Northern Fights, Erm, Flights

The week leading up to Northern Flights was very wet, and rumors of a possible wash out dampened everyone’s spirits. The Tournament Director lost permits for fields from the city, but managed to find replacement fields at the last minute at an abandoned mental health facility. While this sounds like an excellent plot for a horror movie (backwoods, abandoned hospital, etc.), the biggest thing we worried about for the weekend were the bugs.

And the Tournament Director. Seeding us seventh, we were upset by their placing us behind Liquid, Mayhem and Tundra (teams we had beaten/finished higher than earlier in the season). They were adamant about the seeding, so we began our day in Group D (aka the Group of Death).

That’s What She Said (Sault Ste Marie, ON)

Now, I had no idea there was Ultimate in the Sault. (To be honest, I was not really aware they had much of anything there.) That said, this team was very focused on their game play and ran hard. Their lack of experience showed, but they ran plays and had a very active sideline. I am excited about their progress in the future. Unfortunately, all of their merits was not enough to overcome Monster’s experience and the game was quickly over.

Their spirit game pitted Mel and myself in a human obstacle course. First we had to spin around 10 times, weave between people, crawl between someone’s legs, jump over someone, and finally throw a disc through looped arms. Needless to say, Mel’s compact form decimated me during the spinning portion and she won the prize. When she found out it was a shot of Sour Puss, she passed it onto me.

PS: Bonus points for their cheers of consisting of someone yelling something like “Go deep!” and the team responding with “That’s what she said!”

Final Score: 15-1

Solid (Ottawa, ON)

A solid core of veteran Ottawa Ultimate players (as well as Brooks and Grace), this team was badly miss-seeded at 14. They beat the top seed in our pool during the previous game, and were looking for a second straight upset. We rushed to a quick lead, and shell-shocked Solid. Our start was probably due to having a long break after our first game and their exhaustion from a chippy, time-capped game in the previous slot.

After half, Solid began to make a run. During the run, there was some contact and a call was made that caused an emotional outburst. Steve, started yelling at Rolo (think David vs. Goliath) and words and shoving ensued. Peyton and Pat came from the far sideline, and Mike Hill got in their way. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed when we called a time out and the game settled down. Monster held on for the win.

Final Score: 15-6

Monsoon

Before our bye, we were told to be back by 3:00 for warm-ups. Several of us went looking for food, and halfway through, the rain started to come. We got back to the fields by 3:15, but the torrential downpour didn’t stop until around 4:00. The Tournament Director said that the final two games would be played, but only for an hour each. With lightning still visible in the distance, we got ready for our third game of the day.

The Raincocks (North Bay, ON)

Named after someone on the team’s last name, The Raincocks were four Stella/Lotus women, Dime and some NADS guys. They were ready to play, and we began the game in a rain-soaked daze. Playing four women and using the long game, The Raincocks took a 6-1 lead.

Solid came by and camped on our sideline and started cheering us and heckling the other team. (If we won, they had a chance at Top 8, if we lost, they were definitely out.) The heckling got to The Raincocks, and Solid was asked to tone it down. Solid referred to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and discussed public nature of the forum and their freedom of speech. Eloquent arguments were put forth by both sides, but eventually it was sealed with the efficient “Fuck off!”

Knowing what we had to do to rally back, we started running their shorthanded team and forcing them into tighter throws with tighter defense. Using our flow game, we clawed back to a 7-7 tie. The Raincocks were flustered, and them receiving the disc to take it to half, the horn sounded. They exhibited a lot of patience going up the field for 5-10 yard gainers, and eventually, they went for it from 10 yards out by throwing to Sherri Maddigan. She looked ready to score when Pat swooped in (CLEANLY) and took the disc away from her.

Monster quickly began moving the disc the other way, with Sasha and Pat working the deeps and opening up the mid. Peyton got the disc on the left sideline, and let loose an O-I backhand to the left endzone where Sasha and Pat struck deep with their two defenders on them. Amidst a ring of bodies, Papa Bear’s enormous paw reached forth and grabbed the disc…only to have it stripped from him by Pat and his ridiculous need for attention.

