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Oct
29

Candlepin Pro Series Season 4, Event #4 – Singles Knockout

Another exciting Pro Series tournament took place on Saturday October 20, 2012 up in Westbrook, ME. As Rich spotlighted in a previous post, the tournament was held at West-Port Lanes where proprietors Rose and Pam treated the Pro Series with utmost hospitality! This tournament was a five-string qualifier and required two shifts. As some readers may have realized, I’ve been adding a personal perspective to my Pro Series write-ups, and I’m going to just that.

I decided to bowl during the first shift because it gives me an opportunity to catch up with other bowlers that I haven’t seen over the last month since the prior tournament. The first shift was quite small, only 17 bowlers, and I happened to come in third for the first shift with a 576. I’m certainly not bragging because there were some pretty serious scores posted during this tournament especially considering how tough the house was (in my opinion). The reason I say that this place is tough is because the drops that people were getting after their first ball were extremely unpredictable. Pocket shots were not guaranteed to leave you with a nice spare leave. This, of course, could just sum up to the fact that this is a type of house that I’m simply not used to bowling at. I grew up at Malden Sq. Bowladrome. For those familiar with this house, you understand that it is moderately fast. Luckily, 576 was enough for me to make the cut! I placed twenty-fifth out of the top thirty-two bowlers.

Upon the conclusion of the second shift, I found out that I would be going against Nick Norcross. If you noticed Nick’s qualifying score of 634, you’ve also noticed that I had an uphill battle. I’ve known Nick for quite a while now, and he’s a great bowler so I felt a little bit of pressure. I started off fairly well, and for about three boxes or so, I had the lead. But do you remember what I said about this place being tough? This comes into place with the fills that I dropped on my spares. I remember having at least one 3-fill, which was a killer. Nick maintained his calm-natured approach and pinned very well. He picked up a couple more spares than I did to finish with a 120. My final score was a 106, and the fills on my spares made all the difference (in addition to the fact that I missed a single pin spare!).

From then on I was a spectator, and I got to watch some pretty diesel matches. I even got to keep score for Dean Sullivan and Steve Walker. I must say….Dean Sullivan is unstoppable! (Well, almost). I’ve never seen him bowl before and he charges hard. Not only were his qualifying scores high, but his elimination round scores were intimidating as well. He seemed to have run out of steam in the finals match while facing Jimbo Ayotte, who threw a sensational 155 string to crown himself the 2012 Candlepin Pro Series Singles Knockout Champion.

To wrap up, (and I said I was going to get personal here) what I’m most happy about with this tournament is that I qualified for my favorite format tournament. If you look back at Rich Limone’s Bowler Spotlight on me, I mentioned that the singles events are my favorite because you have to qualify on your own and march through the knockout/elimination rounds on your own. Though I didn’t make it much farther than the qualifying round, I came through and I can be proud about that.

With this, we look onward to the November Candlepin Pro Series Tournament which is a Doubles Knockout being held at Lucky Strike Lanes in Lynn, MA which is the home of the Barber family! Details of this tournament can be found on the Pro Series Website.

As always, remember to follow the Candlepin Pro Series Twitter account @candlepinseries. You can also follow my personal Candlepin Twitter account by following @CandlepinFrank!



 October 29th, 2012  
 Frank DeLuca  
 Pro Series  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
23

Friday Night Pro Week 8

Full standing for week 8 can be found here.

We have our double match this week, besides having matches on October 26th and November 2nd we will have a match in between the two dates.  My impression is that the 26th will be in Week 9, and the following match and November 2nd will be in Week 10.  Again, only a guess.

Update: So when someone handsome emails you, you listen.  Thanks Dennis!  That was kind of messy.  Got it now.  October 26th is week 9, the extra match is week 10, November 2nd is week 11.  I butchered it.  Most likely the standings will be posted with week 9, and then week 10 and 11 in conjunction.  I think that’s what I was for with that ugly little sentence, yeah.

 October 23rd, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Friday Night Pro  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
23

Pro Series Event #4 – Singles Knockout

One thing I’ve come to learn while bowling is consistency.  Up at West-Port Lanes in Westbrook, Maine this past weekend the Pro Series had it’s fourth event – third counting for points.  This time it was the singles knockout.  Everyone throws their five strings and the top thirty two faces off in the knockout.  In this event there are no byes, so it’s 1 vs. 32, 2 vs, 31 and so on.

The best part of my day as you can see on the right was Pam’s “Ball Scoopah”.  During the first string one of my balls came off the ball return and was off the alley.  Pam had to use the ball scoopah to grab it for me before the start of the second string.

So back to consistency.  In practice I was smooth as silk.  Pins were FLYING compared to the week earlier when I practiced with Frank and my darling, loving WIFE Anna (see, there it is, in black and white, I said my wife!).  The big thing with West-Port Lanes is that you have to take what it gives you.  You have to be consistent – which I clearly wasn’t.  I started out well throwing a 114 and a 111.

There were these people back in US History, they had these little carts pulled by horses to go out west toward California – yeah, that’s it, wagons!  Right!  My wagon could have had steel wheels soldered with titanium and they still would have fallen off with how I poorly bowled in the third and fourth.  I became in one word – erratic.  I started moving around, thinking I was too far back, I tried mixing speeds, or even changing the angle of my arm.  I should have stayed in the SAME spot, and kept the SAME angle, and maybe the same speed depending on the shot.  I was just a mess.  I finished 60th in the qualifying round with a 519, and that nets me five Pro Series points which is better than getting zero points all together.  I know what I did wrong, and I need to keep that in mind for future events.  If you’re in a place where your hitting the 2-pin or the 3-pin instead of the head pin, learn quickly how to crush it until you find that headpin.  The key is not doinking just the 2-pin or the 3-pin which I did – only once so not bad in 50 boxes.  It was a tough house and I loved it.  I had a lot of fun bowling, and it was great hanging out with those guys up there.

