June 2009 www.twincitydarts.com Volume XXXIII No. 2

See inside for more on 9th Annual Dartmania Extravaganza and much more. Visit www.twincitydarts.com for more information on darts.

Greetings from the Oval

Office On April 24th to the 26th we held our 9th annual Dartmania Extravaganza. The weekend was a great success and, as always, it was fun to see and visit with our friends from Canada and our neighbors from the Dakotas. The competition was good and the tournament ran about as smoothly as possible. I’d like to thank our tournament director, Greg Oldenkamp, and his committee for the excellent job they did all weekend. It is no small task to get everything set up and taken back down again and they ran all the events smoothly and on time. Thanks to all of you, your efforts are greatly appreciated. Maybe next year Johnny Hubbard will let someone else win one of the door prizes. Read more about the tournament inside this edition of the Bull and Ton. Summer has finally arrived and many of you have already shifted into “summer mode” and put your darts away. If anyone is looking to throw this summer, Dick Sorenson is trying to organize a short summer league to run about six weeks starting after the 4th of July and running into August. Contact Dick for more info or let me know and I will see to it that Dick gets your name. I’d also like to take a moment to congratulate all the 1st and 2nd place teams from spring season for a job well done. Watch for an invitation to the Tournament of Champions to be held in August and I hope to see you all at the banquet in October.

Since we are nearing the end of June and will have a new President in place July 1st, this will be my last article from the Oval Office. Al Finnegan will be taking my place and for the Bull and Ton editors sake I hope he will be more prompt about submitting his articles than I have been. Seriously, I think Al will do a great job and I hope that you will all give him the support you have given me. It has been my honor to serve you and I look forward to seeing you at the oche. Until then, Good Darts. Jeff Hafner T.C.D.A. President

2009 9th ANNUAL DARTMANIA

EXTRAVEGANZA By Greg Oldenkamp

 Over 10 years ago Bruce Fink approached the TCDA and expressed his desire to help fund and promote an ongoing signature tournament. The result of that vision was the Dartmania Extravaganza. I don’t know that any of us at the time expected this to last nine years, but it has. In fact, I’m pleased to report that at the May Board meeting, the TCDA approved the upcoming 10th annual Dartmania for $5,000. So stayed tuned and check our website occasionally for updates, as we work on setting the dates and venue. Back to the present. This was our 2nd time having the event at the Ramada Grand Rios, and my first time running it. Having done it now once, I certainly have a greater appreciation for those who have

run these tournaments in the past. There are a lot of details that have to get hammered out and as detail oriented that I like to think that I am, I couldn’t have done it without having such an excellent team. For the second year in a row, Paul and Lori Cushing ran the brackets on the computer.

We worked hard this year to make sure events started and ran on time. I think all who were there will agree that Paul, Lori and their team did an incredible job running the multiple events.

Registration was once again captained by Margo Ulrich and her team, and as always ran flawlessly.

There are many to thank. Al Finnegan for taking the photos, Karin Fischer for working on board sponsors and getting us promotional flights, Jim Hunt for storing and maintaining all of our equipment, Bill

Ulrich for transporting the equipment, Paul Cook and Karen Ekstrum for providing the sound and a host of others, Dave Blake, Jeff Hafner, Johnny Hubbard, Bruce Fink, Stan Wartman and Dave Burton for helping with the set up and take down of all the equipment. The team met quite often between January and April, and I am quite proud to have worked with all of them. As for the actual event, it was most definitely a success. For the first time in the tournament’s history, we actually broke even, due in large part to our out-of-state guests, the raffle and to our board sponsors. Numbers wise, we were a little ahead of last year. Once again we had strong representation from Mitchell and Aberdeen South Dakota as well as our friends from the great white north, the boys from Thunder Bay Canada.

