2008 Squash Thaw tournament concludes adult season

Two of the Yukon's finest squash players showcased their skills in the final match of the 2008 adult season Sunday at the annual Squash Thaw tournament.

Two of the Yukon’s finest squash players showcased their skills in the final match of the 2008 adult season Sunday at the annual Squash Thaw tournament.

In a match that went the maximum five game distance, Julien Revel managed to overcome an early deficit to get the victory over Blaine Tessier by a score of 3-9, 9-7, 7-9, 9-5 and 9-0.

“It always feels good to win a tournament that’s for sure,” Julien said.

“I had a really tough game against Blaine, so it’s good. He’s a smart player, he played really well and if he was bit younger he would have had me.”

The Squash Thaw is the oldest tournament hosted by Better Bodies and has been held ever since the club opened.

The different levels of competition are A, B, C, D, junior and novice. Players who took part were guaranteed at least three matches.

Registration for the tournament was $40 for senior players and $35 for junior competitors. Juniors were players under the age of 19.

A total of 50 people took part in the tournament.

Competitors were playing for bragging rights as the tournament doesn’t award trophies or medals, but all entries were eligible to win two flight tickets, courtesy of Air North.

What makes this tournament even more special this year is that Squash Yukon brought up four highly skilled players up from Victoria and Vancouver, B.C. to compete in the “A” division.

The purpose of bringing the players up was to give additional competition to the clubs top players, which among them are Blaine Tessier and Mark Tubman.

It had been a couple of years since the last time players were brought up from down south for this tournament.

The “A” final was highlighted by Revel battling back after falling behind 4-0 in the fourth game, while facing elimination.

Despite the odds being against him, Revel managed to score six straight points to gain control of the game and match.

After winning the fourth game, Revel polished off Tessier, winning the deciding game by an impressive score of 9-0.

Revel, 22, won all four matches at the tournament, including the first three, by a game score of 3-0. He said the match against Tessier was his toughest of the competition.

Although Revel was behind during the majority of the match, he said he wasn’t overly nervous about the outcome.

“I just play the game and tried as hard as I could to come back and that’s what I did,” he said. “Blaine is a really good player and it was fun.

It was a close game, I had fun. It’s a fun tournament.”

This was Revels first tournament win of the 2008 season and the first time he has won the “A” division at the Squash Thaw.

He said one of his goals for the upcoming season is to play in the open division, which is the highest level of play in squash.

In other results in the “A” division Steve Fecteau rounded out the top three with a victory over Vince Waring from Victoria.

Fecteau won the first game in decisive fashion, beating Waring 9-3, before dropping the second game 6-9. Fecteau wasn’t fazed by the second game loss and rebounded to take the match, finishing Waring of 9-5, 9-4 in the final two games.

In an interview after the tournament, Waring said he was pleased with the way the tournament went.

“It was good,” Waring said. “It was tough competition, tougher than I thought it would have been.

We weren’t too sure about the pool of people here and by far the top players were solid. We are pretty solid players, but these guys gave us a good run for the money.”

He said he didn’t have any expectations coming in.

“I just wanted to be competitive and come out here and just play.”

Waring said he was glad about coming to Whitehorse and would come back if the opportunity ever presented itself again.

The consolation winner of the “A” division was Kyle Mycock of Victoria, who defeated Jason Jobin in three straight games 9-8, 9-0, 9-7.

In the Open “B” division first place went to Lars Johansson, who beat Chris Toleman in three sets 9-1, 9-6, 9-5. 

Lori Muir placed third after she beat Phil Jackson in a five-set marathon. Muir never fell behind any games throughout the whole match.

The final score was 9-3, 6-9, 9-4, 3-9, 9-7.

Chris Cullingham won consolation honours over Jim Gilpin 10-8, 10-9, 6-9, 9-1.

Trevor Mead-Robins won top honours in the Men’s “C” division after beating James Oni 9-2, 9-8, 9-4. Mead-Robins also took part in the officiating clinic, which was held last Wednesday and Thursday.

At the clinic, the rules were taught on the first day and then a video review was shown on Thursday about how those rules are applied in real life situations.

After the clinic is over those who took part officiated some of the “A” level matches at the tournament.

This was also one of the reasons Squash Yukon brought up the B.C. players.
Mead-Robins said he was glad about taking the clinic.

“I am really glad I got to do it and I would do it again and hope to continue,” he said.

“It was a good clinic, great tournament and a nice way to end the season.”

He said officiating the “A” division games was a lot more intense than he thought it would be.

“You think it is going to be just keeping points and following the scores, but you realize none of the calls are easy,” Mead-Robins said.

“Even doing something as simple as keeping the score isn’t when you are really under the pressure of an intense match and also being evaluated at the same time.”

Joe Ellis is a national squash referee in Canada and was the teacher at the squash clinic.

He said he was impressed with how the six participants did.

“We had some very enthusiastic people, so from that perspective it was good,” he said.

“Refereeing is very difficult job to start at and it takes a lot of experience and years before you get comfortable doing it, so I thought as a group they did exceptionally well.”

Jocelyn Barrett finished first in the women’s novice category, defeating Bev Cooper, while Stephen Grundmanis took the top spot in the Junior “A” division, winning over Kai Knorr.

Benjamin Grundmanis finished first, beating Will Parker in the Junior “B” final.

Marie Desmarais is the squash pro at the Better Bodies Cross Training Centre and the organizer of the tournament.

She said she was pleased with how the tournament went this year.

“It was fantastic,” Desmarais said.

“What really made it exciting was having all those Victoria guys come up because they were really fine players and it’s really nice to have different faces or different people to play. So it was exciting.”