Now onto the cut.

I’m going to leave out scores and such.  I am sure that Everything Candlepin’s Pro Series writer Dave Barber will cover many of those scores for you.  You’ll also be able to find everything at the Pro Series site once it’s posted.

The knockout for this event is cool because of the scoring system.  Since it’s the one that projects and you write the scores, the bowlers in the knockout don’t score themselves.  So even though I was eliminated I was still part of it (sort of).  I managed to score two first round matches – the first being Craig Holbrook vs. Jeff Surette and the second being Jonathan Bourdreau vs. Steve Walker.  Two great matches out of the gate.  I can write it cause it’s true.  Jeff struggled most of the day, and his highlight, and mine for that matter was when I got him a beer after a particularly tough half and he said “I love you”.  I think he said I love you one  time more than my darling, loving wife Anna did while in the bowling alley on this day!  Back to the knockout.  Craig Holbrook caught the breaks, and carried the pins and bowled well.  I watched as Jeff doinked the 2-pin just as I did, and I think that summed up his day pretty well.  Any chance that he had to claw back West-Port lanes said “no”.  Such is life.

The second match was just as entertaining as the first.  Jonathan and Steve battled back and forth and the lead changed hand a few times as marks just kept happening on opposite boxes.  It was close until the very end of the match as Steve pulled out two quick spares, and managed to edge Jonathan moving onward to the round of sixteen.  Watching Craig, Jeff, Jon, and Steve bowl on those lanes I can’t imagine what it was like qualifying on those lanes – they just looked tough.

During the round of sixteen I watched Jay Shiner square off with Pro Series vet Chris Boisvert.  Chris is simply Chris.  It’s not the New England Patriots philosophy on defense of “bend don’t break” because Chris doesn’t bend – ever.  He’s one of the steadiest bowlers on tour and when it comes to the knockout rounds he’s even tougher.  That’s not to say his opponent didn’t have a shot.  Jay Shiner stepped in fresh off a 391 the night before at Central Park Lanes in East Boston – helping an upstart Candlewood squad take eight points off of Central I, a tough team in any building.  I’ve seen people throw perfect games before, but Jay threw TWO IN A ROW in the second and third string Friday night.  Not only that, but he also dispatched Scott Lapierre in the first round as well, certainly no joke in the Pro Series.  If there was a bowler that could come in and do something silly it could be Jay.  Unfortunately for both bowlers, West-Port once again said “no!” and the game was a battle of attrition as tens and nines were going to win this match, not marks since pins were left all over the deck no matter where they both hit.  Chris showed his veteran presence and capitalized when he could to advance to the next round.  Jay summed up the match by saying blankly “I lost the head pin and I don’t know where it went”.  Winning the first match is tough enough, carrying the momentum forward is no easy task.  We’ll get ‘em at the next event Jay when we’re at Lucky Strike.

I don’t want to detail everything, so will leave some of that to Frank De Luca and Dave Barber as they will also post about this event.  Since Windell Middlebrooks couldn’t make it Maine, Miller High Life hired a new delivery guy.  Here is Mike MacIntosh paying for the bar bill at the event directly to Miller High Life.

Can you see how full that envelope is?  I know that we can drink, and I was part of it, but did we drink that much?  Okay, so really we know that this isn’t the delivery guy, but Jimbo Ayotte, one of New Hampshire’s finest.  He was our eventual champion on the day defeating foe after foe in the early rounds and finishing off Dean Sullivan in the final.  There will be coverage of the finals coming up shortly.

Needless to say, Windell Middlebrooks is the Miller High Life delivery guy from the TV commercials.

Way to go Jimbo!

Thank you to West-Port Lanes for a fun filled day.  You made it extra special for us and we wouldn’t change it for the world.  Thanks again!  We hope to see you soon.

 October 23rd, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Pro Series  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
21

Big Game – Bent’s Contracting

Fellow Candlewood teammate Justin Scali passed along a note to me that the Bent’s Contracting string was caught on film by John “Urbie” Kafalas.

Here is the video – in the flesh!

 October 21st, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Big Games  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
18

Big Game – Bent’s Contracting

Big game after big game, this is great!  I got another email from Kenj a few minutes ago so I will share it with you here and now.  I don’t even want to ruin it by saying the total, but I will say this much, it’s the new Canadian Team world record – and 36 marks in 50 boxes will do it for you.

Submitted by Kenj, fellow fan of bowling up in Nova Scotia, Canada to everythingcandlepin.com

 October 18th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Big Games  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
18

Big Game – Adam Melanson

Here at everything candlepin we love hearing about big games – even if they aren’t recent like Nick Norcross or Josh Lowell.  I got an email this morning from Canadian bowler Adam Melanson.  He sent along some images of his house record breaking string from January 30th, 2009.

Adam busted out with a five bagger, and followed by sparing four of the final five boxes with some great fills on the spares.  The five bagger was important to the string no doubt, but the 35 pins of fills on the spares where just as important.  Big games take a little luck, a lot of skill, and capitalizing whenever possible.  It’s clear that Adam had it all working on this day.