With the softcap rules for Flights, we won the game and charged the field for our biggest win of the day. The Raincocks were magnanimous in their defeat and congratulated us on the win. They play hard and it took a lot of grace to tip their hats to us after such a close and contested game.

Final Score: 8-7

Fingerblast (Waterloo, ON)

The fourth seeded team in our pool, Fingerblast was expected to be a pushover. We went up big in the first half 8-2, but they clawed back and made us work for every point in the second half. They hustled to every free disc and worked it with amazing patience for a relatively inexperienced team. Ghosts of past Monster tournaments came back and our unwillingness to close out a team reappeared. Thankfully, we finally won the game.

Fingerblast’s spirit game had their youngest player getting felt up by Sonia. Sonia, a connoisseur of the buttock (aka “an Ass Woman”) was asked to identify his butt while blindfolded. The able-bodied men of Fingerblast circled themselves around her while she copped cheap and gratuitously long feels on their glutes. Pat snuck into the circle because he likes being pawed by Sonia. As she did the Ring Around the Booty, she paused for awhile at the target butt, and made a loud note to come back to that one. She kept going, she narrowed it down to the right Fingerblaster and Pat. Sonia proved that love was not blind and picked Pat’s ass, resulting in a squeal of delight (from Pat) and much laughter.

Final Score: 13-7

North Bay After Dark

Monster skipped the party and drank tequila and played caps in the common room. I found I had a unique affinity for the game. I can’t throw discs, but I can apparently throw bottle caps. Lucky me. Graeme sang karaoke, but eventually everyone snuck off to their rooms and got ready for our games in the morning.

Tundra (Toronto, ON) – Quarterfinals

On a soggy, mosquito-infested field, the battle for Toronto supremacy was renewed. Tundra came out strong, and several long points started the game. After a scary crash between Mel, Joouen and Faizal, Monster withstood the rush and abused some poaches to win in time cap.

Final Score: 10-6

Blue helping his teammate out (Photo by Francis Lee)

Liquid (Waterloo, ON) – Semifinals

Sunday against Liquid meant a win every time we faced them in the past. They collapsed at Summer Experience after roaring to a strong lead, and we felt confident facing them in the Semis instead of the Goat/Lotus squad, The Dockers. They were the top-seeded team after reseeding with a +48 point differential from Saturday. They won their Quarterfinals by 12, maintaining their average win differential thus far in the tournament. This was a Liquid team on a mission.

They took a 4-1 lead thanks to their typical stifling defense and hard running. We finally matched their intensity and started trading points. The game was physical, with several intentional fouls getting into our heads. They took half, but crawled back to a 9-9 tie. When Peyton caught a long behind-the-back catch for two at modified cap, we went up 11-9 with a game to 13.

Our confidence came back, we began gearing up for our next game against The Dockers. Then a funny thing happened on the way to the Finals. Liquid scored two points to tie the game, we went up 12-11, then they tied it 12-12. We put our strongest line up against their’s for Universe Point with our team receiving. Monster worked it up to midfield when Sasha hucked it to a streaking Peyton for the winning score. Unfortunately, the disc outpaced him and Peyton’s desperation layout was for naught. Liquid threw it to one of their female cutters coming in and as she was about to catch it, Sasha swooped in for the D. Or so we thought. She called for a strip, and stomped in frustration when Sasha refused to back down from his contest call. The disc went back to the thrower, and again Liquid worked it forward until they turned it over again. Monster moved it to midfield, when Pat’s attempted huck was handblocked. They got within 5 yards of the goal line and threw a winning laser along the sideline. Their entire team erupted and ran onto the field. The call of “We finally got that monkey off of our backs!” echoed in our ears as we walked away dejectedly.

Editor's Note: Liquid indicated that their win was solely due to Justin not playing.