The TCDA graciously thanks these individuals and their organizations, without them the Dartmania tournament would never have lasted this long and most certainly, the weekend wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without you guys. We had a lot of great darts thrown. ADO district manager Steve Brown once again dominated the men’s singles, winning both Saturday and Sunday’s events. Deb Thompson and Tricia Pluff were winners of the women’s singles. Steve Brown/Mike Anderson and Tom Klein/Ryan Lock won the Saturday-Sunday double events respectively, while Denise Albee/Angie Johnson won both women’s doubles. There are way too many high scores and matches to report here in this article. Hopefully the old adage is true; a picture is worth a

thousand words. The Dartmania photos will tell a better story than I can write. We never know for certain, from year to year, whether or not we will be able to keep this tournament going. We’ve been very fortunate these past two years to have had the tournament at a hotel facility. Without a doubt this has greatly enhanced the overall experience for all the darters that have taken advantage of the hotel facilities. Hopefully we will be able to continue this for the 2010 Dartmania. But, as always, the best way to keep this tournament running is to turn out for it. Local TCDA participation hasn’t been as good as is can be, and unfortunately we have a dwindling pool of women shooters to draw from. The combined result is that without the out of town shooters, this event ceases to exist. So hopefully we can keep the numbers coming and improve upon last year’s turnout. Although competition is important, the tournament above all things, is an incredible social event, a rare chance to shoot with and against darters from other divisions, other states, and yes, even other countries. Lastly, thanks to all those that supported the tournament through board sponsorships; Vince Arrigoni, Charles Stutz, Jeff Hafner, Al Finnegan, the North St. Paul American Legion, the Hat Trick Lounge in downtown St. Paul and the Half Time Rec in the midway area. Also, thanks to all those that contributed prizes for the raffle; Vine Park Brewing, Summit Brewing and the Mpls. Town Hall

Brewery.

These were great prizes and made the raffle a lot of fun, a tradition that we will hopefully continue again next year, without Johnny Hubbard winning everything of

course. Thanks to all in the TCDA for making this a great tournament season. Upcoming events to watch for will be the Tournament of Champions (August) and the banquet tournament (October). Until then, enjoy your summer and remember where you leave your darts.  

Dartmania 2009 Results

Friday Night Luck of the Draw: 1st

Randy Rantala & Dean Blake

2nd

Dave Blake & Don Briand 3rd

Steve Milman & Mike Butler 4th

Denise Belgarde & Joe Haller 5th

Gary Ulmer & Mike Richards

6th Jesse Dicus & Mike Karels 7th Dave Burton & Eugene Ross 8th Paul Wiseman & Angie Johnson Saturday Mixed Doubles 501: 1st

Terry Rantala & Crystal Blow 2nd

Steve Brown & Margo Ulrich 3rd

Angie Johnson & Dana Dayton

4th

Karin & Ryan Loch 5th Holger Stilgenbauer & Kirsten Neumann 6th Duane & Alice Hepola 7th Dean & Dawn Blake 8th Dave Blake & Karin Fisher Saturday Men's Singles 501: 1st

Steve Brown

2nd

Dean Blake 3rd

Holger Stilgenbauer 4th

Jake Scriber 5th Terry Rantala 6th Mike Singleton

7th Charlie Heineman 8th Ryan Loch Saturday Women's Singles 501: 1st

Deb Thompson 2nd

Anita Groen 3rd

Angie Johnson

4th

Kara Johansen 5th Margo Ulrich 6th Kirsten Neumann Saturday Men's Doubles Cricket: 1st

Steve Brown & Mike Anderson 2nd

Ryan Loch & Tom Klein

3rd

Randy Rantala & Boyd Wade 4th

Bob Haft & Tom Tanberg 5th Terry Rantala & Mike Singleton 6th Tyler Christenson & John Rubenbauer 7th Mike Butler & Paul Wiseman 8th Jesse Dicus & Duane Hepola

Saturday Women's Doubles Cricket: 1st

Denise Albee & Angie Johnson 2nd

Deb Thompson & Crystal Ray 3rd

Margo Ulrich & Anita Groen 4th

Kirsten Nuemann & Crystal Blow

5th Cathy Decker & Lori Pardee-Cushing 6th Dawn Blake & Niki Humble Saturday Luck of the Draw: 1st

