David Deschenes (TD), Danny Hewitt and Yan Ialande (TD)
Like everybody else, Canada’s Danny Hewitt’s been on a bit of a hiatus from the pool tables. Last ‘seen’ on the roster of Turning Stone XXXIII back in January, when he finished in the eight-way tie for 17th place, Hewitt returned to the tables on Sunday, September 20 at the debut stop on the 2020 Predator Quebec Pro Am Tour. Hewitt went undefeated through a field of 16 entrants at the $1,300-added event which was hosted by Billard-Lounge L’Abasie in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada. The field of 16 was populated by eight of the top-ranked Canadian players, combined with four players each from two qualifying tournaments held the day before at separate locations.
Hewitt opened his undefeated campaign with a 7-1 victory over Rene Brind’Amour and followed it with a 7-5 win over Vincent Beaurivage. This set Hewitt up in a winners’ side semifinal match against Martin Daigle. In the meantime, Sylvain Gringas got by Harold Rousseau 7-2 and Tommy Cayer, double hill, to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal match against Tom Théiault.
Hewitt sent Daigle to the loss side 7-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Gingras, who’d defeated Thériault 7-5. Hewitt and Gingras battled to double hill before Hewitt prevailed to wait in the hot seat for what turned out to be the return of Francis Crevier.
Crevier, who’d won his opening match 7-5 over Jonathan Gavreau, was sent to the loss side by Thériault in a winners’ side quarterfinal. On the loss side, he downed Brind’Amour and Cayer, both 7-4 to draw Daigle. Thériault picked up Alain Martel, who’d lost his opening match to Cayer and was in the midst of a three-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to come to an end. He’d recently eliminated Sebastien Laramée 7-3 and Beaurivage 7-5.
Thériault and Crevier earned their rematch. Thériault survived a double hill match versus Martel. Crevier came within a game of double hill against Daigle, but prevailed 7-5. Crevier had a successful rematch against Thériault, eliminating him 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Crevier completed his five-match, loss-side winning streak with a 7-4 victory over Gingras in the semifinals. Hewitt, though, apparently unaffected by his wait in the hot seat, completed his five-match, winners’ side streak with a 7-5 win over Crevier that earned him the debut event title.
Tour owners and directors David Blanchett, David Deschenes and Yan Ialande thanked the ownership and staff at Billard-Lounge L’Abasie for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Arcos II Billiard Balls and Poison Cues. Stop #2 on the 2020 Predator Quebec Pro Am Tour, scheduled for this Saturday, Sept. 26, will be hosted by Dooly’s in St. Hyacinthe, about 33 miles east of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Nicolas Charette, TJs manager Steve Claude and Jeremy Sossei
Mike Zuglan’s Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off their 2018-1019 season at TJ’s Classic Billiards on September 22nd – 23rd for “The Maine Event XXII”, and this event came down to a Joss Tour veteran against a player in their first ever regular season Joss Tour stop.
The veteran player was Jeremy Sossei, winner of over sixteen Joss Tour titles, who has been winning tour stops for over 10 years. Sossei has been away from the game for most of this year, with a win at the NE 9-Ball Open XXX back in February as his only appearance on the AzBilliards money list. Sossei has been spending his time on a new business that he opened, but hopes to be getting out to regularly compete again very soon.
The newcomer was Quebec’s Nicolas Charette, who got his Joss Tour feet wet at the Turning Stone Classic XXIX, but was in Waterville Maine for his first regular tour stop. Charette credited his appearance on this weekend to his love for the game. “I just enjoy playing tournaments, competing, traveling, experiencing different conditions. But really, I love the game” he said.
The first meeting between Sossei and Charette went to the veteran 9-7 and he waited to see who he would play in the finals. Charette would face off against fellow countryman Tom Theriault in the semi-finals, but he would score a quick 7-3 win to earn another shot at Sossei in the finals.
Anyone expecting another close match between these two competitors was shocked to see the Canadian cueman score a decisive 9-2 win over Sossei in the first set of the finals. With the players now tied at one set each, a third set was played to determine a winner and Sossei pulled out a tight 7-5 win for Joss Tour Stop title #17.
Nine players came back on Sunday to compete in the second chance tournament where Dan Couture defeated Steve Reynolds two sets out of three for first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball tour will be back in action on October 6th – 7th for the Hudson Valley Fall Classic at The Spot in Nanuet, New York.
Mike Zuglan kicked off the 21st season of the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour on September 23rd and 24th, with a field of 38 players competing in The Maine Event XI at TJ’s Classic Billiards in Waterville Maine. The tournament would come down to Nelson Oliveira winning by the narrowest of margins over Canadian Tom Theriault.
Oliveira and Theriault were two of the players to emerge from Saturday matches undefeated, joined by Samoth Sam and Cody Francis. Sunday morning winner’s side matches saw Francis sneak by Sam 9-8, and Oliveira send Theriault to the one loss side by a 9-7 margin. Oliveira would then go on to defeat Francis 9-8 for the hot-seat.
On the one loss side, both Sam and Theriault would bounce back from their earlier losses, with Sam eliminating Xavier Libby 9-2 and Theriault eliminating Matt Tetreault 9-7. Theriault would then go on to defeat Sam 9-1 and then Cody Francis 9-3, to earn a rematch with Oliveira in the finals.
With the 9-7 scoreline in their earlier match, the finals were expected to be close, and they definitely were. Theriault ended Oliveira’s unbeaten streak 9-8 in the first set of the finals, and then Oliveira came back to defeat Theriault 9-8 in the second set for first place.
The end of Sunday's 16 player second chance tournament looked very similar to the end of the main event with Ross Webster defeating Joe Darigis 3-2 for the hot-seat and then Darigis coming back to force a second set of the finals 3-1 before Webster scored a 3-2 win in the second set of the finals.
Although he finished one out of the money in 9th place, Jordan Labbe was the winner of the $1200 custom Joss Cue at this event.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action on Sept 30th and October 1st at The Hudson Valley Fall Classic, held at The Spot Billiards Cafe in Nanuet, NY.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off their 2016-2017 season on September 24th – 25th at the same place and the same way it has kicked off the past nine seasons. Since 2007, the tour has held their first event of the year at TJ’s Classic Billiards in Waterville, Maine. Considering that TJ’s is the homeroom for Mike Dechaine, it will come as no surprise that he has won the season opener on the tour every year since 2011.
This year, Dechaine held off a field of 52 other players to notch win #6. Dechaine beat Canadian Tom Theriault 9-7 for the hot-seat, in a match that saw Theriault miss a relatively easy shot that would have allowed him to get to hill-hill against Dechaine.
Theriault made quick work of Corey Payer in the semi-final match, where he posted a 9-2 win to send Payer home in third place.
Dechaine’s win in the first set of the double elimination finals was a much more comfortable one, with him defeating Theriault by a 9-5 scoreline.
Sunday saw 22 players come back for the $500 added second chance event, where Jeff Mosimann came back from the one loss side to defeat Cleiton Rocha twice in the finals. Rocha defeated Jordan Labbe 3-2 for the hot-seat, but Mosimann then eliminated Labbe 3-1, before defeating Rocha 3-2 and 3-0 in the finals.
The lucky winner of the raffle for the $1500 custom Joss cue was local player CJ Farnum.
The Joss NE 9-Ball tour will continue their new season at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester, NY on October 1st and 2nd. Tour director Mike Zuglan pointed out that January’s Turning Stone Classic XXVII is filling fast and will undoubtedly fill up again. Players should contact Zuglan at 518-356-7163 to lock up their place in the event.
