Local players Megan Canfield, 18, and Steven Boileau, 14, helped Northwestern Ontario finish seventh in the squash competition at the Ontario Winter Games in London last weekend.
The team had been ranked sixth out of eight heading into the Games, where scores were based on all eight-team members (i.e., one point was awarded for each individual match won).
Their first match was against second-seeded Niagara Region, where Boileau was the lone winner on the Northwest team. Ranked 37th in the province, he beat 30th-ranked Shane Henry by scores of 9-5, 9-7, and 9-5.
The team next played Ottawa Region, losing again. Then their third match-up came against Huronia, which local junior coach Bob Tkachuk described as the team’s arch rivals.
“We ended up 4-4,” he noted. “Because we were tied, it came down to who won the most points.”
In the end, Huronia won the match 16-14.
After playing the Central Region and losing 4-3, the team was forced to play Huronia again to determine seventh- and eighth-place.
“It came down to the last match,” said Tkachuk. “Megan Canfield had to win. Steven turned to me and said, ‘I’m more nervous watching Megan play. . . .’”
Canfield needed five sets but she prevailed, beating Huronia’s Michelle Fong 9-1, 5-9, 10-8, 4-9, and 9-1 to give the Northwest crew seventh place.
“Megan and Steven both played very well,” said Tkachuk. “It wasn’t hard to motivate them. Mary-Beth [Tkachuk] and I were very proud.”
The local juniors have one more tournament, the weekend of April 3, before the end of their season—the last for Canfield, who is off to university this fall.
One thing Boileau had been looking forward to at the Winter Games was the chance to play top-ranked Nicholas Procyshyn.
But the team found out in London that Procyshyn had remained in the under-13 category for the Niagara Region and thus Boileau was not able to play that match.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
