Week 20 Recap
Trevor (85-75-0) : Tyson (89-71-0)
* Featuring a new Ghost writer... not that ghostly once you read though
Stevenson vs D Gelardi - Dylan Stevenson should be commended for his 140-pin comeback in the last game against Dwayne, crazy!
Costello vs Armstrong - Karen Armstrong channeling her inner... Karen Armstrong? 1147 and no sweep should probably be a crime though.
Rodych vs S Gelardi - Michael Young's 376 was the 5th highest game of the night, talk about stealing the thunder! BOWL BETTER!
Lourenco vs Lamonica - James Jubinville sweeping with 980 then proceeding to make it to the finals of the bracket portion of the Winter Classic the next morning. Oh and Jayden shot a 391, pretty good I guess.
Hendrickson vs Maxwell? - No highlights here folks, 2nd highest total is 908. I can relate though, 908 is a lot for me so who am I to judge.
Howarth vs Youzwa - In other news, Jesse Gagnon shouldn't be in leadoff! He wins highest leadoff total of the week with 983.
Cook vs Naugler - I recommend everyone go out and buy lottery tickets because Derek Sabourin shot over his draft average again. Also, leadoffs tying with 972 each, because why not?
Nelson vs Goulet - Tysons team let him down so bad I might actually feel sorry for him. Probably not, but maybe.
WEEK 21
Match #1 – FLEMING vs. LOURENCO
These two teams currently sit on opposite sides of the standings, with over 200 points separating them. Though things are looking up for Team Fleming as they pulled off what can essentially be called a win at this point taking 11 points off Team Nelson, matching their total from the past three weeks. A big part of their victory came on the backs of Mark Prystupa (822) and Chloe Fleming (878) who combined for seven points. Mark pulled off the second half comeback on Dave Duncan (758) taking the victory 3-2, and was only a couple balls away from picking up his first sweep of the season. The other half of that was Chloe dominating Dixie Macdonald (779) for the majority of the night, the matchup only getting within 100 pins due to a game four slip up on what was otherwise a great night from Chloe, also just barely missing out on her first sweep. Someone who did not miss out on their sweep was James Jubinville (980), though slightly less impressive when you’re bowling a ghost (absent Matt Turanski). At leadoff Jon Linley (972) looked to be out of his funk from the past couple weeks and picked up a win over Jeff Bradshaw (895) where the real difference maker in the matchup was the 289-182 beatdown in game two, otherwise all other matches were right down to the 10th frame. Of course at anchor Belle Lourenco (935) continues her reign of terror at anchor having not lost a week since the start of December and last week was no different pulling out a 543-double to finish, winning the last two and her total over Andrew LaMonica (910).
Ghost Writer
1st place vs 16th place, David vs Goliath. If you put your paycheque on David and win you could probably afford your own superbowl commercial.
Key Matchup
This is a David vs Goliath story at this point, but with Team Fleming fired up after a mental victory last week, I could see them pushing back quite a bit this week and being right around that 10-point mark.
Tyson’s Pick: Team Lourenco
Trevor’s Pick: Team Lourenco
Match #2 – RODYCH vs. STEVENSON
Team Stevenson has been on a tear to start the second half and continued that charge right through last week becoming one of only two teams to have had three players over 1000 on a single night. Out of respect for Michael Linsenmeier (6**) his score shall remain anonymous though it is confirmed Chris Jeffers (844) did win their matchup, although not a sweep. This match alone has so many storylines that its almost hard to decide what is the focus, it could be Erik Stewart (1010) throwing his second 1000+ in the last three weeks, or Jayson May (1101) dropping his third 1100+ of the season. Captain Dylan Stevenson (1049) decided he wanted all the excitement for himself though as he holds what is definitely a record this season for score drop from one game to the next at 231 pins, going from a 369 to a 138, not your typical 500-double. Even better yet on the night, he proceeds to win total by 2 pins after beating Dwayne Gelardi (1047) by 142 pins in the last game 304-162. To summarize all the winning and success of Team Rodych… stay tuned for a future write-up.
Ghost Writer
Close match, if Stevensons team can replicate last week (and Linsenmeier can stop doing his best Sabourin impression) they have a very good chance of taking 20+ points.
Key Matchup
With Team Rodych having taken 8 or less points in all but one week of the second half you have to wonder where the team from the first half went, no one has won back-to-back weeks since Week 12. This team needs to find some energy or light a fire under their own ass or this could be a blood bath.
