Manulife Canadian Men’s Team Championships 2012
by Dave Morrish
Posted January 8, 2012
Days 1 and 2
Matches kicked off at midday with Ontario 2 taking on The Canadian armed forces and Saskatchewan playing Nova Scotia.
Ontario being the host province were permitted to put in 2 teams and their second team was too strong for their opponents. David Sly, Sheldon Zimmerman and London Squash Racquets Club’s club champion Brad Hanebury all won 3-0. It was good to see the Canadian Forces team back playing after a 7 year sabbatical.
It was a similar story in the other match with Nova Scotia beating Saskatchewan 3-0. All The Matt’s (Bishop, Sharpe and Holland) winning 3-0.
Next up was New Brunswick v Prince Edward Island and British Columbia v North West territories. British Columbia Ryan Herden, Chris Hanebury and Mark Ridgeway) were in devastating form and only dropped 22 points in 3 matches.
Prince Edward Island won their match 3-0 but not as convincing. Mike Buchanan and Mitch Chaisson both won 3-0 whilst Darren Chaisson scraped home in the 5th.
The evening matches were the main quarter finals pitting Nova Scotia against top seeds Alberta; Ontario 2 v Quebec; Ontario 1 v British Columbia and Prince Edward Island against second seeds Manitoba.
Top seeds Alberta were in top form against Nova Scotia. Andrew and Graeme Schnell, the highest ranked national players in the event (6 and 8 respectively) and team mate Grayson Wicher, all won convincingly.
Quebec, seeded 4th overcame a spirited Ontario 2 team 2-1 – London Squash Club’s Brad Hanebury being the sole victor with a tight 3-1 win over Maxim Blouin. Former top 50 PSA player David Phillips and Eric Dingie wrapped up proceedings for Quebec.
Ontario 1 were victorious over British Columbia but it was not a walk in the park. Matt Seridiak won a tough 3-1 against Chris Hanebury (former London Squash) and Fred Reid overcame Ryan Herden in straight games. Last on court were Ian Power and Mark Ridgeway. Ian won in straight games.
The British Columbia team was made up of 3 University of Western Ontario (London) players which is ironic as the 2 places are 2600 miles apart!
So the semi final line up for Saturday is Alberta v Quebec and Ontario v Manitoba.
DAY 2
Hosts Ontario, crashed the finals, beating second seeded Manitoba 3-0….. but the score line did not in any way reflect the closeness or quality of the squash.
Ian Power of Ontario was first on against Justin Todd of Manitoba. The first 2 games were shared 12-10 and 11-9. At 6-2 down in the 3rd, Manitoba looked like they were going to have a 2-1 lead but Ian found his length, cut out his errors and rattled off 9 out of the next 10 points to win 11-7. The 4th was nip and tuck up to 6 all before Ian put together a sting of great rallies to lead 10-6. A spirited fight back from Justin got him to 8-10 but Ian managed to close it our 11-8 and give Ontario a valuable 1-0 lead.
Freddie Reid was on next and after scraping the first 14-12, proceeded to lose the next 2 11-8 and 11-8. Some words of wisdom from team mates Matt Seridiak and Ian Power got him back on course and he won the next 2 games 11-6 and 11-8 to put the host province through to the final.
Despite it being a dead rubber, the number 2’s had their national rankings to think about! Matt Serediak, ranked 17 took a 2-0 lead against Dave Glass, ranked 14. A tight 3rd saw Matt have a match ball at 11-10 but Dave was not going down without a fight and clinched the game 13-11. Matt steadied the ship and won the 4th 11-7 to give Ontario a clean sheet.
On the adjacent court, Alberta, the 2 seeds, were battling it out with Quebec (4th seeds). All the games were well contested, and despite a 3-0 win for Alberta, the match could have gone either way. Grayson Wicher of Alberta beat Maxim Blouin 13-15 in the 4th to give the top seeds the lead. Andrew Schnell, the top ranked player in the tournament , shared the first 2 games with David Phillips of Quebec before running out 3-1 winner. With the match already won, brother Graeme emulated his brother, winning in 4.
In the play off positions, Ontario 2 beat Nova Scotia and British Columbia beat Prince Edward Island. The 2 winners will be playing off for 5th place.
So the perfect setting is set for the home province! The final against Alberta will be at 12:30pm local time.
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