Good Work Alberta!
Congratulations to all of you and your teams. Tim Hogan, Jeff Sills and Heather Adams did a great job with the Tournament putting it together in record time. The competition was fierce as teams were playing for seedings and spot and it was good to see new faces out there. It is very apparent - Ultimate is alive and well in Alberta.
OPEN
All three teams qualified for Nationals and as expected it came down to a battle between Calgary D and D and their rivals from Edmonton, EMU. In a seesaw battle where EMU appeared headed to victory a quick change of the wind so to speak and D and D emerged victorious by a lone point. Both of these teams are set to do battle at Nats and look like contenders, not pretenders any more, especially in the absence of the Furious. 12 Gauge did itself proud in showing they have a lot of fire and refused to give up with the more established D and D and EMU. Look for all three teams to do Alberta right in Vancouver!
MASTERS
It was the seasoned Cynics against the newly created Relics. In the beginning it looked like a slugfest. Marred by many injuries and not due to age, the Cynics won the battle and made it clear they were a force to be reckoned with at Nationals. Relics, a new blend of Calgary and Edmonton players, went home satisfied for their first time meeting each other planning to improve for Nats.
WOMEN
In a classic battle of Calgary versus Edmonton the battle lines were drawn but the experience of the Edmonton YaYa's was too much for FLO as the YaYa's took top seeding and the provincial title. FLO also qualified for the Nationals and will be rearing to go.
MIXED
This was the money division. One spot open and it was expected to come down to Calgary's HAL and Edmonton's E'Town. It seemed a forgone conclusion the bronze (but on the podium?) would go to Miracle On Grass who came out for fun (they were the ones who handed out candy to almost anyone who walked by) with their own handpainted jerseys and cheerleader. HAL was a careful selection of some of Calgary's Elite. Similarly, E-Town was another fine blend. On paper, HAL who looked like a shell for the familiar GAP Kids for Cowtown and E-town were evenly matched. In what started as a close game then saw HAL serge ahead and then E-town fought back with tenacity but it just wasn't enough. HAL from Calgary wins the Regionals and the lone Mixed spot ahead of their rivals E-town from Edmonton.
JUNIORS
There was no contest and the winner was Edmonton Juniors.
NATIONAL BIDS:
Teams receiving National Bids include:
OPEN
MASTERS
WOMEN
MIXED
HAL (Calgary)
JUNIORS
Edmonton Juniors
I will be sending out all team captains more information shortly about Nationals
in Vancouver.
Canadian Ultimate Championships
August 18 to 22
Vancouver, BC
University of BC Campus
Cheers!
Tad