Top 10 Crokinole Players of the Decade

Nathan Walsh April 19, 2020

Upon looking for quotes regarding an over analysis of the past, the following came up from the novel The Truth We Never Told, by Stacy A. Padula:

Dwelling on the past and worrying about the future will only rob you of the present’s joy.

Seems like a wise quote, but uh . . . one might reckon there’s been a lot of worrying about the present these days, so the timing seems adequate and even enticing to once more reflect on Crokinole in the 2010s.

This will be the last instalment of the series of reviews of the decade as CrokinoleCentre presents the Top 10 Players of the 2010s.

Top 10 lists on the internet have a tried and true characteristic of stirring up controversy among the readership. It doesn’t matter if months of careful preparation went into such a venture, it’s quite easy for readers to argue both rationally and irrationally for hours regarding the criteria, arbitrary or not, and judgement used to make a such a ranked list. While a hobbyist author may find this behaviour to be a disincentive, a desire for a brief distraction from more consequential present matters makes this idea all the more inviting.

Fair criticism. Unfair criticism. It’s all welcome.

“Will this list be biased?” you ask!

Well, scroll down to #5 and answer for yourself. But seriously, this list will be as dependent on objective analysis as the work of any professional statistician (which is to say entirely, right up until the moment it becomes inconvenient).

“Will this list be comprehensive?”

As much as it can be realistically. Crokinole went at least 130 years with no organized competition of significant magnitude to speak of. There will never be a definitive answer to the greatest player of all time question. Even this list covering 10 years of crokinole, written by arguably the person who’s watched the most of it, clearly suffers from geographic and informational restrictions.

“Will I enjoy reading this list?”

Uh . . . probably not. Look, I thought this was a great idea at first, then I thought it was a good idea, THEN I thought it was a pretty bad idea that shouldn’t see the light of day. But at that point I had already written 30% of it, and didn’t feel like putting that much work onto the shelf. So I figured I’d post this, but then cover both bases by telling you not to read it.

Decision Criteria

Timeline: January 1st 2010 to December 31st 2019

This works pretty well to align with both the NCA and the existence of CrokinoleCentre. Unfortunately I can’t contribute much to a discussion of the best players of the 1990s or the 2000s, but that would entail a fun bit of crokinole history. (The 2000s debate between 3-time World Champions Cook and Fulop would be interesting. Perhaps someone else can weigh in on that.)

Competition in Consideration: All NCA and WCC events, plus others that were or would have been featured in this blog (such as Schneider Haus).

This list won’t factor in any results of club play or lesser known events, as the results of these are inconsistent and too hard to come by. Since it’s best to stick to what one knows best, this list won’t factor in the performance on the Cues side of the game either. The statistics quoted later on include the results of 113 tournaments (86 singles, 27 doubles) that took place over the decade. Much thanks to Ray Beierling for providing a comprehensive file that did most of the work that led to these detailed achievements.

Other Notes

Keep in mind this is a list of the best players of the decade, not a ranking of the current crokinole world. Which means performance is to be considered equally throughout the 2010s. That being said, a player’s standing does not lose points for being mediocre at times throughout the decade. Certainly improvement to an extremely high level is a good thing. Additionally, a player does not benefit from being elite during a short period of competitive action under the assumption that if they had played throughout the entire decade that they would have accumulated numerous other accolades at the same pace. Perhaps it’s best to say this list should attempt to capture the 10 players who made the biggest imprint on crokinole at the highest level in the 2010s.

Honourable Mentions

Who’s Not on this list?

In short, some very good players. 10 spots is not that many, even for a niche competitive endeavour the spots go by fast. That means top players with tournament victories and multiple finals appearances in the decade (like Clare Kuepfer, Tony Snyder, Jeremy Tracey, Louis Gauthier and Ray Haymes) didn’t quite make the cut for this list. Neither did World Champions in the decade, such as Richard and Bob Mader or Robert Bonnett.

Additionally there is not an inclusion of players from other crokinole hotspots such as Belgium, Hungary, British Columbia or PEI. Attempting to compare players who rarely, or perhaps never, competed against each other would stretch the rankings into uncomfortable subjectivity. Although a moment can be taken to recognize some of the best from those regions.

From Belgium, Bert Costermans and Dennis Vrints were undoubtedly the best. Over the 4 year run of the Belgian Crokinole Championships (2013-2017) the team of Costermans/Vrints won all 4 doubles titles. They also each recorded a singles national title in those years, and then went on to defeat the best doubles teams in Hungary with a win at the European Open in 2018.

In Hungary the decade was defined by dominant stretches from two different players. Attila Berzlánovich debuted competitively late 2016, and over the course of the next 3 years would win 10 singles events (among them the 2018 European Open and the 2019 Hungarian Nationals) along with two Hungarian doubles titles with his brother Krisztián. Berzlánovich’s introduction into crokinole coincided with Hungary’s first dominant player stepping away from the game. Áron Deme was the victor in 10 out of 15 singles events played in Budapest, including the first 4 Hungarian National Championships from 2013 to 2016. The 2016 Hungarian title was his last competition on home soil, although he did travel to Belgium to win the 2017 Belgian Championships in a showdown with Bert Costermans. Unfortunately for Hungarian crokinole fans, there never was a tournament with both Deme and Berzlánovich in competition.

