Canada masters

Profile

Ottawa Masters team Wuz makes up the majority of Team Canada. The team has brought several players from competitive Open teams like Ottawa’s Phoenix, Montreal's Mephisto and the Toronto/Ottawa combination GOAT to fill out the roster. The ages of the players range from the tender 30 to the rickety old age of 37.

Canada is a very modern team. In addition to receiving rare Ultimate sponsorship from Adidas, Labatt  Breweries, PCL Contruction and VSP Sports among others, the team is also using practice videos to break down team play as well as having the luxury of watching the some of the competition on DVD. The 2003 UPA Championships won by Masters team Miami (representing USA) were filmed by Canadian company VC Ultimate.

Overall, the team has not competed much on the international circuit but a few members  played at the last Worlds, 2000 in Heilbronn in the Open, Mixed and Masters divisions. At that 2000 tournament Canada won the bronze medal over Austira after a tough 16-14 semifinals lost to eventual champion USA. Canada has also five players who rostered in 1998 Worlds, including two that helped Canada win Masters' Gold in Minnesota.

"Our team's goal is work hard to bring the world title back to Canada and continue to increase the profile of our sport and demonstrate the level of class and athleticism of Canadian Ultimate," says co-Captain Ling Lee.

He adds, "I think USA will be tough, they are a wiley bunch with a lot of experience, but I think we have a solid team. It may be a while before our styles gel into a real team but I hope we can do it by August." Lee's day job when he is not playing Ultimate is as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Government of Canada.

In preparation for Worlds, The Canadian Masters are practicing, watching game film and resting with cold cases of Alexander Keith's IPA and Stella Artois.

Canada on Offense

Canada likes to use a mix of offenses to find the right one that works. They will run set plays or just flow from vertical stacks, horizontal stacks and simple speed offenses. They will take what the offense gives, looking to take advantage with their simple experience.

13 members of this team played for years with Wax before forming Wuz waX. They will be familiar with each other.

Additionally, the team has been strengthened on offense by distances. They have an internet bulletin board set up to discuss offenses and set plays during work hours.They have a once-a-month training camp as well.

Janssen, Miller and Zimmerl form the offensive core of this team and the offense will traditionally run through them. Look for these players when Canada has the disc.

David "DJ" Janssen, #8 is a captain of GOAT, one of North America's strongest Open teams. Impossibly fast and quick, DJ also has a beautifully smooth forehand. He will be tough to stop.

Tom Miller, #7 can do everything. a primary cutter, he will look to get open and find players downfield for scores.

Mark Zimmerl, #1  nicknamed "Shaggy" is a 6'4" handler with a break-mark step-around forehand and backhand that is very difficult to stop. Zimmerl is also a co-captain of Open team Mephisto.

Jean-Francois "JF" Drouin, #22  has a lot of speed up and down the field and always finds an opportunity to get open as the main receiver. Also a co-captain on Mephisto.

Canada on Defense

Canada will play a traditional man or zone defense for the first 3-4 points of game. With their bevy of engineers and analysts, they will then make an anlaysis of the opponent's offense and will devise an appropriate defense to counter for the rest of the game. Typially this results in many types of junk defenses. Hidden zones, man to zone or zone to man switches, and others to disrupt the flow and make them create on offense.

Look for these players when the opponent has the disc:

Brett Taylor, #3, a physical in-your-face defender that will make the opponent work for field space. Hard to shake.

Jamie Kelly, #42 a key defensive handler when Canada gets the disc on D.

Sean Walter, #18. an offensive cutter that happens to be one of the top D players. a big runner.

Dan Fassina, #11. everything guy that will make the defensive block and plays both lines equally. another Mephisto co-Captain.

Team Colors:
Red, White and Black

Roster:
28 players 

Captains:
Ling Lee
Trevor Pound 

Website (note: this is a killer website!)
http://www.teamcanadaultimate.com/