A New Board Maker: Tracey Boards make a mark in Competitive Crokinole

Contributed by Andrew Hutchinson

In June 2018 at the 20^th edition of the World Crokinole Championships, renowned crokinole board craftsman Willard Martin officially announced that he was retiring from making boards. However, he also shared that he had been training Jeremy Tracey to whom he was passing on the torch of creating high quality crokinole boards. Fast forward 6 months later, and Jeremy Tracey officially launched his company Crokinole Game Boards with a grand opening celebration hosted at The Crossroads Family Restaurant in Elmira. 

In the past 6 months, Tracey has been busy making (and selling) boards. A lot of boards. In fact in November alone Tracey sold 32 boards across Canada and the United States. And in December he almost doubled that figure, reaching 56 boards sold. So how has he grown his business so quickly? Well, if you've ever sat down across a board to play against Tracey, you know he never just goes halfway, he goes all in. When playing, if he has a chance for a triple takeout, he goes for it. If he has the choice between a safe takeout or a near impossible combo shot, you know he is going to try for the combo. Likewise, when he got into the board building business, he didn't hedge his bets, he went all in. He trained under the most respected board maker in the world. He turned his house into a de facto workshop. He started making boards by the dozens. And he began promoting both his business and the game of crokinole by travelling to different clubs, creating a website, starting a YouTube channel with crokinole playing tips, and utilizing other social media accounts.

Nice little piece about #crokinole and @BoardsGame https://t.co/BfpahOnG9o

— Andrew Hutchinson (@FavouriteHutch) December 12, 2018

The Crokinole Game Board open house saw approximately 45 descend on The Crossroads Family Restaurant in Elmira. Some came with little or no knowledge of the game, and simply wanted to learn more about Crokinole and to try out a few flicks. Others came with more experience, and wanted to try out the new Tracey boards that they had been hearing about. And still others came with the hope of winning some prizes! 

But whatever brought them in the door, everybody had the chance to sit down and play at one or more Tracey boards, whether at the “Learn to Play” table, the “Challenge a Pro” table, the “Fingers vs. Cues” table, the “50/50” table, or any of the other half dozen or so boards that filled the room. Yet as people flicked away, there were a few points of consensus that emerged. First, for those who had played crokinole, but never seriously and never on a high quality board, they mentioned how fast and smooth the boards were; they also mentioned that they quickly got used to the speed of the boards and how the consistency of the boards allowed them to make 20s at a higher rate than on the old boards they had learned the game on. Second, among players with more experience who have played competitively before, they mentioned that when they were playing on the boards that it felt comparable to playing on a Willard board. By the end of the evening, there had been a lot of 20s made, laughter, door prizes distributed, and even some money won, when Howard Martin took home the 50/50 draw.

Despite being a grand opening celebration, Tracey already is in full swing with his business. Tracey's boards first debuted at a competitive tournament at the Turtle Island Crokinole Tournament in August of this year. There they were used in both a semi-final match-up and the finals. This honour was repeated at the Belleville Crokinole Challenge in September and the Scenic City Crokinole Tournament in November. Tracey boards have quickly become a fixture on the competitive crokinole tournament circuit. And this trend is set to continue for the foreseeable future, with Tracey becoming the new official supplier of crokinole boards for the World Crokinole Championships. 

Tracey cites the honour of supplying the biggest crokinole tournament in the world with their boards as one of the most exciting aspects of his business. Another part of his business that excites him is seeing the growth in the game of crokinole. There have been people who have ordered his boards and then started their own local club or tournament. Many of these, who are from the United States, are helping the game grow in areas where it is not as well known as it is in southwestern Ontario. Being a part of growing the game helps motivate Tracey to continue to build high quality boards. 

