Nation,
Regionals start this weekend in various parts of America. Here's a preview of the tournaments that involve Canadian teams.
Number of Teams: 14
Number of bids to the UPA Championships: 3
Number of Canadian Teams: 2
This regionals is a pool of Death! At least 4 (maybe 6) teams that are worthy or UPA finals appearance, but only three will get the right to move on.
Furious George of Vancouver seems to be getting stronger as the year progresses. However, they will have to defeat one of the final to make it to Sarasota
- Sockeye- 3 time UPA Champions
- Revolver- The exciting California team lead by Mac Taylor and Beau Kittredge
- Jam- Only the Defending UPA Champs
Blackfish of Vancouver suffered the most of any team from Furious retirements and recruitment of new players. However, in losing players like Adam Silverstein and Alex Davis, the team simply has spent the summer developing a new class of talent. That's what good teams with good leadership (Moses, Gats, etc) do.
According tho their kick a$$ site, the goal is to make it to regional quarters. That would likely include a great matchup against the big boys, which to me seems quite realistic.
Number of Teams: 8
Number of bids to the UPA Championships: 4
Number of Canadian Teams: 1
Traffic from Vancouver enters the weekend with a very strong chance of making it to Florida. Despite being seeded 5th, Traffic simply have to finish ahead of one of four teams to make it:
- Fury- Probably not going to happen against San Francisco's finest (0-3 season record in favor of Fury)
- Riot- Seattle's top squad (1-2 record)
- Zeitgeist- Traffic beat them 15-10 at ECC 2009 in only match up
- Underground- 2-2 record against Seattle's B team
Number of Teams: 16
Number of bids to the UPA Championships: 3
Number of Canadian Teams: 1
Edmonton's best club team, Physchoplastique, will take on some of the best coed teams in the country to win a spot at UPA Finals. It will be tough.
Seeded 8th with only 3 spots to Florida, they should expect nothing short of a quarterfinals appearance.
9 comments:
you're link to the Open score reporter site takes us to the Women's score reporter site.
Kittredge and Taylor earned their recognition on the college circuit as showy players with big ups. But in the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, Revolver is verily led by the quieter contributions of Cahill and Ghusquiere. Their presence or absence makes a world of difference to that team's performance.
Batch- Fixed the link. Thanks for the point out!
t1000- All too true. Two Flashy guys do not make a great team.
Furious missed the show, lost in the game to go vs Jam. Thoughts on the weekend T1000?
Traffic beat Underground to take the fourth seed. Riot over Fury for 1st. Is this the end of their reign?
Incomplete data on Psychoplastique. They lost in the semis to Doh!, who met Metal Floss Tycoons for 1st seed. Results pending. Psychoplastique was matched against Night Train, with the winner to take on CTR in the game to go.
Shame about Furious. Especially after they had beaten Jam earlier in the weekend.
Psycho qualified beating CTR 11-6 in the game to go.
Anyone know if Psychoplastique had some EMU pickups? Amazing they couldn't make quarters here, but qualify for Sarasota.
First off, I'll say this for the NW region: that's a tough pool. In many people's minds, it was Sockeye, Revolver, Furious, and Jam battling for the top 3 spots, but there was a long line of trailing teams who were determined to make it as difficult for them as possible. PRZYBILLA, Rhino, and Voodoo were playing their best games of the season as far as I can tell.
On defense, Furious struggled to contain handler-dominated give-and-go offenses, of which Jam happens to be a good example. The give-and-go is nothing new nor special, but it is more commonly run with an upline dash following the throw -- the object being to gain position and yardage (a la Sockeye). While Furious defenders instinctively leapt back from the handlers to contain the expected follow-up, Jam often defaulted to the opposite: swirling behind the thrower to gain position at the expense of yardage. They principally repeated this strategy until they gaining a position favourable for a sweeping breakside throw. Jam made no particularly spectacular plays; they succeeded by running aggressive and confusing dump-cuts punctuated by well-executed break throws.
The Furious offense features some excellent throwers, but the handlers are comparatively pensive and deliberate in their throws (even with a fearless arsenal of blades and hammers), and look for their cutters to generate options. But teams such as Sockeye pressured the in-cuts, contained Furious' upline dump-cuts, and marked straight-up against the huckers. While Furious statistically cheats death with its throwing choices, the strategy is unsustainable, and Sockeye (and to a lesser extent, Jam) exploited the odds. Even though the d-line still generated some breaks, they could not keep up with demand, so to speak.
Anyway, it was a disappointing finish for Furious. Jam's defense adapted faster and better than Furious', and that's how they won the second game. I can't help but feel that I've let a lot of people down . . . but that's the nature of sport.
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