Who are the best players in the Northwest region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Players that have stood out to me, not on UW:
Morgan Higgins on Western has been a key thrower in a somewhat injury-filled season for dirt.
Aaron Peterschmidt on OSU is a force in every aspect of the game and a real pain in the ass to guard.
Will Lohre on Oregon is fast, really fast.
Hugh Knapp on UBC is one of the five best throwers in the region and is the driving force of everything they do.
Trevor Knechtel on UVic is extremely solid and squirrely in the handler set.
As sectionals and regionals happen it’ll be easier to see who the cream of the crop are, but these are some of the guys who have had notable regular seasons.
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Team by team who is on my radar:
UW: Benaloh - main o line handler, quick and snappy throws. Mourad -leads the D-line as block getter and main cog on offense. Reed Hendrickson - seems to have come out of nowhere and he’s big hairy man who outsizes most college kid, nice pickup for them.
Also to watch: Nick Roberts, Lucas Chen
Oregon: Lots of good players but the key 3 seems to be: Will Lohre - unstoppable for them around the endzone, unfortunately he still thinks dabbing is cool. Good player though. Adam Rees probably the most dynamic player in the region - does it all, and Colton Clark is just impossible to guard on the mark.
Also to watch: Ted Sither, Xander Cuizon Tice, Leandro Marx, Braedon Petrus
UVic: Ben Burelle - would be a top cutter for any of these teams, with probably the most big game experience of anyone in the region. Trevor Knechtel - the lanky handler with all the throws keeping the offence moving for Uvic. Vikes also have a potential Rookie of the Year in Sean Bennett - tall, athletic, with great throws and definitely one to watch for the future.
Also to watch: Patrick Church, David Whitney-Brown, Devon Thomson, Dawson Pasin, Justin Pettunuzzo(rookie)
WWU: Dennis Casio - great handler quickness and sharp breaks. Morgan Higgins - raw athlete who also is a great thrower and only a sophomore this year, look for him to lead this Dirt team in years to come. Daniel Mah - explosive cutter, moves well. If dirt can overcome all their hand/arm injuries by regionals they’re in a good spot
Also to watch: Amanze Oleru(rookie), Jonas Golden, Adam Choi
UBC: Hugh Knapp - the best pure handler in the region, smoothest throws, smoothest cuts. Makes ultimate look effortless. Victor Cheng - squirelly D line handler with nasty break throws, back from injury to give the UBC d line a boost. Connor McFadyen - returning from a semester abroad just in time for the series and a game changing player for them. The athlete they can rely on to take big matchups and release valve on O or D
Also to watch: Eddison Ng, Ryan Hoy, Vince Bulloch (rookie), Allen Greer, Kyle Chan
Utah: Trey Taylor- only a sophomore I believe but they rely on him to guard big matchups and be the main cog often on both O and D
If I had to choose all region:
Rees (Oregon)
Lohre(Oregon)
Mourad(UW)
Burelle (UVic)
Knechtel (UVic)
Knapp (UBC)
Casio (WWU)
Stoked to re-evaluate this list after Sectionals/Regionals!
Lohre has to dab every time he scores because he lost 2 to 1 odds to Xander at the start of the season. He definitely doesn’t think it’s cool, but he’s owned up to the ridiculousness
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Watch for Jozef Gaber from UVIC to shock people in the post-season!!
Top rookies that I got to see at sectionals:
#34 Sean Bennett on UVic, who is a freshman, plays very solidly for their O line both downfield and in the backfield. He’s on my list for the All-Freshmen team. #9 Spencer Lofink on UW is also up there. He has been a key deep defender for us and was second in blocks on the team in the regular season. #18 Matthew Liu has been a solid handler for UW this year as well, keeping the disc moving and being a consistent reset for the shooters on the O line.
