The year 2004 was again an excellent one for Canada. Though our two champions did not repeat again this year (see last year's report), one of our representatives was crowned World champion. Actually, Angeline Moisan became the first Canadian to win the Senior Women's World Title. After winning the Women A qualifying, Angeline won first place by virtue of her last-round win against MaryAnn Peninger. Angeline, MaryAnn and Sharon Paddock were all making their first appearance in the Senior Women division. There are all former stars of the Women's division where they placed as high as 3rd or 4th in the past. Also in the Senior Women's division were regular top contenders Edi Holland and our Canadian Lucille Leis who finished 3rd this year.
The Junior Boys division was a very well-matched group. For the third consecutive year, we had two Canadians making a strong bid for the World title. Kitchener's Drew Becker, came close to winning his third title but his last-round loss to Buddy Dyrda relegated him to 4th place, while Buddy (also Juniors A winner) recorded the high overall average at 79.45% to clinch 2nd place. Nick Preston, whose only loss was to Buddy Dyrda, is the new Champion crowned. In the Junior Girls division, Tava Cook repeated as World Champion defeating Melissa Bigelow in a playoff 40-18.
This year we didn't have any Canadians who qualified in the Senior Men's and Elders' Championships. New champions were crowned in both divisions: Paul Lacrosse from Colorado, and Paul McCreery from Texas. Both defending champions were unable to attend.
As in 2003, top players according to NatStats were automatically seeded in the Men's and Women's championship divisions. In the men's and women's, the top 8 were seeded, and the top 16 players from the preliminaries moved-up to form 24-player groups. The standings for top place finishers in the men's division looked very much as in 2003. Alan Francis, Joe McCrink, Shannon Foster and Mandell Proctor finished in the same positions, while a Canadian was 4th. In 2003, Adam Ellis was our star performer with 19 wins and 4 losses and an overall average of 74.11%. In 2004, it was Andre Leclerc who had the same record as Adam and an overall average of ... 74.11%! Actually, their ringers and shoes pitched is almost identical! Andre defeated Alan Francis 41-34 with 81.7% in 82 shoes (round 17). Alan, who was trailing the undefeated Joe McCrink at the start of last day, took matters into his own hands and defeated all of his Saturday opponents to capture his 10th title! This ties him with legendary Ted Allen as the man who has won the most World titles. Alan incidently threw his high game of 93.8% against Joe McCrink (round 19). Ontarians Tom Gallina (62.01) and Stan Leis (61.77) respectively finished 13th and 14th.
In the women's division, Sylvianne Moisan's string of World Titles came to an end. She lost one game on day 3 against Sheila Shepard. Then started the last day by losing the longest game of the tournament (112 shoes) 30-42 against Judy Curtiss despite shooting 82.1%. The leader and favorite going into the last day, Joan Elmore, lost two games against Sue Snyder (round 19) and Judy Curtiss (round 20). This lead the way to a match between Snyder and Moisan (round 21). This key game was won by Snyder (86.1) 40-27 while Sylvianne shot 80.6. A win by Sylvianne would have created a 3-way tie for first. Elmore's third loss to Tamara Burke (round 22) combined with Sue Snyder's win confirmed Sue's 5th World title. Sylvianne's last round game vs Joan Elmore was then for 2nd place and was won by Elmore. We had another Canadian in the group as Elyse Brunelle from B.C. took an excellent 11th place with 67.42% and a 10-13 record.
Sylvianne Moisan became the 8th Canadian to be inducted into the NHPA Hall of Fame. The presentation was made by Stan Leis at the banquet held August 1, 2004. The 2005 World Tournament will be held in Bakersfield, California from July 18-30 (updates could be found on the Southern California HPA website). The 2006 location has not been determined yet as Louisville, KY and DesMoines, IA backed out.
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