 Jason Klatt |
The first major impact of the fourth stop on the Canadian 9-Ball Tour was made by the weatherman. The day before the Valleyfield tournament was scheduled to kick off, a severe snowstorm came through the southern Ontario and Quebec areas making the driving conditions treacherous at best. A number of players forfeited their matches electing to stay home and avoid the risky drive to Valleyfield. This list included the number 7 seed Jeff White along with John Jorgensen, Andrew Attard, Ted Guerreri, and Jason Holdaway.
With an elite field of competitors, play got underway at Luc Salvas' beautiful club in Valleyfield. Top seeds that were in attendance included John Morra from Toronto, Tyler Edey and Edwin Montal from Calgary, Winnipeg's Erik Hjorleifson and local favorites Alain Martel, Danny Hewitt and our congenial host, Luc Salvas.
Day one saw the top seeds advance through the opening rounds with little resistance. Host venue owner and unseeded Luc Salvas suffered a second round defeat at the hands of seasoned westerner, Stan Tourangeau. A very partisan crowd showed plenty of emotion in watching their local hero but in the end Tourangeau survived by a hard fought 9-7 score. Top seed John Morra had lost only three racks enroute to the third round on the unbeaten side. His opponent now would be Jason Klatt and this was the showcase match in round three. Both Morra and Klatt have an abundance of experience that belies their youthful ages. Even with Klatt being unseeded this match was a difficult one to predict. It started out with players exchanging racks before Klatt asserted himself to move into a comfortable lead at 7-4. Morra was not enjoying the best of rolls but his temperament has always been one of his strong suits. Some timely shot making brought Morra back to 6-7. Unfortunately for the former junior champion and number 1 seed Morra, his fightback ended here and Klatt ran home a 9-6 winner.
Round three also saw the number 2 seed Tyler Edey taste defeat at the hands of Phil Tourangeau. The lesser known of the pool playing Tourangeau brothers was making a big statement in this event with notable wins over Harold Rousseau and Ed Galati before summarily dismissing Edey to the losers bracket by a one sided scoreline of 9-2. In the Canadian Tour weekend, it is always about survival with only 12 players fighting to make the cut and live to play on Sunday. There are almost always some surprises coupled with the mainstays that make 9-ball the unpredictable and exciting sport that it is. A very high standard of play proved to be the prelude to the opening rounds of day 1.The biggest name to make an early exit was the event's number two seed Tyler Edey. After his loss to Phil Tourangeau on the winner's side he won a couple matches on the loser's side before running into Hamilton's Al Smart. Adjusting to a pool table's subtleties are always the key to a winning formula and Smart made the necessary transition to send Edey out of the event 9-7. Other players showing some great form and definitely ones to watch included the likes of Danny Hewitt, Adam Smith, Francis Crevier, and Stan Tourangeau, all of whom are coming back on the final day to make up the last four from the undefeated side. Also bringing their cues back for more action on Sunday from the one loss brackets are Alain Martel, Jason Klatt, John Morra, Phil Tourangeau, Erik Hjorleifson, Shannon Ducharme, Edwin Montal and Pascal Villeneuve.
For all the day one results and tournament brackets check the official website of the Canadian 9-Ball Tour at www.canadian9balltour.com
