The 2021 club season is in the books.
November 3, 2021 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments
Each week, we’ll post an updated edition of our Power Rankings here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and help us share each week’s rankings via social media. The most up-to-date version can always be found on our permanent rankings page.
Our 2021 Club Power Rankings are presented by ARIA Discs, who believes ultimate is more than a sport — it’s a community. You can join ARIA to change the world through ultimate.
Here we are, the final Club Power Rankings of 2021. After a season unlike any other, the Club Championships felt almost back to normal, giving us a better picture of how teams stacked up.
Club Women's Power Rankings:
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco Fury | - | 1 |
| 2 | Boston Brute Squad | +1 | 3 |
| 3 | Raleigh Phoenix | +1 | 4 |
| 4 | Denver Molly Brown | -2 | 2 |
| 5 | Vancouver Traffic | - | 5 |
| 6 | Seattle Riot | - | 6 |
| 7 | Chicago Nemesis | +1 | 8 |
| 8 | San Francisco Nightlock | +7 | 15 |
| 9 | Portland Schwa | -2 | 7 |
| 10 | Florida Tabby Rosa | +11 | 21 |
| 11 | Pittsburgh Parcha | - | 11 |
| 12 | Washington DC Grit | - | 12 |
| 13 | Minneapolis Pop | +4 | 17 |
| 14 | Columbus Rival | -5 | 9 |
| 15 | New York BENT | -5 | 10 |
| 16 | Boston Siege | -3 | 13 |
| 17 | San Diego Wildfire | -3 | 14 |
| 18 | Oakland LOL | -2 | 16 |
| 19 | Seattle Underground | -1 | 18 |
| 20 | Denver Small Batch | -1 | 19 |
| 21 | Virginia Rebellion | -1 | 20 |
| 22 | Albany Rebel Rebel | - | 22 |
| 23 | St. Louis Stellar | - | 23 |
| 24 | Houston Crush City | - | 24 |
| 25 | Philadelphia Flight | - | 25 |
Women’s Discussion
- While San Francisco Fury held strong to their #1 spot through Nationals and the top four confirmed their status as the class of the division, the national semifinals arranged #2-4, seeing Denver Molly Brown slip behind both Boston Brute Squad and Raleigh Phoenix.
- The two biggest climbers thanks to their performances at Nationals were Florida Tabby Rosa and San Francisco Nightlock. The team from Gainesville proved to be far more than just a Southeast regional challenger, earning their way into the national quarterfinals with Nationals wins over Riot, Wildfire, and Siege and finishing the year inside our Top 10 for the first time ever. Meanwhile, Nightlock’s return to the Top 10 restores them to their more familiar end-of-season place on our board, after a quiet season that previously saw them languishing further down the rankings. Minneapolis Pop also enjoy a nice end-of-season bump, up four spots to finish at #13.
- Aside from powerhouse Brute Squad, the Northeast looked a little behind the pace, with two teams combining for just a single pool play victory and finishing in the tournament’s bottom three. New York BENT and Boston Siege slide five and three spots respectively. Columbus Rival, whose only win before consolation was over the winless BENT, also drop five spots to finish at #14.
Club Mixed Power Rankings:
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle BFG | - | 1 |
| 2 | Seattle Mixtape | - | 2 |
| 3 | Ann Arbor Hybrid | +4 | 7 |
| 4 | Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust | +2 | 6 |
| 5 | Philadelphia AMP | -1 | 4 |
| 6 | Madison NOISE | +13 | 19 |
| 7 | Boston Slow | +1 | 8 |
| 8 | Boston Sprocket | +1 | 9 |
| 9 | Fort Collins shame. | -6 | 3 |
| 10 | Denver Love Tractor | +12 | 22 |
| 11 | Arizona Lawless | -1 | 10 |
| 12 | Washington DC Space Heater | -7 | 5 |
| 13 | Boise Lochsa | +4 | 17 |
| 14 | Nashville ‘Shine | -3 | 11 |
| 15 | Durham Toro | -3 | 12 |
| 16 | Columbus Cocktails | -3 | 13 |
| 17 | Cleveland Crocs | -3 | 14 |
| 18 | Dallas Public Enemy | +5 | 23 |
| 19 | San Francisco Polar Bears | -4 | 15 |
| 20 | Chicago U54 Ultimate | -4 | 16 |
| 21 | Seattle Sorta | -3 | 18 |
| 22 | Montana MOONDOG | -1 | 21 |
| 23 | Los Angeles Lotus | +1 | 24 |
| 24 | New York XIST | -4 | 20 |
| 25 | Washington DC Rally | - | 25 |
Mixed Discussion
- The success of BFG and Mixtape in San Diego allowed the Seattle rivals to maintain their perch atop our board and means the Emerald City finishes the year with the top two teams in the mixed division for 2021, though not a single other team in the Top 24 stayed put through the season’s final weekend.
