Unfamiliar Faces

By Ben Hahn
Posted: October 7, 2008

At this weekend's Northeast Open Regionals tournament, 16 teams will be fighting for four bids to the 2008 UPA Club Championships, more bids than any other region this year. In addition to the two standard bids awarded to each region, the Northeast earned a strength wildcard for the performance of regional contenders GOAT and Boston at last year's championship event, as well as a size wildcard for the 70 teams competing in the UPA Series, five more than the next closest region.

Ironside, this year's iteration of Boston Ultimate, and GOAT, from Toronto and Ottawa, Canada, will enter Regionals seeded first and second, respectively. Both teams are looking to improve on last year's Championships performance, where Boston made it to the quarterfinals and GOAT fell to Johnny Bravo in the semifinals. Ironside has lost only three games this year by a total of five points, and GOAT has an impressive 12-2 intraregional record, with both losses coming at the hands of the boys from Boston. A Championships berth is never a certainty as there are a number of teams with the potential to upset, but it's still likely that both will be headed to Sarasota.

What is certain is that two teams that have not participated in the big dance this decade will make it, and there will likely end up being two debut appearances. Of the rest of the field, Bodhi and PoNY are most likely to nab the remaining two bids, but four total spots available means more chances for an upset. The two teams that make it to the final game-to-go on Sunday afternoon will be playing their seventh or eighth game of the weekend. As the tournament wears on, fatigue could play a role in helping lower seeds defeat their ostensibly more talented rivals. And with the addition of a fourth bid, teams that a few weeks ago may have resigned themselves to the goal of breaking seed and having fun in the final tournament of the year may now have legitimate hope for a first shot at the Championships.

Below is a brief look at a number of teams with a chance to advance to Sarasota for the first time in club history.

Good odds:

Bodhi is a brand new team in the 2008 season hailing from Massachusetts, and has performed remarkably well for a team comprised of players with an average age of 22. The roster consists mainly of players who have competed in New England in high school or college over the last few seasons. For many, this is their first time playing club ultimate.

Bodhi has some notable wins over Championships qualifiers Ring of Fire and Truck Stop, and played Johnny Bravo to within two points. They have not beaten either Ironside or GOAT this season, but have not lost to any other regional rival, and are 2-0 against PoNY, although both wins have only been by two points. Captains Micah Flynn and Andrew Hollingworth have high hopes for their team this weekend. "We're trying to do the best we can in every tournament, so of course we'd love to win a regional championship," says Flynn, though he allows that being a new team has proven challenging. "It's been a tough first year with so many young guys and the inevitable amount of time that they'll be away at college or traveling for other reasons. Because of that, we have not been able to practice nearly as much as we'd like. There's also been a lot of work put into getting to know each other, settling on what our identity is, and how we play together." This weekend the team will be focused on performing well on Sunday afternoon. PoNY is the team most likely to be vying with them for the third or fourth spot, and Bodhi is looking forward to the matchup.

"They're a very good to great team with a lot of experience and this season in particular," says Flynn. "They've added some great talent to a team that was one point away from [the Championships] last year."

PoNY was as close as you could get to a Championships berth at last year's Northeast Regionals, losing on universe point to GOAT in the final game-to-go. They are a relatively new team in the region, formed in 2005 following the disbanding of New York Ultimate, which was essentially a continuation of the early 90's juggernaut New York. A number of younger players on the team, fed up with infighting and clashing egos, decided to create a new club team in an attempt to bring respect back to New York City ultimate by starting completely fresh with a group of young and relatively inexperienced players. Three years later, they're on the verge of becoming the first Open team from the Big Apple to make the Championships since 2002.

Throughout the regular season, PoNY has had its ups and downs. In July, they took defending Champion Seattle Sockeye to universe point, losing by one. They have handed Ironside one of their three losses of the year and have beaten Championships qualifier Truck Stop. On the other hand, PoNY has not beaten GOAT or Bodhi yet this season. The goal for next weekend, however, remains the same since the beginning of the season: win the region.

PoNY has picked up a number of key recruits from other club teams this year, including Aaron Bell from Rhino, Seth Crockford from Sockeye, and Mio Panasci from Pike. These and other members of the New York squad will have to play well all weekend. In order to make semifinals, they'll have to beat Phoenix, likely the fifth seed.

It could happen:

Phoenix is from Ottawa, Canada. The team formed in 2002, the original roster comprised of a number of former members of the previous Ottawa open team, Wax, as well as high school and college players. Historically they have had to compete with GOAT for players, although in recent years GOAT has focused more on recruiting from the Toronto area. Phoenix has participated in the UPA Series three of the last four years, although they haven't qualified for Regionals since 2005.

They go into this weekend prepared to be competitive on Sunday morning and play to win, but would be thrilled with a bid to the Championships. Phoenix has anticipated being in the running at Regionals since the beginning of the season, and while a fourth bid is exciting, they see the Northeast as a deep region with a lot of hungry and talented teams. They have not had particularly close matchups with Ironside, GOAT, or Bodhi this season, but have done well against other teams in the region. They have not yet played PoNY, but are likely to give them their first challenge on Saturday in pool play.

