Buchanan’s Back But For How Long?

In the recently held UPEI Invitational Squash tournament, Mike Buchanan
(aka Mr. B) emerged as the winner over Lester Jinks (aka Lester) after a
hard fought 5 gamer.  The timing is coincidental I’m sure that he be
crowned the winner so close to his idol Justin Timberlake being crowned
as one of People Magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive list however, unfortunately
for Mr. B, his victory celebration was cut short and overshadowed with
controversy by remarks Buchanan made to the Squash PEI body following his
match.  Mr. Buchanan was classy and honourable in thanking tournament
organizers, fellow competitors, and his final opponent during his
acceptance speech but then he opened a hearing on himself after inviting
everyone in attendance to Mill River for the next tournament stating
that this is the year that fellow arch rival and former coach Scott
Gamble will terminate his reign as 10 year defending champion.
Investigators are working on this case and it is being viewed as a
possible case of “False Advertising” to which a full investigation is
being undertaken to consider the fact that Buchanan may be working with
the organizing committee of the tournament and is using this as a
marketing draw for the event.

In speaking with Mr. Gamble on the issue he had this to say “I’d be
lieing if I said that the comments didn’t surprise me.  Mikey B is a
class act and a thrill to compete against and to have him taint such a
respectable sport like this is nothing less than shocking.”  Gamble also
noted that although he’d love to extend his winning record on his home
court, he may consider sitting this one out to avoid any bad media and
distractions for his fellow companion.  ”Mike is fighting hard after his
early season injury, and I’d hate for this to set him back mentally”
said Gamble. “I don’t think the kid knows what kind of fuel he’s just
thrown on the fire” he added.  Mr. Buchanan was unavailable for comment
at the time of the story.

Now as we head into the Christmas season, both competitors along with
many others will intensify training efforts and try to focus on the game
ahead.  Both Gamble and Buchanan are anxiously awaiting the arrival and
opportunity to play/train with Peter T. Webb as he is scheduled to
appear on the home courts of Mill River (pending approval) in the coming
weeks after answering the call to the West.

The Journalist

Canada Games Slide Show

Thanks to Judy Hansen:

Did You Know? #2 (by DWL)

A measure of how bouncy a ball is, is the ratio (R) of the maximum height to which  a ball bounces to that from which it is initially dropped. According to the specifications for a “double yellow” squash ball, R=0.12 @ 23 degrees C (cold ball, i.e. room temperature), and 0.26-0.33 @ 45 degrees C (hot ball), when dropped from an initial height of 100 inches (254 cm). Basically, what this means is that a cold ball loses all but 12% of its kinetic energy (energy of motion) when it strikes the floor (this is also a good approximation as to how much energy is lost when the ball strikes a wall) . No wonder it is generally best to hit the ball before it strikes the back wall….the loss of kinetic energy means the ball will not bounce out very far!

The lost kinetic energy is mostly due to a production of thermal energy (heat) which warms up the ball (and the contacted floor, wall or racket). As the ball warms up, the rubber material of the ball becomes more “pliable”. The more pliable the ball becomes, the less kinetic energy it loses while being squished (i.e. deformation while striking a wall, floor, etc.). This is why R increases with temperature!

A “blue dot” ball, which is recommended for beginner players, is designed to be more bouncy(R=0.17 for a cold ball, and R=0.38 for a hot ball). This translates into a significantly higher bounce for easier play.

A tennis ball by comparison is much more bouncy. Dropped from a height of 100 inches, a tennis ball will bounce to a height of 53-58 inches (i.e. R=0.53-0.58). I can recall (to my embarassment) an incident when I first started playing squash. At the time, I was also playing tennis. So, one day, after playing squash, I went out onto a tennis court. I leaned over to bounce the tennis ball in preparation to serve. Not being used to the extra bounciness of the tennis ball, I threw down the ball with such force that it bounced up and hit me in the head!

It should be noted that, regardless of the ball temperature, the faster the ball is traveling when it strikes the floor, wall etc., the more it squishes, and hence the larger the fraction of kinetic energy lost (e.g. if a cold double yellow ball is dropped from 200 inches, the resulting measured R will be smaller than 0.12)

The fact that a pre-match warm up involves warming up the ball as well as the players is one of the unique features of squash as a racket sport.

