A few days before Kicking Cancer’s Butt 6, Killer Bees captain Zac De Vogue predicted that Nonconfirmists would win the recreational section, and WherestheD would claim the competitive crown. He came as close as he possible with his prediction as Nonconfirmists did indeed win the recreational section and WherestheD went into the competitive final as probable favourites, only to lose to Zac’s own Killer Bees teams.
Of course the most significant result of the whole tournament was the $12,056 raised for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, which brings the total raised in the six years of the tournament to over $60,000.
There was a slightly different feel to the on field action with a new venue and 6 fields playing at the same time. Carleton University proved to be a great venue after 5 fantastic years at Louis Riel, and it stayed dry all day which was a huge plus for the first time the tournament had been played outdoors. The most significant change to on-field structure was the separation of the tournament into a competitive tournament and a recreational tournament.
The Nonconformists tournament bid had teetered on the brink of disaster on a few occasions, starting before a ball had even been kicked. Goalie Mickey Yu was injured during warm ups and lost for the tournament. However, they manged to steer their way through the sections and were literally seconds away from elimination in the quarter-final against Mucho Enfermo before a penalty in the last few sections brought them level and allowed them to win on spot kicks. Victory over We’re Gonna Pop Some Bribes . . . in the semi-final set up a competitive final matchup with the Monterey FC who had overcome Black Mambas and Grass Kickers on the way to final. Despite players dropping with cramp, Nonconformists ran out 3-1 victors and captain Augustine Kwok lifted the first KCB recreational trophy.
The competitive section was marked by some great games right from kick-off with a few surprise names qualifying from or going out of the tournament at the group stages. Defending champions the The Shockers were unseated in the cruelest manner, losing on sudden death penalties to the Flying Dutchmen in the quarter finals. WherestheD had made it to the final on the back of back-to-back 2-1 victories over Dragonball Z and T Rex Flies Again. Killer Bees had started the knockout with a thumping victory over last year’s finalists, Ottawa Wanderers and they edged through a much closer game against the Flying Dutchmen. With confidence high, the Killer Bees were able to over come WherestheD by a 2-0 scoreline and finally bring home the Kicking Cancer’s Butt Trophy.
Despite playing a gruelling 90 minutes in the Fury’s last gasp victory over Indy Eleven, Ottawa Fury forward (and Footy Sevens referee) Carl Haworth had hotfooted it over from TD Place in time to referee the KCB6 final and present the trophies. It was smiles all round as Carl presented Zac with the trophy and both winning teams posed happily for a joint photo, bringing down the curtain on another Kicking Cancer’s Butt tournament.
The full gallery of photos from Saturday can be found on the Footy Sevens Website.