Hounds on Ice take Sudbury by storm

And that was just the drive up.

Yes, the drive up was not fun. For Michelle, Julie and I, it was over 8 hours, which included 45 minutes when traffic was stopped as a tractor-trailer had to be towed out of a ditch. But we eventually got to Jay and Diane's, Lyanne's parents.

At 7:30, I, Bonnie, Dan, Frogger, Jess, Joel, Julie, Lyanne, Lynchy, Matt, Michelle, Nat, Sarah, Steph and Tien got up, and were instantly reminded why Jay and Diane rock, as they served a great breakfast, with so many options. After we powered up, it was off to the driving range and Snowplate.

We went in to the tournament seeded fifth (originally 19th!). The fields were a bit small, so we threw out a zone. I believe our females even volunteered to all play cup (awesome!). We won our first two games handily against the Wingnuts and My Mailman works for the Government (fyi: so does my wife). This allowed us to get used to running in the snow, throwing with gloves on, being cold, singing our song, etc...

Our third game brought up against the PULers (aka Prostitutes, Bucket Fish), the top seed in the tournament (1st and 5th seeds in the same division? Curse you cascade seeding!). We took a commanding lead, working the disc throughout their zone. I believe we were up about 10-4, and then the Peterborough squad switched to man; a switch that worked. We had trouble adjusting our offence and they came back to 10-9. Thank jebus for hard cap.

We finished our fourth game easily against the Frozen Frisbyterians to end the day with the top seed. We were looking forward to naps, Guitar Hero (thanks Bonners!), more food, and of course, the hot tub. Especially those who got some extra aches from the day, like Julie (with a hamstring), me (with a calf) and Lyanne (with a Dan). Spaghetti hit the spot, and the Leafs won, thus further ruining their draft pick. Lots of us tried to stay up for the UFC card; most of us failed. Tittie boobie bum bum.

Sunday morning we were again present with a cornucpia of breakfast (smoothies!). So much food, we were almost late! We packed up, thanked Dan's new Mom and Dad one last time, and zoomed back to the fields. Fungus, our first opponents, apparently haven't learned the cardinal Saturday rule: don't get so drunk that you'll be hungover. Left with only 7 players, they kept it close at the beginning, as well as quoted rules that don't exist (5-2...where in the rules?). We got over it and pushed our way to victory.

In the semi-finals we came up against the Hamilton-Toronto hybrid Frost Cause. We won, and it wasn't very close. We were able to check out the PUL'ers win their semi.

In the finals, we switched up our defensive strategy and played man. The game was quite close, as teams both teams made runs and traded points. We took half 8-7, and came out gunning. We played defence as toight as a tiger and played offence with hard cuts, crisp passes and all around aggressiveness. When all was said and done, we won something like 15-10, and we were Snowplate champs!

Didn't someone say before the first game that we should make sure we have fun, but that we also have a good shot at winning?

Some highlights (please add yours in the comments):

Tien organizing the weekend and leading us to victory.

Our zone.

Lyanne lending us her parents for the weekend.

Dan trying to eliminate Lyanne so he can move in.

Floating chips in the hot tub (no chili though)

Julie the Guitar Hero.

Steph and Michelle keeping us company on the sidelines, working the score and taking pictures.

The weather was awesome. Not too cold, slight breeze, sunny...as perfect as you can get for Sudbury in Winter.

Joel's catch against PULers (Frogger: "Keep going!")

Rumble strips on the highway keeping me on the road.

Lynchy, with his usual high percentage of Lynchers, uh, I mean hammers.

Jess causing countless turnovers while marking.

Hummus.

Frogger's beer point.

That game I made all those deep D's.

Laying out in the snow.

Playing the PULers twice (you got lucky cascade seeding...).

Beating the PUL'ers twice.

Matt getting us the Silva/Henderson fight, and explaining what was going on.

Throwing with gloves on.

Sarah constantly running.

The Swiss Chalet victory meal.

Nat almost laying out.

Winning!

If you're friends with Bonners, well then you're friends with me.

Well done Hounds on Ice! Same time next year?

Snowplate Training Session

9am. Bell rings. Class begins.

Teacher: Okay, settle down everyone, time to get at it. We'll continue our work on Snowplate preparation.

Students take their seats. They are all dressed in purple for some reason.

Teacher: Now, yesterday we heard reports from Tien and Lyanne about what to bring to Snowplate. Bonnie, what's one thing we learned?

