12
Aug
CUC 2009 – Live Details
The first Championship Match (Open) will start at 0930 CDT (-5 GMT). We plan on going live shortly before that time. Please visit the main page of iamultimate.com on Sunday to view the video feed.
The order of the games will be: Open, Mixed, and Women’s.
It is unlikely that there will be any live broadcasts of the Juniors and Masters finals on Saturday as 50 mm of rain is expected in Winnipeg. If appropriate shelter is found or the weather changes then there will be a broadcast. I will try to Tweet the games regardless of weather.
11
Aug
The Buzz
As I sit here typing I am impatient. Impatient to play, impatient to see my friends, impatient to move and get on with it. It’s not anticipation, it’s impatience. It’s at this time I have to calm down, conserve energy, stay focused, eat, and enjoy that tingling sensation of knowing that something great is about to happen.
There’s a great unknown ahead but that comes from playing with Too Bad. With a changing roster each tournament has a different feel. Tournament life is about adaptation rather than repetition. Fundamentals help but finding someone to click with is far more important. Fitting in rather than being the hero is the lesson of each day.
Rahil and I chatted last night about Mixed and which teams may make the finals. We both feel that TFP will be in the finals (as does the rest of the world including Steven Trainor) and also suspect that Liquid will make it in. In a conversation last week with Lenny Scott (one of the Liquid captains last year) I told him that I gave Liquid a 70% chance of getting to the finals, I’d like to raise that to 80% now. Rahil pointed out that the 70% was probably too low considering that Liquid’s close loss to ONYX was unlikely to be close or a loss the next time around. Rahil pointed out that ONYX had picked up star lady player and that Liquid had lost Blue (Dan Yanke) when Liquid was leading 4-1. Statistical imagination leads one to conjecture a finals appearance by Liquid.
Can anyone ruin the party? I think not. Both teams have (as Trainor pointed out) confidence. Liquid is has young players that are trained well by the veterans that know how to play them. TFP is a young team full of veterans that know exactly how to instill fear. So who’ll cause pains for both of these teams? My choices are Psychoplastique, ONYX, RIP, and MONSTER. Tundra should perhaps also be added to that list as their form has improved greatly in the last month. Just imagining the aforementioned teams in the top eight makes me impatient.
Then my thoughts wander a bit farther. Should Liquid finish top 4 would that be an extra seed for Ontario next year? Liquid will continue to be strong which suggests that going into 2011 Ontario may have as many as 8 Mixed bids to Nationals but are quite likely to have 7.
One step at a time.
11
Aug
A viewers guide to Day 2 at CUC 09
Since day 2 matchups rely directly on results from day 1, I’m going to give an overview of matchups that can/should happen.
Day 2
Mixed
Pool E – Fields 8,9,10
TFP vs. Chaos
Before TFP started it’s dynasty (4 CUC titles in 5 years). There was Chaos. Chaos won in Montreal and Ottawa (2003 and 1999) and made the finals in 3 years (2006, 2001 and 2000). It’s a good bet that one of these two teams if not both will meet at Bomber stadium on Sunday.
TFP vs. RIP
Quite possibly another finals preview. Rip has been building all season for a chance to prove itself against the defending champs from the west.
Gecko vs. RIP
Rip managed to pull out a 9-8 win at regionals. Gecko must be looking forward to this rematch, waiting all season for another shot at RIP.
Pool F – Fields 15, 16, 17
Onyx vs. Liquid
Liquid will be looking for revenge after a 10-8 loss at Mixed up in the finals 2 weeks ago. Healthier squads for both teams will lead to an entertaining game.
Liquid vs. Psychoplastique
Another extremely good matchup on day 2. Both teams will be fighting for the upper hand and to avoid TFP in the Semi’s.
Onyx vs. Monster
Monster is looking forward to this rematch almost as much as the rematch against Liquid. After losing 9-7 vs. Onyx at Comedy of Errors (with a smaller squad), it’ll be interesting to see if Monster can handle Onyx’s handler speed and breaking ability. Another interesting matchup will be with the women. We’ll see if Onyx’s women can use their height advantage over some of the Monster girls.
Monster vs. Meyham
Monster squeezed out a Universe point win in a “hotly contested” game at regionals over Meyham. Rumor has it Meyham has picked up a couple of stronger players and have a better team than that which showed up in Waterloo.
Women
Pool E – Fields 1 and 2 (3:30 pm on)
The top 4 women’s teams continue their fight for position.
Lotus vs. Zephyr
Lotus will get a chance to see the #2 seed, Zephyr from BC. On paper they are slated to meet in the finals, we’ll see if this squad from BC can take on a hot Lotus squad with only 1 loss under it’s belt this year.
