The Elliot Lake 8-Ball House League saw the Balls of Fire team take top honours in the season playoffs. The playoffs were held over four evenings this week culminating with the team winning the title and a cheque for $2,050 on Thursday evening.
The Balls of Fire team members are captain Daniel Burns, co-captain David Arnold, players Guy Meilleur, Brad Matheson, Michel Charrette, Andy Bernard and Ken Campbell.
Coming in second was the Section 8 Ball team picking up a cheque for $1,366. The Section 8 Ball team is made up of captain Darin Moggy, co-captain Liz Clark and players Dennis Frauts, Murray Warner, Pete Rombouts, Rick Gervais, Joanna Moggy and John Bagley.
Picking up third place was the Underdawg team comprised of Captain Denise Bedard, co-captain Zack Girard and members Kyle Best, Sheila Best, Carrie Macksey and Bill Groves.
The league finished off its season with a banquet and trophy presentation held Friday evening at the Moose Lodge where the league plays all of its games.
League organizer Joanna Moggy said the championship capped off a successful season of growth.
“This is our third session. We started here at the Moose in October, 2017, we started off with only four teams of eight players and now we’re sitting at 13 teams of eight people,” Moggy said of the league’s membership set to start the new season on January 8, 2019. “This past session we had 12 teams, now we’re sitting at 13…it’s been totally amazing for the league and for the Moose. We have some top shooter players, some beginner players who are just out for fun. It turns out to be a very fun league of people because you don’t have to be high calibre.”
The teams have been playing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7 p.m., but Moggy said there is still an opportunity to take on more teams which may include another evening of pool. She said the league has been discussing, with the Moose's Gerry McGrath to increase the number of pool tables to three to handle a higher number of teams.
Many of the new members are people who have recently moved to Elliot Lake or people who have been looking to play in a regular league.
“There are some new faces all of the time and we got members who are coming back,” she added.
The cost is $8 per person to play each evening.
“The kindness of people is really something I’ve noticed a lot,” she said of the membership. “It’s a social night out where you meet people and have some fun.”
Anyone interested in joining the league can contact Moggy at 705-849-6771.