Last week I wrote about how there is time to gain valuable Cornhole Canada points and to try and get into one of the four top 16 events at Nationals. This week, I want to write about the exciting few months leading up to the summer. Summer is always difficult for the club because people would rather be outside at the lake than inside throwing bags. The SCA understands this and is working hard to set up events so you can enjoy both activities.
The Saskatchewan provincial event has been set for July 25 – 28th (Mixed Provincial July 25, Switch July 26, Singles July 27, and Doubles July 28).
I understand this is over a weekend, but for the rest of July, we will be moving the Friday Night Funholio to Thursday so people can get out to the lake or cabins on Fridays. Hopefully, this will allow players to enjoy their weekends before giving one up for Provincials.
The SCA has also decided that starting in May and running for June and July, we will have drop-in nights on the first two Tuesdays of the month and the third and fourth Tuesdays; we will run a Singles and Doubles Regional that we usually run on the weekends during the fall and winter. The dates below are the dates for the Regionals leading up to the National event in B.C.
On March 28 (the day before Good Friday), we will attempt to run a Mixed Regional event with a Competitive division and a Social Division. We have heard feedback over the last year that not all couples love the format of the Switcholio on Fridays. The feedback is that sometimes couples would like to play with their significant other rather than with many different people. This is your opportunity! Tell your friends to bring their partners for this fun social event. If we succeed, this can be another event we can add to our already incredible lineup of events.
Regional Mixed Event Dates:
- March 28
- April 18
- MAY – No Regional due to the BackYard Cup on May 25
- Jun 20
- July 2
Regionals:
- March 24 – Doubles on the same day
- April 21 – Doubles on the same day
- May 21 – Singles
- May 28 – Doubles
- June 18 – Singles
- June 25 – Doubles
- July 16 – Singles
- July 23 – Doubles
These are some dates I wanted to share so the players can start to plan their holiday schedules and still play in events and gain valuable points.
The spring will be fun and interesting inside the Backyard, and the SCA event crew is working hard to plan events that will keep people enjoying the game as the weather gets nice outside. There will be more information in future blogs about the second Backyard Cup and maybe the end of June Throwdown.
Also, a reminder that the new season of Tier 5 (Newcomer) league starts this Wednesday and will run for eight weeks. The cost is $100. I want to share a success story in the last season of Tier 5. We had over 40 different players come out and try the league. When I did some digging into the Tier 5 league, every player that came out regularly improved their PPR over the eight weeks. Every player’s 30-day PPR was better than their 120-day PPR, which means they were getting better. We saw three players pull their PPR over 5, which is amazing. The Penguins wrapped up their season with two events this week. Tuesday was their final night of the Penguins League, and they played a Switch format. We had another couple of new players that came out, and they picked it up very quickly. Pink Genie and Quentin double-dipped Kim and one of the newbies, Chris, to win the night. What a great first-ever season of the Penguins division. I want to thank all the players for making it a success.
In Tier 4 Doubles, we had a Penguin sneak into the Pigeon Coop and cause a bit of a stir. Ringo had a call into the Arctic to see if Joe would come up and play doubles with one of the top Pigeons. This Pigeon Doubles event has been very fun to watch this season because there is a team that has unified very well and has more fun than most teams while playing. Fun Bags, Bonnie and Shondell, were on fire and sat in the Queen Seat. Both of these Pigeon’s games have been on a steady incline, and it would be interesting to see if this was their night to take the win. Ringo and Joe beat Just BS to have a chance to win the night. They would have to double-dip the ladies and did just that to win the night.
In the Hawk division, the Backdoor bandits, consisting of Spilly and his sub-Jonathan, were the team to beat on this night. It was an interesting night stat-wise because other than Jonathan, who is always firing darts, Glen and Caesar, everyone was under an 8 PPR on the evening. The bracket was interesting because the Backdoor bandits, as expected, were sitting in the King Seat, but on the B-side, a team was knocking off some Hawks. Tennessee Whiskey, consisting of two OG Pigeons, was making its run. Chad (AKA Bobber, Mr. Daniels), myself, (AKA Bitsy, Mr. Jack) started to heat up. Beating Shanks A Lot, and Patches, Dream Crushers, and Surefire Swag (throwing MX) were lined up to take on the Bandits. The final brought the OG pigeons back to the coop, as Jonathan, firing a 9.75, and Spilly, shooting an 8.75, took the title.
On Friday we had an amazing turnout as 75 came out to enjoy a fun nIght of tossing. The night was electric right from the start. After the round-robin, Stan impressed people with his skills as he hit a five on the wheel and walked up and scored a five for the win. The pairing were set and there were not just one good team, but five deadly pairings battling it out for the Friday night title. The likely pairing of Louie and Parker walked into the King Seat, but the battle on the B side was brewing for a chance to de-throne Parker and Louie. Jonathan and Devin beat Stich and Glen for a chance at the title. Game one went to Jonathan and Devin before Krentzy and Louie found their game to take the win on this crazy Friday night.
Sunday was the scene of the mid-season tourney for Tier 3 and 4, and the season ending tourney for Tier 5. Let’s start with the Penguins and their singles event. Joey F, this season’s standings winner, was to face Kim L in a battle for the throne, after she edged Pink Genie in the a semi-final. Kim continued her dominance, shooting a 7.25 PPR to beat Joey in twelve rounds. If he wanted to be the Tier 5 champ, Joey would have to do it from the B-side. Pink Genie and Joe had an epic battle that ended after 17 rounds, with Pink Genie winning 21-18, to set up the matchup between Pink Genie and Joey to see who would face our Tier 5 queen Kim. Joey found his game as he beat Sam to face Kim in the final. Kim was not messing around and was not letting go of her throne on this day. She jumped to an early lead and did not falter after winning the Tier 5 season final Tourney. Great throwing, Tier 5.
