News from Ontario
By Pat Beecham-Cooper, Judge, Ontario Provincial Finals
Another successful and exciting Ontario Provincial Championship was held at Scarborough College, Pope John Paul II High School, and at Pharmacy Studios on Mother’s Day Weekend. Among the 40 top teams from across the province, there were several schools making their first appearance at the Provincial Championships. It was great to see them, and to see that a couple of them made it into the ten slots for the TV round. Congratulations to them, and to all the teams that competed in these games.Saturday was mainly registration, orientation and get acquainted. After teams arrived and registered at Scarborough College, U of T., they gathered at Pope John Paul II School for orientation. After roll call, an information meeting and schedules of play for the round robin tournament on Sunday were given out, the teams set up the class rooms with buzzer systems, and then played a practice game. This helped everyone get used to the layout of the school, and the procedures that would be followed in the actual tournament.
On Saturday evening, at the “Meeting Place” in Scarborough College, a sumptuous banquet was laid out for everyone. After dining, Fraser Simpson, the coach from UTS led the crowd in his famous game of “Truth or Lie”, for many fantastic prizes donated by several schools, and the Reach for the Top sponsors. Thank you, Fraser. This still left lots of time for Ottawa fans to get back to the residences to watch the semi-final NHL playoff game.
On Sunday, teams gathered at PJPII for the round robin tournament. The 40 teams were divided into 5 groups, of 8 teams and played 7 games (with each team in their own group). The top teams in games won, and then in total points made the top 10 list. There was a tie for the 5th and 6th place, so a playoff was held between Lisgar Collegiate of Ottawa, and UTS of Toronto to determine the final ranking. UTS won.
Thanks to Pope John Paul II school, the coaches Chris Premdas and Tony Hagerman for hosting the tournament, and also to the care-taking staff, and Andrew McKay who helped deliver quiz packs and host the TV reporters at the school.
On Monday morning at 9:30, the teams arrived at Pharmacy Studios in Scarborough to begin taping. We played 5 elimination games on Monday. The winners of these games and the highest scoring losing team advanced to the quarter-finals.
On Tuesday morning, the three quarter final games were played. The winners of these plus the highest scoring losing team advanced to the semi-finals. In the afternoon, the two semi-final and final games were played. Many of these games were exceedingly close, right up to the final snappers. On occasion, even the snappers were close and the final outcome was separated by only 20 or 30 points, so these games were exciting and tense.
Again, Nicole Stamp was our quizmaster, and did another outstanding job. The meals at the TV studio were delicious and abundant, and the TV crew: Sidney Cohen the director, Lynn Bowdrey assistant producer, Vlad, the floor manager, technicians, make-up artists, crowd warmers, wranglers were all very helpful.
Thanks to all. Thanks also to my co-judge, Ravi Lall whose encyclopediac knowledge was so helpful in possible alternate answers, and to the Reach staff at the tournament and at the studio: Paul Russell, Eric Novakovics, Richard Koo, Daniel Hill, Erin McMullan, Frank Russell, Vijaya Selvaraju for providing for a smooth and exciting Provincial Championship.
Congratulations to London Central S.S.: Peter Burton, Will Nediger, Will van Hemessen, Will Pazner, Ian Good, Max Trower, Luke Greidanus, Christian Hegele, Clara Milde and Coach: Mike Pizzuti
Reach For The Top / Schoolreach