Winter Crokinole Updates

With the Winter season coming to a close, the crokinole season is heating up to its dramatic climax. So to get you ready for the wild flurry of crokinole that is sure to come, let’s update the crokinole scene.

The NCA Tour only has two Ontario tournaments remaining, and the BC Provincial Championships. So here is a look at the top 25 ranked players on the NCA Tour thus far in the 2012-2013 season.

Rank	First Name	Last Name	Events	Points
1	Jon	Conrad	6	202
2	Brian	Cook	4	200
3	Fred	Slater	6	192
4	Ray	Beierling	5	190
5	Jason	Beierling	4	186
6	Louis	Gauthier	6	174
7	Eric	Miltenburg	6	165
8	Matt	Brown	5	160
9	Howard	Martin	4	150
10	Nathan	Walsh	4	149
11	David	Brown	5	148
11	Clare	Kuepfer	6	148
13	Roy	Campbell	4	143
14	Chris	Gorsline	4	136
15	Peter	Tarle	5	131
16	Justin	Slater	2	104
17	Kent	Robinson	3	100
18	Reg	Chisholm	3	97
19	Ron	Haymes	2	96
20	Rex	Johnston	2	88
21	Len	Chard	3	87
22	Tom	Johnston	2	83
23	Rob Jr.	Mader	2	83
24	John	Harvey	2	83
25	Tony	Snyder	2	82

Since Jon Conrad’s magnificent start to the season, he has been able to hold the lead. The maximum amount of points any other player can achieve is 205, and Jon Conrad’s lowest scoring tournament this season has given him 45 points. So at 202 points, Conrad can secure the NCA title by either winning the London tournament, or by finishing in the top 3 in St. Jacob’s for the NCA finale. For Brian Cook, he can win his 3rd straight NCA title only if Conrad does not accomplish any of the aforementioned tasks, and he wins the tournament in St. Jacob’s. In fact, if Conrad finishes 4th in St. Jacob’s, and Brian Cook wins in St. Jacob’s, the two will tie for the NCA title.

Fred Slater also has an opportunity to win the NCA title. Currently sitting at 192 points, he can earn up to a maximum of 207 points, and if the opportunity is there, Slater can take the title with one win and one high finish in two of the remaining tournaments. If he can make his way out to BC and performs well, he’ll be even better off heading into the NCA Finale.

With an outside chance of winning the NCA Tour is Ray Beierling. He has 190 points and can earn a maximum of 203. He’ll have to win the London tournament (which he has done 3 of 4 times) and then win in St. Jacob’s while preventing the three players in front of him from earning anymore points. Long odds, but at least he still has a chance.

CrokinoleCentre Rankings

After the Hamilton tournament I took to trying to perfect the ranking system. Before there had been some obvious errors in how the points were tracked. The worst errors were that some top players had been completely off the list. But now the list is much more complete and definitely contains less errors. Here are the top 50 CrokinoleCentre rankings:

Rank	Name	Points
1	Brian Cook	305.5
2	Jon Conrad	298
3	Fred Slater	295
4	Ray Beierling	291.5
5	Jason Beierling	283.5
6	Eric Miltenburg	265.5
7	Louis Gauthier	251
8	Clare Kuepfer	249.5
9	Paul Brubacher	236.5
10	Nathan Walsh	235
11	Matt Brown	233.5
12	Howard Martin	232
13	Justin Slater	230
14	Chris Gorsline	191
15	Kent Robinson	189.5
16	Lawson Lea	189.5
17	Joe Arnup	186.5
18	Tom Johnston	186
19	Dave Brown	173.5
20	Roy Campbell	173.5
21	Rex Johnston	173
22	Rob Mader	160.5
23	Nathan Jongsma	155
24	Ron Haymes	152
25	Greg Matthison	145
26	Tom Doucette	117
27	Wilfred Smith	114.5
28	Quinn Erzinger	113
29	Ed Ripley	104.5
30	Rueben Jongsma	99.5
31	Ron Reesor	99
32	Ed Erzinger	94
33	Denis Chartier	93
34	Brian Wensley	92.5
35	Wayne Gingerich	92
36	Len Chard	87
37	Linda Irvine	84
38	Raymond Kappes	83
39	Adrian Conradi	83
40	Merv Wice	81.5
41	Michael Hughes	80
42	Roger Vaillancourt	80
43	Ryan Hedley	77
44	Jason Hogan	75.5
45	Bill Freeman	74
46	Lou Dobos	73
47	Ray Haymes	70.5
48	Alex Protas	69.5
49	Kevin Bechtel	69.5
50	George Doughart	68

