First Annual Les Reaney Invitational

With just another day to kill on a Tuesday Les decided to host a dart tournament at his house consisting of 5 teams to be chosen from a hat. Teams were as follows:

Massholes - Hodge and Pelle

CHL All-Stars - Battochio and Reaney

Wet Gear - Fritshaw and Beaudry

Boner Soup - Campbell and King

Salty @#$ - Vanderveeken and Hanse

With a round robin style of format, it was a very intense few games with Salty @#$ finishing up in the basement with a 1 - 3 record that was not reflective of there play until the last game of the RR when Wet Gear dismantled them to win there 2nd in a row and clinch 3rd, and stay out of the play in game. Both Boner Soup and Wet Gear finished at 2 - 2 with Wet Gear winning the RR matchup to force BS to have to play Salty @#$ in the play in game to advance to the semi - finals. With the play in round underway, Salty @#$ jumped out to an early lead with the strong play of Vandy and never looked back.

"We knew going into this game it was do or die with the do resulting in a final 4 appearance, and once there we knew anything could happen," Rich's thoughts on the matchup.

Semi final #1 was a heated match early, Wet Gear played solid early but with the clutch throwing of a solid team game by CHL All-Stars they took the lead late and Wet Gear could not bounce back, with many chances to come back when the All-Stars struggled on the bullseye, it was inevitable that eventually the All-Stars would end them, and that they did. When asked about a great RR and run in the semi's Mig Beau was all in all happy with the tournament, "Fritsy and I battled and never gave up even when we were 0 - 2, we stayed optimistic and felt we had a great chance against the All-Stars but eventually fell apart and didn't have what it took."

Semi final #2 was just as dramatic as the heavy underdog Salty @#$ was up against the RR champion Massholes, with Pells and Hodgy just hitting there stride it looked like Vandy and Richy wouldn't stand a chance but the game went to the wire, with some screaming and name calling back and forth and odd times between teammates eventually the powerhouse team of the Mass. Educated tandem of Pells and Hodge advancing to the finals. Hodgy says after an early RR loss they took there bye to regroup and manage a game plan that works, " we had a chance to sit down and cool the jets to get ready to make a run at this thing and so far we've accomplished the goal that was set with the final goal being the championship. With the top seed and 2 games of the best of 3 final at our board we're very confident going to the final."

The stage is set, with home board advantage in the hands of Massholes, they shot first to jump out to an early lead but was caught in a hurry when Bottachio heated up and helped get Reaney to the bullseye where he quickly clinched game 1. After the first game upset CHL All-Stars were heading home and looking to close, and they definitely did just that, with another down to the bull overtime Battman did his thing after Massholes gave them plenty of chances, clinched the title in a 2 game sweep. When the confetti cleared i had a chance to talk with the MVP of the tournament Danny Bottachio, " I received the award but it was definitely a team win, i mean ya i made the most clutch shots of the tournament, including the championship winner, but Les contributed as well." Jon Pelle even with red tear filled eyes allowed me a chance to talk with him, " I have no regrets, both Hodgy and I did everything we could and never gave up. Its a chance we were hoping to capitalize on but only one team can win, and Danny did that, he played so well and was tough to beat all tournament, and I guess Les did alright too."

After a great day of darts the teams are exhausted and getting the rest, hope everyone has a great day, and remember keep fit and have fun.