NEW YEAR GREETINGS
Our winter weather thus far has taken us on a roller coaster ride with alternating warm and cold spells. This mirrors what many of our Association members have experienced with their scores in both league and tournament play. In this, our January Newsletter, we will explore many of the better and at times surprising efforts achieved by our bowlers.
HIGH LOW DOUBLES TOURNEY
The High Low Doubles tourney held at Bowlerama on January 9th saw 16 duos battle over three games to earn the right to represent our Hamilton Association at the provincial finals at the Sherwood Centre on February 25th, with the winners receiving trips for two to the sunny south next November. Terry Farrell and Jerry Fudge of the Tuesday Mixed League at Mountain Lanes romped to a convincing victory beating their combined averages by 298 pins as Jerry jolted a 707 triple and Terry tossed an impressive 614.
Terry also earned family bragging rights over husband Gerry, who teamed up with Stephanie Sherwood from the same league to finish second with a 148 tally. Terry Reardon and Zach Colwell from the HSR League at Sherwood garnered third place with plus 135, while Will Forsey and Chris Carpenter of the Men’s Beach League at Mountain snared fourth with plus 109. The duo of Susan Burns and Tim Jeffery of the Hamilton Mixed Triples league claimed fifth topping their averages by 29 pins.
ONTARIO OPEN ZONE QUALIFYING TOURNEY
The four Hamilton Association teams who will represent us in the prestigious Ontario Open 5 Pin Championships next April in Hamilton were determined by a 20 game roll off [10 games for seniors] in December. Leading the charge are Mitch Davies who delivered 5361, a 268 average for the men, and Krista Derkach rolled 4836, a 241 average to top the ladies. Hamilton is always competitive in the Open and 2017 should prove to be no exception. Eric Ridgeway was a close second to Mitch with a 5330 score and this duo will lead the men’s team of Dave Birkby, Matt Houston, Mike Johns and Ross Varlow, along with coach, Jeff Forester. Joining Krista on the ladies team, coached by Matt Wieland, are Cynthia Wieland, Chantal Papineau, Keri Bates, Kayla Birkby, and Kassie Bleses.
The mixed team features John Conti, Martin Talbot and Eric Milne for the men, with the ladies represented by Sara Deneault, Allison MacDonell and Amber Ashton. Coach Geoff Dunn will guide this crew. Shawn Barrow, who missed qualifying by a mere 12 pins, will be the alternate bowler for the men, and Kristi Fraser for the ladies. Sara Deneault had the high tourney single with a 365.
Our senior mixed 2017 team is led by Roger Bleses who bowled 2516 for his 10 games. Guy Vernon and Russ Ruggles join Roger, along with the thre lady qualifiers, Denise Clause, Susan Burns, and Sue Wlken. Association President, Norm Macdonald, is entrusted with coaching this team.
MEN’S BEACH LEAGUE
Brian Muir reports that in this league at Mountain Lanes Renato Santoro is carrying the hot hand. Since our last Newsletter, Renato has bumped his average by 14 pins, thanks to very consistent bowling. Mind you an excellent 866 triple was a major contributor. Mark Roberts has increased his average by 9 pins, while Tyron Harvey is up 7 pins. Dave Bentley continues to dominate the scoring with his league leading with a 262 average. He also holds the top triple of 958 along with a 922. Dave Muir rolled an 847, while Duncan Maclellan dealt an 846.
Congratulations go to their leagues High-Low winners Bart Lintott and Rick Needham, who were +527 over average during four weeks of competition.
HAMILTON SPORTS AND REC LEAGUE
Steve Marshall has been the focus of recent high award winning scores in this mixed league at Sherwood. Triples of 842 with a 335 single and 780 will garner plenty of attention. Marv Rioux also made some noise with steady triples of 734 and 733, including a 309 single. Rob Winger rolled a 760 triple to top a 726 triple from Gord Winger. Other solid triples came from Greg Witley 697, Ann Primmer 648 and Tim Forbes 642.
Award winning singles saw Tim Forbes with a 162 average fire a 286, while Jason Adams topped his 184 average by exactly 100 pins with his 284. Jim Hamilton hit for a 270, and Irene Bannerman bowled a 249.
YOUTH CHALLENGE PROVINCIALS
The Hamilton team won silver medals at the Youth Challenge provincial finals held in Oshawa on January 15th. Also, Marin Middleton from Mountain Lanes qualified for the Ontario ladies team headed for the National Championships in Ottawa on March 25-26 with the second highest score of 1427 for six games. Talen McGraw from Bowlerama qualified as an alternate for the Ontario team with the fourth highest qualifying score of 1455 for his six games.
The men’s team qualified first in their division, knocking off Ottawa in the first game of the playoffs, before falling to Niagara in the finals. The silver sluggers, coached by Bob Walters, included Talen McGraw, Matthew Hounsome of Waterdown, and a trio of bowlers from Mountain, Jakob Bes, Jack Crawford, and Jarret Couchman. The Hamilton ladies team finished seventh among the 13 competitors, while our mixed team placed ninth.
HAMILTON WENTWORTH MIXED
TRIPLES LEAGUE
In the continuing battle for top average in this 18 team mixed league at Sherwood, Martin Talbot has surged to a five pin lead over Mitch Davies. Talbot tops out at 265, with Davies dealing at a 260 pace. Dave Birkby claims third place at 253, followed by Dave Bentley 251, and Ross Varlow 250. Rounding out the top 10 are Matt Wieland and Matt Houston at 245, Mike Johns and John Conti at 244, and Jim Davies at 241. With the league four weeks into series two the trio of Brock Hill, Dave Copeland and Kristy Luker have a 10 point lead over Amber Ashton, Michelle Murray and Lindsay Laporte.
Early in the race for most wins Michelle Murray leads with 11, Brock Hill has 10.5 with Gord Burns and Dave Copeland with 10 each.
GOLDEN HORSESHOE LEAGUE
The league average score for this eight team loop at Bowlerama is 205.9 [excluding spares], according to statistics guru Norm Macdonald. At the top end of the league scores we find David Roberts with a healthy 241 mark. Also enjoying considerable success are Talen McGraw 235, Adam Blais 233, Rob Macdonald 225, Dave Crocker 224, Larry Cooper 220, and Don Dykeman 220.
After 20 weeks of play the team play the Macdonald trio of Norm, Bob and Josh along with Kevin McConnell holds first place, pursued feverishly by Rick Kunkel, Rick Bender, David Roberts, Don Dykeman and Talen McGraw.