U.S. Polo Assn., Flexjet to meet in 2016 World Snow Polo Championships final
While Saturday was one to remember for skiers and snowboarders, Mother Nature’s wintry gift wasn’t well received by the local polo community.
The 2016 World Snow Polo Championship was set to get underway Saturday with the semifinal rounds, but nearly two feet of snow left an unsafe playing surface at Rio Grande Park in Aspen, where the tournament is being played. After an hour-long delay, the games were called off and replaced with two shootouts to determine who would make Sunday’s finals.
Ricky Cooper, selected to represent U.S. Polo Assn., won the first shootout, 3-1, over Audi’s Grant Ganzi. In the second shootout, Flexjet’s Jason Crowder defeated St. Regis star Nacho Figuera, 3-2.
“We have been watching the field and they tried to prepare it but it was just too deep so we ended up with a shootout,” St. Regis player Bernie Uechtritz said in a news release. “It was a level playing field anyway, so the shootout was the great equalizer. It was a roll of the dice.”
The championship and consolation games are scheduled to go on as planned Sunday. U.S. Polo Assn. will face Flexjet at 1 p.m. in the championship game at Rio Grande Park, followed by the consolation game between St. Regis and Audi at 2:30 p.m.
It is the third time in four years U.S. Polo Assn. has made the snow polo finals.
Coal Ridge’s Ben Simons pitches no-hitter in baseball season opener
Ben Simons, the reigning Western Slope League Player of the Year, is setting the stage for another dominant season.