The 2008 AXBL season has draw to a close after the final
event held on August 17 at Atlantic Xtreme Paintball in
Memramcook NB. The last event was the toughest for the
Tippinators, scheduled to play the second place Waterloo ASA and first
place Scotia Shock in their final two matches.
Heading into the final day of competition the Tipps were
two points out of second place and poised to finish the season
on the podium. A win against ASA and close game against Shock would
vault the team into contention.
The Tippinators came out
swinging against ASA scoring the first point. The
Tippinators' game plan was working, with everyone playing
their best paintball of the season. The teams were evenly
matched with the first half ending 7-5 in favor of ASA. A surge in the
last two minutes gave the Tipps the momentum heading into the
second half.
The second half started where the first
left off as the team continued to have success applying
pressure up the dorito side. Things were going well when a few
rookie mistakes caught up with the Tipps, which drew penalties. While
killing penalties, the momentum shifted back to ASA who did
not relinquish their lead throughout the power play. Having
served their penalties and back to full strength the
Tippinators mounted a spirited push to regain the momentum.
The last minute rush came to late to affect the outcome and Waterloo ASA went on to a 12-8 victory.
After a brief rest the team took to the field against the
powerful, league leading Scotia Shock. The team was under no
illusions that victory was possible. Shock had completely dominated
every team in the league with an average 11 point margin of
victory.
The game proved to be a great learning
experience. Playing against superior a team quickly identifies
the errors in your own game. When the dust settled Shock's
margin over the Tippinators was 12 points, comparable to every other
team in the league. Plus all team members learned from the
experience and improved because of it.
The team gave
it everything they had but were unable to improve their league
ranking, finishing out the season with a sixth place finish.
Chris 'Fuzzy' Landry was happy with the season as a whole. "We
went from rookie three man in 2007 to holding our own against the best
in the east in open X-Ball." Landry continued, "2008 was a
year for us to step up to new challenges, and I don't see why
2009 should be any different."
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