Joey Payeur
Dallas Gervais still was pinching himself after putting a much tighter grip on a Canadian five-pin bowling title.
The 20-year-old from Fort Frances teamed up with Edmund Bernier, John MacDougall, Claude Burns, and Bill Luchka to lead Northern Ontario to the gold medal in the teaching men’s team division at the 2016 Masters Nationals championship co-hosted by Surrey, Langley, and Cloverdale, B.C. from June 29-July 2.
Gervais, making his first appearance at Masters Nationals, also wound up winning bronze in the teaching men’s singles’ category—claiming a tiebreaker by beating the Quebec rep 2-1 in their three head-to-head matchups.
“For sure, I’m pretty surprised that I could compete with some of the people down there,” admitted Gervais, a former defensive lineman and linebacker for the Muskie football team.
“I couldn’t believe it.
“This sport is a little easier on the bones,” he laughed.
After qualifying at the provincial roll-offs in Thunder Bay last month, Gervais carried a 202 average into the national tournament.
He struggled out of the gate—losing his first two games to Quebec’s Stephane Martineau and Saskatchewan’s Jeremy Wetsch in the pins-over-average format of the teaching men’s division.
But Gervais got rolling in his third game with a victory over Alberta’s Stuart Sakaluk.
“That was a boost of confidence for me and showed me I could compete at that level,” recounted Gervais, who earned the head-to-head point in five of his next six matches, including a tournament-high single of 276 (+74) in his ninth game.
“I found my spot in that one and I felt that I could contribute a lot more to the team than I had up to that point,” he remarked.
Gervais’ teammates, meanwhile, were picking him up after his slow start and were racking up the points with him as the second day continued.
In his final block of seven games, Gervais earned his point in five of them as Northern Ontario finished with 107 points overall to finish well ahead of runner-up Southern Ontario (93.5) and third-place Saskatchewan (92).
“I think we were getting pretty confident as we went along,” Gervais noted.
“We were getting at least two points every game and we did have individuals struggle at times, but never all at once.”
When it came to the teaching men’s singles division, Gervais was feeling even greater pressure right through the final game.
“That was a lot more stressful,” he admitted.
“If I would have won my last match, I would have had third [place] to myself,” he noted, referring to ending up with 22 points behind the representatives from Alberta (32) and Saskatchewan (28).
“But I lost and that tied me with the guy from Quebec,” Gervais said.
“I didn’t even know what the tiebreaker was until after I was done playing,” he chuckled.
When it was determined he had held on for the bronze, Gervais was overjoyed.
“To get that bronze was special because I knew I had to do it by myself,” he remarked.
“But it was also nice to win gold as a team so I guess they were equally rewarding.”
As well, Gervais hoped his success would have a positive impact on the local bowling scene, especially among younger generations.
“I would like to think this will get more kids interested in bowling and grab some attention of the sport, the kids and their parents,” he said.
“Maybe we’ll get more volunteers to help out with YBC [Youth Bowling Council] and even more Masters players.”
Six-time Masters Nationals veteran Jeff Watts of Fort Frances also made the trip to B.C. as part of the Northern Ontario tournament men’s team.
Unfortunately—but not unexpectedly—for Watts, his squad (which also included Al Paquette, Brian Bonnie, Roger Givoque, and David Secord) landed in last place in the eight-team standings with 52 points.
That was well back of overall champion Manitoba (105.5).
“I figured we would end up last,” repeated Watts regarding his earlier prediction.
“We hoped we would beat someone but we had lots of fun,” he added.
“It was a blast.”
Watts had a 250 average entering the event and rolled slightly better than that through his 21 games there, finishing with a 255 average.
“At least I bowled my average, although I wanted to be better than that,” said Watts, who threw a high single of 370 in the tournament.
He also had two games of 309 along the way while taking 12 of a possible 21 points in his head-to-head matchups.
Watts also had plenty of praise for his younger Plaza Lanes counterpart.
“It’s good to see a young guy get a medal,” he remarked.
“He’ll be in Masters for a long time, I hope.”
