Stan Tourangeau, Makayla Kvasnicka, Max Eberle, Brian Kvasnicka and Blake Baker
Battles Stan Tourangeau twice, hot seat and finals
With the recent emphasis on emergent talent on the pool scene, combined with the COVID epidemic which kept a great many competitors, old and new, away from the tables over an extended period of time, some of the more notable veterans appeared at times to have vanished from the scene. Two of them, Max Eberle and Stan Tourangeau, squared off against each other, twice (hot seat and finals) at this past Labor Day weekend’s, 14th Annual Spokane Open at The Black Diamond in Spokane, WA. It was Eberle who ended up claiming title to the $6,875-added (by sponsors and room) event, which drew 121 entrants.
Tourangeau had been away the longest. Though he finished third at last year’s 2nd Don Weir Memorial (Shane Van Boening defeated him in the semifinals), that was his first recorded payout since 2018, when his only cash payout was a victory at a Memorial Day weekend event at the 15th Street Grill in Auburn, WA. It should be noted that as a native of Fort Chipewyan in Alberta, Canada and a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, there may have been a lot of Canadian tournaments in which Tourangeau competed that were not reported to us here at AZBilliards. In the midst of his recorded-payouts absence, he was inducted into the Western BCA Hall of Fame in 2022 after a career that spanned two decades that we know about. His entry into the AZB database commenced two years after AZBilliards began in 1998 and noted two cash payouts at the Northern Lights 9-Ball Shootout (4th) and the Reno Open (49th) in June of that year. Born in 1955, Tourangeau was 17 when Eberle was born.
Though Las Vegas’ Max Eberle played, more or less, through most of the pandemic (he did not record a payout in 2021), it had been almost two years since he recorded his last major event victory at the Bankshots 10-Ball Open in Florida. That said, his resume, like Tourangeau’s, dates back to (around) the turn of the century with his first appearances in the AZBillliard database occurring at the turn of the century; 10 cash finishes, including two wins on the Planet Pool Tour in 2000. So, in a sense, the hot seat match and finals of this year’s Spokane Open pitted two veterans from chronologically different generations, with approximately the same starting date for their careers.
And it showed. Their hot seat match went double-hill and their final match – at 8-7, with Eberle on the hill – turned on the ‘dime’ of a missed 1-ball.
Eberle gave up only four racks in his first 40 games. In races to 9, he opened with a 9-1 victory over Chadd Olson, a 9-2 win over Eddie Mataya, and another 9-1 romp over Sterling George, before shutting out Ken Brown. He ran into his first ‘spot of trouble’ when Brady Gollan chalked up six against him, but he advanced to face Mike Robinson in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Tourangeau, in the meantime, gave up a similarly low number of racks-against; seven in his first 43 games. He opened with a shutout over Erik Lord and a 9-1 victory over Ken Mundel, before giving up four to Rafael Lima, two to James Mason and then, seven to Clay Belvoir. He drew and defeated Blake Baker (whom he’d meet again in the semifinals) 9-6 in the other winners’ side semifinal, joining Eberle in the hot seat match.
About halfway through the hot seat match, Tourangeau was down 2-7 to Eberle. Though he would eventually give up the one rack that put Eberle on the hill, Tourangeau won six of the next seven to force a deciding 17th game. In that double-hill game, Tourangeau found himself out of position for a shot at the 4-ball, with the 8-ball in the way of a clear shot. He tried a long bank shot off a far-away short rail, which bounced off the edge of the side pocket on its way back to the 4-ball. Eberle took the ball-in-hand and cleared the table to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Blake Baker picked up Brady Gollan, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Eberle with victories over Dan Louie 7-1 and Damian Pongpanik 7-5. Robinson drew a rematch versus Eric Vargas, who’d sent him to the loss side, double hill, in the fourth round (Vargas, at the time of that match, had yet to give up a single rack). Vargas moved west on the bracket, winning four straight on the loss side, which included the recent elimination of Aman Sunar 7-3 and Clay Belvoir 7-5
Both battles for advancement to the quarterfinal went double hill, with Baker downing Gollan, and Vargas defeating Robinson a second time. So, too, went the quarterfinal with Baker and Vargas battling for a shot at whoever was going to emerge from the ongoing hot-seat match as the two of them stepped to the table. Baker won that double-hill quarterfinal about an hour before the hot seat match was concluded. Tourangeau joined him for the semifinal, downing him 7-3 to earn his second shot against Eberle.
Eberle took a quick, 2-0 lead in the opening set of the true double-elimination final. But it was short-lived, as Tourangeau came back, not only with two to tie, but three more, which proved to be the longest ‘run’ of the match. Three racks later, Eberle had tied things up at 5-5.
They traded racks back and forth to a fourth 7-7 tie, after which Eberle took his first lead since he’d been ahead by two at the start. That lead put him on the hill. He broke the next rack and dropped three, though he left himself without a shot at the 1-ball and played ‘safe.’ A good one, as it turned out, forcing Tourangeau to take something of a ‘Hail Mary’ kick shot at it, which he missed.
From there, especially with ball in hand, the dots-to-be-connected by Eberle looked obvious, though they’re never as easy as they may look. Eberle went to work, finishing the rack with such a short-distance, straight-on shot at the 9-ball that Tourangeau, literally, from his chair, threw in a towel which landed on the felt before Eberle took aim.
Tour director Brian Kvasnicka, with able assistance from his daughter, Makayla, thanked the ownership and staff at The Black Diamond for their hospitality, as well as sponsors JamUp Apparel, Chris Mundel and the Home Gurus, J&A Roofing, Sandi Fisher Realtor, Bob Danielson Cues, Admen Banner and Sign, APA of Spokane, Ultimate Pool League, JC’s Lawn and Trees, and Legacy Billiards.
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