Bonnie: Umm...our feet will get wet...and I'm bringing Guitar Hero.

Teacher: That's true. And what's another thing, Joel?

Joel: Lyanne's getting beer...oh, and there's a hot tub.

Teacher: Correct. So, I wanted to show this yesterday, but we ran out of time. It's a Snowplate Training video so you can get an idea of what it's like this weekend, hopefully. I like showing videos, as it allows me to space out for 5 minutes.

[Note: for those in a hurry, 1:14, 2:54 and especially 3:15 are the best scenes. Nice catch Pierre! Graham with an Layout D!]

Meat-o-rama

The Wong's sure out-did themselves on Saturday! The Hounds got together for the "Bowling and Beef" end of season party, which was a lot of fun. In true Hounds fashion, the food was plentiful: appetizers, 10 racks of ribs, 2 beer chickens, a beef brisket, 2 trays of potatoes, salad, apple crisp and ice cream sundaes (although I'm sure I'm forgetting something). Due to this overload of food (and the fun), the bowling plan was kiboshed, as we hung out, watch the Leaf's game, tossed the disc around, and tried to digest the feast. Thanks Nat and Tien for hosting.

For those who missed it, we also handed out Paper Plate Awards for the past season (including significant others!), so here they are:

Cindy - The Jumbotron Award - For always keeping score (this has nothing to do with the back that she's 7 months pregnant. Nothing at all.)


Michelle - The Ultimate Widow Award - For dealing with my playing 2 nights a week...plus tournaments...plus me always talking about ultimate.

Steph - The Soon-To-Be Ultimate Widow Award - Joel's back...hope you enjoyed your time with him!

Matt - The Pay-Per-View Award - For his parties featuring wrestling and UFC. Apparently it meant a lot to him:


Pierre - The Awesome Award - What else could it be?

Lyanne - The Accident Waiting to Happen Award - If there's a way to get hurt, Lyanne will find it.

Austin - The Real World Award - Finally finished school, now has a job AND a baby on the way. No baby steps for Austin!

Carla - The Half Full Award - Whether we were winning or losing, Carla was always positive and making suggestions for improvement.

Dan N - The Reluctant Handler Award - For his willingness to drop back and handle even though I know he'd rather go mid or deep. He was close to getting the Jacques Cousteau Award, for his affinity for throwing the deep bomb.

Tien - The Pylon Buddy Award - For always helping me put away the cones on the Field Hockey pitch...much appreciated. He almost got the Potty-mouth Award...

Nadia - The Cool as a Cucumber Award - For always being a rock in the backfield and never losing her cool (apparently this would have been unheard of a few years ago).

Christian - The Energizer Bunny Award - For never stopping on the field. That, or he's pink and bangs a drum all the time.

Laura - The Kick in the Ass Award - For helping to right the ship when the Hounds went off course.

Owen - The Endzone Award - For his domination in that area. It would have been called "The Thomas Granofsky Memorial Award", but Owen doesn't know who the hell that is.

Bonnie - The Incredible Hulk Award - Because you shouldn't get her angry...you wouldn't like it when she's angry...

Dan L - The No No No No Yes! Award - For always completing seemingly impossible passes. It was either that, or the Midvale School for the Gifted Award for best pulls.

Nat - The Rolodex Award - Whenever we needed a player (especially Mid-Season) Nat was always there to find someone to fill in.

Joel - The $6000 Man Award - Because that's about how much knee reconstruction surgery costs OHIP.

Simon - The Daddy Award - Others can be captain, or have kids, but we all know Simon is the Daddy of the Hounds.

Chris - The "The Man" Award - Because I have a penis.

Now, those weren't the only awards that were handed out. Simon out-did himself by awarding me a wicked Captain's Prize: the best bottle of Cognac one could ever hope for:


I'd like to think that the bottle is made for Snowplate and Gender Blender, but I'd be concerned about breakage. Otherwise, here I am enjoying my prize:


The final award was the inaugural "Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achivement in th Field of Excellence". The vote was close, but one person distanced himself with his dedication and rib-cooking. That person: Tien.


Here's a close-up of the award. Thanks to Bonnie for supplying the Mr. Burns bobblehead, and to Tien for helping me to affix it to the disc.


So, that about puts a wrap on the Summer 2007 Season of Release the Hounds. The Indoor Season starts in a month, and remember, the next outdoor season is only 6 months away!