Dave Blake & Dan Thomas 2nd

Jesse Dicus and Eugene Ross 3rd

Mike Moughan & Steve Millman

4th

Dave Goodwin & Dave Pickett 5th Don Briand & Jim Brown 6th Crystal Ray & Alf Etremi 7th Preston Van Pelt & Randy Rantala 8th Boyd Wade & Doug Kuyper

Sunday Mixed Doubles Cricket: 1st

Steve Brown & Margo Ulrich 2nd

Charlie Heineman & Anita Groen 3rd

Dana Dayton & Angie Johnson 4th

Karla Bickel & Boyd Wade 5th Karin & Ryan Loch 6th Bryan Webb & Kara Johansen 7th Denise & Thad Allbee 8th David Pickett & Lori Pardee-Cushing

Sunday Men's Singles Cricket: 1st

Steve Brown 2nd

Tom Klein 3rd

Randy Rantala

4th

Ryan Loch 5th Holger Stilgenbauer 6th Mike Singleton 7th Charlie Heineman 8th Boyd Wade Sunday Women's Singles Cricket: 1st

Trish Pluff

2nd

Anita Groen 3rd

Denise Albee 4th

Stacy Klukas 5th Angie Johnson 6th Cathy Decker

Sunday Men's Doubles 501: 1st

Ryan Loch & Tom Klein 2nd

Bob Haft & Tom Tanberg 3rd

Mike Moughan & Greg Oldenkamp 4th

Dave Blake & Randy Rantala

5th Paul Wiseman & Don Briand 6th Steve Brown & Mike Anderson 7th Brian Wegleitner & Jeff Hafner 8th Charlie Heineman & Bill Klukas Sunday Women's Doubles 501: 1st

Denise Allbee & Angie Johnson 2nd

Cathy Decker & Lori Pardee-Cushing 3rd

Niki Humble & Karen Ekstrum

4th

Stacy Klukas & Anita Groen 5th Chrystal Blow & Kirsten Neumann 6th

Karla Bickel & Kara Johansen

Pictures from Dartmania

End of Season Tournament

By Greg Oldenkamp Ah, the Luck of the Irish. Circumstances (St. Patrick’s Day) dictated that our traditional mid-league tournament become an end of season tournament for spring 2009. 20 classic Tuesday night players, who hadn’t managed to lose their darts yet for the summer, showed up (fittingly enough) at McMahon’s Irish Pub on May

12th to participate in this semi-annual dart classic. We held a double elimination 501 luck of the draw event that ended up consisting of 10 teams. By the time the dust had settled 3 hours later, we had our finish. Congratulations to the following teams: 1st – Mike Moughan and Paul Cook 2nd – Brian Kraft and Anders Lindberg 3rd – Paul Lundberg and Brian Metelak 4th – Tim Wennermark and Dick Sorensen High out – Dick Sorensen (98) The mid-league (end of season) tournaments are always a lot of fun. Players, who normally would be Tuesday night teammates, now find themselves as opponents, and it doesn’t take long for the trash talk to begin. We had several teams well represented. The Outlaws (B), Straight Arrows (A), Five-0 (A) and the Dugouts (AA) all made strong showings. A couple seasons ago, the Board decided to combine all the Tuesday night mid leagues into one main event. This has proven to be a very well received idea. It has allowed players who normally don’t see each other, much less shoot against each other, the opportunity to compete. And because this is a seeded event, it is fair for all divisions. The last combined mid-league we had about half the participants come from Classic AA and the other half from Classic A, with a few Classic B/C players added. This past event was primarily all Classic A and below players, so it’s hard to predict what divisions will be represented. Once again the TCDA added $100 to the $5 entry fees collected, so we had a nice little payout. Thank you to all who showed up. Hopefully next season, getting back to a true mid-league, we’ll get a stronger

turnout. I highly encourage you to attend, especially if you never have done so. It’s an event that although competitive has never lost its primary purpose, and that’s to have fun. Thanks also to McMahons for hosting the event, and for providing each of us with the traditional free half-time round, which of course is the most important part of a dart night.   

