Last weekend was No Borders, Eastern Canada’s pre-eminent ultimate tournament. And the place where GLUM finally rose from its winter slumber for the 2010 campaign.
It’s been a slow start to the year for GLUM. After a disappointing 5th place finish at the 2009 Ultimate Players Association Championships in Sarasota, the roster dispersed for the cold part of the year and their various off-season regimens, some to Crossfit, others to their caves for hibernation. Rumblings began over the email wire in late winter, when our American brother, Dave Lindsay, roused the troops to gauge interest in some early-season Open tournaments stateside, but this met with less than full enthusiasm. Granted, Ottawa was still under a few feet of snow, so x-country skiing and maple syrup-making were higher priorities.
The TEAM captains finally put out the annual call-to-arms in the spring, and ultimate players started to emerge from the woodwork, cleats in hand, excited about the possibilities presented by a trip to Prague for Worlds in July and another run at the Canadian National title in August. OCUA’s mens league became the de facto practice night, and Brett Taylor’s infamous noon hour workouts saw an uptick in attendance.
But it was still with some sense of mystery that we all arrived at UPI on the Saturday morning of No Borders. A few of the regulars were still in Europe, and a few more had left the Masters division for the summer, returning to Open to stay fitter and play stronger competition before returning to GLUM for the Fall Series. We numbered 18, with a few nursing injuries. But Saturday was Masters Regionals day, with all 4 Ontario Masters teams placed in the same pool for the purpose of pre-Nationals ranking, and GLUM figured to have a softer day than had we been in one of the power pools.
Things went surprisingly well for a first day with no team prep or practice time. We dispatched Fossil (Toronto’s #2 Masters team) with little problem by a score of 13-1. Our field sported a decent crosswind all day, and it seemed to prove difficult for Fossil’s handlers, while GLUM’s experienced core had no similar trouble. Our superior athleticism also showed, with the long game hitting almost at will.
Next up were our hometown rivals, BDU. These guys go hard, and probably harder against GLUM than most other teams. But again, a lack of proven handling made things tough for them, and GLUM was getting its legs by this time. We took a 7-1 half, I believe, before winning out 13-4.
Our final Regionals match was against Toronto’s new #1 Masters team, Fuel. Led by GaLUMni Derek Sigurdson, we expected Fuel to be a force to reckon with both at No Borders and in Sherbrooke for Nationals. We may again have benefited from the wind, as it seemed Fuel was intent on winning through the long game, and a number of their hucks went awry or were defended by our fast deep defenders. Final score was 13-4. And with that, GLUM is through to Nationals as the #1 overall seed for the 3rd year in a row.
We played all 3 pool games without a break. Then received a brief 30-minute respite before our crossover game against the 3-seed from one of the power pools. This turned out to be Grand Trunk, Toronto’s #2 Open team, populated with a roster of young, fast, talented but emotional young dudes. GLUM played the experience card, and we were fortunate enough to also have enough legs and ups to mostly take away their intended deep game. Things were tight through to about the 3/4 mark, when GLUM managed to take and sustain a lead, then run away to a 13-8 final and a spot against Red Circus (Halifax touring Open team) in the quarter-finals on Sunday morning.
We played our best game of the tournament against Circus. They are young, fast, athletic, and play intense D. We managed to match that intensity on O, and worked even harder on D to generate turns and eventually, to get us back a lead after falling behind by 2 points late in the game. At 16-16 in a match to 17, GLUM received for universe point. I’m pretty sure we turned it over at least once before managing to punch in the final score and our ticket to semis.
We got our Ottawa brethren, Phoenix, in the semi-final matchup, which started almost immediately after our marathon with Red Circus. Phoenix plays a very similar game to the Halifax team, but with better disc skills and depth of talent. They were running with a short squad this weekend, suffering from the same post-Prague hangover that we were, but it was more than enough to outrun and outgun the tired legs on GLUM. We stayed close early, but their energy took its toll as the game wore on, and we were eventually outclassed by a score of 15-7.
All in all, a promising start to the year, but lots to build on heading to Nationals and Fall Series.