Smithers.
Yessir?
Release the Hounds.

Show's over

So, it's been a few weeks, but since we just had the Hounds End-of-Season Party, some closure on our Monday shenanigans this past season is in order.

It all started when the lineup of Austin, Bonnie, Chris, Christian, Laura, Lyanne, Nat, Pierre, Simon and Tien was augmented with our best recruits ever: Carla, the Dans, Nadia and Owen. We had new uniforms, we were playing on a new night, we were ready to go.

Instead of going through every game individually (that would be a waste of time), I'll be putting the games into groups.

The Hounds move to Mondays

The initial seedings gave pegged us at 14th...on Mondays we were a relatively unknown team, so we were going to have to earn our place. After our first three games, we overwhelmed the competiton: Drastic Plastic, Grilled Cheese and Flowbee. The games were relatively easy, ending with scores of 17-5, 17-4 and 17-7 respectively. After those first three games, it appeared that we were seeded a little low to start (Oh, you think so, doctor?). While the games were easy, it allowed us to integrate the new players, and bump us up in the ladder, which meant that tougher games were on the horizon.

The Hounds meet the big boys

The big wins to start the season moved us up to play the strong, experienced Monday teams. We started with Disc-Horde, and showed that we did indeed belong in the Top 8 with a convincing 17-11 win. We were feeling good about our new surroundings...approaching the top of the Monday standings. Unfortunately it also raised the ire of everyone else, and they struck hard, struck fast, with no mercy. Lopsided losses to Big Hammers, Mandrew, and Ninjastars were frustrating and they showed the Hounds still had a lot work to do before we could consider ourselves to be among the top Monday teams. But there was more than that...those losses, coupled with the change of nights caused us to stray away from what made the Hounds experience so fun...this was something that had to be remedied. A new plan that would improve our on-field focus to go along with a renwed commitment to social events. Back to Hounds basics: playing well and having fun on and off the pitch.

The Hounds get their shit together

The previous losses meant that we had crashed down the ladder, so we had to work our way back up to get to where we knew we belonged. With central leadership on the field, we put forth solid efforts against Hootenanni Pussywillows, El Kabong and 4D. The Hounds also finished 7th in the Mid-Season Tournament that was enhanced with the some friends ("enhanced" meaning Nat and I emailed everyone we know to get enough players to get a team in).

The Hounds vs the big boys 2: The Legend of Simon's Gold

The three big wins in a row resulted in another jump in the standings, which meant another run at the top teams, with the first game against the venerable Mandrew. We knew going in it was going to be a challenge, and while the score did not reflect it, we gave a much better effort. Of more importance though was the roster shuffle: the returrn of Joel from knee surgery and Pierre's final game.

Following that game, we defeated two of the second-tier Monday teams, Fisheyes and Disc-Horde. These games were sandwiched around Nationals, which had quite the Hound presence, with Carla, Chris, the Dans, Laura, Lyanne, Nat and Tien taking part.

Going into the final two games, we were up against two of the elite Monday teams, and earned our 4th place regular season finish with ties against both Ruckus and Big Hammers. It was a great finish to the season, as we very well could have won both of those games.

A tough pill to swallow

With those big results against the Hammers and Ruckus, the Hounds were primed to do some serious damage at the playoffs. However, due to a confluence of work, family and travel commitments...it created the perfect storm that caused us to miss the Playoff Tournament. Needless to say, it was extremely disappointing.

Regardless of that, it was still a great season. We went 9-4-2, and ended up with a perfect spirit rating. We had a lot of fun, and we continued to put the Hounds name out there. I know I'm looking forward to next year.

Nationals wrap-up

The Canadian Ultimate Championships ended on Sunday, and the Hounds who took part had some excellent results.

In Masters, Tien and Chris teamed up with Graham on a pick-up team that was created due to Mule backing out. We gave it our all, but weren't able to overcome the handicap of unfamiliarity and lost every game. But it was a lot of fun to be able to play.

In Open, Dan N's team, Seek the Righteousness, impressed on Saturday and won two games and ended up with a 13th place finish, up from their original 18th seed. Dan L and Too Bad had trouble sustaining the momentum from Friday, as they finished 16th in the country.

