As
usual, the Border Battle event at Commando Paintball was a massive success with
the talented Elite teams filling the bleachers all weekend long. It came as no
surprise that fans witnessed match after match of adrenaline-filled excitement.
Surprisingly, there were very few “close” matches! In fact, six of the ten
matches had a point spread of 5 or higher! Considering there is not a player
out there who likes to lose – especially by a significant spread - we can
expect to see some roster changes and added practice as the Elite teams prepare
for their next event!
With no further ado, here are my reflections from the first
Elite event of the 2013 season.
CXBL Elite
Most Exciting Game to
Watch – Montreal Heat VS. Windsor Lockdown
I
cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was to see this match played out.
Anyone could tell you that Heat’s pros versus Lockdown’s mash up of Ontario’s
best and a handful of Damage and Ironmen players would be a game well worth the
watch. But how many of you would have predicted Lockdown’s locals with a solid
win here? I certainly didn’t. In fact, I had Heat pegged as the winners of this
match even assuming Lockdown had their full line-up of players present. Boy did
they prove me wrong!
Heat's Sam Monville
Photo Credit - Jean-Francois Thibeault
Due to
some flight difficulties, it was only Damage’s Chad Busiere who was able to
join the local Lockdown heroes for this challenging match up but that didn’t
dampen Windsor’s spirit. To the contrary, Lockdown took the first four points
of the match with little contention from Heat. Then making the most of some
minor penalties acquired by the Lockdown squad, Heat bullied back bringing the
score to a close 5-4. With only a second to spare, Lockdown’s Drew Guppy
managed a flag hang boosting Windsor’s lead to 6-4 going into the second half
of this exciting match. To be honest, I expected this match to carry on from half
in a point-for-point fashion as is typical when evenly matched teams go head to
head. Instead, the well-practiced Windsor locals with the help of Busiere
managed to maintain and build on their lead finishing the match with a
surprising 11-6 lead. That’s pretty impressive considering they only had 7
players at the ready. It just goes to show how valuable practice and
determination really are!
Lockdown's Alex Goldman and Drew Guppy
Photo Credit - Sheldon Carless
Most Surprising Game –
Fredericton Aggression Vs. London Vicious
If you
are a die-hard Vicious fan, perhaps you expected this 8 point victory over
Aggression but I certainly did not. While I had London picked as the winners
for this match, I saw these two teams as fairly level competition and thus was
surprised to see the point spread rapidly widen during the second half! London
was leading 5-3 at the start of the second half and went on to take four points
in a consistent pattern of 2-3 minute intervals. After conceding 1 point to
Fredericton, Vicious proceeded to win the final 3 points of the match,
finishing with a final score of 12-4.
Vicious' Trevor Resar
Photo Credit - Sheldon Carless
I happen to know that Vicious was
not happy after their narrow win over Kitchener Recon and the word on the
street is that they spent hours Saturday night discussing breakouts and ways to
improve on their playing style. Their meeting proved worthwhile as they came
out with a confident win over Aggression. That being said, I must admit that I
don’t feel Fredericton lived up to their potential at this event. It could be
that they were missing the talents of Alex Borromeo and Mason Hwu (and last
minute addition – Dave Bains) or it could be that running one line of players
over and over wears on you! Either way, I fully expect a stronger Aggression at
the next Elite event!
Aggression's Graham Arnold
Photo Credit - Sheldon Carless
Most Impressive Team
at this Event – Windsor Lockdown
Lockdown
Photo Credit - Sheldon Carless
I truly
expected to be commenting that Montreal Heat was the most impressive team at
the first Elite event. Their consistent line-up and multitude of experiences in
the PSP, Millennium and CXBL suggest that they have a depth of skill and
adaptability that many other teams are lacking. While they certainly lived up to expectation
in their other matches against Rockstar and Vicious, Heat dropped the ball in
their game against Lockdown – allowing Windsor to take the coveted lead
position. I personally was expecting Windsor to have a challenging time gelling
as a team considering they have such a mash up of very strong competitors. I
worried that the local guys (Szypka, Guppy, Ing, Kropf, and Fare) who have been
consistently competing at the top of the CXBL for years would be wasting away
in the pits while their skilled professional talent (Busiere, Edwards, Brown,
Margott, and Goldman) would be playing point after point all weekend long.
