Hutchinson Edges Bonnett in London for 2nd Title

There was no doubt about the strength of Andrew Hutchinson’s game, returning to the London event for his first crokinole tournament after winning his first NCA title in November. He was tested in the morning with a very difficult draw, to which he qualified out of with ease, then proceeded to dominate his afternoon matches until facing a nearly flawless Robert Bonnett in the finals. But he proceeded unflinchingly, even overcoming a deficit in the very final round to win the 2019 Forest City Flickers final by a score of 10-8.

52 flickers entered the Saint James Westminster Church in London for the 11th edition of the crokinole event, dating back to 2009, with 31 on the competitive side and 21 in the recreational.

In the morning groups, Jo-Ann Carter led the Recreational A pool with 50 points and 52 20s in 8 games. Mark Gallas was behind in second with 48 points, and followed by Mark Geris, Janet Diebel and Dallas Fewster. Ron Langill led the Recreational B pool in the morning with 54 points and 58 20s in 9 games, followed closely by Rich Vanden Hoven at 52 points, and then by Bill Geris, Cor Vanden Hoven and Doreen Sulkye making the afternoon A group on the Recreational side.

The competitive pools were split into 3 in the morning, and Connor Reinman, who was playing in his first NCA event since October and said to be ramping up his preparation for the World Championships, led the A pool by a decent margin with 55 points and 89 20s in 9 games. Ray Beierling scored 49 points and Nolan Tracey scored 43 to make the afternoon A group, edging out Bev Vaillancourt who had 40 points.

The competitive B pool seemed to be by far the most challenging group, featuring 4 of the top 7 in the current NCA standings, along with a few more strong NCA non-regulars. Nathan Walsh had a terrific morning with what averaged to 58.5 points and 86.6 20s over 9 games, followed by Andrew Hutchinson at 48 points and Jason Beierling at 45. Jeremy Tracey and Rex Johnston fell victim to the strong group and had to settle for the B group with 42 and 41.6 points respectively.

In the C pool, Jon Conrad was true to form, leading the way in points despite a lower 20 count, with 51 points and 63 20s. Roy Campbell and Robert Bonnett rounded out the top 3 with 46 and 45 points, while Reid Tracey scored 43 points, which was enough to grab the sole wildcard spot in the A group for the afternoon. This was just two points higher than Robbie Thuot at 41 points, who was looking to make the A group for the second event in a row.

The afternoon Recreational B Group was led by Lola Vanderheide who scored 45 points in 9 games, and was joined in the playoffs by Maxine Whitmore, Al Hoftyzer and Pat Weiler. However in the playoffs it was Pat Weiler who overcame the 4th seed to win the group.

In the A Group, Ron Langill was top of the table again, with 51 points in 9 games. Cor Vanden Hoven scored 46 to finish second, with Jo-Ann Carter right behind at 44. Bill Geris scored 42 points to finish 4th and get the final playoff spot, just ahead of Mark Geris at 41 points. The “first to 9 points” semifinals were very tight with both being decided by scores of 10-8 as Carter defeated Vanden Hoven and Langill defeated Geris. In the finals Ron Langill completed a day in which he led from the morning to the very finish, winning the final 10-4 over Jo-Ann Carter.

In the competitive C Group, Tom Johnston had the top score with 50 points in 9 games. Peter Carter and Howard Martin both scored 45 points to finish 2nd and 3rd and setup their playoff semifinal, while Josh Davis scored 41 points and held the head-to-head tiebreaker over MJ Andreola for the final playoff spot. Johnston and Carter advanced to the finals, following their semifinal victories, where Tom Johnston won the match to take the C title.

In the B Group, Fred Slater looked quite strong, scoring 46 points in 9 games for the top seed, just ahead of Christina Campbell who racked up 44 points. Jeremy Tracey scored 42 points and earned the high 20 score in the group with 75. Bev Vaillancourt earned the final playoff spot with 39 points, just two ahead of Rex Johnston and Andrew Korchok. Slater scored a 9-5 semifinal victory over Vaillancourt, while Tracey found momentum late to win over Campbell 10-8, which he carried through into the final match, defeating Slater 10-2.

There was an oddity in the competitive A Group with all three pool leaders from the morning missing the cut for the final 4. Instead it was Andrew Hutchinson making his 5th straight top 4 with 52 points in 9 games for the top seed, and hometown Ray Beierling finding the 2nd seed with 47 points. Robert Bonnett followed up his 3rd place in Owen Sound with 41 points to make the final four again, while Reid Tracey, for the third-straight tournament, earned the 4th seed and advanced to the playoffs (although this time it wasn’t by virtue of a tiebreaker). Roy Campbell finished on the bubble in 5th place with 36 points.

