Haymes Hammers Hamilton

Ron Haymes made a rare NCA appearance and took the field by storm, in what was a stormy Saturday in Hamilton, capping the performance with an overtime win over Ray Beierling in the finals.

The forecast for yet another Ontario winter storm proved to be accurate, as Hamilton suffered the same fate of Owen Sound, with several players unable to voyage. After a late start, the tournament was set to begin with 18 strong.

A view of the empty boards before those who had to brave the weather arrived to compete.

The field split into two groups of 9, with advancements into Group A in the second round requiring a top 3 finish in the preliminary group, or one of the next 3 wildcard positions.

Coming through in Pool B after 8 games in the preliminary round were Nathan Walsh with 58 points, Ray Beierling with 38 and Bob Jones with 32. In Pool A, Fred Slater (50 points), Roy Campbell (46) and Ron Haymes (40), grabbed the top 3 positions. The remaining would actually all go to Pool A members as Jake Ruggi (38), John Harvey (37) and Nathan Jongsma (37) rounded out the Group A qualifiers.

The second round would see 9 players gunning one of the 4 semifinalist positions, and the competition would be incredibly tight. Fred Slater narrowly grabbed the number 1 seed with 42 points, with Haymes, Beierling and Walsh crammed together at 41. After examining the tie-breaker rules, Haymes was given the 4th seed and was set to battle Fred Slater in one semifinal, while Beierling and Walsh lined up for the other.

In the Walsh v Beierling match, Nathan stormed out to a 4-0 lead, but yielded to a Beierling comeback to end game 1 with a 4-4 under the Quinte Convention. Game 2 would be a clear victory for Ray Beierling 6-2, and he sealed the match in the final round of the third game to finish 4-4, 6-2, 4-4.

The Haymes v Slater match would be even tighter. Ron Haymes jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game 1, only to have Fred Slater pull even and tie the game 4-4. Haymes would go up 4-2 in the second game, but Fred Slater would once again even the game 4-4 with a 4th round win. That same result would occur again in the third game as a 4-2 Haymes lead would be erased with a third consecutive tied game, sending the match to extra rounds. However, Haymes would finally prevail, winning the first two extra rounds clinch the match.

That set up a Ray Beierling and Ron Haymes final. The two met earlier in the NCA season, as they played against each other at the Ontario Doubles Crokinole Championship. Ray teamed up with brother Jason and won the match and the title 11-5. The Hamilton final would be Beierling’s 3rd NCA final of the season, as he aimed for his 3rd NCA title of the year. Meanwhile it was Ron Haymes first ever finals appearance at an NCA singles event.

In the first game, Haymes and Beierling started with a tied round, before Haymes took control and grabbed an insurmountable 5-1 lead to earn the final game and move one away from the Hamilton title. 

Beierling would respond in the second game after falling behind 2-0 to win 6-2, and set the match up for a decisive third game. After two rounds the score was tied 2-2, and Ray Beierling stole a point against the hammer in the third round as the score became 3-3 with victory in sight for both players. However, the match would continue into overtime when the two players tied the 4th round, and the 3rd game 4-4.

The overtime rounds would go back and forth, until Ron Haymes stole 2 points against the hammer in the 3rd set of extra rounds, and consolidated the break to win the overtime rounds 8-4.

Runner-up Ray Beierling receiving his due from tournament organizer Eric Miltenburg.

2014 Tournament Champion - Ron Haymes

On the NING website prior to the tournament, Eric Miltenburg alluded to the numerous winners we have seen this season. With Ron Haymes win of the Golden Horseshoe Crokinole title, this 6th NCA season has proven to be the most the most equal Tour race yet. Among the 7 events so far this year (5 singles and 2 doubles events) the NCA tour has seen 8 different champions, with Ray Beierling being the only repeat champ so far this year.

Unlike past seasons, where the Tour champion has almost been decided by this point in the season, it is still wide open for the taking. The British Columbia Provincial Championships are slated for the first weekend in March. There has not been word from Ontario players about their possibilities of making the trip, but regardless it should be a great tournament. 

Afterwards, only the London tournament and the NCA Finale in St. Jacob’s will remain in this 2013-2014 NCA Tour. Here’s a key look at the unofficial Tour points to date. The explanation of this chart is available in the previous blog.

Rank	First Name	Last Name	Points	4th score	3rd score
1	Ray	Beierling	200	50	50
2	John	Conrad	199	45	47
3	Ron	Haymes	192	47	47
4	Fred	Slater	186	41	43
5	Nathan	Walsh	182	42	45
6	Jason	Beierling	179	39	40
7	Louis	Gauthier	172	33	43
8	Matt	Brown	170	39	41
9	Clare	Kuepfer	166	33	33
10	Roy	Campbell	164	38	41
11	Eric	Miltenburg	157	38	38
12	Howard	Martin	148	25	38
13	Raymond	Haymes	147		47
14	Justin	Slater	145		45
15	David	Brown	139	20	35
16	Brian	Cook	134		43
17	Tom	Johnston	130		39
18	Tony	Snyder	122		25
19	Peter	Tarle	118	25	28
19	Dale	Henry	118	20	27

The points race is really heating up. The most obvious battle is between Ray Beierling and Jon Conrad, one which will come down to the final rounds of the St. Jacob’s tournament.