Out of PEI there was a great deal of parity on the singles side, but the team of Wilfred Smith and Lawson Lea was the cream of the crop on the doubles side. Not only did they come away as provincial champions on multiple occasions, they also had success on the world stage with 3 finishes in the Top 6 of the World Doubles event, with a best finish of 3rd.

Finally, the decade’s best performances in BC came from Quin Erzinger and Linda Irvine. Erzinger was the most successful on the singles side with 3 provincial titles and 2 runner-up finishes. Meanwhile Irvine won the singles title twice in 2016 and 2019, but was the more successful one on the doubles side with 2 doubles victories and 2 runner-up finishes (one of each coming alongside Erzinger).

#10 - Roy Campbell

1 Tournament Win
6 Top 2 finishes (11th)
18 Top 4 finishes (8th)
5 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (8th-tied)
13 Tournament Singles Top 4 Finishes (9th)

Why this spot?: Roy Campbell debuted in competitive crokinole in the Spring of 2011, but wasn’t a regular until the Fall of 2012. He quickly found himself finishing among the top 10 at such regularity that he was labelled by many fellow players as a darkhorse candidate for tournament victories. He cemented himself as one of the game’s top players with a break-through 3rd place finish in the 2015 WCC singles event, followed a couple months later with his maiden NCA victory at the 2015 Scenic City Classic.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: The one knock against Campbell is the lack of multiple tournament victories, so it could be argued others who’ve recorded 2 wins (such as his current doubles partner) deserve the higher ranking. But it cannot be overlooked that Campbell has been one of the game’s top contenders for the majority of the decade, only failing once in the last 7 calendar years to record at least one top 4 singles finish.

Decade Lowlight: To dissuade excessive bragging due to the results of these rankings, a lowlight from each player will also be included to keep respective egos in check.

In 2018 Roy Campbell and Jeremy Tracey had advanced to the final 6 playoffs for the Doubles World Championship, and very early on it was clear they would be battling with the Beierling brothers for the title. When they met the Beierlings mid-way through the playoffs a win or a tie would have kept the championship dreams alive, but they were thoroughly beaten 8-0 in the game, smashing their title aspirations.

Decade Highlight: Campbell’s win at the 2015 Scenic City Classic came in his first ever tournament final, and it also featured a terrific comeback. Trailing Jason Beierling 8-4 in a first to 11 match, Campbell scored 8 consecutive points to runaway with the title.

Their defining Shot of the decade: If you ask Roy Campbell to "drive it straight through to here" the here you are referencing might as well be the 20 hole.

#9 - Connor Reinman

3 Tournament Wins (9th)
4 Top 2 finishes (10th-tied)
11 Top 4 finishes (12th-tied)
2 Tournament Singles Wins (9th-tied)
3 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (11th)

Why this spot?: Connor Reinman entered the competitive crokinole scene through the broadcasting booth of CrokinoleCentre well before registering for an NCA tournament. When he first competed at the 2017 Ontario and World Championships no one knew what to expect from the man whose face was not yet familiar, but whose voice had become well known. More so than any other player in the decade, expectations for his play shot through the roof when he finished 9th and 3rd in his first 2 events, and in large part those expectations were met through the remaining years of the decade.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: Despite only playing parts of 3 years competitive, Reinman still racked up 3 victories and 11 top 4 finishes in only 15 events played. Reinman would certainly rank much higher if this top 10 only covered the years 2017-2019, or even just the back half of the decade. Seeing as this list covers 10 years though, the higher spots are reserved for those who benefitted from more time in being able to plant a larger stamp on the decade.

Decade Lowlight: Even with the success of the 2019 World Championships (3rd in doubles, 4th in singles) the sting of what could have been stands out as the lowlight. Reinman’s tantalizing loss in the 3rd-game-5th-round-tiebreaker of singles semifinals to Darren Carr caused his first world championship finals appearance to elude him.

Decade Highlight: Reinman was one of only 3 people to win an Ontario Singles Championship in the decade, and the style in which he did so was pretty special with sudden death wins in both the semifinals and finals. The most impressive part was the perfect round he scored against Ray Beierling to cap off their semifinal match.

Their defining Shot of the decade: This is one of the most ambitious shots of the decade that was somehow actually executed perfectly.

#8 - Andrew Hutchinson

5 Tournament Wins (8th)
8 Top 2 finishes (8th)
17 Top 4 finishes (9th)
4 Tournament Singles Wins (6th)
7 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (7th)

Why this spot?: Andrew Hutchinson began pursuit of finger-flicking achievement when he crossed crokinole’s House of Commons floor after winning the 2016 Cues Crokinole World title (perhaps even Bautista bat-flipping his cue into the Grand River following the victory). Impressively, there was little discontinuity before Hutchinson proved as successful in the new domain, recording 2 finals appearances in his first 3 events. Even after a run of periodic 5th-place finishes, he managed to finish in the Top 4 in 17 over 34 events in the decade, and won 5 of the final 9 tournaments he played in the decade.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: Similarly to Reinman, Hutchinson’s case is limited by time span. He immediately established himself as a contender when he joined the fingers tour, but it was only in the final year of the decade where he definitively earned a regard as one of the top 3 players in the game.

Decade Lowlight: Sandwiched among Hutchinson’s successes to close the decade was a devastating loss to Jon Conrad in the 2019 Ontario Singles semifinal, when Hutchinson had chances to close it out, but they slipped away as Conrad came back to win the match.

