Recent History and Roster Turnover
From 1997 to 2008, Sub Zero qualified for nationals every single year. During this reign they had the record for most consecutive national qualifications. The last two years, however, have seen the snowmen fall from grace, finishing fourth in the central region and one spot away from a nationals berth, both times to Columbus’ Madcow. Their roster turnover has been unprecedentedly high, having only five players still on the team from their last visit to Sarasota. This year, Zero will move on without some big time players including Shane Hohenstein, Patrick Corneille and a large CUT contingency of Grant Lindsley, Simon Montague and Julian Childs-Walker. Zero has had to face the hard prospect of rebuilding, twice. Even with all of this turmoil, Zero looks as dangerous as ever.
The “Zebros” (as they like to call themselves) are captained by veteran players Dan Miller, Dan McAdam, Mark Schmelze and Kyle Gill. This will be the first time in three years that Zero will return most of its roster, having 16 players coming back. With a high number of returners, they were able to shore up the rest of their roster with some big pickups, including NexGen stud Eric Johnson and former Flycoon captain James Kennedy. Zero was also able to lure former players Kyle Gill and Benjamin “Naz” Nalezny from mixed exile. Zero has added a handful of college players from the University of Minnesota, Carleton, and Luther as well.
Strategy, Leadership, and Philosophy
Dan McAdam, a fourth year player and first time captain, knows that Sub Zero has lost the luster it once had as a perennial Nationals contender. This year the team is setting its sights on building a strong foundation. “We want to rebuild Zero into a program with less turnover than we’ve had in years past, and that involves teaching the young guys so they’re excited to be a part of the team in the future,” said McAdam.
“We’ve been trying to focus the team on the process of building a team, not the immediate results. As much as we all hate to lose, if we lose and get better by playing a deep rotation, that is preferable to winning early season games by playing our top 12 guys all game,” said McAdam.
“We are using a lot of different offensive sets and experimenting with several shapes to see how they go. We’re also doing some different things on defense so that we’ve got some variety, which is something we haven’t emphasized in the past. We also focused our tournament schedule on a closer proximity, no flying tourneys other than Colorado, to give us better numbers and more of a chance to build against our Reigonal competition than we have in the past few years, as we’ve struggled at Regionals the last two years and wanted to be as prepared as possible.”
2011 Goals:
“Our goals are sequential. We have our sights set first on winning the section, and once Sectionals is over we’ll reassess a new goal for Regionals and again for Nationals. We don’t want to just say, oh yeah we want to make Nationals and have no road map for how to get there, and just the same we don’t want to make Nationals and then not have any sort of goal for how we do when we get there. So ultimately yes, we’re aiming to make Nationals and have a competitive tournament; however we haven’t set what that specific end goal will be, whether it will be to make power pools, quarters, etc.”
Spring Results and Regular Season Schedule
Frosty’s first tournament was MUDI in Minneapolis, a tournament they have dominated over the last six years or so, but lost in the finals to Minneapolis rivals Climax. Their next tournament was Colorado Cup, where they went 2-4, beating Renegade and central rival Madison Club, but losing their next four games to Doublewide, Furious, Johnny Bravo and Boost Mobile. Before the series, they will also be participating in Cooler Classic and Chicago Heavyweights. Zero also dropped a game to NexGen, 15-5.
2011 Outlook
Even though their early results are less than stellar, Zero still has to be considered a formidable team. There is no question that they are a more athletic team than in years past. After a two year absence this team is hungrier than ever and the captains have a giant chip on their shoulders. Winning at Regionals will be no easy task, though, as they will have to go against regional rivals (excluding Machine) whom they have not fared well against in the recent past:
Since 2009:
Madison Club: 2-7
Madcow: 1-4
Machine: 3-0
McAdam has been a part of Zero’s fall from national scene, and knows that Zero’s reputation has taken a hit. “I don’t think anyone is afraid of Sub Zero anymore, and we realize we have to work that much harder to overcome that,” said McAdam.
“Bottom line, I think we’re finally back to being underdogs, and you should never overlook a team that is as hungry as we are at this point,” said McAdam.
Follow the Sub Club at www.subzeroultimate.com, on Twitter (@subzeroultimate) and on Facebook.
**Fun Fact: The two snowmen on Sub Zero’s logo are named Steve and Gary.
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