Finally, Tracey is excited to help grow the game and his business in new ways. Recently he ran a little promotion on Facebook where he had people comment on what 2 colours of discs they thought were the best combination, with the winner receiving 2 sets of discs and some wax. What began as a little promotion quickly blew up and ended up with over 350 comments and over 500 shares. Tracey has more promotions in the works, so stay tuned to the Crokinole Game Board Facebook page. Six months before the next instalment of the World Crokinole Championship, Tracey is continuing to carry the torch he received last June, and the torch is burning as bright as ever!

All new crokinole boards used for the World Championships are built in Elmira: https://t.co/Y1gvrrP3Qf

— CTV Kitchener (@CTVKitchener) December 29, 2018

Andrew Hutchinson is both a competitive cues and fingers crokinole player who won the 2016 Cues World Championship and finished 5th of the 2018 Fingers World Championship. He can be followed on Twitter @FavouriteHutch

Hutchinson takes First Crown in Owen Sound

Photo Credit: Clare Kuepfer

When Andrew Hutchinson began to build the bridge between the cue and finger islands of the crokinole landscape, he brought with it an affinity for pink button down shirts, a large and unusual vocabulary of crokinole terms, and a comically high frequency of 5th place finishes. Already the most accomplished cues/fingers hybrid on the crokinole circuit, in Owen Sound Andrew Hutchinson joined the ranks of NCA title holders by earning a stellar victory over Ray Beierling in the final.

The Scenic City Crokinole Classic always brings a large hometown contingent, along with a well structured team of organizers, that reflect the plentiful number of crokinole clubs in the region. Total competitors were up slightly to 55 this year, even despite some last minute cancellations, with 21 players taking part in the competitive singles, and another 17 teams in the recreational doubles event.

In the morning play, Andrew Hutchinson qualified in first place with 59 points and a tournament high 111 20s through 10 games (including the only perfect round of the morning in his match against Nolan Tracey). Ray Beierling was just behind with 58 points and 96 20s, followed by Jeremy Tracey and Robert Bonnett. Grabbing the final spot in Pool A for the afternoon was Jo-Ann Carter with 40 points, just edging out Bob Jones who scored 38 points, and made two spectacular shots in his morning game against Jeremy Tracey. 

The Recreational Doubles category featured a round robin with the top scores determining the final results. Kingston’s Wayne and Jennifer Scott finished 6th with 65 points. Brayden Kelner and Noah Buckrell earned 5th place with 75 points in their first NCA event. They were just behind Neil and Carol Cook scoring 76 points for 4th, and Dave McCormick and Darren Carr who scored 78 points for 3rd. The battle for top spot was remarkable as Perry and Peter Carter and John Lichty and Ron Langill matched each other stride for stride, and both ended the day with 84 points. The tiebreaker, and the tournament title, went to the first time partnership of John Lichty and Ron Langill, thanks to their mark of 101 20s, superior to the 81 from the Carters.

In the afternoon session, Pool B was led by Eric Miltenburg, who’s 55 points easily pushed him into the top spot. Behind him were Howard Martin (47 points), Bob Jones (46) and Ron Reesor (44) to advance to the final four. Dale Henry found himself in the undesired 5th place spot, but with a not-so-desolating gap of 5 points from the playoff cutoff.

The Pool B winner was decided with a final four round robin. Howard Martin, Bob Jones and Ron Reesor all traded victories among themselves, making for a tight grouping. But Eric Miltenburg continued his supremacy, winning each game 6-2 to take the Pool B title. Bob Jones would finish 2nd with 11 points, ahead of Ron Reesor at 10, and Howard Martin at 8.

In Pool A, a group of 3 clearly separated themselves as the best in the bunch, while another group of 3 couldn’t manage to find any separation between themselves at all. Ray Beierling earned the top spot with 54 points through 10 games. Andrew Hutchinson and Robert Bonnett filed in behind at 52 points each. Ray Beierling’s 99 20s were the best score of the group, just ahead of 98 20s from Hutchinson, but it was Hutchinson who once again scored the only perfect round when he did so against Clare Kuepfer. 

