UPA Regionals- Prairie Update

Prairie Update:

It seems as though I missed a team who was competing in the UPA fall madness. I am sorry for the snub, maybe this maritimer has been in Upper Canada too long. lol

Best of luck to General Strike this weekend.

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Open Central Open Regionals- Oct 6-7- Tulsa Oklahoma

• Schedule is right here
• Canadian teams
• General Strike (Finished 3rd at Sectionals secured last guaranteed spot out of the section)
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Jake Regala Photography ____________________________________________________________________

UPA Regionals-Eastern Canadian Teams

Eastern Canadian UPA Update

This weekend sees all Northeast Regional divisions in action near Boston (Devens), and there will be lots of Canadian representation:

How many of our Canadian teams will qualify? Share your comments.

Craig Stephen Photography

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Open

• Schedule for Division 1 and Division 2
  
• Canadian teams
• GOAT (Division 1)- Toronto
  
• Grand Trunk (Division 2)- Toronto
  

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Women's

• Schedule for Division
  
• Canadian teams
• Capitals- Ottawa/Toronto
• Storm- Montreal
  

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Mixed

• Schedule for Division
  
• Canadian teams
• Bytown Flatball Club-Ottawa
• Denoiret- Montreal

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Masters

• Schedule for Division
• Canadian Teams
• Tombstone- Toronto (some Ottawa representation)
  

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UPA Regionals Update-Western Canadian Teams

Western Canada UPA Regional Update

Only one Canadian team from the west remains in the hunt for the UPA crown in both the open and women's divisons.

Furious qualifies but their results this year make another title seem difficult. Invictus fails to qualify, but has a strong showing.

Traffic fails to make it in the toughest regional division. Was their CUC 2007 victory a fluke... are they really better than the Capitals? That question should raise some backlash.. :)
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Open Results:
Northwest Regionals: Qualifiers

1. JAM- Another statement from San Fran. Jam... on your mind!
   
2. Sockeye- Defending UPA Champs.
3. Furious George- Beat Sockeye in semis but lost the 2nd place game... by a lot.
   
4. Rhino- Beat some very good teams to grab the last ticket to Florida.

Other Notables
-Invictus (Calgary) does not qualify, finishes 6th. Yet another strong performance to a solid season. Things look good in cowtown as they host CDN nationals next year.
-Blackfish (Vancouver) qualifies for this tournament, but choses not to attend.

Craig Stephen Photography

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Women's Results
Northwest Regionals: Qualifiers

1. Fury- Looks like they are peaking at the right time. Shout out to former Ottawa player Gen Larouche. :)
2. Riot- 5 losses all year. 3 to Riot
   
3. Zeitgeist- Interesting name. Interesting team to watch @ UPAs.

Other Notables:
Traffic (Vancouver) suffers a close loss in semis to Riot (15-13) and then loses another heartbreaker to Zeitgeist on universe point (15-14). Thus, they fail to qualify.

Craig Stephen Photography

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Talking With Trainor- GOAT Prepares for UPA Regionals

Talking with Trainor- David DJ Janssen- GOAT

UPA regionals are coming up for all divisions. In the eastern part of Canada, we can look on with interest at the remaining Canadian teams. Tombstone (Masters), Capitals (Women's), BFC (Mixed), Denoiret (Mixed) and GOAT (Open) are the Eastern Canadian hopefuls still alive. This is also a rare chance for us to cheer for Furious, Traffic, and other West teams making a run at their respective regional tournaments.

All these east teams have realistic shots at making it to Florida for the UPA's final round but none more so than GOAT. Save for a loss in the Canadian national finals to Furious and a tight loss to BAT in the Motown tourney, this might be the best season GOAT has had.


What's the mood within the 'herd'? I asked one of their captains, David (DJ) Janssen, a number of questions related to the team and their upcoming challenge. For those of you who might not know DJ, he's a lightning quick offensive handler who helped WaX during their 90's Canadian dynasty and has been with GOAT for most of its existence. He also helped lead Team Canada Masters at Worlds 2004. He's a triple threat- captain, player, teammate- so shut up and listen!! :)

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What does the GOAT name mean.. exactly? Is it Greatest Of All Time, or something else?

I guess I was there at the beginning so I should be able to answer this the best. In truth a lot of things have been thrown out there over the years. Whatever suits the moment. I'm sure everyone had one in their head at the time but nothing was every stated officially as our name and I for one have never associated anything other than Goat to our team name. Just a simple hard working animal who roams around feeding off whatever life throws at them.

2. Is everyone healthy for Regionals?

For the most part. We have a couple guys who are coming off some wear and tear from the long season but for the most part everyone is building to be at full strength for regionals and through UPAs. I think our numbers are running close to 30 strong. Maybe just under.

3. What teams are you preparing for at regionals specifically?

Boston Ultimate, New York Ultimate.. I'm not too sure. Those are the two, along with us, that will likely be seeded in the top three in any case. I think we all know each other pretty well.