Here is a clearer shot of the scoresheet from Adam’s historic day.  Adam accomplished the feat at Fairlanes in Montcon, New Brunswick.

I think my favorite part is knowing that he played hooky in order to go to the bowling alley.  He is an email from Adam proving the crime of skipping school!

I was sixteen when I threw the it and I left my class early that day to get to the three day tournament earlier.  The tournament was a 560 team cap tournament.  The previous house record [was established in 1992].  I will remember that string ball by ball for the rest of my life.

I think one thing to note on top of Adam’s huge day is the bowling by the rest of team.  Not to be out done, the other four members of his team went 499.  Throwing scores of 95, 149, 132, and 123 they certainly chipped in toward their total of 722.  That’s a hell of a total for a five man team.  Hopefully that total was enough for you to win the tournament outright.

Here are two more photos depicting Adam’s big day.  I think the pin is fantastic.  Congratulations Adam on your achievement and thanks for sharing – we appreciate it.

Keep those big games coming folks!

 October 18th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Big Games  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
17

A History Lesson From Kenj

Being only 34, I’ve missed A LOT of candlepin bowling on TV, in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Canada.  I got an email when I first started this little adventure from Loretta and Ken up in Canada about adding a term to the glossary which we have.  I know my Friday night teams gets annoyed when I scream “julian” for back door anything, but they deserve to be annoyed.

I got a little history lesson from Kenj, and I’d like to share that with you. I hope that this is something that becomes a recurring theme here at Everything Candlepin, and that’s not directed at Kenj specifically, it’s aimed at everyone that’s a fan and has something to share.  If someone has a story they think the candlepin bowling world should hear about, feel free to send it along to me at rlimone@everythingcandlepin.com.

Teams For the Hall of Fame:

There may never be a Nova Scotian in the Candlepin Hall of Fame.  There has been many a great roller from this farthest point east, that candlepin has reached. However we, Bluenosers have been very lax record keepers. Wilbur Martell owner of an alley in Halifax once held the Candlepin Record [high] single of 213, done on wooden pins. Back in his day there were few tournaments and the closest thing to a World’s was likely the Maritime and Eastern Maine Tournament. In 1905 The Bottle Pin Trophy was donated by the Brunswick Balke-Collender Company for this tournament and the original was replaced in 1932 with a new shiny replica, that was played for up into the mid-sixties. I can’t tell you when the US teams finally dropped out but I can tell you that Houlton, Maine won the trophy twice, and the last record for the tournament being held in Houlton that I have was in 1956;  Eastport Maine Browns won three times and Calais Maine one time; these numbers dwarf for The Saint John Blacks won this award twenty-one times.

One day perhaps the Hall will honor teams and records like this which are documented will prevail.

Other Nova Scotians worthy of recognition might include Jack James and Gerry Levy; their exploits are still spoken of and in the mid sixties both travelled to Bangor for a World’s Singles event and finished second and third; Jack lost by a single pin and Gerry was six back.  Jack spoke on television that he felt Gerry had been cheated of the victory being called on a lob that robbed him of an eight count on a spare; in Jack’s words; “…no one in Nova Scotia could ever say that Gerry had lobbed a ball in his life…”

When I became proficient enough to be on a Tournament team, and being a “terrible fan” of our game, I made sure to look at the records boards in every alley I went in; all of those built prior to 1969 the high singles and triples were all held by Gerry Levy. Most of those buildings have long since been torn down, made into parking lots, shopping malls and their records ?

Teams from Halifax, Nova Scotia have impressive records in the modern World’s Tournament, their individual stars have earned solid reputations in the candlepin world but unless they’ve maintained flawless scrapbooks they’ll never see their names nominated, there’s no governing body keeping any records for these chaps here. Their individual exploits are ripples on the water that fade in memory and like the water that returns to a mirror-like appearance they are gone. My advice to all local up and comers – keep your own records, score sheets, press clippings; never know someday some old geezer like me might want to nominate you – and we’ll need proof that you were that good.

I really appreciate the email and I think it’s great to get a glimpse into Canada.  I hope this email is the start of something that can be a regular occurrence on Everything Candlepin.  Keep them coming folks, and I hope to hear from you soon.

I received a second email shortly after with some trivia from Kenj for added information and some humor.

Bowling once became so popular in England that in 1366 King Edward III passed a law to forbid the people from playing it. He was afraid that men wouldn’t spend enough time practicing their archery skills which was so important to the military of the day.

Sir Francis Drake must have believed in pleasure before business because he insisted on finishing his game of bowling before sailing off to destroy the Spanish Armada in 1588.

There are written records that go back to the year 300 AD that show that bowling occurred in the Monasteries of Europe. People often carried clubs in those days and the Priests as a teaching aid would stand the club up a distance away and tell the peasants it stood for the evil of the devil and they were given a large stone to roll at the club. If the peasant hit the club he was praised but if he missed he was told to go and lead a better life. This took hold of the people who soon were practicing “bowling”.

Tell everyone to think of this on their next nine pin break!

Hope to hear from Kenj again as well as other writers out there!

Article submitted by Ken Jollymore, fellow fan of bowling up in Nova Scotia, Canada to everythingcandlepin.com

 October 17th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Guest Author, Resources  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
16

Bober Fires up at Fun Time

The 2012-2013 WNECA Pro Tour is off and running, with Rich Bober laying claim to the opener in impressive fashion.