The semifinal, and also what would be the finals, matchups were all first-time meetings in elimination games, although it was an identical final 4 to that of the 2018 Owen Sound event. The Hutchinson/Tracey matchup was notable for Hutchinson electing for defensive strategies on two occasions as he chose to hide discs rather than push for 20s, which ultimately ended up being profitable in a 9-3 victory. The Bonnett/Beierling match would also be a 9-3 victory for Bonnett who capitalized when given a few different chances to score some crucial follow-through 20s. In the 3rd-place game, Reid Tracey took a spirited affair by a score of 10-8 over Ray Beierling, to earn 3rd place and his highest ever finish at an NCA event.

So all that was left was the finals between Robert Bonnett and Andrew Hutchinson. For Bonnett, it was his second NCA final (the first being the 2017 World Championships), and for Hutchinson it was his fourth NCA final, with both men seeking their second crokinole title. Hutchinson led 6-2 and had threatened to take an even more commanding lead in the 6th round when he led in the 20 count but faced 3 opposing discs. He lined up a triple takeout on his final shot that was ultimately unsuccessful, allowing Bonnett to tie the match 6-6.

Both responded well in their respective hammer rounds, capitalizing on first shot misses from their opponents to send the match to 8-8 with it all coming down to one round for the title. In the final round, advantages swung to Bonnett as Hutchinson was the first to miss. However, in Bonnett’s attempt to add to his 20 count, he left a hanger 20, which Hutchinson converted to level the round. After Bonnett missed the open 20 on his 7th shot, Hutchinson stuck his disc perfectly in front of a peg, leaving Bonnett no chance for a takeout-20, clinching the 10-8 thriller victory for Hutchinson as he won the 2019 London title.

It’s worth noting that Hutchinson’s remarkable string of strong results this season has been near perfect, and has only seen him lose on a couple occasions to Ray Beierling and Justin Slater.

• 2018 WCC - Hutchinson finishes 5th after Justin Slater and Ray Beierling take the top two spots in the Round of 16 A Pool
• 2018 Turtle Island - Hutchinson defeated in semifinal by Slater
• 2018 Belleville - Hutchinson defeated in semifinal by Slater
• 2018 ODCC - Hutchinson/Reinman defeated in semifinal by Beierling/Beierling
• 2018 Owen Sound - Hutchinson wins event
• 2019 London - Hutchinson wins event

So the victory gives Andrew Hutchinson back-to-back crokinole victories, sandwiching the birth of his second child in what has been a very impressive NCA season that now sees him tied for 3rd in the NCA standings with the potential to finish as high as 2nd. With both Ray Beierling and Jason Beierling denied victories in London, Justin Slater has clinched the 2018-2019 NCA Tour Championship. It’s the first time in the 11-year history of the NCA Tour that the Tour title has been wrapped up prior to the final event.* 

*There’s a significant asterisk considering that the NCA Tour has had numerous different point structures over the years. Additionally, while other titles weren’t completely clinched before the Tour finale, some years only a very specific scenario could have unfolded to result in the leader being surpassed in the final tournament.

The next NCA event on the calendar is the 2019 Ontario Singles Crokinole Championship on May 4th in St. Jacobs, but before that, the 27th edition of the invitational team Waterloo County Crokinole tournament will take place at the Schneider Haus museum in Kitchener on April 13th.

Slater Blazes Record Pace for Hamilton Victory

"Hey, you ever seen this guy before?"

Justin Slater said he was quote-unquote “inspired” by the CrokinoleCentre 20s World Records post that debuted a couple weeks prior to the 2019 Golden Horseshoe Crokinole Tournament. And if this is what an “inspired” Justin Slater looks like, then the entire crokinole world has surely been put on notice, as Slater set a new world record (for real this time) and cakewalked to victory in Hamilton.

42 players were in attendance on the early January 26th morning, with one tournament organizer praising a “weather vortex” for the strong attendance, as Winter storms had occurred earlier in the week and another was reported to be coming in the days following the event. The field was split into 4 separate groups for the morning round robin.

Jon Conrad was tops in Pool A with 66 points and 102 20s in 10 games, and Roy Campbell was 2nd with 59 points and a pool-high 118 20s. The final spot in the afternoon A group went to Eric Miltenburg at 55 points, just two ahead of Andrew Korchok.

