The Corner Pocket Remembrance Day 8 Ball Tournament

Champion Billy Thompson, photo by Wenda Pepin

 By: Paul Potier

Remembrance Day weekend, Nov 7-9, 2015 was when this tournament took place. It was also the real start of winter for us Albertans as lots of snow and very cold weather hit us hard on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in balmy Red Deer Alberta. A large field of 71 men and 8 women bar box 8 Ball players from Alberta, BC, and Saskatchewan showed up to display their expertise on the green felt. The Corner Pocket Billiards hosted this event on twelve 7' Diamond bar tables.

They started play on Friday night and finished the tournament early Sunday night. It was a great field consisting of most of the best Bar Box pool players in Western Canada. Some of the big names were: Stan Tourangeau (BC), Brian Butler (AB), Rob Phillips (AB), The Twins Joanne and Bev Ashton (AB), Edwin Montal (AB), Dave Martin (AB), Cathy Metzinger (AB), Alain Boutin (Frenchie) (BC), Bill Thompson (AB), Paul Potier (AB), Russ Whittle (AB), Nick Kruger (BC), Bernie Mikkelsen (AB), to name a few. It was really a star studded cast of players, including some players I haven’t mentioned.

There was no seeding and many of the favourites met right away. Some of the crowd pleasing early match ups were: Stan T vs. Brian B, Dave M vs. Paul P, Joanne A vs. Garry H, Mike R vs. Barry H, and Edwin M vs. Jody T. A brave Dwayne Bjornstad vowed that he would play the entire tournament using only his jump cue. He was true to his word and even ended up cashing in the money tied for 13th place.

The Diamond tables played great and spectators were blessed with exciting matches for the entire 3 days of play. The final 4 on the A side came down to Leslie T., Bill T., myself and Jerry Y. Paul and Bill ended up in the A finals. Bill’s good solid play earned him the point as he beat me 6-2 and could relax while waiting for the outcome of my matchup with Stan to see who would have the chance beat him twice to win the event. Stan’s road to the finals of the B side was long and hard.

Paul Potier

 He lost to Jerry Y in the second round of the A side. Stan showed everyone how dangerous he is by winning 9 straight B side matches to get to the B side finals. In fact after losing on the A side Stan’s first B side match was against the great Edwin Montal, so he had a very hard road to the finals indeed. The B side finals saw Stan quickly get in the lead 3-0 but I made a comeback making it a double hill match at 4-4. Stan broke but wasn’t able to run the table out as it posed a few problems for both solids and stripe balls. It was a very long safety battle that finally saw Stan as the victor.

In the finals against Bill, Stan continued his great play and beat Bill 6-4 in the first set. However Bill won the A side so Stan had to beat him twice. Bill was having a great tournament and wasn’t about to be denied his goal so he beat Stan 5-1 in the second match. Congratulations to Bill Thompson for his great 8 Ball play and for winning this wonderful event.

Many thanks to Lorne Brooks and his entire team at The Corner Pocket for hosting this event and for his continued support of pool in Alberta. With twelve 7’ Diamond Bar Box pool tables, ten 9’ Diamond tables and three 12’ BCE Snooker tables the Corner Pocket is definitely one of the best places to play Pool or Snooker in Western Canada.

Champion – Bill Thompson - $2,000

2nd Place – Stan Tourangeau - $1,200

3rd Place – Paul Potier - $900

4th Place – Nick Kuger - $750

5/6th Place – Leslie T, Jerry Y - $550

7/8th Place – Mike Robinson, Rob Phillips - $450

9/12th Place – Brian Butler, Larry W, Dan L, Jody Thornton, Dan L - $300

13/16th Place – Sean M, Dwayne B, Eric V, Dan W. - $200

Top lady – Joanne Ashton - $150

By Paul Potier