As our game finished, we walked over to The Dockers/Mayhem Semifinal to see the former catch a behind the back for a win. We asked Mayhem to play a consolation game, and they agreed to do so with a shortened roster. Liquid was able to get their Sunday winless streak against Monster off their back, would Monster be able to do the same against a team they had never beaten?

Mayhem (Hamilton, ON)

The short answer to the question is no: We didn’t beat a short-rostered Mayhem team in North Bay. Bad Monster came out, which meant a listless, lazy and lethargic team took the field. The cutters gave the handlers very little, causing several turnovers near our endzone. Even though the game meant “nothing”, we have to learn how to play our game no matter what the circumstances. I hope we never see this Monster team again and it’s scary to know that it still lurks in the dark corners.

Burger World – Conclusion

Pogos! Poutine! Burgers! Oh my!

Northern Flights was a tale of two teams for Monster. On Saturday, we gritted out tough wins and came hard and fast (that’s what she said) and came back in tough games. Everyone was supportive and solid, both on and off the field. After the first game on Sunday, we let the other team dictate our play and played without motivation for the first half of the Liquid game and the entirety of the Mayhem game. Our team is built as much on effort as anything else, and anything less than the maximum should be considered a failure. We have to ability to dominate, and hopefully we can put two (or three for Nationals) days of solid, hardworking Ultimate to teach Canada to fear the roar.

Elite Eight – The Summer Experience

As the defending champion, Monster was relatively unready to defend their title at this year’s Summer Experience. Featuring an “elite” division of eight teams, there was a lot of dissent about whether we should play. Only one team in the division came from outside of Toronto lowered the luster at the top. Additionally, playing the tournament set up a grueling three tournaments in a row. People had “lives outside of Ultimate”, and a few people backed out from playing. Still, we had enough pride remaining to put a team in for the weekend and we tried to get ready for games.

Tundra

Following the bad blood caused from my post on the scrimmage, I received several “anonymous” death threats. I’m not saying I suspected they were from Tundra, but I wouldn’t put it passed them. Knowing we were playing them, Graeme and I attempted to take out two of their players the night before by getting them drunk (and hopefully hungover for our game). Unfortunately, they proved smarter than we were and two Monsters regretted their alcohol intake compared to a single member of their team.

Tundra took an early lead by capitalizing on our sloppy play. We were down by two for most of the game until we came back to tie the game. There was a big dispute at half-time as to who should receive the pull, but Jackson came up with irrefutable evidence that Monster received at the start of the game: If Tundra received to start, there was no way he was sitting for that point. Touché, Brent, touché.

The game continued with us tying the score. By the time the horn sounded, we were up 10-9. With a game to 12, we finished the game with a two point run and a deep exhale.

Final Score: 12-9

Lotus

Due to the cancellation of the Women’s division, Lotus decided that it would use the weekend to practice against Mixed teams. We repeated to ourselves that this team had several National champions and would easily win if we didn’t take them seriously.

Lotus played an efficient and textbook offensive set, using precision short passes to long hucks to their players. Mostly, they isolated players covered by Monster women, but Dave showed that they shouldn’t be gender biased by misreading a disc sent to Monica Kay that she took away from him.

With the exception of Christian (who avenged Dave by scoring on Monica Kay), we never struck deep with our taller guys. Alison also scored deep and showed us the speed and intensity that always inspired us. Thanks to a lone break we got against them, we managed a win.

Final Score: 10-9

Tony & Carmel

Named after their captain’s parents, the team consisted of several very strong Goat players and very solid women. Their height and athleticism was intimidating enough on paper that they didn’t have to use much of it to beat us. We turned it over frequently near our endzone, and they immediately capitalized. Cass, an unexpected threat, scored several points against us. The game snowballed fast, and we played one of our worst games of the year.

Final Score: 5-13

Big Hammers – Exhibition Game

For some reason, the organizers decided it would be a good idea to crossover games between the pools that had no influence on the actual seedings the next day. While several of us bemoaned the “meaninglessness” of the games, Peyton mentioned that as the second seed in our pool, we’d be facing another good team in the Hammers and should use the opportunity to grow. We agreed to a shortened game to 9, and off we went.

