Annual squash tourney good time

The 14th-annual La Place Rendez-Vous squash tournament here last weekend was about the competition, the mind games, and, of course, the good times.
Rod Tyreman of Red Lake noted it was awesome to see so many of the best-of-five matches go the distance.
“It was hard squash and the draw was evenly matched. There were no lopsided matches,” he noted.
In the men’s ‘A’ final Sunday afternoon, Darrell Cole (Thunder Bay) shook off what he thought were a couple of bad calls in the early going to sweep Mark Norton (Kenora) 3-0.
“The weekend wasn’t great when I lost but now it’s doing good,” enthused Cole, the top junior player in Northwestern Ontario.
Cole said the match could have gone to either one but added his strategy was to get it over before it could go to five games.
“I was going out to try to get it over with. I didn’t want it to go to five games,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, the best-of-five men’s ‘B’ final featured a tight match between local squashers Toby Munro and Jim Krag–which Munro eventually took 3-2.
Local junior player Steven Krag captured the men’s ‘C’ crown Sunday with a 3-1 win over Ken Allan of here while Ryan Holt won the men’s ‘D’ title after downing Ryan Sustawenko 3-1 in the final.
In the men’s “vet” division, Tom Carten took top honours with 12 points after blanking Bob Tkachuk, 3-0 in the final match Sunday afternoon.
Tkachuk was next with nine points, followed by Al Holt (seven), Bruce Piercy (five), and Richard Boileau (two).
In ladies’ action, Mary Beth Tkachuk dominated the ‘B’ division with a perfect 12 points after blanking Sarah Noonan 3-0 in her final round-robin match Sunday.
Noonan took second place with nine points, followed by Cheryl Behan (seven), Patti Boileau (six), and Kris Krag (five).
And in the women’s ‘C’ division, Keira Main finished first with 12 points, followed by Kerri Tolen (10), Darlene Barrett (nine), and Megan Canfield and Kristina Tolen (five each).
On Sunday afternoon, the participants could be heard joking about the good times they had at the banquet the night before at La Place Rendez-Vous.
“The best part of the tournament was spanking Bob at the banquet on Saturday night,” joked Tyreman.
Cole echoed Tyreman sentiments, adding this tournament always runs smoothly and is a great time for all involved.