In Women's, Carla and the Diggers had a matchup with Storm, who seem to have the Diggers' number. Their bad luck against Storm continued, as the ladies from Montreal prevailed. Diggers bounced back and finished the tournament strong, taking their final two games and 5th place. Laura and Feisty had a great Saturday, winning their first two games and ending up in 10th place, up from their 13th seed. In addition to this, they were also crowned the Spirit Winners for the Women's Division!

Nat, Lyanne and the Big Hammers had a tough Saturday. They lost their quarterfinal to Bostrich, and some dubious calls sure didn't make them feel any better. This was followed by a close loss to Monster, and then a bit of salvation with a win over RIP to take 7th...10 places higher than their original seed!

The Rest of Canada

It was quite impressive to see a full Varsity Stadium take in the action on Sunday. Even the rain during the finals didn't dampen our spirits (just our clothes).

Masters

The story of the over-33 division was Tombstone, which has some players that we'd recognize from Mandrew. They were seeded first, and for good reason. They steam-rolled through the tournament until a reach the finals and a tough match-up with Glum. A strong second half had them pulling away to a victory over the Ottawa side. On the bad side, they lost Morrow on Friday with an achilles injury.

Junior

Dirt rolled through the tournament and came up against an equally-strong Back Bone team from Vancouver. Dirt appeared to have the title in hand, with a lead of 12-7 in a game soft-capped at 14. Back Bone roared back and won the game 14-13 on universe point...ouch. The highlight, or lowlight, was some questionable calls (on both sides) that had fans actually booing 16 year olds!

Mixed

Bytown Flatball Club from Ottawa carried Ontario's hopes against Team Fisher Price from Vancouver. The game was close to start, but TFP went to a four-person cup which BFC seemed to have trouble adapting to, partially due to their strategy of playing three male handlers. TFP was especially strong though, and were full-value for the win.

Women's

Capitals and Traffic engaged in the most entertaining game of the day, with countless layout-d's, lots of calls (Boring!) and intense plays by both sides. Traffic took a late lead, and the Caps seemed to turn the momentum on one of those layout d's, but a throw-away right after sealed their fate.

Open

GOAT put up a valiant fight, but they just could not match the speed, skill and athleticism of Furious George. Their game plan seemed to revolve around striking deep, but they had some trouble converting, whereas Furious were able to take advantage of their chances.

My favourite moment was when a GOAT player scored on a long run on a Furious player, Noel Pullen (who went to my high school; aforementioned for dating my sister). The GOAT player was pumped up and spiked it at Noel's feet. Noel then picked up the disc and chucked it away...it was a great reaction, considering Furious George had a commanding lead at the time.

It was a great Nationals Tournament. Vancouver took four of the five divisions, but Toronto was right there in three of those finals. Hopefully this bodes well for the future of ultimate in the city. Perhaps more of us will be there next year in Calgary...

Time to play: "Where's Tien?"

Nationals: Day 2

Lots of action today, with there apparently being a near bench-clearing brawl in the GOAT v. Invictus game (near in that it was bench-clearing only...also Simon, why did we go back to the Big Hammers game?), and a "Greatest" for a point for TFP against Snipe. Later that night I confirmed that my sister dated a player on Furious George in high school. Oh, if only I didn't accuse him of cheating on her! *

The biggest story, however, is that Tien and I have magically aged 2 and 4 years and are playing in the Masters Division. Okay, so it's a team of "volunteers" who are taking the place of a team that pulled out at the last minute. What's better than watching ultimate? Playing ultimate. Unfortunately, this means that I don't have a full account of the day's events (doesn't help that the results aren't posted). But on the bright side, I feel like I earned the right to spend $40 on merchandise.


Of course, the real Hound contingent continued on, with the most promising stories being Carla, Lyanne and Nat having made the top 8 in their respective divisions. I believe the Diggers went 2-1 today (losing to powerhouse Capitals). This should put them in 3rd today, meaning they'll play the 2nd place team from the other pool. If the Diggers win their quarterfinal game, they will play Capitals again, so they'll be in tough to advance any further than that. (Fearless prediction: 4th place overall)

Big Hammers went 1-2 today with a win over Mayhem (giving them 3 wins over Ontario teams so far) and losses to TFP and Gecko. This puts Big Hammers in 3rd place in their pool and a tough matchup with Bostrich. A win likely puts them against TFP (uh-oh), with a loss resulting in a fun-looking consolation matchup with Monster. ("I'm putting it on the Internet" prediction: 7th)

Too Bad had a great day going 3-0, including a win over Seek the Righteousness (not sure how STR did). This gives them a shot at 9th, as I think they can win their quarterfinal, but the semis will be tough if they do get there. (No idea predition: 11th place)

As for Feisty, two of their losses (to Capitals and Salty) were somewhat expected (although apparently not allowed to be watched). They then lost a tough one to Catfish, which sets up a very interesting Feisty vs XX quarterfinal. (Promaybely prediction: 11th).