Decade Highlight: Perhaps Hutchinson’s most thrilling victory came against Robert Bonnett in the 2019 London final, when he trailed in a sudden death round but found a way to overcome the deficit and win the tournament.

Their defining Shot of the decade: Hutchinson would tell you his game is open-20s and defensive-placements, so here's a great example of the latter:

#7 - Fred Slater

10 Tournament Wins (5th - 3-way tie)
17 Top 2 finishes (7th)
29 Top 4 finishes (7th)
8 Tournament Doubles Wins (1st)
2 Tournament Singles Wins (9th-tied)
5 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (8th-tied)
2 NCA Tour Podiums (6th)

Why this spot?: Fred Slater was established in competitive crokinole coming into the decade following a couple of top 4 finishes in 2009. He recorded his first victory in September of 2010 after beating out Brian Cook in Kawartha, and then a second victory a month later when he teamed up with Cook to win the first Ontario Doubles Championship. From then on he was never out of contention, recording at least one top 4 finish each year of the decade.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: The only knock against Slater’s ranking would be that the majority of his success in the decade came through doubles. But it cannot be overlooked that his doubles record was the best of anybody’s in the decade with 8 doubles titles, in addition to being one of the few to record multiple singles tournament wins.

Decade Lowlight: Slater suffered two crushing losses back-to-back in the BC interior, first losing a 3rd-game-5th-round-tiebreaker to Quin Erzinger in the 2011 provincial final, followed by another 3rd-game-5th-round-tiebreaker loss to Brian Cook in the 2012 final.

Decade Highlight: CrokinoleCentre is lacking video recordings for a number of Slater wins early in the decade, but it was able to capture a gem of a match from Slater in 2013 when he played brilliantly in the London final to defeat Jon Conrad in 2-straight games.

Their defining Shot of the decade: Recently Fred Slater began shooting with his index finger, but he spent most of the decade shooting with the middle, so it's best to remember the decade with one of the few shots that a middle-finger shooter has an advantage: the long distance follow-through-20

#6 - Jason Beierling

10 Tournament Wins (5th - 3-way tie)
21 Top 2 finishes (5th-tie)
40 Top 4 finishes (4th)
7 Tournament Doubles Wins (3rd)
3 Tournament Singles Wins (7th)
9 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (6th)
1 NCA Tour Podium (7th)

Why this spot?: Jason Beierling made a big statement when he defeated Ray Beierling in the 2012 London final, ending Ray’s hopes of capturing 4-straight London titles, while scoring his first singles victory of the decade. While his doubles results are the most remarkable feature of his decade of accomplishments, he was consistently in the running on the singles side, and by the end of the decade he had appeared in the finals of every tournament on the NCA Tour with the exception of the singles World Championships.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: Beierling’s record ended up being a touch better than Fred Slater’s, and he did amass more impressive singles results to earn the #6 placement.

Decade Lowlight: In the 2018 Ontario Singles semifinal Jason Beierling led the first-to-9 match by a score of 6-0 over Justin Slater, but he was unable to close it out, ultimately losing the match 10-6.

Decade Highlight: Jason Beierling’s best performance of the decade came at the 2018 Belleville Crokinole Challenge where he, after dominating Nathan Walsh 10-2 in the semifinal, doubled up Ray Beierling 11-5 in the finals to claim the Belleville title.

Their defining Shot of the decade: Thanks to a co-worker Jason Beierling got the nickname protractor and there was no better protraction that this maximum distance ricochet he pulled off for a 20.

#5 - Nathan Walsh

10 Tournament Wins (5th - 3-way tie)
21 Top 2 finishes (5th - 2-way tie)
37 Top 4 finishes (5th)
7 Tournament Singles Wins (4th)
17 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (5th)
3 NCA Tour Podiums (5th)

Why this spot?: Nathan Walsh came into the decade full of expectations after a breakthrough performance when he finished 2nd at the 2009 World Championship, but suffered through peregrination for a few years before being able to challenge at the top level. In two particular hot stretches from 2013-2014 and 2016-2017 he was right among the very best in the game and earned the majority of his victories and top finishes.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: There’s a chance this selection may lead to some eye rolls, but over the course of the decade Nathan Walsh put together very similar records to both Fred Slater and Jason Beierling, with the added edge that Walsh does possess the superior singles statistics. With regard to the question of being ranked any higher, you’ll see when you get to the next rank that there’s a rather large gap from those within the top 4 to the rest of the pack.

Decade Lowlight: Justin Slater won a lot of matches in the decade, but it was against Nathan Walsh where he won the most. Walsh recorded an 0-8 record in singles elimination matches against Slater, with the low point likely being the 2014 Belleville Challenge final where he led 6-0, 4-0 and even had a shot to win, before succumbing in defeat.

Decade Highlight: Walsh’s best win of the decade came in 2013 in Belleville where he recorded his first victory over Brian Cook, after playing nearly flawless to win the championship match in 2-straight games.

Their defining Shot of the decade: Like his writing style, sometimes his crokinole shots had an unnecessary amount of flare.