The top 5 still remains unchanged, but both Raymond and Jason Beierling have increased their point totals and are closing in on the top 3. I expect to see the top 5 ranking shift and change after the results come in from the March tournaments. In the latter half of the top 10, Eric Miltenburg, and Louis Gauthier have moved up while Paul Brubacher slides into 9th. Moving up well due to error corrections are Lawson Lea from PEI (16th), Tom Johnston (18th) and Roy Campbell (20th).

Here is a list of the top 50 Singles Only CrokinoleCentre rankings:

1	Brian Cook	305.5
2	Ray Beierling	289.5
3	Jon Conrad	288
4	Jason Beierling	280.5
5	Eric Miltenburg	261
6	Fred Slater	254
7	Paul Brubacher	233
8	Clare Kuepfer	231
9	Louis Gauthier	221
10	Howard Martin	213.5
11	Nathan Walsh	203
12	Justin Slater	154
13	Roy Campbell	153.5
14	Joe Arnup	149.5
15	Kent Robinson	146.5
16	Greg Matthison	145
17	Rob Mader	126.5
18	Matt Brown	109.5
19	Chris Gorsline	106
20	Dave Brown	105.5
21	Lawson Lea	103.5
22	Ron Reesor	99
23	Tom Johnston	94
24	Nathan Jongsma	92.5
25	Rex Johnston	81
26	Rueben Jongsma	79
27	Tom Doucette	76
28	Jason Hogan	75.5
29	Alex Protas	69.5
30	Quinn Erzinger	68
31	Lawrence Wicks	68
32	Wilfred Smith	67.5
33	Jason Carter	65
34	Ron Haymes	59.5
35	Ed Ripley	59.5
36	Len Chard	56
37	Bob Mader	54.5
38	Brian Wensley	53.5
39	Denis Chartier	53
40	Brian Miltenburg	51
41	Merv Wice	50.5
42	Raymond Kappes	50
43	Ed Erzinger	49
44	Roger Vaillancourt	48
45	George Doughart	47
46	Adrian Conradi	45
47	Linda Irvine	41
48	Ab Leitch	39
49	Michael Hughes	39
50	Ryan Hedley	39

Interesting to note, Ray Beierling swaps places with Jon Conrad in 2nd and 3rd, while Paul Brubacher moves into the top 10, all the way up to 7th, as Nathan Walsh falls out of the top 10 to 11th. With an appropriate point score, Roy Campbell now sits 13th.

Coming up in the next few weeks, we’ll get you ready for the London Crokinole Club Tournament, and the BC Provincial Crokinole Championship.

Rematch, Revenge, Raymond

In a rematch of the 2012 London Crokinole Club final, Raymond Beierling met brother Jason Beierling in the finals of the 2013 Golden Horseshoe Crokinole Championship. Jason Beierling won in London a year ago, following an exciting third game tie breaking round. But revenge was in the cards on the day as Raymond Beierling took match in the three games to win his first NCA title of the season.

The day began with 24 competitors at the Cornerstone Reformed Church in Hamilton. A small note was made to start the day that winners of the tournament had historically went on to be successful at the World Championships. (Champions Brian Cook and Justin Slater had won the World title in 2009 and 2010.)

And with that the action was under way. Several 20’s were made on the boards in the preliminary round. It seems as though the Hamilton boards, made by Jake Ruggi, are quite “20 friendly”.

After the first round the top group had emerged from the pack with Ray Beierling, Jason Beierling, Fred Slater, Eric Miltenburg, Jon Conrad, Louis Gauthier, Paul Brubacher and Ron Reesor making the cut.

