Pressure

Ultimate Canada updated the bid allocation a few days ago to include wildcard assignments.  There were few surprises and in bids fell where we thought they would.  The new bid system also highlights how important it is for regions to get teams registered early and have fourteen players rostered before the initial deadline.  BC lost a Masters bid by registering three teams but not rostering one of the teams fully; they will now need a Regionals to eliminate a team.  Let’s go through the regions and look at the possible outcomes from Regionals.

Women’s

I’ll have an upcoming article on the overall Women’s situation but here’s how it shaped in terms of bids:  Every region will have a Regionals!  Except Atlantic (separate discussion on that later).

 

As a World’s year this is shaping up to be a battle right from the start.  No additional bids are expected as B.C., Ontario, or Québec would have to drop one for the Prairies to pick it up.  The top teams from all regions traditionally attend CUC as well and are expected to do so this year as well.  I think that Québec Regionals are going to be amongst the most exciting to watch with a large number of teams battling for all three bids; should be great competition.

Women’s Masters

Last year a group of very determined Women started laying the ground work for their campaign to have a Women’s Masters division at CUC.  Many of the players competed in Japan and were confident in their ability to recruit enough teams for their first appearance at CUC.  As of right now there at three teams fully paid and registered from the three powerhouse regions of Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver competing for one bid to WUCC.  In all honesty I want to see the ladies compete in Vancouver and fight for that bid.  I do know the outcome shall likely be a merging of the three teams for next year but it’s a start.  I hope that Ultimate Canada allows for one Canada wide pickup team to be allowed and that the team comes together so that we see a solid group of four teams.

Masters

A reasonably competitive year for Masters with three bids to WUCC results in a reasonable amount of interest and strong teams wanting to head to CUC.

 

A tie between Prairies and B.C. for number of registered and rostered teams (2 each) led to a player count and Prairies coming out ahead 53 to 35.  Thanks to Greyfish registering but not rostering a team the additional bid went to Prairies.  If Greyfish had rostered 14 players B.C. would have gotten the third bid and all three teams could have attended CUC.  Now, B.C. is the only region that will look to have a Masters Regionals.  Ontario has two teams registered but only one rostered.  I have heard rumours that Toronto and Ottawa may merge prior to the deadline and this should result in them bypassing a Regionals.

Open

The bids have fallen to almost where we spoke about in a previous post .

 

Once again quite a bit of pressure on teams in Québec after a low showing last year.  This year will be an interesting situation given how strong B.C. teams were last year.  Regionals will be held for Ontario and Québec while others get in with few issues.

Mixed

The largest division with regards to the number of teams wanting to play at Regionals.  In previous posts there has been much discussion about whether all of the teams want to head to CUC and the answer is, no.  Not all of the teams want to head to CUC but the ones that don’t are not the most likely to qualify.

 

Interestingly Alberta, Atlantic, and Prairies avoid a Regionals.  I was expecting a Maritimes team in the Atlantic region but some of the players have moved onto teams in other regions and divisions.  Unfortunate but I hope next year results in a better turnout from the Atlantic provinces.  Québec will knock a single team out and should be fairly competitive amongst the bottom three teams.  Ontario and B.C. will have substantially competitive Regionals with plenty of pressure on the top teams in each.  The competition and situations in those Regionals shall be a good lead up to CUC.

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