Tyce Koenig would wager his last dollar at the bowling alley.
Thing is he usually doesn’t need to since his dad, Rod, often throws a few bucks down on Tyce with friends and family.
And Tyce, 23, often delivers. He rolled a scorching 403 a few weeks ago at Lincoln Lanes, nailing eight strikes in a row.
Rod pocketed a sizzling 311 on the same night.
“I started with five in a row and I thought I was going to beat him,” laughed Rod, who bowls on a Thursday night team with his brother, Barry, Dawn Gilbert, Paul and Cathy Davies, and Tyce.
Tyce, a 6-foot-2, 225-pounder who began throwing strikes at age three in YBC, struggled at the start of the night, hitting headpins early before talking to proprietor Ivan Soroka and then started stringing together some black marks.
It was his third and final game of the Thursday night series.
“My dad was in a groove and I was trying to hang with him and then he missed. It’s good competition and a fun atmosphere; I just didn’t stop. That was my first official 400. It’s kind of funny because I had just got back into bowling after elbow surgery.”
Koenig earlier rang up 276 and 208 scores and finished with an 892 triple.
In construction at Predator Ridge, Tyce throws a fairly hard ball and began taking the sport seriously at a young age.
“I made my first nationals at Bantams when I was 10. I was in singles in Newfoundland and I tied for third and lost a tiebreaker. My whole family bowled. My mom, Sherryl Gilbert, used to bowl and my grama, Marci Koenig, was very big in bowling. I was really a pressure bowler even at a young age. I’m very competitive.”
Tyce pitched in baseball since Little League and blew his elbow hurling for the Midget AAA Canadians. The huge Blue Jays fan used his curve to fool hitters from the mound.
He also enjoys golf and cheering on the NFL New Orleans Saints.
“I’m going to get back into (fivepin) tournaments. It’s always fun and my dad bets on me all the time.”