In the A group round-robin the Beierling brother’s grabbed the number 1 and 2 seeds. That set up semifinal matches of Jason Beierling vs Louis Gauthier and Raymond Beierling vs Jon Conrad. 

Meanwhile, in group C, Jake Ruggi took the top spot in the round-robin and then followed it up by winning his semifinal match over Tom Doucette, who finished 3rd, and then defeating Len Chard in the finals. Kent Robinson grabbed the 4th spot.

In the B group, the Waterloo Crokinole Club grabbed the top 4 positions. After sorting things out in the playoffs, Roy Campbell had claimed the B title, followed by Nathan Walsh, Barry Kiggins and Alex Protas.

It seemed almost destined that the two Beierling brothers would compete in the championship match as Jason Beierling knocked off Louis Gauthier, and Ray Beierling eliminated Jon Conrad. In the 3rd place game Jon Conrad and Louis Gauthier split their first two games, of the best of 3 match, with 6-2 victories each way. That led to drama in the third game, where following Quinte Convention rules, tie breaking rounds were required as the score was tied 4-4 after 4 rounds. But in the tie breaking rounds Louis Gauthier grabbed the advantage and achieved the 3rd place finish.

And in the Championship Finals, an interesting and highly competitive affair began with Ray Beierling cruising to an opening game victory by winning 6-0. Jason Beierling would right the ship though, narrowly avoiding elimination in the second game and forcing a 4-4 tie. And so, following the Quinte Convention, Jason’s only chance of winning the match was to force tie breaking rounds by winning the 3rd game outright. But in the 3rd round of the 3rd game, Ray Beierling prevailed, earning 4 points in the game to win the 2013 Golden Horseshoe Crokinole Tournament.

Footage of the Championship match is now available and you can find it here:

2013 Golden Horseshoe Tournament Preview

On Saturday, January 26th Hamilton will host the 5th annual Golden Horseshoe Tournament. It will be the first crokinole tournament to be played in 2013 and the last tournament before the NCA hits “the business end” of the 2012-2013 Tour. As mid-March will see the BC Provincial Championships start off a string of crokinole tournaments every few weeks right up until the World Championships including the London Crokinole Club tournament, the PEI Provincial Championships, the Joseph Schneider Haus, and the Ontario Singles Championship (aka the NCA Finale).

The Golden Horseshoe tournament was created in 2009, and included in the inaugural season of the National Crokinole Association. In that first year it was held in Toronto where Joe Fulop had his best ever NCA finish with a 3rd place, behind Marlin Lichti who also had his best NCA finish grabbing the 2nd spot. And it was Brian Cook who took the inaugural title two weeks before he won his 3rd straight World Championship.

The following year it was Justin Slater who began his breakout crokinole season, defeating Brian Cook in the 2010 final, held in Hamilton. Slater would go on to win the NCA finale and then take the World Championship 20’s and singles title.

2011 saw Brian Cook return to the winner’s circle, defeating Joe Arnup, who also scored a career-high tournament finish on the day. And in 2012 Brian Cook would repeat as champion, finishing ahead of Ray and Jason Beierling, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

So as Brian Cook eyes his 3rd consecutive Golden Horseshoe title, here are a couple things to keep in mind.

• For 4 straight years, the Golden Horseshoe winner has finished in the top 3 at the World Championships.
• In 5 years of the NCA, only 2 tournaments have had winners “threepeat”
• Ray Beierling in London, Cook/F. Slater at the Ontario Doubles Championships
• Brian Cook is attempting to win his 4th consecutive tournament this season, doing so would NOT improve his NCA Tour points score
• Jon Conrad could clinch the NCA Tour title by winning in Hamilton. He could also clinch a tie for the NCA title by finishing 2nd in Hamilton

The 2013 Golden Horseshoe Crokinole Tournament, co-sponsored by the Hamilton Hammers, Tuscarora and Toronto Crokinole Clubs begins with 11am Registration at the Cornerstone Canadian Reformed Church in Hamilton.

We’ll see you there!

