Congrats to Curt Corrigan!

2021-22 Season Champion

Season points race:

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1st Place: Curt Corrigan 655 pts

2nd place: Zach Newman 650 pts

3rd place: John Fasullo 636 pts

Boulder Paddle Season Wrap-Up 2021-22

After losing our friend and former Champ, Brock Borman, we played with heavy hearts this year. We knew that he would want us to keep at it, and we sure did!

Congratulations to Curt Corrigan!

Congrats to Curt, the only 6-Time Season Champ, who won the league in a nail-biter finish this year. Down the stretch in weeks 18 and 19, Zach Newman (a new dad), grabbed the top spot with inspired play (and a strong desire to not be at home changing diapers). Then Curt, with his deep experience and booming forehand, pulled back into the lead with clutch wins in weeks 20 and 21 to take the title.

The winning margin of 5 points was the smallest in League history. The trophy has been engraved and he is creating a legacy that will be hard to top! Curt also stayed on Court 1 the whole season which is an impressive display of consistency. Since 2014, only Brock Borman and John Fasullo have matched that feat and stayed on Court 1 for a full season.

In the history of the league, only 5 players have been able to stay on Thursday night (either court 1 or 2) for the whole season. They were: Curt, Zach, John Fasullo, Andy Smith, and Jim Bray.

Blackjack Award

Zach Newman won the distinction of earning the most blackjacks this year at 5. Close behind, at 4, were Andy Smith, Eamonn McNaughton, Matt Schwartz, and Ryan Bennett. (Zach shown here sporting a sweet Al Hraboski mustache - courtesy of Brock Borman :)

Upward Mobility Award

The winner of the “Upward Mobility” award is Adam Bather who joined us in week 11 on court 7 but won his way up to court 1 in week 19, ending up on court 2 at the season‘s end. Another Chicago native, Kenny Harvey was another first-year show-off, holding court one for 18 of 21 weeks ending up in 3rd place on total points.

Most Improved Player Award

“Most Improved” congrats go to both Jordan Bailey and Ken Romanzi for their solid improvement this season. Comparing the previous season to this one, Jordan went from 440 to 540 points and an average court improvement of 3.9 to 2.6. Ken also had a big jump from 294 to 352 points this season. Great job guys!

Good Sport Award

The award for being a good sport goes to Matt Schwartz. When things got a little hairy with tricky situations due to snow-outs, Matt was gracious and accommodating helping us keep things running smoothly. Thanks again, Matt.

Upward Mobility Award

The winner of the “Upward Mobility Award” goes to DJ Hey. He went from court 9 at the start of the season and ended up on court 5 for the last 4 weeks. He also got 90 more points than he did the previous season. Way to go DJ!

Zach Newman also gets a nod here with his second-place finish this year. Although he didn’t play last year, his ending spot in the four prior years was 6th, 8th, 9th, and finally 16th in 2017.

Tough Guy Award (Most Valuable Shoveler awards)

Previously dominated by our friend Brock, this is a special award. The 2022 Winter was particularly relentless with storms rolling in almost weekly. So having some tough guys who were willing to roll up their sleeves was awesome. This year we are awarding 3 more Tough Guys in addition to the winner with prizes. Looking through all my records there were more guys that stepped up than any other previous season. So drum roll, please...

The 2021-22 season Tough Guy Award:

1st place winner is Pete Walters!

If you don't know Pete, carve out some time. Not only is he a reliable ironman when it comes to shoveling, but he is also a great storyteller and friend. His dedication to our courts over the years has been incredible and this award is a long time coming. Congrats Pete!

2nd place goes to Andy Creath for always being there.

3rd place to Townsend Hall for powering through a lot of deep snow.

4th place goes to James Rich who even got his son Harlon out there to teach some good work ethic.

Honorable mention goes out to Matt McTamaney and Tripp Hyde aka "the Pickle Pile Killers" as well as Keith Fagan, Jordan Bailey, Brendan Soane, John Stegner, Matt Schwartz, Jim Bray, Bob O'Herron, Gregg Friedman, Zach Newman, Andy Smith & of course Lil' Bessie (the snowblower :)

Interesting Match Stats: 3 Set Winners and Losers Stats

In our match format where we switch partners after every game, one player will win all three sets or one player will lose all three sets – there is no other possible outcome. Historically there have been more three-set losers than three-set winners and this year was no exception. 88 of the 198 (44%) matches played (excluding matches not played) had a player with three wins. 110 matches had a player losing all three games.

Congratulations and Thanks!

And finally, congrats to everyone for making this league so enjoyable. After years of trying we were finally able to grow from 8 to 10 court slots per week to help meet the demand of more players wanting to play. It worked out great and aside from some snowed-out evenings, there were amazingly few hiccups and fun was had by all.

Running this league is a labor of love and I couldn't do it without the great scorekeeping and number-crunching work of Bob Ziegenhagen. You're the best! Thanks Bob!