May 25, 2008

SEASON 3 - EVENT 8 - Day 3

CALGARIANS  SWEEP HONOURS
IN TORONTO

Presented by Indigo & Chapters bookstores and Cineplex Entertainment, the Canadian 9-Ball Tour entered its final day for season number three at Shooters Snooker and Sports Bar in Toronto.

The remaining twelve sharpshooters came back on Sunday to try to re-produce the same form that had allowed them to survive the first two day’s action. Loser’s side matches kicked off this final day and it was highlighted by Tom D’Alfonso not showing up for his B side match against Toronto’s John Jorgensen. The local cueist Jorgensen, waited patiently the 15 minutes allowed for D’Alfonso to appear and then gratefully accepted the easy passage through to the next round by virtue of the forfeit.

Reigning Canadian snooker champion Floyd Ziegler was pitted against the consistent Mario Morra. The mid way point of this match gave no clear indication as to who would be moving on as Morra held a slim advantage at 6-5 in front. Morra kept the pressure on Ziegler and had a chance to seal the deal in the fourteenth rack and missed the intended shot presenting Ziegler with a simple 4-9 combination to draw back to 6-8. Morra didn’t have to wait much longer as he secured the next rack to bring the handshake and send Ziegler out of the event with a 9-6 win.

Andrew Attard, another player who could easily be described as “sneaky good” simply because of his modest and unassuming personality, found himself opposing one of the surprise packages in this event, Wayne Tate. Attard was in no mood to skip breakfast and with a powerful break and sure handed potting, demolished Tate by a 9-1 score.

The last match being played early Sunday saw one of the pre event favorites Jason Klatt facing off against another long shot John Timmermans. Regarded as a very tough competitor, Timmermans knew he would have to be at his best to eliminate Klatt. Unfortunately for Timmermans his best did not come on this day as Klatt eased through with a comfortable 9-4 victory

A side matches started promptly at 11am and the first battle brought former national 9-ball Champion Chris Orme matching wits against in form Tyler Edey. On paper a very difficult match to call with a slight nod possibly going to Edey by virtue of his recent performances. Holding a slim lead at 4-3 Edey cleared up to assume a two rack lead at 5-3. Orme never looked settled in this match and by contrast Edey appeared to be in focus and determined to progress to the hotseat match. With his break on song and his eyes never leaving the playing surface, Edey soon took the next four racks to move on to that hotseat match with a convincing 9-4 win over Chris Orme. 

The second match from the winner’s bracket brought the dancing bear, Alain Martel, looking to power his way through the always steady Dan Doerner.  A highly regarded player who really doesn’t travel much due to his work commitments, Doerner flew out of the starting blocks to lead the favored Martel, 5-1 early. Martel fired back to keep the heat on Doerner and pulled back to 7-8 behind. The next rack provided the chance for Doerner to upset Martel and looking at a makeable 6 ball in the sixteenth rack he cleared up to send Martel to the loser’s bracket with a terrific 9-7 win.

B side match ups brought Andrew Attard up against Jason Klatt and Mario Morra testing John Jorgensen in a battle of seasoned campaigners. Klatt would have entered this clash against Attard as a prohibitive favorite but at 3-6 down, many punters watching were leaning towards Attard to pull off the upset. Following a couple difficult shots each at the 8 ball in rack thirteen, Attard maintained his three rack lead and he arrived at the hill leading 8-5. Klatt fired back to take the next two racks and pull back to 7-8. Attard had a glorious chance to win the match at this point and a horrible positional effort on the 9 ball forced a difficult bank shot that he hung up for Klatt. Hill-hill now with Klatt breaking. It was a costly error from Attard and he paid the ultimate price as Klatt cleared up to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a 9-8 result.

The Jorgensen vs Mario Morra match went neck and neck with Jorgensen holding the edge at 4-3. These two players had doubtlessly played each other on countless occasions and both sensed that the match would be determined in the late innings. Leading 6-5 Jorgensen just looked that little bit more comfortable when he was at the table. Looks can be deceiving as we all know and Morra took the next three racks in succession to arrive at the hill 8-6. A solid break later the elder Morra had advanced to the last six in Toronto.

On the B side, Chris Orme was now playing Mario Morra in a match-up of quality left handers. Morra had been getting stronger and stronger as the event progressed. Orme, coming off a loss to Tyler Edey in his previous match, would have to pull his game together against Morra. The best of Chris Orme would not be seen in this match and Morra had his way as he cruised to a 9-1 win.  He would now sit back and await the winner of the Martel/Klatt match to see who his next opponent would be.

