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Friday Night All-Stars Week 1

Mike Devenney

Trevor (0-0-0) : Tyson (0-0-0)


WEEK 1


Match #1 – COOK vs. D. GELARDI

The top two captains from last season going head to head to start the season. However, with Team D. Gelardi’s leadoff Robbie Hendrickson still sitting 7 pins higher than even the third on Team Cook. This may prove to be an uphill battle all night, but given its Week 1 a lot will come down to how much summer rust is on each team. The biggest question in this matchup will probably be the bowling of Cordell Galbecka being the only one of the eight who did not play league last season. If he comes back where he left off it will be a tough time for Corey Chaikowski.


Over/Under: Team D. Gelardi (-10.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team D. Gelardi

Trevor's Pick: Team Cook


Match #2 – YOUZWA vs. STEVES

From last year’s third to this season’s anchor Marc Steves looks to turn on his former captain in what should be a close first match of the season. We would expect Colton to come in with a slight advantage due to him already being active in the tournament series out East. The entire matchup as a whole has Team Youzwa favoured at every position, but only by 3 pins or less in most cases. The only exception to this is Ethan Buckman’s six-point advantage on Jayden Nickerson. Though with this being Ethan’s return to the league after a year off from St. James and the little we did see of him did not look like the 234 we are used to seeing, I would put Jayden as the slight favourite.


Over/Under: Team Youzwa (-4.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team Youzwa

Trevor's Pick: Team Youzwa


Match #3 – S. GELARDI vs. HOWARTH

This will be a match of youthful energy versus hardened experience. Team S. Gelardi holds the advantage at every position and with a 61-pin death grip on the top two positions, this will be a tough opening week for Team Howarth. The boys dream team finally came together after 20+ years of trying to make it work, and I fully expect they will be a high spirit team and ideally that translates to a few high scores. There are a lot of unknowns on Team S. Gelardi still but the two that will be the main focus is the arm health of Brett Hendrickson and what level does Ralph Gelardi settle into as he comes in with a not so recent average.


Over/Under: Team S. Gelardi (-12.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team S. Gelardi

Trevor's Pick: Team S. Gelardi


Match #4 – COSTELLO vs. STEVENSON

This match will be a big proving ground as one of the few where both teams have newcomers to the league. For Team Costello that is Russell Knight who is out to show that all his experience is not just for show and that he’s still as sharp as ever. It’s quite a different story for Team Stevenson as Alley Bourcier is much newer to the bowling world and quickly rising her way up, now looking to show that she can continue that trend in a tough house like St. James. The big factor as to who wins this match will be the team totals, and I see the consistency of Team Costello showing through versus the boom or bust Team Stevenson lineup.

Over/Under: Team Costello (-6.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team Costello

Trevor's Pick: Team Costello


Match #5 – NELSON vs. MEURRENS

This matchup will see the debut of Geoff Born to the St James league and kicking it off against last season’s top female captain Jessica Meurrens. Although she had a slow finish to last season, she had a strong showing this summer at the Master’s nationals and as such I expect her to come out guns blazing right out of the gate. Through the grapevine it was also discovered that Lisa Fetch is coming in like a vengeful spirit to play against last season’s captain Tyson Nelson. This is nearly turning into a battle of the sexes, who knows maybe Chad has had a transformative summer, if not into a woman, maybe at least back into a 220 bowler.


Over/Under: Team Nelson (-4.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team Nelson

Trevor's Pick: Team Nelson


Match #6 – LAMONICA vs. LOURENCO

I am going to chalk this up as probably the highest energy level of any match tonight, especially with the chemistry of these two teams. The top and bottom will most likely be even matches but this match will come down to the middle two for each team. Team Lourenco is coming in at slight favourites with James Jubinville carrying in a lot of momentum from a strong finish to last season and with Kevin Naugler healthy, the only thing broken on him this season was his dream of getting drafted in the first round, but as a guy who has only trended up in his St James All Stars career, he will be a force to be reckoned with at second. Team LaMonica’s best defense will be Jennifer Devenney after what was another strong performance at the Master’s Nationals over the summer.


Over/Under: Team Lourenco (-6.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team Lourenco

Trevor's Pick: Team Lourenco


Match #7 – ARMSTRONG vs. LEYTE

Another great matchup featuring two high chemistry teams going toe-to-toe. On paper Team Armstrong is the favourite but a couple members have to still prove their averages from other houses can translate to the same level at St James. Kevin Boyko comes in at 234 out of Dakota and Richard Parisian comes out of Polo Park with a 230, those are two guys who will have high expectations and watch closely to see how they make their debuts. I still expect this to be a close match with Team Leyte’s wildcard coming in the form of Alycia Mann who was a boom or bust player at the end of last season due to injury, but was a consistent 900 when healthy. We will have to wait for the smoke to settle to see who comes out on top in this one.

Over/Under: Team Armstrong (-4.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team Armstrong

Trevor's Pick: Team Leyte


Match #8 – MAY vs. RODYCH

Two captains with very similar draft strategies are looking to show who made the best decisions on draft day. With both throwing their newly drafted 250+ anchors into the ring it quickly turns last year’s Open teammates Kyle Young and Brandon Mansell into opponents for the night. These teams are basically neck and neck in the bottom three positions with matchups basically being a coin flip. The real make or break on who wins this will be at leadoff Jeff Fraser currently comes in at a 25-point favourite but again as a non-St James average who’s to say how it will translate and Gillian LaMonica was trending up steeply to finish last season so I expect this matchup to be closer than the numbers show.

Over/Under: Team May (-5.5)


Tyson’s Pick: Team May

Trevor's Pick: Team Rodych




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