Shine outshines field to capture squash title

Around 1:35 p.m. on Sunday at the Memorial Sports Centre, some of the best squash this town has ever seen was witnessed by a gathering crowd.
Bob Shine (Thunder Bay) and Mark Norton (Kenora) duelled in the ‘A’ division final of the 18th-annual La Place Rendez-Vous squash tournament, with spectators seeing the game the way it was meant to be played.
“Man, do we suck,” said Toby Munro, an ‘A’ player himself, as he watched the crisp play from Shine and Norton.
“They just play at a totally different level,” agreed Bob Tkachuk, who also is a local ‘A’ player.
Entering the final, Shine, who won last year’s tournament to give him his 10th title in 17 years, hadn’t lost a game in his previous two best-of-five matches—both 3-0 wins over Munro and then Colin Drumbolis.
“I wanted to see which Colin would show up, and today’s Colin was a smart Colin,” Shine said after Saturday’s match. “He didn’t get upset and he stayed patient.
“He should’ve hit the ball a little harder at some points to pick up the pace, but he sat back, which was smart, because usually he goes too hard and hammers himself out,” added Shine.
“So this way, he gave himself an opportunity to pick it up if I went off,” Shine noted. “But his conditioning kicked in and he was just getting over a cold, and you could tell that he was having difficulties.”
But Norton also didn’t lose any games in his previous matches against Tkachuk and then Jason Kabel, winner of the annual Boxing Day tournament here, to set up a showdown that already was predicted even before the tournament began.
“This draw is about as tough as you can get in Northwestern Ontario with Bob Shine and Mark Norton, so the rest of us, when we go to the other side for the consolation, it’s much more structured and equal,” said Tkachuk, who helped organize the tournament that attracted a full field of 60 players (both men and women).
“When we go against Shine or Norton on the championship side, we’re in big trouble, so the final is expected, and those are two of the premier players in Northwestern Ontario,” he added.
Shine opened with a 9-3 win, but Norton stormed back with a 9-5 decision to even the match at 1-1.
Both 46-year-olds were playing superb squash, with Norton relying on his patented lob shots to give himself time to set up for his next shot while Shine tried to counter with quick drop shots.
Shine easily won the third game 9-3, but then day’s best squash was seen in the fourth as both players displayed a variety of shots that were crisp and jaw-dropping.
Norton, who won the tournament in 1990, jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Shine battled back to tie things at 7-7. In the end, though, Norton eked out a 9-7 victory to force the fifth-and-deciding game.
But it was all Shine in the finale as he dominated 9-1, with Norton hitting the tin on match point, which was a suiting end to his day—close, but not close enough.
“The third and fourth game wore Mark down and I just kept the pace a little bit higher where he would get wrong-footed and I could lengthen him out,” Shine remarked.
“That’s exactly right,” echoed Norton. “I made some crucial errors and made some weak shots because of the pressure Bob was putting on me, and he capitalized on that.”
In the ‘A’ consolation final Sunday, Tkachuk was ousted 3-1 by Jose Gonzales (Thunder Bay). But his tournament highlight was his 3-1 win over his former junior student in Steve Krag, who is 18 years old and expanding his game at a startling pace.
“I was nervous playing him, but I had enough gamesmanship to get past him,” said Tkachuk, 50. “But it could be the last time I beat him at this tournament, and I know that I will be dismantled by him one day.”
“I was proud of that win, but I was disappointed with the way I played today [Sunday], but Gonzales put the work in and he deserved the win,” Tkachuk added.
Gonzales had opened with a 3-1 loss to Drumbolis, but then edged Munro 3-2 to reach the ‘A’ consolation final.
In the ‘B’ division, John Bagacki (Fort Frances) was able to reach the final but was ousted 3-0 by Frank Carabelli (Thunder Bay).
The two last played at the Winnipeg Open a few weeks ago (Carabelli won in five games), so Bagacki knew what to expect heading in.
“He had legs and had the skill, and I couldn’t match him. I knew he was quick, so I knew that I needed to get the ball away from him, but he still got to it and put the ball away today,” said Bagacki, who, before the Winnipeg Open, had not played competitively for almost eight years.
He made it to the final with 3-0 wins over Bruce Piercy (Winnipeg), Hamza Malik (a former world-class ping-pong player from Thunder Bay), and then the phenomenally-gifted Jill Skogberg (Thunder Bay).
Al Christiansen made it to the ‘B’ consolation final, but wound up losing 3-0 to Tony Viveiros (Kenora).
Christiansen had opened with a 3-0 loss to Malik, but then garnered victories over Piercy (3-1) and Cole Derksen (3-0) to reach the consolation final.
It was all Fort Frances in the ‘C’ division, with Brian Beers capturing the title with a convincing 3-0 win over Jim Lawson (Winnipeg), but not before a tough 3-2 win over local junior Steve Boileau.
“To be honest with you, I was fairly confident that I would make it to the semi-finals,” said Beers. “I had to play Steven Boileau yesterday [Saturday] and that was a tough match.
“I didn’t think I was going to get through that, but I did, and that gave me a lot of confidence,” added Beers, who started with a 3-0 win over Chad Faragher (who would beat Greg Ste. Croix 3-0 in the ‘C’ consolation final).
He then blanked Ken Allen (Thunder Bay) after his match with Boileau.
“Once I beat Steven, I thought I could beat anybody else. He was my biggest obstacle I thought,” said Beers, noting he most likely will move up into the ‘B’ division next year.
“I’m not good enough for the ‘B’ [division] yet. I’ve got to get in better shape and start running some 10ks three times a week,” he laughed.
Faragher followed his opening loss to Beers with a 3-1 win over John Gibson and a 3-0 win over Jan Vassbotn to reach the consolation final against Ste. Croix.
The latter started with a 3-1 loss to Chris McCaffery (Kenora), but then blanked both Chris Faragher and Derek Allan (Thunder Bay) to advance.
In women’s ‘B’ action, which saw a full Fort Frances field of eight, Mary-Beth Tkachuk captured yet another title without losing a game in any of her matches.
She beat Dana Koswick and Nikki Bagacki, before blanking Kris Krag in the final. Krag also had not lost a game leading up to the final, having earned 3-0 wins over Timea Fleury and then Megan Ross.
Donna Main wound up being the ‘B’ consolation winner with a 3-0 win over Koswick. Main had opened with a 3-0 loss to Ross, but followed with a 3-0 win over Fleury.
And in the women’s ‘C’ division, Lorina Fryer won a tightly-contested match against Sherri Christiansen 3-2 while Rebecca Tolen earned the consolation title with a 3-0 win over Summer Struve.
Finally, in the men’s ‘D’ event, John McCormack topped Matt DePiero in the first-place game, Eric Wetendorf beat Kevin Gruttner in the second-place game, and Anniss Seid downed Mitchell Thorgrimson in the third-place game.
The men’s ‘D’ event is really the main purpose for the tournament, said Tkachuk, who teach local kids the sport weekly along with his wife, Mary-Beth.
“The purpose of this tournament is to pass it on to the young kids. That’s what it’s about now,” he stressed. “We’re trying to get the kids to love the game and intrinsically get it into their heart and not into their head.”
While Tkachuk was playing his consolation final against Gonzales, Seid and Wetendorf took advantage of the free court by playing a fun game of squash, which, when relayed to Tkachuk, only brought a grin to veteran instructor.
“Mission accomplished,” he smiled.