Jason Klatt, survived a match against Andrew Attard that he had to have felt was a sure loss, had to feel good about still competing as he opposed Alain Martel.  Just past the halfway point of the match it was the dancing bear who held the advantage leading Klatt at 6-4. Martel held the momentum with a crushing break and increased the lead to three racks and arriving to the hill 8-5 in front. This was the identical score that Klatt was behind Attard in the last match and he was hoping for another instant replay. He took the next two racks to trail 7-8 and many were wondering if he could again provide a Houdini act against Martel. The big game always brings out the best in the French Canadian and he produced a terrific shot to dash Klatt’s hopes of another big comeback. Martel would now take on Mario Morra after a 9-8 win over Klatt.

The A side final with Dan Doerner  vs Tyler Edey, brought together two players who were both on the top of their games. Doerner lost the first two racks and then reeled off the next five to seize control with a 5-2 lead. Edey was looking forlorn in his chair as it seemed every time he came to the table there was never a rack winning opportunity that presented itself. The onslaught continued for Doerner keeping the pressure on Edey with a 6-2 edge. In rack number nine Doerner fails to negotiate a simple run out to extend his lead and allows Edey back to the table to pull one back and trail 3-6. The next two racks were split leaving Doerner in front 7-4. Edey replied by taking racks twelve and thirteen to leave himself just one rack adrift at 6-7 Doerner. A nifty little safety shot from Edey in rack fourteen brought the score to 7-7.  A missed chance by Doerner gave Edey rack fifteen to take his lead 8-7. A good pressure clearance by Doerner forced yet another hill-hill battle. The last rack would not take long as a one nine combination sealed Edey’s fate as Doerner moved on with a 9-8 victory. He will now sit back and wait for the winner of the Mario Morra and Tyler Edey B side final to see who he would play to close out season three of the Canadian 9-Ball Tour. 

Alain Martel, coming off a big win against Jason Klatt was facing the ever steady Mario Morra in the B side semi final. Morra was not intimidated by Martel’s power game and quickly took the initiative with a handy lead of 5-1. The luck in this match also looked to be on the side of the in-form Morra as he fluked the seven ball from a snooker in the next to increase his lead to 6-1. The two exchanged the next two racks, a scenario that suits Morra just fine given his lead, to bring the score to 7-2 Morra. Some imaginative safety play from Martel coupled with creative shotmaking brought the score back to 7-4 in Morra’s favor.  Morra stopped Martel’s charge in rack twelve assuming a commanding 8-4 lead. Martel has produced many comebacks in his career and he knows that in 9-ball you never throw the towel in. He won two racks quickly to bring the score to 6-8 Morra. Martel’s fightback was almost complete when he won the next two forcing one rack to decide who would stay alive in the eighth Canadian Tour event.   Martel had the first real good chance in the last and a miss at an awkward seven ball gave Morra the match 9-8. His next opponent was now Tyler coming off his 9-8 loss to Dan Doerner.

The B side final between Mario Morra and Tyler Edey was a tale of two journeys as Edey had just lost a hill-hill match and Morra had just won a hill-hill nail biter. Morra got off to a better start in this match and took the early lead at 3-1. Some nice shot making pushed Morra further in front 5-1. Edey could not say that he did not have his chances to this point in the match but a couple lapses had proved costly. Eliminating these mistakes was the key and Edey appeared to get a handle on this as he secured the next two racks to draw the score to 3-5. With momentum firmly in his chair Edey won racks nine and ten to erase the four rack deficit and level the scores at 5-5.  With Morra up 6-5, Edey missed an open shot at the nine ball that allowed Morra to take a two rack lead down the home stretch at 7-5. Once again Edey fired back at Morra winning two racks to bring the score back to 7-7. An errant shot from Edey on the six ball in rack fifteen allowed Morra to get to the hill at 8-7. A gutsy clearance from Edey meant that we would once again be treated to a pressure packed last rack to decide the second finalist. Edey broke and had a great chance to run the rack right from the start. Edey held his nerve as young John Morra watched on trying not to watch as his fate in representing Canada in this year’s World Championships depended on his father beating Edey. The Calgarian showed plenty of character and knocked in the nine ball to seal John Morra’s fate and allow Edey the chance to avenge an earlier loss to Doerner in the A side final. Tyler Edey 9-8 over Mario Morra.