* I didn't really do that.

Day 1 at Nationals

Bonnie, Simon, Tien and I met at Sunnybrook this morning and watched a whole lot of ultimate. The weather wasn't great, but not bad either (cool, little bit of wind, no sun, a few drops of rain). With 79 teams playing, there was definitely a lot to see. The Hounds' teams had an up-and-down day.

The big news of the day was the impressive showing by Big Hammers. Seeded 17th, they easily won their first two games over Crude and Les Bouettes. Their third game had a showdown with the infamous Snipe, seeded 1st out of all the Mixed teams. After a slow start (down 4-1), Big Hammers turned it on and took control, winning an intense and chippy affair14-11. They were definitely the talk of the port-o-potties. They are now seeded 1st on Friday, so we'll see if they can keep it up as the tournament progresses. My prediction (and keep in mind that I predicted them to win one game Thursday) is that they'll win one game on Friday, putting them in 4th in their pool and in the top 8.

On the Open front, Dan L and Too Bad had a tough start, losing to 14-10 to Invictus after the score was tied at 9-9. This was then followed by them being upset by Q, essentially knocking them out of the running for the top 8. Hopefully they can bounce back and have a shot at 9th.

Dan N had a tough day, as expected. Seek the Righteousness had a small squad and was over-matched in their 4 games. The highlight for Dan had to be playing against Furious George and marking their star, Andrew Lugsdin (pictured below...my camera sucks). Hopefully they have a shot at beating Sherbrooke tomorrow, which appears to be their best shot at a victory. There is also a Dan vs Dan matchup at 10:15 to look forward to.


Laura and Carla started their days on opposing sides, and Diggers (Carla) took it to the less-experienced Feisty (Laura). Unfortunately later in the day, Diggers couldn't pull out the upset over Alberta, so they finished 2nd in their pool and are looking at a potential matchup against Storm in the quarterfinals. Feisty did get the win they needed over Amazone, so they are in the running for the top 8, however their chances are slim. I think they have a win in them tomorrow, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to make the quarters.

Not a bad down for the Hounds, as only one out of five teams finished below their seedings. Hopefully there will be more success as the tournament goes on. For the full results, check out the CUC website.

The Hounds take on Canada

The Canadian Ultimate Championships are upon us, and the Hounds are well-represented with 6 players taking part. Here's my quick take on their chances this weekend. Please keep in mind that I don't really know what I'm talking about...for rankings from people who have a clue, please check here .

Nat and Lyanne: playing with Big Hammers in Mixed (seeded 5th out of 5 in their pool, 17th overall)

Even though the top team is in their pool (Snipe) this could be the weakest pool of the four. I expect them to beat Les Bouettes, and a win against Liquid or Crude is possible. But considering the Hammers haven't played in a tournament since Mid-Season, I doubt it. My heart says 3rd (to make the Friday playdowns), by my head says 4th and out of the running. Will end the tourney 15th.

Carla: playing on Diggers in the Women's Division (seeded 2nd out of 4 in their pool, 5th overall)

Ontario's second-ranked team will go 3-0 to win their pool, and finish second on Friday to Capitals. I think they can make the semis, but will be in tough against BC's top team, Traffic. I see them finally beating Storm to take the bronze.

Laura: playing on Feisty in Women's (seeded 4th out of 4 in their pool, 13th overall)

In the same pool as Carla and Diggers. Good shot to make it to Friday playdowns (must beat Amazone from Sherbrooke), but it ends there. An 9th place finish is possible, but I 'm going to say they improve on their seeding and finish 11th.

Dan L: playing with Too Bad in Open (seeded 3rd out of 5 in their pool, 12th overall)

Too Bad is notorious for having an ever-changing roster, so we'll see who's coming out. I like them to finish 3rd on Thursday. They need to upset Blackfish and Nads to make it to Saturday, which is doable. After that they hit the wall, and my guess is they'll finish 8th.