All-Region Picks (POTY in bold):
First Team:
Adam Rees (Oregon)
Will Lohre (Oregon)
Steven Benaloh (UW)
Nick Roberts (UW)
Aaron Peterschmidt (OSU)
Hugh Knapp (UBC)
Dennis Casio (WWU)
Second Team:
Colton Clark (Oregon)
Xander Cuizon-Tice (Oregon)
Reed Hendrickson (UW)
Derek Mourad (UW)
Adam Choi (WWU)
Trevor Knechtel (UVic)
Trey Taylor (Utah)
Candidates held back due to injury:
Daniel Mah (WWU)
Ben Burelle (UVic)
Morgan Higgins (WWU)
Aldous Root (WWU)
Noah Coolman (Oregon)
Lucas Chen (UW)
Others close:
Braedon Petrus (Oregon)
Leandro Marx (Oregon)
Duncan Fitzgerald (Oregon)
Dawson Pasin (UVic)
Jake Steen (UW)
Quinn Buermeyer (OSU)
This is fairly Cascadia biased, but I’m really not sure who I’m missing from Big Sky.
Burelle not injured. Played all of Sectionals. Peep him playing more D-line because the UVic O-line is hotfire already
I know Ben played all of sectionals and played well. But he didn’t play SBI, at least some of it, and I thought he didn’t play NW Challenge, though I’m told that may be wrong. If he did play NW challenge that would change things, but consistency over a whole season is important. That said regionals play is also very important and my picks are by no means set in stone.
I know it sucks when someone posts on here and only talks about their team, but there are two dudes on the Victoria team who I think deserve to get mentioned.
The first guy is Devon Thomson (44). This kid went from being a dusty player on the D-line to one of the top cutters on in the region. Burelle went down with injuries almost every tournament and this kid stepped up his game and I couldn’t be prouder. He’s got the throws, the hops, and the swagger. Granted he can be a bit of a dick sometimes, but he’s young and he’ll learn.
The second guy I want to mention is Dawson Pasin, the tall cutter on Victoria’s O-line. This kid is also only in his second year and not only is he a threat in the air, but he will grind unders if it’s given to him. I can only imagine how good he’ll be in his fifth year.
Here are other players I think are sick:
-Hugh Knapp
-Trey on Utah
-Dennis Casio
-Josh from Dirt
-I’m tired, every one is sick.
1st Team Candidates:
Adam Rees (Oregon) Most versatile player in the region, can and will do everything, POTY
Will Lohre (Oregon) Perhaps the fastest player in the region, utterly dominant downfield
Colton Clark (Oregon) Incredibly long handler, massive throws dominate the game
Steven Benaloh (UW) Insanely quick handler with huge throws
Nick Roberts (UW) Crazy quick mid with probably the best flick huck in the region
Reed Hendrickson (UW) Most dominant big man in the region, eats up sky balls for breakfast
Derek Mourad (UW) Great defender with a knack for getting blocks, deadly break throws on a turn
Trevor Knechtel (UVic) Lanky handler with a high IQ and great all-around throws
Dennis Casio (WWU) Dominant every other handler that drives the DIRT O-Line
Hugh Knapp (UBC) Best all-around thrower in the region
2nd Team Candidates:
Ben Burelle (UVic) If not Will Lohre, then Ben is the fastest player in the region, held back some due to injury
Dawson Pasin (UVic) Long cutter that uses his size both as a deep threat and as a consistent yard gainer
Aaron Peterschmidt (OSU) Speedy workhorse, but forced to handle a lot this year, still a great player there
Quinn Buermeyer (OSU) Almost always the first cut for OSU, great lefty backhand huck
Adam Choi (WWU) Quick and fast defender, takes the tough matchups, moves the disc on a turn
Josh Kent (WWU) Large lefty that has the ability to come down with any sky ball
Trey Taylor (Utah) Drives the Utah offense with his throws and his ability to get open
Lucas Chen (UW) Quickest player in the region, you can’t stop his under cuts, held back some due to injury
Jake Steen (UW) Great deep cutter with length and insane hops, an absolute goal machine
Xander Cuizon-Tice (Oregon) A consistent under cutter with great quickness and speed
Leandro Marx (Oregon) Workhorse defender taking tough matchups across the board
With all of this said here are my picks:
1st Team:
Adam Rees (Oregon)
Will Lohre (Oregon)
Reed Hendrickson (UW)
Steven Benaloh (UW)
Nick Roberts (UW)
Trevor Knechtel (UVic)
Hugh Knapp (UBC)
2nd Team:
Colton Clark (Oregon)
Xander Cuizon-Tice (Oregon)
Derek Mourad (UW)
Dennis Casio (WWU)
Ben Burelle (UVic)
Trey Taylor (Utah)
Aaron Peterschmidt (OSU)
Those remaining would fill the 3rd team if that team was a thing
All-Freshmen Team:
Sean Bennett (Uvic)
Justin Pettunuzzo (UVic)
Leander Ramirez (WWU)
Amanze Oleru (WWU)
Spencer Lofink (UW)
Matthew Liu (UW)
Chase Matthews (Oregon)
Coach of Utah speaking…
Thanks to the hosts and participating teams for a great weekend of competition. Northwest Regionals has always been a great opportunity for our players to get a taste of bigger and better ultimate.