A Memorial to a fellow Darter Michael P. Hillesheim

Hillesheim, Michael P Age 64 of Forest Lake, MN, passed away suddenly on June 9, 2009 after a short illness. Survived by his loving wife of forty years Carol; son Joel and his wife Kate; grandchildren, Aidan and Coleman; mother Leah Hillesheim; siblings, Margaret Johnson (Al), Kate Hillesheim (Richard); Tim Hillesheim; many family members and friends. Preceded in death by his father Edwin "Sam" Hillesheim. Here are memories of Mike by T.C.D.A. members who knew him. “Oh Mikey, How you will be missed. I've known you for quite a few years and thought you were one of the sweetest, most gentle people it's been my privilege to know. Have often just sat and visited with you and found out what a wonderful subtle sense of humor you had. You will be missed by many but especially your family I'm sure. I know you often talked about your family and your grandchildren. And I loved some of your stories about your limousine driver days. I'll think of you often I'm sure.” Karin Fischer “Mikie – What a sweetheart! Always cheerful, win or lose. He shot the wedge and usually

one or two triples of each. He listened to my sad tales and let me sing my Irish tunes to him. My life and my garden will not be the same. Damn Straight Mike.” Uffda “Mike put the "fun" in the Pub Fun League. He was a great partner and everyone enjoyed playing with or against him. Wednesday night will not be the same without him. Even though it was a night out for him, his family was always on his mind. He had stories about his grandkids almost every weekend and talked fondly of his trips to Choo-Choo Bob's for his grandson.” Peter Rozga “Mike, The number of TCDA members who showed up at your Memorial Service is a tribute to just how well everyone liked you. Your positive personality and friendly face will make you impossible to forget. The first time I met you, at the Castle Pub, you welcomed me into the league. I will always remember that along with your smiling face. You will missed by many.” Tim Wennermark

Hello fellow darters

Once again it is time for our wonderful Bull & Ton to be published. Our editor, Paul Cushing, had put the word out to submit all articles. So here I am up on Yellow Lake in central Wisconsin scrambling to get my article done for you. As I am typing this on this beautiful memorial weekend I can’t help but to think of the brave men and women who made this possible for me. I hope you take the

time and reflect on what Memorial Day means to you. I know that there are articles being written about our annual Dartmania tournament, so let me just quickly touch on that. It was a wonderful tournament. My personal thanks go out to the Tournament Director Greg Oldenkamp for a fantastic job, along with his tournament committee. It was a well organized machine. We all owe Greg and his committee a wonderful round of thanks. This past April my roommate Laura and I traveled down to Las Vegas to spend time with some old friends, Larry Vietor and Ed and Sally Otgen. It was so nice to sit and visit with them. Larry, Ed and Sally opened their doors for Laura and I. They truly are a class act. Ed and Sally even invited us over for Easter dinner. Sally worked her tail off cooking dinner for us, and after dinner we even got in a few rounds of golf, no, we didn’t bring our clubs. I mean golf using playing cards. For those of you newer darters who are not aware of who Ed and Sally Otgen are, let me start out by saying, if you love going to play darts on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday nights, well then you owe them your gratitude. Ed and Sally are the founders of our beloved T.C.D.A. Walking in to their garage was like taking a step back in history, by that I mean, Ed and Sally have the old posters of tournaments gone by. It sure brought back good memories. I have included all the pictures of that Easter day so you can enjoy them as much as I did. I hope everyone has a safe and happy summer I look forward to seeing everyone again in the fall. Also make plans on attending the T.C.D.A. Banquet in October, that is always a fun time and good food with good friends.

Alan Finnegan Vice President