3rd Annual Cream Can Classic recap

3^rd Annual Cream Can Classic

March 11, 2006

Ultimate Sports Bar & Grill, Waite Park

Here is a quick recap of the 3^rd Annual Cream Can Classic. We had a great turnout this year for 3^rd Annual Cream Can Classic. We had 19 participants this year which made for a good turnout. Missing was last year’s champion Bob Haft, he had a previous engagement. So that meant that there would not be a repeat champion.

The format was a singles, race to 2 with the following format – 501/Cricket/Choice. Placement in the bracket was done via a random drawing.

For the most part, the playing field was very balanced with very talented shooters, who if they got hot, could go very deep into the bracket. I had feeling that this was going to be an interesting tournament and we were going to see how far prediction would go for a shooter that got hot when there was an upset right away with Lance (aka Fancy) beat James Eikmeier (3^rd place level 1 at MOMA 2006) in the first match. He kept that momentum going for a couple of rounds until he ran in Trent Karasch. One of the other surprises came in the losers bracket when Jeff Sparrow, put Toby E out of the tournament, I think that might have relieved a few people that have played against Toby, when he has the “right clothes” on, he is a dangerous shooter. Jeff, kept his momentum going in the loser’s bracket for a few more rounds, but ran out of steam when he can across Josh L. After Josh beat Jeff, he played a very spirited match against Ryan L. Josh almost had the shot of the tournament when he when he hit a bull, dbull, and almost hit the trip 18 (without a flight) to give him the match. Josh really had the crowd behind him for that match, but it wasn’t enough to get him by Ryan, the crafty veteran.

In the money round, Mike Nelson threw well and beat Ryan 2 – 1 to advance to play Kevin A. Mike N kept his darts flying well to beat Kevin and deny Kevin the chance to get revenge on Michael H, but Mike N had an agenda of his own, he want to get his own revenge on Michael H for putting him in the loser’s bracket earlier in the day. Michael H, on his farewell tour in Minnesota before he leaves for California, knifed his way through the winner’s bracket, beating some very good players and very dangerous throwers. I love to watch Michael H throw because he remains so calm and is very courteous and appreciative competitor.

So, in our all Michael final, there were good darts thrown, but Michael H proved to be too much for Mike Nelson to overcome. Mike N had to throw some good darts earlier in the day and he appeared to run out of steam in the final. So, Michael H was our champion this year, throwing some very good darts. The only regret I heard come out of Michael H, was the fact that he didn’t get to play against Bob H, and trying to figure out how he was going to get the trophy back for next years tournament.

I want to thank all that showed up this year and to Tom F at the Ultimate for all his support over the last couple years and working to make this a good tournament. Hopefully we can increase the numbers for next year, since it seems that Michael H will not be back to defend his title.

Photos

Founder and Creator of the Cream Can Classic - Dave "the Legend" Claussen