Sons of Liberty is another brand new team this year, arising as a merger between New Noise and Gunslingers, which ended up fourth and fifth in the Northeast region last year. Most members of the current roster have played for one of these teams for several seasons and, according to captain Brian Cullinan, things were at first "a little strange because both the New Noise and Gunslingers players had a lot of pride in their teams." The combination seems to be working out well, he adds, saying, "We're all really glad we decided to merge." Given the relative successes of both teams at Regionals last year, Sons of Liberty has reason to be optimistic about their chances this year. "Obviously we were pretty excited about the fourth bid," says Cullinan, "however it didn't really change how we are going about Regionals. We went in to the season with [the Championships] in mind, but along the way we've tried our best not to think about it."

The team optimism is tempered by a few harsh realities. In addition to the regular physical woes that plague athletes, six members of Sons of Liberty have suffered season-ending injuries, meaning a number of players have had to step up and take larger roles on the field. They have played close games against Bodhi and Phoenix, but have beaten neither team, and lost by eight in their one game against Ironside. They have yet to play GOAT or PoNY.

"We realize that in order to make [the Championships] we need to step up our game and beat some teams we've lost to in the past," says Cullinan. "However, we know we haven't played our best ultimate yet so our focus lies solely on improving our game and not worrying about who we play."

Red Tide started the 2008 season with a horrendous record of 3-20, but managed to take third place at Sectionals behind Ironside and Bodhi and ahead of Sons of Liberty, to qualify for Regionals. Red Tide is comprised of a number of veteran players, and for most of the regular season did not have a full squad, partially due to a majority of the players having parenting responsibilities. A number of tournaments were played with a mix of players from other squads, so the record from the start of the season may not be as telling as recent performances.

Unlike most teams at Regionals, Red Tide has actually qualified for the Club Championships. They qualified in both 1998 and 1999 and four veterans from those squads still play. For Kevin Massey, Joel Thompson, Tommy Stoughton and Bob Doane, Sarasota and San Diego may be distant memories, but they bring years of experience that can hopefully be translated into success this weekend. Captain Mike Leding asserts that Red Tide is "definitely peaking going into Regionals." This team out of Portland, Maine, hopes to "go into Regionals as a dark horse and end as many teams seasons as possible."

Unlike many teams in the region, making the Championships has never been the ultimate goal of Red Tide during the season, although they were hoping to challenge on Sunday before the fourth bid was announced. The goal for the tournament is to "make Sunday and give ourselves a chance to make the show. As well as play our best disc of the year."

It may be the last chance for this team to compete in Sarasota.

"Red Tide is aging," says Leding, "life is getting in the way of this current squad going on after being together for the last five to seven years, so honestly this is our best shot and I think we have a real shot."

Outside shot:

Chuck Wagon, from Burlington, Vermont, like Red Tide has a roster with a number of older players and may not exist next year. Captain Daron Byerly characterizes his team as "older, smaller," and "kind of unpredictable" due to players with a variety of ultimate styles and backgrounds. Unlike most captains in the region, Byerly has a more pessimistic, or perhaps realistic, view of his team's chances this weekend.

"I don't think Wagon has a bid at [the Championships] this year," he admits. The four bids weren't enough to change their outlook on the tournament. "There are four clear teams in the Northeast which should all qualify," he says. "I don't think the others have a shot."

Chuck Wagon has had a respectable season with few losses, but has not had the opportunity to play most of the better teams in the region. At most tournaments during the regular season they were relegated to a lower tier that the elite programs, and thus have not matched up against Ironside, GOAT, Bodhi, or PoNY. Byerly isn't upset by this, however, and Chuck Wagon's goals for Regionals haven't changed with the addition of a fourth bid.

"Our goal is always just to make it to Sunday," he says. "The four bids probably make it easier for us to get to Sunday as more teams will advance. A good Regionals for us would be making it to Sunday, beating some friendly rivals like [Red] Tide or Sons [of Liberty], playing hard against seeds one through four, and not letting up against the rest. That would be just fine."

Colt .45 had a slow start to the season, going winless at their second tournament of the season, but has had greater on field success recently. They had a fairly easy road through Sectionals and came close to beating PoNY, losing 14-16 in the finals. Colt .45 features a cadre of tall and talented downfield receivers.

There are a number challenges between Colt .45 and a Championships bid, including the fact that they have limited experience against higher seeded teams, having not played Ironside, GOAT, or Bodhi this year. After missing Regionals in their first year as a team in 2006, they finished tied for ninth last year, and look to pull some upsets this weekend.

Montreal Open has only lost two games this year, each time to Chuck Wagon, but they have only played in two tournaments and thus lack experience against a majority of the region. The team is a mix of players from Mephisto and Demon, two teams from Montreal, Canada. Captain Jean-Levy Champagne knows Regionals will be no simple task.

"We have a minimum of really experienced players on our team," he says, but "we know all those teams and we know what we have to do to beat them. It won't be easy and they won't have it easily either." A number of key players on Montreal Open played on this year's Mephisto team that ended up second at Canadian Nationals.

Champagne is confident that "if we finish in the top eight, anything can happen from there." As captain of a new team, he is looking to the future of the program, saying this "was the first year of a new era; this only a preparation."

Final Thoughts

Clearly, the safest bet for the weekend is that the top four spots will go to Ironside, GOAT, Bodhi and PoNY in one order or another. However, there are a number of teams that are confident that they can challenge for the fourth spot to the UPA Club Championships. With the number of bids available, this year's Regionals offers a greater margin of error, and we could end up with a number of unexpected as well as unfamiliar faces in Sarasota at the end of October.

FRESH