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Lombardo Highlights Turning Stone Day Three

Hunter Lombardo (Photo courtesy of Taylor Workman)

Day three was full of action at the Turning Stone Classic XXX in Verona, NY. 

 
The late Friday upset victims, Mika Immonen and Billy Thorpe, were both eliminated from the tournament early on day three as Immonen fell to Canada’s Dany Normandin 9-4 and Thorpe fell to Brandon Shuff 9-5.
 
Jayson Shaw and Earl Strickland were both sent to the one loss side early on Saturday. Shaw fell to Finland’ Olli Turkulainen 9-8 and Strickland lost a 9-7 match to Joss tour favorite Bucky Souvanthong. Turkulainen and Souvanthong were then sent to join the players on the one loss side after losses to Shane Van Boeing and Johnny Archer respectively.
 
The story of the day on Saturday was the play of Hunter Lombardo. Lombardo is a regular at Turning Stone, but has never finished higher than 7th place. This time, he has quietly scored win after win on the right side of the board. A 9-7 win over Pat Fleming was followed by a 9-1 trouncing of Demitrios Jelatis. At the time of this writing, Lombardo is locked up in a tough match with Archer to determine who will meet Van Boening for the hot-seat. 
 
AzBilliards will have online brackets and real time scoring for the duration of the event, and Upstate Al is streaming select matches on his Facebook page. Links to all of this coverage are available on our live page for the event. 

Joss Tour, $1500/$500 Added, April 28 & 29, Raxx Pool Room Sports Bar & Grill, West Hempstead NY

Players & Fans,
 
Congratulations to Stop # 13 winners Dany Normandin ($1,000), second chance winner Ross Webster ($300) & our $1,200 Joss Cue raffle winner Logan Best.
 
Stop # 14 of The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour will take place on April 28 & 29 at Raxx Pool Room Sports Bar & Grill in W. Hempstead NY. Raxx is one the Northeast's largest rooms complete with a huge 50 foot bar, Great food and 25 tables making for a fun time for everyone anytime. Our good friend and owner Holden Chin, deserves much credit and thanks for being so generous in allowing us the use of his beautiful facility and adding $2,000 for this free spectator event. Also, once again, you will have the opportunity to win a gorgeous, custom, engraved, Joss Cue valued at $1,200, by participating in Raxx cue raffle. Anyone can participate and you don't have to be present to win! The drawing will be held just prior to the final match of the main event on Sunday. Why not show Holden your appreciation and support and come play in, or just watch, yet another great event with some of the games top players. 
 
The raffle cue can be seen here: https://josscues.com/cues/custom/joss-custom-26/ 
 
This event at Raxx will consist of a $1500 added Saturday and Sunday Main Event (entry Fee $120 for pro level or $70 for non pro level) and a $500 added second chance event on Sunday ($20 Entry Fee) for those non pro players eliminated from the main event on Saturday.
 
For those of you coming to play, please arrive on Saturday April 28, Before 11:30 AM, and in proper dress please. Yes, jeans and sneakers are permitted in our billiard parlor events. But please, NO T-SHIRTS, TANKS, SHORTS OR SWEATS. Complete tour info can be found on our site www.joss9balltour.com    
 
Our $25,000 Added Turning Stone Classic XXX 9-Ball Open (August 23 – 26) may seem far off but it is fast approaching as far as entries are concerned. It is now well over 2/3 full! If you would like to compete in this great event, NOW is the time to enter to avoid being shut out! To enter you must contact me immediately at 518-356-7163 before the event is full.
  
Please remember to spread the word to frequent your local billiard parlors and utilize and promote the world class products of our most generous sponsors. They are the backbone of our sport and deserve our support!! 
 
Thanks, and I hope to see you all at Raxx.
 
Mike Zuglan
 
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour Is Proudly Sponsored By;
 
Joss Cues – http://www.josscues.com
Turning Stone Resort Casino – http://www.turningstone.com 
Simonis Cloth – http://www.simoniscloth.com
Poolonthenet.com – http://www.poolonthenet.com
AzBilliards.com – http://www.azbilliards.com
Aramith – http://www.aramith.com
Billiards Press – http://www.billiardspress.com                 
World Class Cue Care – http://www.jnj-industries.com

 

Dany Normandin Wins Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Stop

Mike Yednak, Dany Normandin and Union Station Owner Phil Harju

Sometimes, getting that first match win is the key to tournament success. That looked to be the case on April 7th – 8th at Union Station Billiards in Portland Maine where Dany Normandin earned his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour win.
 
Normandin’s first match was against the always dangerous Kyle Pepin. Pepin approaches the table with a confidence that can affect many opponent’s games and this match was a close one with Normandin pulling out a 9-7 win. After that win though, no opponent would put up much of a challenge to keep Normandin from the winner’s circle. Xavier Libby, Jim Hayden and Samoth Sam all fell to Normandin on Saturday, by a total score of 27-11. 
 