2012 Scenic City Crokinole Championship Results

The 2012-2013 NCA Tour has begun quite similarly to the 2011-2012 tour as Brian Cook has once again had a perfect Fall crokinole season. In November he was once again declared the “King” of Scenic City crokinole after winning the tournament held in Owen Sound for the second straight year. 

Coming into the tournament the NCA points race was really starting to take shape. Jon Conrad led the Tour with 198 points, and Brian Cook sat with 150 points after only 3 tournaments. Well it was Jon Conrad who finished second in Scenic City, boosting his total score by four points to a total of 202, now leading Brian Cook by a slim two point lead with several tournaments to play.

The biggest thing to note is that since the NCA tracks the top 4 finishes in a year, both Conrad and Cook are now just trying to improve their point total. For Cook, winning any tournament between now and the NCA finale will not improve his total score as his lowest tournament score is 50 points. The only chance he has at improving his score is by finishing in the top two in St. Jacob’s, with a maximum total score of 205. However, finishing well at tournaments could be quite beneficial for Cook as he may attempt to limit the amount of points his competitors own. Jon Conrad is in a completely different position. Leading the Tour with 202 points, and he can still improve his score by another 13 points. His two lowest scores are 45 and 47, meaning that if he were to win another title, or finish in the top three in St. Jacob’s, he would clinch the NCA Tour victory for the season.

Finishing third at the Scenic City Tournament was Ray Beierling, who earned 45 points to boost his total to 185, to sit in 4th on the Tour behind Fred Slater with 192. Finishing in a well-deserved 4th place in Owen Sound was Howard Martin.

The Owen Sound Times also did a piece on the tournament. Here is a link to the article: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2012/11/25/crokinole-masters-descend-on-owen-sound

And here’s a look at the updated CrokinoleCentre Rankings of the Top 30 players:

Rank	Name	Points
1	Brian Cook	305.5
2	Jon Conrad	298
3	Fred Slater	295
4	Ray Beierling	287.5
5	Jason Beierling	282.5
6	Nathan Walsh	264.5
7	Eric Miltenburg	263.5
8	Clare Kuepfer	252
9	Louis Gauthier	245
10	Howard Martin	236
11	Matt Brown	235.5
12	Joe Arnup	231
13	Justin Slater	230
14	Paul Brubacher	226.5
15	Greg Matthison	220.5
16	Ron Haymes	219.5
17	Kent Robinson	210
18	Dave Brown	204
19	Nathan Jongsma	189.5
20	John Harvey	189
21	Jason Carter	188.5
22	Rex Johnston	187
23	Chris Gorsline	181.5
24	Brian Miltenburg	167
25	Wayne Gingerich	162.5
26	Rob Mader	160.5
27	Bob Mader	150
28	Ray Haymes	148
29	Marlin Lichti	146
30	Bill Freeman	133

And here’s a look at the Singles Rankings:

Rank	Singles Only	Points
1	Brian Cook	305.5
2	Jon Conrad	288
3	Ray Beierling	283.5
4	Jason Beierling	276
5	Eric Miltenburg	262.5
6	Fred Slater	259
7	Nathan Walsh	232.5
8	Clare Kuepfer	232
9	Louis Gauthier	222.5
10	Howard Martin	214
11	Joe Arnup	194.5
12	Paul Brubacher	194
13	Matt Brown	178
14	Greg Matthison	168.5
15	Brian Miltenburg	167
16	Justin Slater	154
17	Nathan Jongsma	147.5
18	Jason Carter	143.5
19	Kent Robinson	135
20	Ron Haymes	127
21	Rob Mader	126.5
22	Chris Gorsline	117.5
23	Dave Brown	116.5
24	John Harvey	104
25	Marlin Lichti	98
26	Rex Johnston	95
27	Dennis Ernest	94.5
28	Wayne Gingerich	87.5
29	Bob Mader	85.5
30	Ray Haymes	75.5

As you can see, not much has changed since the last Rankings update as the scores become much more consistent as the rankings begin to take shape.