With many familiar faces not in attendance, a field of 15 took to Fun Time Lanes in Holyoke, MA for the 5-string qualifying round.  There was not a lot of noise being made early on, with just one 400 series belonging to Steve Renaud, Sr. after the 3rd string.

After a tough 4th game from Renaud, a nice 150 string vaulted Brian Mayer and his obnoxious purple USA East shirt (sorry, I had to) to the #1 seed, which he sealed up nicely in the 5th game.  The rest of the seeding came down to the final half, with most of the field in contention for the last 4 seeds.  Here were the top 5 qualifying scores and notables who were just a mark away.

Brian Mayer – 645
Rich Bober – 630
Steve Renaud, Sr. – 627
Aaron Spiller – 615
Steve Vadney – 609

Gary Santora – 601
Dave Dupuis – 601
Ed Tringale – 600

The first knockout match featured #5 Vadney versus #4 Spiller.  This was a clinic in candlepins by Aaron Spiller.  After *just* sneaking by a single in the opening box, Aaron put together 7 straight marks, including a double strike you probably could have heard across town.  Needing another pair of strikes in the 10th for a chance at 200, he chopped through and settled for a 183-101 victory over the Hall of Famer Vadney.

Spiller cooled off a bit early in the next match against the #3 seed Renaud, but managed a spare at the half.  Meanwhile, Steve Renaud couldn’t buy a break.  After putting a great ball on the cluster of 5 (3-5-6-9-10 pins) and leaving the 9 pin wiggling to finish off the half, it was clear that this wasn’t his match.  Spiller, who will be bowling with Renaud and Extreme TNT this year at the Worlds in Bangor, had a pair of early second half marks to put this one on ice, 118-108.

The match of the day by far was the semifinal affair between Spiller and another Extreme TNT teammate, #2 seed Rich Bober.  Spiller started big again and was up nearly 20 at the half.  Bober was not to be denied though, as he ran off 4 consecutive spares with big fills while Spiller was held to 9s and 10s.  When Spiller was unable to make a mark in the final frame, Bober pinned out to win a 135-132 come-from-behind thriller.

The final match was all Bober from the beginning as he posted early consecutive marks. The #1 seed Brian Mayer never found the rhythm until he finally spared in the 10th box, of course to a nice mock cheer from his friends and fellow bowlers. Bober took home this one 132-102 to win the opening event.

Despite having just 15 bowlers at this event, Rich Bober will receive a nice check for $400. Looks like his season is paid for!  All other ladder participants will also receive checks.  $25 will also be given to the bowler with the high single out of the money.  All payouts are tentative based on turnout, so obviously the more people the bigger the prizes!

There will be no WNECA Pro Tour event in November.  Instead, the next event will be December 2nd at French King Entertainment Center in Erving, MA.  The Tour will also be bowling at Bogey Lanes, North Star Bowl, and Canal Lanes.  There is the potential for an event at either Agawam or Diamond Junction to round out the schedule, details to follow.  WNECA is hoping to see those familiar faces back next month at French King!

 October 16th, 2012  
 Richie Myrick  
 WNECA  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
16

Friday Night Pro Week 7

Congrats Chris Harris on the dominant 442 at Central Lanes this week!  I hope you got that out of your system…

Full standings are available for download right here.

 October 16th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Friday Night Pro  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
16

Westport Lanes – Westbrook, Me

This past Sunday morning Frank De Luca, Anna and I had the pleasure of taking the trip up to Westbrook, Maine to preview the alley for the Pro Series event.  The singles knockout tournament is going to take place this coming Saturday, October 20th.  The shift times are 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM.  The singles events are great.  Go in, throw your five strings, throw your game, qualify in the top 32 and let the fun begin.  I qualified for this even two years ago in Concord at Boutwell’s.  It should be fun.

Let me tell you this place is great.  It’s run by two firecracker women in Pam and Rose.  Rose is the owner’s mother in law.  She is quite the character and I wish she was at every Pro Series event or we had every event at West-port Lanes.  Needless to say, our first conversation started with her making fun of me.  I will leave the details out, but after I returned from the rest room her wisecrack was “still thinking of a comeback for that one?”.  Yeah, she might make fun us more than we make fun of ourselves.  It should be interesting to say the least.  To add to that, she said she said she was out of work for a period of time, and her son in law asked her to work a couple of days at the alley, and 26 years later she is still there.  She told me that she worked in with electrical equipment and services all the machines herself.  Included in that skill set must be the doorbells for reset buttons which is great.  We couldn’t decide if a strike should be called a “ding dong” or just “ring the bell”.  I’m sure we will hear both if people read this post before the tournament.

After making fun of me for being a “professional” bowler, she told us that this house was tough, and it wasn’t fast at all.  The bowling alley was built in 1966 and the new and current owners bought the place in 1967.  It has all the original equipment.  The most interesting thing has to be the pinsetters.  If you think Lanes N’ Games in interesting you need to watch these reset.  The rack comes down into place, and then the pins slide in from the top into each corresponding hole making what appears to be a perfect rack every time.  There is a MASSIVE delay in waiting for the pinsetters to come back up, but when it does, the pins are never wobbling at all.  You fast bowlers better learn some patience on Saturday.  The pinsetters are LOUD too.  It’s going to be a fun day that’s for sure.  I managed to make some pins come out from the deck so Frank grabbed the pin and snapped a photo of the pinsetters as best he could.  Thanks Frank!

