Nation,
As most of us enjoy our long weekend and Thanksgiving, some hard working Canadian teams will be making the trek to the U.S. for play regionals and qualify for UPA Finals in Sarasota.
BFC vs RIP- CUC 2009
Photo Source: Aaron J Cohen
Photo Source: Aaron J Cohen
Given the high number of Canadian teams, the hope is that we will have a record number of teams qualify for finals. With our first co-ed team this decade already confirmed.. anything is possible... but some things are more probable than others.
Before I get to the other divisions, I note the Northeast Master Regionals (featuring the relatively ultra strong GLUM squad from Ottawa) is slated for this weekend, but no schedule is up yet
Number of Canadian Teams: 4
Number of bids to Championships: 3
Straight forward format for the 16 teams that puts pressure on all teams to be ready from game one.
- RIP of Montreal is the top seeded Canadian team. First game is versus Brooklyn's Zojirushi, who will be a tough match-up and potential sleeper team.
- GECKO of Sherbrooke is a streaky team by nature this season. They can impress and upset higher seeds, or can drop a game 15-6 to RIP like they did at sectionals. They'll be playing a Portland squad (Mogwai) that finished 4th in a very tough section.
- Monster of Toronto won their section and figure to advance to quaterfinals, albeit against top ranked Slow White.
- Bytown Flatball Club made some drastic roster changes this fall and managed to upset Tundra to grab the last spot to regionals. Their first game is against number 2 seed Quiet Coyote. It will be a tough task.
Number of Canadian Teams: 4
Number of bids to Championships: 3
- GOAT of Toronto enters as the number 2 with one goal- ending the weekend in first against an equally good Ironside. These two teams appear to be safe locks to grab the first two of three bids to Florida
- Phoenix of Ottawa fell short of their goal last fall of making it to fall series. This year, there are less bids from the region, but they have had a strong summer and a best ever finish at Canadian nationals.
- Mephisto of Montreal, defending Canadian Champions, are in the same proverbial boat as Phoenix- Great team, Stiff competition.
- Red Circus of Halifax got hot on sectional Sunday and made it to regionals. They now get a matchup with Ironside, and can try to knock off Colt .45 and Replicants.
Number of Canadian Teams: 2
Number of bids to Championships: 2
Capitals of Ottawa/Toronto will look to continue their ride to Sarasota with a top 2 finish on the weekend.
Finishing first is vital for seeding purposes for the Capitals. They want to make the next step in UPA finals, and move from top 6 to top 4 or even to finals.
The key opponent will be Brute Squad. Boston's top squad is tough, experienced and able to pull out the wins in key games. They won't be intimadated by the roster of Capitals.
Storm of Montreal enters the tournament seeded 5th but could be an overlooked sleeper team (Heck, in my rush I left them out of the preview). After breezing through an easy sectionals tournament, it appears a good time for this squad to make a huge breakthrough for the program.
2008 was a season of strides for Storm. They added a coach (Lorne Beckman) whose work with Camelot (2005-2006) and Magma (2007) revealed very good results. In 2009, they added an all important B team, but it seemed the 2008 CUC silver medalist lacked the mental edge to upset teams like Lotus and Stella this year. You must perceive in order to achieve.
If Storm makes it to Florida, they'll have to go head to head with these teams
- Capitals- Stella and Lotus was a combined 4-1 versus Storm this year
- Brute Squad- 3-0 versus Storm this year
- Bent- Have not played Storm this year
- Lady Godiva- 1-1 versus Storm, lost at WMO, beat Montreal at Boston in June
17 comments:
You've mentioned a few times of the roster shakeup on BFC; care to share? Inquiring minds want details, and the rosters on the score reporter are often (always?)out of date.
Storm is also playing at Regionals this weekend, so 2 Canadian women's teams, not only the Capitals!
BFC lost their team captain (Geofford Seaborn) who is playing with the masters team. The thinking is that he will thrive as a complimentary player with good skill.
Also, many players from the summer are not playing this fall, for whatever reason. It always angers me that players try out for a full season including fall series and then bail or get cut. BFC then reached out to other players that give immediate boast (Allen Amos Binks, Dave Hennigar, Sarah Button, Kevin Korecki, Mike Davidson). Long term, it won't help the club's end goals if these players don't stick.
If anything, their roster additions are a tribute to the work of former open coach Dave Brook- He had a hand in developing many of the pickups.
Sonia,
In the rush of my post, I just flat out overlooked Storm.
I will edit and make up for it with a special focus on U de M ladies before University Naties!!
I'm gutted with Red Circus' schedule for Northeast Regionals. It's an 11 hour drive from Halifax down to Devens and we can lose out on saturday. As much as I'd like to watch the high level ultimate that'll be happening on sunday, I'd much rather be playing. hmmm ...
Bobo,
I think you'll still be alive on Sunday, pending the format. However, you might finish early and get to watch an Ironside/GOAT finals.
Steven, Ironside - GOAT .... try GOAT - Red Circus final (somehow I think this may be a fanciful dream). TD removed the preliminary schedule so who knows what's up. 4 days!!
thanks Steven!
We'll try to equal our CEUUC results at next weekend's CUUC. However, with a very small roster of 12, it might be a tall order. Regardless of the results we will achieve, it is exciting that finally, there is another Montreal university team.
Masters Seeding
1. DoG
2. GLUM
3. WSL Allstars
4. Mt Crushmore
5. Slowhand
6. Hexember
DoG vs GLUM game two on Saturday :)
Hodge, no Above and Beyond or NY team?
I like GLUM's chances to return to Flo-rida!
Looking into it a bit, I think WSL All-Stars is the NY team. From what I have been told Above and Beyond are no more.
Slowhand is out of NYC too, but seeing that WSL All-Stars are ranked 3rd, I would say they are similar to A&B.
I like GLUM's chances too!
They changed the schedule for Northeast Open ... Red Circus now matches up against PoNY, Sons of Liberty and Chuck Wagon.
I find it rather entertaining that Capitals, Lotus, and Stella are all ranked in the top 16 by RRI.
Good luck, ladies.
Masters schedule is up :)
GLUM over DoG, 15-7 to win the region.
I missed the final ... what happened with GOAT against Ironside? 15-6 is a battering.
Worse than that, it was 8-6 at half. I don't have details though. I think they really hurt themselves; probably cost them 2 or 3 spots in seeding (even more had they beaten Ironside).
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