Turning Stone Day 2: Bergman Defeats Morra and Hohmann

By: Markus Noé

Day two of the Turning Stone Classic was a travelling day for me, as I took the 3 hour drive south from Cornwall, Ontario. By the time I reached the venue the first round of the losers side matches were just being completed. To my surprise Darren Appleton who was rumored to have left the tournament because of a pinched nerve had decided to play on and had already won a match.

His first match of the day was against a player from Ottawa, Ontario Dale Kemmitt. Appleton won this match easily 9-2, and in the 10:00 pm match he won again with ease 9-3 against J.Barbravich. Two time defending champion Jason Shaw continued his charge on the winners side today with two more wins. The most notable was against Scott Frost, this match maybe took a half an hour which was all Shaw needed to win 9-3.

John Morra vs Justin Bergman 

Justin Bergman 2014 Mosconi Cup winner and last weekends Smoking Aces Champion had a very good day.  He started off the day with a 9-7 win over John Morra who was the runner up here in January. To finish the day he won a thrilling 9-8 match against multiple world title holder Thorsten Hohmann. Bergman will have another tough match tomorrow against Roberto "Superman" Gomez.

Shane Van Boening 

It might sound a bit strange but Shane Van Boening who is only the reigning three time U.S Open Champion and back to back World Pool Masters Champion, has been going under the radar so far. This might have to do with his draw as he has been a heavy favourite in each of his matches.  However his match against Dennis Hatch is bound to get some attention. Hatch who has a character that sometimes appears larger than life, had a very entertaining match with Canadian Martin Daigle. There was a bit of controversy in this match as Hatch was nearly frozen on the three ball, and according to the rules here, he was forced to shoot away from the ball. Hatch demanded that Mike Zuglan tournament director officiate this shot himself because he could not believe he was not allowed to shoot directly through the ball. As he waited for Zuglan he repeatedly plead his case to the crowd when he said "Are you telling me I cannot shoot this shot straight in?"

Mario Morra vs Karen Corr 

Also it should be mentioned John Morra's father, Mario Morra is on a charge of his own on the winners side. Today he defeated Karen Corr 9-3 and followed that up with a win over Shaun Wilkie 9-8. Tomorrow Morra will play Corey Deuel and many more big matches will start to line up. Another notable match will be Dennis Orcollo vs Luc Salvas. As I am completing this article one of Canada's top ranked female players Naomi Williams had just won her last match of the day against E. Saur 9-6.  Stay tuned to Cue Sport Nation's Facebook Page as we will be updating throughout the day.