Was it God’s Wrath or Praise?
By roving reporter M.D.Vance

On July 29-30, Stella’s finest hit the road and turned boring suburban mini-vans into large, rolling party vans when they made the long 10-hour journey to big bad Detroit for the 2006 Motown Throwdown.  Having seen the Detroit news – complete with drive-by shootings, murders and seedy drug deals – Stella wasn’t quite expecting the million-dollar mansions that lined the ultimate (err… polo) fields.  But no matter; Stella brought her bad-ass attitude anyway.

Stella moved through Saturday’s 4-game pool play with relative ease, giving up a total of only three points all day.  First up was Eve, a familiar Toronto team that Stella has faced many times this season.  Stella won the game handily with a final score of 13-2.  This was followed by a perfect 13 and 0 game against Deep Dish.  Who Dat? from Cleveland was up next, and Who Dat was saying exactly that when Stella allowed them only 1 point.  For her last game of the day, Stella met up with Columbus’ Zoi Ultimate and breezed through the game 13-0.

All-in-all Saturday was about honing the skills that Stella has worked on throughout the summer: perfecting offensive plays, ironing out various zone defences, and working through the on- and off-field communication.  Some of the stand-out plays on Saturday included some great defensive and second effort grabs by Nancy and some beautiful layout bids by Alex.  And of course there was the very memorable “popsicle point” (thanks Firebird!) against Zoi Ultimate.  Stella also burned off some steam on Saturday night by racing mini four-wheelers around the hotel parking lot.  In case you are wondering, no we’re not competitive.

Sunday morning brought Stella to her 5th and final pool play game against Mojo.  Mojo was ranked second in our pool and, as such, had also gone undefeated on Saturday.  Mojo proved to be a challenging game, forcing Stella to react to their effective junk defence.  On-field communication was a definite must, as Mojo did a good job of clogging up the lanes and passing players off.  Some unconventional plays, including a 2-hammer point (courtesy of Elliot and Cavallaro), combined with Stella’s sheer speed and athleticism, were too much for Mojo to handle. Stella took the game 10-8.  

The quarter-finals saw Stella matched up against Pittsburgh’s Pounce.  Pounce was made up of a few veteran handlers and a wealth of younger, inexperienced players.  Stella came out a little flat, expecting it to be a relatively easy quarter-final game.  Pounce showed early on, however, that they weren’t going to let Stella off easy.  They proved they had the right combination of skill and speed to connect in both the short and long game.  Stella quickly realized that she needed to dig her heels in and play some hard, gritty ultimate.  In the end, Stella came out on top 10-6.  

Due to some upsets in Saturday’s pool play, Stella faced second-seeded Lotus in the semi-final game.  Having beaten Lotus in all of their previous encounters this summer, Stella was confident that she would again prevail.  However Lotus, eager to change the stats of the one-sided head-to-head encounters, came out fired-up and playing very aggressive defence.  Points were traded fairly evenly before Stella took the half at 7-6. 

Play had barely begun in the second half when the ominous black clouds started to roll in.  The storm came in fast and ferocious and players scrambled to gather their gear and head for cover before it began in earnest.  A forty-minute wait wasn’t enough time for the storm to pass, however, and the tournament was eventually called off.  Final score for the semi-final game: Stella 9, Lotus 7.

Perhaps the powers-that-be were unhappy with Stella’s light-hearted comments about God and religion that morning. Or perhaps they just wanted her to return home at a reasonable hour.  In any case, Stella was ultimately named champion of the 2006 Motown Throwdown. The semis were well into soft cap when the storm began, and the final game would most likely have been between Stella and Mojo, whom Stella had defeated in pool play the day before. 

Only one tournament remains for Stella: the National Championships in Halifax from August 17-20th.