Fred Slater wins in London, NCA Tour Title still in Question

Fred Slater became the 2013 Forest City Flickers Champion, but also ensured the 2012-2013 NCA Tour would come down to the wire. Competing against the current Tour leader, Jon Conrad, in the finals Slater had to win to prevent Conrad from clinching the Tour title, while simultaneously keeping himself in the race.

A well attended crokinole tournament in London, Ontario had 48 players packing into the St. James Westminster Lutheran Church this past Saturday. 29 players had signed up for the competitive division, including 3-time champion Raymond Beierling, 2012 World Champion Jon Conrad, and 6 of the top 10 CrokinoleCentre ranked players. Regrettably not in attendance was reigning champion Jason Beierling who could not attend

The preliminary round split the 29 players into 3 groups, all aiming to make the top 10 cut off for the second round.  Emerging from those groups were Ray Beierling, Fred Slater, Jon Conrad, Lloyd Wiseman, Rex Johnston, Nathan Walsh, Greg Matthison, John Harvey, Roy Campbell, and Robert Bonnett. What began as a tight contest turned into a relatively easy qualification as Jon Conrad, Ray Beierling, Fred Slater and Roy Campbell made the top 4.

From there the competition only intensified. Ray Beierling was targeting his fourth London title and his fifth trip to the finals, after losing to his brother the year before. Jon Conrad had the opportunity to win his first NCA title since World Championship double, and clinch his first ever NCA title. Fred Slater was trying to bolster his 3rd place NCA standing, but also avenge his 2009 London final loss to Ray Beierling at the first ever NCA tournament. And Roy Campbell, only in his second NCA season, had made his first final 4 appearance.

But in the top 4, Fred Slater and Jon Conrad were superior, and they became the 2013 London finalists.

In the final, Fred Slater got out to the early advantage, leading the opening game of the best of three final 4-0. Jon Conrad was able to get his foot in the door though as he fought his way back to tie the game 4-4. But Fred Slater got out to an early lead in the 5th round tiebreaker and went on to win the round, without hammer, to take game one.

Game two became a game of strategy, as both players made some interesting moves to try and gain the upper hand. Fred Slater won round one, then Jon Conrad won round two. Round three was a pivotal one as Conrad held an advantage without the hammer, but Fred Slater fought back to earn the tie. At 3-3, Jon Conrad had the hammer in the fourth round, but Fred Slater was only one round away from victory. And after earning a quick lead, Slater would hang on to win the 2013 Forest City Flickers Championship.

NCA Race

Early on this season appeared as though the Tour title would be wrapped up quickly as Jon Conrad got off to that fantastic start at the World Championships. But with Brian Cook’s four straight tournament victories, and Fred Slater’s most recent win, this is shaping up to be the most exciting Tour finish yet. With only one tournament to go, only three players have a shot at claiming the NCA’s top prize.

Name Points *Lowest Score Highest Possible

1. Jon Conrad 204          47         212

2. Brian Cook 200          50         205

3. Fred Slater 197          45         207

(*Lowest Score - Refers to the lowest score included in a player’s overall point total, i.e. their 4th highest score.)

For Jon Conrad, an appearance in the finals of St. Jacob’s will clinch in the NCA title, while a third place finish leaves the door open for Fred Slater to tie him in overall points if he were to win in St. Jacob’s. A fourth place finish for Conrad would mean that Slater could win the NCA title with a St. Jacob’s victory, or Brian Cook could tie Jon Conrad for the NCA title if he were to win. A 5th place or lower finish for Conrad means that his overall score will not change.

In that case, both Brian Cook and Fred Slater must win the NCA finale to win the Tour title. And just in case none of these three win in St. Jacob’s and Jon Conrad finishes no better than fifth, Fred Slater could share the NCA title if he were to finish second in St. Jacob’s. And while it goes without saying, a Jon Conrad NCA title can be assured if neither Brian Cook is victorious in St. Jacob’s, or Fred Slater is denied a top two finish.

At any rate, it’s shaping up to be a wild finish for the 2012-2013 NCA Tour.

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.