Beat the Skeeters Recap
Just a short recap this time (by my standards anyway). Skeeters this year was again a small tourney and teams were exclusively local. With a large number of players interested in playing and a small number of other competitive teams, Chaos split into two squads and picked up a few other players to fill out the rosters. I was on team Slim Jim while the other squad was Hot Rods. The only other teams in competitive were Jeaners, essentially the same as their league team (one of the elite Wednesday A squads, formerly known as Nuts ‘n’ Gum); and Optimus, who were made up of a talented bunch of youngsters formerly on MOFO (but now ineligible for Juniors play). Saturday was 3 round robin games to determine seedings for Sunday’s semis.
First game was against Jeaners. We started a bit shaky; a few good passes followed by a drop or throwaway which was quickly capitalised on by Jeaners. We were down 5-1 pretty quickly. However we battled back to tie but never managed to take the initiative in scoring, and lost on double game point, 12-11.
Next up were Optimus. We continued with the same focus as the end of the previous game and blitzed them early, taking a 5-0 lead before they scored. The youngsters were mentally defeated by then, and never challenged for the rest of the game, going down 13-3.
The final game was against our teammates with team Hot Rod. As if we needed more motivation, the winning team would get to decide the fate of our captain’s cheesy ‘mustache’ (if the wispy growth on his upper lip truly warranted such a description). Unfortunately the game did not live up to the billing… a few travel calls early and the game turned into a call-fest, which put some of the Hot Rodders off their game. Slim Jim cruised to a relatively easy victory.
Saturday night there was the usual party of course, but not before a few of us took in one of our Trogdor teammate’s performances in a dance recital. I was prepared to be thoroughly bored through most of it, but it was quite entertaining. Highlights were our teammate’s performances, plus the father of a few prominent Winnipeg players doing some dance moves that no 60-something should, and a guest performance by a breakdance troupe with an absolutely unreal performance. Well worth going.
After that, off to the party. Due to the small size of the tourney (and lack of Reginians) the party was pretty tame, but I did get to take part in a boat race – and won it largely on the strength of my performance on the final drink, impressing seemingly everyone except my wife. Can’t please everybody I guess.
Sunday I was feeling pretty fresh despite the previous day of games and night of drinking. The weather, as it had been on Saturday, was gorgeous. We had finished first in our pool due to +/- among the 3 teams finishing 2-1 and matched up against Optimus, who went 0-3 on Saturday. Unlike our first game against them, we failed to build a big lead early and actually found ourselves trailing. By half we were down 8-5. Halftime was a head check and the decision was made to start calling lines. We battled back to tie, and again found ourselves in a double-game point situation with us pulling. A quick turn, we capitalised with a big looping huck, and were on to the final.
Hot Rods has also won their semi – easily defeating Jeaners, who evidently didn’t have the legs they did to start Saturday – and so we had effectively an all-Chaos final. Something of a victory in itself, bu the final was still to be played. After the chippy game Saturday, they were looking for revenge. Unlike Saturday though, the game was friendly yet intense, and hotly contested the whole way through. Hot Rods took a small lead early, we tied just before half, they took half and went on a small run just afterwards. We battled back to make it close again, but they pulled it out to win 15-13.
Somewhat disappointing for me to be on the losing team, but losing to a bunch of teammates definitely took the sting off. Our prizes (2 cases of beer for the winners, one for the runners up) were shared as the two squads met for some season planning. Nationals are a go, and Regina Riot – our first tourney as a single squad – is coming up this weekend. Looking forward to both…. Look for the Riot recap sometime next week.
First game was against Jeaners. We started a bit shaky; a few good passes followed by a drop or throwaway which was quickly capitalised on by Jeaners. We were down 5-1 pretty quickly. However we battled back to tie but never managed to take the initiative in scoring, and lost on double game point, 12-11.
Next up were Optimus. We continued with the same focus as the end of the previous game and blitzed them early, taking a 5-0 lead before they scored. The youngsters were mentally defeated by then, and never challenged for the rest of the game, going down 13-3.
The final game was against our teammates with team Hot Rod. As if we needed more motivation, the winning team would get to decide the fate of our captain’s cheesy ‘mustache’ (if the wispy growth on his upper lip truly warranted such a description). Unfortunately the game did not live up to the billing… a few travel calls early and the game turned into a call-fest, which put some of the Hot Rodders off their game. Slim Jim cruised to a relatively easy victory.
Saturday night there was the usual party of course, but not before a few of us took in one of our Trogdor teammate’s performances in a dance recital. I was prepared to be thoroughly bored through most of it, but it was quite entertaining. Highlights were our teammate’s performances, plus the father of a few prominent Winnipeg players doing some dance moves that no 60-something should, and a guest performance by a breakdance troupe with an absolutely unreal performance. Well worth going.
After that, off to the party. Due to the small size of the tourney (and lack of Reginians) the party was pretty tame, but I did get to take part in a boat race – and won it largely on the strength of my performance on the final drink, impressing seemingly everyone except my wife. Can’t please everybody I guess.
Sunday I was feeling pretty fresh despite the previous day of games and night of drinking. The weather, as it had been on Saturday, was gorgeous. We had finished first in our pool due to +/- among the 3 teams finishing 2-1 and matched up against Optimus, who went 0-3 on Saturday. Unlike our first game against them, we failed to build a big lead early and actually found ourselves trailing. By half we were down 8-5. Halftime was a head check and the decision was made to start calling lines. We battled back to tie, and again found ourselves in a double-game point situation with us pulling. A quick turn, we capitalised with a big looping huck, and were on to the final.
Hot Rods has also won their semi – easily defeating Jeaners, who evidently didn’t have the legs they did to start Saturday – and so we had effectively an all-Chaos final. Something of a victory in itself, bu the final was still to be played. After the chippy game Saturday, they were looking for revenge. Unlike Saturday though, the game was friendly yet intense, and hotly contested the whole way through. Hot Rods took a small lead early, we tied just before half, they took half and went on a small run just afterwards. We battled back to make it close again, but they pulled it out to win 15-13.
Somewhat disappointing for me to be on the losing team, but losing to a bunch of teammates definitely took the sting off. Our prizes (2 cases of beer for the winners, one for the runners up) were shared as the two squads met for some season planning. Nationals are a go, and Regina Riot – our first tourney as a single squad – is coming up this weekend. Looking forward to both…. Look for the Riot recap sometime next week.
posted by Druski at 10:51 p.m.
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