McGrady leading defending champs' charge
MONCTON - Win it once is fun. Do it back-to-back is work.
A year ago Moncton Ray Cormier Trucking found that special magic, that enthusiastic chemistry and captured the New Brunswick men's candlepin bowling championship at Fredericton's Kingswood Lanes.
Now, 12 months later, it's about looking for a repeat performance on their home Moncton Fairlanes in the 70th annual championship here this week.
But, Ray Cormier Trucking didn't put that magic in a bottle after last year's win. Nobody can do that.
Now it's about finding and presenting it again and ace player Chris McGrady feels they're doing a pretty good job.
"We're not where we'd like to be. We've encountered some good teams that bowled well and as a result that's where we sit,' said McGrady of his team's 68-28 record before stepping on the lanes for the fourth day of action yesterday.
But, with 16 of the 23 teams qualifying for the playoffs, Ray Cormier Trucking is positioned well for a strong finish.
Sure enough, the Ray Cormier crew has gone 30-0 since to climb into seccond place.
McGrady has been on a team, Fredericton Kingswood in 2001 and 2002 that repeated as champion and won three times in a four-year span, so he has a feeling about what back-to-back titles is all about.
"It's not easy to repeat but a lot of times it doesn't matter how well you bowled during the week. All bets are off at that point and the playoffs is a whole different story,'' he said.
McGrady claims his team of Matt Cormier, Craig Dever, Charlie Melanson, Jason Melanson, Eric McGuigan, Justin Allain and Claude Chevarie totally understand the magic and they are using every opportunity to find it at the right time.
"As we're going it does seem we are bowling better as a team so hopefully we'll peak on Friday and Saturday,'' he said.
There have been times this week when Ray Cormier Trucking has flubbed a little, but McGrady said the chemistry of the team has pulled together.
"We're lucky we have a strong roster and when some guys struggle we usually have a good replacement,'' he said. "Look back at our matches and when we had a poor string we rebound and come back with a strong second string.''
McGrady feels switching things around might result in some lost points in the round-robin but it's positive to have everybody ready for the playoffs.
"We're trying to have equal strings for everybody and give everybody enough strings to be ready for the playoffs,'' he said. "It's about the playoffs. If we lose a few points here or there to be ready for the playoffs that's not a big deal.''
Meanwhile, McGrady is totally against any player discord towards the major changes that have been adopted for the tournament.
This is the second season that all games have been two-string matches under a total round-robin format. Some players like the formula but claim 11 hours each day at the lanes is simply too much of a grind.
"The majority of the teams voted for it (change) so you can't complain because every team has one vote,'' McGrady offered. "It's following the format that was voted on.''
Many are also disappointed that all the old tournament records are now history because of the two-string format.
"For sure there were outstanding records and those marks were very much a part of the history. Now we no longer have a shot at those records but at the same time it gives you a chance to make some fresh records. It's good in that way and I must say a lot of teams really do enjoy getting the yearly opportunity to play one another,'' he said.
Heading into the home stretch with two final round-robin games today at 9 and 11 a.m.,
Woodstock Bowlacade continues to lead the standings but they are closely followed by Ray Cormier Trucking and Campbellton Lions.
Woodstock leads with a solid 100-26 won-lost record while Ray Cormier and Campbellton are tied in second spot with 98-28 records.
The other teams. with winning records, are: Kingswood Hitmen of Fredericton (91-35), Moncton Fairlanes It'z Begun (91-35), Saint John Shock (87-39), Fairlanes Gunz (86-40), Riverview Parklanes (82-44), Mrs. Dunster's Titans of Moncton (82-44), Saint John Vipers (81-45), Rogers Communications of Moncton (78-48) and Moncton O'Brien's T & M 77-49.
Brian Bernatchez of Campbellton holds down top spot in the average race with a 131.07. He's followed by Trevor Smith of Riverview Parklanes at 128.17 and Eric McGuigan of Ray Cormier Trucking at 127.4).
The tourney high single of 186 was rolled by Romeo LeBlanc of Wheels & Deals of Fredericton. Second is Mark O'Laughlin of Fairlanes Gunz with a 177. The tourney high double is held by Andy Babineau of Mrs. Dunstares with a 324.
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