NCA Tour Rankings - March 2015

It has become a common theme at CrokinoleCentre to break down NCA Tour Rankings, especially when a season is nearing its finish. With the BC Crokinole Players Tournament in the books, and only the London and St. Jacobs tournaments remaining in the 7th season, is seems appropriate to do a long look at the 2014-2015 National Crokinole Association’s Tour standings.

What follows is the current Tour standings of the top 25 players. Explanations of the columns are found beneath the chart. (Note: This isn’t updated to include the BC results.)

Rank	First Name	Last Name	Points	4th Score	3rd Score	Max Pts	Max Rank
1	Justin	Slater	204	47	50	212	1
2	Ray	Beierling	198	48	50	205	1
3	Nathan	Walsh	196	47	47	207	1
4	Brian	Cook	190	40	45	210	1
5	Fred	Slater	186	41	43	207	1
6	Matt	Brown	181	40	43	203	2
7	John	Conrad	176	40	43	198	2
8	Roy	Campbell	173	41	43	194	4
9	Jason	Beierling	167	32	37	203	2
10	David	Brown	162	36	36	195	4
10	Eric	Miltenburg	162	38	39	190	4
10	Clare	Kuepfer	162	32	37	198	2
13	Peter	Tarle	146	31	32	188	5
14	Ron	Reesor	144	26	32	191	4
15	Howard	Martin	143	29	36	183	6
16	Alex	Protas	139	32	33	179	7
17	Reuben	Jong	133	31	33	174	8
18	Roger	Vaillancourt	123	0	34	194	4
19	John	Harvey	120	0	34	191	4
20	Louis	Gauthier	119	0	38	186	5
21	Robert	Bonnett	117	0	38	184	6
22	Rex	Johnston	116	0	34	187	5
23	Tony	Snyder	112	0	36	181	6
23	Tom	Johnston	112	0	30	187	5
25	Dale	Henry	110	21	23	171	9

The first few columns contain the names and current points. Afterwards you’ll see the “4th and 3rd score” columns. These indicate the 4th and 3rd highest tournament scores that make up the player’s current score. With there only being two events remaining, these scores are the ones that will be removed should a player record a higher score in one of these last 2 events.

As an example, Justin Slater’s score of 204 points is made up of scores of 55, 52, 50 and 47 points. His score could improve by earning the maximum 50 points in London and 55 points in St. Jacobs, for a season ending total of 212 points.

That leads into the “Max Score” column, which indicates the highest possible score a player can receive (after winning London and St. Jacobs), and the “Max Rank” column which indicates the highest possible ranking a player can receive for the 7th NCA Tour.

Analysis

With two tournaments to go, it is possible for a player to make a significant impact on their overall position. By looking at the “Max Rank” column one can see:

• 5 players can finish 1st on the Tour
• 9 players can finish inside the top 3
• 20 players can finish inside the top 5
• 47 players can finish in the top 10

(Note: Those numbers refer to players not shown on the chart above.)

The battle for the top spot in the NCA is still up for grabs, though Justin Slater does have a rather large advantage. With already a 6 point edge over Ray Beierling in 2nd place, Justin Slater’s low score of 47 can be replaced by a top 4 finish in St. Jacobs (which has been his best tournament for several years).

Even more so, a win in the London tournament for J Slater would guarantee a 1st place finish in the Tour. In that case, only Brian Cook would be able to tie for the Tour’s top place (by being 2nd in London, and winning St. Jacobs).

Ray Beierling is in an odd scenario. His finish in London could be 1st place or last place, and he would still need to win in St. Jacobs to win the Tour. While the impact on his point total will be minimal for results in London, he’ll still be looking for a top finish himself so as to limit the point increases of his opponents.

Nathan Walsh, Brian Cook and Fred Slater also have chances to win the NCA Tour, but they will be looking for a good result in London to increase the probability, knowing that each will need a big finish in St. Jacobs as well.

Matt Brown, Jon Conrad, Jason Beierling and Clare Kuepfer complete the list of players who can make the top 3 (all of which can actually climb to as high as 2nd). Each player has recorded at least 2 strong tournaments so far this season, and each has a low tournament score to be removed; so expect their rankings’ to rise by the end of the Tour.