Boston is working things out with their new collage this year and will likely be strong through the fall. They've been showing signs of what they can do. I think we're in the same boat that way. New York, well they have the population of Canada in their greater area!
After that there are always teams that surprise at regionals and peak just at the right time. We might not be preparing for them but we'll keep our eye out.

4. How do you prepare for teams? (Practice, Video, Communication with other teams, Nothing)

A little of all the above. We've used video in the past. It mainly helps to identify positions and types of O or D. I know some guys use it for more specific player match up stuff but most of the teams we need to know we play or see play enough throughout the season. I guess ultivillage helps out with this a bit.

Practices can be used to better match up against teams if we see that they have been using a certain d's such as excessive handle poaching or back siding lane cutters... as an example. We generally make sure to get more specific reps in before playing those teams and maybe adjust play calling to suit those needs. Mainly it's just about strengthening our own game.

5. Who is new to the team this fall?

We picked up an artist, a boxer and an emergency medical guy. Not a bad combination. Plus three more top players from in town. All impact players to help us push through the long season.

6. Who has stepped it up this year and emerged within the team?

I'll keep it simple and say our captain is huge in all aspects but mainly the way he's stepped up to lead the team. Player wise it's across the board this year. I believe we're at new regime 2.3 at the moment. Meaning our whole work ethic and focus towards ultimate as a team has turned a corner. We do have some up and coming superstars who have done some incredible things this summer but I'll leave that for other people to point them out.

7. You've won 5 tourneys this year. Which one was the biggest for the team?

Without a doubt, Chesapeake Open (in my opinion). We knew it was going to be a long season this year with Canadian Nationals being a "world's year" and the UPA series running through until the end of October. We knew we had to build our training plans to have a double peak during the season. Canadian Nationals came down as seeded to one big game for us. It was a huge loss for us. As are any losses in the finals it takes time to get over them. To come back two weeks later and win strong at a highly competitive tournament was the best way to push past the loss with a fresh new start.

8. How do you call lines with this much talent? How do you ensure you make the right calls?

We do our best to build off game plans and selecting how we feel the players are playing at the time. The depth we have this year has actually made it much easier. Everyone has been very understanding and on board with the approach.

9. Is having players from the team in different cities a true hindrance?

As a generally philosophy I'd say, absolutely. The lack of practice time together and the lack regular team bonding hurts. However, in our case, the guys from out of town are only added if they bring something to the table that outweigh the negatives. Toronto has such a strong pool of players currently that role players and young prospects are already available. There's no need to go to other cities. Thus, there are only a small handful of guys who are outside of Toronto. In years past that was not always the case. The key is to have a strong and large enough core to be able to have full intense practices. We've made up for this by attending a lot of tournaments and having camps on off weekends. Attendance from the out-of-town guys is always at a higher priority because this is our only team time.

10. It's been over a month since nationals. Did the better team win?

The better team always wins. Don't they? In our case we were certainly the underdogs going in. I'm sure the Vegas odds would agree. I felt that we had the pieces to really make it interesting this year and make it close at the end. We made mistakes across the board and didn't play to the level we had or have played all year. I guess it's one of those things that makes you stronger in the long run. It has certainly kept the fire in our belly to push harder through to the fall season. Not to mention we're dying for a rematch in Florida.

Question for the University Captains- Nationals Versus UPAs

Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A Macdonald, believed one of the major roles of the federal government was to induce a climate that forged trade among provinces and territories. Tariffs, making the Canadian National Railway private, and subsidization to companies are just some of the many ways we've tried to keep people in Windsor from doing business with people who live in Detroit.

140 years later, and the gravitational economic pull with the States is still in full force, maybe even more impossible to deny given our free trade agreement (allegedly), our weak politicians and the strength of global corporations.

This "pull" (pardon the pun) does not stop with Ultimate. Canadian teams have to make a decision about whether to send their teams to Nationals in Vancouver or attend the nearby UPAs in the spring.

By Vancouver hosting nationals, the tournament still offers the chance for a Canadian championship, but comes with expensive plane tickets and lodging/food/transportation costs. The fact is students have budget, and not many teams from the east have their clubs in order to fund raise and plan such a trip.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear UBC and other teams say "We do it every year!". True, but would the BC teams be as vigilant if they didn't enter with such a high probability of finishing top three in the nation?

The second option, to cash strapped clubs, is to skip nationals and play in the UPA spring college series. Sectionals and Regionals are close, and the quality of competition is both great and deep. You may not have much of a hope to make the sweet 16, but you may learn more from defeat and save some money.

So, I'll ask captains and wannabe captains alike with a poll (see right):

Which tournament is more important for eastern clubs this year?

CEUUC 2007 Women's Recap- Galloping Gee Gees

CEUUC 2007- Women's Review

Defending national champion Ottawa successfully managed to hold seed and win the 2007 Canadian Eastern University Ultimate Championships.

Congratulations to the Champs!!!

Listed below are the teams in their final rankings order.

