Prediction Records Tyson Nelson: 74 - 46 - 0 Previous Week: 6-2-0
Trevor Cook: 72 - 48 - 0 Previous Week: 5-3-0
Match #1: LaMonica vs. King These two teams have played close to even so far this half, with Team King putting up 83.5 points and Team LaMonica putting up 83. Where Wayne King found his form early in the season, we are starting to see that from Karen Armstrong now, averaging around 245 over the last 5 weeks and that makes Team King a very scary opponent. There is still an edge at the top of the lineup for Team LaMonica in this one, but they will need to use it to fend off a King team that continues to make a push up the standings.
Key Matchup
It’s looking like Team King can keep up at the bottom with Karen’s recent play, so Team LaMonica is going to need Cyndie Barnett to take advantage of a roughly 20-pin average gap between herself and Chris Fedorchuk to establish some breathing room here.
Tyson’s pick: Team LaMonica
Trevor’s pick: Team LaMonica
Match #2: Cousins vs. Enns Team Cousins is hot, coming off a week where they beat Team Rodych 26-5 and got some big scores throughout the lineup. Team Enns, meanwhile, have bounced back from a bad start to the second half, with 3 wins in their last 4 after they only took 4 points in the first week of the half. When you line the teams up on paper, they are both pretty balanced squads and it looks like Team Enns has a slight advantage at most positions. Although they might be the favourites here, things can flip in a hurry if Team Cousins picks up where they left off two weeks ago.
Key Matchup Let’s see what happens in the matchup at the anchor position between Glen Howarth and Cindy Cousins. This has been an up and down year for Cindy, but she does sport a 44.5-40.5 record despite that 222 average showing that when she’s on, she is a difficult matchup for anyone in the anchor position. A big night from Cindy would be huge in her team’s quest to pull off an upset here.
Tyson’s pick: Team Enns
Trevor’s pick: Team Enns
Match #3: B. Jeffers vs. Rodych While Lexie Sutherland has been playing lights out since joining the team, Team Rodych has still struggled the last two weeks picking up just 12 points in that time. Team B. Jeffers are in a bit of a slump, with their last 3 weeks being their worst 3-week stretch of the season (34.5 points) - they’re also just 3-4 in the last 7 weeks, a weirdly cold spell from a team that has been in the top-4 of the league all year. There could be room for an upset here but the struggles that Team Rodych have faced at the top of their lineup is tough to bet on at this point.
Key Matchup With Lexie’s strong play pushing her to anchor, Team Rodych will get the benefit of a significant advantage in position 3 this week, with Matt Rodych lining up against Ben Jeffers. Matt will probably need to do work in this matchup to give his team a chance and if Ben has one of his big nights, this one is all but over.
Tyson’s pick: Team B. Jeffers
Trevor’s pick: Team B. Jeffers
Match #4: C. Jeffers vs. Gelardi Though last week wasn’t their week, it’s been a pretty good half for Team C. Jeffers so far. However, this week they run into one of the league’s juggernauts and a team that has been consistent all year in Team Gelardi, who are 16-4 on the season. Last week we saw a monster week from Mitch Dubell in the leadoff spot for Team Gelardi, and their overall lineup strength is well documented. Although things have taken a turn for the better for Team C. Jeffers, this is going to be a tough one for them.
Key Matchup All season long the place to try to pick up points against Team Gelardi has been in the 3 hole, but I wonder if there might be some opportunity in the 2nd matchup between Chris Jeffers and Wayne Wolanski here. As the season has gone on, we have seen some signs of life out of Chris including a 980 quad a few weeks ago and he’s coming off of an 886 as well. Tyson’s pick: Team Gelardi Trevor’s pick: Team Gelardi
Match #5: Youzwa vs. Stevenson Team Youzwa have alternated good and bad weeks all half, with 64.5 points in even-numbered weeks and 15 points in odd-numbered weeks so far. That may not bode well matching up against a Stevenson squad that have won 3 out of 4. Team Stevenson’s balance continues to hold them in matches, but I have to question how they will handle Chloe Fleming and Colton Youzwa, as Colton’s strong season continues to firmly establish him as one of Friday Night’s best players.
Key Matchup If Team Stevenson is going to pull this one off, they will need Dylan Stevenson to put up a fight (or beat) Colton in the anchor spot. Dylan is coming off a strong showing in Regina last weekend so he is certainly capable. Tyson’s pick: Team Stevenson Trevor’s pick: Team Youzwa
Match #6: Cook vs. Bartram Every time it looks like Team Cook is turning the corner, they put up a bad week as this team can’t seem to get anything going. The clock is beginning to tick on their A-side bid but on the plus side, their anchor has finally found something with his two best weeks of the season back-to-back. Team Bartram has yet to win a week this half, but they did get a 1098 out of a rare Cordell Galbecka appearance last week. With the state of Team Bartram and the season heading into its final third, this is pretty close to a must-win game for Team Cook.
Key Matchup What will happen in the matchup between Cordell Galbecka and Alyssa Campbell? If Cordell is there, and playing like the anchor-calibre bowler he has traditionally been in this league, then this match starts to look interesting. Alyssa is plenty capable of the big nights herself and did have a strong showing in Regina last weekend, so there could be some fireworks here.
Tyson’s pick: Team Cook Trevor’s pick: Team Cook
Match #7: Orne vs. Devenney Here we have a matchup of Team Orne, winners of 8 in a row, and Team Devenney, who have dropped 11 straight matches. Team Orne have vaulted themselves right back up to the top of the league standings and are one of just two teams where no player has a losing record. If you thought David Wastle was on fire before, wait until you hear what he did last week… putting up a massive 1099 score in the 2nd position in helping his team knock off Team Hurd 16-15. They are such a well built team and will be tough to beat. On paper, this doesn’t look like the week where either of these streaks will end.
Key Matchup Holly Chaikowski’s game has begun to turn around lately, but she has run into big scores from Karen Armstrong and Chloe Fleming, and now she’s up against Linda Orne, who has been among the league’s leaders in win percentage all season long. That’s a bit of a rough break for her but if she does keep throwing well, that will be a big help for Team Devenney.
Tyson’s pick: Team Orne
Trevor’s pick: Team Orne
Match #8: Hurd vs. Lourenco Team Hurd are an impressively streaky bunch, with 6-straight wins followed by 7-straight losses followed by 6-straight wins… and then a loss last week, albeit only 16-15. Is this the beginning of another run? They will hope not as they match up against Team Lourenco, who dropped a 21-10 decision last week after back-to-back wins, blowing a lead against Team Gelardi. Team Lourenco are always a good upset pick as they have competitive scores every week and should, average-wise, be higher placed than they are. Ryan Bannerman, having a pretty strong second half so far, is out this week for Team Hurd, and we will see what kind of impact that has on the match.
Key Matchup We have a mismatch in the 2-hole here with Chad Hurd taking on the Lourenco team’s second (whether it is Tabatha Gelardi or Dave Duncan) and that will be key for Team Hurd to exploit, because Team Lourenco is stronger at leadoff and Belle and Ethan have shown this year they can go toe-to-toe with Brett and Kevin in the two bottom spots. The upset becomes a real possibility if Team Lourenco can snag some points in this matchup. Tyson’s pick: Team Hurd Trevor’s pick: Team Hurd