Forest City Flickers Tournament

There has been some word passed around about those who will be in attendance in London, and the crowd is expected to be very competitive.

Every past tournament champion (Ray Beierling, Jason Beierling, Fred Slater and Nathan Walsh) will be in the field looking for a return to glory.

Brian Cook is set to make his first ever appearance in London. The man has won every active tournament on the NCA Tour (with the exception of WCC Doubles), and he’ll be hoping to add to the trophy collection on March 28th.

Justin Slater is rumoured to make a long awaited return to London. He hasn’t been to the London tournament since 2010. 2010 was also the year he “co-won” the NCA Tour and later won the World Crokinole Championships. Could this be a foreshadowing?

Eric Miltenburg and Jon Conrad will be looking to improve on their best London performances, which would require tournament victories as each was the tournament runner-up in 2011 and 2013 respectively.

The hope is to also get a glimpse of the Quinte Region Crokinole Club before the Joseph Schneider Haus team tournament in April. Matt Brown has had a very strong year with three top 4 finishes. He hasn’t seen tournament action since October, so don’t be surprised to see fruits of months of secretive crokinole practice.

With all that being said, it’s time to stop speculating and resume preparation for the London tournament, as the crokinole season turns for the homestretch.

Visit the NCA website for more details on registration for the London tournament.

7th Annual BC Crokinole Championship

Contributed by Quin Erzinger

The sun was shining over the Okanagan valley to greet the 30 participants to this year’s tournament.  As always, the day was started with a visit by Oliver’s mayor Ron Hovanes, who returned later in the day to watch the singles finals and present the awards.  Play got started with a five game round robin of doubles play.  There were six teams in the competitive side and nine teams on the recreational division.  After the first five games, the top four teams played again on the competitive side to determine the finalists.  After losing the first game in a best of three set, Linda Irvine and Quin Erzinger rallied to become this year’s doubles victors over Ralph Hargrave and last year’s singles champion Adrian Conradi. 

Doubles Champions: Quin Erziner and Linda Irvine
Photo Credit: Oliver Daily News 

Following the round robin, the recreational division reduced to six teams who played again to reach the finals.  BC has some very skilled youngsters playing, evidence to this was the combined age of 25 years between sisters Saje and Petal Good who prevailed over the father-son team of Gordon and Jeremy Gunn to take the recreational crown.  Gordon and Susan Gunn were the lone representatives from Ontario, hailing from Owen Sound.

Singles Final between Quin Erzinger and Jody Good.
Photo Credit: Oliver Daily News 

After a break for lunch, singles play got started.  This year brought a rule change to the system.  After playing the ten game round robin, the top 20 shooter was Quin Erzinger with 91.  The top four scores on the competitive side (in descending order) belonged to Quin Erzinger, Jody Good, Jordan Ripley, and Ralph Hargrave.  They advanced to play each other again to determine the finalists.  Ralph Hargraves lost to Jordan Ripley in the bronze final. First place was a rematch from the 2013 tournament.  In a thrilling final which involved extra rounds and trick shot 20s, Jody Good defeated Quin Erzinger to take his first singles championship.

In the recreational division, Wilf Paul won third place over Petal Good, with Saje Good claiming the first place title over Jeremy Gunn.

The number of registrants may have declined from last year, but the enthusiasm only ever grows for this tournament, especially from the recreational division.  We are looking to host an even better Championship next year in Oliver on the 5th of March, and I hope to see you there!

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Author’s note:

This year’s tournament may not have seen many faces from afar, but the local talent has taken a huge step forward in the amount of strategy and skill that was employed during competitive play.  Personally, I can say it was a bittersweet pleasure to witness the improvement in Jody Good’s play, and I commend him for the exhilarating final this year.

Quin Erzinger is a competive crokinole player from British Columbia, and a 2-time BC Crokinole Champion. He posts crokinole videos on YouTube can be followed on Twitter @Q_Baller16.