CUC 2016 Mixed

Hamilton hosts CUC 2016 Mixed from Thursday till Sunday. Here’s what we can expect: rain, layouts, and plenty of drama. With 20 teams this year features the largest single division in adult division play with a focus on continued growth. Despite the growth in size all of the teams shall be quite competitive owing part to many elite Open and Women’s players opting to create or participate on Mixed teams. Combine that with Mixed touring programs that are using 2016 as a stepping stone to capture a worlds bid in 2017 and things are looking very interesting. Let’s dig into the division a bit more.

With 20 teams the bids are allocated by province and as many provinces elected not to send teams there were plenty of wildcard bids to go around. The final bid allocation is:

Teams are seeded as follows:

  1. Bunny Thugs (SK)
  2. Battleship (QC)
  3. No In Cut (QC)
  4. Montreal Old Star (QC)
  5. MUTX (QC)
  6. Quest (QC)
  7. Crash (ON)
  8. That Frisbee Team (ON)
  9. Midnight Release (ON)
  10. Nagano 98 (ON)
  11. Anchor (NS)
  12. Backdraft (ON)
  13. Pretty Boys and Handsome Girls (MB)
  14. Max Power (ON)
  15. Nor’Easter (ON)
  16. Wreckhouse (NL)
  17. Animals (QC)
  18. Local 613 (ON)
  19. Nonsuch (MB)
  20. Lit (AB)

In case you missed it: Québec teams are highly seeded for the most part and Ontario teams follow. This seeding allows for more inter-provincial play and avoids concentrating Québec teams in any particular pool. It’s a fair compromise considering the larger tournament size and does not reflect, in all probability, the final seeding. Adding to the volatility are Open and Women’s players that are playing on a few different Ontario teams.

The top end is also quite flat meaning that anybody in the top 12 to 14 could medal. Let’s add some more uncertainty to the mix with unpredictable weather, deteriorating field conditions, and inconsistent team dynamics (this is Mixed after all). Add to that players that were missing at Regionals or other seeding tournaments.

What I’m trying to say is that I have no clue how this division shall play out and there’s no point in continuing this post. Good luck everybody and I’ll see you at the fields.

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