Toronto Ultimate Festival 2009 - Manster

"Hey, Juan. That's a funny name." The tournament hadn't even started, and already the trash-talking began. What was weird was that I'd known the speaker for about 10 years, and the best he could come up with was my name was funny? I asked him to clarify and he said, "Manster! That's a great name for the Open version of Monster!" Oh yeah...maybe I'm too sensitive. And thus, did Monster's foray into single-gendered Ultimate begin.

Seeded first overall, Manster had high hopes. Hopes founded on Goat's request to play their teams against one another in their starting pool and thus seeding them 2/3. Number one by default still counts as number one, right?

Roy
Manster's first game of the day was against Roy, the third team in Toronto's Open club system. With almost two lines of Monster men plus pick-ups compared to 21 hungry Open players trying to make Roy, there was a slight disparity between the teams' urgency of play. After a turnover near Manster's endzone, Roy went up 1-0. Roy almost scored another, before they turned it over on Manster's goal line. Manster was about to start their comeback, but a torrential downpour halted the game. The rain soon turned into hail, but luckily most people were hiding in their car. After everyone cleared the ice chips from the field (seriously), the games resumed. Roy pulled ahead, but Manster managed to keep it close and eventually squeaked out the game by the end.

Manster Win: 11-10, 1-0

Grand Trunk 1
Although Grand Trunk's talent was watered down by several of their prospective players playing on the Goat squads and splitting the rest between two teams, GT1 was a solid squad. Manster did not adjust to the faster pace, and GT1 pulled ahead to a 7-1 half-time advantage on the strength of quick movement followed by precise hucks. During the half, Peyton talked about pride and playing our game and the team clawed back. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late as time ran out.

Manster Loss: 8-13, 1-1

Foshizzle (Fossil)
Manster's third game of the day came against the previous year's bronze medalists in the Masters Division: Fossil. Well, their try-out team Foshizzle anyway. The rain returned, and Manster's speed was nullified by the muddied fields. Foshizzle took the half 7-2, and Peyton recycled his "take some pride and let's do it" speech. Manster went on a big run to start the second half, and the horn sounded at 10-10. Manster managed to win the game on Universe Point, and the silverbacks reminisced about what might have been.

Monster Win: 11-10, 2-1

Too Bad
After a bye, Manster faced the longest running touring team in Toronto (and possibly Canada), Too Bad's roster changes from tournament to tournament (sometimes from game to game). Greg Lang and Ian Brooks formed the backbone of this team's edition. With the strong wind blowing, huck and pin became the dominant strategy for both teams. Lang tried to force a few upwind, but even he couldn't muscle through it. Too Bad threw a 1-3-2-1 wall defense on, but Manster scored the first upwind break. Manster had another chance at an upwind score, but failed to convert and Too Bad scored immediately after. Too Bad then scored an upwinder to take the half 7-6. With Manster receiving and going upwind, they gutted out a score when a Manster player snagged an overthrown disc for the point. With the wind dying down, Too Bad looked to open up their offense going against the upwind, and they worked it quickly against Manster's zone defense. Lang caught the disc on the sideline, and attempted an O-I backhand that never came in. A Manster played picked up the disc and threw it back to where Lang stood. Lang then informed Manster that it was a turnover. After some heated arguing, Too Bad kept the disc and started moving it again. On a desperation huck, Lang threw it to Brooks in triple coverage, but Ian couldn't bring it down. Manster had another chance to win the game, but turned it over. Too Bad worked it up the field another time, and on stall 9, Lang threw a disc that sailed by Peyton's hands into Brooks'. Although there was a lot of bad blood over the turnover call, Manster lost the game when they failed to capitalize on the upwinder and subsequent downwinder earlier in the game. Regardless, finishing top three in the pool meant a 10:30 start time the next day.

Manster Loss: 7-8, 2-2

11 PM E-mail Check
"Due to fields becoming unusuable, blah blah blah...please find attached the new schedule, blah blah blah, 9:00 - Manster vs. Goat 1"...WTF???

So. Angry.

Goat 1
Goat 1 was short-rostered at the start of the game, but every player they had were tall (or could jump really high), athletic and a good player. They attempted big hucks against Manster, but their completion rate was low. Manster methodically worked the disc up and played tight defense. With Goat 1 up 8-6 at half and Manster playing the best it had all weekend, there was hope for an upset. Unfortunately, Goat 1 woke up after the half and pulled away for the win.

Manster Loss: 8-15, 2-3

NADS
North Bay's Open team was the only team that had a smaller roster than Manster, with two female members. Having played North Bay women before, this wasn't a drawback for the NADS and they would be playing as hard as most men in the tournament. They agreed to play a slightly shorter game (to 13) as long as we allowed behind-the-back scores to count for two points. Knowing this was a sucker's bet, Manster's captains still accepted. By the end of the game, NADS scored three behind-the-backs, but Manster prevailed due to the NADS' short roster and general exhaustion.

Manster Win: 14-7, 3-3

Conclusion
Overall, Manster went 3-3 to finish 5th out of 10 teams at TUF. The team didn't play up to its potential on Saturday, and it was unfortunate that it took until Sunday to finally realize what it could do. Overall, it was a fun time and there were relatively few injuries for such cold, wet weather.