2017 American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) Preseason Team Rankings: Season begins April 1st

Another exciting season of Professional Ultimate Frisbee begins on April 1st, 2017.  The premier frisbee league, American Ultimate Disc League(AUDL) opens this weekend with 24 teams across the United States and Canada.    The Dallas Roughnecks are the reigning champions who beat Seattle Cascades in the 2016 AUDL Championships.

Below is the preseason team rankings for each of the four divisions in the AUDL.  Also includes Asian players currently on the opening day rosters.    The 2016 season saw several Asians have career years.  Mke Lee had a breakout year with the Ottawa Outlaws scoring the 2nd most goals in the league, but is injured in 2017 season with an ACL.  Matt Smith continues to be a prolific goal-scorer for the Atlanta Hustle.   Bryan Nguyen had 47 goals with several of them scored by spectacular diving layouts for the Los Angeles Aviators.  Barrs Lang of the San Francisco Flamethrowers, played mainly on the defensive line and yet still scored 43 goals.  Chuck Cao (San Jose Spiders) and William Vu (Vancouver Riptide) showed they have the ability to be one of the main handlers for their teams.

Some rookies to look for Franklin Li (Madison Radicals) and Danny On (Nashville Nightwatch / USA Jr)

East Division Power Rankings:

Rank	Team	Stars	Asians
1	New York Empire	Ryan Drost, Jeff Babbitt, Josh Alorro, Ben Jagt, Conor Kline, Sean Keegan	Conor Kline, Josh Alorro, Ruozhou Ye, Frank Weng(R)
2	Toronto Rush	Mark Lloyd, Isaiah Masek-Kelly, Jeff Lindquist, Adrian Yearwood, Cam Harris, Benjamin Burelle	Jackie Hau, Jeremy Norden(R), Bretton Tan, Jason Huynh, Jeffrey Woo(R), Shawn Chua, Darren Wu
3	DC Breeze	Markham Shoffner, Alan Kolick, Jeff Wodatch, Delrico Johnson, Rowan McDonald	Ryan Nam
4	Montreal Royal	Antoine Genest, Kevin Quinlan, Felix Daigle	–
5	Philadelphia Phoenix	Nicky Spiva, Marques Brownlee, Matt Esser	Scott Xu, Stephen Ng, (Alex Liu, Eric Lu, Louis Kang)
6	Ottawa Outlaws	Derek Alexander, Mike Lee, Karl Loiseau	Mike Lee (injured-out for season)

Midwest Division Power Rankings:

Rank	Team	Stars	Asians
1	Madison Radicals	Andrew Meshnick, Peter Graffy, Brian Hart, Colin Camp, Pat Shriwise	Franklin Li(R), Victor Luo
2	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	Pat Earles, Max Thorne, Ethan Beardsley, David Vatz, Mark Fedorenko	Josh Tsung(R)
3	Indianapolis Alleycats	Cameron Brock, Keenan Plew, Travis Carpenter, Rick Gross	Sam Sohn
4	Chicago Wildfire	Alex Champe, Alanguilan	Von Alanguilan, Jeff Zhao(R)
5	Minnesota Wind Chill	Brian Schoenrock, Dylan DeClerk, Danny Collom	–
6	Detroit Mechanix	Chen, Nathan Champoux, Dan Donovan	Westley Chen, Andrew Tang, Daniel Lee(R)

West Division Power Rankings:

Rank	Team	Stars	Asians
1	San Francisco Flame Throwers	Beau Kittredge, Cassidy Rasmussen, Greg Cohen, Joel Schlachet, Marcelo Sanchez, Lucas Dallman	Justin Lim, Byron Liu, Antoine Davis, Ryo Kawaoka(Coach)
2	Seattle Cascades	Mark Burton, Donnie Clark, Khalif El-Salaam, Adam Simon, Ben Snell	Will Chen, Henry Phan, Tommy Li
3	Vancouver Riptide	Morgan Hibbert, Gagan Chatha, Wong, Wu, Vu,  Guo, Tsang	Brendan Wong, Edward Guo, Darren Wu, William Vu, Tim Tsang, Gagan Chatha, Brayden Gee, Fred Lam, Peter Yu, Victor Cheng, Kevin Chan, Ted Chu, Samson Hoy, Yi-Min Lin(R)
4	San Diego Growlers	Sean Ham, Steven Milardovich, Travis Dunn, Wu, Kevin Smith, Jeff Silverman	Casey Wu, Michael Tran(R)
5	Los Angeles Aviators	Mark Elbogan, Nguyen, Doi, Eric Lissner, Eli Friedman	Bryan Nguyen, Tom Doi, Allen Lai, Brandon Severson, Michael Kiyoi, Kuo Hsun Wang(R), Franklin Rho(Coach)
6	San Jose Spiders	Kelly Van Arsdale, Cao, Chang, Jackson Sterns	Chuck Cao, Steven Chang, Justin Norden, Drew Kim, Sonny Zacarro

South Division Power Rankings:

Rank	Team	Stars	Asians
1	Dallas Roughnecks	Jimmy Mickle, Kurt Gibson, Dylan Freechild, Kai Marshall, Thomas Slack, Brandon Malecek, Dan Emmons	Ivy Byun (owner), Young Byun (owner)
2	Raleigh Flyers	Jonathan Helton, Justin Allen, Jonathan Nethercutt, Micah Hood, Terrence Mitchell, Brett Matzuka	Mark Lin
3	Austin Sol	Jeff Loskorn, Chase Cunningham, Ethan Pollack, Ryan Purcell, Caleb Denecour, Jerrod Wolfe	Judith Teng (Coach)
4	Jacksonville Cannons	Brodie Smith, Mischa Freystaetter, Cole Sullivan, Jakeem Polk, Chris Laroque, Steven Poulos	–
5	Atlanta Hustle	Smith, Dylan Tunnell, Paul Lally, Nathan Vickroy	Matt Smith, Anders Olsen, Christian Olsen, Sun Choi, Allan Laviolette Park
6	Nashville Nightwatch	Jesse Shofner(F), Tom Radcliffe, Blake Waldron	Danny On(R), Jason Chow (Assistant coach)