Double Champs!
Rebel Survivors become the 3rd team to win the Winter Klassic
Dan Klavoon & Eric Klavoon
In the largest indoor Winter Klassic tournament to date, 36 competitive teams participated in the annual tradition at the Sahlen's Sports Park in Elma, NY on April 11th. In the end, it was the 2009 KanJam World Champions, Rebel Survivors (Eric & Dan Klavoon) who walked away with the crown, posting an overall tournament record of 46-5. The Lockport, NY brothers ultimately defeated Little Lebowski Urban Achievers in the finals, 4 games to 1. The win was Eric's third Winter Klassic crown and first for Dan; in doing so, Eric Klavoon becomes the first to win the tournament with two different partners (Eric won the tournament as "Sole Survivors" with Steve Wojcik in 2004 & 2006).
In the tradition of the official indoors KanJam tournament, regular season play for the Winter Klassic was set up in a "scramble" format, with teams playing one shortened game to 11 against all other teams. With the conclusion of the regular season, the top 16 teams qualified for the playoffs. At the top of the pack was the number one seed, Rebel Survivors with a record of 33-3. They also posted 11 perfect games during the regular season to land the top spot going into the playoffs. Little Lebowksi Urban Achievers (Mark Stein & Jackson Trinh) finished at 31-3 for the second seed. Securing the 3rd and 4th seeds was Throw it in her butt (Scott Silverman & Joe Smith) at 29-7 and Rocky and Bullwinkle (AJ Siergiej & Rob Stephan).
Some other notable highlights during regular season play included two instant wins by Josh Greenauer of Dorkus Malorkus. There were also a handful of other slots thrown as well; just to name a few: KanJam co-inventor, Paul Swisher (Shmohawks) and Jim Daugherty (Slackers) each tossed an instant win. With shortened games to 11, there were also a large number of teams that played overtime games, making regular season action very exciting.
In the first round of the playoffs, all the top seeds defeated their counterparts, with the exception of the #9 seed, "When did I eat corn?" defeating the #8 seed "Milo's Minions" (Adam Williams & Nate Schutt) two games to none. Little Lebowski ousted Pic & Bic (Tim Bicknell & Mike Gerken) and Dorkus Malorkus (Josh & Bob Greenauer) defeated Jakapalooza (Thomas Jakubaszek & Eric Profrock) two games to one. All the other series were won by the higher seeds two games to none.
Rebel Survivors opened up the Quarterfinals (best of 5) with back-to-back perfect games against When did I eat corn (Ryan Siergiej & Matt Zucarelli), sweeping the series 3 games to none. In a very close series, Slotter House (Nick Engl & Sean Curry) defeated Throw it in her butt 3 games to 2. Little Lebowski won their series against Shake N Bake (Jason Valint & Dan Colvin) 3 games to 1, while Rocky and Bullwinkle defeated the 3-time defending tournament winners, Dorkus Malorkus 3 games to 1.
Slotter House lived up to their team name tossing an instant win against Rebel Survivors in the Semifinals (best of 7). Rebel Survivors still maintained their consistency, defeating Slotter House in five games. In the other series, Little Lebowski took down Rocky and Bullwinkle in five games to set up a finals matchup featuring the #1 and #2 seeds overall.
In their second appearance in the Winter Klassic finals, Little Lebowski squared up against the World Champs, Rebel Survivors in the best of 7 finals. Rebel Survivors won game 1 in overtime to take an early series lead. In game two, Little Lebowski kept pace with Rebel Survivors, forcing yet another overtime. In doing so, both teams matched perfect buckets through the first 3 overtime rounds. Little Lebowski defeated Rebel Survivors in a record-setting 7 overtime rounds to even the series at a game a piece. From that point on, Rebel Survivors shot perfect buckets until overtime of game 5, where the won the series with a 4-point round, clinching the crown.
Some notable achievement in the finals - Rebel Survivors shot 26 consecutive buckets from the end of game 2 to the end of game 5. Little Lebowski matched points by shooting key deuces and also posting a double perfect game with Rebel Survivors in the final game to force overtime.
The Winter Klassic is the official indoors KanJam tournament held at the beginning of each year. The tournament has been moved to the spring and may be renamed for future tournaments. All proceeds for the Winter Klassic are donated to "Carly's Club" at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Thank you to all teams for participating in this competitive and fun event for charity. Special thanks once again to the Sahlen's Sports Park as well.
MORE 2010 content coming soon, including Final Overall Standings, photos, and video clips. Stay tuned!
