UPA Finals... So Hot Right Now!

Nation,

Best wishes to all participants traveling down to Florida this week.

I have posted polls (to the right) with all divisions/pools posted. Let me know who you think will make the final four for each division.

Here are my picks, pure speculation in the Masters and Mixed divisions.

Masters
DOG and Troubled Past in the finals.
DOG wins

Open
Jam, Sockeye, Furious and GOAT in the semis... dreaming in Canadian Technicolor
Jam and Sockeye in the finals
Sockeye pulls out another UPA victory.

Women's
Fury, Riot, Zeitgeist and Capitals in the Semis
Fury and Zeitgeist in the finals
Fury repeats.

Mixed
Shazam Returns and Slow White in the finals
Slow White wins out.

UPA Regionals Diary of a General Strike Captain

Nation,

I recently talked to Kyle Parker of Winnipeg's General Strike. I thought it would be interesting for viewers to get some thoughts on a Canadian team not named Furious or GOAT making a run at Sarasota.

Obviously upset at the losses at regionals and the absence of Mark Lloyd (Who is the 18 year old Winnipeg prodigy now wearing University of Western Ontario garb, Parker nonetheless had some valuable thoughts on their UPA attempt, the games they played and the team's off season plans. He's a straight shooter. Think Brett Taylor or that guy on your team who will tell you when you're not giving enough effort.

Here's the gist of my questions and his answers. If it helps any team prepare for next summer/fall, then I'm glad. Otherwise, you'll just get the same chuckle from his takes that I did.

How did the team perform at Regionals?

We were brutal at Regionals. We played like total sacks against all of the teams that were worth playing against... We definitely needed a heavier dose of Mark Lloyd.

What was your perception of the teams that you faced? What was the summary of the games you played?

Day 1

• 11-4 L to BAT. That BAT team wasn't even that good either.
• 11-10 W over St Louis. Because of some call/rule issues, Parker thought "It was ever-so-sweet to beat them on double game. They were basically a 2-man team. We were once again not very impressed."
• 11-8 W over LouEVIL: Played a bit better in this one. I think we were up 10-6 and had a bad drop in the endzone that allowed them to score a couple more points. They weren't very good.
• BYE: I can't believe they close down their outdoor pools for the winter in Oklahoma once the temperature dips down to the 25C mark. What a joke.
• 11-? (7-8-9) W over Kansas: Lowest seed in our pool and they seemed like they were just in it for fun. They had some talent, but weren't quite as determined to compete. Used their height and had some weapons; if they were a tighter, more serious unit, I think that they'd do some damage. We probably played our best game of the tournament here.
• 11-5? L to Madison (Frontline): We played against these guys in the last game of the day on 3 of 4 days of Fall Series action. They killed us each and every time. In fact, in this Regionals game, our D-line didn't get 1 turnover against their O-line. They absolutely destroyed us.

Day 2

• 11-5? L to Madcow: Last game of pool play was Sunday morning. It was raining during the first half which is usually a great equalizer. Unfortunately our O-line got broken early and often and we were down 6-1 at half. It should be noted that these guys were playing an all-out inter-squad game during their BYE on Saturday, because they had about 35 players. When we arrived at the fields Sunday morning to play them, they were already in full-on Seattle. This team was serious about making Regionals and fell just short yet again this year. They can play with anybody, but they didn't seem all that impressive in our game with them - but that could've been the rain. Hey, is the UPA/CUPA going to wake up and put a cap on rosters at some point? Having more than 30 players is ridiculous.

• 15-5 L to Van Buren Boys: Great game played by a team with a great name. These guys were playing lights out against us and I'm not surprised to see that they qualified for Nationals later that day. Our O had nothing against their D and our D had nothing against their O. These guys will get absolutely kicked around in Sarasota, but they deserve to be there.

What are your team plans for the off season? (training, coed/men's tourneys, etc)

• We have no plans for the fall and winter. Hopefully we can get it back together again next season. I guess it'll all depend on whether we can get Mark Lloyd back.

UPA Championships 2007- Inital Seedings Posted

Nation,

I say nation despite that fact that, according to google analytics, I have quite a few american and non north american visitors to the site on a daily basis. I definitely appreciate the viewership.

The initial seedings for each division are up on the UPA site. Here is the list of divisons and teams. Canadian teams in bold, with an asterisk.