Ready To Go!

The trails are lit, the ice is froze, the toboggan hill is slick, the hot tub is steamy, oh yeah and the squash courts are cleaned and ready for action this weekend in Mill River.  We are anxious to open our doors and have everyone in for the Mill River Invitational again this year.  With a 62 participant draw including a handful of mainlanders it should prove to be a great weekend of squash and winter excitement.  We also get the chance to inspire our juniors and maybe even learn a little from them as they go into their final preperations for Canada Games.  The social is planned for Saturday night in the lounge starring Dwayne Doiron but bring your instruments and your voices because there will be an open mike opportunity for those who have talents other than with a squash racquet.  That’s all for now, see you on the weekend.  Good luck and play safe.

Scotty G

Junior Atlantics in Halifax

PEI was well represented at this year’s Junior Atlantic Squash Championships in Halifax last weekend (Jan. 12-14); we had our entire Canada Games Squad playing as well as 3 of  Kenny’s Junior Development crew. PEI represented 11 of 48 participants, not bad for a small province. And we did great!!!!!!!!!!!! All of our CG squad came home with medals……..so did 2 of Kenny’s juniors – and the only one who got shut out played extremely well but lost out to two girls who are going to Whitehorse.

Results

Boys U19 Silver 3rd  – Greg McQuaid

Boys U17 Silver 1st – Chris Quinn / 3rd Greg McQuaid

Boys U17 Bronze 1st – Matt McNeil / 3rd Alex Quinn

Girls U19 Gold 1st – Steph Charlton / 3rd Hilary Hansen

Girls U17 Gold  3rd Danielle MacDonald

Girls U15 Gold 2nd – Whitney MacDonald

Girls U19 Gold 2nd Elizabeth MacKenna / 3rd Grace Sullivan

Honorable mention goes to Kellie McQuaid who battled hard but lost out on a medal to Daria from NFLD who will be going to Whitehorse.

Overall, the weekend was a huge success. We travelled as a team and stayed together at the Holiday Inn. We had a lot of laughs, a few scraps, and learned some valuable lessons (like, if you’re the one with the boys on the way home, there are better choices for lunch than Taco Bell!!). Also, if you have to fly to Whitehorse, watching “Snakes on a Plane” is not a good choice. Pillows are softer than oranges if you get hit in the head with one. Cinnamon Altoids are the best! And even though Alex can pick out a Hummer / Volvo / Audi / Beamer across two lanes of traffic in the mist, from the back seat,  he couldn’t recognize the Borden Police right before they decided we were going just a tad too fast for PEI (my foot was still on the toll highway where limit is 110kmh but the Honda was in Borden where 90 is acceptable!)………………. Despite our one small set back (and the carry over from Taco Bell) , it was an awesome trip. We have 8 great athletes going to Whitehorse and I’m proud to be associated with them. They were great ambassadors for PEI all weekend and will keep Squashpei on its toes for years to come!!

Michele

Safe Return

Good morning all.  We are all safely back in good ole PEI with minor aches and pains.  Yesterday we were able to defeat NWT for the finishing position of 9th.  Mikey B started slow but regained control of his match to go on and win 3-0 against a protege of former islander Spider Jones.  Scott pressed on in the second match to secure the victory for Team PEI by defeating Brooke Harker with a 3-0 score.  Peter Webb rounded out the tournament with a casual and very entertaining match against the NWT alternate Spider Jones.  In fact the officials were so taken back by on court antics and crowd support/slanderizing for Webb that they too were having difficulty following what was the purpose of the match.  In the end the Spider owned the Webb, gracefully shook his hand and wished everyone back in PEI a big hello.  Final standings from the top down were 1. PQ  2. AB  3. ON 1  4. MN  5. SK  6. NS  7. BC  8. ON2  9. PEI  10. NWT

 Overall the weekend was a success of what we set out to accomplish.  We were not embarrassed by any performances on court, met some new faces, and replayed some old matches with old friends.  Next for the boys is a couple days of rest before final preparations for Mill River.  Hope to see you all there.

from the desk of Scotty G

Day 2 in Niagra

Afternoon all.  Well after a couple bottles of white out and a bit of an upset we found ourselves facing off this morning against BC.  We were pumped last night when the draw showed NS as our opponent and they were relieved to see it changed back to BC later on. 

