Nation,
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CUPA took a very important and bold step last year by hosting nationals in Edmonton. Short term, it saw a small tournament, smaller than it hoped. However, it spread awareness to a key area of the country. The major dissapointment is that the University of Alberta will not be sending teams to CUUC 2009 after such an investment was made in their city the year previous.
In 2009, university nationals return to Montreal and both open and women's divisions will be heavily populated with talented teams.
It looks like there are two clear cut favorites to make the finals (UBC and Ottawa) followed by a glut of teams that could either make semis or fall out of quarters. That large group of teams after the top two will be providing the suspense and excitement as the games are played and scores are posted.
The format is 14 teams, two pools and two day pool play. Here are the team reviews based on current schedule and seed. (Schedule subject to change)
Full reviews of all East teams that participated in CEUUC 2009 can be found here.
Pool A
- University of Ottawa Lady Geegees
- UdM Ultimate Diva
- UT Torontula
- UWO Sharkbait
- Queen's
- McMaster
- Carleton Stealth
UdM Diva shocked many with their 2nd place finish at CEUCC 2009. They only had 12 players playing, which made this brand new program even more impressive.
The next three teams are established programs that seem to be going through a year of transistion/development. Torontula rebounded from a tough CEUUC 2008 and finished 4th in 2009. UWO Sharkbait finished 6th at easterns this year, and have a lot more talent capable of better performance. Queens Paper Bag Princess finished 7th at Easterns and such an established program will be looking to improve on that.
McMaster and Carleton Stealth finished 9th and 10th respectively at Easterns. They will be looking to take advantage of any teams above them that fail to perform up to their abilities.
Pool B
- UBC T-Birds
- McGill Martlets A
- US SWUP
- Guelph DOA
- Dalhousie DKUT
- Sherbrooke
- McGill Martlets B
McGill Martletts A finished a respectable but dissapointing 3rd place at CEUUC 2009. As mentioned in previous posts, this team has had a very steady decade and would like to cap it off with another national championship in their own city. They are a serious contender.
University of Saskatchewan SWUP enters the tournament as an unknown and will find themselves fighting off a number of good teams to hold their seed. These teams include an up and coming University of Guelph DOA team (5th at CEUUC 2009), Dalhousie (DKUT) and Sherbrooke. McGill Martletts B team is the only second team to make an appearance, and will look to improve on their 12th place finish at CEUUC in front of the home town fans.
10 comments:
To my knowledge, the UBC men and women will be sending shorthanded rosters this time. Both teams have decent players at their disposal but I don't know who among them is making the trip. They will be a swing team at this appearance -- they might make someone's day or crush a dream.
http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=34&id=6951
Don't forget McGill Martlets A winning silver at Nationals vs. UBC in 2007. It should be noted, however, that Ottawa U was not present at those Nationals.
Should be an interesting tournament...
Being shorthanded didn't hurt UBC women last year. If I recall correctly they played savage all tourney and still won gold.
But UBC being beaten 15-6 by McGill in pool play shows that McGill is not fooling around and has, barring disaster, paved their way into the semis. From what I saw, a much improved team compared to CEUUC is Carleton. They gave UdeM a run for their money in the first game and went 2-2 in the first day. Darkhorse team that could work their way into the quarters. Ottawa rolled, as predicted, without having to put their 7 best on the field, preferring to rest until it really counts.
Should be an interesting Saturday.
On the women's side,the first noteworthy event that comes to mind is a quarter-final score marked as a forfeiture between UBC and Ottawa. I hesitate to opine about it, just because it's not the first time Score Reporter has been incorrectly marked. However, like their counterparts in the Open division, the shorthanded (and sans Hislop) lady T-Birds have struggled in this tournament, and I think most of us expected Ottawa to advance at this stage.
The Guelph ladies, with a very consistent record this autumn, earned themselves a semi-final match against Ottawa, edging out Saskatchewan. I think Guelph will play a tough game, but I suspect the Gee-Gees will move on to the final. I'll set the over-under for this game at 8pts for Gryphons, but as always, I invite them to prove me wrong.
The stage has been set for another exciting match between McGill and Montreal in their semi-final. I think U de M will advance, but I'm generally a strong believer that rematches favour the underdogs, especially since McGill has all of Saturday night to seethe in anticipation. I expect this semi-final to be a close one.
All told, all four semi-finalists are probably UPA College Regionals quality, and we should keep a keen eye on that region come the spring.
I think another significant event is Carleton finishing 3rd in their pool (most improved team at the tournament after initially being seeded 7th). That is a huge improvement for them and I can only assume Onita and Paula were very pleased. Of course it ended with a loss to Guelph in quarters, but I know they are going to come out strong today, gunning for 5th. Of course the road goes through UBC, so we'll see how (if?) UBC plays this morning. I've heard they had maybe 7 from UBC and 1 pickup (on Friday). I guess we need more details about the apparent forfeiture in the quarters.
I'll take the over on Guelph (they'll score 9 when Otaawa starts rolling lines), and I think it will be a McGill/Ottawa final. I've heard McGill's D is just clicking this weekend, and they will be looking to avenge that loss at CEUUC. I call a 15-13 final for McGill.
Actually, McGill has never played against UdeM. THey were on opposite sides of the bracket at CEUUC. We have had a couple of scrimmages, with each team winning one of them, but both teams did not have full rosters. It definitely should be an interesting game. McGill has a deeper team, and this will mean their best players will be more rested. But the UdeM ladies have played their hearts out, and have played some sick D all tournament, especially on Saturday, having won 15-1, 15-0 and 15-6. Should be a great game, with lots of heckling from the home crowd!
U of O over McGill 14-9 in the final
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