The Best Ultimate Dodgeball Championship Teams — Ranked
By Tyler Greer and Edited by Dan Levine
The road to Skyzone’s Ultimate Dodgeball Championship (UDC) starts this upcoming weekend and will conclude in Chicago, Illinois with the victorious team receiving a $20,000 check.
Twenty-seven teams will win bids from qualifying regional events to compete in the championship event on August 2nd–5th. Of those teams, three will hail from Canadian Skyzone’s, one from Australia, one from the United Kingdom, and the remaining 22 from Skyzone’s in United States.
This year will also feature the first Women’s Division. It is invitation-based and will have eight teams competing for first place with a grand prize of $10,000.
The UDC boasts dodgeball’s greatest monetary prize by far, with the top eight open teams receiving a total of $50,000 and $15,000 for the women’s division. No dodgeball tournament offers a prize package anywhere close, which certainly brings out the best and most talented players throughout the United States and beyond.
Here at The Dodgeball Tribune, we thought it fitting to rank the best teams to compete in the first six years of this tournament’s existence. While we acknowledge that some teams may be left out, there is no doubt that these eight teams are and were the best of the best in this tournament.
Our two prerequisites for eligibility:
- Teams must have finished in the Top 8 at least three of the six UDC tournaments
OR
- Teams must have finished in the Top 8 two of the six years and finished as either champion or runner-up at least one of those years
Honorable mentions
The following teams narrowly missed the Top 8 but could very easily make this list next year :
- Grand Rapids Dynasty (Two third-place finishes)
- Rise of Brutality (Two fifth-place finishes)
- Team Black (Two fifth-place finishes)
- Kill the Comp (One third-place finish)
- Tune Squad (One third-place finish)
8. 4V/Dave’s Ducks (Georgia based team)
4V (Or most commonly known as Dave’s Ducks) has now finished tied for fifth in three consecutive years. Led by a core of Tevin Holliday, Dave Matton and Dre Killgore that has mainly stayed intact through four years of competing in the UDC, they have consistently boasted a very strong team. They’re always a threat as they frequently practice with the next team ranked on this list.
Some of their most notable games came in 2016 when they knocked off a German Meat team led by Andrew Ketchum and Casey Moses and also took (then three-time champion) Doom to a winner-take-all overtime game three thriller in the Top 8. A last notable win came against an up-and-coming TC Boosh (that finished runner-up this past year) in 2015 that kept them out of the Top 8.
7. Brick Squad/Ray Lewis (Georgia based team)
Brick Squad has been a mainstay in the UDC since its inception. They have finished in the Top 8 four of the six years, losing prior to the Top 8 to eventual second-place finishers Team Awesome (in 2014) and Shootas (in 2016) in the remaining two years. Of the four years they made the Top 8, they finished seventh once and tied for fifth place three times.
Shawn Wheeler, one of the smartest players in all of dodgeball, has has been able to get the most out of this squad and made them a consistent threat for any team. Notable wins include an undefeated round robin in 2016 that included wins over Doom, Team Awesome, and Kill the Comp. They knocked off a feisty Task Force in 2017 to finish in the Top 8. Finally their biggest win coming against The Red North in 2015. The Red North re-named from the Canuckateers since they were missing notable players in Jeff Snow, Eric Cerrudo and Michael Lasiuk. More about them further on.
6. TC Boosh (Minnesota based team)
This is the only team in our rankings for which we needed to make an exception. They earned their spot ahead of the teams above (and the honorable mentions) based on the “what have you done for me lately” question. What TC Boosh did this past year was finish second only to Doom.
While they haven’t finished in the Top 8 three of the six years like the other seven teams on this list, they have only competed in the UDC for four years and have made tremendous strides every time. In 2015 they would have finished in the Top 8, except they lost a tough one against Dave’s Ducks. In 2016, they finished tied for 5th after a heart-breaking loss to Shootas, who ended up as the runner-up.
Their team, led by captain Eric Stone, has had the same solid core all four years, including Alexander Hemann, Charlie Struzyk and Cody Foley. Their notable UDC wins included 2016 victories over Rise of Brutality (for seeding) and Grand Rapids Dynasty (eliminating them from the Top 8). En route to their 2017 second place finish against Doom, they beat Crysis and Tune Squad. If they win their qualifier, they’re sure to be a top team again this year.
5. Canuckateers/The Red North (Canada based team)
For three consecutive years, the Canuckateers were the favorite to challenge Doom for the title. They faced off against Doom in the UDC finals the first two years (2012 and 2013), coming up just short. In 2014, they lost a very close match to Team Awesome in the semi-finals. They decided to call it quits in 2015 when they couldn’t (or didn’t) field their normal roster, including Team Canada players Jeff Snow, Jonah Koplowitz, Eric Cerrudo and Michael Lasiuk. Among other talents, these players had some of the best hands in the tournament and were huge contributors. The remaining players Jason Mergler and former Team Canada Captain Dave Kutner returned as The Red North but only in 2015.