I’ll get my big sky mentions out quickly:
Coach of the Year: Bryce Merrill - You can’t give him enough credit for how he manages to keep his players focused throughout the year. They continue to shut out the noise surrounding their program and play excellent ultimate. I can’t imagine a harder feat.
Notable Big Sky Players:
Seokhee Burningham (BYU) - Strong cutter who has been one of the most difficult covers in our section for his entire career. Deserving of all-region discussion.
Jeff Letsinger (Utah) - Senior captain and heart/soul of Zion Curtain this season. Bias acknowledged, Jeff was a dominant player at every position this season. Due to various injuries he played a different roll on each line at some point this year.
Trey Taylor (Utah) - A phenomenal handler that has played an important part in our teams growth the past three years. Competed through regionals with a broken throwing hand and was still a top handler in every game.
Patrick Beckett (Utah - All Freshman Nominee) - An athletic young talent able to play any position and a U-20 National Team Tryout Invite. He was moved to O-Line handler late March and handled the responsibility like a veteran. Without knowing a player on Zion Curtain, you’d be pressed to tell which O-Line handler was the rookie among a 5th year senior and a former Team USA player. Got a layout D in the final point to lift Utah past OSU on Sunday.
Now to Cascadia. This is where the majority of the talent lies. So I’ll add my piece to the discussion, but most of it has been said.
Oregon: Adam Rees. Watched him cook our fastest players two years ago, and he has hardly slowed down. He’s an incredible talent.
Washington: Benaloh. We didn’t get to play UW this year, but Steven is always a matchup to be excited about. His ability to move their offense without making unnecessary and risky throws has always been impressive.
Western Washington: Dennis Casio. He has an unbelievable motor. We were focusing most of our efforts on him, and he appeared on more D-lines than we expected. Much more versatile than he was last year, and he was damn good.
Victoria: #44 Devon Thomson was the most difficult player for our team in the two games we played against Vic. Extremely athletic, and we didn’t really have an answer for him in the air.
Oregon State: I believe #11 was Aaron Peterschmidt. We had to put our best defender on him to have a chance in the game. Extremely difficult to contain.
UBC: Hugh Knapp - In our game planning, we focused 100% of our efforts on containing him and hoping it’d be enough. He’s that type of player.
I appreciate everyone who takes my nominations seriously. We’re happy to be a part of a great region and look forward to competing against everyone next year. Good luck to Victoria, Washington, and Oregon at Nationals. Make the NW proud.
What a weekend! Here’s a bunch of random takes:
-Lucas Chen in isolation is any defenders worst nightmare, guy has first step that is truly scary
-Trey Taylor has the nicest looking throws in the region, having a broken hand seemed to barely slow him down at all
-Trevor Knechtel might’ve played every point for Victoria this weekend, and it didn’t show one bit, throwing fearless 50 yard hammers on key O points in the game-to-go vs Dirt, and carrying that Uvic squad
-Dennis Casio is unreal consistent and deserves first team this year
-Hugh Knapp is probably the MVP of the Northwest, in what would have been a down year for UBC, he elevated his team over any other player in the region
-Devon Thomson is a smaller guy, but an absolute menace in the air - won every skybattle thrown his way
-Reed Hendricksons pants are too baggy
-Man-bun handler on Utah played great for them, squirelly disc mover, needed a match-up every point
My final picks First Team All Region:
Adam Rees
Will Lohre
Steven Benaloh
Nick Roberts
Trevor Knechtel
Dennis Casio
Hugh Knapp
Second Team:
Colton Clark
Connor Matthews
Trey Taylor
Connor McFadyen
Devon Thomson
Reed Hendrickson
Derek Mourad
Don’t know enough about the rest of theFreshmen to comment, but agree with dyrryc, Sean Bennett seems very deserving
Mark Burton definitely deserves Coach of the Year. He came in as a first year coach, inheriting a team that had lost a ton of top talent, and completely reworked the team atmosphere and mindset. Nobody had high hopes for the Sundodgers going into this year and we finished the regular season as a top 4 team in the nation. He’s incredibly hard working as a coach and extremely supportive in every facet of the word. He has instilled a sense of purpose and belonging into each and every member of this family. Thanks to Mark for everything he has done for us this year and the way he has led by example day in and day out.