It was a gap of 8 points until the 4th and final spot in the playoffs, and it was Reid Tracey, Jeremy Tracey and Nathan Walsh who all tied at 44 points. In their head-to-head games, Jeremy Tracey had earned a 5-3 victory over Walsh, but had been beaten 8-0 by Reid Tracey, and Reid’s playoff birth was secured with a 4-4 tie to Walsh.

Finishing 8th in his first NCA event was Joe Klages, who put on an impressive debut, highlighted by . . . well a string of highlight shots in his second round game against Jon Conrad. 

Clare Kuepfer and Nolan Tracey also made some highlights as they traded follow-through 20s in their second round match.

So the final 4 round robin was set. Ray Beierling was making his 3rd straight final 4 in Owen Sound, and 5th in 6 attempts at the tournament. Robert Bonnett was making his 2nd final 4 in Owen Sound, and his first final 4 appearance since the 2017 World Championships, while Reid Tracey found himself in his first ever top 4. 

And for Andrew Hutchinson, it was his first final 4 in Owen Sound. In 2015 he had made his fingers debut and won Pool B: a terrific start. In 2016 he finished 5th for the first time in his NCA career: clearly he was on a mission to exercise demons.

The Final 4 round robin games began in a deadlocked fashion with Beierling/Tracey and Bonnett/Hutchinson both drawing 4-4. Beierling then edged into first place with a 6-2 win over Bonnett, while Hutchinson and Tracey tied their game, leaving everything to play for in the final game of the round robin.

Hutchinson earned a 3rd straight draw to Beierling to finish with 12 points, sitting behind Beierling’s 14, and only able to advance if Bonnett and Tracey tied, or if Bonnett beat Tracey 5-3. Bonnett led his final game against Tracey 5-1, but Tracey managed to pull out the last 2 points, causing both Bonnett and Tracey to finish at 11 points, and setting up a Hutchinson vs Beierling final.

The spread of 14 points in 1st, to 11 points in 4th was incredibly tight, but in fact it wasn’t the closest top 4 round robin that crokinole has seen. In 2016, the Owen Sound C Pool was won by Derek McKie with 13 points, while the other 3 players scored 12, 12 and 11 points. Making a tournament final after drawing 3 straight games also isn’t unheard of in Owen Sound, as Nathan Walsh accomplished the feat in 2014, before being defeated by Ray Beierling in the final.

Amazingly, coming into the match, Ray Beierling and Andrew Hutchinson had already played each other 5 times in elimination games. Hutchinson won the first meeting, but since Beierling had earned 4 straight victories. 

Beierling v Hutchinson H2H

• 2016 Hamilton Semifinal: Hutchinson def Beierling 6-4, 6-2
• 2016 London Final: Beierling def Hutchinson 10-0
• 2016 New York Semifinal: Beierling def Hutchinson 10-4
• 2017 London Semifinal: Beierling def Hutchinson 9-7
• 2018 ODCC Semifinal: Beierling/Beierling def Hutchinson/Reinman

The first to 11 points final began beautifully for Hutchinson, as he made several hangar 20s that were left by Ray Beierling in the first round, to open the match with a steal of 2 points. Hutchinson would similarly get the edge in the second round thanks to a hangar 20 to extend his advantage to 4-0. 

Ray Beierling would get on the board in the 3rd round after getting an early open 20 miss from Hutchinson, which he successfully defended. The next 3 rounds would proceed similarly with the first shooting player missing first, and the hammer holding solidly without too much drama, leading to an 8-4 Hutchinson scoreline.

Round 7 would prove to be pivotal, as Ray Beierling, trailing in the 20 count, pressed hard for a follow-through 20 that ultimately came up short. Hutchinson, perhaps showing some nerves, got a roughly-hit hangar 20 to go, but then promptly eliminated all the nerves on his next shot, scoring a terrific follow-through 20 of his own to go up 10-4. Hutchinson would clinch the match in the next round following a couple more hangar 20 conversions, to win the match and the Scenic City Crokinole Classic, 12-4.