It’s been a little sad to see this extraordinary team not compete in the tournament these last two years, since their chemistry and talent was some of the best this tournament had to offer. What’s even more astonishing is that their success came with a no-sting ball and not the foam balls they are accustomed to back home.
A few of their notable wins: Beating a young Brick Squad (played as “Ray Lewis”) in the 2012 quarterfinals and defeating (an also young) Team Dynasty in the 2013 semifinals.
Had it not been for Doom, this team could have very well claimed the first two championships of the Ultimate Dodgeball Championship.
4. Crysis/Team Ham (Sacramento, California based team)
Crysis and Doom are the only teams on this list to have finished in the Top 8 five out of the six years of UDC. If not for some poor organization decisions in 2013, Crysis might be the only team to finish in the Top 8 every year. Regardless, this team has shown much determination and consistency, despite a decent amount of roster changes, with a main core of Phil Middleton and Ryan Morris.
Their first year, in 2012, they played as HAM and finished fifth after losing to Doom. In 2015 and 2016 they finished their highest, tying for third both years.
Some of their big wins were knocking out Team Black in the quarter-finals in 2016 and eliminating Brick Squad in the quarter-finals of 2015.
With their solid core including the highly talented Brody Johnson and Tad Delugo, they know they have a great shot of finishing in the Top 8 once again.
3. Shootas (Boston, Massachusetts based team)
Bursting on to the scene in 2015, there has been no better Cinderella story in the UDC than Shootas, the only team in Ultimate Dodgeball history to eliminate Doom. That in and of itself was an incredible feat, but that same year they also had a comeback win versus an Andrew Ketchum-led German Meat in the quarterfinals and promptly beat Crysis in the semi-finals only to lose a heart breaker in the championship against Team Awesome.
The following year, lacking the element of surprise, all they did was make it straight back to the championship match, sending TC Boosh and Kill the Comp home. They even went up two games to none in a best-of-five championship match against Doom. Doom got their revenge, however, and won three consecutive games to finish as the 2016 UDC Champions.
The potential for change seemed almost unavoidable in 2017, with power arm Andrew Ketchum joining the team, but they ultimately fell to Doom once again in the semi-finals (although they beat a pesky Brick Squad in the quarterfinals to get there). This team will be returning for the 2018 UDC with a slightly different roster and it will be interesting to see how they do without Mike McGee and Brandon Kelley.
2. Team Awesome/BAMF (Pennsylvania and now Florida based team)
This team right here is the only team besides Doom to win an Ultimate Dodgeball Championship. While the let down might be that Team Awesome never beat Doom to win the title, they couldn’t control who they faced, they just beat whoever was in front of them. They also put an end to the Shootas epic Cinderella run, leaving them just short of the title. This championship, coming in 2015, also capped off a four-year run for them where they had gotten better almost every year. Just the year before they were runner-up, losing to Doom in the championship. Maybe the only slight to this team is that since winning their title, they have not returned to the Top 8.
Led by the Giovinco brothers Matt and Drew, this team, which started as BAMF the very first year, has maintained a steady core for all six years. Their first four years resulted in a third place, tied for fifth (with only Mike Caterino on the team in 2013), second place in 2014 and first in 2015. These last two years have been a much tougher route to the Top 8 and they have fallen short both years.
This team has much to be proud of from their 2017 showing, however. Although they didn’t finish in the Top 8, they gave eventual champion Doom their toughest test all tournament, resulting in a game five overtime heartbreaker as “Little Gio” Jeff Giovinco was edged out by Nate Kreiter. They are chomping at the bit to get back in the Top 8 and for another chance at Doom.
1. Doom (Los Angeles, California based team)
There can not be any doubt to Doom being the best UDC team, ever, since the inception of the Ultimate Dodgeball Championship. In the six years of UDC, they have won five titles, translating to a total winnings of $105,000. In those five years, they have beat the Canuckateers twice and Team Awesome, Shootas and TC Boosh once to claim each title.
While Nate Kreiter, Justin Payan, and Vince Marchbanks get much of the spotlight, Kol Harrell and Ish Blanco have proven that it takes all five players to win; these two have added many clutch plays throughout Doom’s run.
There’s no question, however, that the key to their succes is the lethal force of what we call their three-headed dragon: Payan, Kreiter and Marchbanks. Each one of these players has earned tournament MVP in the UDC. Their chemistry, strategy and cohesiveness as a unit has yet to truly be defeated, except for one small blemish from Shootas in 2015.
It’s also worth noting that their exceptional track record was accumulated in one of the only dodgeball tournaments in the country that has single elimination and a qualifying process that leaves no room for error.
The UDC has seen this all too often, where upsets are commonplace. Doom has stood the test of time, or so it seems. While the pressure and the spotlight has been its brightest, this team figures out ways to win. Even as the years have gone on in the UDC and the teams have gotten much better, Doom still reigns supreme.
This 2018 Ultimate Dodgeball Championship stands to be the best yet, and we can assume that Doom will look to add on to their already legendary legacy.
