Last year at the Deep Freeze Youth Ultimate Tournament, the members of the Grady Ultimate Gauntlet got their knuckles busted—freezing in the spotlight and losing all but one of the team’s games. This year, the team thinks it has a shot not just to improve upon its showing but also to continue its hot streak and win the whole Deep Freeze tournament.

The team’s confidence is not unfounded. The Gauntlet didn’t just beat the Blackman Blaze, a team that beat the Gauntlet last year, it smothered it, winning 15-1. This past fall at the Blackman Fall Warm-up, the Gauntlet swept the competition the first day, surrendering only one point over three games. The second day, it won two straight games until falling in the championship.

If the team is to win, it will have to do so with a shorthanded squad. With a national qualifier tournament for the debate team and the district competition for the mock trial team falling on the same weekend as the Freeze, only one captain, senior Sebastian DiFrancesco, will be there both days. Senior captain Riley Erickson will miss the first day, and two senior captains, Michael Dillard and Josh Weinstock, will miss the second day.

The team’s performance at the tournament will largely affect whether it will be invited to national tournaments later in the season. The girls team will also participate in the tournament. Last year, only five players competed, joining with other schools for a mixed team.