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: 

2012 Ontario Doubles Crokinole Championship Preview

This Saturday October 27, 2012, Brucefield will be the host of this year’s Ontario Doubles Crokinole Championships (ODCC). One of the best NCA tour stops in the year will once again hold the best doubles talent around. The two-time defending Ontario Doubles Champs are the Toronto pairing of Brian Cook and Fred Slater. They've claimed the only two ODCC titles with wins over Jon Conrad and Barry Kiggins in 2010, and over Eric Miltenburg and Joe Arnup in 2011. CrokinoleDepot’s own Raymond and Jason Beierling have twice finished in the top 4.

The tournament title is of great importance as all winning prize money is donated to the top team to attend the following BC Provincial Crokinole Championships held in March. In 2011 Fred Slater used his bid to score a second place in the singles category of the 2011 BC tournament. In 2012 Brian Cook and Fred Slater attended the event and scored a doubles victory followed by a 1-2 finish in the singles division.

This year’s tournament may prove to be the best yet. Jon Conrad and Tony Snyder may not team up, but both return as World Doubles Champions. Fred Slater and Brian Cook return as the Ontario and British Columbia Doubles Champions, while Fred Slater also recently finished 2nd in the doubles category at the World Championships. 6-time World Champions, the Beierling Brothers will attempt to improve on two consecutive top 4 finishes at the Ontario Championships. They arrive at the tournament after a 7th place finish in doubles at the World Championships and a 4th and 5th place finish in the singles competition. Ron and Ray Haymes come in to the tournament as the 3rd best doubles team in the World. Clare Kuepfer will come in as one half of the PEI Provincial Doubles Championship team. And the Belleville club will arrive having put two teams into the top 4 of the World Championships in the last two years as Dave and Matt Brown finished 2nd in 2011 and Louis Gauthier and Chris Gorsline finished 4th is 2012. Eric Miltenburg and Joe Arnup will look to avenge their finals loss in 2012. And the best part about the ODCC is that there is always a couple of teams, that you would never have expected, who will make an impact.

Either way, get your game face on, and your strategy prepared for the 2012 Ontario Doubles Crokinole Championships.

For more info about the tournament and to register visit http://www.nationalcrokinoleassociation.com/tournaments.php

Crokinole Rankings (2nd Edition)

Crokinole Rankings (2nd Edition)

So I've received feedback from some on the CrokinoleCentre Rankings, which were released a month ago. The feedback was from players prominently featured in the rankings, which is encouraging, because it shows that the best in the game are at least interested in them.

Much positive feedback has been received about the 2 year format, and it will be interesting to see how the rankings change over time.

One suggestion was to separate the singles and doubles categories of the rankings and release two different sets. The main reasoning for this was to eliminate the possibility that any one player could receive a large amount of points based on having a strong partner. My two main concerns with doing this are: 1. There are not enough doubles tournaments in the year for a solely doubles ranking to be accurate. and 2. Doubles is a unique part of crokinole that emphasizes different skills and strategies. I think that by eliminating doubles results, a true standing of a player cannot be realized. For example, singles focuses largely on 20's scoring, and open 20 shots. It's no surprise that those who score the most 20's are at the top of the rankings. And to go further, singles play is usually confined to play inside the 15 circle with most players "peeling" discs off, to force play back to the middle, whenever a disc ventures outside. The same cannot be said for doubles where multiple discs are on the board, and because partners sit opposite each other, every disc is in play, making ricochet shots extremely important.

With that said I've decided to release two sets of rankings. One to include both doubles and singles (my personal preference) and another to include only singles rankings. It will be interesting to see the differences between the two formats, and get a clearer idea of who the best singles players are.

So here are the full CrokinoleCentre rankings. 

Rank	Name	Points
1	Brian Cook	305.5
2	Jon Conrad	298.5
3	Fred Slater	296.5
4	Ray Beierling	285.5
5	Jason Beierling	281.5
6	Eric Miltenburg	270.5
7	Nathan Walsh	264.5
8	Joe Arnup	262.5
9	Clare Kuepfer	248.5
10	Louis Gauthier	244.5
11	Ron Haymes	240
12	Paul Brubacher	239
13	Matt Brown	235
14	Howard Martin	232.5
15	Justin Slater	230
16	Rex Johnston	226.5
17	Greg Matthison	220.5
18	Dave Brown	219.5
19	Jason Carter	192.5
20	Nathan Jongsma	189.5
21	Kent Robinson	167
22	Brian Miltenburg	167
23	Chris Gorsline	165.5
24	Rob Mader	160.5
25	Bob Mader	150
26	Ray Haymes	148
27	John Harvey	146
28	Marlin Lichti	146
29	Bill Freeman	133
30	Rich Mader	130.5

As you can see Brian Cook remains on top for the 2nd straight tournament, Nathan Walsh moves up from 8th to 7th, Louis Gauthier cracking the top 10 and Matt Brown moving up well to 13th. Obviously not a whole lot of movement but that is to be expected with a ranking system that takes place over 2 years. With the official release of the WCC points there are quite a few new faces on the list who now hold their rightful positions in the rankings, which I was unable to capture with the first ranking release.

And here is a similar, but different, only singles ranking. 

Rank	Singles Only	Points
1	Brian Cook	305.5
2	Jon Conrad	284
3	Jason Beierling	278.5
4	Ray Beierling	277.5
5	Eric Miltenburg	266.5
6	Fred Slater	263.5
7	Joe Arnup	235.5
8	Nathan Walsh	232.5
9	Clare Kuepfer	228.5
10	Louis Gauthier	222
11	Paul Brubacher	215.5
12	Howard Martin	204
13	Greg Matthison	168.5
14	Brian Miltenburg	167
15	Dave Brown	154.5
16	Justin Slater	154
17	Nathan Jongsma	147.5
18	Jason Carter	143.5
19	Matt Brown	137
20	Kent Robinson	135
21	Ron Haymes	127
22	Rob Mader	126.5
23	Chris Gorsline	117.5
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 we can see the top 3 changes as it's Cook, Conrad and Jason Beierling. It's an interesting shuffle as Fred Slater falls 3 spots, Jason Beierling pops ahead of Ray Beierling and Eric Miltenburg rounds out the top 5. Joe Arnup slides back ahead of Nathan Walsh, but the rest stay pretty much the same. Overtime the singles rankings should be much more open to change as less tournaments give way for a greater chance of players shifting positions.

A fault in the this system though is that including the top 4 singles results is almost gives way for too much variance. Take Ray Beierling for example. The 2011 World Champ, 2011 London Champ, and 2012 runner up in Belleville and London, as well as 4th in 2012 World Championships should put him in at least the top 3. But here he is 4th. But if the results were restricted to the top 3 singles he would be placed higher. However, I like the idea of 4 singles results to add to consistency, even if it does lower the score of some players at the moment. It especially hurts those who don't make 4 singles events in a year but still make 4 NCA events. But that's why there is one ranking to combine doubles and singles, and this one for only singles.

Meanwhile on the NCA Tour, the rankings are beginning to take shape. Jon Conrad holds a commanding lead but the outcome of these early fall tournaments will show how much competition he will face for the overall title this season. 

The next big tournament is the Ontario Doubles Crokinole Championship held by CrokinoleDepot. One of the best tour stops in the year will once again hold the best doubles talent around for a date set on October 27th in Brucefield. Look to signup on the NCA site: nationalcrokinoleassociation.com.