Ultimate Canada Magazine – October 23
For a third time in four years, Mothership are once again gold medalists at the Canadian University Ultimate Championships.
Queen’s had a slow start, putting up an early season loss to the University of Toronto in the quarterfinals at Steeltown. Two weeks later, Queen’s had reworked their strategies and mindset, and were unstoppable at CEUUC on their way to qualifying for division 1.
Mothership kicked off CUUC with a perfect first day going undefeated. In the other pool, an unexpected 0-3 day for Toronto would set up a rematch of Queen’s early season loss in the quarterfinals.
This time, no mistakes were made as Queen’s confidently secured their spot in the semis with a 15-2 victory.
In the semi-finals, they faced off against a determined University of Manitoba team who had just come off a universe point victory over Dalhousie in the quarters. Manitoba put up a solid game, but the depth of the eventual championships overwhelmed them in the end as Queen’s moved onto the final with a 15-9 win.
On the other side of the bracket, the University of Guelph looked strong as ever and poised to be headed back to the finals for a second straight year. However, McGill had other plans.
The semi-final between McGill and Guelph was action-packed and heated. The game was back and forth as the two teams traded points for the majority until McGill found a breakthrough in the second half and went on to win the match 10-8. Thomas McAlear and Christophe Tremblay Joncas were two of many who stepped up and put in big performances for their team.
The final between Queen’s and McGill was just as back and forth for the majority of the game.
Trade after trade put them tied at 7-7 with only 20 minutes remaining on the clock. As it began to look like we would be seeing a universe point game, Mothership found a new gear.
MVP of the final, James Lewis, put everything on the line in those last few points with two massive layout D’s that his team was able to capitalize on. Punching in two late breaks, Queen’s finished out the game with a huck to Mike Mackenzie for the victory, 11-8 over McGill.
Three championships in four years is an incredible accomplishment, and for coach Pete Galbraith and the team the win means everything.
“The release of anxiety and the realization that all of our work this year was worth it, is unbelievable,” Galbraith explained. “To get loads of messages from alumni who watched online is fantastic. To see the tears in a few guy’s eyes in the team huddle after the game as they realized that this was their last chance and they’d gone out on top-that was pretty cool too. I got emotional too.”
“A lot of people in the frisbee community pretend sometimes that they don’t care so that if they lose they’ve got an excuse. For us it’s pretty obvious that we care deeply. Losing hurts. To win and push ourselves so much is awesome. I’m sad the seasons over but it’s amazing to work with these boys all season long.”
Mothership missed finishing on the podium last year and spent a lot of time talking about flipping the switch to get their attitude and focus right for 2018. The team effort, buy-in and the depth of the team shone throughout the weekend.
McGill put up an incredible performance and fight throughout the weekend. The team will be graduating some of their star players but will continue to challenge the top with young talented rookies like Hayden Stone and Jack Doherty-Eagles.
Rounding out the podium, the University of Guelph managed to keep their heads up and finish strong with the bronze medal over Manitoba in a game that ended with a universe point, layout D from Manitoba and second layout for the score from captain Patrick Keenan to win it for the Gryphons.
Spirit winners Dalhousie fell short of where they wanted to finish in the standings after the universe point loss to Manitoba. However, DKUT was one of the most exciting teams to watch over the weekend and showed that they are continuing to improve every year.
