Paintball Media Magazine November 2024 | Page 46

drop the player in the 50 brick and then move over top of the snake wedge for a close-range , double-spear on a trade out that out land him on his rear end , Xtreme would take a second loss that placed their position in the Pro Division for 2025 in jeopardy .
And , despite their gold medals in Chicago , the Hurricanes have been plagued by injuries at the tail end of the season , and struggled on Thursday . In their first match against the Brooklyn Bears , the ‘ Canes had survivability issues off of break and committed several penalties which led to a 6-1 loss that was mere seconds away from a mercy . They would then face off against Ronholdt Dynamite and were barely able to capitalize on what should have been an easy matchup . Nick Ripple would put together a three-pack in the final point to stave off a surging comeback by Dynamite , giving the Hurricanes a narrow 5-3 win . The close margin made the possibility for a Sunday showing unlikely .
Speaking of Dynamite , they were among several international teams that would join the field of Pro Division at ‘ Cup . The Norwegian Dynamite was joined by the South American Series champions Spider Fusion from Brazil , and two historic teams from France , the Toulouse TonTons and Paris Scalp as international representatives . Although expectations were not high for these teams , they lived up to the Pro Division standard , gaining experience with each and every match and surprising the North American teams on several occasions .
The TonTons have performed well this season , even if their record has not reflected it . Despite giving up all of their majors to cross-town rivals Scalp who have been on a hot run in the European series , they have been a formidable squad with a long history of success on the international level - including a legendary matchup against Dynasty just last season here at World Cup . They would give both Seattle Uprising and Baltimore Revo a run for their money on Thursday , and they were set for a rematch against Dynasty on Friday .
Four teams in particular came out of Thursday still very much hanging in the fight : Ironmen , Uprising , Austin Notorious , and the ML Kings .
The Ironmen demonstrated their experience to start the weekend . With Tom Guest holding down the fort and consistently owning the center of the field , the Ironmen put together a solid 4-3 over Infamous , and dominant 5-1 mop up on NYX situating themselves in a good position headed into Friday .
Uprising made a statement to the league with a hot start on Thursday . They exerted complete dominance over the French squad , taking a 3-1 lead in under 10 minutes . In the fifth point of the match , Uprising lost two bodies off break and would find themselves on the painful end of a deadlocked five-on-three . But they showed tremendous discipline and
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