Weekend Warrior- You Pick It!

Nation,

This past weekend saw several strong performances from Canadian squads in tournaments south of the border.

In Cazenovia (CUT), Phoenix of Ottawa made it to the tournament final for the first time since 2005. On Saturday, they narrowly beat out split squad GOAT 12-11, lost 13-7 to the pool's top seed Bodhi and then beat Philly Open by a score of 10-9. Two wins by a single point each= two wins and a likely trip to quarters.

Maverick of Kitchener-Waterloo had a great weekend as well. They won their Saturday pool with a smooth 3-0 record. Starting the day with a narrow 12-11 win over Thrown Together, they then "upped their game" to beat more established teams Sons of Liberty (13-8) and Medicine Men (13-9). Maverick lost their pre quarters to Goat split squad (Y), but garnered top seed for the consolation quarters.

On Sunday, Maverick and Phoenix continued to impress. Maverick defeated Eastern Motors (14-11), Medicine Men (15-9) before defeating New York's Replicants (One of last year's surprise teams) in the consolation final to finish 9th.

Phoenix had won their pre quarters over Super Seed, and went to work in a tough quarters match with PoNY. Ottawa won 12-10 and met a very tough Bodhi in the semi. Bodhi, who had beaten Phoenix the day before, wasn't able to recapture that success on day two. Phoenix pulled off the upset (15-11) before losing to Ironside (15-5) in the final.

Both GOAT split squads went 0-3 on day one and lost their respective quarters.

Over in Boston at Mixed Easterns, three Canadian teams were duking it out in their respective pools. Tournament top seed RIP went 2-1 on day one, as did ONYX of Quebec City. Spawn of Fredericton went 0-3 in a challenging pool.

Our Canadian squads showed promise in their crossover games. ONYX had an impressive win over a Slow White split squad (15-8) and took top seed into Sunday's championship bracket. Spawn managed to win their crossover to join RIP and ONYX in the pre quarters.

Sunday clearly belonged to ONYX. They won their pre-quarters over Pandemic (15-8) before easily handling RIP in the quarterfinals (15-5). The beat Slow White split squad X in the semis (13-8) and Slow White Y in the final by a score of 12-10.

Who was the Weekend Warrior?

The poll question to the right of this article asks: Which team was the Weekend Warrior for June 5-6th?

Without any results from the Boston Invite Elite women's tournament being available, we still have several Canadian teams that turned some heads on the past weekend.

On the men's side, Phoenix went to the finals at CUT for the first time in five years. They also beat teams (PoNY and Bodhi) that have been very tough foes in past years and will be barriers to USA finals qualification.

On the other had, Maverick from K-W really threw down the gauntlet this weekend. They are not in the elite levels yet, but their wins over Eastern Motors FB, Sons of Liberty, Medicine Men and the Replicants in their first major US tournament is very impressive for a first year club (technically).

And then we have ONYX. RIP is the first Canadian team I can recall entering the tournament with top seed. ONYX is definitely the first squad from Canada to win the whole tournament since I have been playing/blogging.

It's an impressive victory and feat. But should we be really shocked with ONYX exploits? Before their loss to Chaos in the wet and windy CUC 2009 finals, this team looked almost unstoppable last summer.

Have your vote and your say about the most impressive Canadian performance last weekend!

CUT 2010- The Big Boys are Back for the Summer!

Nation,

The big boys of the north east hit the field in the sleepy upstate New York area of Cazenovia. I hate to give away Ottawa trade secrets, but if you are looking for a great post game/ tournament meal, take the detour to Syracuse for Dinosaur BBQ. The food is amazing, and the atmosphere is truly unique.

CUT annually serves as the first major open tournament in the region for the summer, and this year is no exception.

Here is a preview of the elite pools and other Canadian squads.

Pool A

Ironside (Boston)- A deserving top seed. 3rd at USA nationals last year (still getting used to the name change), 2nd the year before, and going to Worlds in Prague as a potential championship favorite.

GOAT Y (Toronto)- Split squad from Toronto's best. 12th at USA nats last year, 6th in 2008 and 3rd in 2007. Toronto understands the season is a marathon and not a sprint, and continues to use the early schedule to make the best decisions for the fall.

PONY (NYC)- I think we'd all have to agree that PONY is one of the best teams not to make USA nationals last fall.

Mephisto (Montreal)- The defending Canadian national champions will have no shortage of day one competition.

Pool B

Bodhi (Amherst)- It was just 2008 that Bodhi was a relative unknown, trouncing teams in the early season tournaments and their seeds sky rocketed accordingly. The team had a great 2009 season, making it to the UPA finals and finished 11th. They're very young, they've already made it to the show, they have a pipeline of talent in Amherst, how can they not be excited about their 2010 prospects? I am.

Goat X (Toronto)- Second split squad from Hogtown. Toronto's three team open system had a very strong tryout process with large numbers of players trying out.

Philly Open (NJ/PA)- A new team building on players from New Jersey (Pike) and Philly Love (Philadelphia). Pike went to USA finals last year and finished 16th, so this merger team might be a huge boost in their ability to compete at the next level.

Phoenix (Ottawa)- 2009 saw many changes for the Ottawa open program. Many players departed and the second team was lost for the season due to numbers. That being said, Phoenix had a strong summer and fall performance, with a best ever 2nd place finish at CUC 2009. They clearly battled hard at each tournament and got the most out of their squad.

In 2010, Firebird is back, and top team Phoenix has one of their strongest rosters- ever. It was a very tough year to make the squad. One of the biggest surprises was Jan Gorski. After experience with Carleton University and a brief tenure with Firebird in 2008, Gorski played with coed team Liquid in Kitchener-Waterloo. That benefit of a change of scenery (and improvement in fitness evidenced through tryout tests) seems to have made a great change in his game.

Other Canadian Squads

Maverick (Kitchener Waterloo)- As the web site states, "2010 will be Maverick`s first year as an organized, competitive Open team, the first such team in Southwestern Ontario. In previous years we have played as a pick-up team under the name Medicare."

I guess this was an inevitable step (dissolution of coed team Liquid) given Liquid's failure to secure a worlds bid last year and Medicare's strong performances in 2008 tournaments like No Borders and Jazz.

Players of note include but are not limited to Andrew Higgins, Carson Turner (ex Phoenix and World Juniors), Tom Dowler and Trevor Henry (2009 Gender Blender 'Fastest Man').