Mixed Up Results

Nation,

Brief rundown of the weekend:

Saturday

• Montreal's RIP takes Pool A with a 4-0 Day, 3 teams go 2-2 and local coed "A" squad Bytown Flatball Club goes 0-4
  
• Onyx takes Pool B with a 4-0 day, while Ringer pickup team Phella goes through a 2-2 day. Monster, Ontario regional champs, has a tough 1-3. Underrated Liquid puts together a solid 3-1 day in the pool of death
• Polatouches and Tabasco (I told you to watch out for them!!) move into quarters by winning their pool.
• Big Fish of Ottawa goes undefeated in pool play and D.I.R.T. is the class of the junior pool

Sunday

• Like most ringer teams, Phella gets better with each game and makes it to finals versus RIP
• Quebec City's B squad wins the 9th place bracket
• The Company from Waterloo wins the 19th place bracket
  
• Ottawa Junior B (O2) has a fantastic sunday and finishes above the Ottawa Junior A team
• RIP takes the final and wins the tournament in time cap 13-9

Congrats to RIP the consolation pool champs, and to the organizers and volunteers.

Worlds 2008

Nation,

Worlds is Going on Aug 2-9 in our home and native Land.

Here's the site

Here are the teams

Poll Question is simple... which of Canada's teams has the best chance to win Gold?




Best of luck to the teams!

Log Jam 2008 Preview..

Nation,

Tough week for me personally, with the passing of a tremendous uncle. I wasn't able to write much on worlds because of that and a lack of internet conenction at the new home for most of the week.

Firebird heads to St Alban's Vermont this weekend for LogJam. We're going down with a very small but potentially talented roster, so it might be another big weekend for a team having a great season.

12 men's teams, with three canadian squads (Mephisto, Firebird, and Magma).


John Haig Being John Haig Like





Here is how our schedule shapes up

• Our first game is not till 11am (sweet) and we play our biggest game versus the Providence Pack Dogs. If we win, we really help our chances of finishing top 2 in the pool and automatically making it to semis. It should be a tough match.
  
• We then play the top seed Chuck Wagon in another tough match. Our toughest games are the first two, so we better be ready for the challenge
• We play Zebra Muscles third, and will look to win our third straight from them this year. Zebra looks to improve every time we see them.
• We finish Saturday versus unknown 'Good News Everyone'. We hope it's not Sockeye taking a break from worlds. Damn pick up teams and their ?? factor.
  
• Sunday morning we play Magma and hopefully set ourselves up for playoffs

Little is known about our opponents, but we have the following objectives

• Be ready on point one Saturday
• Put teams away when we get the chance, something good teams need to learn before they can be very good or great
  
• Have fun

I'm not one to hype american tourneys, but this one looks fun
-Finals for women and men will be in a stadium
-Double Dragon is hosting a game of STUMP. We are told "Don't ask questions, just show up."

MoTown 2008 Results

Nation,

Detroit's annual summer open and women's tourney quietly went down last weekend. I went to this tournament once in 2006. The good things were the results we had, the teams, the free beer offered (for those who partake) and the quality of the fields. The bad was the fact the tourney almost got shut down by a sheriff/marshall, it was a twelve hour trek, we didn't get water until the afternoon and it tasted of sulphur, and the heat that can't be blamed on anyone. Here are the results.

Open

-Madcow of Columbus pulled a mild shocker and won the title
-BAT and Chicago's Machine took 2nd and third respectively
-Grand Trunk was the best Canadian finisher, going 0-4 on day one in the power pools and then winning 3 games to take 9th on Sunday. Have not played Trunk all season, but I assume they will be tuned up and ready at nationals
-Too Bad was Just Bad all weekend. 0-4 in the power pool Saturday, and 1-3 on Sunday. I find it hard to believe this was the same squad that finished 6th at Borders.
-Roy went 0-4 on day one (Not in the power pools) and ended up finishing 19th. Dissapointing results after a strong No Borders.
-Team of Note: Impulse, an under-19 team from Pittsburgh, went from the 14th seed to 6th place finish. Damn those juniors.