#4 - Jon Conrad

2 Singles World Championships (2nd)
4 Singles World Championship Finals Appearances (2nd)
2 NCA Tour Championships (2nd - 3-way tie)
8 Tournament Titles (7th)
25 Tournament Top 2 Finishes (3rd)
19 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (3rd-tied)
45 Tournament Top 4 Finishes (3rd)

Why this spot?: While Jon Conrad has been around the game of crokinole for many years, he had little results in the late 2000s that would have suggested there would be great things to come, and he seemed to be a step away from the elite echelon at the start of the decade. He proved to be a threat with a 2nd place finish in Exeter in 2010, followed by a 3rd at the Worlds a month later, but he firmly asserted himself into that top stratosphere when he became the first to win both of the doubles and singles world titles at the 2012 World Championships. From then on he continued to perform with stellar results, his style of play became both well-studied and well-branded, and he was persistently in the conversation of the top players of the day

Why not higher? Why not lower?: Jon Conrad didn’t rack up a huge number of tournament victories, which is why he slots in at #4 here. But there was undoubtedly a period of time, particularly between his back-to-back World and NCA titles, that he was known as the best player in the game, and his key statistics easily bear that out.

Decade Lowlight: In 2016 Jon Conrad was chasing Ray Beierling and had a chance to win his 3rd NCA title heading into the finale event. He could have claimed the NCA title with a win, or possibly a 2nd place finish, but he was stymied in the morning round and failed to make Group A.

Decade Highlight: It is well-trodden ground to point to this match as a classic, as it has already been immortalized in youtube parody, but the stoicism and precision that define Jon Conrad’s game were amazingly on full display when the World Championship title was on the line in his thrilling 2012 World Championship victory over Justin Slater.

Their defining Shot of the decade: Of course it has to be one of the numerous examples of the very shot that's named after him. It may not be flashy, but it's effective.

#3 - Brian Cook

1 Singles World Championships (3rd - 3-way tie)
3 Singles World Championship Finals Appearances (3rd)
17 Tournament Wins (3rd)
2 NCA Tour Championships (2nd - 3-way tie)
17 Tournament Titles (3rd)
12 Tournament Singles Titles (3rd)
19 Tournament Singles Top 2 Finishes (3rd-tied)

Why this spot?: It cannot be overstated how lethal Brian Cook was on the crokinole board, and his consistency rivalled Swiss clockwork. He came into the decade as the best player in the world and still racked up victory after victory even though he was met with a barrage of contenders fighting to obtain just once piece of glory. Amazingly, he returned to the game after nearly 4 years away and swept the World Cup titles against the best in Hungary.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: It is astonishing Cook amassed so many victories and top finishes despite being inactive for 4 years. Had he participated in NCA events over the entire decade it is certainly plausible he could lay strong claim to being the #2 or #1 player of the decade. One can hope (me especially) the game of crokinole sees more of him through the 2020s.

Decade Lowlight: In 2010 Brian Cook had a chance to win his record-extending 4th-straight world title against a rising Justin Slater who was coming into the event in top form. Cook earned the early advantage and had an edge to win the match, but could not complete the victory.

Decade Highlight: Brian Cook entered the 2014 World Championships with the lowest expectations the crokinole world had for him in 10 years, as he had not won an event in the previous 18 months. As many as four others, Jon Conrad, Nathan Walsh, Justin Slater and Ray Beierling, could have been regarded as greater favourites to win the title, but Brian Cook came through with an exceptional performance, capped off by a 2-straight-game championship win over Justin Slater.

Their defining Shot of the decade: Cook was known at times for stifling defence, but he could show that shot-making ability was just another trick up his sleeve, as he did when he practically clinched the World Cup semifinal over Jeremy Tracey.

#2 - Ray Beierling

22 Tournament Wins (2nd)
42 Top 2 finishes (1st)
68 Top 4 finishes (1st)
3 Doubles World Championships (1st - 4-way tie)
5 20s World Championships (1st-tied)
2 NCA Tour Championships (2nd - 3-way tie)
1 Singles World Championships (3rd - 3-way tie)

Why this spot?: Joe Fulop had pegged Ray Beierling as a world champion long before he earned the title, and even as he won tournaments and gained acclaim in the late 2000s he was constantly in the shadow of Brian Cook. He stepped firmly out of that shadow and into the spot-light in 2010 by winning the NCA Tour, and then by finally claiming the singles world title in 2011. He formed one-half of the most successful doubles team in the decade, and added in nearly unsurpassed singles results for a record of longevity that leads to an incredible decade-stat-line.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: Ray Beierling was first in many key metrics, and contributes greatly to the picture of competitive crokinole in the 2010s. As will be detailed below, he falls short of the top spot, but was clearly only rivalled by one other player in the decade.

Decade Lowlight: Ray Beierling reached the final 4 of the 2018 World Championship singles event. Following the doubles victory and 20s title he had already claimed that day, he stood two steps away from winning the first-ever Triple Crown by winning the singles event. He was looking for a good start in that final 4 round robin, but was demolished in game one by Jon Conrad by a score of 8-0.

Decade Highlight: In March of 2017 Justin Slater was threatening to wrap up the NCA Title in London, while Ray Beierling had to win to extend the battle for one more tournament. Slater was on fire, but Beierling was the better on the day as he won in tremendous fashion.

Their defining Shot of the decade: Angle ricochet 20 to capture the 2011 World Championship.

#1 - Justin Slater

5 Singles World Championships (1st)
3 Doubles World Championships (1st - 4-way tie)
5 20s World Championships (1st-tied)
5 NCA Tour Championships (1st)
27 Tournament Wins (1st)

And that’s just the short list.