Lotus vs. Storm
Last year’s memories probably still leaves a bad taste in some of the girls on Lotus. Storm shocked them in the Semi’s to make the finals in Calgary. Lotus has handled Storm the two times they have played this year, but I’m sure Lorne has something special planned for Nationals.
Wild Rose/Stella vs. Storm
If Stella can get by Wild Rose on Thursday, they get another shot at Storm. After losing to Storm at the Boston Invite. They must be itching to prove the victory was a one-off win. On the other hand Wild Rose will be willing to show that they deserve to be seeded in the top 4 with a win over the #1 seed from Quebec.
Open
Pool E – Fields 12, 13, 14
Invictus vs. Mephisto
Mephisto will be out to prove that they are the best team at CUC 09 in a Friday matchup that may be a preview of the Finals.
Invictus vs. General Strike
Led by Phenom Mark Lloyd, hometown heroes, General Strike will be looking to making an impression against Invictus
Pool F – Fields 15,16,17
Pheonix vs. Blackfish
An athletic Pheonix squad looks to take on Blackfish. Blackfish cracked the semi’s last year, finishing 4th. Pheonix right behind them in 5th.
Grand Trunk vs. Blackfish
Grand Trunk pulled off a universe point win over Blackfish last year, making the top 8. Can they find the magic again?
Grand Trunk vs. Too Bad
Grand Trunk looks for revenge from an early season loss to Too Bad on day 2 of Nationals. Can Too Bad’s band of pickups which include Greg Lang, Tushar and some ex-Zebra Muscle players gel over the 3 days to make a big splash at CUC 09?
Day 3
Day 3 sees the Quarters and Semi’s for the Mixed, Open and Women’s divisions. The Masters and Juniors divisions have finals on Saturday at 3:45 and 6 pm respectively.
11
Aug
CUC 2010
Congratulations to Sherbrooke Quebec for being awarded CUC 2010. The dates provided are August 12 to 15, 2010.
11
Aug
A quick peek…
Feedback from the last live broadcast has been incorporated. Since the chat was flaky it has been removed and instead you will have to contact us via email with questions/comments.
A new flash client will be used and you’ll access it through a post rather than a special URL.
Here’s a peek at what it looks like:
10
Aug
The Other Tournament.
While most of the big Canadian teams are heading to Manitoba this week for CUC 09, 3 of Canada’s elite teams are heading to Burlington Washington for the Emerald City Classic (http://www.emeraldcityclassic.com/). ECC is quite possibly the best ultimate tournament available. It pits the quarter finalists from last years UPA’s plus some Invite teams (a team from Columbia and England this year in the Open division, Columbia and Japan in the Womens division). GOAT, Furious George and Traffic will represent Canada this year. A lot of people wonder why these teams refuse to take part in their National championships and instead go to play in a tournament in the states.
CUC is outrageously expensive. Each player pays anywhere between $123 and $147 to play at Canadian Nationals. That works out to almost $3000 per team. ECC on the other hand will discount fees for teams traveling further. From my understanding, Sockeye will pay $1000 team entry fee, while a team like GOAT will pay somewhere around $400.
Also, for some teams, the level of competition is the main draw in going to a tournament. Most people will agree that Furious and GOAT are the top 2 open teams in the country, if they went to Canadian Nationals, the way the seeding/pools are set up. They may get 3 or 4 good games all weekend (against teams like Mephisto, Pheonix and Invictus). While if they go to ECC, every game will be competitive. Lotus on the other hand will go into CUC, and if everything goes according to plan will play a maximum of 8 games. Of which maybe 3 or 4 will be competitive. 8 games over 4 days, they got more games at No Borders in 2 days for 1/10th of the cost.
That being said, nothing feels greater than winning a National title. But I’m sure teams like Lotus, Invictus, Zephyr, or Mephisto will reassess going to CUC after climbing to the top of the mountain. Good Luck to everyone heading to Winnipeg or Washington.
Follow Us
BULA Blog
Upcoming Coverage
- Paganello 2011 — Apr 5, 2012 6:00pm - Apr 9, 2012 6:00pm
- Paganello 2011 — Apr 5, 2012 6:00pm - Apr 9, 2012 6:00pm
Buy this book!
12
Aug
Overlooked?
Readers, I missed a team in my previous posts about who could ruin the party for the top four: Mayhem. I should have known better than to miss out on mentioning them seeing as how I play with some of their squad.
It would be unfair to assume that Mayhem will not do well seeing as how they finished 3rd in Ontario and clearly have defeated many top teams in the past. What bothers me is their consistency. They’re a team where talent runs deep, helmed by one of the best cutters in the sports (the elder Mackie) Mayhem seems to suffer from a case of unfortunate drops at just the right times.
Regardless, for CUC 2009 I place the comfortably amongst the top 8 especially with added players (the younger Mackie) and the same fiery resolve that we’ve seen them play with for the past few seasons.