Ontario Mixed Regionals Preview- 2008

Nation,

9 Teams. 6 Spots. It's that simple.

Very exciting tournament in Kitchener,Waterloo this weekend. Mixed Ontario regionals to determine the 6 teams going to nationals.

The website is here, and the seeds heading in are as follows: (in order of seed)

Alex Benedict Photos

1. MONSTER- Toronto
   
2. Liquid- Waterloo
   
3. Big Hammers- Toronto
   
4. Mayhem- Hamilton
   
5. Tundra-Toronto
6. Bytown Flatball Club- Ottawa
   
7. The Company
   
8. Zen- Toronto
   
9. Big Fish- Ottawa
   

Note* I see Glory from Brampton and Druid from London on the CUPA list, but don't see them on the tourney website.

I haven't played coed for a couple of years, but I can give a prediction for who will take those 6 spots.

Liquid- 2 years ago this team peaked at Northern Flights and looked like a serious team with great speed and very solid ladies. Politics and dissent ruined that team and they reeled back hard. As long as they have Andrew Higgins, they have a great chance.

Big Hammers- Features a lot of old wily veterans, including Paul Chambers. The man can still get it done. Expect either great things from this squad or a total discombobulation. They may be adding a highly coveted female who play in the national championship finals at CUC 2007.

Monster- They have been together for years and have built up the quality of their team. Hilary Leung is known for three things in ultimate- Having great straight line speed, being Stephanie HUI's boyfriend, and being the most dedicated Monster out there. They had an amazing regionals last year and will qualify once again

Tundra- Is this the team Greg Lang plays on? I can only hope for their opponents that they don't wake him up. Lang at his best is worlds good. Lang on the other end is more of a .... well... smoking and angry. Colin (Oops, I mean Craig, not his awesome younger brother who plays open) Froats and the rest of the team are also solid, and they'll look to improve on last year's solid results

BFC- Last year's silver medalists at the nationals stage overcame a huge regionals disaster to almost secure the worlds bid. This is not the same team. Last year's secret (talented women) has remained a strength, albiet with different girls. On the guy's end, it's really the chance for Geofford Seaborn to play the way he's thought to be capable of and lead this team to nationals.

Mayhem- All I know about this team is- they get it done.
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The rest

Big Fish- I know. But something tells me if Gavin Thompson is at the helm, something crazy could happen. At the start of the year, this team was a serious threat to make nationals with Glenn Ford, Julie Thompson, Jer Gaudet, and Gavin handling. They even had a deep threat in Jamieson Mackay. Ford will not be with Fish for CUC purposes, and Mackay has moved up to BFC. Nationals is in serious doubt, but Gavin will get naked.

Zen- They get the butt end of so many teams in Toronto. If they continue to develop talent as they have in the past (Eric Lau, Melissa Lundgren), then they are doing their job.

The Company- They sound like they mean business.