Canadian Men's Team Named for August World Juniors
by Danny Da Costa

May 21, 2014 - The four members of the Canadian Junior Men’s Team have been announced, following the final selection trials this past weekend in Winnipeg. The team will represent Canada at the upcoming 2014 World Junior Squash Championships in Namibia this summer.

David Baillargeon of Quebec, 18, and Toronto’s Carter Robitaille, 16, earned automatic berths onto the team following the 2014 Canadian Junior Squash Championships and their points gained throughout the two-year selection process. The remaining two spots were to be determined at the National Team Selection trials, with the top two finishers being named to the team. Michael Thompson, 18, from Vancouver and Jarryd Osborne, 18, from Kingston earned their way onto the team finishing first and second respectively in the selection trial.  The alternate is Michael Mehl of Calgary, Alberta who finished in 3rd place at the National selection trials. 

The Canadian Team will be coached by Jonathan Hill of Calgary, who lead our Junior Men’s team to a bronze medal, our highest ever finish, at the 2010 event in Colombia.

The World Junior Squash Championships will take place in Windhoek, Namibia from August 10-21, 2014.

More about Team Canada:

David Baillargeon, 18, from St-Nicolas, QC is the 2014 Canadian Junior Champion in the U19 division, and also finished 8th in the Men’s Open division at the 2014 Lexus of Edmonton Canadian Squash Championships.

Jarryd Osborne, 18, of Kingston, ON is the youngest of 3 Osborne brothers, and was the Bronze medalist at the 2014 Canadian Junior Championships. Oldest brother Tyler was a member of the 2010 team who finished 3rd at Worlds.

Carter Robitaille, 16, of Toronto, ON is the 5-time Canadian Champion, winning two U13 titles, one U15, and is the two-time defending Champion of the U17 division.
 
Michael Thompson, 18, of Vancouver, BC also has a U17 and U15 Canadian title to his name. He currently plays varsity squash for Drexel University.

Thompson and Osborne Added to World Junior Men’s Team after Trials in Winnipeg

This past weekend saw eight of our top junior men travel from across the country to compete in the World Junior Men’s Canadian Team Trials at the Winnipeg Squash Racquets Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The trials consisted of a straight-knock out draw format, with the top two finishers qualifying for the Canadian team set to compete at the World Junior Men’s Team Championships in Namibia this summer. David Baillargeon of Quebec and Carter Robitaille of Toronto already earned spots on the team based on a selection process throughout the past two competitive squash seasons.

The competition began Friday evening with excellent first round matches and even some impressive upsets. Matthew Henderson, 17, of Victoria and Michael Mehl, 15, of Calgary were both given wildcard exemptions to participate in the event, and proved they deserved to be included in the elite group with first round upsets. Mehl defeated 3/4 seed Matthew Toth of Richmond 3-2, and Henderson took out second-seeded Alexi Gosset of Toronto 3-1.

Mehl and Henderson both dropped their semi-final matches to Vancouver’s Michael Thompson and Kingston’s Jarryd Osborne, respectively. This set up a 3rd place face-off between the two to determine the team’s alternate. Mehl won the match 3-0 to complete his impressive weekend and earn the reserve position.

Michael Thompson went on to win the event, defeating Jarryd Osborne 3-1 in Sunday’s final. With this finish, Thompson and Osborne join Baillargeon and Robitaille to form Team Canada who will compete at the 2014 World Junior Men’s Team Championships. The team will be coached by Jonathan Hill of Calgary. 






Back To Main