Women

- Unknown local team team called Hooptie takes the crown, beating Madison Jazz in the final
- Canada was represented by PPF from Southwestern Ontario. They go 5-0 on day one and then finish third, losing to the champs in the semis. Still don't know why they choose to go to this tourney over a much better field at No Borders, but they should be saluted for going down and getting results to boost confidence before nationals. They have the athleticism to challenge Stella and Lotus.
-Toronto's Lilly had another tough weekend, going 0-5 on Saturday and losing all games on Sunday as well. I really feel for this team and its players for going through a learning season like this. When your record is 4-19 since June, it's easy to get down if you don't remember that this will be great experience moving into future seasons.

Mixed Up 2008- The Final Nationals Tune-Up

Nation,

The coed division at this year's Canadian Nationals promsies to be exciting. Defending champion TFP will play both worlds and nationals in consecutive weeks, and could face any number of challengers on their way to the finals.

The final major coed preview before nationals on the east coast takes place in Ottawa this weekend. Mixed UP features 30 teams, and is the first tournament to have 5 of the top 6 Ontario and Quebec contender teams involved.

Here's the schedule. It looks like power pools, with the other pools having no chance for crossover at this time.

What to expect in each pool:

• Pool A is definitely okay. RIP and Gecko are almost locks for the quarterfinals at Nationals. Bytown Flatball Club is the home team, and they are on a confident wave following their surprising finish at regionals. Tundra is lead by local Craig "Frogger Froats. YNOX is the big question mark... are they a split squad or ONYX or are they a b team?
• Pool B features Onyx, who is not just a really angry rap group from the nineties.. it's a really good Quebec team featuring some open and women's players who are set to medal at nationals. Their toughest foes will be Ontario Regional Champs Monster, Waterloo's Liquid, and a pick team featuring Stella and Ottawa Open Players. Wannabago gets the prievlege of entering a bloodbath between four very strong teams.
• Pool C is filler
• Pool D has Tabasco, which may have some former comp open and coed players who can throw/shoot the lights out. If that old savvy veteran with the Tiley hat is on the field (You know him, Camelot, many other teams) zones will be in big trouble.
  
• Pool E is filler. Look to see how arrested development, which has been tutored all year by long time player Roy Germon. does playing at a home tourney.
  
• Pool F features the best and brightest juniors in the area outside of our worlds players. Hopefully many will hit fields 11 and 13 to see and cheer them on.

Semi's prediction... Phella, Gecko, Onyx and RIP. Darkhorse is Monster.

Your predictions here.....

No Borders- Worth Every Second!

Nation,

Well, I made it through my first tournament as a director. In the face of national team selection week at the Canadian Olympic Committee, a crazy condo purchase issue, wedding planning, and my duties as a player, I managed to actually live to write this report. It was every stressed occurance and all the late hours.

Phoenix- No Borders Open Champs- 2008 (Corry Berghout Photo)

From a logistic standpoint, I am so thankful for the volunteer cell coordinators from OCUA. Vanessa Lyon, Sandra Hanson, and Gavin Thompson were so huge for me- constant communication, tacit knowledge, and on day site direction and leadership when I was playing. Our volunteers were great and I look forward to the volunteer dinner of appreciation.

There will always be troubles in hosting an event (field dinner goes awry and we have to find a replacement option, an american team goes awol the day of with no indication, field painter is broken and we have to find a replacement, we battle rain storms and lightning as we paint the lines, liquor inspector shows up) but when your team(both on the field with Phoenix/Firebird and off with the No Borders team) puts in a good show and almost everyone has an amazing time, it really makes it worth it.

I think the 80's tournament party might be a keeper as well! :)

Men's Results

Although we didn't have all the elite teams we wanted yet, we had an extremely strong field of teams from 1-16. Even the talent pools from 17-27 had darkhorse teams that managed to win their crossovers and move up brackets for day two.

Jamie Craig Catches to win on Universe Point- Corry Berghout Photo

I had only one team that wasn't happy about their seed. However, it was a local team that I know well. They needed a kick in the a$$ early Saturday, and it worked as hope. They, along with Firebird and Too bad, managed to win their cross-overs and move into the top 8 pool. In past years, it would be hard to imagine solid teams like Med. Men, Red Circus, and Red Tide moving down, but it happened. (Note to readers, I'm sure Tide and Medicine Men didn't have their full rosters, so please don't underestimate them if you're taking bids for your own tourneys).

