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Investors Group Season Opener kicks off tournament squash campaign at Racquet Club

In Yellowknife sport, there are certain athletes and teams you can always count on to be at or near the top.

Devin Madsen is becoming that person in squash.

Carter Robertson gets set to play a shot off the window during the juniors final of the Investors Group Season Opener squash tournament at the Racquet Club on Oct. 13.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo

Madsen started the tournament season at the Racquet Club the same way he finished the last – beating Garrett Hinchey in a final. This time, it was the top division final of the Investors Group Season Opener three sets to one.

Madsen said as the year goes on, the rivalry between Hinchey and him will certainly heat up, but he's glad to see Hinchey wanting to do better.

“He's been picking up his fitness and doing some yoga and I'm excited to see him picking up his game,” Madsen said.

Madsen won the first two sets of the Oct. 13 match but Hinchey pulled up his socks to win the third and keep his hopes alive. Madsen then took the fourth in short order and nailed down the win.

“My fitness came through in that fourth set,” said Madsen. “Garrett put a lot into that third set and I could tell he was hurting a bit from it.”

Madsen seems to have taken over from Ozzie Vallejos, the club's former head squash pro, as the go-to guy for tournament wins. He gave credit to Vallejos for helping him pick up his own game.

As much as he enjoys winning, Madsen said it's tough to take something away that he can improve on.

“When Ozzie was here, he was beating me all the time and so I just learned from the mistakes I made playing him,” he said. “When you're winning, you try and take something from it, but you don't see the mistakes when you're winning.”

Madsen has his sights set on making the trip down south to play in the Canadian Squash Championships in Calgary this coming May.

Vallejos now calls Calgary home, so Madsen is looking forward to the possibility of playing his old nemesis.

“It would be cool to play Ozzie at some point,” he said. “No idea how the draw would play out but if we got drawn together, that would be a fun match.”

In other action, Walker Redshaw downed Nathan Cluff to win the men's B division while Ben Bruser defeated Shad MacLeod for the men's C title. The men's D division crown went to Paul Creaven thanks to his win over Yves-Andre Leblanc in the final.

The women's A division champion this year is India Andrews. She beat Raph Poulin in the final. Donna Keats claimed the B division title with a win over Gale Payne while Sara Ibey downed Celine Theriault for the C/D division win.

In the juniors Joe Depew came out on top after defeating Carter Robertson in the final.

Tournament results

Open/A

1st- Devin Madsen

2nd- Garrett Hinchey

3rd- Melina Turk

Women’s A

1st- India Edwards

2nd- Raph Poulin

3rd- Jenn Lukas

Women’s B

1st- Donna Keats

2nd- Gale Payne

3rd- Olivia Talen

Women’s C/D

1st- Sara Ibey

2nd- Celine Theriault

3rd- Jessica VanOverbeek

Men’s B

1st- Walker Redshaw

2nd- Nathan Cluff

3rd- Luke Macdonald

Men’s C

1st- Ben Bruser

2nd- Shad Macleod

3rd- Jake Roche

Men’s D

1st- Paul Creaven

2nd - Yves-Andre Leblanc

3rd- Colton Robertson

Junior

1st- Joe Depew

2nd - Carter Robertson

3rd- Loic Hipfner

source: Racquet Club