World Extreme Croquet Rankings

Last weekend, the 6th Annual Gull Lake Invitational Croquet Tournament was played, and for the third time, David Klassen emerged as the victor. I came in as a very close second place, the second time I've come up short at the final stage. This had me thinking: am I the best player to have never won the Nedved Memorial Cup? In golf, soccer or tennis, the easiest way to determine who holds that title (of course, you would be talking about a Grand Slam event, the World Cup or a major, since none of those sports have a competition quite on the scale of the Gull Lake Invitational) is to look at the world rankings. These rankings are determined by assigning point values to results, and totalling them up. Points stay on the record for a certain number of years, and then drop off, allowing new players to climb the rankings, and preventing old players from resting on the laurels of historic victories. I decided that it is high time that the sport of Extreme Croquet adopt a similar system.

Here is the breakdown that I came up with:

- Results affect the ranking for 5 years.

- Points count for their full value for 2 years.

- In the third year, the points begin reducing by 25% each year (based on the original value, so in Year 3, points are worth 75% of their original value, 50% in Year 4, and 25% of their original value in Year 5).

- The only official Extreme Croquet event is the Gull Lake Invitational.

- There are no points for unofficial events.

This system rewards consistency, but also places a high value on recent results. I have devised the system before doing any compiling, so the results will not be twisted in anybody's favour.

Here are the point values (based on those used for the major tournaments of golf):

- 1st: 100 points

- 2nd: 60 points

- 3rd: 40 points

- 4th: 30 points

- 5th: 20 points

- 6th: 15 points

- DNQ: 5 points

This is, I think, an appropriate system. Winning is justifiably worth a lot more points than anything else, third through sixth are not separated by a lot, as qualifying is very difficult, and giving points for a DNQ rewards those who slog it out every year, never giving up or no-showing.

Here are the results that I worked with (for ease of reference, I used people's current names):

2010:

1 - David Klassen

2 - Ian Elford

3 - Rick Greene

4 - Andy Attard

5 - Amy Greene

6 - Jana

DNQ - Nathan Cooke, Boyda Johnstone, Scott Blackburn, Kelsey Everton

2009:

1 - Nathan Cooke

2 - Rick Greene

3 - Andy Attard

4 - Ian Elford

5 - Kelsey Everton

6 - David Klassen

DNQ - Amy Greene, Boyda Johnstone, Jana

2008:

1 - David Klassen

2 - Scott Blackburn

3 - Jana

4 - Jeremy Sergeew

5 - Amy Greene

6 - Rick Greene

DNQ - Lorelei Sergeew, Ian Elford, Kelsey Everton, Nathan Cooke, Boyda Johnstone, Jared McQuaig

2007:

1 - David Klassen

2 - Kelsey Everton

3 - Rick Greene

4 - Ian Elford

5 - Jana

6 - Amy Greene

DNQ - Scott Blackburn, Jared McQuaig, Boyda Johnstone

2006:

1 - Rick Greene

2 - Kelsey Everton

3 - Ian Elford

4 - David Klassen

5 - Boyda Johnstone

6 - Amy Greene

DNQ - Jana, Matt Greene

Thus, here is the current World Ranking:

1 - David Klassen (247.5)

2 - Rick Greene (156.25)

3 - Ian Elford (118.75)

4 - Nathan Cooke (108.75)

5 - Kelsey Everton (73.75)

6 - Andy Attard (70)

7 - Jana (61.25)

8 - Scott Blackburn (52.5)

9 - Amy Greene (51.25)

10 - Jeremy Sergeew (22.5)

11 - Boyda Johnstone (21.25)

12 - Jared McQuaig (6.25)

13 - Lorelei Sergeew (3.75)

14 - Matt Greene (1.25)

My suspicions are confirmed: I am the best player never to have won the Nedved Memorial Cup.

For the sake of curiosity and the official record, I have also compiled what the World Rankings for each of the other years that the sport has been in existence.