And so that concludes the 2012 portion of the crokinole season. Even though the competitive side of crokinole will break for the holidays, there is sure to be much crokinole in play as families gather to rekindle one of the oldest family traditions over the Christmas break.

Join us once again in the new year of 2013 as we continue to follow the 2012-2013 NCA Tour, picking up with the Golden Horseshoe Tournament in Hamilton on January 26th.

2012 Ontario Doubles Crokinole Championship

For the third straight year Brian Cook and Fred Slater have been crowned the Ontario Doubles Champs, defeating a stacked field of opponents all looking to gun them down. The Toronto pairing have been quite successful despite never playing together at any other tournament, with the exception of the BC Championships. Speaking of which, they have earned the right, or rather the voucher of cash prizes to travel to BC and participate in the tournament, if they so choose. If they can fit it into their schedule they will be returning to defend their BC Doubles crown and a 1-2 singles finish.

Other strong finishes in the tournament included Jason and Raymond Beierling, tournament hosts, finishing in second. Their runner-up finish means that Brian Cook and Fred Slater have won the tournament in 3 straight years against 3 different opponents in the championship match. In those 3 years, Jason and Ray have been quite successful with back-to-back third place finishes in 2010 and 2011. Finishing in third place were Jon Conrad and Barry Kiggins to back up their runner-up performance in 2010.

NCA Tour Rankings

Both Cook and Slater will also gain some serious NCA points to bump up their ranking. Cook was sitting outside the top 5, due to him having only recorded points in two tournaments where everyone else had 3. And early in the season he will be up to a total of 150 points. Another victory anywhere in the season will push his total to 200 with a chance of reaching 205 points if he wins the NCA finale, all in the effort of chasing down Jon Conrad after his massive start to the 2012-2013 tour when he won 2 world titles.

Conrad had 153 points heading into the tournament and this score will move him up to 198, with lots of room to improve on his lower scores of 43 and 45 with several tournaments left on the NCA Tour. A victory in any tournament before the NCA final will guarantee a 2nd place finish on the Tour and a fantastic chance at winning the top prize. He still retains the top spot on the NCA Tour, just ahead of Fred Slater in second place.

It's hard to believe that 7 months before the NCA finale, also known as the Ontario Singles Championship, the Tour seems as though it will be decided among 2 men. The only foreseeable way anyone else could put pressure on Cook and Conrad is by winning 3 tournaments before the NCA finale. Definitely a tough task as no tournament is without several tough competitors and only 3 Ontario events remain before the tour finals.

Meanwhile, players like Fred Slater, Ray Beierling and Justin Beierling have amassed a decent amount of points this season with a chance for many more. But if they want to do more than challenge for the top 3 or the top 5, they will have to win a few tournaments.

To come in a few days: the slightly less late review of the 2012 Scenic City Crokinole Tournament.

Scenic City Crokinole Tournament

This Saturday, November 24, Owen Sound will host the NCA in its final tour stop of the 2012 calendar year. In its second year the tournament will be looking to see who is the King of Scenic City Crokinole.

2011 Champion, Brian Cook, receives the top prize from tournament organizer Clare Kuepfer

Certificates and the Championship trophy.

Last year it was Brian Cook who took the first ever Scenic City Crokinole title to cap off a Fall crokinole season in which he went undefeated to sweep all three tournaments. Now in 2012 he is looking to repeat after wins in Belleville and Brucefield, after teaming up with Fred Slater.

According to tournament organizer, (Owen Sound and Scone crokinole club member, as well as the reigning PEI Doubles Champion) Clare Kuepfer competition is looking fierce with a few days until the tournament.

(Follow Clare Kuepfer on Twitter @sconecrokinole)

Already confirming their attendance are crokinole contingents from Belleville, Toronto, St. Jacob’s, and the USA (just a little south of the border). In the lineup is the reigning World Crokinole Champion along with 3 former singles World Champions, and a decent sized collection of homegrown crokinole talent ready to challenge all visiting players.

And with five days left until the tournament all we can ask is who will ascend the throne as Prince (2nd place) and King of Scenic City Crokinole.

To register for the tournament: