as well. A developmental team and has the mix you would expect from that.

XX is under the UE umbrella as well and it is the Zen Ladies and friends. Freshly minted team with freshly made jersey's to fill out the CUC lady's bids.

The extra fish jerseys were just finished today. They are for the rest of the roster of catfish, I believe. Another local team that can impromptu a bid without buying a plane ticket.