So Andrew Hutchinson follows in the paths of Louis Gauthier (2013) and Roy Campbell (2015), who both also won their first NCA titles at the Scenic City Crokinole Classic, while Ray Beierling unfortunately finishes as the runner-up for the 3rd year in a row, following those two spectacular finals he had against Jon Conrad in 2016 and 2017.

While Hutchinson doesn’t own the NCA record for 5th place finishes, since he joined the NCA Tour, no one has been 5th more often. But with Hutchinson winning his first NCA title at the site of his first 5th place finish, are the 5th place demons now gone? Time will have to tell.

NCA Tournament 5th Place Finishes

Player	# 5th Place Finishes	Since Fall 2015
Andrew Hutchinson	5	5
Clare Kuepfer	6	3
Eric Miltenburg	8	1
Fred Slater	6	1
Jason Beierling	8	2
Jon Conrad	6	2
Nathan Walsh	7	4
Ray Beierling	7	1
Rex Johnston	5	3

The next NCA Tour stop is in January of 2019, when the crokinole crowd heads to land where 20s grow on trees: Hamilton, Ontario. For the 2018-2019 Tour, only 3 events remain. Justin Slater leads the pack, but both Ray Beierling and Jason Beierling are one tournament victory away from drawing dead even at the top of pack, while Andrew Hutchinson, Roy Campbell and Jeremy Tracey all eye their career-best Tour finishes in 2019.

2018-2019 NCA Tour Standings

Rank	Player	Points
1	Justin Slater	197
2	Ray Beierling	192
3	Jason Beierling	190
4	Andrew Hutchinson	183
5	Roy Campbell	177
6	Jeremy Tracey	173

Beierlings defeat Slaters in Nail-Biter for Ontario Championship

In recent history, the discussion of the best doubles team in crokinole was centred around 2 teams. While Conrad & (insert partner) consistently had impressive performances, the solidified partnerships of Ray and Jason Beierling, and Fred and Justin Slater, have by far the best resumes. And as they did in 2014 and 2016, these two distinguished teams met in the final to determine the Ontario Doubles Champions.

The Brucefield United Church hosted the provincial event, which featured a record-tying attendance of 58 players, with 14 competitive teams and 15 recreational doubles teams.

The competitive doubles teams played a full round robin of 13 games, with the first 7 games taking place in the morning. Roy Campbell and Jeremy Tracey, fresh off a 2nd place World Championship finish, had the best start, scoring 44 points, and they were followed closely by the Beierling’s at 40 points. 

Sitting tied for 3rd at the halfway point were Connor Reinman/Andrew Hutchinson and Cor Vanden Hoven/Ron Reesor, both at 36 points. Sitting 4 points back of the playoff spots were the teams of Justin Slater/Fred Slater, Clare Kuepfer/Neil Cook, and Dwayne Campbell/Christina Campbell, who all had 32 points looking to gain ground in the afternoon. Also not too far out of the playoff mix were the brother teams of Reid Tracey/Nolan Tracey and Tom Johnston/Rex Johnston, who were tied for 8th at 30 points.

In the afternoon the Recreational division had been split top-half/bottom-half based on the morning performance. In the B division, the team of Eileen Bell and Wayne Bell, and Carmen Hodgkinson and Evelyn Hodgkinson scored well with 27 and 30 points respectively, but neither was enough to make it into the finals. Doreen Sulkye and Marilyn Thompson earned the top seed with 34 points, while the tournament-debut of Garret Tracey and Ernie Lightfoot led to the second seed at 31 points. In the “first to 9 points” final, Sulkye and Thompson used the hammer advantage to scrap out a narrow 10-8 victory.

In the Recreational A division, several new partnerships led to high scores with Peter Carter and Perry Carter scoring 33 points for 3rd place, while Ron Langill and John Lichty scored 36 points for 2nd. Meanwhile, the Vanden Hovens, Rich and Tony, finished 1st with 39 points to claim the other spot in the final. While not as thrilling as the 10-8 finish in the B division, the final had its moments of excitement before Rich Vanden Hoven and Tony Vanden Hoven won the match.

