By Joey Payeur
Staff writer
jpayeur@fortfrances.com
The road to the Sunset Country Squash Club’s Boxing Day tournament has gone through Steve Boileau the past two years—a roadblock Jason Kabel has seen more than enough.
After being eliminated in the semi-finals of the tournament’s ‘A’ Open division by Boileau last year, Kabel made it all the way to the final this time around—only to find the former local junior player, who now lives in Vancouver, waiting for him.
And once again it was Boileau coming out on top at the Memorial Sports Centre after sweeping the best-of-five final by scores of 11-7, 11-9, and 11-6 to repeat as champ.
“I think it’s harder to win it the second time,” said Boileau, who finished the day 12-0 in games played.
“There’s a lot of new people that come out,” he noted.
“[Kabel] is one of the older people I played against growing up and has been one of my mentors,” Boileau added.
“I felt like he could come back at any time in that final.”
Kabel disagreed modestly after going 8-0 himself to reach the title match before getting swept by Boileau—letting a 6-3 lead in the first game slip away as Boileau went on an 8-1 run to win the opener and never looked back.
“I was lucky to be ahead at that point,” chuckled Kabel.
“[Boileau’s] just strong,” he added. “You can tell he’s been playing high-level squash in Vancouver.
“It didn’t matter what I brought to the table today,” Kabel stressed. “It wasn’t going to be enough.”
Boileau almost let his own lead vanish in the second game as Kabel closed to within 9-8 after battling back from a 9-4 deficit.
But after trading points, the tourney champ drilled a far-side winner Kabel couldn’t reach.
In the third game, fatigue caught up to Kabel with a quartet of mishits, including the final point of the match on an attempted drop shot after a brilliant delivery by Boileau off the back wall found the mark.
“I hit the ball well all day today,” noted Boileau, who beat Anniss Seid in a five-game classic in last year’s final, with Seid on hand only as a spectator this time around.
“That makes a huge difference.”
Boileau professed his soft spot for the Boxing Day tourney with old friends—and especially local club president Bob Tkachuk and his wife, Mary-Beth.
“It’s a special tournament for me,” he remarked.
“People come back from all over that used to play here, and it’s good to see Bob and Mary-Beth.
“They have been such a big part of my life as my coaches,” he added.
Boileau swept Alex Bruyere 3-0, which gave him a second-round bye in the 18-player showdown.
He then blanked Jeff Wright 3-0 before going toe-to-toe for the first time in a tournament setting against former local junior Anika Alexander, currently of Winnipeg, in the semi-finals.
Alexander dropped the first game, but was one point away from taking the second one before Boileau went on a three-point run to steal a 12-10 win before closing things out in the third.
Kabel, meanwhile, earned a 2-0 victory over Mike Brady in his first match, then topped both Shawn Brady and Chad Faragher by 3-0 margins.
Spencer Pearce blanked Shawn Brady 3-0 in the ‘A’-side consolation final.
The ‘B’ title went to Ross Kircher, who blanked Ryan Brady 3-0 in the final, while Josh Councillor took the ‘C’ crown with a 3-0 triumph over Chris Bobyczynski.
The club next will host the annual La Place Rendez-Vous tournament in January.
