John Morra
The 2012 Canadian Championships concluded yesterday – Hats off to Shooter Snooker and Sports Club and the Canadian Billiards and Snooker Association crew for putting together this year's successful event. Thanks also to the CPA Southern Ontario Pool League for providing 16 days of non-stop live streaming coverage of the event. John Croft and Rod Babin did an excellent job sharing the Canadian talent across computers, laptops and mobile devices all over the world.
Below are the results of the final events.
10-Ball
After Alex Pagulayan clinched the National 8-ball and 9-ball titles earlier in the week, the question asked by everyone in tournament room was “Who is going to stop him?”. Last year's champion Jason Klatt marched through the a-bracket with wins over Chris Fawcett (10-3) and Tyler Nearing (10-2) before running into Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan. Klatt put an end to Alex's winning streak sending him to the b-side with a 10-5 score. Jason Klatt continued his run for the title beating Rob Phillips and Mario Morra to secure his spot in the finals.
It was John Morra that put a stop to Pagulayan's hopes of a clean sweep, eliminating Alex from the event with a 10-7 victory. Having the biggest obstacle out of his way, John went on to win the tournament ousting Klatt in the finals 13-9.
Open 10-Ball Results
1st – John Morra
2nd – Jason Klatt
3rd – Mario Morra
4th – Rob Phillips
5-6th – Tyler Nearing
5-6th – Alex Pagulayan
7-8th – Andy Aupin
7-8th – Dave Parker
Snooker
In the snooker event, Alex had no difficulty changing from the collared shirt downstairs on the 9-foot tables to the formal vest and bow-tie upstairs on the 12-foot snooker tables. This kind of adaptability comes only from travelling the world and playing in a wide range of conditions under pressure. Alex lost only one game in the preliminary round robin stages (16 wins – 1 loss). His excellence continued in the elimination round knocking out Pat MacCarthy (5-0), Brian Butler (5-1) and John Everekian (6-1).
Alex then faced Tom Finstad from Alberta in the finals. The very experienced Finstad has been to the finals 11 times in the past with 3 titles under his belt. On his way to the finals, Tom had wins over Robin Peterson (5-0), Vito Puopolo (5-2) and Floyd Ziegler (6-5). Alex knew he had his hands full after Tom came out of the gate winning the first two games. A few missed opportunities from Tom opened the door for Alex as he moved ahead winning the next 3 before the break. After the break, Alex took control winning 3 of the next 4 frames to clinch the Canadian Snooker title for the second straight year.
Snooker Results
1st – Alex Pagulayan
2nd – Tom Finstad
3-4th – Floyd Ziegler
3-4th – John Everekian
5-8th – Brian Butler
5-8th – John White
5-8th – Vito Puopolo
5-8th – Allan Whitfield
High Breaks
Alex Pagulayan – 134
Jason Williams – 124
John Everekian – 121
Allan Whitfield – 105
Allan Whitfield – 104
Brian Butler – 101
Alex will be having his 34th birthday next week with plenty to celebrate. He has added 3 National titles to his resume within a week. As they often say “You can't win them all”, but 3 out of 4 ain't bad.
This article and photo originally appeared at www.thepoolscene.com