In the competition division, the Slaters had the strongest afternoon with 37 points in 6 games, propelling them up to 3rd place and a spot in the semifinals. The Beierlings scored 34 points to Campbell/Tracey’s 30 points, leading to a tie for 1st at 74 points. The Beierlings earned the first seed by way of head-to-head tiebreaker. Connor Reinman and Andrew Hutchinson finished with 32 points in the afternoon, for a total of 68 points and the 4th seed for the semifinals. Missing the playoffs, that left Reesor/Vanden Hoven in 5th place as they totalled 64 points, and Kuepfer/Cook in 6th place as they finished with 60 points.

Strangely the 2018 semi-finals were nearly a perfect match to that of 2017:

• the top seeded team of Ray and Jason Beierling playing the 4th seed of Connor Reinman and partner
• the 2nd seed of Jeremy Tracey and Roy Campbell playing the 3rd seed of Justin and Fred Slater

The only non-constant between the two years was the partner of Reinman, which was Nathan Walsh in 2017 (who partnered with Gloria Walsh in 2018), now swapped out for Andrew Hutchinson (who needed a new partner to substitute for the vacationing Jon Conrad).

Curiously the similarities continued in the Slater/Slater v Campbell/Tracey semifinal. Just as in 2017, the 2018 match began with Campbell/Tracey holding their first hammer for a 2-0 lead, which was followed by Slater/Slater winning the next 8 points for an 8-2 lead in the “first to 9” match. The 2018 match saw the Slaters gain early leads in nearly every round, forcing their opponents to make tough shots to come back. What was somewhat unusual for the aggressive, creative and shot-making pair of Campbell/Tracey, was that they struggled to score takeout-20s in those rounds to level the score. The Slaters held their hammer and won the 6th round of the match to make the Ontario final for the 3rd straight year.

In Reinman’s 2017 semifinal with the Beierlings, he and Walsh were able to sweep the match 10-0, and Reinman began the 2018 semifinal in that direction as he and Hutchinson (both choosing to sport University of Michigan sweaters on the day) made it 2-0 against the hammer. Reinman/Hutchinson had the edge in the 2nd round as well, but the turning point was when Jason Beierling protracted a disc into the 20 from the farthest edge of the board (so far that they needed a flash light measure), on the way to winning the round for 2-2. 

The following rounds fed into the bread-and-butter of Ray Beierling’s game with many Open 20s scored that all favoured the Beierlings on their way to an 8-2 lead. In the 6th round, the Beierlings just needing one more point, left their final disc hidden beyond the pegs on the far side of the board. Hutchinson, needing a takeout and stick, took a good amount of time to compose himself and successfully made the shot for 8-4.

Down early in the 7th round, Hutchinson scored an amazing ricochet and peg-rub 20 (the star shot on what was one of many terrific shots for Hutchinson in the match; the full video for that one is going to be great). However, the Beierlings stayed extremely well focussed and made every Open 20 they needed to close out the match 10-4.

And so the final was set for Slater/Slater v Beierling/Beierling, with the winner to earn another point in their favour for who is the best doubles team in crokinole. Both teams have had strong recent performances at the World Championships, with the Slaters winning 3 times and finishing in the top 4 5 times since 2012. While the Beierlings have made the top 4 at the World Championships every year since 2013, and picked up the 2018 title. At the ODCC, the Slaters three prior appearances resulted in 2 2nds, and one victory, to go along with what was now their 4th overall, and 3rd straight finals appearance. For the Beierlings, now all 9 years of the ODCC resulted in top 4 finishes, with 4 victories, and 2018 being their 7th trip to the finals.

It’s only fair in this “best team in recent history” discussion to mention Tony Snyder and Jon Conrad, who have 2 wins and a 2nd place finish at the WCC, along with a 2nd and 3rd place from the ODCC. And, while stretching the definition of “recent history” it would be thorough to mention the team of Fred Slater and Brian Cook, who went a perfect 3 for 3 in ODCC appearances, and even added a provincial British Columbia doubles title to their record.