Tyson’s Pick: Team Stevenson
Trevor’s Pick: Team Stevenson
Match #3 – LAMONICA vs. S. GELARDI
Team S. Gelardi really needed their big win over Team Rodych last week to stop the bleeding that has been the second half. They currently sit 17 points ahead of the 9th place team which they happen to be playing tonight. With three out of four players winning their totals by 90+ pins total was never in question for the night. Even less so when you factor in Michael Young’s (1160) monster night that saw him set a new season high for total and single game with his 376 in game one. This matchup alone gave them 5 points and a 270-pin advantage after his victory over Jennifer Devenney (890). Team LaMonica suffered their first loss of the half last week facing Team Lourenco and will be looking to get right back on the horse as they sit just 2 points out of the top-8. In all honesty they most likely would have still been in the top-8 if not for the absence of Matt Turanski last week and no spare in his position as they only lost grand total by 30 pins taking an 840 in his place. A big part of how close this match was, was due to Jayden Nickerson (1079) laying a Winnipeg style beatdown on Alycia Mann (864), especially after his 391-206 win in game three.
Ghost Writer
Huge games from both Michael Young (376) and Jayden Nickerson (391) last week, do we see a continuation of their success or a reversion to the mean?
Key Matchup
The anchors could make or break this match, both guys have big game potential but have also had their ups and downs this season. The key for Team S. Gelardi needs to be the returned success of their captain, Sam Gelardi, who hasn’t managed a week over 930 in his last four, if this continues his team is going to have to grind out this win.
Tyson’s Pick: Team S. Gelardi
Trevor’s Pick: Team LaMonica
Match #4 – KING vs. COOK
Team King was another team plagued by a ghost as Garry Bell ended up handing four points to Cyndie Barnett (867) on a golden platter. This really ended up being the difference in the match as Darren Maxwell (982) taking an 111-pin lead on Brett Hendrickson (871) was enough to compensate for Chris Dewar (803) getting beaten early and often by Patrick Walker (874) and Kevin Slippert (880) losing a close one to Robbie Hendrickson (908). The season low total from Dewar unfortunately saw his four-week winning streak come to a halt. Trevor Cook (1203) is on the opposite train as he now has three straight wins, and I hope he took Kevin Naugler (801) out for dinner first before that night because he got violated thoroughly. Trevor only let Kevin within 110 pins in a single match all night, finishing with a 999-triple. However, his team did prove that even with a 400-pin lead you can still in fact lose. The big hits came in the middle positions as Tracy Jubinville (700) gave up 241 pins to Jordan Nickerson (941) and Zach Friesen (850) got thumped by 200 pins by Jeston Bartram (1054). Also interesting fact, Team Cook has had an individual tie 2.5-2.5 in three of the last four weeks.
Ghost Writer
Derek Sabourin coming off a meteoric 972 last week, that's also what he saw on the scale this morning. I digress, close match and highly depends on the top 2.
Key Matchup
This match still has Team Cook favoured by a slight bit, but with Kevin now thrown in the mix I think the real key for Team King has to be a strong showing from their top two bowlers, if they can walk away with at least seven points there, they will be in good shape.
Tyson’s Pick: Team Cook
Trevor’s Pick: Team Cook
Match #5 – YOUZWA vs. HENDRICKSON
Team Hendrickson is basically at situation critical at this point in the season, sitting 31 points back of an A-side spot. Last week was a good start with them knocking off a red-hot Team King. The night itself was pretty average but the execution game to game is what got them the win, as they only lost two games to scores under 250. Cyndie Barnett (867) especially capitalized on the absence of Gary Bell taking four points of his blind score. Robbie Hendrickson (908) with his victory over Kevin Slippert (880) becomes the first person on his team to win back-to-back weeks since Chad Hurd. The same can’t be said for Team Youzwa who currently holds onto the player with the longest active winning streak, Jennifer Duncan (773). It was a bit dicey this past week but thanks to a game three and four implosion by Ray Bartel (747) that saw him shoot a 288-double to Jenn’s 394 and effectively hand her, her eight straight wins. To note, her last loss came in October, let that sink in. Jesse Gagnon (983) also had himself a good night taking four points and now having back-to-back weeks over 980 which will let him move up to the second position for this week. Colton Youzwa (957) had the misfortune of facing Glen Howarth (1187) on a night that featured not one, but two games over 340, but was lucky enough to avoid the sweep thanks to his 209-201 win.
Ghost Writer
Hendricksons team was very consistent last week, they will probably need to shoot slightly bigger scores though especially if the bottom 2 of Youzwa's team comes out swinging.
Key Matchup
A lot of total will come down to how close Colton and Robbie keep this match at the anchor spot. Robbie is coming in averaging 211 over the past three weeks, a very familiar matchup for Colton, who last week faced Glen Howarth in the same position.
