Pagulayan Pool Festival Final Report - Ritcey and Swim Top Respective Divisions
By Kyle Richard
September 8, 2026
The first annual Pagulayan Pool Festival was held from 5-7 September at the four Dooly's locations in HRM (Rockingham, Young St, Burnside and Portland St). There were 96 men and 36 women that battled it out in two separate events over 3 days and three different games (8, 9 and 10 ball) with a round robin format. Every day was a new group of 6 players and a new game which meant you had 5 matches to play. The top 3 out of each group moved on the next day. On the final day for men the 4 group winners went into a single elimination bracket, race to 5 in 10 ball to determine a champion. On the final day for the women we decided to just have the top 2 women play one final match, race to 4 in 10 ball to determine a champion. This format meant every shot and every game was important! Everyone else was paid out from their performance/group results.
For the men on day 3, it was very contested but the four group winners that moved ahead to vie for the title were Jeff Kennedy, Jody Swim, Colin Macdonald and Clayton Dennis. When the draw was completed the match ups were Jeff Kennedy vs Jody Swim and Colin MacDonald vs Clayton Dennis. Jody Swim won his match 5-3 and Clayton Dennis won his match 5-1. That set up the final match between Jody Swim and Clayton Dennis where Jody clinched the title with a 5-3 victory. The 3rd/4th place match was not played but it was determined by their record. Jeff and Colin both had 5 wins but Jeff had a +/- of 16 and Colin had a +/- of 11 so Jeff received 3rd place.
Congratulations to all of the players who finished in the money!
1st-Jody Swim $2915
2nd-Clayton Dennis $2250
3rd-Jeff Kennedy $1700
4th-Colin MacDonald $1250
5th/6th-Jason Robichaud and Terry Gulliver $900 each
7th/8th-Rob Sakell and David Boone $650 each
9th/12th-Wayne H Thibodeau, JIm Rhodenizer, Bill MacPherson and Justin D'Eon $500 each
13th/16th-Adam Cormier, Kyle Richard, Brian White and Michael Basque $375 each
17th-24th-Cory Fearon, Shawn Smith, Ryan Kendall, Peter Giles, Eric Bonneau, Chris Penney, Robert White and Peter Thompson $300 each
For the ladies on day 3 it was one group of 6 playing 10 Ball. A noteworthy point is that we also paid out the 3 x third place finishers from day 2 (names and pictures listed below). On this day, with the ladies playing 10 ball it was Janet Ritcey and Paris Shahsavar finishing as the top 2 ladies in the group. This set up the ladies final where Janet Ritcey was able to get the victory with a 4-1 win.
1st-Janet Ritcey $1455
2nd-Paris Shahsavar $1040
3rd-Kathy Brock $780
4th-Ashley Denny $465
5th/6th-Lisa David and Desiree Milos Sylliboy $410 each
7th/8th/9th-Jennifer Rowden, Tracey Goodyear and Jennie Saulnier $210 each
Congratulations to all of the players who finished in the money!
A huge thank you to all of the 4 Dooly's locations, the four managers and all of the staff for looking after us so well and for providing us with 51 tables to play on.
Thanks to Alex Pagulayan and the entire team at Pagulayan cues. Without your support the event would not have been possible.
The video below was amazing and it really set the stage for an incredible event.
To all of the sponsors this event would not have been successful without your help. Thanks to Adam Cormier at Bargain Auto Parts, Greg Hartlen with Douglas Alarms and The Flag Shop, Cody Richard with Remax Nova, Michael Cullymore with Verities IT, Jay Hanlon with Maritime Boat Cleaning Services, the "Smokenstein food truck", and Matt Handspiker with Handspiker Drywall Taping. Also, to our host hotel, Sandman Signature Inn and Suites Dartmouth.
Thanks to Brian Brian McNamara with Brian's Cuesport Streams for another outstanding event. Please check out the stream or find your match if you you played on there.
Thanks to all of the volunteers and any other people who assisted in any way. If I missed anyone I apologize in advance. There is absolutely no way you can have a successful event this large without a great team being involved in it!
Paul Gunn(tournament director), Wayne Nagel, Mike Cullymore, Angela Kilbride, Dale Brimicombe, Bruce Lilly, Craig Teal, Wekatesk Augustine, Ryan Kendall, Tracey Goodyear, Janet Ritcey, Darren Reid, Darrell Abolit(who made the podium), Christopher Bright and Dave Blanchard for taking pictures and finally to my wife,Roxanne White Richard for looking after the Pagulayan booth.
This event will be bigger and better for next year so stay tuned!
Thanks to everyone who participated and supported this event.
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