Why this spot?: It has been the decade of Justin Slater from start to finish. The first event of the decade, January 30th, 2010 in Hamilton, Slater wins his first NCA title, taking down World Champion Brian Cook in the finals, while also setting a 20s World record along the way. Nine and a half years later he won a record-breaking 5 singles World Championships.

Why not higher? Why not lower?: Geez if this dude can go any higher then we are in for a dominant decade.

As mentioned, there’s been a couple of players who would have earned the “best crokinole player” designation throughout the decade, but none would have held that longer than Slater. Given his long list of accomplishments, it’s most likely readers easily saw this #1 ranking coming.

Decade Lowlight: Justin Slater had an incredible streak of 7-straight Ontario Singles titles won from 2012 to 2018. With each passing year the streak became harder to comprehend, but it was expected that a day would come that a winner would play flawless in the finals to finally take away the crown. The day did come in 2019, but it produced little drama when Justin Slater failed to advance to the playoffs and had his streak end with a disappointing 6th place finish.

Decade Highlight: Slater’s greatest period of dominance stretched from January 2018 to January 2019 when he won 7-consecutive singles events. Sandwiched dead in the middle was Slater’s miraculous comeback against Jon Conrad, when he fought off numerous moments of near defeat, and capped off the 2018 world title with a perfect round.

Their defining Shot of the decade: With the match on the line in the 2017 London final, Justin Slater needed a double takeout and a 20 on his last shot. Ultimately he lost the match, but Justin Slater coming up with something incredible with his back-against-the-wall is how crokinole will remember the 2010s.

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Reinman Solidifies Spot on Top of Crokinole World

July 22, 2023

Connor Reinman took the top spot in the first event when crokinole returned from covid-19 to win the NCA Players Championship in June of 2022, in what was the beginning of a dream season for Reinman that included the NCA Tour Championship and a discussion that he may have supplanted Justin Slater as the best in the current edition of the game. All that remained was an elusive World Championship title, and Reinman earned that final jewel after a thrilling pair of playoff victories.

Reinman fist pumps after making winning shot

Planning for the 2023 World Crokinole Championship began as early as 2019, with the organizational committee meeting, as is tradition, 9 months prior to the next event. Registrations poured in for the 2020 tournament that looked set to be a third-straight year of the World Championships pushing the limits on the number of accepted entrants. When the pandemic led to the cancellation of the events from 2020-2022, many participants happily deferred their registrations, and when the 2023 tournament was officially announced yet more registrations piled in, ultimately leading to the tournament setting up a record 127 crokinole boards for the day. Among the registrants included four dedicated crokinole players/promoters:

Ian Witt from the Crokinole UK group, which is on the verge of creating its own tour
Antonio Cuaresma from Spain, who has managed to promote crokinole on Spanish television and be part of several tournaments happening in Spain
Magnus Rundström, who has created the first crokinole club in Sweden
Árpád Lonsták, a top contender in the Hungarian Crokinole Federation who has started playing crokinole in the last few years

The European entries to the 2023 World Championships, posing as instructed by Eric Miltenburg (photo credit: Eric Miltenburg)

Doubles

The Competitive Doubles category had 54 teams in competition, the highest number since the Recreational Doubles division was added to the tournament, and it led to the cutoff to make the top 6 for the playoffs being extremely difficult. The preliminary round has consisted of 8 games since 2015 and the cutoff has ranged between 46 and 49 points each year, but this year 50 points was only enough ensure a 20s tiebreak for the final playoff spot.

The first time pairing of Connor Reinman and Jeremy Tracey didn’t have to worry about tiebreakers, as they finished first in the preliminary round with 56 points, and a tournament-preliminary-round-record of 123 20s. It was Reinman’s third doubles playoff appearance, and Tracey’s second. The 3-time World Champions of Justin and Fred Slater scored 52 points for the third seed, and 109 20s to be the only other team to score a century in the tournament. The Slaters entered the playoffs as the most accomplished team, with 8 prior playoff appearances.

The father-son team of Andrew Hartung, and 2005 World Champion Bruce Hartung, scored 55 points for the second seed, making the playoffs for the first time. The grandfather-grandson team of Josh Bechtel and Ray Kappes finished fourth in the preliminary round with 51 points. It was Ray Kappes’ ninth playoff, and Bechtel’s first, as all eight previous playoffs from Kappes came alongside Kevin Bechtel, with two third place finishes being their best showings.

The final playoff spots went to a pair of teams scoring 50 points and advancing via a 20s-tiebreak. Reid and Nolan Tracey made the playoffs for the second-time in a row, previously finishing in second in 2019, scoring 82 20s. 2017 champions, Clare Kuepfer and Nathan Walsh, nabbed the final playoff spot with 76 20s, making the playoffs for the sixth time in the last seven events; a feat only matched by the Beierlings.

Missing out on their first chance to make the top 6 playoffs were Dale Henry and Eric Miltenburg, who scored 50 points, but only managed 58 20s. They would ultimately finish 10th in the tournament, equaling their best ever World Championship finish. The defending champions, Jason and Ray Beierling missed by one point and a few 20s after scoring 49 points and 74 20s. This snapped a tournament record 7-year playoff streak and ended the Beierlings’ hopes of winning 3-straight World titles.