On the right we can see the pinsetters.  It’s so interesting to see them in action.  I have a second photo which shows a slightly better angle of the chutes that feed the tubes albeit a little blurrier.  We did the best we could on this day.  It was a great day overall and it wouldn’t be natural if I wasn’t a smartass back toward Rose and Pam, so I had to ask the question.  Why are you called West-Port Lanes in Westbrook, that’s just confusing.  It turns out the bowling alley is called West-Port Lanes because it’s on the Westbrook-Portland line.  They were both awesome and it’s kind of sad this place is so far away.  If it were closer, I bet it would be a packed house.

Onto the bowling.  Before we started Rose asked what lanes we wanted.  I said put us on lane eight, whatever, it didn’t matter really. She responded by saying that it was the toughest lane in the house, and their top average was 111.  So we were a little hesitant stepping up to the lanes.  You could tell the pins were heavy.  I would compare it to a combination somewhere between Wakefield and Central Lanes two of the toughest houses around.  I don’t want to scare anyone but Frank completely annihilated the place, 130-110-135 for a 375 on the morning.  I struggled in the first string, but bowled well overall.  Here it is, in writing, Anna beat me 99-91 the first string.  I bounced back mightily in the second string once I figured the lane out.  I finished with five in a row to throw a 128, and the five marks included picking up the 4-7-10.  After I filled my 4th and final spare with a “ding dong”, the light above the lane came on and we had to move to lane 6.  I didn’t make the adjustment and bowled poorly the third string finishing with a 101, for a 320 which is kind of blah.  This is truly and honest house.  Nine and ten boxes are going to help you make the cut since we are going to see our share of six and sevens I’m sure, even from the best bowlers.

West-port features ice cold beer, so I know a handful of bowlers that are going to be happy even if the lanes aren’t forgiving to them.  They have food there too, in case you need a pick me up.  Not that I want to take anyone away from the lanes during the event but there are a McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC/Taco Bell all within walking distance of the alley if you’re looking for something different.  It should be a great competitive event.  If you’re on the fence, you should come down.  You never know what’s going to happen once you start bowling.  Who knows, you may own the place!

Here is the other photo of the pinsetters.  You can see the chutes slightly better.  I truly believe this setup is amazingly unique in the way it sets the pins down for a new rack.  Why more alleys don’t do it this way is beyond me.  There’s never a problem and pins never tip over.  We did have an occasional 2-pin or 3-pin jump the chute and end up in the gutter but that’s better than having a pin missing all together.  It was just different.

Thanks again to Rose and Pam for their time, hospitality, charm, and wit.  I will have a comeback for Rose when I get there on Saturday!

 October 16th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Bowling Alleys, Pro Series  
   
 2 Comments
Oct
16

Ladies Pro Series Event #1 – Singles Elimination

The Ladies Pro Series started its second season at Park Place Lanes in Windham, NH on September 29th. The event grabbed the same number of bowlers as the prior year, seeing some new faces and missing some too. This was the first time we held it on a Saturday in an attempt to mix it up a bit to get more bowlers involved. Of the 24 bowlers, 16 qualified for the elimination round. That number happened to be 539, and who threw that? “Yup, little ‘ole me,” and I pretty much struggled to get that.  Leading the pack was Lynne Thomsen with a 678. She was on fire. I know this because I bowled with her for the qualifying round. She took three high singles by herself and shared one as well. I will also add that she threw the 678 with a 96 game (yes, Lynne with no marks, I know). In the qualifying round there were some powerhouses of the Ladies Candlepin world and some newbies too!

In the first round, Mary Evans came out of the gate with a 134 followed closely behind with Hall of Famer Peg Tosi with a 128. Amanda Carroll (new member) threw a 126 while Kim Kangas scored 122.  Maria Mazzarella, Amy Dube, Lynne Thomsen and Sheryl Divoll also made it to the next round. Brooke Anton, Kristy Lipke, Glennis McKinley, Iris Libertini and I (Kim Pelletier) were eliminated in the first round.

In the next round Sheryl Divoll finished with a 124, Amy Dube (122), Peg Tosi (121) and Amanda Carroll squeaking in by one pin with a 110. (Reminder: every pin counts!). That round eliminated Maria Mazzarella (109), Kim Kangas (101), Mary Evans (100) and Lynne Thomsen (97).

In the Semi-Finals, Amanda fired a 121 and Amy Dube a 113 to overtake Peg Tosi (106) and Sheryl Divoll (88).

Coming into the finals, Amanda and Amy had been bowling awesome all day.  We knew this was going to be a great two string match. It was New Hampshire vs. Maine! Amanda had qualified 2nd for the elimination round with a 624 and Amy 8th with a 587. The first string gave Amanda an 8 pin lead throwing a 128 to Amy’s 120. The second game went back and forth and if you’ve ever seen either of these two bowlers, you know they put everything they have into it; very animated and lots of body English. I can tell you I enjoyed watching them completely. They didn’t even take a break from bowling all day!  So anyway back to the match. Box for box, coming down to the very end Amy prevailed with an awesome 136 to Amanda’s 121.

Congratulations to Amy Dube throwing a 256 to Amanda Carroll’s 249!

I’m looking forward to the next Ladies Pro Series on October 21st at 10:00 AM at Lucky Strike in Lynn, MA (Home of the Barbers). This event is sure to bring lots of excitement.  The skins games always does! Come join us! Whether you’re bowling or not, it’s sure to show off some of the finest women bowlers in the area!!! As always, the tournaments are open to members and non-members. The cost of the tournament is $60.00.