Normandin picked up where he left off when Sunday play got underway, as he took the hot-seat with a 9-4 win over Ivaylo Petrov
 
On the one loss side, Pepin had made it through five straight matches on Saturday and opened Sunday play with a 9-2 win over Josh Rupard. Pepin’s run would finally be brought to a close by Michael Yednak in the next round as Yednak scored a 9-7 win to earn his spot in the semi-final match against Petrov. Yednak’s only loss in the event up to this point had been a loss to Petrov mid-day on Saturday, but he would avenge that loss with a 9-5 win over Petrov to send Petrov to the seats in 3rd place.
 
The finals would go only one set and would continue Normandin’s dominant play as he beat Yednak 9-3 for first place and $1000 in prize money. 
 
Sundays second chance tournament saw Ross Webster drop his second match to Xavier Libby, but come back with five match wins for first place. After the win over Webster, Libby then dropped the hot-seat match to Gary Bryant 3-0. After eliminating Libby 3-0, Webster came out of the one loss side to defeat Bryant 3-0 and 3-1 in the finals for first place and $300 in prize money. 
 
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action on April 28th – 29th at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar and Grill in West Hempstead, NY.

Strickland Takes Turning Stone XXI

Earl Strickland

Earl Strickland has emerged victorious at Turning Stone XXI by defeating Jeremy Sossei 13-7 in the finals. Strickland only tasted defeat once at the hands of Brandon Shuff (9-4), a loss he avenged on the final day by relegating Shuff to fourth place with a 9-3 score line.

No one else could hang with the Pearl. He defeated Ron Cosanzio (9-2) and Jason Klatt (9-8) before Shuff sent him left and once over there he rolled over Mike Dechaine (9-6) in a match where both players challenged one another to a series of mind games over the rack and cue ball break position, Karen Corr (9-6), Joey Dupuis (9-5) and Dany Normandin (9-3) before entering the finals against Sossei who had been undefeated coming into the last match.

Sossei had quite the week. He had a tough row to hoe but he took down Robb Saez (9-8), Chris Bartram (9-7), Thorsten Hohmann (9-8), Joey Dupuis (9-6) and Dany Normandin (9-5) before finding his only loss of the event to Strickland in the finals.

You may find complete brackets and results of this event HERE

AzBilliards wishes to thank Mike Zuglan of the Joss Northeast Tour, Turning Stone Casino and resort, Pat and Pete Fleming of Accu-Stats, Al Leon, Eddie Culhane, Lucasi Hybrid Cues, the TAP League System, and Master Chalk for making our live stream and scoring as well as the brackets possible.

Turning Stone Final Day

Oscar Dominguez

Turning Stone has a history of surprises and this edition is no exception to that rule.  We are down to only eight players left alive and some big names are not on that list. The biggest one is Thorsten Hohmann, who had won his last four events including the World 9-Ball Championship, prior to coming to Verona. Hohmann was playing very well until yesterday when he just could not seem to get into his super-top gear.

 
His confidence may have taken a blow early in the day when Martin Daigle ended his totally dominating performances of earlier in the week by making Hohmann work for a 9-7 win. Then he lost a double-hill thriller to Jeremy Sossei after leading Sossei 5-0. Sossei is a 'Grinder' who never gives up. He dug in his heels, began playing great safeties as required, and just clawed his way back into the match. When he broke the final rack he wound up with a shot on the one ball and, that done, then a rudimentary 2-9 carom as the 9-ball was resting near the corner pocket. He deposited that and Hohmann was moved over to the one-loss side.
 
Once there Hohmann had to face a very tough Oscar Dominguez. Dominguez tells us he has recently found a combination of cue and tip that has him shooting comfortably for the first time in a couple of years. His confidence and supreme skills let him take down the World Champ 9-6 and lands him in the final eight.
 
Earl Strickland is also on the one-loss side after a very cool Brandon Shuff knocked him out of the winner's bracket 9-4. Shuff has had it together all week. He defeated Karen Corr one round after Corr defeated Dennis Hatch on the hill. When we spoke with Corr she said that the difference between Hatch and Shuff was that Hatch would sometimes take a flyer on a tough shot and give her opportunities, but Shuff played a conservative game that left her no air.
 
Today our match-ups on the one-loss side are Karen Corr versus Earl Strickland and Oscar Dominquez versus Dennis Hatch. Hatch is still trying to capture his first Turning Stone title, an elusive goal for him that is also something of a mystery as he has dominated other Joss Tour events.
 
On the winner's side we find two new names. Jeremy Sossei plays one of them, Joey Dupuis. Dupuis has been a giant-killer this week as he shot down Rodney Morris (9-8) and Ernesto Dominguez (9-7). Our other right-side match is Brandon Shuff facing Dany Normandin of Canada. Normandin has defeated Oscar Dominguez (9-8), and Cleiton Rocha (9-6) this week and is a very confidant young man.
 
So the stage is set. Will Dennis Hatch finally capture the elusive Turning Stone, or perhaps will we have a newcomer take down his first major title? By the end of today the drama will have concluded and the new Champion crowned. For live scoring and brackets and to see the free live stream of this event by Accu-Stats, just click HERE.