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Huck Finn 2010
Indiana
magnUM2k10 wrapped up the 2010 regular season with a trip to St. Louis and Huck Finn. The tournament promised an interesting feel, with the cut off for the regular season prompting many prominent teams to stay home and prepare for the series. With Sectionals two weeks after Huck Finn and the chance to see several potential Regional foes, magnUM elected to show up and get better. And to top it off, for the first time since before rosters were finalized, magnUM played a full weekend in decent weather.
We opened play against Indiana, host of Regionals a month from now. Saturday morning featured wind sufficient enough for zone play, but nothing nearly as overpowering as that in Austin two weeks prior.
magnUM staked out to a comfortable lead early enough and would control the game throughout, despite a low-key start to the weekend. Highlights included bookends from Robbie Steinbock and the return of the meatball. Facing a high stall count on a slightly downwind point, Dwolb send a backhand across the field, largely into the wind. The disc caught an edge and then started rolling. And rolling. And rolling. What looked to be a 20-yard gainer across the field became a 20-yard gainer with a 35-yard roll, all the way down to the far cone. Meat, with his typical panache, seized the moment with a classic low fist pump. magnUM opened pool play 1-0 with a 13-6 win.
Northwestern
Up next was a second regional foe, Northwestern. magnUM and NUT last met when we hosted a short weekend round robin in January at the Oost. magnUM picked up their play early, and sealed the deal when Yoni Rafael made a ridiculous layout grab on a huck. magnUM eased past NUT by a score of 13-6, and prepared to face UW-Whitewater for the Pool A crown.
Wisconsin-Whitewater
Still two games Saturday morning magnUM still really hadn’t brought its best game, and to begin play against Subpar, magnUM again didn’t bring its best. Subpar earned a couple of deserved breaks early. Still, magnUM showed characteristic grit despite suboptimal play. Tim Lee played brilliant handler D and stepped into an dump pass for a casual looking Callahan. Mike DeRubeis further jumpstarted the comeback getting bookends for the D line. Down 12-11, Spencer Jolly grabbed a floatly disc in a crowd. Called subsequently for a travel, Jolly retorted “I’m big, I land solid.” Still, the resulting score earned magnUM only a double-game point on D going upwind with the pool on the line. Subpar turned the disc, and magnUM worked the disc up near the cone. Dtow found himself with the disc, near the cone and a high stall count. Dtow would later say “I saw PC coming and put all the marbles on that toss.” Most of the rest of the team saw PC cutting to the cone, but not exactly wide open, or open. And courtesy of some go-go-gadget arms on a layout bid, Dave… err Pat Collins made a spectacular game winning catch for magnUM. PC ripped a vicious spike too — in fact he destroyed a new disc, property of UW-Whitewater. magnUM would in fact write a check to replace said disc.
Illinois
With a Sunday bye on the line, magnUM got a third Regional rival on the morning. magnUM2k9 alums remember Illinois’ upset at regionals last year, and that provided all the motivation necessary. Right out of the gate magnUM got two early breaks and Illinois needed a timeout. And then Ricky took over. Most magnUMs and magnalUMs know that Ricky generally is usually calm in the team huddle. In this timeout, this was not the case. Ricky absolutely exploded in the huddle and asked for more. We responded. magnUM took three more breaks to go up 5-0, and the rout was on. With the game winding down, Jeff Pape skied all to put the exclamation point on a 13-7 win. A satisfying win over a regional foe, but as with other regional opponents, the games that really matter are in Bloomington in May.
Saturday night featured some high quality relaxation. Dwolb, a most trusted motor vehicle operator, did not drive another teammate to distraction on the way home. And the combined actions certainly did not garner the attention of other motor vehicle operators.
Later Saturday night, after Duke finished off West Virginia, Ollie (not playing this weekend to heal a quad) showed us just how cool he was by winning a Lord of the Rings quote-off with himself.
Sunday
The top Sunday morning highlight came courtesy of Ricky. With a bye into late morning, Ricky’s van visited Panera. Ricky, the perfect gentleman that he is, held the door for a couple of elderly ladies, eliciting the following response:
“Thank you sir you’re a gentleman. I would say a scholar too, but you don’t look like a scholar.”
Northwestern
I was a big Sportscenter fan growing up and among my favorites was Stuart Scott. One of his best lines was, after team or player made a blunder “see, what .. ha … happened was …”
That would explain our performance in the Sunday morning quarterfinals against NUT. The game was best epitomized on universe point, when the pull went OB after no more than 10 yards. NUT converted and well… crap.
St. Olaf
And so magnUM drew a consolation game against St. Olaf. A recurring problem from the NUT game was giving up too many easy open side in-cuts. The problem did not resolve itself in just one game, though Chris Vandervoort made several nice layout bids for his part. Mike DeRubeis capped off the game with a flawless upwind backhand to Dan DeTone, who did not have to make a ridiculous spearing layout dive. magnUM finished its competitive weekend with an 11-10 win. Not content with just two games, the entire team did sprints and/or plyos (joined by Derek Towster’s Dad!).
And with that, magnUM2k10 wrapped up its regular season. Up next, Michigan Sectionals, April 17-18, Versluis-Dickinson park in Kalamazoo. magnalUMs, friends, fans and family, if you can make it, come on out. We’re looking forward to playing Michigan State on Sunday.