Tyson’s Pick: Team Youzwa
Trevor’s Pick: Team Youzwa
Match #6 – NELSON vs. D. GELARDI
With last week’s loss Team D. Gelardi now holds onto the second longest active losing streak at 6 weeks, only behind Team Fleming’s 10-week streak. The former first half winners have now fallen into fifth place. Last week’s was probably the most justifiable loss as their bottom three had 3160 shot at them (263-average). The only point lost that probably shouldn’t have been was the total between Dwayne Gelardi (1047) and Dylan Stevenson (1049), its not often you see Mr. Clutch himself blow a 140-pin lead in a single game, and especially not with a 162. On the bright side though Chris Jeffers (844) broke his five-week losing streak by running over what can only be assumed to be what’s left of Michael Linsenmeier (6**). Their opponents this week are coming off a less than great week and might be a much-needed week for Team D. Gelardi. Team Nelson went from having their top-three shooting 3040 in Week 19 to a 2308 in Week 20. The only positive is that they were playing the only team who shot worse than them and still walked away with 20 points. The only real difference in this match was at anchor where Tyson Nelson (982) took a 4-1 victory over Brooke Goulet (777).
Ghost Writer
D Gelardi's team sitting 5th is getting somewhat close to hitting the panic button. Tyson Nelson is on his knees right now praying his team shows up otherwise Dwayne might be putting that panic button back in his closet next to his Avalanche Jerseys.
Key Matchup
This match will be won or loss in the interior of the lineup. Both Calvin and Jesse have been fairly quiet the last month or so and are long overdue for a breakout. That also being said Cindy Cousins has also been on a run losing just once in her last nine weeks.
Tyson’s Pick: Team D. Gelardi
Trevor’s Pick: Team D. Gelardi
Match #7 – CAMPBELL vs. HOWARTH
Team Howarth has just been a dream killer in this second half taking down yet another top five team in Team Youzwa. A big part of this again comes down to Glen Howarth (1178) and Craig Enns (1004), who combined for 8 points off the most winning 3-4 combo in the league, Marc Steves (891) and Colton Youzwa (957). After a string of three sub-900 weeks, the high 1178 from Glen is exactly what he needed to get back on track, and the night even capped off with him taking a perfect game attempt going up until the 10th frame. Craig just has not stopped over the last few weeks, he now has 12/15 points in the last three and is averaging 256 during that span one of the highest among non-anchors over that span. Team Campbell has one of the other high non-anchors and that’s Jessica Meurrens (1004) but ran into one of the other non-anchors on a tear Karen Armstrong (1147). Having a pair of 300s shot at her, Jessica was only able to salvage a single point off Karen’s low game of 230. Week 20 ended Alyssa Campbell (928) winning streak at five weeks, but due to her tie with Linda Orne (841) still remains unbeaten in her last six. The one who really must be getting hungry for a win is Kyle Costello (917) who now rides a four-week losing streak.
Ghost Writer
The bottom 2 for team Howarth continue to prove that age does not matter, however if team Costello can bowl like last week they have a good chance of getting the W.
Key Matchup
Team Howarth has leaned fairly hard on their bottom two through this second half. I suspect in this match up they will need both Mike and Ray Bartel to be over 850 and at least one close to the 900-mark.
Tyson’s Pick: Team Campbell
Trevor’s Pick: Team Campbell
Match #8 – ARMSTRONG vs. NAUGLER
Team Armstrong comes in as the current second half leaders by a massive one point. Last week’s domination of Team Campbell was as it also pushed them into 8th for the aggregate standings. A big key to the night was the return of KFA, Karen Armstrong (1147) who put up a season high total and still took four points despite having Jessica Meurrens (1004) shoot very well against her. Karen has been on a roll the past three weeks averaging 263 with 12 points over the span. She was well supported at anchor as well with Randy Morrisette (1022) adding in his own pair of 300s to give the pair more than a 580-double twice on the night. Team Naugler is right on their asses though as they sit only eight points away from that A-side spot, this match could have big implications for either team. They have been a little up and down during the second half but ultimately have seen a general increase in scoring which should lead to a few more wins than they had in the first half. Despite their captain Kevin Naugler (801) getting roasted by 402 pins to Trevor Cook (1203) in what can only be described accurately by a Netflix crime documentary, his team as a whole still pulled out the win. Their top half lit it up with Jordan Nickerson (941) putting up a season high, Jeston Bartram (finding his rhythm after a rough January and even a special appearance by Travis Manek (972) who definitely did not hinder at all with a 972 at leadoff, just happened to be matched up against the other leadoff to shoot 972, Derek Sabourin.
Ghost Writer
Someone tell Kevin Naugler to slow his ball down half a km, is that even possible? Team Naugler is going to have to step it up against an Armstrong team who looks very strong, lame pun I know.
Key Matchup
The key to whichever team is going to win this matchup will be whoever limits how many games under 200 they have. Big scores have not been the issue for either side, but both have had nights plagued with 170s-190s.
Tyson’s Pick: Team Naugler
Trevor’s Pick: Team Naugler