Dan N: joining Seek the Righteousness (seeded 5th out of 5 in their pool, 18th overall)

Don't see much happening with this team...0-4 on Thursday is my guess. A 17th place finish would mean a successful weekend for this squad. Hopefully Dan can lead them to some wins.



It should be a fun weekend, and we'll see how my random projections play out. I'm planning on watching lots of flatball over the next 4 days...see you at Sunnybrook (and hopefully Varsity) supporting the Hounds.

Hounds and Friends at Mid-Season

Half of the Hounds were joined by some friends as we competed in the TUC Mid-Season Tournament this past weekend. Austin, Bonnie, Chris, Christian, Laura, Lyanne, Nat and Tien combined Brendan, Dana, Hamid, Lara, Mark C, Mark W, Natasha, Sarah, Sue, and Tyler to form a team that was a little short on height, but had some good speed and skills that some real potential to do some damage.

The initial seeds landed us at 7th out of 37, with us playing 6th seed Throw Les Vaches, Disc in a Box, ELEVEN and Plan Jedi on Saturday. Nat helped me to set the roster and scope out the opponents, while Bonnie supplied the spirit prizes (Which, by the way, she described to me as "crappity crap". If that was crappity crap, then I hope I'm on the receiving end when she gives out the good stuff). It was a beautiful day, Lara and Brendan brought muffins; we were ready.

We started in the late morning (so Christian wouldn't be so hung over) with a game against "Disc in a Box". Obviously, this team saw my Valentine's Day post. After some introductions, some jitters caused us to lose the first point of the game. But not to worry...we scored the next 13.

After a break, we then played 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-ELEVEN! Another efficient effort led to a 13-2 victory. The highlight of the game was the quick series of passes to shred their zone, where the disc went from person to person but never seemed to stop moving.

This allowed us the time to get to the other end of Sunnybrook to play our late game earlier; which meant we wouldn't have to stay at Sunnybrook until 8:00. We played Throw Les Vaches in a battle of the top seeds in the pool. The game started with each team scoring a few points in a row, leading to a 3-3 score. Next thing we know, the game was over and we won 13-5.

Our final game was against Plan Jedi. I missed this one, but we won 13-4, so Tien must have handled things swimmingly, even though there were only 4 or 5 men left standing at the end of the day.

Sunday arrived, with us playing as the 6th seed against #12, Kooks. This was a team that featured several Zen players, including temporary opponent, Sue. A "Sunday morning start" has us alarmed as we found ourselves in a fight early, but we worked through and powered to a 12-6 win.

This put us in the quarter-finals against Game, Set, Schlitz! (aka COOL). They were our most difficult opposition. We hung tough and kept up with the taller and more experienced team in the first half. However, we had trouble maintaining flow and containing their height and speed, and we fell 12-6. Hamid managed a win where we could not, as he defeated Sarah in the Schlitz-chug.

We then went on to play the Disciples of Love in the consolation round. A roster that had 16 at one point was down to 11, and a tired team lost 12-10. There was a final game scheduled against Play Anything, but both teams decided to call it a draw, leaving us in a tie for 7th. After 7 games and with a game looming on Monday for most players, it was probably the right call.

So, good showing by those who played this weekend. It was fun, and I think we had a good, competitive team that played well. To quote Mark W, "I'll see you guys out there on the green stuff."

My tongue hurts from biting it too much

I was hoping to have a full preview of this weekend's TUC Mid-Season tournament, including in-depth scouting reports on the teams, and each team's odds of winning.

Plus, I was going to...er...include the meaning of life, then perhaps show how to make special brownies and...um...post naked pictures of Jessica Alba and Tom Brady. Too bad the change didn't allow me the time to do that.

So, all I can say is that scheduling mistakes can be a whole lot worse...just ask Jasper:



See you tomorrow at Sunnybrook!

Gender Blender

The details for Gender Blender XI (because roman numerals make it important) have been released, and I think it's a tournament that we have to go to. It's the biggest Ultimate Party this side of Lyanne's birthday. I have never been myself, but have heard stories. Here are the details:

- June 1-3, 2007, Fergus, Ontario (North of Guelph)
- Party on Friday and Saturday Night
- $90 per person (includes the tournament, field rental, camping, entertainment on Friday night, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, dinner on Saturday, a party with refreshments and entertainment Saturday night, and lunch on Sunday)
- All proceeds go to Charity

Blender Party

On the Friday Night, there is a Blender Competition, wth each team supplying everyone else a Blender drink of their own creation. But it's not just about the drinks...it's also about presentation. Last year, I believe a team constructed a giant Plinko board (Drinko?).