However, there are a total of 11 players who have the ability, with a win in London and a win in St. Jacob’s, to reach or exceed Ray Beierling’s Tour leading score of 200 total points. So hold on to your hats, it will be quite a battle in the homestretch of the 2013-2014 NCA Tour.

2013-2014 NCA Tour - Halfway Check

It’s almost strange to think that half of the NCA Tour has already been completed, but with the advent of many tournaments spread out over the calendar year, such is the case as 2013 comes to a close.

The 2013-2014 Tour consists of 11 scoring events, 6 of which passed with the 2013 year; including New York, Belleville, Brucefield, Owen Sound, and the doubles and singles events in Tavistock. That leaves only Hamilton, London, the 2 events in BC, and the NCA finale in St. Jacob’s.

The 2012-2013 Tour, won by Jon Conrad, will most likely be remembered for Conrad’s terrific start, collecting 2 World titles and amassing 110 points on the first day of the Tour. Even with Brian Cook winning 6 consecutive titles and finishing 2nd in St. Jacob’s, Conrad still won the NCA Tour by a sizable 5 points.

This season however, is shaping up to be much more competitive, and is heading to a much tighter finish as the Tour enters the back half of the season.

While Jon Conrad got out to another amazing start in Tavistock, taking 107 points, the parity around the Tour so far has left the NCA title in doubt, and has left many players still in the hunt. In fact, currently the Tour’s top spot doesn’t even belong to Conrad, but rather Ray Beierling. R Beierling was also very successful in Tavistock with two 3rd place finishes to take 100 points, but has also won in Brucefield and New York to lead Conrad by a single point, at an even 200.

The chart below shows the current top 20 players on the 2013-2014 Tour. Of most importance is the points column where we can see the tight battle for first place, and then a decent gap to Fred Slater in sole possession of 3rd spot, as the ranking points trickle down.

I’ll direct your attention to the two rightmost columns, which provide more detail into the scores that make up a players total. The “4th score” column indicates the lowest score currently counting towards the point total. As is obvious, to improve one’s overall ranking, they have to replace that lower score with a larger one.

This is definitely an important piece of information, as Ray Beierling’s lowest score of 50 shows that he cannot improve his point total until the St. Jacob’s tournament when more than 50 points are available for a first place finish. While Beierling leads Conrad by 1, Conrad certainly has the advantage, by having more chances to increase his total. As 45 points is a 3rd place finish in regular tournaments, an appearance in the finals will allows Conrad to retake first place.

Rank	First Name	Last Name	Points	4th score	3rd score
1	Ray	Beierling	200	50	50
2	John	Conrad	199	45	47
3	Fred	Slater	183	40	41
4	Nathan	Walsh	179	42	42
4	Jason	Beierling	179	39	40
6	Louis	Gauthier	172	33	43
7	Matt	Brown	170	39	41
8	Clare	Kuepfer	166	33	33
9	Roy	Campbell	160	37	38
10	Eric	Miltenburg	157	38	38
11	Howard	Martin	148	25	38
12	Raymond	Haymes	147		47
13	Justin	Slater	145		45
14	Ron	Haymes	142		47
15	David	Brown	139	20	35
16	Brian	Cook	134		43
17	Tom	Johnston	130		39
18	Tony	Snyder	122		25
19	Peter	Tarle	118	25	28
19	Dale	Henry	118	20	27

Looking into the chart a little more, you get the idea how good of a chance several players have to challenge Beierling and Conrad for the top spot.

With low scores of 40 and 41, if Fred Slater were to win one event and then finish in the top 3 in St. Jacob’s, his score would end up between 202 and 207. He’s certainly very capable of doing that, and could very well be on top when the dust settles.

While Walsh and Jason Beierling currently share 4th place, Beierling is in a much better position to improve his scores. A win and a top finish in Hamilton and London would put his score close to 200, to be within striking distance of first place.

Three more notables come in the ranks from 12th to 14th as Justin Slater is sandwiched between Ray and Ron Haymes. The blank cell indicates that none of them have registered a 4th event so far this year, meaning that they have a tremendous opportunity to grow their score. While it’s uncertain whether the Haymes will reappear to the crokinole scene before the 2014 World Championships, it’s very likely Justin Slater will be competing to defend his St. Jacob’s title, with a chance to bump his score up to 200 points, which should be good enough for a spot on the podium.

Lastly, it should be mentioned the scores of Brian Cook and Tom Johnston at 16th and 17th. Each still do not have a 4th event to score yet, and each have relatively low “3rd scores”. While both face a tough mountain to climb, the number of events remaining provide them an outside opportunity to fight for the NCA title.

So the back-half of the season should be filled with a lot of excitement as there is still a lot to be determined. In about a month the first tournament of 2014 will take place in Hamilton for the 6th edition of Golden Horseshoe Crokinole Tournament (one of only 3 tournaments from the NCA’s inaugural tour). Brian Cook was not in attendance to defend his title in last year’s tournament, allowing Ray Beierling to win his first Golden Horseshoe trophy. Perhaps they will both be competing in what should be a star-studded field as the 6th NCA Tour continues in 2014.

If you are sitting down with some relatives around a crokinole board this holiday season, this is a nice thing to keep in mind. This photo was found on http://louisvillecrokinoleclub.com meaning the credit likely goes to Jim Farris.