Portland AUDL Team To Be Named the Swifts [CORRECTED]

[CORRECTION, 1:25PM: The group of players from Portland - organized by the women's club team Schwa - named the team competing against Cascades mixed squad. The Swifts have no affiliation with the to-be-named Portland AUDL franchise. Capitol Hill Seattle, who published the original article, has been asked to correct their online article.

The Portland mixed team ("Swifts") will be competing against the Seattle Cascades mixed roster on July 21 @ 6PM PT in a friendly]

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The Capitol Hill Seattle Blog broke news about the new AUDL team in Portland. The former Vancouver Riptide franchise will be known as the Swifts. The Portland Swifts are planned to play in the AUDL West Division during the 2019 season.

Swifts are birds, that look like:

No formal announcement has yet been made by the Portland, Oregon team's ownership or the league.

AUDL Errs League Map with Portland Location

The American Ultimate Disc League updated its "The League" map and attempted to conflate its past 2017 season with 2018 updates.

• Jacksonville Cannons (2017) have become Tampa Bay Cannons (2018)
• The Nashville logo is circa 2017 instead of the updated 2018 NightWatch shield logo
• The 2017 Championship Weekend is plotted in Montreal, while we know the 2018 AUDL postseason tournament will be hosted in Madison
• Portland - formerly the Vancouver Riptide franchise - is incorrectly shown in Washington state

With the loss of Vancouver Riptide (and addition of Portland), the AUDL became more "American" Ultimate Disc League.

Riptide (AUDL) Ripped Away from Vancouver

Jim Lloyd, Managing Partner of L2 Sports Management, posted an announcement regarding the status of the Vancouver Riptide.

In summary: the Vancouver Riptide will cease operations on December 31, 2017 and will not play in the 2018 AUDL season. The franchise is planning to transfer to "Rip City" (Portland, Oregon) with plans to restart play in the 2019 AUDL season.

In four American Ultimate Disc League seasons, Vancouver Riptide posted 19 wins and 37 losses. In Vancouver's most recent season (2017), the Riptide went 1-13 in the West Division; their only win was a 1-goal victory in OT win at home versus San Diego Growlers.

L2 Sports Management also owns two other AUDL franchises - the Toronto Rush and Ottawa Outlaws.

Of note, there was an American Basketball Association team named the Oregon Riptide, which was based in Portland, yet never played a game in the ABA.

Team Canada (Men) for WUGC 2016

Team Canada's men's ultimate team have won 3 of the last 5 World Ultimate Championships. Team Canada has put together another strong squad for this year's WUGC in London.

27 of the 28 selected players on Team Canada's men's WUGC team are on a 2016 AUDL roster.

17 of the 28 (60.7%) players are currently rostered on the Toronto Rush.

3 of the 4 Canadian AUDL teams are represented on the Team Canada roster. (No Montreal Royal players)

20 of the 27 Team Canada's AUDL players play in the AUDL East Division.


#of players on AUDL Team on TEAM CANADA
Toronto Rush = 17 (60.7%)
Vancouver Riptide = 7 (25%)
Ottawa Outlaws = 3 (10.7%)
Dave Hochhalter, not on 2016 AUDL roster = 1

Toronto does not have any AUDL games scheduled for the next 2 weeks. Also, Scott Hastie is coach of Team Canada, as well as head coach of Toronto Rush.

[Leaf design via; roster data via]

Vancouver Riptide Mascot Washes Ashore

Vancouver Riptide recently teased the unveiling of a team mascot. Known as "Dude," the blue haired, yellow bodied character in full Riptide uniform is very smiley. So far, Dude is good luck to the home team as Riptide won their AUDL home opener 34-23 over Seattle Cascades.

Vancouver Riptide "Dude" [photo by Jeff Bell]

No word on whether or not Dude is related to Marge Simpson.