- #3 Ann Arbor Hybrid, #4 Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust, and #5 Philadelphia AMP were stuck in the same pool at Nationals, finishing in a three-way tie. You could reasonably argue this trio in any order, but the Michigan team lands on top with their run to the final and finishing the season with more wins and fewer losses than either of their Pool D counterparts.
- Surprise semifinalists Madison NOISE and top eight finisher Denver Love Tractor each rose at least a dozen spots this week, both finishing inside our Top 10 after relatively so-so regular seasons.
- Pre-tournament favorites Fort Collins shame. and Washington DC Space Heater go the other direction, slipping to #9 and #12 respectively after very disappointing showings in Southern California, with neither even earning a place in the quarterfinals.
Club Men's Power Rankings:
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raleigh Ring of Fire | +2 | 3 |
| 2 | New York PoNY | +7 | 9 |
| 3 | Seattle Sockeye | -2 | 1 |
| 4 | Portland Rhino Slam! | +2 | 6 |
| 5 | Washington DC Truck Stop | - | 5 |
| 6 | Chicago Machine | -4 | 2 |
| 7 | San Francisco Revolver | - | 7 |
| 8 | Atlanta Chain Lightning | -4 | 4 |
| 9 | Denver Johnny Bravo | +1 | 10 |
| 10 | Boston Dig | +4 | 14 |
| 11 | SoCal Condors | - | 11 |
| 12 | Pittsburgh Temper | - | 12 |
| 13 | Utah Killjoys | +3 | 16 |
| 14 | Minneapolis Sub Zero | -6 | 8 |
| 15 | Boulder Lotus | -2 | 13 |
| 16 | Austin Doublewide | -1 | 15 |
| 17 | Amherst Sprout | - | 17 |
| 18 | Virginia Vault | - | 18 |
| 19 | Madison Mad Men | - | 19 |
| 20 | Tennessee Tanasi | - | 20 |
| 21 | Philadelphia Phantom | - | 21 |
| 22 | Raleigh-Durham United | - | 22 |
| 23 | Seattle Emerald City | - | 23 |
| 24 | New Jersey Garden State Ultimate | - | 24 |
| 25 | Raleigh Expendables | - | 25 |
Men’s Discussion
- For the first time ever, Raleigh Ring of Fire reach the pinnacle. Along with claiming their first national title, Ring become just the fifth team ever to occupy the #1 spot in our Club Men’s Power Rankings1 and rob Seattle Sockeye of the opportunity to go wire-to-wire in that spot. Following closely behind are New York PoNY, who jump seven spots thanks to a late-season surge that showed they are still a force to be reckoned with.
- After failing to put up much of a fight against the two finalists in the quarters, former Top 5 squads Chicago Machine and Atlanta Chain Lightning each fall four places and find themselves at their lowest ranking all season.
- Boston DiG lost their first two games on Thursday at Surf Cup Sports Park, but didn’t lose again en route to a seventh-place finish and a bump into our year-end Top 10.
- The biggest drop came from Minneapolis Sub Zero, who won just a single game in San Diego despite their overall no.4 seed. They slide down behind The Killjoys, who become the first team from Utah to ever crack our Top 15.
Started in 2013. ↩
