The first major outdoor tournament of the season in the Upper/Lower Canada region takes place this weekend. It's used as either a tune up tournament for teams recently formulated, or as a final tryout out for players looking to make a team/program.
The 2010 version of the Toronto Ultimate Festival (TUF) promises to be one of the stronger editions in recent years.
Open
8 of the 14 teams in the division will be from Toronto. The open program in Toronto, GOAT/Grand Trunk/ROY, will be entering 5 teams. Other local teams include Too Bad, Fuel, and Fossil.
Ottawa, Montreal, and Waterloo have decided to participate this year, and as such add some great teams to the pool.
National champion Mephisto from Montreal begins its title defense this weekend, and will be joined by affiliate Demon.
Ottawa will be sending two Phoenix squads and Firebird, which makes its return after a one year hiatus.
Maverick is a new open team from Kitchener-Waterloo. The new team played well as an open team (Medicare) at both Jazzfest and No Borders last year, and will be a strong opponent this weekend.
Womens
There are three local teams from Toronto, with one Lotus team (defending national champions) and two Lily squads.
Ottawa is sending both their A and B squads to the event, and Montreal is sending Storm as a representative.
PPF from K-W should also be a very strong entry this season, benefiting from the folding of coed powerhouse Liquid from the same city.
A team from Peterbourough is listed. No team name is given, but I hope this team is the start of a regular women's team from this city. It's ultimate, so maybe it's just a ringer team from somewhere else.
Mixed
Usually the strength of the TUF tournament, the division has 27 teams this year but is missing some of the key coed teams in the region. (Gecko, RIP, etc)
Monster, Bytown Flatball Club, Mayhem, Big Fish and Big Hammers will be introducing their 2010 squads. Tundra will be continuing their tryouts with split squads entered.
After a great experience last year, Saint John's (Newfoundland) will be sending two squads this year. Currently, there is no word on whether the team will employ the services of Gavin "Zone Buster" Thompson this year.
