Israel Potter, one of our local young phenoms, has been bowling “lights out” of late. Case in point, he bowled perfect games in the Winnipeg Senior Men’s League at Laverendrye Lanes, TWO WEEKS IN A ROW !

On Nov 5th, in his first game of the night, he rolled a perfecto, on Lanes 11 and 12. And then one week later, on Nov 12th, he bowled another perfect game in his second game of the night, on Lanes 9 and 10. Incredible!

Just to add more fuel to that fire, Potter rolled a 299 game in a local tournament on November 11th (it’s called the Hal Ross Doubles). This event was also at Laverendrye Lanes.

As some of you may (or may not) know, Potter has been testing his skills over the past year or so by bowling in some Professional Bowlers Association Regional tournament in the U.S. We heard a very interesting story related to one of those tournaments. The tournament was in Montana, and Potter had made it to the televised stepladder finals. He bowled well, but lost to Marshall Kent, finishing up in 3rd place. That is a huge success! After the tournament, Potter and his Dad were driving back to Winnipeg, and in the wee hours of the morning they stopped for gas and snacks in South Dakota. As Potter was standing at the counter, he felt a tug on his hoodie, and when he looked down he saw a young boy (about 9 years old?). The boy asked if he was Israel Potter. Rather dumbfounded, Potter said he was. The young boy said that he had just watched Potter on TV, and then asked him for his autograph. This was a brand new experience for Potter (one that I’m sure he’s going to have to get used to). Potter said he was quite surprised that the boy had recognized him and approached him. He chuckled, “I’m sure I looked like a homeless person”, with his hood up, and a groggy lack-of-sleep look on his face. I’m guessing that this won’t be the last time he is recognized on the street.

Keep it up Israel!!

On Tuesday, Oct 22, 2024, in the Winnipeg Senior Men’s League at Laverendrye Lanes, Gord Tereck accomplished a feat that few bowlers achieve in their career. He rolled a 3-game series of 816. His games were 290, 279, and 247. Tereck’s first game started with a spare, and then 11 strikes in a row. His second game started with 9 strikes. If you are counting, that’s 20 strikes in a row!

This was Tereck’s first career 800 series. And what makes this even more incredible is that in this league, we move to a new pair of lanes each game. And there are no practice shots before starting that 2nd or 3rd game. So, it is a matter of making educated adjustments, quickly, to ensure that you don’t lose the pocket, or your “carry”.

Tereck commented that he barely changed his targets during the series, but people who bowl with him know that he is very adept at making other changes, such as release, speed, and loft when necessary. He also said that this was the most consistent and accurate that he has felt in some time. A high percentage of his strikes were the “ten-in-the-pit” kind of strikes or what we like to call “no-doubters”.

Congratulations Gord!

Dan Tereck has been fairly consistent in the 59er’s League this season, with a low series of 570 and a high series of 659 in the first 17 weeks.  That is both good and bad.  It is good in that consistency is something you strive for in bowling and you don’t suffer those bad “lows”.  But it is bad because you don’t get to experience the exhilarating “highs” either.

Well, Tereck got a bit of that feeling in week 18, Jan 9th.  In the 3rd game of the night, he strung the first 8 strikes, and finished the game with a score of 278. That, coupled with his first two games of 217 and 206 gave him a series total of 701.

Yahoo!!   Way to go Dan !