Getting back to the 2018 championship match, it was the third head-to-head finals match of Beierlings v Slaters, with the Beierlings winning 2014, and the Slaters in 2016 (apparently Jason Beierling was breaking down video footage of the 2016 match the prior evening).

The first two rounds of the “first to 11 points” final went against the hammer. Lots of 20s were scored in the 3rd round, but Ray Beierling’s follow through 20 that bounced off a peg was decisive as the Beierlings held their hammer for 4-2.

The 4th round saw lots of interesting positional shots and discussion, including lots of whispering from a large and engaged crowd that stuck around to watch the final. The Beierlings had an extra 20, but the Slaters had 2 discs on the board. Jason’s final takeout and roll attempt lost the shooter, leaving a Slater 5 and an open board for Justin on the final shot. He’d just missed for a 15, tying the round; 5-3 for the Beierlings.

The Slaters would make it 5-5, and despite being down in the 20 count, put on significant pressure. Twice Justin left discs perfectly next to the peg forcing Ray to just tap. Justin Slater then scored a follow through 20 that would narrow the gap enough for the Slaters to tie the round and make the match 6-6.

Interesting strategy choices and execution errors were the themes of the 7th and 8th rounds. The Beierlings missed a a tap-up-assist play in the 7th round that took the pressure off the Slaters, as they led 8-6. But in the 8th round, Fred Slater’s attempt to spoil a hangar 20 chance for the opponents, led to him removing all of his discs on the board. Once Jason Beierling scored the crucial open 20 on the next shot, the Beierlings were well on their way to 8-8.

After making it 10-8, the Beierlings were only one point away from the title and secured an early lead in the 10th round. They then used some great disc placement to prevent a comeback, and took the Ontario Doubles Crokinole Championship 12-8.

With the win, Ray and Jason Beierling tie Fred Slater’s record with 4 Ontario Doubles titles. Also, 2018 marks the 3rd straight year that the Doubles World Champion(s) have went on to win the Ontario Doubles tournament immediately after (Slaters in 2016, Nathan Walsh in 2017, Beierling in 2018).

The victory and tournament results are also significant for the NCA Tour. Justin Slater now has 197 points (3 victories and a 2nd place finish), followed by Jason Beierling at 190 (2 victories, 2nd, 4th) and Ray Beierling at 184 (2 victories, 3rd, 7th). Roy Campbell and Andrew Hutchinson are currently rounding out the top 5 on the Tour, with the next stop being the 2017 Scenic City Crokinole Classic in Owen Sound on November 24th.

J. Slater defeats J. Beierling in Belleville

The 2018 calendar year has been one of Justin Slater’s best, which is saying something for a player of his calibre and resume. Coming into Belleville, Slater had won the singles events in Hamilton, London, St. Jacobs, the World Championships, and Turtle Island: 5 victories in 6 events. The single blemish being a 2nd place finish in Kitchener at the Joseph Schneider Haus event. The winner of that event, by just one single point over Slater, was Jason Beierling, and the two would meet again in the finals of the 2018 Belleville Crokinole Challenge.

The Quinte Region Crokinole Club (QRCC) welcomed 38 players from Kingston, Oshawa, Toronto, Kitchener, London, Owen Sound, Hamilton and Penetanguishene. Chris Gorsline opened up the day with some scripted comments on rules and tournament format, mixed in with off-the-cuff humour, and then play began.

Fred Slater led all morning scores with 62 points and 91 20s in 10 games, with Nathan Walsh finishing 2nd with 61 points, and Justin Slater finishing 3rd with an adjusted 10-game score of 60 points (by virtue of the rotation some players only played 9 games, Slater scored 54 points in those 9 games). The top 20 score of the morning round came from Roger Vaillancourt who scored 98 20s through 9 games (equivalent to 109 20s through 10 games).