Open

1. Jam
2. Sockeye
3. Johnny Bravo
4. Furious George *
   
5. Sub Zero
6. Condors
7. Boston Ultimate
8. GOAT *
   
9. Ring Of Fire
10. Rhino
11. Double Wide
    
12. Truck Stop
13. Chain Lightning
14. Machine
15. Pike
16. The Van Buren Boys

Women's

1. Fury
2. Riot
3. Brute Squad
4. Zeitgeist
5. Capitals *
   
6. Safari
   
7. Backhoe
8. Ozone
9. Small Packages
10. Mojo
11. Wicked
12. Lady Godiva
13. Box
14. Layuma
15. Loose Cannon
16. Ambush

Mixed

1. Shazam Returns
2. Mischeif
3. Slow White
4. Brass Monkey
5. Amp
6. Mental Toss Flycoons
7. Tandem
8. Rival
9. ICE
10. Barrio
11. Bad Larry
12. Chewbacca Defense
13. Axis Of C'ville
14. Black Molly
    
15. The Poodle Club
16. Bashing Pinatas
    

Masters

1. Troubled Past
2. Old and In the Way
3. Bigs
4. DOG
5. Mileage
6. O.L.D S.A.G.
7. Above and Beyond
8. Surly
9. Ironwood
10. Miami
11. REAL Huck
12. Boneyard

CUUC 2007- Final Recap- Women's

Nation,

While the final rankings haven't been completely filled in on the UPA score reporter page, we do know that a new national women's championship has emerged at the Canadian University Ultimate Championships.

It's a familiar face/school/logo though. The UBC A women's team won the rights to be called university champs as they soundly defeated McGill 15-4 in the final. UBC's A team went 10-0 in the tournament, and did it in a convincing fashion from start to finish.

The final rankings (that we know of from this link) are as follows

1. UBC A- Deserved champions who we hope will travel east the next time nationals occur there. A matchup between Ottawa and UBC A would be very exciting
   
2. McGill- Bridesmaid for a second year. Both the men's and women's programs had a great season.
   
3. Queens- Defeated Victoria 9-5 in the 3rd place game, and had a solid tournament
4. Victoria- Beat seed, played tough and played the dark horse team role to a T.

Other notes include:

• Simon Fraser continuing to build on their first wins of the year with a win over Alberta, finishing in either 5th or 6th place
• Toronto falling farther than anyone imagined. Having said that all weekend, I have to salute the squad that attended, and I am cheering that they won the party
• Alberta not living up the the high seed, but have several wins to lay claim to.

Once again, congrats to UBC A on their national championship. I would like nothing better than participants and fans who watched the action to share their thoughts.

CUUC 2007- Final Recap- Open Division

Nation,

Congratulations to Toronto/Torontula/University of Toronto, who successfully defended their national title with an undefeated long weekend in Vancouver.

Toronto, who defeated Cinderella squad McMaster in the semis, defeated UBC's A team 15-11 in the final to capture national bragging rights. Making the trip across the country and defeating Vancouver's best college players might make title number two even sweeter than the first. In my opinion, it definitely takes away some of the intimidation factor for other east teams in future nationals.

Here are the final results

1. Toronto
2. UBC A- This finish is awesome for any team but the Thunderbirds
   
3. McMaster-(Yet another thriller 11-10 win over McGill in the 3rd place game)
   
4. McGill
5. Alberta- Great Sunday for the Edmonton crew
6. UBC B- A 6th place finish after being relegated to Saturday consolation play is solid
7. Victoria- Definitely a fall from their original seed
   
8. Queens- A tough weekend for the Mothership that will pay dividends in future years.
9. Saskatchewan and Simon Fraser (TIE)
   
10. Ottawa and UBC C (TIE)
    

Kudos to all the teams who traveled to participate. If any readers were present please post your comments of send me an e-mail of your take on the tourney.

I hope ulti village has some footage for all to see.

CUUC 2007- Sunday Morning Update

Nation,

Here's a brief update on both divisions. There has been some excellent score reporting , I don't know who did it, but kudos to him/her/them!
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Open- Saturday Pool Play

Power Pools
Pool E

• Toronto goes 3-0
• MUT/McGill goes 2-1
• Alberta goes 0-3
• McMaster goes 1-2, having a one point victory over Alberta, and a one point loss to McGill.

Pool F

• UBC A goes 3-0, shutting out Saskatchewan, giving up just one to Victoria and winning 13-6 over Queens
• Victoria goes 1-2. They lose to UBC A and Queens but beat Saskatchewan
• Queens goes 1-2. They beat Victoria but lose to UBC A and Saskatchewan.
• Saskatchewan raises havoc and goes 1-2 also. The win on universe point, defeating Queens 12-11

Consolation Pool

• Ottawa disappoints and goes 1-2, losing both games by two points.
  
