Happy Strikers earn early-season Tuesday Majors Bowling League title

Pins fall at Pinz as averages and scores increase across the league 

Happy Strikers bowling team members Lisa Petersen, Jess Collins and Amy Rodman won the first quarter championship of the Tuesday Majors Bowling League at Juneau's "Pinz" bowling alley. (Photo courtesy Tim Powers)

By Klas Stolpe

Juneau Independent

The name and menu may have changed, but the fun and competition continue at “Pinz” bowling alley — formally known as Channel Bowl and Taku Lanes — as the Happy Strikers were crowned first quarter champions of the Tuesday Majors Bowling League in late October.

“This is my second year in the Tuesday night league,” Happy Striker bowler Amy Rodman, 44, said. She has bowled through the years in Juneau. “It is a new winter hobby for me. I'm thrilled when my score is above 100 and focus more on the element of having fun. I honestly had no idea where my team ranked among other teams, score-wise.”

Four weeks ago she and teammates Jess Collins, 44, and Lisa Petersen were in fifth place with a record of 78 wins and 78 losses — there are 39 points awarded per night — but they climbed up to take the title.

“Bowling means connection and laughing with others, showing up for your teammates, tater tots, and applying physics and geometry with a spherical mass,” Rodman said. “My parents used to bowl in the late ‘80s here in town, back when Channel Bowl sold milkshakes!”

1959 Tuesday Mens Bowling League founder Jim Burgess bowls during early Gastineau Channel Bowling Association days. (Photo courtesy Keith Burgess)

The milkshakes have been replaced with fountain sodas, but Pinz represents what bowling has meant to Juneau since it first opened as Channel Bowl in 1959 — friendly competition and a night out.

“The bowling league is special because it brings together people of diverse backgrounds. It is welcoming, inclusive and fun,” Collins, in her fourth year of bowling, said. “Every Tuesday night I get to unwind away from the typical stressors. There is a lot of laughter, great bowling advice and camaraderie.”

In 1959, the Tuesday Men’s League was formed as part of the Gastineau Channel Bowling Association. Eight years ago, the league was opened to women and is now called Tuesday Majors. Channel Bowl became Taku Lanes in 2011 but fell into disrepair through a contentious ownership exchange and had to close. Bowling was saved when the Happy Strikers’ Lisa Peterson and husband Bob, who bowls for team Broken, leased the building in 2019 and opened Pinz. 

“Bowling together is a great night out,” Tuesday Majors League secretary Tim Powers, 67, said. He and wife Luann, 65, frequent the lanes on team Amigos. “We make it a point to not compete with each other, rather we are constantly encouraging and helping each other. It allows us to get a little exercise together and have fun with teammates and competitors. Bowling may not look like exercise, but picking up and rolling a 14- to 16-pound ball for thirty frames (or about 60 times a night) adds up. Even when we have bad nights of scoring we have great nights of entertainment. We get to mingle with people that we would not otherwise see. Being in a league is a great way to make new friends.”

Keith Burgess of The Alaskans bowls during the Tuesday Majors Bowling League at Juneau's "Pinz" bowling alley. He is the son of 1959 league founder Jim Burgess. (Photo courtesy Tim Powers)

Following are the Tuesday Majors League standings (place, name, points won, points lost, pins plus handicap):

1. Happy Strikers (Amy Rodman, Jessica Collins, Lisa Petersen, Hanna Davis), 207, 105, 16880; 2. Field Goal (Kelton Griffith, Jordan Bennett, Andrew Bixby), 182, 130, 16625; 3. Lightning Strikes (Lance Chambers, Greg Spann, Brian Bedenke, James Houck, Erin Brunsen), 177, 135, 16831; 4. Lucky Strikes (Naomi Palm-Mills, Jimmy Diamond, Tal Norvell, John Bush), 166.5, 145.5, 16613; 5. Draw Team, 158, 154, 16575; 6. 4 Amigos (Tim Powers, Orion Hughes-Knowles, Keith Brundige, Luann Powers), 154, 158, 16376; 7. The Alaskans (Keith Burgess, Dale Hicks, Tim Sewill), 112.5, 199.5, 16426; 8. Broken (Don Law, Sid Ellison, Bob Petersen), 91, 221, 16314.

First Quarter High Scores:

Men’s high average: T. Sewill (192), K. Burgess (183), K. Brundige (179).

Women’s high average: J. Bennett (138), L. Powers (131) J. Collins (115).

Men’s high game: K. Brundige (247), K. Burgess (246), K. Griffith (245), D. Law (236) and T. Sewill (228).

Women’s high game: J. Bennett (186), L. Powers (158), L. Petersen (147), J. Collins (146) and A. Rodman (143).

A complete schedule of Pinz bowling times, prices, and leagues can be found at https://www.pinzllc-juneauak.com.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.