The top 13 scores from the morning advanced to Pool A for the afternoon, which included several NCA-regulars with a long resume of crokinole success, and tournament rookies Tim Burgess and John Wood, who made a strong impression and quickly became players to watch out for. Also making the afternoon A pool were the Tracey trio (Jeremy, Reid and Nolan), which was impressive considering all 3 were placed into the same pool in the morning round.

John McFeeters, Peter Tarle and Shirley Sager just missed the Pool A cutoff (McFeeters by 2 points, Tarle and Sager by 3), while Clare Kuepfer grabbed the 13th and final spot in Pool A with 48 points in 10 games. The cutoff for Pool B also saw a couple players just missing out with Jo-Ann Carter earning the final spot with 36 points in 10 games, beating out Barrie Wood by 2 points, and Dave Brown by 3 points.

In the afternoon, Pool C was led by Len Chard at 51 points and 63 20s in 9 games. Bob Leggett grabbed the 2nd seed with 49 points, Peter Klaassen was 3rd with 45 points, and tournament rookie Maradyn Wood earned the final playoff spot with 43.2 points (48 points in 10 games, adjusted down to 9). For the second time in the day, Dave Brown just missed the cutoff, finishing 5th with 39 points.

In Pool B, it was Eric Miltenburg, playing for the first time representing the flag of the Quinte Club, earning the top seed with 53 points in 10 games. Peter Tarle was second with 51 points and a group-high 78 20s, with Chris Gorsline closely behind at 49 points. And the final semifinal spot was earned by John McFeeters at 43 points, edging out the 41 points of Brian Miltenburg.

The A pool was led by Jason Beierling, who scored 51 points in 9 games (adjust to 56.7 points in 10 games), followed by Justin Slater at 53 points. Andrew Hutchinson scored 43 points in 9 games (equivalent to 47.77 over 10 games), while Nathan Walsh earned the 4th seed with 47 points. The 5th and 6th place spots were close behind with Jeremy Tracey at a 10-game adjusted score of 45.55 points, and Fred Slater at 45 points.

The 20s scores were somewhat incredible in Pool A with Walsh scoring 115 20s, including his 2nd perfect round of the tournament, but that was only the 3rd highest 20 score in the pool. Ray Beierling, who finished 7th, scored 105 20s in 9 games, which normalizes to 117 20s in 10 games, and Jason Beierling scored 118 20s in 9 games, which translates to a huge 131 20s. Truly some fantastic 20s scores for being very early in the crokinole season.

After a quick explainer of the Quinte Convention, the semifinals were able to get underway. For those unaware, the Quinte Convention was first introduced in 2012, and although it’s had some tweaks has generally stayed true to form. While opinions on playoff formats vary greatly between individuals, it’s generally acknowledged that the Quinte Convention, and the Belleville tournament, was the first event to remove the advantage of hammer in a head-to-head match. (To explain further: under the World Championship final format, 2 perfectly equal opponents will eventually find themselves tied with only one tiebreaker round to play. In that instance, one player has the inherent, and some would argue unfair, advantage of having an extra round with the hammer advantage.)

The Quinte playoff format is a best 2 out of 3 games, but each game only plays a maximum of 4 rounds, meaning it is possible for a game to end in a tie at 4-4. If after 3 games the players are tied (either by drawing all 3 games 4-4, or by drawing one game 4-4 and each winning one of the other 2 games), the match proceeds to the Quinte Convention tiebreaker. The tiebreaker involves pairs of 2 rounds being played, so each player has the hammer once. If, after a pair of rounds is completed, the score is either 3-1 or 4-0, the match is over. If the score is 2-2, then another pair of 2 rounds is played. A maximum of 4 pairs of rounds (a total of 8 extra rounds) is played, and if still tied the match ends via a 20 shootout (which has yet to be required in the history of the Quinte Convention).

In the C Pool semifinals, Len Chard progressed 6-2, 6-0 against Maradyn Wood, while Peter Klaassen defeated Bob Leggett 6-0, 5-3. In the finals, Len Chard emerged victorious, winning 4-4, 6-2, 4-4 over Klaassen.