Also narrowly missing the playoffs were Jeff McKeen and Ron Reesor, who scored 48 points. Three first-time pairing cross-national teams, Jeremy Herrmann (USA) and Tyson Kuepfer (CAN), Garrett Tracey (CAN) and Magnus Rundström (SWE), and Ian Witt (UK) and Mark McCleary (USA) scored 47, 47 and 46 points respectively. Rundström and Witt just missed a chance to be the first European to make the playoffs at the World Championships. Cathy Kuepfer and Bev Vaillancourt also got quite close to the playoffs, scoring 46 points and ultimately finishing 12th for their best ever World Championship result.

The Doubles playoff format at the World Championships has remained unchanged since 2001, and consists of a 5-game round robin among the top 6 teams. Often the margin to become World Champion is a small one. The Slaters and Traceys got out to an early lead, both having registered 12 points after two games to sit tied for first, with a three point gap back to Kuepfer/Walsh, six points to the Hartungs, and seven and eight points to Reinman/Tracey and Bechtel/Kappes.

The Slaters and Traceys met for a first place battle in game three. The Slaters were better on open 20s during the game and it was only a last shot ricochet-20 by Reid Tracey that salvaged a tie in one of the first three rounds to give the Slaters a 5-1 lead. The nerves of the championship stage began to show in a wild fourth round in which the Slaters almost managed a big comeback before the Traceys clinched it. However it was the Slaters moving into a sole first place position with the 5-3 win.

Kuepfer and Walsh weren’t able to make up ground, only managing two ties and 6-2 loss in their final games to finish with 19 points for fourth place. After game three the Traceys also couldn’t collect enough points to challenge for the title, tying Kuepfer/Walsh and losing 6-2 to Bechtel/Kappes to finish third with 21 points.

In the third game Reinman and Tracey mounted a charge with an 8-0 win over the Hartungs to move four points back of the Slaters, just ahead of their fourth game matchup with the Slaters. In that game Reinman/Tracey had a comfortable two 20 lead in round one evaporate and the Slaters had a tough hanger-20 chance to win the round, but it was missed for 2-0 for Reinman/Tracey. Nearly the same happened in the second round where a three 20 advantage for Reinman/Tracey was lost, and only salvaged by a double-takeout-20 by Reinman to lead 4-0.

The third round came down to a pair of hanger-20 chances. Tracey missed his chance, and Justin Slater followed up to make his to get the Slaters on the board at 4-2. The fourth round was won on the stoicism of Fred Slater, who went 4-for-4 on open 20s, and with it the Slaters maintained a four point advantage going into the final playoff game.

Reinman and Tracey won their last game 6-2 to finish with 23 points and second place, as the Slaters’ 4-4 tie against the Hartungs was enough for 25 points and the 2023 World Crokinole Championship.

It was the sixth time since 2011 that 25 points was the winning score of the doubles playoffs (the lowest ever recorded), and it was the third time that the Slaters managed to win with 25 points. They were the only team in the playoffs to not lose a game, managing three ties with wins of 8-0 against the Hartungs and 5-3 against the Traceys.

This is the fourth World Championship for the Slaters (their previous wins coming in 2013, 2014 and 2016), and it moves them into a tie with Jon Conrad for the third-most doubles victories at the Worlds, only trailing the Beierlings.

Singles

100 players entered the competitive division, the most since 2010. The preliminary round decides the 20s champion along with the top 16 players advancing to the playoffs. The points cutoff to make the playoffs ended up being the highest in a decade as 57 points were needed to make the top 16. Only from 2008-2010 has such a score been required, when 58, 57 and 58 points were the cutoffs respectively in those years. That was bad news for Nolan Tracey, who scored 57 but lost out on a 20s tiebreak, and for Mike McTague, Clare Kuepfer and Eric Miltenburg, who just missed out by a couple of points. Andrew Hartung and Fred Slater ended up three points out, with Reuben Jongsma and Philip Ware four points out.

The battle for the 20s was pretty interesting, with five players meeting or exceeding 100 in the 20 count (the most players who have ever done this at the World Championships). James Medway and Ray Kappes scored 100 each for their first ever centuries at the Worlds. Ron Langill scored 110, which is the eighth-most 20s ever scored in the preliminary round at the Worlds, but it was only enough for third on the day. Ray Beierling scored 114 (fifth-best preliminary score) but it was also not enough, as Connor Reinman racked up 127 for the 20s crown. The win is Reinman’s first 20s title, and the first time since 2008 that someone other than Ray Beierling and Justin Slater won the crown. The mark of 127 is the third-best preliminary round score in the tournament, behind Beierling’s 131 in 2014, and Slater’s 142 in 2012.

