Godin banks his way to victory

The “Battle of the Border” turned into a one-sided rout for the guys from the land of the Maple Leaf.
Four Fort Frances sharks took the top positions at the inaugural “Battle of the Border” 32-person singles pool tournament at Warp 9 last weekend, which also featured players from Dryden, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Nestor Falls, International Falls, and other Minnesota towns.
Larry Godin had two chances to clinch the championship, but only needed one to close out runner-up Jeff McEachern in Sunday night’s final by a 3-2 count.
After being relegated to the ‘B’ side early on, McEachern had to go the scenic route for a chance at the overall championship.
He downed Ray Lauzon in the semi-finals to set up a re-match with Godin, but because of his ‘B’-side status, he had to beat Godin twice in the matches, which were decided by the first one to reach three-game victories.
But Godin didn’t allow for any excess suspense, holding on to beat McEachern in a tight battle.
Lauzon wound up in third place while Ken Noble settled for fourth.
“It was a complete success, with a couple of hard battles fought at the end,” tourney organizer Carey Gosselin said. “When it was seen in the paper that this was coming up, we got a ton of calls from people who wanted to get in on it.
“I believe the interest is there to set up a 64-person tournament for this spring,” he added.