Top PPR
- Kim – 6.54
- Joey – 6.03
- Marla – 5.66
In Tier 4, Oopsidacey was back to form and found himself sitting in the King Seat as he waited for his fellow pigeons battling it out on the B-side. This Tier is getting to the point where anyone of 5 or 6 players could sit in the winner circle at any event. After Shawn lost the King Seat game, he went down to the B side, and after Bonnie took down Ringo, the matchup against Shawn was set. Bonnie continued her streak as she beat Shawn to head to the final against Mike. In the Final, it was a back and forth matchup but in the end Mike’s consistent throwing was enough to win the mid-season tourney.
Top PPR
- Ringo – 6.56
- Oopsidacey – 6.45
- Bonnie D – 6.42
In the Hawk’s division Spilly was on his game going 3-0 in the round-robin, but ran into a Newson that was heating up. Kevin started his morning with a huge loss as he fired a 5.71 PPR in his first game. It shows that even the best players can have a bad game every once in a while. Kevin and Caesar (two OG Saskcornholers) battled it out for the King seat. Kevin firing a 8.64 PPR made short work of Caesar to claim his spot in the King’s seat. The B-final matchup saw Caesar and Patches playing for an opportunity to double-dip Kevin in the final. Patches came out strong and pulled into an early 12-3 lead, before Darren battled back to 13-11 and then it went back and forth, but in the end it took 18 rounds before Patches pulled out the win. Patches was then on to tackle Newson. Patches came out where he left off in the Caesar game and pulled out to an early lead in the final. Newson did not panic and continued to throw like he knew how. It is amazing to see the highs and lows within one game; this game was just that. 20-14 after 22 rounds and in round 24 Patches went 10 on 5 to take game one. To put things into perspective this game was 24 rounds and Patches averaged 9.42 over those 24 rounds. They switched sides and they were into a one game winner take all. Kevin did not waste any time in game two. Even with Andrew hitting his roll bag, Kevin fired an impressive 9.21 PPR to take down the mid-season tourney.
Top PPR
- Newson – 8.64
- Spilly – 8.35
- Sure-Fire – 8.26
Doubles Mid-Season
Pigeons – Fun Bags were again having fun and winning along the way. They claimed their spot right where they were on Tuesday, wearing a crown in the Queen Seat. Just BS, who always seems to be in the mix, was taking a run in the B-side and faced Double Trouble to see who would take on the Funbags. After the B-final was all said and done the match up was set and there was an all Ladies Final. Bonnie and Shondell were facing off against Bonnie P and Sarah to see if they could prevent a Tuesday night repeat, and they performed awesome as they only needed one game to take down the title. Great throwing, ladies.
In the Hawk division, the level of play was off the charts. The Backdoor Bandits were once again sitting in the King Seat and when the B-side was all finished it was the DreamCrushers facing off against the Bandits to determine the mid-season doubles champs. The game was close but in the end the Backdoor Bandits were too much for the Dream Crushers to win and sweep Doubles this week.
POWER RANKING
TIER 3 Power Ranking.
- Jonathan– Stays in the number one spot. Honestly, I do not see him losing this spot. His level of play is off the charts, and he consistently throws 9 PPR or higher.
- Newson – If anyone were close to Jonathan, it would be Kevin. When Kevin has found his stroke, he is in the category of Jonathan and could give him a run. Until he beats him, he will be number 2.
- Spilly – Spilly had a tough night on Tuesday but recovered on Sunday. Spilly will stay in the three spot because, In my opinion, he is always a tough match-up.
- Patches – Andrew was throwing darts on Sunday at the mid-season tourney. His game has progressed lately, and when he is firing like Sunday, he is tough to beat. His roll bag was dancing, and with a second-place finish in singles, he moved into the four spot
- Crystal – Moves down one spot
TIER 4 Power Ranking.
- B-RAD – Did not play this week
- Bonnie Day – Bonnie is throwing very well, and if she can beat B-RAD she will be in the one spot
- Oopsidacey – Mike has slowly backed off on his wins lately. I hope the time spent writing the blog did not take him away from his practice. Mike, with a win at the mid-season Tourney, moves into the three-spot
- Ringo – Strong finish on Tuesday with this Pigeon, has him moving up. I know he thinks he belongs higher up but I think my money would be on the top three in a heads up match up. I hope he can prove me wrong.
- Jennifer – Did not play this week.
TIER 5
I want to thank the Tier 5 players who came out to play in the Backyard Cup. I have talked to a few of you, and it was a great experience for you. I know we will be doing the cup again, so I encourage you to talk to them and find out how much fun it is, so you are ready for the next one.
TIER 5 Spotlight
Sam – AKA – Pink Genie – This kid is an absolute gem. He has been coming to Friday night Switches for months and is always looking to pick up pointers to improve his game. I watched his throw the other night and it is coming into shape very nicely and it shows in his finishes in events. It was only a month ago that he was happy to see his name up on the winner board, and since then, it has been on there 4 or 5 times. It’s always a better night when he comes to play because he is that nice of a guy.
Bill R – Bill, I think we need a nickname for you, lol. Bill is a great person hooked on the game and buying bags. Bill is always trying to tweak his game and get better and is not against trying different things or asking for help. He is a regular league player and never misses a Friday night. He may be quiet, but if you get him talking it is a treat to have a conversation with him.
Quentin – Quentin came out three weeks ago and has not missed a night since. He found the winner circle faster than most this past week. He loves the game and cannot get enough. His game has improved in the short time he has been coming, and I look forward to seeing where his game can go.