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Reno player here. Only had a few games against NW teams this year, but these guys definitely stood out when we played them.
Morgan Higgins: he was WWU’s primary thrower when we played them at SBI. Dude has some huge hucks and is super spirited.
Aaron Peterschmidt: crazy fast and is a real pain in the ass to guard. Good thrower as well.
Trey Taylor: really polished breaks and hucks, super reliable reset.
Thoughts from the BYU sideline:
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COTY. Ryan Van Hook did a nice job with the Gonzaga program this year to get them to regionals–its been fun to watch their growth. Kotzman at WWU has done a great job raising their game. And I think it could go to Jay Janin any year and it’d be the right decision. But Mark Burton did a great job creating a culture and confidence at UW this season in a ‘transition’ year. He’d get my vote.
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All-Region. I don’t think any player in Big Sky should be considered for 1st or 2nd team this year. Just a down year for the section. Couple of talented players at UofU in Giere, Trey Taylor (injured a lot of regular season), Bones etc and a couple of athletic, fundamental players at BYU in Seokhee, Alpeter, and Ricks, but I don’t think anyone cracks the top 14. The talent, as has been discussed, is just too concentrated in Cascadia. Adam Rees is NW POTY. Lohre is #2 pick. Hendrickson was the toughest individual matchup/adjustment for our squad. Duo of Choi/Casio also caught us off guard when we squared up against WWU–they crushed it. Those seem to be consensus, fortunately.
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FOTY. I’ll put a plug in for BYU’s Taylor Barton. He ran our offense as a freshman at center handle, amassed over 500 touches, led in touches & points played, had an almost 95% completion rate, and was second in assists and +/- for the team. All after joining the team in December. We also had 4 other freshman that started and played very significant minutes in Jordan Kerr, Jacob Miller, Brandon Jordan, and Braden Eberhard. IMO its an impressive feat for these freshman to lead BYU to another national’s bid this year and they should be recognized.
Any thoughts on a full top 14? You name 5/6 guys, who are pretty much consensus. Who fills out your other 8 spots?
Other coach of Utah here. We played against every team at regionals this year minus Washington and Gonzaga with the addition of BYU.
COTY
For me it is between two guys.
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Mark Burton for the reasons everyone has said. Plus I think that he devoloped depth better than anyone else this season. Every player on the team had great fundamentals.
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Malcolm Bryson from Victoria. There is something to be said about getting a team ready for the backdoor bracket at regionals. His team was down late in both elimanation games on Sunday and they stayed calm and responded well. Plus their offensive set plays were the best in the region, and they had just enough defensive wrinkles to throw teams off of their game.
A nod to Jay Janin for being the Greg popovich of Ultimate. Every year his offense is one of the top in the country. Their spacing and clearing for the next cut is incredible.
My vote is Bryson.
First team all region
- Adam Rees, UO
- Colton Clark, UO
- Trevor Knectel, Uvic
- Hugh Knapp, UBC
- Dennis Casio, WWU
- Steven Benolah, UW
- Derek Mourad, UW
Second team
- Jeff Letsinger, Utah
- Aaron Petershmidt, OSU
- Trey Taylor, Utah
- Devon Thompson, uvic
- Reed Hendrickson, UW
- Morgan Higgins, WWU
- Seokhee Burningham, BYU