1. Ottawa- C@ck of the Walk once again. Like Toronto A on the men's side, they are the class of their division.
2. Toronto A- They had very tough games on Saturday and Sunday against the champs. They had some very talented and experience players, but fell short.
3. McGill A- Outclassed in their semi final with Toronto A, but generally happy with their weekend.
4. Queens-Kingston- Have to be happy with final finish, but probably would have liked to have scored more in both their semi and their 3rd place game. Their offense lacked punch throughout the tourney.
5. Western A- When a team like Western loses coed champ/ world junior alum Tiff Lin to injury before the tourney starts, that loss is felt very heavily. However, the 12 women present had a strong Sunday and secured 5th. Equally impressive is the 10-8 loss to Toronto A. Their quarterfinal effort was not their best work.
6. Guelph- Par for the course.
   
7. McMaster- Is the ladies team on the upswing as well?
8. McGill B- They held Ottawa to 9 points in their quarterfinal. Sadly, they could only score 3 themselves.
9. Toronto B- Second team beats Carleton and Nipissing A teams. That's a sign of club strength
   
10. Carleton- Is there a tipping point to right the ship? Priority number one- more bodies and strong coaching!
    
11. Nipissing- Not quite as strong a finish as the men

CEUUC 2007 Open Recap- Spider Biten... Again!

CEUUC 2007
Open Division Review

Another great university tournament in the books. As I said before, many eastern teams saw this as their nationals for 2007. After Saturday, there was hope for many teams.

2 of the three pools showed no surprises at the end of the first day. Goat and friends.. err Torontula showed up with many of their good players (unlike previously reported) and had a comfortable first place pool finish. McGill survived a close game with Carleton to take pool B. In pool C, Western beat Queens A and finished undefeated to steal a better Sunday seed. Curtis Kile and Nippising went 2-2 and squeaked into the quarters. We also learned that Jeff Lindquist was in fact playing for Guelph, and he finally had a great receiver.

The fun before quarters wasn't over. 2 crossovers (Backdoor baby... great tourney format) were held to determine who stayed alive for the tourney title. Nipissing, Ottawa A, Sherbrooke, and McMaster were involved, and the North Bay and Hamilton teams moved on.

In the quarters, Torontula defeated Nipissing, Carleton surprised Queens, McGill spanked McMaster and Guelph upset Western. Guelph stormed back from an early deficit and squeaked by 10-8, another key win over their much larger southern Ontario rivals.

In the semis, Toronto handled the inexperienced Carleton team, while Guelph continued its run with another upset over last year's Cinderella team, McGill.

In the final, Torontula's experience, depth and skill got the best of small town Guelph. This is the second straight Easterns title for Tula, and one must give full credit to the champions. Last year they trailed Western by 4 points early on in an Eastern playoff battle, and they showed tremendous spirit and mettle during that game and in the past two years.

Here is the final ranking of the teams and some thoughts.

1. Toronto A- You're feeding the open club system in Toronto, and you're setting things up for future years. You'll always have a strong advantage in recruiting and development (as does Ottawa), but you'll have to be efficient in doing so. With success comes emulation and teams built to beat you.
2. Guelph- Jeff Lindquist has a new toy (receiver) and they reportedly lit it up all weekend. This team has to feel great after a 2nd place finish, and a lot of wins in tight games. This team plays a good system and they work well together under one leader. I still worry the team will be f%^ked when they lose Lindquist.
3. Carleton- Another big winner this past weekend. I'm not sure if they will have GOAT player Andy Corey next season, but the future looks great with Kielan Way, Allen Amos Binks and other youngsters leading the way in the next 2-3 years. Luke Phelan stepped up as a coach. That was quite evident just by watching his enthusiasm during the game against Ottawa B.
   
4. McGill A- A step back from last years nationals run, but a solid tournament nonetheless. 2 years ago this program was floundering, and now the team expects to finish top 3 every time out. That's progress.
5. Queens A- Secured 5th when Western forfeited. The program is definitely in a rebuilding year. Recruiting heavily from the west as they have done before is a must. The program success in Ottawa (Carleton/Ottawa) is also a negative for nearby Kingston/Queens.
6. Western A- A disappointment given that many felt only Tula could safely beat this team last year, and this year looked very promising after Saturday. Western overcame a short bench and some huge losses ( a fractured ankle to their national coed champion handler Scotty Hislop, and the absence of converted CIS track star Steve Armitage and two of their three captains from previous years). Expect a strong run during the spring upas this coming year. This team is started to recruit talent, but they must frankly play more in the off season and in summer to ensure the results their athleticism promises.
   
7. McMaster- New uniforms (Will collared jerseys become popular?) and better results.
8. Nippising- The squeaked into quarters, and they probably won the party. Mission accomplished.
9. Ottawa A- Disappointing Sunday followed by crossover loss. However, they finish on a strong note and finish 9th. The key take home is that a) They're becoming more relevant and b) They know they need to develop depth and no handler/star combo can serve as a fix.
10. Sherbrooke- Solid tournament. Wish I had seen more of them.
11. Queens B- Best of B
    
12. Western B- A lot of athletes.
    
13. Toronto B- So many bodies. Some will develop I am sure.
    
14. Ottawa B- Is this the one B team who could beat their A team?
    
15. McGill B- They partied with McGill's ladies. That's not all bad is it? :)