• UBC C goes 0-3
• UBC B goes 3-0
• Simon Fraser has a great day, going 2-1

Open- Quarter Finals

It does not appear that any crossovers occured. Thus, the quarters went down as follows:

• Toronto beats Saskatchewan 13-9
• McMaster continues its surprising weekend by beating Queens 13-10
• McGill beats Victoria 13-8
• UBC A thumps Alberta 13-4

Semis are now

• Toronto versus McMaster
• McGill versus UBC A
  

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Women's-Saturday Round Robin Pool Play

• UBC A goes 8-0
• Toronto goes 1-7
• McGill goes 6-2, losing only to UBC A and Victoria
• Alberta goes 2-6
• Queens has a great Saturday and goes 6-2
• Saskatchewan goes 4-4
• Simon Fraser goes 3-5
• Victoria is the shocker of the tournament, going 6-2. 8th seed my a$$.
  
• UBC B continues to pick up experience, falling to 0-8 after the pool play
  

Semi Finals

The best teams have emerged after 8 games. The semis are as follows.

• UBC A takes on Victoria
• McGill takes on Queens
  

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CUUC 2007 Saturday Update

Nation,

Just giving a quick update on the men's and women's divisions. Some surprises and some expected results as the teams head into Saturday play.
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OPEN

The top 8 teams held their seed. The results and schedule can be found here.

Here are the details within each pool:

Pool A

• Toronto holds seed and goes 3-0. They beat UBC C and Saskatchewan easily, and survive a relatively close game with Alberta (13-10).
• Alberta goes 2-1. Of note is their win over Saskatchewan, eking out a 13-11 victory.
  
• Saskatchewan goes 1-2, a disappointing result given the tight games they played against Torontula and Alberta. However, they manage to stay in the Saturday power pools.
• UBC C was not the giant killer they hoped to be on day one. 0-3, and they scored less than 5 points in all of their games.

Pool B

• UBC A holds seed and goes 3-0. They beat McMaster 13-8, they handle UBC B 13-4 and then crush 2nd seed Queens 13-1.
  
• Queens goes 2-1. They win a very close game versus McMaster, winning on universe point 15-14. They beat UBC B but then lose to UBC in an embarrassing defeat. Were they playing possum, having already moved on to power pools?
• McMaster goes 1-2. Had they won on universe point with Queens, they would have pulled off a huge upset. This team has really improved this year.
• UBC B goes 0-3. Probably the toughest pool on friday, and they will have to do well on Saturday to get a backdoor chance at quarters.

Pool C

• McGill/MUT goes 3-0. They have a strong day, and their toughest game is against Ottawa, who has seen their zone before and obviously benefited from that.
• Victoria goes 2-1. They get tripped up by McGill and their system, but they get the job down versus Ottawa and Simon Fraser
• Ottawa goes 1-2 and beats seed to finish third in the pool. They fared poorly versus Victoria, but they win a close game against Simon Fraser. Sadly, a big day still finds them outside the power pools, but they still have a back door chance.
• Simon Fraser goes 0-3, falls to fourth in the pool, and is still looking for their first win on Saturday. Not quite ready for prime time in their first nationals (At least in many years).

Thus the Saturday power pools look like this

Pool 1

• Toronto
• MUT
• Alberta
• McMaster

Pool 2

• UBC A
• Victoria
  
• Queens
• Saskatchewan

The weak pool is as follows. (I assume the top 2 finishers will get a crossover opportunity at the end of the day)

• Ottawa
• UBC C
• UBC B (Will they be able to beat the C team?)
  
• Simon Fraser

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Women's

The women's tourney is set up as a two day round robin, with quarters at the end of day Saturday and the rest of playoffs on Sunday.

The schedule is posted here

Here is each team's results

• UBC A goes 4-0, and gives up just 2.5 pts per game.
  
• Toronto goes 0-3 and loses to the top seed, the fourth seed and the seventh seed. A very dark day for the female spider squad.
• McGill has a strong day, but still finds themselves at 2-2. They give UBC A their toughest challenge (13-6). The beat SFU and Queens, but fall to 8th seed Victoria
• Alberta goes 2-2 on day one. They fall to Queens and Saskatchewan, but they beat UBC B and Toronto.
  
• Queens goes 2-1. They beat Alberta and Simon Fraser, but they lose to McGill. It seems like the Martletts have the Mothership's number this year.
• Saskatchewan finishes day one with a 2-1 recored. They muster little effort in a loss to UBC A, but defeat Alberta and UBC B
• Simon Fraser goes 1-2, but looking at the scores, one sees a lot of hope for this team. They lose to McGill and Queens, but the games were very close (11-8 and 10-8 respectively). They pick up their first win of the entire calender year with a 13-2 trashing of Toronto
• Victoria goes 2-0. They should have a third game versus SFU to report, but it is not listed online currently. Regardless of the last game, 8th Victoria shows it's a team to be reckoned with, and their low seed is no detriment.
• UBC B goes 0-4, having a tough day. Through losses to Saskatchewan, Alberta, Victoria and UBC A, they fail to live up to the UBC depth hype. Most painful game- Getting bageled by the A team.
  

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