The 5th Annual Ontario VNEA Junior Provincial 8-Ball Championships were held in North Bay at Partners Billiards and Bowling on July 20-22, 2007.

Players competed from across the province in two divisions, Minor & Youth, with titles up for grabs in both singles and team formats. Charter Holders represented were North Bay’s Partners Pool Leagues who were the hosts for this event, G & G Enterprises from London and Town & Country Amusements of Windsor.   


Youth Singles:

Sal Doxtator of London had one loss and eight wins on his way to becoming the Junior Youth Singles champion, defending his title from 2006. In the final, Doxtator defeated fellow London player Chase Richardson 2 games to 1 in both sets to take the title. Doxtator opened the day with wins over North Bay’s Kayla Dufresne and Ian Dugas, Tyler Bechard of Windsor. In his next outing he lost to Richardson sending him to the loser’s side of the bracket. Once there, Doxtator earned a spot in the final by defeating Bradi Lacasse of North Bay, 4th place finisher Tevin Scott of Windsor and 3rd place finisher Stuart McTaggart of London.


Minor Singles:

North Bay’s Derick Girard captured 1st place in the Minor Singles Division. Girard’s road to victory was an easy one as he opened the day with a win over Curtis Van Laecke of London then defeated Doug Allan of North Bay. Girard’s next outing he defeated the International Artistic Pool Champion Alex Verbeek of London and Lusky Doxtator also of London. He advanced to the final by defeating eventual third place finisher Mike Sarazin.
 
Coming from the losers side of the bracket to face Girard in the final was Pahdahsung Shognosh of London. Girard only needed the first set to capture the championship with a 2-0 win.

Finishing in 4th spot was Pat Rockburn of London.

Youth Team Division:

Silver Bullets of London with players Chase Richardson, Stuart MacTaggart and David Boyer started their run to the finals by defeating Windsor’s Bad Boys. From there they continued their winning streak by defeating Terminators of North Bay, Trouble Shooters of Windsor and North Bay’s Froot Loops to advance to the final.

The championship final saw a rematch with Silver Bullets and Froot Loops with players Kayla Dufresne, Ronnie Benard and Bradi Lacsse. It took Silver Bullets just one set to claim the Youth Division Championship by defeating the Froot Loops. To get a chance at the final, Froot Loops had wins over PTR Slick Shots of North Bay, Windsor’s Misfits and Trouble Shooters who finished in third place. Fourth place finisher was Terminators of North Bay.

Minor Team Division:

Excaliber of North Bay, with players Derick Girard, Bobby Gustafson and Steven Theriault were the victors in the Minor Division. They went through the tournament without a loss until the final. In their opening game they defeated Rack Em Up of London. They then had wins over two other London teams, Alpha Cue and third place finishers Oneida Hustlers to advance to the final.

The Hookers from London with players Curtis Van Laecke, Pahdahsung Shognosh and Alex Verbeen also earned a spot in the final. They opened the tournament with a win over Tornados of North Bay. Next they faced Oneida Hustlers who gave them their first loss and sent them to the loser’s side of the bracket. The Hookers rebounded to defeat Rack Em up, 3 Amigo’s of Windsor and in the quarter final had revenge and defeated third place finishers Odeida Hustlers. Finishing in fourth was the 3 Amigo’s.

The final was an exciting game with The Hookers winning the first set to force a second and deciding game. After the three rounds of play the game was tied forcing an overtime sudden death round. Excaliber wasted little time winning the overtime round to capture the championship. Finishing in fourth was the 3 Amigo’s.