Niagara was 5-1 against Hamilton in regular season, but OHL team rejects ‘favourite’ label ahead of East semis

Easter Weekend means more than just bunnies and eggs to Ontario 5-pin bowlers as this is also the weekend that the provincial leg of the Canadian national championships takes place annually at Sherwood Centre in Hamilton.

The 14 zones of Ontario meet in Hamilton where men’s, ladies, mixed and senior teams from each zone compete in a matchplay format, where each individual game is worth eight total points (one point for each headto-head matchup, and three points for taking the team total).

Each zone faces every other zone in a 13-game, round-robin event.

When the dust settles, the top four teams in each division roll off in a stepladder format (fourthplace faces the third-place finisher, with the winner moving on to meet the second-place finisher and the winner of that match takes on the top finisher for the provincial title).

In addition, the top three men and top three women from each zone start out the tournament by bowling a 10-game rolloff in the singles portion of the tournament, again to determine the top four bowlers who will participate in a stepladder final to determine which bowler will represent Ontario in the singles event at the Canadian nationals

Last year was one of the best years as Niagara placed three of the four teams in the stepladder finals, with the fourth team just missing out by two points as well as placing one lady in the stepladder for the singles competition.

This year Niagara teams fought hard in a tough and close tournament and came up short in the team event, while Riekie Dutcher was this year’s bright spot, fighting her way from fourth place in the singles stepladder to the final where she lost a close battle in the final.

Below is a recap of this year’s results:

Ladies: The Niagara ladies were back to try and defend the Provincial title they won last year with a squad consisting of Brianna Iannandrea, Dutcher, Laura Turpin and Melina Driver of Welland, Sara Kennedy of St. Catharines and Natasha Armstrong of Dunnville, coached by Kevin Robins of Grimsby.

The ladies took only two points to open the tournament but then dominated their next three games to stay in the pack. They then ran into a wall, taking only four points in their next four matches, including two points against the eventual ladies champs, Hamilton, before finishing strong but settling in eight place.

Men: The Niagara men, represented by David Michael, Paul Asselin, Derek Holmes and Tom Cullen of Welland, Tyler Wendel of St. Catharines, Dave Pendlebury of Smithville, coached by Ralph Eckhardt of Niagara Falls were involved in numerous tight games including wins by 11 and 10 pins and losses by seven, 26 and 28 pins ended up in 10th-

place in another hotly contested field.

Mixed: The Niagara mixed team consisted of Matt Burghall, Adam Eckhardt, Wilma Vanderzwaag and Jordan Terry of St. Catharines and Ricky Williams and Stephanie Royer of Welland, coached by Maureen Poole of Grimsby had the strongest start of all the Niagara teams, sitting in third spot after the first five games.

They even had a 5-3 win over the eventual champion Central Ontario squad, but were done in on the second day of the tournament as they sputtered down the stretch, settling for a 10th-place finish.

Seniors: The Niagara seniors were represented by John Wendel, Wendy Bonnette and Trish Aubertin of St. Catharines, Tim Dixon and Joe Tavani of Welland and Nancy Dewitt of Dunnville, coached by Matt Kowalyk of Brantford.

Like most other Niagara teams, the senior squad flirted with the top four spots all tournament, bouncing in and out of the top four spots before landing in eighth spot — missing out on second spot by only 11 points.

Singles: In the singles field, Niagara had their lone bright spot as Dutcher of the ladies team finished the round-robin portion of the singles event in fourth place.

In the stepladder finals she knocked out the fifth-place finisher by a single pin, the third place finisher by 19 pins and the second place finisher by only five pins to earn a shot at the title against last year’s Ontario singles champion, Chantal Papineau of St. Catharines, bowling out of Hamilton. Dutcher won the first match 272-212, before a series of untimely headpins cut her bid short, losing the final game 245-203.

Papineau who resides and bowls in a St. Catharines league and also bowls in a Hamilton league, besides repeating as the ladies singles champion, is also a member of the Hamilton ladies team who won the ladies division.