Article submitted by Kim Pelletier, Ladies Pro Series Correspondent to everythingcandlepin.com

 October 16th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Ladies Pro Series  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
16

Big Game – Mona Lemar

Hello,

We got an email a few days back from one of the best ladies bowlers around – Lynne Thomsen.  She let us know about NEW state record up in Maine for Mona Lemar.  Here is an excerpt from 1-7-10’s Facebook page:

New State of Maine Ladies High 5 Game Series Record Set! Congratulations goes to Mona Lemar for setting a new high five game series State Record with a 696. The record was officially accepted from the ICBA October 7th, 2012.  Mona bowled these string at the 1-7-10 Bowling & Entertainment Center in Augusta in our once a month Sunday morning league.  Her scores were 138, 143, 146, 130, 139.  All of us at the 1-7-10 and the MSCBA would like to say congratulations to you Mona for bowling a great series.

Thank you Lynne for the information, thanks Frank for forwarding it off, and congratulations Mona!  That’s a great total anywhere, not just in Maine!

Keep the big games coming folks.  Feel free to email us at biggame@everythingcandlepin.com

Thanks everyone!

 October 16th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Big Games  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
16

Pro Series Event #3 – Kids/Pros Doubles

I want to apologize in advance for the lack of posts recently.  I had been planning my father’s surprise 70th birthday and that was taking up much of time.  If you know my story you may understand why the party was more important than most 70th birthday parties.

Frank did a great job recapping the event, and I’m going to give you my take on it.  I love this event.  It’s so much fun getting to meet the up and coming kids that are keeping the game alive.  Without the kids in the game it would surely die, and I thank them for their interest.  I have to thank Robbie Taylor and all the folks at Candlepin For Kids.  Without their hard work this tournament wouldn’t have happened AND the finals wouldn’t have been on NESN either.  I promise I won’t spoil it for you on here.

I started my qualifying on lane 13 with Random Draw Doubles champ Evan Mazzaferro.  The kids we were bowling with were Jason Gauthier Jr. and Alex Bilonas.  I want to go out and say one thing.  Both kids are troopers and battlers out there on the lanes.  I heard Alex’s dad at one point say to him, these guys are pros listen to what they have to say.  I will admit I wasn’t surprised to hear his dad say that to him, but at the same time,  I was surprised to hear that while I was on the lane.  Me? A Pro?  I guess.  Needless to say, I want to apologize.  Alex did in fact struggle the first string and his dad was giving him suggestions.  I didn’t want to overstep my bounds and I watched as Alex completely turned his game around and started throwing a crusher ball in the second game.  He bowled great and the suggestions his dad made obviously worked as he threw a great 91 string.  Alex got cheated on a couple of spares and it easily could have been a 1-teens game for him!  Should I have said anything?  Maybe.  I still think I did the right thing since Alex was already getting suggestions.  Sometimes too many suggestions are worse than none at all.

We love being a part of the action, and we are there to offer suggestions and tips, but at the same time, we all bowl differently.  It’s difficult sometimes for our observations to work for the bowler we are watching since we may throw completely different.  I know that in the next event last year, if I see something I am going to be more vocal and throw out a suggestion if I see something.  I think I did the right thing on this day as Alex improved mightily and I’m proud of how he battled.  Also, one thing to add, I wasn’t bowling what I would call great so I thought maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.  Needless to say, I learned just as much as the kids did on this day.

Jason Gauthier bowled amazing on the day.  Very consistent.  His third string he had a half for the ages as he threw – if memory serves – five marks and sat down at 70+ and a ball.  He cruised into the knockout round on his third string and it it was a pleasure to bowl with him.  It was also nice to meet his father for the first time as I have seen his name on the messages boards and around the candlepin community.  I did teach Jason one thing though.  When he finished his first half of the third game, I told him, now you turn and point at dad and say “Where were you the first two strings!“.  Jason Sr. got a chuckle out of it, but he did tell me that Jr. doesn’t always like when he watches so this was  first.  Jason was steady throughout the day, and he finished strong heading into the knockout round.

Evan and I bowled fairly well.  I was under the distinct impression I wasn’t doing all that well, when I went 115, 119 the first two.  I heard from one of the bowlers next to us that 24th place was 230.  So I was in what I thought was decent shape.  I struggled out of the gate in the third string, but sat on a spare.  I ended up going crazy marking five in a row and got tortured in the 10th box for what should have been a sixth mark in a row!  I finished with a 138 and 372 on the day in qualifying which was good enough for 7th place!  Not only did I make the cut, I managed a bye!  I didn’t have to bowl in the first round!

Now the fun part, the top eight kids are paired with the top eight pros.  I ended up getting paired with Alex Haesaert.  His dad Tim was bowling on my right, and man can he throw.  He should strongly consider joining the Pro Series.  He was putting up explosion after explosion.   The pins always seemed to be flying on his lane when he was up there.  Alex bowled great in qualifying, and I thought we had a shot to make some real noise.  The kids can really make a difference in this tournament and I thought I was paired with a difference maker.

