Estevan Bowl opened its doors to men, women and youths who were craving some good old 10-pin bowling.
The Bowl a Spiel mixed team tournament was held Feb. 16 and once again attracted many players of different levels.
Levi Rosenbaum, who is the manager at Estevan Bowl, said the tournament went really well. They had 12 teams, and each team consisted of four bowlers, which brings it to 48 participants in total. One team came from Plentywood, Mont., and others were from Estevan.
All teams bowled a five-game round robin, and then the top four teams went to the A-division, next four were in the B-division, and the bottom four teams competed in the C-division.
After the five-game round robin, they bowled a two-game elimination bracket match.
“It’s two games total pinfall and the winning team goes on to the finals,” explained Rosenbaum.
The winners on the A-side were the Bowling Stones, consisting of Mark Tarnes, Pat Ford, John Prette and Bryan Prette. The overall tournament winners took home a cash prize of $1,000.
Organizers also ran a strike-pot during the tournament.
“We sell three tickets for $5. Anybody can buy. If your ticket gets drawn, you have one chance to throw a strike. And while you are up there throwing your shot everybody in the tournament can yell and heckle at you to get you to miss,” explained Rosenbaum.
The total strike pot was $345, and the winner was Jonny Holden.
The highest individual bowler for the entire tournament was Jeremy Godfrey.
The tournament ran for about 13 hours. Teams started bowling at noon and went all the way until 1 a.m. With six 10-pin lanes available at the Estevan Bowl, bowlers had breaks between the games, but the organizers are considering expending the tournament.
Next year they may run qualifying games on Saturday and have finals on Sunday.
“It’s actually Saskatchewan’s biggest 10-pin bowling tournament,” said Rosenbaum. “It’s a long event, but it’s really exciting.”
It started in the 1970s but there was a break for over a decade. It’s organized by Levi and his father Dave Rosenbaum, who owns Estevan Bowl, and was started by Levi’s grandfather.
Three years ago the Rosenbaums decided to bring the tournament back, and so far it’s been really popular among Saskatchewan bowlers.
“We are just trying to make a bigger and better event for the tournament each year,” said Rosenbaum. “It’s open to anybody; you don’t have to be an elite bowler to bowl in the tournament. We have bowlers off all skill levels … It’s just a really fun day for everybody.”