In Pool B, Peter Tarle defeated Chris Gorsline 5-1, 6-2, while Eric Miltenburg and John McFeeters required the Quinte Convention to determine a winner. McFeeters won the first game 5-3 and led 4-0 in game 2, before Miltenburg staved off elimination by winning the next 4 points to tie game 2 4-4, and then send the match to extra rounds with a 6-2 game 3 win. Miltenburg prevailed in the first set of extra rounds 4-0 to make the final. Peter Tarle won the final match by a score of 4-4, 6-2, 4-2 (having already secured the match by earning at least a tie in the 3rd game) to win Pool B and the Reg Chisholm Memorial trophy.

The A Pool semifinals saw Andrew Hutchinson and Justin Slater facing off in a rematch of their Turtle Island semifinal from one month ago, while Jason Beierling and Nathan Walsh played each for the first time in a singles playoff encounter. Hutchinson and Slater played a brilliantly tied match, with Hutchinson winning game one 6-2, and Slater winning game two by the same score. In game 3, Hutchinson won the first 2 points against the hammer, only to have Slater return the favour and then lead 4-2 threatening to take the match. But Hutchinson pulled out the final round to tie it 4-4. The first pair of extra rounds was split 2-2, before Slater won the final pair 4-0 to make the final.

In the other semifinal, it looked like one-way traffic for a while with Walsh leading 5-1, 4-0, but Jason Beierling came back from the brink to make game 2 4-4. Walsh then won the first round of game 3, and needing only a 3rd game tie, was 2 points from the finals. But again Beierling fought back, winning the next 3 rounds to take game 3 6-2, and then winning first set of extra rounds to make the final (5 rounds "on the trot" as they would say in England).

It was Jason Beierling’s and Justin Slater’s first meeting in a singles final, with their last playoff meeting being the St. Jacobs semifinal won 10-6 by Slater. Game 1 saw both players play their first hammer rounds solidly for a score of 2-2, and then saw both players trade costly errors leading to 2 steals for a 4-4 tie to game 1. In game 2, Slater was very opportunistic and converted each of the few hangar 20 opportunities that were left to him, and after a steal and 2 hammer holds, Slater had won game 2 6-0.

The tension built in game 3, with Beierling accumulating a couple of discs on the board following Slater errors. Slater scored a touch-20 and was rewarded when Beierling’s open 20 shot slipped through the house. However, only up one 20, Slater faced two opposing discs on his final shot. After a long analysis Slater’s shot resulted in only a single-takeout and a missed 20. Beierling made the successful hit and stick to lead 2-0. Round 2 was more structured with Beierling missing an early 20 and Slater comfortably maintaining the lead throughout the round to make it 2-2. Beierling, now facing elimination, won the 3rd round in a similar fashion with superior 20 scoring even when facing pressure after Slater scored a touch 20 to take what was a temporary 20 lead. 

In the fourth round, Slater needing 2 points to win the title, Beierling missed his first open 20, but immediately scored a follow-through 20 to get back on track. Slater answered strongly with a couple open 20s until Beierling missed short on his 4th shot and was again looking for takeout-20 opportunities. One came later on this 6th shot when he expertly took out a disc in-between the pegs and had his shooter rebound perfectly off the peg into the 20 hole. But again, Slater scored the open 20, prompting Jason to recall a popular Jon Conrad quip, “counts as much as that.” Beierling would leave a hangar on his 7th shot, which Slater scored for a 20 to clinch the match and the Belleville title 4-4, 6-0, 4-4.

With the results of Belleville in the books and the Ontario Doubles Championships coming up soon, the NCA Tour standings already seem to be taking shape. Justin Slater is out to a big lead with 3 victories and 188 points, while Ray Beierling is 2nd with 172 points. Jason Beierling only has 3 events scored in his rankings at the moment, but sits second in points average with 46.7.