Lucas Punkari
Six bowlers from Plaza Lanes will be competing for provincial glory in Sudbury on April 11 in the Club 55+ triples tournament.
On the men’s side, Ken Dick, Jim Fowler, and Rick Stamarski will be representing Sunset Country at the provincials, with Stamarski joining 2010 national champs in Fowler and Dick on this year’s team.
“We’re all pretty similar in how we bowl really, and that allows us to work well as a team,” Stamarski noted.
The trio earned the trip to the provincials with a pins over average total of +253 during the zone roll-offs here back on March 9, defeating a pair of teams from Timber Lanes in Dryden.
“We did rather well,” Stamarski said.
“Everyone bowled well above their average, and we were able to have a little bit of luck on our side to come away with the win,” he added.
The lead-up to the Club 55+ provincials will be a busy one for Stamarski, who will be coaching the Cambrian North (Sudbury) men’s team at the provincial Open championships April 4-7 in Thunder Bay.
“They [Cambrian North] were short a coach so I offered to help them out,” he explained.
“So after I come back home on the Sunday, I’ll be heading out on the road to Sudbury on the Monday, so I won’t have much time to catch my breath,” he joked.
Meanwhile, Evelyn Barker, Betty Robinson, and Sylvia Beadle of Plaza Lanes will represent Sunset Country on the women’s side.
After finishing third at last year’s provincials in Dryden, they won the zone roll-offs earlier this month with a P.O.A. of +107.
“All three of us got some really good pointers from Roberta [Chabot] on what we needed to improve on going into the event here, and that was a big help,” Beadle noted.
“We really have to give Evelyn a lot of credit for our performance as she bowled exceptionally well,” she added. “But for a team that doesn’t bowl on a regular basis, I thought we all played great.
“I believe that will carry over into the event in Sudbury,” Beadle enthused.
While both teams want to capture their respective provincial crowns, both the men and the ladies have their sights set on making sure they have a good time in the Nickel City.
“It’s always great to go to an event like this and meet new people that we haven’t bowled against, so that’s one of the big things that we look forward to about this event,” Stamarski said.
“It would be nice to win, but we just want to do as well as we can and have fun,” Beadle added.
“As long as we don’t embarrass ourselves,” she smiled.
