麻豆社区

The league's top team in the regular season prevailed in the Div. 1 squash final last night 鈥� but not by much.

Assante edged Outside the Cube 15-14 in a closely-contested championship match at Better Bodies in Whitehorse.

Outside the Cube's Chris Toleman beat Doug Thorseth 3-1 in the first match, but the lost game 鈥� a 15-9 win by Thorseth to open play 鈥� came back to bite Toleman.

"I was the only guy to win that extra game,鈥� Thorseth admitted. "That was the very first game of the night, and I felt if I was going to take any game against Chris, it would be the first, because that's when I would have the stamina. He's such a master technician and shot maker that, well, I just got lucky.鈥�

Assante's Mark Tubman went on to beat Phil Jackson 3-0 in the second match, before teammate Chris Ziegler lost to Taylor Love 3-0 in the third match of the night.

Down 13-8 in the second match, Love fought back to win 23-21 in extra points.

Gabriel Stetkiewicz would finish Outside the Cube off with a 3-0 shutout of substitute Jim Gilpin. Gilpin was in to replace Outside the Cube regular Michael Tilbrook, who was on holidays.

"They picked up one more game than us,鈥� Toleman said of the difference between the two teams. "Last night, unfortunately they just won one more game than us 鈥� and even worse, it was against me. They were the top team after the regular season, and they justly deserved to win.鈥�

Thorseth said winning the championship was a cherry on top of a season that included great camaraderie between teammates and opponents and a great cardio workout.

"That's what I love about this sport,鈥� he said.

Squash pro Khoon Chua said if the two teams would have tied, the league would have had to count every single point scored in the four games to determine the winner.

For top-ranked Assante player Mark Tubman, the championship marks his first title in more than 15 years of league play.

"I'm pretty pleased with the win,鈥� he said. "All the guys were a little pumped. We're all competitive and nobody likes to lose.

"Previously, my teams have come out on top during the regular season, only to come up short in the playoffs 鈥� the curse of first. This year we broke it.鈥�

Tubman said without Thorseth's single match win over Toleman, Assante would have dropped the contest. Prior to Stetkiewicz's matchup versus Gilpin, Assante was down 22 total points.

"Turns out Gabe was intent on winning and he put in a very convincing win against Jim,鈥� said Tubman. "Certainly it was key for Gabe to win, (but) that first game was the difference maker.鈥�

Assante finished the regular season in first with 317 total points, but Outside the Cube was close behind with 307.

In last night's third-place game, Yukon Tree Services hammered Pizza Hut 24-8.

Kevin Daffe beat Lori Muir three straight, Grayson Peters won over Tyler Nesgaard 3-1, Ben Gelinas beat substitute player Kealan Campbell 3-1 and Ian Ruitenberg edged Stephen Buckler 3-2 to complete the four-game sweep.

Toleman, Squash Yukon's president, said more than 100 players participate in regular season play between the two divisions.

"I think looking at figures across Canada, the percentages of players from the population are quite healthy,鈥� he said.

"Every year, we get quite a few new people in league.鈥�

The Div. 2 finals go Thursday, with Sterling Insurance facing Yukon Brewing Company.

Yukon Brewing topped the Div. 2 regular season standings with 297 points, while Sterling Insurance had 295.

Solstice Landscaping will battle The Electrical Shop in the third place game.

NOTES: Squash Yukon will host the Yukon Open from May 9 to 12, with players from the south invited to come north and participate.

The 2012 ladies open champion, Surrey B.C.'s Michele Garceau has confirmed her participation and will be defending her Yukon Open title. Garceau is the top U-17 female player in B.C. and finished third in the national junior championship last weekend in Vancouver.