Greetings to all & felicitations again to all Nick Power Cup 2011 Attendees!!
Now that the other 'cup fever' is out of the way, here is the final update for the Nick Power Cup 2011...
Last Wednesday night's final of the Nick Power Cup 2011 proved to be another nail-biting last-minute scramble for dominance as the honour was fought out valiantly by the top dozen or so contenders starting out on the night.
As with all NPC nights, the crowds swelled and the usual jostle between players, camerapersons, enthusiastic onlookers and disgruntled losers took place. The place was abuzz with excited chatter amongst the hyped-up players, supporters, usual rowdy mob of hecklers and the infamous and much-admired Two Guys in the Balcony providing their now-legendary witty and gay reparteé as they diligently reported the unfolding fate of the dwindling cast of pool stars still in with a chance of glory.
The usual band of colourful characters were out in force: Dave G with his Linus-like NPC red sweat band looking as though Sunday tennis and cucumber sandwiches was more his cup of tea, although that night was looking like he had the fire in his belly to take out the honours; Roelof sitting ruefully as his chances for the NPC looked extremely dire; forever-lovable and cuddly John L reluctantly accepting that his chances were also very slim; and, of course, the father and son team in the commentary balcony, Jink and Jink Jnr, providing their highly-authoritative shot-by-shot account of proceedings and the fine intricacies of the game.
Lee, then wearing the yellow stage-leader jersey, started the night with a solid 47 points and had an easy win in the 1st round. This immediately knocked out many of the lower-end contenders including Roelof (14), Aidan (12), Dan T (12) and Henare (9). Unfortunately, for Justin (37) and Dean (29) they managed to do this to themselves in disappointing and career-limiting 1st round losses. Lee went on to beat already-eliminated Roelof in the 2nd round. Meanwhile, Peter T was also inflicting some damage by eliminating well-placed contender Phil P (29) in the 2nd round, then going on to pants-down Y-Fronts in the 3rd round... no, seriously, his name was Y-Fronts... check the draw!
Going into the 3rd round, Peter T's only hope now was that Lee was defeated and sunk less than 4 balls. However, Lee, with gritty determination, managed to secure a win against potential spoiler, John L, thus cementing his clutch on the coveted trophy. Henare also made a late bid for grabbing at least some of the glory and went into the semis only to eventually also fall to the mighty Lee juggernaut.
Peter T, although realising he had made his dash for the finishing line perhaps a week late, was not going to let Lee take out all of the honours on the night and went into the finals cranking the pace up one more notch. His solid finish against Lee gave him the top honours on the night but his overall NPC 2nd-place score of 67 was still woefully short of Lee's impressive 82 points.
On behalf of all HPDPers and especially those who proudly participate in this most prestigious of sporting spectacles, many congratulations to:
Lee, the winner and holder of the Nick Power Cup 2011.
Lee was presented with the cup at the traditional presentation ceremony held at the local Level One venue after the completion of the pool comp. The wild reveling continued into the wee hours as per usual with a higher-than-normal level of casualties reported the next day.
The following table shows the final results for the top 20 scoring players for the Nick Power Cup 2011. All results can be found here.
| rank | name | points | week 1 | week 2 | week 3 |
| 1 | LEE | 82 | 32 | 15 | 35 |
| 2 | PETER T | 67 | 21 | 6 | 40 |
| 3 | DAVE G | 56 | 13 | 31 | 12 |
| 4 | PHIL P | 43 | 7 | 22 | 14 |
| 5 | OZZIE | 41 | 29 | 12 | - |
| 6 | DANIEL | 40 | - | 40 | - |
| 7 | JUSTIN | 39 | 14 | 23 | 2 |
| 8 | HENARE | 37 | 7 | 2 | 28 |
| 9 | KEVIN | 36 | - | 36 | - |
| 10 | DEAN | 35 | 15 | 14 | 6 |
| 11 | DAN T | 32 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
| 12 | JL | 29 | - | 7 | 22 |
| 12 | DAVE H | 29 | 6 | - | 23 |
| 14 | ROELOF | 28 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| 15 | DAVE T | 26 | 20 | 6 | - |
| 16 | ALLAN | 23 | - | 23 | - |
| 17 | BARRY | 19 | - | 13 | 6 |
| 18 | AIDAN | 18 | 4 | 8 | 6 |
| 19 | Y-FRONTS | 16 | - | - | 16 |
| 20 | JIM | 14 | - | - | 14 |
| 20 | SHAYAN | 14 | - | 14 | - |
NPC 2011 Final Results: http://stats.hpdp.org.au/
HPDP 2011 Pool Comp Update:
Roelof (191.5 pts) still maintains his lead despite having a bout of off-form nights over the past few weeks. This may also be partly due to the increased level of competition that the NPC fires up in the hearts of players young and old. His lead over 2nd place-getter, Peter T, has narrowed from an impressive 52 points (Week 36 - 21/9/11) to just 21 points. With just weeks to go, will Roelof be able to maintain the lead he has held since he snatched it from Peter T in Week 30 (10/8/11)? Will the 3rd and 4th place-getters, Lee (118.5) and Dean (114) be able to bridge the ever-widening gap to the lead, particularly after Lee's spectacular NPC performance?
2011 Comp Ladder : http://stats.hpdp.org.au
Filming and commentary of the NPC 2011 was continued last Wednesday and is now in the capable hands of master filmmaker and Herr Direktor, John L, to bestow his boundless critique and editing skills upon what I am sure will be yet another fine display of audio-visually-magical trickery and craftsmanship. Keep an eye on the HPDP website to catch the final edited versions!
Community Announcement:
In response to certain complaints and queries in regards to unavoidable production delays in announcing these results, HPDP community members should be reminded that the very best way to ensure that you have instantaneous live updates for NPC or normal HPDP comps is to actually attend these events on the night!! This will not only provide immediate results, analysis and critique, but will also involve you in the spirit of fun competition these auspicious occasions always foster. The next best way is to check the results on the HPDP stats website. The final results for the NPC 2011 were posted on there within minutes of the comp finishing last Wednesday night.
All the very best for the rest of this very exciting year and good luck with your training and preparations for the Nick Power Cup 2012.
Peter T