The final between Dan Doerner and  Tyler Edey started with players exchanging the first two racks in the race to eleven.  The long day meant that bboth players had to draw on their reserves to stay focused and maintain the high level of concentration needed at this level of 9-ball. The first surge in the final came courtesy of Dan Doerner’s cue as won three of the next four racks to slide into a 4-2 lead. A break and run out in rack seven took Doerner into the comfort zone at 5-2. Doerner’s break was very heavy and he seemed to have just the right speed to be effective. A poor safety shot from Edey gave Doerner the chance to increase his lead and he quickly secured the rack to confirm the lead at 6-2. The last thing Edey wanted to do was dig too big of a hole to be able to climb out of. He seized rack number nine with a nice run out and followed that up with a carbon copy clearance in rack ten to play himself back into the match at 4-6. Doerner was not about to let Edey find wind in his sails and won rack eleven to once again go three clear at 7-4. The two finalists shared the next two racks bringing the score to 8-5. Edey took advantage of a missed jump attempt from Doerner in rack fourteen to nail a two-nine combination and take the score to 8-6 in Doerner’s favor. Rack fifteen went to Edey for a 7-8 score. The last time these two played the match went hill-hill and this final had all the makings of a repeat.  Everything was following suit as Edey won the next rack to pull even at 8-8. For the first time in the final Edey got his nose in front as he edged out to a 9-8 lead. A miss on a makeable two ball from Edey brought Doerner out of his chair to run out and once again level the score at 9-9. A dry break from Doerner gave Edey the lead once again at 10-9 and with it, the knowledge that one more rack would give him his first tour win of the season. A perfect break from Edey laid the foundation for the win with every ball at his mercy. Maintaining his composure he cleared the table to take the victory and accept congratulations from his fellow competitor. The final score 11-9 to Calgary’s Tyler Edey over Dan Doerner.   

A happy winner with the first place cheque of $5000 was given to Tyler Edey and the runners up cheque of $3000 to Dan Doerner. The overall winner on the final ranking points list is again Edwin Montal of Calgary. The reigning Canadian champion once again secured the points crown for the second consecutive year to lay further testament to his number one status as Canada’s top nine ball player.

As always, our sincere appreciation goes out to Indigo & Chapters bookstores, Cineplex Entertainment, Canada Billiard & Bowling, Dufferin Billiards, Stan James The Sports Bookmaker, Simonis Pool Cloth and Aramith Billiard Balls for their generous support in making the Canadian 9-Ball Tour such a success.

The Canadian 9-Ball Tour staff would like to thank John White and all the staff at Shooters Snooker and Sports Bar in Toronto for all of their invaluable help in making this last stop of the 2007/2008 season such a success.

Jim Wych with Shooters winner; Tyler Edey

RESULTS & PAYOUTS

May 24, 2008
SEASON 3 - EVENT 8 - Day 2

Weather finally cooperates as the Canadian 9-Ball Tour closes out Season Three in Toronto

The Canadian 9 Ball Tour, presented by Indigo and Chapters Bookstores and Cineplex Entertainment,  stopped at Shooters Snooker & Sports Bar in Toronto.

Play began Friday evening in the eighth and final tour event of 2008 with all 64 entrants seeing early action. Some big names found the going tough and were summarily dismissed to the losers bracket after one match. This included former Canadian Champion Jeff White, a 9-5 loser to Tony Chohan, Tom D’Alfonso bowing down to Andrew Attard 9-4 and Louis Fazekas losing to another former Canadian Champ, Chris Orme 9-6.

Second round action brought a shock result to the event’s number two seeded Erik Hjorliefson. He found Dan Doerner in scintillating form and hit the left hand side of the draw by virtue of a 9-3 loss to Doerner. Former tour winner Jason Klatt escaped the same fate as his pal Hjorleifson when he recovered from a 1-8 score to slide by last month’s tour event runner-up, Felix Beardy 9-8.  Top seeded Edwin Montal and his travelling companion and number four seed Tyler Edey both progressed comfortably into round two as did local favorite and two time tour event winner, John Morra.

Upsets were not terribly abundant to this point in the Toronto event but round three presented some enticing winner’s side matchups. Included in this category were Tony Chohan vs Jason Klatt, Adam Smith vs Mario Morra, Andrew Attard vs Edwin Montal and Shannon Ducharme up against Chris Orme.

