Club Camo Rugby Sousmarin hosted the past weekend May 21-22 2016, the 13th Edition of the North American Underwater Rugby Tournament that also served as the second of a total of three rounds for the North American UW Rugby League 2016.
Six teams participated on this round of the League which was especial for the very even level of play for most of the teams, closed and exciting games, as well as a new champion club for this round after a five in a row wins by the New Jersey Hammerheads.
Camo and Toronto UWR were the clubs representating Canada. On the U S side the NJ Hammerheads, Boston UWR and NUWR participated along with the orphans team (mixed team) with players from different clubs.
The tournament started with an exciting match between the finalists from the previous NA tournament played in Florida earlier this year. The New Jersey Hammerheads played against the NUWR team, both clubs from Newark NJ. The known rivals ended in a very close game with a victory for NUWR by 2-1.
CAMO had a full team and as the host it was one of the the favorite teams to win this tournament. Camo ended the round robin with 5 victories, two of them on closed games against NUWR (2-1) and the NJ Hammerheads (3-2)
NUWR classified to the final game with 4 victories out of 5 round robin games. NUWR got victories over the Orphans team which had a lot of new players and a few experienced players and another victory on a closed game over Boston (2-1) and the NJ Hammerheads.
Boston had a full team and got the third place on the round robin with 3 victories and 2 defeats, qualifying for the 3rd place Game against the NJ Hammerheads that only got two victories.
In this edition a special mention to the Toronto team that showed a big improvement in their game level despite their loses and final 5th place.
FINALS
The game for the bronze was played between Boston UWR and the NJ hammerheads. The Hammerheads with a couple of players down and a few new players did a great effort but lost against Boston by 4-0 which ha d a full and very strong team.
CAMO and NUWR played the final game of the tournament. The final was a very exciting and close game with break away’s, and dangerous plays on both goals. With a couple of minutes left NUWR caused a mistake on CAMO’s defense, and the NJ team scored on an empty basket. NUWR continued attacking and got a penalty shot awarded but CAMO’s goalie saved the penalty shot. At the end the victory by 1-0 gave the team from Newark, NJ their first NA tournament championship.
Full tournament Results here
Final positions: 1st NUWR, 2nd CAMO, 3rd. Boston, 4th NJ Hammerheads, 5th Toronto, 6th Orphans.
The top scorer team award was for club CAMO with 32 goals on 6 games
Best team defense award was for Club CAMO with only 6 goals against on 6 games
Top scorer player award was for CAMO’s Cesar Florez with 11 goals. Second place for Edwin Alzate (NUWR) and Rolexi Pinzon (NJ Hammeheads) with 7 goals each and third place for Felipe Rodriguez (NUWR), Marco Cardona (CAMO) and Mike Picot (Boston) with 6 goals.
The 14th North American UWR Tournament is scheduled for August 20-21 in Toronto, ON. This tournament will be the 3rd and last round for the North American League UWR 2016.
Especial thanks to Timmy Burke, Philip Mundt and Cesar Florez for organizing the referee’s clinic and having for this tournament the top level referees Kajsa Lindman and Manuel Tito de Morais (CMAS referees).
US and Canadian clubs want to thank Kajsa and Manuel for their very important participation and guidance. Without a doubt the referee clinic and the experience of seeing and being referees along high level referees will make our sport better and better every day.
USA Underwater Rugby - NAL LEAGUE 