Thankfully, the team came together on the field (and off) and the results were
impressive. They went on to win all 3 of their matches with a consistency that
few others demonstrated this first event. In fact, Windsor is currently leading
the Elite teams with an astounding +/- of 39! That being said, they have yet to
face London Vicious and Fredericton Aggression who are also shaping up to be very
strong, determined competitors. I don’t know about you, but I have renewed
faith that this team has what it takes to be battling for rings this year!
Weakest Team Thus Far-Toronto
Rockstar
Toronto
Rockstar had arguably the most challenging event a team could have in terms of
competition. They faced off against the two leading teams, Windsor Lockdown and
Montreal Heat and predictably succumbed to some hefty losses. Both Heat and
Lockdown pulled out 12 point spreads in their wins over Toronto. To add insult
to injury, Rockstar took more penalties than they did points this event (6
penalties, 5 points). That being said, any team can have a bad event and
Toronto will have the opportunity to come back strong at Elite event 2. While
they still have some grueling matches ahead (Aggression and Vicious), they also
face the more equal talents of Kitchener Recon and Drummondville Daytona. It’s
time to practice hard Rockstar, only one team will be sitting out of NAX this
year and I have a feeling you don’t want to fill that spot.
Rockstar
Photo Credit - Helen Grose
Teams to Watch out for
at Elite Event 2 – Any and all.
With
only 2 Elite events leading up to the excitement of NAX, all teams have to step
it up for the next event! There simply isn’t time to waste in the race for
rings. We can expect some exciting matches between some of the top teams - with Heat facing off against Aggression and
Lockdown facing both Aggression and Vicious! Additionally, the Rockstar-Recon
match could potentially be the determining factor for that final NAX position
unless either team can come up with a big win early on!
Team to most Surpass
Expectations – Drummondville Daytona
I am
feeling some déjà vu as I write that Drummondville surpassed expectation as
this is precisely the realization that I came to after Elite event 1 in the
2012 season! Though I was determined not to underestimate Daytona’s skill, I
was still surprised by their win over Kitchener Recon. While I predicted that the Recon-Daytona match
would be a close one, I truly expected Kitchener to come out on top. This game
was tied at half and then went point for point after that leading up to a
flurry of action in the last seven minutes of the match. Drummondville did a
fantastic job of mixing up their lines and their playing style and this aided
them to their 10-9 win. Daytona’s past aggressive nature seemed tamed and their
playing style more mature at this first event! For this reason, I tend to think
they will earn themselves a NAX spot this year leaving Rockstar and Recon
fighting against the NAX knockout.
A Quick Look at Penalty Minutes
Since it’s always fun to know who spends the most time in
the penalty box, once again I’ve compiled stats on penalty minutes. Teams are
listed from most penalty minutes to least! Penalties seem to be much more
evenly spread this season!
1.
Drummondville Daytona
Games Played: 3
Penalty Minutes: 30
2.
Montreal Heat
Games Played: 3
Penalty Minutes: 21
3.
Toronto Rockstar
Games Played: 2
Penalty Minutes: 18
4.
London Vicious
Games Played: 3
Penalty Minutes: 17
5.
Kitchener Recon
Games Played: 3
Penalty Minutes: 15
6.
Windsor Lockdown
Games Played: 3
Penalty Minutes: 14
7.
Fredericton Aggression
Games Played: 3
Penalty Minutes: 13
Signing off,
The Paintball Wife
P.S. If you are keeping track, I went 8 for
10 in my predictions for Elite wins and losses. How did you do?