Top 16

This was the composition of the pools for the playoffs. Pool A:

Justin Slater (11th straight top-16 appearance, 5-time and defending champion, 7-time finalist, preliminary round top scorer for fifth time)
Jeremy Tracey (3rd top-16 appearance in 4 attempts, previous best finish: 9th in 2018)
Reid Tracey (3rd top-16 appearance in 3 attempts, previous best: 6th in 2019)
Matt Brown (5th top-16 after making the cut from 2012-2015, one top 4 finish in 2014)
Bruce Hartung (2005 world champion, 4th top-16 appearance in 6 attempts, two top-4 finishes)
Tom Johnston (8th top-16 appearance, previous best: 4th in 2011 and 2013)
Simon Dowrick (1st top-16 appearance in first attempt)
James Medway (1st top-16 appearance in first attempt)

Pool B:

Connor Reinman (3rd top-16 appearance in 4 attempts, two top-4 finishes)
Jon Conrad (15th top-16 appearance and 12th in a row, 2-time champion, 6-time top-4 finisher)
Andrew Hutchinson (4th top-16 appearance in 4 attempts, previous best: 5th in 2018)
Ray Kappes (13th top-16 appearance and 6th in a row, 2003 champion, 3-time top-4 finisher)
Ray Beierling (20th top-16 appearance and 19th in a row, 2011 champion, 10 top 4 finishes)
Ron Langill (1st top-16 appearance in second attempt)
Travis Keener (1st top-16 appearance in first attempt)
Roy Campbell (5th top-16 appearance in 9 attempts, previous best: 3rd in 2015 and 2019)

In Pool A action, Justin Slater moved into a solid position to make the playoffs when he scored an 8-0 win against the only other previous world champion in the group. The 2005 champion, and 2007 runner-up, Bruce Hartung managed a very respectable showing in his first crokinole tournament since 2009, finishing fourth in the pool with 27 points. Reid Tracey was in the hunt for the final four, but lost each of his last three games against Jeremy Tracey, Justin Slater and Matt Brown to ultimately miss out.

The critical matchup occurred in game 6 when Matt Brown played Jeremy Tracey, with the two of them sitting 2nd and 3rd at the time. Matt Brown won the matchup 6-2 and won his final game 8-0 to seal the deal. With it, Brown scored 39 points to nab first place in the pool, with Justin Slater at 38 points for second. Jeremy Tracey gave Slater his only defeat in the pool with a 6-2 win in the last game, but his 32 points was only enough for third in the pool, outside of the playoff cutoff.

In Pool B Connor Reinman was a runaway freight train. Already in first place he scored an 8-0 win over Ray Beierling in game four, which relegated Beierling from third to fifth in the group. At that point it seemed the battle for the second playoff spot would come down to Andrew Hutchinson and Jon Conrad, but Ron Langill put on an incredible late charge. Langill only had 10 points after four games, but racked up wins of 6-2, 8-0 and 6-2 to triple his score, and end up at 30 points.

Meanwhile, Conrad and Hutchinson drew the game against each other 4-4, and then both only managed a 3-5 loss to Reinman, and a 4-4 tie to Ray Kappes in their final two games. The end result would be 30 points for Conrad, tying him with Langill, and 32 points for Hutchinson who got the final playoff spot.

Looking at the playoff cutoffs is always interesting, especially when a score of 32 is good enough for one player (Andrew Hutchinson), and not enough for another (Jeremy Tracey). Historically, 32 points has only been enough to qualify for the playoffs about 20% of the time at the World Championships. Although there could be some karma at play, as Hutchinson still holds the record for the highest ever round of 16 score that did not result in a playoff spot, when he scored 36 points in 2018.

Connor Reinman finished miles ahead in Pool B, with 43 points; tied for the 3rd-highest round of 16 score at the Worlds with Justin Slater’s 2012 and Joe Fulop’s 2001 score, only behind Slater’s 2014 score of 44 and Nathan Walsh’s 2014 score of 45. Reinman did set a round of 16 record by scoring 104 20s, beating Justin Slater’s old record of 94 in 2014.

Semifinals

So the stage was set for the semifinals. Justin Slater was the only prior champion who advanced to the final 4, marking the 19th straight year that the final 4 would be contested with at least one prior winner. For Slater it was his 8th trip to the top 4, and he had made the finals in all previous 7 appearances. Connor Reinman was the next most experienced player, with this being his 3rd final 4, but he had not made the finals in either previous appearance. After Matt Brown’s 4th place in 2014 this was his second trip to the final 4, and he was looking to make his first World and NCA final, while for Andrew Hutchinson it was his first final 4 appearance.

With Brown having surpassed Slater for top spot in Pool A, the semifinals were set with Andrew Hutchinson playing Matt Brown, and the two pre-tournament favourites, Connor Reinman and Justin Slater, playing in the other semifinal.

It was Brown and Hutchinson’s first elimination game meeting, and neither looked too comfortable as both struggled to score open 20s, and missed a few hanger-20 or short ricochet-20 chances. In the first game Hutchinson was leading 4-2 and had the lead in the round until Brown’s follow-through-20 attempt got knocked into the 20 hole thanks to the actions of a damaged disc. Hutchinson looked calm when it happened, but did take an extra pause before his next shot, and recouped to score back-to-back open 20s to tie the round and win the first game 5-3.

Play in game two was much improved, with both players scoring open 20s in succession and the game was tied at 2-2. In the third round Hutchinson had the hammer but Brown managed to keep two discs on in the 15 without allowing a double opportunity for six straight shots. Hutchison played patiently and ultimately settled for a tie to make it 3-3. Hutchinson won the fourth round when he made a touch-20 and Brown hogged his next open-20 shot, giving Hutchinson a 5-3, 5-3 semifinal victory.

