At Stop #27 on the New England 9-Ball Series, Peter Copland and Rob Rogan played two double hill matches against each other. In the first, Copland sent Rob Rogan to the loss side. In the second, playing in the opening set of a true double elimination final, Rogan forced a second, deciding set, which never happened. With a single win each, Copland and Rogan opted out of a second set, making Copland, in the hot seat, the event’s official winner. The event, which employed a ‘shortened race chart’ due to the combination of 64 players and only 11 tables, was hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH on Sunday, July 15.

Their first meeting took place in the third round of the event’s lower bracket. With Copland (a C+) racing to 5, and Rogan (a C), racing to 4, Copland advanced 5-3. Rogan moved west on the bracket and embarked on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would culminate in their re-match. Copland, in the meantime, moved on to another double hill match against Tyler Dunbar, which he won, advancing to a winners’ side semifinal against fellow C+ competitor Mike Galinat, Sr. (Galinat’s son, Mike, Jr., was shut out by Copland in the opening round of play, and won two on the loss side before being eliminated). Playing in the other winners’ side semifinal, from the event’s upper bracket were Mike Minichello (Open) and Matt Treglia (B+).

Copland sent Galinat, Sr. to the loss side 4-1, and in the hot seat match, faced Minichello, who’d survived a double hill match (7-3) against Treglia. Copland shut Minichello out in the battle for the hot seat and waited on what proved to be his re-match against Rogan.

Of the seven matches Rogan won for the right to face Copland a second time, three of them went double hill, including wins over Jenn Brown 4-2 (Brown racing to 3) and Tyler Dunbar, which set Rogan up to face Galinat, Sr. coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Treglia picked up fellow B+ player Xavier Libby, who’d defeated Justin Fournier, double hill, and Dillon Nickerson (an A player, racing to 5) 4-1 to reach him.

In their straight-up race to 5, Libby got by Treglia 5-1, as Rogan chalked up his third, loss-side double hill win over Galinat, Sr. With Libby racing to 6 in the quarterfinals that followed, Rogan eliminated him 4-3 and then, due to a forfeiture by Mike Minichello in the semifinals, leap-frogged right into the double elimination final re-match against Copland.

In the 5-4 match (Copland to 5), Rogan took the opening set 4-4. There was no second set, and as the hot seat occupant, Copland took the event title when he and Rogan split the top two prizes.

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#28), scheduled for July 29, will be hosted by Stix and Stones in Abington, MA.

Lazar (father) and Alex (teenage son) Gurevich split the two sets of a double elimination final, taking the all-important last match against Ryan Hemingway and Matt Rezendes, to win the December 10 stop (#9; a partners event) on the New England 9-Ball Series. The event drew 66 entrants (33 teams of two) to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.

 

The father/son Gurevich team faced separate opponents in the hot seat and finals. They’d defeated Dan Simoneau and Ricky Bergevin 4-3 (Simoneau/Bergevin racing to 6) in one winners’ side semifinal, while John Collier and Paul Coorey shut out their eventual finals’ opponents, Hemingway and Rezendes. The Gureviches claimed the hot seat with a 6-3 win over Collier and Coorey.

 

On the loss side, Hemingway and Rezendes picked up Josh Grzasko and Peter Copland, who’d gotten by Amanda McDonald/Tyler Campbell 5-2, and George Morgan/Bill Phillips 4-3 (Morgan/Phillips, racing to 5). Simoneau/Bergevin drew “Fireball” Mike Dechaine and Matt Rezendes’ wife, Heidi, who’d defeated Dave Ty/Jeff Felix 7-3, and Jay (father) and Justin (son) Cunningham 7-2.

 

Both teams that were playing their first loss-side match downed the two teams that weren’t; Hemingway/Rezendes defeating Grzasko/Copland and Simoneau/Bergevin eliminating Dechaine and Heidi Rezendes, both 5-2.

 

In the quarterfinal match that followed, with Simoneau/Bergevin racing to 8, Hemingway and Rezendes defeated them 4-2. In the straight-up race to 5 in the semifinals against Collier and Coorey that followed that, Hemingway/Rezendes advanced again 5-1.

 

The intangible ‘momentum’ factor worked for Hemingway and Rezendes in the opening set of the true double elimination final, which they won over hot seat occupants Lazar and Alex Gurevich 4-2 (the Gurevich team racing to 6). In the second set, the Gurevich family gave up only a single rack, winning it 6-1 to claim the partners event title.

 

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America.

 

The next stop (#10) on the 2017-2018 NE 9-Ball Series will be the Randy Marcotte Memorial. Scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 16, the $500-added event will be hosted by Buster’s Billiards in Somersworth, NH.