Thursday 27 December 2012

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.

Thursday 20 December 2012

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.