Klatt and Chohan’s match lived up to advance billing and went right down to the wire with Klatt escaping a 9-8 winner. Chris Orme overcame a shaky start to topple Shannon Ducharme by a 9-7 score. Montal was pushed to the limit by Attard and it proved to be too much for the top seed to handle as Attard moved on with a confidence boosting 9-8 victory. Adam Smith was also in a real tussle with Mario Morra as the elder Morra quickly jumped out to a commanding lead and held his nerve to gain his fourth round place with a 9-6 win.

Alain Martel, the winner of the last tour event played in Montreal, was making a big statement as well on the winner’s side. He had lost a total of only six racks enroute to his round four berth . By contrast, John Morra was found to be struggling in his third round match against Toronto’s John Jorgensen and went down by a surprising 9-4 defeat to the tall Jorgensen.

Chris Orme continued to impress all in attendance with a very high standard of play as he sent Andrew Attard to the loser’s bracket by a one sided 9-3 decision. Also making a big statement in this event was Tyler Edey from Calgary. Edey has been playing some very solid pool, coming to Toronto following his top 8 finish in the world 10 ball championships recently completed in Las Vegas and carrying that form through to a 9-3 win over Jason Klatt. Alain Martel continued his run with a character building 9-8 win over Toronto’s John Jorgensen. Dan Doerner, another steady Canadian player who consistently does well in events that he travels to, unsettled Mario Morra with 9-7 decision to stay on the winner’s side.

To this point many of the competitors had been very worthy of their standing and even though the eye opening results continued, none were more attention grabbing than Edwin Montal’s dismissal at the hands of young Eric Hildebrand. The event’s number one seed was sent packing by virtue of a 9-7 Hildebrand win and would be relegated to the sidelines for the remainder of the tournament. Winnipeg’s Felix Beardy found himself in a hill-hill twister against Wayne Tate and failed at a chance to run out the rack allowing Tate back to the table to secure the 9-8 win.  Third seeded John Morra was in desperate trouble of his own against the handy southpaw, John Timmermans. From a 5-5 score John Morra lost control of the match and found himself 6-8 behind. He won the next two racks to stay alive and force yet another hill-hill decider and having the benefit of the break in his favor. The deficit for Morra proved to be too big to overcome however as he succumbed in the final rack and had to suffer  a gut wrenching 9-8 loss to Timmermans.

Canadian snooker champion, Floyd Ziegler was showing that a snooker pedigree could go a long ways to a successful run in a major 9-ball event. His match against Eric Hildebrand was a high quality clash that saw Ziegler run out a 9-5 victor.

As is the case with virtually all pool tournaments, you have your share of surprises as well as your share of expected results.  Competitors fought into the early evening vying for the right to play on Sunday and stay on course for the $5000 winner’s purse. To recap the noticeable absentees of the twelve players coming back for Sunday’s action, this list included the top seed Edwin Montal, the tournament’s number two seed, Erik Hjorleifson, the number three seed John Morra, the number seven seeded Adam Smith, event number eight seed, Louis Fazekas and ninth seeded Shannon Ducharme. If nothing else, this laid testament to the talent base that was evident in the largest city in Canada.

The twelve players returning for action on Sunday include Chris Orme, Tyler Edey, Alain Martel and Dan Doerner who are all coming back to contest to fight it out on the A Side.  Survivors left to tangle from the loser’s brackets are Andrew Attard, Jason Klatt, John Jorgensen, Tom D’Alfonso, Mario Morra, Wayne Tate, Floyd Ziegler and John Timmermans

The Canadian 9-Ball Tour wishes to express its appreciation to the tour’s presenting sponsors, Indigo and Chapters bookstores, Cineplex Entertainment as well as Canada Billiards & Bowling, Dufferin Billiards, Stan James The Sports Bookmaker, Simonis Pool Cloth and Aramith Billiard Balls.

~ Tour Staff

One of the more established clubs in the Greater Toronto Area is Shooters Snooker & Sports Bar.  Its reputation as being host to some of the country's very best pool players makes it a natural choice to host the final tour event of Season 3.  Owner John White, a former national champion, understands the importance of perfect playing conditions and is always on hand to guarantee a successful tour event from every standpoint.

Recently remodeled and renovated to accommodate larger events, this venue is always a stop on the tour that attracts all the best the sport has to offer.  Don't be surprised if this Canadian 9 Ball Tour event draws its fair share of champion cueists from all over the world.

Canadian 9 Ball Tour 2007-2008