January 6 & 7, 2001 In the middle of a New England snow storm Mike Zuglan's Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour visited Pocket Billiards in Bradford, Ma. Bob Campbell the owner of Pockets put up $2000 to add to the event and 49 players braved the weather to vie for the over $5900 in prizes. Among the great players was Mike Zuglan, Jose Parica, Santos Sambajon Jr. Danny Basavich, Chuck Altomare and Canadian champs Gaston, LeBlanc and Jeff Kennedy. Saturdays matches went as smooth as silk with Zuglan, Parica, Altomare and Sombajon going through the day unscathed. On the one loss side we had Chris Biddle vs Steve Marotto, Gaston Leblanc vs Marty Herman, Matt Tetreault vs Paul Rota and Carlos Santos vs Danny Basavich.

Sunday the weather cleared and warmed up a bit and 12 guys came back for the cash. Jose Parica was in dead punch and would not allow anyone to get more than 4 games in the race to 9. Only Mike Zuglan and Gaston Leblanc could get to four on the long time great player Parica. Chuck Altomare whipped Sambajon 9-5. On the one loss side Basavich could not get started but still managed to beat road partner Carlos Santos and then Matt Tetreault. After that came Sambajon and Danny could do nothing right. If Joe Frady was there you would have heard him say, "Now you know why I call him Delicious" In the mean time Canadian great Gaston LeBlanc of Windsor, Quebec beat everyone he came across. The senior player beat everyone he ran into on Sunday and made it to the finals. In the four years that we have been running the Joss tour, every Canadian who has entered our events have been a credit to the game, Paul Thornley, Luc Salvas, Jeff Kennedy, Gaston Leblanc, Harry Chagaris, Claude, Alex and all have been more than welcome and nothing short of a pleasure to watch and talk too. But this day belonged to Parica, again allowing no one to get more than 4 games on him, he cruised to his first Joss tour title. In the finals against Leblanc, we saw some great pool by both. Safety play was great and Parica stringing racks was a treat for the fans who came out to see. In the end it was all Jose claiming the cash.

Pockets did a great job as always hosting the event. Next week we go to Eight Ball Billiards in Quincy, Ma. for a $4000 added event.

Final Standings:
1.   $1600   Jose Parica
2.   $1020   Gaston LeBlanc
3.   $800   Chuck Altomare
4.   $600   Santos Sambajon Jr
5/   $400   Mike Zuglan
6               Dan Basavich
7/   $250   Matt Tetreault
8               Steve Marotto
9/   $150   Chris Biddle
10             Marty Herman
11             Paul Rota
12             Carlos Santos

By: Pat Murray