Connor Reinman and Justin Slater were meeting for the third time, having previously traded victories with Slater winning in the 2018 Ontario finals, and Reinman winning at the 2023 Elmira semifinals. While touted as a 20-scorer Slater’s key to success for the last several years has been superior board-play, even when matched or surpassed in open-20 shooting. The first game saw the opposite of that with Slater stronger on open-20s, but Reinman more than made up for it. Reinman scored a couple of follow-through 20s to draw level, and then in the fourth round he forced Slater into going for a double-takeout that resulted in Slater scoring a 20 for Reinman, and Reinman taking the first game 5-3.

In game two Slater had a 3-1 lead, and the advantage early in the third round to threaten to win the game. Slater missed a heavy-hanger-20, which Reinman then converted, and then the two players traded 5 open-20s each to tie the round for 4-2. Slater had one follow-through-20 chance to win the game in the fourth round, but missed it and it was tied 4-4 with Slater to have the hammer in the fifth round. Reinman won the 20-race to open the round, and Slater patiently traded takeouts looking for an opening, but none came. Slater was forced to go for a takeout-20 that might have been impossible to extend the match, but missed and Reinman had won the match 5-3, 6-4.

Finals

In the 3rd place match, Slater won game one 6-2 after forcing Brown into attempting a triple on this final shot to keep the game alive. In the second game Slater continued to be better on open-20s, but Brown put him under some pressure by never erroring on a takeout and frequently getting multiple discs on the board, but Slater was up to the task, winning the second game 5-1 and taking 3rd place.

That setup a championship match between Connor Reinman and Andrew Hutchinson. It was the first time the championship had been contested by two players who had never previously been to the finals since 2005, and only the fourth time ever with the other two occurrences being in the first two years of the tournament’s history.

Reinman had won all three previous meetings, 11-5 in the 2019 Turtle Island final, 9-1 in the 2022 NCA Players semifinal, and 10-0 in the 2022 Owen Sound final. The most memorable match of the three being Reinman’s 20-barrage at the Players Championship when he made 23 of 24 open-20s.

But it was Hutchinson who was stronger on the open-20s, and Reinman was under pressure. Thankfully Reinman was already stuffing the highlight-reel of the match in game one, when he made a follow-through-20 and a long ricochet-20 on back-to-back shots. The first game went to the fifth round tiebreaker, where Hutchinson was still better on open-20s, going 4-for-4 to win the first game 6-4.

Hutchinson threatened to put the match on its last legs early, using a bounce-back-20 for a 2-0 lead, and winning a 20-race in the following round. But Reinman made a tight ricochet-20 to level the 20-count and Hutchinson finally missed an open 20 on his last shot to make it 2-2. The pressure of the match was relieved briefly when Hutchinson left a hanger-20 that was converted on the opening shot of the third round and Reinman led 4-2. And then Reinman caught a 20s hot streak, going 6-for-6 in the next round to win the second game 6-2.

That pushed the match into a decisive third game, the 5th time in a row, and 9th time in the last 12 years, that the World Championship would need a third game. The shooting in the third game was marvellous. Hutchinson stretch to his right to manufacture a takeout-20 where most players would think only a follow-through was possible, and led 2-0. Reinman then made what can be described as a hybrid follow-through-rebound-20 in the second round, in what was the most technically difficult shot of the match, to tie things at 2-2.

A keen eye would observe a tactic from Reinman in the third round. Hutchinson missed long on the opening 20, leaving a shot in which most top players would attempt a roll-away-takeout when they had the lead. Reinman, as he had in some games earlier in the day, took on additional risk and went for the follow-through-20, making it and moving ahead 4-2, to move one point away from the world title.

Reinman was first to miss in the fourth round, but almost immediately made a long rebound 20 to draw even, leaving his disc hanging heavily over the 20-hole as the crowd audibly gasped. Hutchinson made his most iconic and under-stated shot, leaning to his right to make the roll-away-takeout. Hutchinson then successfully maneuvered the play to the outside of the board. Reinman attempted a couple shots to come back into the middle but finally surrendered by peeling on his second-last shot. The 20 count was tied with Reinman having one disc left, and Hutchinson having two, but disastrously Hutchinson’s open-20 was left short as a heavy-hanger.

The crowd was gripped in silence, and Hutchinson stared at the ceiling, as Reinman tried to steady himself for a hanger-20 that would make him World Champion. He took the shot, made the takeout and the 20, and fist pumped as his dream had been realized.

The crowd applauded handily as the two combatants embraced, and Connor Reinman became 12th different person to win the World Crokinole Championships, and the first to carry a non-Canadian citizenship.

Connor Reinman’s crokinole story dates backs many years; he first played cues at the 2010 World Championships, and can even be seen in the background of some CrokinoleCentre footage from matches in those years. He first became known on the crokinole scene as a commentator on CrokinoleCentre, and then later emerged as a top player in 2017; as his surprise 3rd place finish at the 2017 World Championships was over-shadowed by Bonnett’s victory that year. Even though his tournament attendance was sporadic due simply to location, it was clear quickly that he was rising the ranks.

But before victory came disappointment, and his biggest was the 2019 World Championship semifinal thriller that he lost to Darren Carr, when many would have expected that year’s playoffs to come down to a Reinman v Slater final. Along with that he had the earlier disappointment in the day, finishing second by a mere two points in the doubles competition, while having had a similar fate befall him in 2019.

But when crokinole returned from covid, Reinman would not be denied. Victories at the NCA Players Championship, Owen Sound and Elmira. His first NCA Tour championship for 2022-2023, now backed his first World Championship in 2023.