Maine Heat falters, but gains semifinal Team bowling champion decided today

BREWER – Given the circumstances, the Maine Heat will take it. The defending champions of the World Team Candlepin Bowling Championships won the Holiday Inn Division of the tourney Friday at the Bangor-Brewer Lanes and received a two-round bye into today’s semifinals.

But this wasn’t an easy shuffle into the semifinals. The Maine Heat stumbled out of the gate in the morning session and dropped six of eight points to the W.A.F.U. Pirates of Nova Scotia. That result made their final match in round-robin divisional play with Town Delivery Service of Nova Scotia far more important than they had hoped for.

Additionally, they were in danger of losing that coveted bye to Massachusetts-based Lucky 7, which includes Bangor-Brewer Lanes regular Chip Carson.

“We started out this morning really flat and lost and were tied [for the division lead]. But we came back the next string and won our division,” Maine Heat team captain James Milan said.

With a little help from their friends. Despite coming back to win all eight points in their match with Town Delivery Service, Maine Heat could have missed out on the top spot on total pin count had Lucky 7 taken all eight points from the Park Place/Travel Anywhere team.

But Carson and Lucky 7 were swept by the Haverhill, Mass.-based squad and left with the difficult road of having to win three matches to reach today’s finals.

Maine Heat will meet the quarterfinal winner of the Maria’s Subs of Scituate, Mass., and Handi’s Rebels of New Brunswick matchup at 11:45 a.m.

Lucky 7 began the playoffs Friday afternoon with a win over Lite Control of Massachusetts. Lucky 7 will have a chance for revenge this morning at 9 when they meet Park Place/Travel Anywhere in the quarterfinals. The winner of that match will take on Varney-GMC Division Winner McLaughlin Truck & Trailer of New Brunswick, also at 11:45 a.m.

The championship match begins at 2:30 p.m.

Maine Heat’s win assured the team of $2,500 as a semifinalist. But 23-time Maine state individual champion Charles Milan III says that with three bowlers on the team near 60-years of age, avoiding the first two rounds of the playoffs is more important.

“It gives you a tremendous advantage for Russ [six-time state champ Nealey] and I. I don’t know about the kids. They can bowl all night. But I don’t care about the money. I just want to win, you know?” Charles Milan III said.

The Rockland-based Mid-Coast Maine team finished in ninth place in the Holiday Inn Division but was just five points out of the playoffs. It was the team’s best showing at the 18-year-old tournament.

“We’ve never been in the playoffs,” team captain Ken Bickford said. “This is as close as we’ve been. We’re getting better. Our day will come. It’s just a matter of time.”

While Mid-Coast Maine didn’t make the playoffs, they played a prominent role in one team playing on and another going home.

In the final string of their final match of round-robin play against the W.A.F.U. Pirates, a Mid-Coast Maine player committed a foot fault. The six pins he had recorded with the ball were disallowed because of the foul. The W.A.F.U. Pirates went on to win the string by four pins.

The two points they earned for winning the string gave them 50 points and moved them into the fifth and final playoff slot in the division, one point ahead of Bowlarama of Nova Scotia.