The game was fairly tight, but Monster took an early, if small, lead that it nursed the rest of the game. Before a groin pull took me out, I managed to score on a deep strike from Sasha after their deep poached off me. A minute before that strike, Giles from the Hammers yelled out, “Don’t poach on him! He’s faster than he looks!” Thanks, Giles. No really.

Final Score: 9-8

Happy Birthday, Jane Logan

Most of Monster came out to wish Jane a happy birthday at The Pilot, the city’s largest rooftop patio. It was a good crowd and most of the Monster women (plus Paul) were giggling and happy after seeing Sex and the City: The Movie. Sonia consumed a lot of cosmopolitans and we made sure that Jane had the alcohol-glazed smile by the end of the night. Most of us managed to be responsible and get home at a good time for the next day’s games.

Daniela finding Dave Upfield (Photo by Jim Hui)

Zen Asylum – Quarterfinals

The Ultimate Experience’s second team, they showed a lot of enthusiasm and improvement over previous years. New captains Shawn and Chris did a great job of getting their team ready for this year. Monster came slightly flat against Zen, with several turnovers during the first few points. The biggest mistakes were cutting off teammates and stranding handlers. Luckily, the experience of playing together helped Monster overcome these missteps.

Final Score: 15-2

Liquid – Semifinals

After the 9-6 win at TUF, we figured we’d do well against Liquid’s fuller roster. They lost Justin, one of their primary handlers, the day before on a layout D. (I am not sure I believe it was from a layout D considering who it was, but I’ll accept it for now.) The Liquid team looked bigger and more ready to go, but I figured our power lines would lead to a strong start.

After Liquid went up 4-1, we called a timeout to refocus ourselves. With the most intensity I had ever seen from them, they used their size and physicality to stop our team, and their zone was hard to breach. They forced us into turnovers and we needed to go back to the fast flowing Monster game. Liquid went up 5-1 on a Callaghan from Blue, which he spiked. Peyton ran up and knocked the disc out of the air and galvanized our team. Nate started playing a closer and more active mark, and the comeback began. Steve, unwilling to lose to his former team, became more of an upfield handler and cut apart the defense by not allowing them to set. Matt, Liquid’s captain, started playing again after sitting the first quarter of the game due to an injury. Steve’s layout, toe-dragging catch upwind let us take the half with a small lead (but lots of momentum).

The second half was shortened by time, but Liquid was disheartened after coming out so strong and letting their lead fade. They tasted an opportunity to beat us for the first time on a Sunday, but thankfully the trend continued and Monster won the game.

Final Score: 10-8

Big Hammers – Finals

Big Hammers, featuring Mike List, easily took out Tony & Carmel in their Semifinals and were ready to play against Monster. With Steam Whistle Brewery (my favorite beer) among the sponsors, the alcoholics on Monster eagerly awaited the chance to play. As the Semis ended however, lightning appeared quickly on the horizon. After a quick conference with the Tournament Director, we decided to wait 45 minutes before starting the Finals.

The Big Hammers packed up their gear and waited in their cars while Monster sat beneath our canopy waiting for the storm to pass by. At first it was a light shower. Then it got heavier. Then it hit monsoon like conditions. Raj, one of his teammates and I decided to book it for his car. That’s when it started to hail. A lot. We ran to his car and moved to a higher parking lot. There was about two inches of standing water in that lot, and Raj and I decided to get out of there. Most of the (very dry) Hammers were driving out of the park at that point, leading me to believe that although the outcome of the game was unknown, they definitely won the IQ contest against Monster.

The game was declared a tie, and Monster finished as champion (albeit a shared one) for the second year in a row.

Conclusion

Even though we tied for first at the tournament, we still showed that we had a lot to work on as a team. We were only motivated for the Big Hammers and Liquid games, something that’s been a problem in the past. Regardless of our opponent, we should be the ones dictating our play. Monsters have to stay hungry if we want to be the best we can be.