At yesterday’s season-ending Weasel Pyle, we presented the annual Weasels club awards, starting with the seven best country awards, each of which was branded with a controversial photo. Per club rules, only paid-up members are eligible for these awards, and none may win more than one. The Weasels for best play of each country went to:
- Austria: Mike Morrison, 52.941 points in Game No. 221, the season opener.
- England: Nate Cockerill, 100.000 points in Game No. 222.
- France: Jim O’Kelley, 51.429 points in Game No. 236.
- Germany: Tony Prokes, 31.154 points in Game No. 224, the Undercard at the Weasel Royale.
- Italy: David St. John, 73.350 points in Game No. 250.
- Russia: Matt Sundstrom, 51.042 points in Game No. 232.
- Turkey: John Gramila, 54.870 point in Game No. 241.
Our Rookie of the Year played his first game ever at WolfCon in November, tying for third with his dad on a pretty tough board. He played four more times in Season Nine, sharing a board-top in his fourth game. He finished the season in 22nd place, one of only two 13-year-olds in the top half of the standings. (And I’ll point out here that unlike his dad, who finished about 1.4 points behind me, he finished about 0.35 points ahead of my son Kevin.)
But even more impressive than his debut campaign was his performance at CODCon in April. Jack Sundstrom played in only one round, but that’s all he needed to finish sixth and win Best Germany. Jack Sundstrom is our Season Nine Rookie of the Year!
And finally, Nate Cockerill cast his bid for an unprecedented second straight Weasel of the Year title by soloing in the season’s second game, a bar game, no less. Prior to that night in September, most of us thought the bar game solo was impossible to achieve. No longer.
After that solo, Nate kept working his snake charm to pad his score, pulling out every trick in his book to hold off hard-charging rivals Matt Sundstrom and Jim O’Kelley.
We didn’t think the bar game solo was possible, nor did we believe a player could capture two straight Weasel of the Year awards. But that’s what Nate Cockerill has been doing for the past few years, making the seemingly impossible possible. Nate won the Weasel Royale in 2012. All he’s done since then is win two straight Weasel of the Year titles sandwiched around a North American Championship.
What’s next for Nate? Hopefully a lot more Diplomacy. As most of you know, Nate’s been battling a pretty serious illness. How serious? Well, he missed Moot and the Pyle. Nate Cockerill never misses anything. I know you always have his dots in your thoughts. Make a little room for him, too. Hopefully we’ll see our always affable Prime Weasel over a board real soon.
Finally, while this isn’t an official award, I added a new title to the Den of Records called the Top Weasel. The Top Weasel lists the player who led the league in board-tops for each season that we’ve tracked that metric. Congratulations to this year’s Top Weasel Tony Prokes, who posted 4.83 board-tops.
