The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off the second half of it’s 2022/2023 season with a field of 51 players competing at the Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXIV at Sharpshooters Billiards and Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY on February 18th – 19th.
The field included four of the top five players on the tour’s points list, with only 4th place Nate Marshall missing. Even with that firepower in the event, it was Canada’s Nick Charette who advanced through the field undefeated to score his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour title.
Charette made it clear that he meant business this weekend with his first three match wins (Brian Namulik, Aro Majumder and Ed Culhane) coming with a combined score of 27-3. He was tested in his next two, but still scored comfortable wins over Jordan Turner and #3 on the points list, Bucky Souvanthong.
Charette really made a statement on Sunday with a 9-0 whitewash over Dan Sharlow for the hot-seat.
On the one loss side, Ron Casanzio was showing everyone why he is the #1 player on the points list this season. After dropping a hill-hill match against Geoff Montgomery on Saturday, Casanzio strung together nine straight wins on the left side of the board to earn his shot at Charette in the finals.
While on paper, most would have considered Casanzio a big favorite, simply based on his experience in Joss Tour finals, Charette was not to be denied as the cruised to a 9-6 win in the first and only set of the finals.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Rohit Aggarwal hold off a charge from Joe Wysocki to win the second set of the finals 3-1 for first place. Wysocki lost to Mike Renshaw in the final four on the winners side, but won four straight, including a 3-2 decision against Aggarwal in the first set of the finals. It wasn’t enough though, with Aggarwal following up his hot-seat win over Renshaw with a second set in against Wysocki and first place.
The biggest story on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour this season has been the dominant run by tour points leader Bucky Souvanthong. Souvanthong has four first place finishes this season and has competed in the finals of every tour stop that he has played in. While he kept his string of finals appearances intact at the Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXIII held at Sharp Shooters Billiards and Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY on February 19th – 20th, first place went to Jeremy Sossei instead of Souvanthong.
Souvanthong and Sossei found themselves on the same side of the brackets in this 54 player event. Sossei had Saturday wins over Jason Collins, Jim Kearney, Tito Ortiz and Dawn Fox, while Souvanthong defeated Chris Tiru and Pat Fleming before being handed a lopsided 9-3 loss by Damon Sobers.
Souvanthong came back on Sunday and took out his vengeance on the left side of the board. Tom Acciavatti fell 7-2, Bud Robideau lost 7-0 and Bruce Carroll took a 7-0 loss to Souvanthong.
Back on the right side of the board, it was smooth sailing for Sossei with a 9-3 win over Sobers and then a 9-4 win over Marko Clarke for the hot-seat. Souvanthong had wins over Ron Casanzio and Clarke to earn his spot in the finals against Sossei but Sossei ended things before Souvanthong had any chance to get things going with a 9-2 win in the first (and only) set of the finals.
Sundays second chance event saw Jim Kearney face off against Greg Bombard three times before a winner was declared. Kearney had a 3-0 win over Bombard for the hot-seat, but after a hill-hill battle with Joe Wysocki in the semi-finals, Bombard came back and handed Kearney a 3-0 loss in the first set of the double elimination finals. The rubber match went to Kearney by that same 3-0 scoreline for first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will take this weekend off and the come back on March 5th – 6th for the 12th N.E. Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open at Snookers Billiards Bar & Grill in Providence, Rhode Island.
Bucky Souvanthong, Diamond Billiards owner Fran Imburgia and Ron Casanzio
In the first three Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stops of the young season, Bucky Souvanthong has played in the finals of all three, and won one. He kept that record intact over the weekend at stop four at Diamond Billiards Bar & Grill in Rochester, NY.
Souvanthong had Saturday wins over Joe Wysocki, Marco Kam and Rohit Aggarwal to qualify as one of the finale four undefeated players. He came back on Sunday to face Dan Sharlow on one side of the winner’s bracket, while Ron Casanzio took on Nick Coppola on the other. Souvanthong and Casanzio both scored 9-3 wins to earn themselves each a spot in the hot-seat match. Casanzio then went on to take the hot-seat, sending Souvanthong to the one loss side, by the score of 9-7.
Souvanthong found Nate Marshall waiting on the left side of the board. Marshall had dropped a hill-hill decision to Sharlow in the first round on Saturday, but then went on to win seven straight on the one loss side. Any hopes of extending that streak to eight was quickly extinguished by Souvanthong in a 7-2 semi-final match.
The Souvanthong / Casanzio final match was not only a rematch of the hot-seat match, but also a rematch of the finals from stop one at East Ridge Billiards back on October 3rd. In that event, Casanzio double dipped Souvanthong and Bucky would get his revenge this time, by double dipping Casanzio 9-8 and 7-2 for his second tour stop win of the season.
In Sunday’s second chance tournament, it was George Lashoff coming back from the one loss side to double dip the hot-seat occupant in the finals. That hot-seat winner was Joe Wysocki, who had sent Lashoff to the one loss side in the quarter finals. Wysocki went on to defeat Marco Kam for the hot-seat 3-2, while Lashoff had wins over Fran Imburgia, Mike Renshaw and Kam on the left side. Lashoff won the first set of the finals 3-0 and the second set by a score of 3-2. The win was Lashoff’s first win (and first cash) on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at American Pool and Billiards in Portland, Maine this weekend for another $1500/$500 added event.
Jeremy Sossei improved on his second place finish last week, and turned in an undefeated run through a field of 48 players to win the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour's second stop of the 2015/2016 season Salt City Billiards in Syracuse, NY.
Sossei cruised through the winners side and took the hot-seat with a 9-2 win over Ed Saur. Saur would end up settling for second place, after a hill-hill loss to Bruce Nagle in the semi-final match. Nagle had lost to Sossei earlier in the day on Sunday, and was looking good in his bid to revenge in the finals. Nagle stayed close to Sossei until the 6-6 mark, when Sossei took control and rattled off three straight racks for the 9-6 win.
The second chance tournament on Sunday saw Joe Wysocki hold off Kevin Ketz in the finals. Wysocki had the hot-seat, after a 3-2 win over Jamie Garrett. Garrett would then drop another 3-2 match; this time to Ketz. Ketz took the first set of the finals 3-1, but Wysocki righted his ship and scored a 3-0 win in the second set, for first place.
The winner of this stop's $1700 custom engraved Joss cue was Jamie Garrett.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Sharpshooters in Amsterdam, NY next week for their next event; another $1500/$500 added event.
Tour director Mike Zuglan urged all players interested in competing in January's Turning Stone Classic XXV to reach him as soon as possible. The field is half full and will definitely fill up for January. Mike can be reached at 518-356-7163.