Nathan Walsh was tops in Pool B with 65 points. While 2nd spot at 62 points went to Reid Tracey who, along with his brother, was looking like Agent Smith from the Matrix fulfilling millennial stereotypes with a single earbud constantly in place throughout the day. The 3rd spot in the group was a 3-way tie at 47 points, in which Robbie Thuot earned the final A group spot in the afternoon ahead of Clare Kuepfer and Bev Vaillancourt.

Pools C and D played round robins of 9 games, but that didn’t stop Justin Slater from still scoring over 100 20s, hitting 105, and finishing tops in Pool C with 58 points. Fred Slater scored 50, and Jason Beierling scored 49 to make the A group. Joe Arnup made his long-awaiting return to the NCA Tour after a nearly 6 year absence to finish 4th in the group with 46 points. Which was especially impressive considering he was so far removed from the game that he asked for a refresher on rules, but clearly the crokinole muscle memory came back to him easily. Ray Beierling finished first in Pool D with 60 points and 80 20s, followed by Jeremy Tracey at 45 and Roger Vaillancourt at 44 points. Christina Campbell finished on the bubble with 39 points for 4th in the group.

In the afternoon, Groups B, C and D were fighting for one of the top 2 spots to make their respective final, while Group A would cut down to 4 and play a semifinals. In Group D, Garret Tracey earned the highest scores in both points and 20s with 57 and 64 respectively through 9 games. He was joined in the final by another young gun, Roy Perez, who was making his NCA debut and grabbed the second seed with 50 points, beating out Garry Wood in 3rd at 47 points. In the best of 3 final, Tracey fell behind early, losing game one 6-2 to Perez. But Tracey bounced back and took games two and three, each by scores of 6-2 to win the D title, in what was the only playoff match to need all 3 games.

Group C was very tight as only 5 points separated 1st from 5th in the round robin, ultimately robbing crokinole spectators of what could have been multiple thrillingly competitive playoff matches had the playoff format included more than just a single finals match. Janet Waite finished 5th in the group with 39 points, Nathan Quigley had 40 for 4th, and Maradyn Wood had 41 for 3rd. It was Abijah Jong at 42 points and Michael Meleg at 44 moving onto the final. Jong came through in the Group C championship over Meleg, winning the match 6-2, 5-1.

Group B featured a number of strong players who had just missed the Group A cut in the morning and were continuing to show fine form. Peter Carter finished 3rd in the group with 39 points, ahead of Christina Campbell at 37, and Beverly Vaillancourt at 36. Joe Arnup continued to show only minimal signs of rust, racking up 47 points for the top seed in the group, while Rueben Jong found the second spot in the finals at 43 points. While his son was simultaneously winning his final match despite the lower seed, Rueben Jong was doing the same as he took the match by a score of 6-4, 6-0.

The afternoon Group A had several strong 20 shooters, more than a few of which knew the possibilities that existed in Hamilton, the only NCA tournament featuring the crokinole boards that are made by Jake Ruggi and seem to be designed for scoring 20s. Of the 12 players in the round robin, 8 scored enough 20s to average more than 100 20s over 10 games. Jason Beierling scored 49 points and 143 20s (which normalizes to 130 over 10 games), but was only enough for 6th place. 

Ray Beierling and Reid Tracey tied for 4th place at 51 points, but it was Tracey earning the tiebreaker thanks to head-to-head 20s (which was needed after the two tied their match 4-4 points, and Tracey earned the edge by a 20 score of 10-9). Nathan Walsh banked points early in the round robin before slowing down in the last few games to finish 3rd at 53 points, while Roy Campbell was hanging onto the frame of the playoff picture until dominating the final few games to finish 2nd at 55 points. Top spot in the group went to Justin Slater who created a chasm between himself and the rest of the field at 68 points.

World Record

Of course the more notable accomplishment, from a record standpoint, was that of the 20s scores. Very early on in the round robin it was clear that Ray Beierling and Justin Slater, just like they have in the last decade at the World Championship, would have the top 20 scores. But the question was if either could break the world record, set by Brian Cook in 2011 at the Hamilton event with 138 20s in 9 games (normalizes to 153.3 in 10 games). They would need a 169 over 11 games to surpass the mark.

Early on Ray Beierling had the slight edge, and after 7 games he had 115 20s, which was on pace for 180, while Justin Slater had 102 20s (on pace for 160). But the difference came in the final games of the round robin as Beierling’s pace slowed, ultimately finishing at 150 20s (still good enough for 9th all-time). 

