The winning team is Shirley Yamkowy, Bev Flett, Frank Brennan and Bob Yamkowy from Alberta.

PHOTO: Karen Taylor-Lopez

Len Zema is a repeat winner of the singles competition of the Dominion Command Cribbage Championships. So is he the Sidney Crosby of Legion cribbage?

“No. I’m not the Sidney of cribbage, but it is nice to be able to defend my title and I hope to be able to defend it next year and come up with a three-peat,” said Zema of Elmwood Branch in Winnipeg.

The Legion tournament took place in the small town of Liverpool, N.S., April 27-28 hosted by Mersey Branch. The branch is literally in the heart of the town which is located on the south shore of Nova Scotia and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Mersey and Medway rivers.

It’s a quaint little town, steeped in tradition, formed in 1759 and called the Port of Privateers. A privateer is a vessel commissioned by the king in those days to retrieve stolen merchandise by pirates. The area was the home for 83 years to the Bowater Paper Mill that closed last year. The mill employed well over 1,000 workers years ago and had 300 when it shut down.

Zema took the singles title by one point, 19-18, beating Frederick Maniac of Comox Branch in British Columbia/Yukon Command.

“I was able to maintain a lead from the sixth game on. It was both entertaining and exciting,” said Zema. “I guess the cards were on my side.

Runnerup Maniac said “It was close, very close. I enjoyed competing. Sometimes you don’t get the cards.” Both players scored two in the final game.

Dominion Command Sports Committee representative Paul Poirier presents the doubles trophy to Barry Dillon and Richard Falle of B.C.

PHOTO: Karen Taylor-Lopez

The players from across Canada and the territories started coming in on Friday. Shuttle buses and courtesy cars were dispatched to the Stanfield International Airport in Halifax, a two-hour drive away. A couple of teams, Saskatchewan and Quebec, were coming from recent snow storms.

“Once we had 14 coming in, so we had to scramble,” said Mersey Branch President Larry Weagle who was also chair of the Local Arrangements Committee.

That night the Legion held a jam for the players. And many went on stage and performed.

“This was a hoot and a great time,” a member of the Newfoundland team said as one of his teammates performed on stage. “It was a great icebreaker.”

Play kicked off on a beautiful Saturday morning. In fact, the weather was great all weekend.

First up, Dominion Command Sports Committee representative Paul Poirier, the president of New Brunswick Command, presided over the opening ceremonies with colours marched in by Murray Crouse and Lloyd Rowe.

Then it was down to play as the doubles competition started.

The B.C./Yukon tandem of Barry Dillon and Richard Falle from Prince Edward Branch in Victoria led from the second game and never trailed. It was close after the sixth game with B.C. holding a 13-12 lead over the Manitoba pair of Harvey Dunville and Andre Begin. The B.C. pair eventually won 20-15.

“We started off by only getting one point in the first game, but came on with a big five in the second game and stayed on top,” said  Falle.

Len Zema of Manitoba accepts the trophy for singles play.

PHOTO: Karen Taylor-Lopez

Both men love the game and are very competitive. Both of them first heard of cribbage at an early age; Falle was as young as six. “My uncle always played it and he started to teach me. All the counting in it probably helped me with my math,” said Falle who also admits to being a “crib-aholic,” if there is such a thing.

Dillon agreed, adding, “I probably was more interested in cards than girls at that time.”

Falle and Dillon have been playing as a team for five years and met at the Legion in Langford. “I like Barry to lead whenever possible and we’ll do everything to make that possible,” says Falle.

The team as well as others loved Liverpool. “The lobsters they had for us were a special treat and enjoyable,” said Dillon.

The lobsters were courtesy of Weagle. “There were no lobsters in the stores, but it is lobster season in this area,” he said. “So I know this fisherman and he got us 60 lobsters straight from his catch at sea. I’m glad the folks liked them.”

Saturday caused a concern as the doubles matches and lunch took longer than expected and it was thought that the singles which started around 4 p.m. would have to be carried on the next morning. As suppertime came around, the players were given the option of playing on or resuming in the morning. They overwhelmingly and vociferously wanted to continue and finish the singles that night.

And that round gave Len Zema his back-to-back title.

Sunday morning at 9:30 the tables were filled with the teams competition. Each team had four players, so there was a team A and team B setup.

The team competition was extremely close with as many as five teams being close at the five-game mark, three teams close after seven games and coming down to the last game, the Alberta-Northwest Territories team of Bob Yamkowy, Shirley Yamkowy, Bev Flett and Frank Brennan from Peace River Branch were in the lead. However they were being challenged by the Newfoundland and Labrador team of Thomasine Spurrell, James Kennedy, Sidney Kendell and Albert Newhook of St. John’s Branch.

In the end it was Alberta who won. “We did it,” said a member of the winning club.

“We came ever so close,” said a Newfoundlander.

The only thing it seems the cribbers didn’t like was that there was not enough time to tour the area. However, some did manage to see the sights, go on the beaches in nearby Beach Meadows. Others went to Halifax and Peggy’s Cove.

Poirier described the event as, “Terrific. This was a great event put on by the Liverpool Legion. It was a great event to play in and the hospitality was out of this world. The Legion, the volunteers and the people of Liverpool were simply fantastic.”

Results

Teams: Alta.-N.W.T. (Peace River Br.) 31; Nfld.-Lab. (St. John’s Br.) 30; P.E.I. (St. Anthony Br., Bloomfield) 29; N.B. (Lancaster Br., Saint John) 25; Sask. (Tompkins Br.); Man.-N.W.O. (Norwood-St. Boniface  Br., St. Boniface) 21; B.C./Yukon (North Vancouver Br.) 10; N.S./Nunavut, (Allan MacDonald Memorial Br., New Waterford), Que. (Montcalm Memorial Br., Rawdon) 17; Ont. (Pte. Joe Waters Br., Milton) 11.

Doubles: B.C./Yukon (Prince Edward Br., Victoria) 20; Man./N.W.O. (Red Rock, Ont., Br.) 15; N.S./Nunavut (Allan MacDonald Memorial Br.), Que. (Montcalm Memorial Br.) 12; P.E.I. (St. Anthony Br.) 11; Nfld.-Lab. (St. John’s Br.) 10; Alta.-N.W.T. (Peace River Br.) 9; Sask. (Big River Br.), Ont. (Pte. Joe Waters Br.) 7; N.B. (Lancaster Br.) 5.

Singles: Man.-N.W.O. (Len Zema, Elmwood Br., Winnipeg) 19; B.C./Yukon (Frederick Maniac, Comox Br.) 18; N.S./Nunavut (Bert Davis, Allan MacDonald, Memorial Br.), N.B. (Robert McLellan, Lancaster Br.) 13; Que. (John Garner, Montcalm Memorial Br.) 11; Alta.-N.W.T. (Bob Yamkowy, Peace River Br.), Sask. (Paul Vandal, Big River Br.) 8; Ont. (Carson Smith, Pte. Joe Waters Br.) 6; P.E.I. (Wayne Gallant, St. Anthony Br.) 5; Nfld.-Lab. (Thomasine Spurrell, St. John’s Br.) 4.