Roy Ultimate

Here's the recap I posted in the forums
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I'm so sore and mentally exhausted at work right now but I thought I'd write this out before I start forgetting some of the details of the past weekend.

Not going to put the scores from each game because they are already out there.

Please add any comments or hilites I may have missed.

Thursday

Roy vs Phoenix - Loss
Phx came out strong and we were able to match them with intensity for the most part. I felt a lot of our mistakes were due to first game jitters and chemistry. We forced some turns but couldn't finish. Playing in the high altitude was a bit of an adjustment.. burning lungs were frequent. Not a good final score but I felt it prepared us for the type of effort we needed for the rest of the tournament.

Roy vs General Strike - Loss
Strike was another one of the many tall athletic teams we played. Our game against Phx pumped us up for this one and we forced a lot of turnovers and long points against these guys. They were only up by 2 or 3 at half before they started pulling away. Chemistry was getting better at this point but we still had some stuff to work out with cutting and handler movement

Roy vs EMU - Win
We had to win this one to stay in the power pools on Fri and our hunger and determination showed. EMU was in an unfortunate situation where they had a lot of their top guys playing w the edmonton mixed team. They also had chemistry problems as half of them were pickups from Calgary. We were also still working on our chemistry but grinded it out. The highlight of the game was Wes' poach D faceblock on a huge backhand huck!

Thursday Thoughts
Good first day. We did what we had to do. Slowly worked on our chemistry and adjusted our strategy to not having our usual tall strikers like Hodges or Dre.

Friday

Roy vs Too Bad - Loss
Big game of the day. Lots of history between these two teams. Too Bad had a short roster like us and we were hoping our youth and energy could pull us through. They threw zone as expected and it took us four points to adjust. Our D started picking it up and we started earning breaks to bring us back to 8-6 at half. Unfortunately they came out with a run at the start of the second and we didn't have enough time to catch up again losing by 2.

Roy vs Nomads - Loss
Just reading Nomads roster out loud could probably make most teams pee their pants in fear. Big names like Pottinger, Enns, Menzes from Furious and legends like Al Bob could probably take on B or C teams by themselves. However, Roy took up the challenge and played against some world class players and were able to earn their respect. This game was extremely physical from the getgo and it took one or two points for us to adjust to the west coast style of play. Every mark was tight and all discs in the air were bid on. Once we turned up the dial we started forcing them into mistakes. Even though they had a big lead they weren't playing their 'C' lines so it felt good that we could hang with the big boys. At the end of the game we got into a big spirit circle and their captain made a speech about how they appreciated that our game was so physical and yet highly spirited.. awesome stuff coming from those guys.

Roy vs Mangina- Loss
Mangina had just come off a grueling game so we took advantage of that and forced lots of turnovers. Our conversion was pretty good but they were able to hang in there with some lucky throws/grabs. This was another physical game and in the second half our energy level dropped. They started picking it up and made less mistakes. In the end, they finished us off with a 3 or 4 point run.

Friday Thoughts
I thought this was probably the second best tournament day for Roy this season (the first being the 4-0 sat at Borders). Even though we lost all the games, we played good ultimate in all of them. The west coast teams really do play such a physical style and they are smart at how they use it.

Big props to our cutters on Friday. You guys were huge. Jordan and Sval were scoring machines. The Mikes were lethal incutters. Walsh, Rogers and Merrick had some big grabs. Wes even scored a goal against the Nomads Wink

Saturday

Roy vs SirLoin - Loss
Another west coast team that was physical (surprise surprise). Roy started of real slow kicked off by a backhand turf pass from yours truly. It seemed like we couldn't catch or make a good throw to save our lives this game. There was wind and their defence was zone but we just couldn't break through. The second half was a bit better but it was too late.

Roy vs EMU - Win
Roy lay the Smacketh Downeth... much of the same from Thurs.
Highlight was 'I used to work in Chicago..' sung by EMU during a timeout.
Yay not last!

Roy vs Demon - Loss
Both teams were tired at this point. The game was chippy. Lots of travel and foul calls. Snide comments from sidelines also didn't add to the fun factor. We were leading for most of the game but ran out of gas just as soft cap sounded tied at 10s. We lost momentum and the game.

Saturday Thoughts
Not the best way to end the tournament but I was really proud how we fought to the end. We didn't let the SirLoin game get into our heads for the last 2 games.

Overall Thoughts
Awesome tournament. I had so much fun playing with you gents.
We were blessed with some quality subs and I saw growth with everyone as each day progressed.

Brad - Thanks for being a great captain. Leadership A+. Will play for you again. I would worship you as a god if you would just dance at a tournament party :p

Oomen - Legendary D in the air. Ever the guardian of Oomen country. Your stretches and magic stick saved me on Saturday.

Rahil - Ultimate Frisbee Coach. Thanks for making it to Nats. The stall 9 ten yard push pass foul call for a score was awesome.

Derry - Couldn't miss a tourney without depositing some money in the bank. The Biggie to my Puff Daddy (except when I get the pull and throw it into the ground). Your gas is lethal.

Eli - Versitile cutting/handling was key when lines were called. Snake style grab always wins.

Norm - Pop pass/quiz master. How many zones did you shred at Nats with that?

Merrick - Lots of potential. Showed us you got big hops. One piece of advice.. wearing jeans after a game in 30+ degree weather and no shade is not good.

Wes - Mr Faceblock. Your handling is improving and as long as you don't hang deep you are fantastic :p

Rogers - Keep working hard man. Your D is getting better and better. Just don't tell anymore pen1s stories.

Tom - Master of the awkward grabs. Was it the gloves?

Sval - Sval scores again! Got the speed and the looks. Ladies love him. Now all he needs is a pop pass.

Jordan - Dude you are a baller. I think you were involved in at least 80% of our offense this weekend.. oh did I mention he started on D a lot and double shifted too? Love the fire and enthusiasm you bring.

Gardiner - Unstoppable deep guy against Demon. We started losing to them after you got hurt. For a guy that's never toured you played pretty dam well. Shows there's hope for league players :p

Tien - Speedster extrordinaire. You took the challenge and matched up with the opponents' best cutters (who were usually taller) and shut em down.

Colantonio - I admit I was doubtful when I heard you were picking up with us. He served me burgers at No Borders! But you were a perfect fit. Nice grabs and layout Ds.

Hope to see some of you this fall and winter.