There's a lot more info, so please check out the Gender Blender site at http://www.genderblender.org/main.html for more info.

So, if Ultimate, camping, drinking, and generally having a good time is something that you're into, please let me know. The Bid is due April 13th, so I would like get that in by the end of March.

If you are interested, please list:

1) Drink idea
2) Costume idea
3) Saturday Night Party idea

I'm sending this out to the Hounds first...we'll see who can make it before opening it up to others.

Forget the Nickel, let's go to the Hammer

Chris: "Hey did you hear there's a Snow Ultimate tournament in Hamilton? It's on March 17th and 18th"
Bonnie: "Really? That's so much closer than Sudbury. And didn't they just get a huge snowfall?"
Pierre: "I really want to make dragonflies in the snow."
Laura: "And I can bring my matching hat and jacket!"

Yes, it is true...there is an ultimate tournament in Hamilton on the weekend of St. Patrick's Day (March 17th/18th). It's called the "Divine Nines" as teams are only 9 players maximum on the squad, so we'll need 5 guys and 4 girls (it's 4/3 on the field). The cost is $180 for the team.

Now, our Snowplate bid flamed out (I blame Felix), but perhaps we can get 9 people together for this weekend.

If you are interested, please post a comment. By the end of the week, we'll see who's in, who's out, and then we'll go to Round 2 of the invites.

For more information, check it out here.

Release the Hounds: Version 2.0

Years ago, a pack of Superflies travelled to the highest Summit in Idaho at Midnight in search of perfection. The events that transpired have become the stuff of legend, for on that fateful moonlit night, the greatest ultimate frisbee team was born. And the world has never been the same.

Release the Hounds is an Ultimate Frisbee team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They have been playing together since April of 2005. This is their story.

In the Spring of 2005, Simon Maycock brought together an eclectic mix of players to compete on Thursdays in the Toronto Ultimate Club. From teams that he had played on in the Toronto Central Sport and Social Club, the squad of 14 players was ready to take TUC by storm. The initial team consisted of Simon, Felix, Pierre, Bonnie, Mark, Lyanne, Laura, Matt, Tien, Nat, Austin, Chris, Hamid and Jocelyn, with help from Lara, as well as late-season pick-up Joel. They had an up and down inital season, finishing 11th in the final tournament, but the building blocks were apparent. It was obvious they could eat chicken wings, but would that translate to success on the pitch?


They ventured indoors for the TCSSC Sunday Speedpoint League, where they continued to improve. Dan joined the fray, adding a much needed "hippie" element to the Hounds. They finished 3rd and 4th against their toughest competition yet, but they really turned the corner at the Big Nickel.



For two days, the Hounds and friends (Olympia, Graham, Matt G) went to Sudbury as "Hounds on Ice" for some beer bongs, jacuzzi-ing, great food, dragonflies, and...oh yeah, an ultimate tournament played in 2 feet of snow. After seven games and a 5th Place finish, they returned home to an evening Speedpoint match against a tough Wasabi team. The Hounds, exhausted, played a great game, losing by only one point. While it was a difficult loss, RTH elevated their games after that point.


The Summer TUC season started very well for the Hounds, as they moved up the Thursday standings, and by the end of the regular season, they finished 2nd in the highest tier (4). The Playoff Tournament started well, as they rolled through three easy victories on Saturday. But, with high hopes,the wheels came off and they were upset on Sunday by the finalists. A final victory to take 5th did little to heighten spirits after the tough loss.

After the Summer season, it was back indoors for the TCSSC Speedpoint League. RTH was breezing through the season, and was poised to take the Championship. But, destiny threw them a scoober, as Joel was lost for almost a year to a knee injury (or "a knee" as Al Michaels would call it). The silver lining in this story is that it opened a spot for Christian to join up full-time, and the Hounds went on to take the title.


This brings us to the present, which is the point of all this. The past year has been documented by Hamid, on the initial Hounds blog who has gone onto create The Roman Empire. I've got some big shoes to fill, but I've got a lot of socks. It's on.


Smithers!
Yessir?
Release the Hounds!