We sat and waited for the first round matches to complete.  I will admit I was nervous.  I had bowled well in qualifying, but I was concerned sitting was going to be a detriment to my game.  After the first round game was over, we warmed up again, and started the second round match – round of 16.  I set a goal in this one, that if I make the cut I just want to win at least one match.  I feel badly if we are eliminated in the first round we bowl.  From Frank’s post you know we faced off against him and little Nate Fontaine.  Nate is a warrior through and through.  He finished tied for 24th and had to bowl a one string roll off just to get to the knockout round.  He bowled great getting a hammer in the final box to then be paired with Frank.  Nate and Frank had won their first round match and we started up.

Alex alleviated my concerns as he went right out of the gate and gave us an early lead. And then I stepped up, and this is why bowling is fun, and torture rolled into one.  First three boxes, nine-drop, eight drop, hammer.  Total before the bonus ball – 30. Super.  I had a vertical piece of wood just to the left of the 5-pin in my first box.  Since I am a righty I figured the way I throw I should be fine as long as I didn’t nick the cap, well, you know what happened, I hit the cap, and then got the ten.  Box right after that, dreadful.  Crusher ball, eight drop, and I left the 3-10 with a piece of wood angled against the 3-pin all I had to do was hit it.  Yeah, you know how that turned out.  I had a decent fill on the strike and if memory serves, I sat on a mark.  We did well to keep the lead and we were able to close out Frank and Nate and move on to the next round.  I asked Nate an all important question – should I kick Frank off my Friday night team because he let him down.  Nate silently shook his head “no” so Frank was safe…

Next match we faced off against Jeff Surette and Ryan (sorry I didn’t get his last name!).  Ryan and Alex were in a fierce battle and it was great to watch.  I had to square off with the game’s best and as usual Jeff didn’t disappoint.  As I mentioned earlier “difference maker”.  Thank God for Alex.  He managed to give us an eight pin lead going into the final five boxes.  I tried to keep up, and Jeff simply was Jeff, and threw four nine-drop spares in a row, and finished with a 151 and we bowed out in the quarterfinals.  Jeff bowled great, and showed the kids what a Pro bowler is and what a Pro bowler can do.  He was simply on for the those four boxes and as sad as it was, it was fun to watch.  The consistency is simply disgusting.  I got the best of him last Friday night, but that’s a different story for another time. I love shameless plugs!

You’ll be able to see the semi-finals on Candlepins for Kids, and the finals will be aired on NESN on December 1st, at 11:30 AM!

Thanks to Leda Lanes, Candlepins For Kids, and the Pro Series for running a great event.

 October 16th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Candlepin For Kids, Pro Series  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
12

Friday Night Pro Week 6

Week 6 has come and gone.  Big matches this weekend.  Full standings can be found here.

 October 12th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Friday Night Pro  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
11

This Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!! The WNECA Pro Tour kicks off!

The Western New England Candlepin Association Pro Bowlers Tour leads off their 2012-2013 season at 12 pm this Sunday, October 14 at Fun Time Lanes in Holyoke, MA.

Dave Dupuis will be looking to defend his Bowler of the Year title from last season as big guns Steve Vadney, Brian Mayer, and the Renauds look to post some equally big numbers early on.

Each WNECA Pro Tour event consists of a 5-string qualifying round, with the top 5 qualifiers advancing to a head-to-head knockout ladder with one-string matches. The 5th place qualifier bowls the 4 seed, with the winner advancing to bowl the 3-seed, and so on until a champion is crowned.

The tour is open to anyone! A full membership covers all 6 events and costs $400 (plus a tentative $25 fee which goes directly to the final event), or you can walk-in for $100 for any of the first 5 events. The 6th and final event is exclusive to members only.

The WNECA is hoping to generate some new faces and bring back some old ones this year, and will be giving $500 directly to the members-only event as a nice incentive to join up for the full season.

Another incentive for those who are on the fence about joining is the ‘2nd-chance’ format of the members-only event. Any member who doesn’t cash during the season will bowl in their own head-to-head tournament for cash prizes! No one goes away empty-handed. There are Bowler of the Year points, some nice hardware to take home, maybe even a buck or two!

The Tour generally runs on the first Sunday of each month at 12 pm. The bowlers will discuss dates and times for the remaining stops at the first event, including the November stop as the usual date conflicts with the Worlds.

If you’d like to join the WNECA Pro Tour this season, simply show up to the first event, or call Canal Lanes at 413-527-3492. Owner Joan Yamilkoski is the tournament director.

We’ll have full written coverage of this Sunday’s event, and every event, all season long!

Oh yeah! Not that you needed another incentive to come bowl or watch, but Fun Time has been known to provide an obscene amount of pizza for the bowlers and spectators after the event…just saying!

 October 11th, 2012  
 Richie Myrick  
 WNECA  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
09

Candlepin Pro Series Season 4, Event #3 – Kids/Pros Doubles

As the Candlepin Bowling season continues, I’m amazed by the increasing attendance and participation that I am seeing at the events. This event, The Kids/Pros Doubles was no different. I can’t remember seeing a bowling alley so packed. Leda Lanes in Nashua, NH was the venue for the Season 4 kids/pros doubles, and it was filled to the brim with Pro bowlers, Kids, and parents!  A brief synopsis of the tournament format is that there is a 3 string qualifying round in which 2 Pros are paired up with 2 kids on a lane. Three strings are rolled, and the top 24 Pros and top 24 kids advance to a knockout round. Furthermore, the top 8 Pros are paired with the top 8 Kids and receive a first-round bye.

