Mary Beth Tkachuk fought back from a 2-0 deficit Sunday to beat Connee Badiuk in the best-of-five final of the women’s ‘B’ division at the 13th-annual La Place Rendez-Vous squash tournament here.
Tkachuk trailed 7-2 in the third game of the match before charging back. She then won the next two games 9-4 and 9-2 to ice the victory.
“Actually, I was surprised to [pull off the comeback],” said Tkachuk, who went 3-0 during the tournament, sweeping both Megan Canfield and Patti Boileau to reach the final.
“At times, I didn’t know if I was curling or playing squash [but] it worked out okay,” she added.
Tkachuk was referring to the fact she also was curling in the women’s bonspiel here last weekend (the rink she played for won the ‘B’-event over there).
Badiuk reached the final after sweeping Kim Pauli, Barbara Rees, and Linda Roberts.
Rees wound up winning the women’s ‘C’ division with a 3-0 win over Keira Main in Sunday’s final. Main lost her first match 3-1 to her mom, Donna, to drop to the consolation side, where she swept Darlene Barrett and Canfield.
Among the men, Bob Shine of Thunder Bay continued his mastery at the local tournament by winning his seventh ‘A’ division crown in 13 years with a 3-0 win over Rory Hygard in Sunday’s final.
Bob Tkachuk, who competed in the men’s Vets division, called Shine the “premiere” player in Northwestern Ontario.
Shine had opened the tournament with wins over Dean Pauli (3-1), Darryl Cole (3-1), and Hygard (3-0).
Hygard made his way back on the ‘A’-side after beating Frank Jowitt on the consolation side. Jowitt went on to win the consolation final with a 3-1 victory over Mark Norton.
In the men’s Vets division, Tom Carten edged Tkachuk 3-2 in their round-robin match to finish in first place overall at 3-0. Carten also beat Al Holt and Bruce Piercy.
Tkachuk had beaten Holt (3-0) and Piercy (3-0) to finish second at 2-1. Holt was 1-2 while Piercy went 0-3.
It marked the first time a men’s Vets division was ever held here.
Meanwhile, Rob Aitken nipped arch-nemesis Ben Andrusco 3-2 in the best-of-five final of the 16-player men’s ‘B’ division Sunday.
Aitken never lost a match, downing Anthony Andrusco match 3-1 and then sweeping both Jason Kabel and Jim Krag 3-0.
Benji Andrusco opened with 3-1 wins over Richard Boileau and Dave Zabloski, then advanced to the final after nipping John Bagacki 3-2.
Al Holt, the ironman of the competition by competing in both the Vets and men’s ‘B’ divisions, won the ‘B’ consolation final after beating John Steele 3-1.
Holt lost his first match to Krag (3-2) but rebounded to edge Shawn Donahue (3-2) and Anthony Andrusco (3-1) to reach the consolation final.
In men’s ‘C’ action, 16-year-old Curtis Stasiw was perfect in his four matches–including a 3-0 sweep of Lorne Skogberg in the final–to win that division.
Stasiw earlier had swept Drew Allan, Mike Whitehead, and Paul Noonan.
Steve Krag, also a junior, won the men’s ‘C’ consolation after a 3-0 win over Shane Wepruk.
Krag lost his opener to Ken Allan (3-0) but then reeled off wins against Matt Gushulak (3-0) and Jeff Wright (3-0) to reach the consolation final.
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In related news, the Northwest Ontario squash teams have been officially announced for the Ontario Winter Games in Sault Ste. Marie on March 16-21.
The boys’ team will consist of Darryl Cole of Thunder Bay (under-19), Drew Allan of Fort Frances (under-17), Steve Krag of Fort Frances (under-15), and Josh Gonzalez of Thunder Bay (under-13).
The girls’ team includes Jill Skogberg of Thunder Bay (under-19), Sarah Noonan of Fort Frances (under-17), Megan Canfield of Fort Frances (under-15), and Cindy Arpin of Thunder Bay (under-13).
Fort Frances Times
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