Meanwhile Justin Slater turned it on in the final games to finish with 181 20s (normalizes to 164.5 20s in 10 games) for a new world record. It was previously reported in 2018 that Slater’s 160 20s in 11 games in Hamilton was a world record, until some further research discovered the long-standing record from Cook. However, this record should have no debate.

The record was buoyed by an astonishing 25 20s in just 4 rounds of crokinole against Jason Beierling, who should take a good deal of credit as he hit 21 20s in that game. That’s still not quite as impressive as the time at the 2012 St. Jacobs tournament when Justin Slater and Jason Beierling’s head-to-head match had 2 perfect rounds for each, but at least this Hamilton match was caught on camera.

To elaborate on the extent of this 20s record further, Slater now holds the record for most 20s in a round robin of at least 4 games, and had there been a 12th game, he could have scored 0 20s and set the record for the most 20s in a round robin of at least 12 games.

A day of such accomplishments does make one ponder about other records that may have been set, such as “most points in an afternoon A Group” or “largest points difference between first and second in an afternoon A Group.” But the marks from Justin Slater on this day weren’t enough for those records, both of which are held by Ray Beierling.

NCA Record - Highest Points/Game in 2nd Round Group A or WCC Playoff (min 4 games)

Rank	Player	Year	Tournament	Stage	Games	Pts	20s	Pts/Game
1	Ray Beierling	2015	London	Round 2 - Pool A	8	53	82	6.625
2	Nathan Walsh	2014	WCC	Round of 16 - Pool B	7	45	66	6.429
3	Justin Slater	2015	Belleville	Round 2 - Pool A	9	57	101	6.333
4	Justin Slater	2014	WCC	Round of 16 - Pool B	7	44	94	6.286
5	Justin Slater	2018	London	Round 2 - Pool A	10	62	99	6.2

NCA Record - Largest gap between 1st and 2nd - Points/Game in 2nd Round Group A or WCC Playoff (min 4 games)

Rank	Player	Year	Tournament	Stage	Games	Pts	20s	Pts/Game	MoV
1	Ray Beierling	2015	London	Round 2 - Pool A	8	53	82	6.625	1.875
	Tom Johnston					38	47	4.75
T2	Justin Slater	2012	WCC	Round of 16 - Pool B	7	43	90	6.143	1.429
	Brian Cook					33	72	4.71
T2	Jon Conrad	2012	WCC	Round of 16 - Pool A	7	41	67	5.857	1.429
	Ray Beierling					31	77	4.429

Group A Playoffs

Getting on to the Group A semifinals, Justin Slater was gunning for his 7th consecutive singles title, and faced off against Reid Tracey who had earned his second straight top 4 finish (and coincidentally his second straight top 4 finish via a tiebreaker for 4th). Despite being a 1st vs 4th seed matchup, it was probably the least favourable opponent for Slater, considering that Slater won every game in the afternoon round robin, with the exception of the draw to Reid Tracey. And the match lived up to the expectation as the players fought on a level playing ground and traded rounds back-and-forth. Slater won game one, but with Tracey up 4-2 it looked like the match would need a third game, but a strategy error from Tracey extended the second game into a tiebreaker, where Slater won the match 6-2, 6-4.

In the other semifinal, Roy Campbell faced off against Nathan Walsh in what was the 3rd playoff meeting between the two. Roy Campbell won the first, which was the Group B championship at the 2013 Hamilton event, while Walsh won the second in the semifinals of the 2016 Belleville tournament. The match contained a number of twists and turns, and what it lacked in consistent quality, it made up for in drama as Campbell won the match 6-4, 6-4 after overcoming a 4-0 deficit in the second game.

That setup a rematch of the finals of the 2016 Ontario Singles Championship and 2018 Turtle Island event, both of which were very competitive matches that went the way of Justin Slater. However, early hopes of Roy Campbell flipping the script began to evaporate as 20 opportunities for Campbell bounced out of the hole with great umbrage, while Slater consistently executed his shots on his way to a 6-2, 6-0 victory, and his 3rd Golden Horseshoe title.

The victory extends Justin Slater’s lead on the 2018-2019 NCA Tour, as he sits with 200 points and can clinch the NCA title with a victory in either the London or St. Jacobs tournaments. Further to that, only Ray Beierling and Jason Beierling can deny Slater winning the NCA Tour this season, and they would need victories in both of the London and St. Jacobs tournaments to do so.

Speaking of the London tournament, it is coming up (some might say very soon) on March 23rd, but this will be left with one final word on the Golden Horseshoe Crokinole tournament from Eric Miltenburg: “Thanks every. I don’t know how this tournament comes together so well every year . . . it must be because of all of you.”