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It was high drama as twelve teams from Holy Spirit (1), Lumen Christi (2), Our Lady of Peace (5), and Nativity (4) paired off on December 13, 2015 in the Inaugural Frozen Four Bean Bag Tourney amidst throngs of well-wishers from St. Paul and Minneapolis at the Nativity Tree Lot.
Sean Dobie drilled a dramatic 3-pointer on his final bag to secure the Championship on behalf of Nativity. Dobie and teammate Tom Witkowski lost their first match of the night then spent the evening plowing through the back door of the tourney til they faced off against a well-seasoned and undefeated OLP team (names forthcoming). The teams from parishes on each side of the Mississippi stacked wet bean sacks on the boards like sandbags in a New Orleans parish and it was Dobie and Witkowski who won two from the OLP squad to complete a 7-game unbeaten streak and claim the coveted Frozen Four Cup.
There were many other highlights to the evening including great camaraderie among the men of multiple parishes, steaks, brats, and backstrap on the grill courtesy of Joe Bob Harris, Pete Greenheck, and Mike Bann. Pete stoked the fire a few times as well.
Participation awards for all participants (along with treats from the back room of the trailer) soothed the egos of the defeated and all agreed to renew the brotherhood with more multi-parish, man-related events in the future including bowling events hosted by Holy Spirit and Our Lady of Peace, Catholic Man Night in February at Nativity, and Father's Eve on June 18th at O'Gara's hosted by Johnny Francis of Lumen Christi.
Special thanks to the guys from OLP who pulled the brackets together and to Men's Club presidents Matt Jurewicz of OLP, John Monogue of Holy Spirit, Dan Matschina of Highland Catholic/Lumen Christi, and Darcy Tinnes of Nativity for promoting the event within their parishes.
The Champs: Dobie and Witkowski:
The Brackets:
Camaraderie:
It's in the hole...
Highland Catholic Boys relaxing between games:
The Middle Rounds:
Championship Showdown:
