Team USA Delivers a Stunning Performance to Reclaim the Mosconi Cup

MOSCONI CUP FINAL DAY OF PLAY - SUNDAY DECEMBER 13, 2009

Story By NYC Grind Contributor, Geoff Conway - Photos by Ricky Bryant, Inside English Magazine

At the beginning of the final day of the Mosconi Cup, the situation in the arena at the MGM Grand was this: Team Europe was fighting for their lives to stay in this tournament, while Team USA only needing two more match wins to reclaim the prestigious Mosconi Cup.

The first match up of the day was between 2007 US Open Champion Shane Van Boening and 2002 US Open Champion, Ralf Souquet.  Shane, who has twice played on losing Mosconi Cup Teams, told me that there was no way that he was not going to be on the winning team this year. His opponent was World Champion Ralf Souquet (GER) who is always a hard competitor, and we knew that this would be a tight match.

Well, this match did not turn out the way I thought it would, and Ralf soon stamped his authority on the match by jumping out to a 3-1 lead. Ralf missed the four ball in the first rack, but ended up leaving Shane safe. Shane jumps and leaves Ralf a shot, and Ralf runs out. In the second game, Shane scratches on the break, and Ralf runs out. In the third game, Ralf breaks and leaves a road map, and easily runs out.

Click Here to view the photo gallery from the final day, photos by Ricky Bryant of Inside English.

Even though Shane made an illegal break in the fourth game, there was no shot on the table, so Ralf gave the table to Shane. Shane then proceeds to make a great full-length bank on the 1 ball, and then safes Ralf with no shot on the 2 ball. Ralf attempts a safe, but double-hits the 2 ball, and Shane runs out. However, the run out was made up of great shot after great shot. It was really a great run out by Shane, who when allowed to the table, was really showing just how fine a player he is. Score now 3-1 to Team Europe.

Ralf takes game five, making two balls on the break, then cutting a hard 2 ball to make an easy run out. It really is a pleasure to witness the concentration that Ralf brings to his game. When in the arena his eyes never stray from his work at hand, I don’t know how he does it. Score now 4-1 to Team Europe.

Shane makes the 6 ball on the break, but makes an illegal break. Ralf elects to play safe, but leaves a long shot on the 1 ball for Shane, which he cuts in and runs out. Score 4-2 to Team Europe.

Ralf made the 1 and 6 balls on the break, then plays a long 2 ball shot and gets pretty good on the three, but elects to hit the the ball up town and safe Shane behind the 7 ball. Shane then plays the shot of the week but with no reward. He just barely has room to squeeze the cue ball past the 7 ball, to kick at the 3 ball which is situated on the top rail.

He executes it perfectly, hitting the 3 ball perfect and running it along the rail into the corner pocket. Unfortunately, whitey runs down town and locks itself onto the back of the 9 ball. This was just an example of how Shane’s luck was going, he really could not catch a break.  He tries to kick at the 4 ball, but leaves Ralf the run out. Score now 5-2 to Team Europe. Shane breaks in game eight, plays a couple of great shots to set up a run out. Score now 5-3 to Team Europe.

Ralf breaks what is to be the last game, making one ball on the break. He misses a 2/6 combo along the side rail, but leaves Shane safe. Shane jumps, almost making the 2 ball, rattling the ball in the side pocket. Ralf proceeds to play a nice carom off the 2 ball to make the 6 ball in the corner pocket, and also getting perfect on the 2 ball for a shot down the rail. Ralf makes the 2 ball setting himself up perfectly for a 3/9  combo. The final score was 6-3 to Team Europe.

To summarize the match, I would say that it just went Ralf’s way. Shane just did not get the rolls, so we never got to see him play. It was also a great win for Team Europe, who at this point could not afford to lose a single match.

The second match saw the man that everybody wanted to see–Dennis Hatch.  By this point, Dennis had well established himself as a fan favorite, and the crowd was looking forward to his match up against Niels Feijen (NED). With only two wins needed for the win at the start of the day, the USA fans had thought that he might have been the player to win the second match of the day and clinch the trophy… but a loss from Shane would deter this from happening.

However, Dennis was a man on a mission with only one thing on his mind… putting up a “W” for Team USA.  And, as things played out, the American fans would not be disappointed.

To start of the match against “The Terminator” Niels Feijen, Dennis wins the lag, then breaks and runs out. Score 1-0 to Team USA.

Niels makes the 1 and the 2 balls on the break, then attempts a safe on the 4 ball, but leaves Dennis a piece of the ball. Dennis plays a great safe, which Niels misses… Dennis runs out to the eight ball, but runs to far for the 9 ball. Rather than bank the 9 ball across the table, he elects to cut the 9 ball into the bottom corner pocket. He made the 90º shot and brought the house down. He was so pumped up when he went back to his corner that he looked like a prize fighter who could not wait to get at his opponent. The crowd went absolutely crazy and rightly so, because they were witnessing some magic play by the big Hatchetman, and there would be much more to come. Score 2-0 to team USA.

Dennis breaks and runs out game three. Score now 3-0 to Dennis.  Niels would scratch in game four, and Dennis runs out, with a difficult shot on the six. Score 4-0 to Team USA.

Dennis comes up dry on game five, and Niels plays a good safe, locking Dennis behind the 4 ball. Dennis misses the 4 ball, but Niels doesn’t get far and misses the five.  I don’t think I have ever seen Dennis get out of his chair so quickly, as he jumped from his seat to run out and take the score to 5-0 for the USA.

In the next rack, Niels makes three balls on the break, but gets tripped up on the five, letting Dennis in the game.  Again, Dennis was out of his chair in a flash, and started to work up the crowd before he got down to the business. It should be pointed out that the positional play required from the 5 to the 6 ball had to be exact, as the six could only go into a certain pocket if he wanted to get onto the 7 ball. He played it perfect. Score 6-0 to Team Hatch (oops!) Team USA.  The crowd exploded after Dennis made the nine, and went crazy for what seemed like forever.

Due to the fact that Dennis does not go to international events overseas, there are many people who follow pool, but have never seen Dennis play, and I am so pleased that this event has given Dennis the opportunity to showcase his skills and his personality to the many new fans that he has made throughout the world this week. If you didn’t know Dennis before this week, you do now!

Dennis gave a very sincere and emotional interview to the interviewer from Sky Sports after the match, and was visibly crying his heart out.

The next match was between Johnny Archer and Thorsten Hohmann (GER), and remember that the USA side only have to win one more match to win the Mosconi Cup. So, we had another nail biting match for the European Team, who were still trying to claw back for the cup.

This match did not turn out as one would have expected. Thorsten, who was playing very well in this match, always seemed to have a fairly easy table layout, and he also got quite a few rolls. Where on the other hand, Johnny just never seemed to find an easy out, and would be found either playing safe–or trying to get out of one.

Thorsten, who won the lag, broke the first rack and it appeared that he did not make a ball, and Johnny got out of his chair to approach the table, when the referee had to tell him to go back to his seat as the 7 ball dropped in at the last minute. Thorsten plays a safe behind the 2 ball, Johnny kicks at it and leaves a 1/9 in the corner which Thorsten could kick in. He executed the shot perfectly. Score 1-0 to Team Europe.

Johnny would win the next game, after both players miss shots during the rack. The score stood at 1-1. But from there on, Johnny would not win another game, with the match going to Team Europe, 6-1. Both the Euro players and fans were elated, as Thorsten’s win kept their chances of winning the trophy alive.

Thorsten played very well, but Johnny never seemed to have the chances to play his usual game… I guess that’s the nature of the game sometimes.

It was now up to the next Team USA player to try and finally secure the trophy.  This task would be put in the hands of 26-year-old Shane Van Boening (known as the “South Dakota Kid”), who had been a stand-out player all week for the USA Team, and he was matched up to play a rematch against Ralf Souquet (GER).

Ralf won the lag, and broke and made the 1 and 2 balls.  Ralf immediately plays a safety, but Shane comes off the side rail to make the three ball that Ralf had hid, but leaves himself a hard shot on the four ball. Shane plays a bad safe on the four, so Ralf runs out, giving the first game to Ralf. Score 0-1 to Team Europe.

The European contingent goes wild, and they were really getting fired up at the thought of another win.  Shane immediately got it back to 1-1, and the tension in the arena was high. The next game also went Shane’s way, score 2-1 to Team USA.

Shane breaks rack four, starts the run out, then plays a safe on the 2 ball. Ralf jumps and makes the ball, and runs out to put the score at 2-2.

However, Ralf would not put another game on the board, as Shane, through absolutely brilliant play, took rack after rack. The last rack saw Shane come up with an illegal break, but made the 1 and 5 ball. Ralf elected to play the 2 ball and misses it. He was devastated, and dragged himself back to his chair. Ironically, Ralf only left a sliver of the 2 ball showing for Shane to hit. However, the 7 ball was sitting right in the opposite side pocket.

From where I was sitting, I could see that he would be able to carom off the two to make the seven, but had to be careful not to scratch in the same pocket. Also, in hitting the side of the 2 ball, he would be sending it towards the side rail, making it possible to pocket.

Well, Shane executes the carom perfectly, and proceeded to run out the final rack. Needless to say, the fans went wild, and the USA Team celebrated with hugs and generally enjoying the moment.

I felt quite sorry for the Euro side, who were obviously very disappointed, and yet at the same time had to congratulate the new winners of the trophy.  This win was enormous for the USA Team, who on paper were the underdogs coming into this event and had two rookie players, yet beat the Euro side resoundingly, 11-7.

At the trophy presentation, the Mosconi Cup MVP Award was awarded to the player chosen by vote to be on this all-star team, Dennis Hatch. Dennis, who was sobbing through the whole ceremony, certainly did wear his heart on his sleeve this week, and made a lot of new fans along the way.

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of all of the NYC Grind team to congratulate Team USA on this great win. This is definitely a year for the Mosconi Cup record books, and will surely be imprinted in the memories of both these great players as well as pool fans all over the world.  This was a very unique team that was put into battle and came home with the spoils of war.  What do you think of this year’s Mosconi Cup outcome?  We welcome your comments on this historic event.

Editor’s Note: NYC Grind would like to thank Geoff Conway for his dedicated reporting on the Mosconi Cup, along with Ricky Bryant of Inside English for his photo contribution. We would also like to thank Matchroom Sport for continuing this great tradition and presenting a high-class event in the sport of pool.

This Mosconi Cup was an incredible one, and we hope that pool fans will share the news of this USA victory with their friends.  Although this prestigious event did not make the headlines like the Super Bowl or the World Series, the Mosconi Cup is no less coveted or valuable to the sports landscape.  We look forward to many more memorable Mosconi Cups to come…

Stay on the NYC Grind…

Alison Fischer