Friday, May 8, 2009

TUF 2009 Preview

Nation,

First major outdoor tournament in the east coast takes place this weekend in Toronto- The Toronto Ultimate Festival. You'll be seeing the final tryouts for many teams, or the first tournaments for newly selected summer teams.


Here are some division previews. (Photo courtesy Dave Sheffield)

COED

2008 Champ: RIP

Approximately 35 teams in the main co-ed division. Based on past year's, here are the notable teams to watch for in the results column:

RIP- Montreal was 4th at CUC 2008. Kirsten Niles is a fan favorite who has found a fit.
Tundra- Toronto coed team, 12th at CUC 2008.. probably better than that.
Liquid- Waterloo's #1 team always seems like they are on the cusp of greatness every year.
Mayhem- Hamilton team, 8th at CUC 2008
Bytown Flatball Club- 13th of CUC 2008, from Ottawa

Many other established touring teams that will challenge these teams (Big Fish, The Company, Zen, Mars Meets Venus, etc) but the teams listed above should be in the quarters on Sunday.

The BFC and Big Fish rosters were recently released and BFC looks like an improvement over the 2008 roster. On BFC, Josh Tai and Thomas Ferguson were very promising open prospects that have switched divisions. Heather McCabe is a highly regarded junior grad who could flourish this summer. Big Fish will be trying to overcome the loss of Julie Thompson, Jeremy Gaudet and the legendary Gavin Thompson to semi-retirement.
Prediction: RIP

OPEN

2008 Champ: GOAT

Sadly, there will be no representation of Ottawa at this tourney. I hope this is a one time thing.

9 teams in the division:

Magma- Montreal's 3rd team had a very tough rebuild year, but committed to building on it.
Too Bad- A very strong 2008 for the throwback team that consists of pickups for every tourney
Grand Trunk 1-Tryout team of the suprise of CUC 2008
Grand Trunk 2-Tryout team of the suprise of CUC 2008
Goat 1- Tryout Team of Toronto's best squad
Goat 2- Tryout Team of Toronto's best squad
ROY- Toronto's third team test out hopefuls and waits for the trickle down from Grand Trunk
MANSTER- Probably a collection of men from the MONSTER coed team. Will make it interesting

Prediction: GOAT ( 1 or 2)

WOMEN

2008 Champ: Stella

Last year's champs from Ottawa are not back to defend their title. However, the seven remaing teams will be interesting.

Lotus 1- Tryout team will feature stalwarts and hopefuls of the 4th place finishers at CUC 2008
Lotus 2- Make or break for Toronto female players
PPF- Talented south western ontario team (#6 at CUC 2008) enters year two with promise
Lily- Toronto B team will be looking at Lotus team performance as well as their own
Feisty- Toronto's C team just another sign of good toronto organization and development.
Scarlett- Ottawa's B team looking to build on 2008 development/prospects
TBD- Unknown team with an unknown name.

Prediction: PPF

5 comments:

homrbush said...

Does anyone know who won this weekend? Why do tournaments constantly fail to update their websites to reflect Sunday results?

Unknown said...

I think Liquid won Mixed.

Taylor said...

Goat 1 over Goat 2 15-13 for Open. I believe one of the Lotus teams won women's.

Sport Management Steven said...

Nothing on the TUF or TUC site yet.

Usually the updates are done by now... makes me appreciate those tourneys that are as up to the minute as possible.

Chris said...

The final standings were updated yesterday. Top finishes:

Mixed:
1) Liquid
2) RIP
T3) BFC; Shuk (half of Tundra)

Women's:
1) Lotus Green went 5-0
T2) Lotus White, PPF and Sage all went 3-2

Open:
1) GOAT 1
2) GOAT 2
T3) Too Bad; Grand Trunk 1