Thus, here are the 2005 results that I used:

1 - Rick Greene

2 - Ian Elford

3 - Jeremy Sergeew

4 - David Klassen

5 - Justin Cloutier

6 - Jana

DNQ - Boyda Johnstone, Kelsey Everton, Scott Blackburn, Amy Greene, John Heikel, Laura Platana

Therefore, here were the results going into this most recent tournament (the 2009 Rankings):

1 - David Klassen (210)

2 - Rick Greene (180)

3 - Nathan Cooke (105)

4 - Kelsey Everton (101.25)

5 - Ian Elford (92.5)

6 - Jana (66.25)

7 - Scott Blackburn (65)

8 - Amy Greene (45)

9 - Andy Attard (40)

10 - Jeremy Sergeew (37.5)

11 - Boyda Johnstone (25)

12 - Justin Cloutier (10)

13 - Jared McQuaig (8.75)

14 - Lorelei Sergeew (5)

15 - Matt Greene (2.5)

16 (tie) - Laura Platana (1.25)

16 (tie) - John Heikel (1.25)

So you'll note that Andy moved up from 9 to 6 in this edition and I moved from 5 to 3, while everyone else stayed the same or went down.

2008 Rankings:

1 - David Klassen (237.5)

2 - Rick Greene (180)

3 - Kelsey Everton (112.5)

4 - Ian Elford (95)

5 - Jana (71.25)

6 - Scott Blackburn (67.5)

7 - Jeremy Sergeew (50)

8 - Amy Greene (48.75)

9 - Boyda Johnstone (27.5)

10 (tie) - Justin Cloutier (10)

10 (tie) - Jared McQuaig (10)

12 (tie) - Nathan Cooke (5)

12 (tie) - Lorelei Sergeew (5)

14 - Matt Greene (3.75)

15 (tie) - Laura Platana (2.5)

15 (tie) - Laura Platana (2.5)

Yes, when Nathan Cooke won, he was ranked 12th in the world. That was an epic upset. It moved him up to 3rd in the rankings.

2007 Rankings:

1 - Rick Greene (215)

2 - David Klassen (152.5)

3 - Kelsey Everton (123.75)

4 - Ian Elford (115)

5 - Jana (36.25)

6 - Amy Greene (33.75)

7 - Jeremy Sergeew (30)

8 - Boyda Johnstone (28.75)

9 - Justin Cloutier (15)

10 - Scott Blackburn (8.75)

11 (tie) - Jared McQuaig (5)

11 (tie) - Matt Greene (5)

13 (tie) - Laura Platana (3.75)

13 (tie) - John Heikel (3.75)

This was the era of the Old Firm. Also note that Rick managed to top the rankings despite not winning in 2007, such was his dominance of the early tournaments.

2006 Rankings:

1 - Rick Greene (200)

2 - Ian Elford (100)

3 - Kelsey Everton (65)

4 - David Klassen (60)

5 - Jeremy Sergeew (40)

6 - Boyda Johnstone (25)

7 (tie) - Justin Cloutier (20)

7 (tie) - Jana (20)

7 (tie) - Amy Greene (20)

10 (tie) - Scott Blackburn (5)

10 (tie) - Matt Greene (5)

10 (tie) - Laura Platana (5)

10 (tie) - John Heikel (5)

David was ranked 4th going into his first tournament win.

2005 Rankings:

1 - Rick Greene (100)

2 - Ian Elford (60)

3 - Jeremy Sergeew (40)

4 - David Klassen (30)

5 - Justin Cloutier (20)

6 - Jana (15)

7 (tie) - Kelsey Everton (5)

7 (tie) - Scott Blackburn (5)

7 (tie) - Amy Greene (5)

7 (tie) - Boyda Johnstone (5)

7 (tie) - Laura Platana (5)

7 (tie) - John Heikel (5)

Not much of a base to draw on for the 2005 rankings.

And one final compilation. For each of those who have competed at 2 or more tournaments, I have listed below the highest ranking that they have ever achieved, and the dates for which they held it:

David Klassen - 1 (2008-2010)

Rick Greene - 1 (2005-2007)

Ian Elford - 2 (2005-2006)

Kelsey Everton - 3 (2006-2008)

Nathan Cooke - 3 (2009)

Jeremy Sergeew - 3 (2005)

Jana - 5 (2007-2008)

Andy Attard - 6 (2010)

Scott Blackburn - 6 (2008)

Amy Greene - 6 (2007)

Boyda Johnstone - 6 (2006)

Jared McQuaig - 11 (2007-2008)

There is a lot to digest here. Discuss below (and my apologies to any readers whose minds are numbed by all these statistics that mean nothing to them).