Peter was up first today, well on court anyway. He was inspired with the hometown support of the now legendary Parker Horton. He entered the court with some oldschool type shenanigans in his pocket and a vintage T shirt that only Mike Reid could appreciate.  Peter fought hard and long only to come up short with a 9-7 loss.  He was playing more aggresive and more consistant than ever seen back home.  The next two games were also an avid fight but both were lost with scores 9-4 a piece. 

 Scott was up next against a unorthodox type character who clearly  outclassed him and ran the odometer up on his court shoes.  Although Scott put up a heck of a battle, his formidable opponent ran away with the match like a hobo with a sweet potato pie. 

Mike’s match was clearly the sharpest preformance of the set.  His opponent was running everywhere to retrieve shots, unfortunatly Mike ran out of steam after the 2nd game.  The highlight was Mike hitting three crosscourt volley drops, dead nick.  That got us fired up, with cheering and hollaring, and all the other teams watching were rooting us on.

Cleary Team PEI has established a strong fan base from other provinces, some teams have even painted Go PEI Go on their cheeks.  Tomorrow we play NWT, coached by infamous Spider Jones, we’ll make him wish he hadn’t left the Island.  Thanks for the support from home and party on.

Boys in action

Live from Niagara Mikey B vs Jamie Nichols

Team Update

Well everybody will be happy to know that we arrived safely and soberly.  We settled in to our room and put Mike to bed without much crying for his mom.  Peter took an extra couple of minutes to look after his “hair care” and Scott spent some quality time with his personal chauffer Aunt Jo and Uncle Hughie.  Thanks to them for their support this weekend. 

 So here we are after a morning of fine dining, consisting of nutritious granola for Scott and Peter, toast for Mike, though we pomously sent our breakfast back repeatedly until they got it right.  By then we were ready to hit the courts.  We were up against a formidable opponent, Ontario 2.  Mike got us rolling with an inspiring match to watch, although he lost in four games 10-9, 9-1(rest game), 7-9, 10-9.  Obviously it could have gone either way, but unfortunately the bad guys came out on top.  Scott stepped up next and although the rallies were lengthy and close all through, he lost in three 9-7, 9-3, 9-6.  Peter’s match was unfortunatly not so inspiring, the phrase ‘uglier than a bachelor party in a hog lagoon, was over heard during the match, evidently the match was a quickie, 27-5. 

 So our afternoon will consist of rebuilding our carbs and stretching out any kinks that may arise.  With some marquee matches on tap for later this afternoon we’ll be studying our next opponent which will be the loser of Ontario #1 (seeded 5) and BC (seeded 4).  So tomorrow at 10 am we will have the war paint on and the yogurt and granola more digested than this morning.  Realistically we will be hacking for all we’re worth tomorrow in hopes for a top 8 finish.  Mike and Scott will be doing they’re best to keep Peter out of some philisophical rampage with our next opponents and so far no cops have been needed to be contacted.  Keep your cell phone on Dad, it’s still early.  We’ll keep you posted tomorrow on the evening events and morning results.  Until tomorrow, we remain, the province who always has a good time.

New Year’s Update

Happy New Year’s all.  Just a quick note to let everybody know that the men and Mike of Mill River have survived another glutinous holiday season.  As our departure date for Men’s Team Championships grows closer Mike, Peter and myself continue to push ourselves along to prepare for our big road trip.  You’ll be glad to know that after a full week of turkey and gravy that we should all have enough grease to keep all joints from ceasing up.  I’d also like to extend thanks to the West Prince Sports Council who gave me word today that they will be sponsoring us with $450.  We are getting excited now and will keep you updated on our progress during the tourny.  That’s all for now and don’t forget to book your rooms for the Mill River tournament which is right around the corner Jan. 18-21.  Hope to see you there.

Scotty G