Firebird wise, we beat a rebuilding Zebra Muscles (I expect good things in the future), we crushed a very young and mouthy Seven team that did not have Curtis Kile or Jesse Robertson to lead and handle for them, we blew a 3 point lead and lost to GLUM 13-11, and then won our cross-over versus Red Circus by a score of 13-12. Matt Hogel was outstanding for Red Circus. He came back to his hometown and played well.

Sunday, we went 0-2. We simply failed to play to our abilities versus Tombstone. Getting down 8-2 to them at half was sad, and even though we went on a big run to make it a 2-3 point game, they pulled away quite easily. Allen Amos Binks grabbed a callaghan and had the huge weekend I predicted. Binks will be so much better in a couple months, can't wait. We lost a universe point game to Too Bad, score was 17-16. Our team fought well all weekend, but I seriously wonder about our resource deployment and how it affects us on Sunday. To a man we know how good we are, but the past few tournaments we might be guilty of playing our kings and bishops too much in non-essential time and our pawns not enough. It's not an easy answer but we'll get there.

Congrats to the 17th place finishers, The Outsiders, for winning the Sean Green Memorial Cup. The team was from Toronto, but understood the significance of the cup and treated it accordingly.

The finals were epic, and ended up with Phoenix and Friars, a team made up of GOAT guys, Torontula guys and a smattering of everything. Ottawa native Colin Green faced his former team and he wanted nothing more than to make the local crowd boo him in dismay.

There are many great reports about the final. The Polish Prince will have one up soon, Jeters from Friars has one, and they will both give you great insight. Here was my thoughts on it

• It is hard being the Tournament Director and a member of an open program playing a universe point final. I tried to stay as emotionless as possible during the final
• The fans were so great. On both sides. Toronto and Ottawa fans cheered for both teams when they made great plays.
  
• Jamie Craig was deserving of Tourney MVP because of his universe point heroics and his play on every point. For those of you who don't know Jaimie, he's the older half brother of the Alexander boys. He started ultimate two years ago in his thirties. He works harder that anyone in our program and combines great athletic talent with intelligence to be a leader and a sparkplug.

I honestly can't wait for the teams we will attract next year, and our local team will prepare to defend our title very early.

Women's

If you ask any of the long serving female ultimate players in Ottawa, Keith Whyte and No Borders has always been focused on treating the women's pool with equal attention. We did not stray away from that this year, designing a showcase game for Ottawa's best (Stella) and Montreal's finest (Storm)

I have been watching the women's scene since 2003, and I honestly can't tell the last time Storm beat Stella. However, it looks like Storm has benefitted from the teachings of new coach Lorne Beckman and was able to beat Stella 12-7 in front of a large Saturday crowd.

Holly Shapiro of Loose Cannon versus Stella (Photo Corry Berghout)

Saturday Notes
-Vixen goes 3-0 in their pool play and makes the TD regret seeding them so lowly.
-Salty gets rocked on day one, losing all their games included a CUC preview to Scarlett
-Pickup team Dame from Ottawa is super strong and finishes second in the pool.

Sunday Results-
Quarters
-QUB plays Lotus hard but loses
-Stella gets upset by a 10- lady roster of Loose Cannon (Huge fans of the girls and I hope they come all the way back up for years to come)
-Dame beats Ambush 12-6
-Storm crushes Scarlett 15-1

Semis
-Lotus gets by Loose Cannon
-Storm defeats Dame's cinderella run

Lotus managed to go undeafeated throughout the weekend and bring the women's title back to Toronto for the first time since the 90's. They defeated Storm 15-5 in the final.

Stella finishes a dissapointing 5th and is not the highest placing Ottawa team (Dame). Despite this, they should be confident heading into nationals with their regionals championship.

Storm, Scarlett, Salty, and QUB remain mysteries heading into nationals, but all showed great moments.

Lotus Versus Storm Final
Source: Andrew Leach and Ultypics

No Borders 2008

Nation,

I am insanely busy (tournament, olympics, condo, wedding plans).

Here is the tourney site with schedules listed

http://www.nobordersultimate.com/2008/

I'm very excited about the talent pools in both divisions. Feel free to make your predictions of the winners.