I did not have a “personal best” day by any means. I opened with a painful 87 on lane 16. An 87? Where did that come from? Sound familiar? You’ll see in my article recapping last month’s Pro Series event, I opened up with an 86. Ugly. Perhaps I have the jitters during my first string. Who knows? I’m willing to bet there were plenty of kids at the event who bowled better than an 87. Anyway, much like last month, I came back strong with a 152 on lane 17 and finished with a 107 on lane 18. This was 346, just enough to make the top 24 bowlers. Needless to say, I didn’t make the top 8, so my name entered the random draw. This was the exciting part, waiting to see what kid I would be paired up with. It was quite suspenseful because before my name was called, all other pros had been drawn! I was last to be called, and I was paired up with none other than little Nate Fontaine, 10 years old.

If you don’t know who Nate Fontaine is by now, you’d better get familiar with him. He is featured in the latest Candlepin For Kids Commercial, and he is a PHENOMENAL little bowler. Nate has a very graceful approach and incredible accuracy. He seems to be a natural Candlepin bowler. Could this be because his grandfather is none other than the legendary Tom Olzsta?!?! For those who know me well, you know that Tom Olzsta was my childhood idol. I was honored to be bowling with a member of the Olzsta family.

Nate and I were up for our first knockout match. We were facing Jason Gauthier and his kid match-up (I apologize, I’m not recalling his kid’s name at this time). They bowled very well against us, and it came down to the last few boxes. Nate threw a sensational 90 game, and I threw a 98. We edged out our opponents by a mere 5 pins. It was enough to move on. Next up, we were facing a team from the top 8, Rich Limone (hey, that name sounds familiar, huh?) and Alex Haesaert vs. Frank DeLuca and Nate Fontaine. This match took place on lanes 1 & 2. Rich and Alex had monster strings which put the pressure on me and little Nate. Did I say little Nate? Perhaps that isn’t appropriate considering that he threw an awesome 104 string! Now, for the embarrassing part. I’m not even going to try and cover it up….I duplicated my 87 string. How did this happen? Ugh! I felt so frustrated! But even more so, I felt like I let Nate down. Regardless, this event was some of the most fun I have ever had while bowling and Nate should be very proud of himself. He’s got a very bright future ahead of him and he beat me by 17 pins!

Of course, we can’t forget the most exciting aspect of this day. Due to the dedication and the extremely hard work of Robbie Taylor, Dan Gauthier,  and the Candlepin For Kids crew. The finals match of this tournament was filmed for NESN! This means that Candlepin bowling will be back on television! That’s right, on Saturday December 1, 2012 @ 11:30 AM, the final match (we will not discuss the results) will be aired on NESN. Be sure to tune in and tell all of your friends! This is the best effort in several years to get Candlepin back on television, and I think many would agree that its been long overdue. Its looking good, and I must say that the final match of the day was incredibly exciting. Mark your calendars!

As always, remember to follow the Candlepin Pro Series Twitter account @candlepinseries. You can also follow my personal Candlepin Twitter account by following @CandlepinFrank!



 October 9th, 2012  
 Frank DeLuca  
 Candlepin For Kids, Pro Series  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
04

Bowler Spotlight – Nine Pin Drop Survivor

What’s your favorite Pro Series alley and why?
Oh, God, without a doubt Bogey Lanes.  That’s my home, and it was great because I was part of the Teams Tournament in 2010-2011.

What’s your favorite Pro Series format and why?
Definitely the Ultimate ladder.  Why, because it’s only three strings long! I get a lot less punishment from the Pro Series in a three string tournament.  I was lucky this year because it was at Viking.

Most memorable Pro Series moment?
Being the last pin between Craig Holbrook, and winning the Pro Series playoffs in 2010-2011.  Unfortunately, he hit me, and like Mike Tyson hitting Michael Spinks, I went down!  At least it took more than 90 seconds!

Best match you’ve been involved in outside the Pro Series?
Hmm, too many to remember.  I would have to say, I think the best match I was involved in happened at Metro Bowl in Peabody.  I had the “luxury” of being the only, and LAST pin standing on Mark Ricci’s world record setting night.  I could have been victim 520, but I prevailed! It must have been the two pounds I lost earlier in the week.  I thought I looked thinner.  It’s the most scared I’ve ever been at work.  Thank God he missed, I can give this interview now!

Where do you think is the safest place on the deck?
Definitely the “10” spot.  Since there are so many right handed bowlers, that tends to be the best place to hide.  It’s sad to see some of my fellows in the gutter get abused a second time instead of hitting me directly.  I try to take one for the team every now and then, but sometimes, they just want to hit my friends again.

Scariest bowler?
If I had to choose I would pick Shawn Baker.  When he hits our leader, sometimes all ten of us go down at once.  We don’t even have the luxury of rolling, or hitting the ground, we just go right into the pit!  Maybe if he missed our leader more, we”d all be a little safer!

See you Sunday up at Leda Lanes!

 October 4th, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Bowler Spotlight, Candlepin For Kids, Pro Series  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
03

CP4K – Nine-Pin Drops

Here is the latest commercial from the Candlepins for Kids!  This is great stuff!

 October 3rd, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Candlepin For Kids  
   
 0 Comment
Oct
01

Friday Night Pro Week 5

Hello everyone.  I hope you’re doing well this bowling season.

I know that we have slowed up on content, but that’s going to change.  We have some big things coming, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as we do writing it!

Week 5 has come and gone in the Friday night Pro League.  The updated stats can be found here.

 October 1st, 2012  
 Rich Limone  
 Friday Night Pro  
   
 0 Comment