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ISDA LI,NY Canadian Weekend Wrapup
By Rob Dinerman, Apr 16, 2007    
Squashtalk Independent News; © 2007 SquashTalk LLC

Waite/Mudge Capture Season-Ending Creek Challenge Cup 

Dulmage/Dimauro Defend Canadian Mixed Title

While a daylong torrential rainstorm mercilessly pelted the entire Long Island region, Gary Waite and Damien Mudge, finally fully healthy after battling physical issues during much of the 2006-07 ISDA tour, restored a sense of order at the James Keresey Center at the Creek Club in Locust Valley this afternoon by winning the sixth annual Creek Challenge Cup for the fourth consecutive year and the fifth time overall. Trailing Chris Walker and Viktor Berg (their semifinal conquerors three weeks ago in Denver) 7-1 in the opening game, Waite and Mudge responded with a 14-1 explosion that keyed their eventual 15-8 9-15 15-9 15-10 victory and netted them their fourth title (one behind the five compiled by Ben Gould and Paul Price) of this 11-ranking-event campaign.

In marked contrast to the way Waite and Mudge have dominated the tour in past years (going undefeated wire to wire three times in the early-2000’s, including as recently as 2004-05), this season has seen a far more pronounced spreading of  the wealth: the prior four ISDA tourneys before this season-ending Creek event had been won by four different teams. Gould and Price triumphed at the Briggs Cup in Rye, as did Waite and Mudge in Brooklyn, Walker and Berg in Denver and John Russell and Preston Quick at the U. S. Nationals in Philadelphia. These four pairings were joined by Clive Leach and Scott Butcher as multiple-time finalists this season and each member of this elite quintet experienced a quarterfinal elimination at least once along the six-month-plus way.

Today’s final represented a rematch of the ’06 Creek Challenge Cup final, though that one-sided match essentially ended before it even began when Walker incurred a fluke but deeply constraining thumb injury while he and Berg were fooling around with a bowling-ball on Saturday evening. Berg actually nearly reprised this unfortunate misadventure when he cut his hand near the webbing on the sharp edges of a can of tuna last Tuesday and required six stitches, but he was fine by the time the tournament began, though he and Walker tinned far too frequently in the final, possibly in reaction to the mentally and physically draining effects of their double-match-ball saving efforts one round earlier, when they rallied from 12-14 to edge Gould and Willie Hosey 17-15 Saturday evening.

By contrast, Waite and Mudge had assumed full control of their semifinal against Leach and Butcher (five-game quarterfinal winners over Matt Jensen and Jeff Mulligan), leading 2-0, 9-4 prior to Butcher spraining his ankle and having to default. Injuries to a number of top players --- including Price (back), Jamie Bentley (elbow), Mudge (shoulder), Waite (ribs) and now Butcher --- have defined the last few events of this year’s tour, and perhaps it is not such a bad thing that the offseason (which was moved up a few weeks when the San Francisco tour stop, scheduled for late April, was recently cancelled) is now about to begin.

Canadian Mixed: Dulmage/Dimauro Prevail

Emulating Waite and Mudge in a successful title defense this weekend were Scott Dulmage and Jessica Dimauro, who repeated their ’06 drive to the Canadian Mixed Doubles trophy in Toronto, again at the final-round expense of James and Stephanie Hewitt. Both Dulmage and Dimauro were defeated in their respective Canadian Nationals finals last month with (Dulmage and Richard Thomson losing in the Men’s event to Scott Stoneburgh and Morris Clothier and Diamuro with Alicia McConnell being edged out by Hewitt and Narelle Krizek in the Women’s) and neither wanted to leave anything to chance this time around. Unlike last year’s final, which went a competitive four games, this match went the three-game minimum, with Dulmage finishing many points with his accurate shot-making and Dimauro providing the athleticism and fitness that define her game.

Lindsey Hermer Bell and Taylor Fawcett were awarded an injury default in their 40’s final with Pat Richardson and Leslie Freeman, while Lolly Gillen and Jay Gillespie out-played defending champs Victor Harding and Jane Mitchell 3-1 in the 50’s final and Molson Robertson and Anne Smith did the same in their 55’s final-round win over Tony Ross and Sue Darracott.

Creek Challenge Cup Recap

Qtrs:
Gary Waite/Damien Mudge d Michael Pirnak/Tyler Millard, 3-1;
Scott Butcher/Clive Leach d Matt Jensen/Jeff Mulligan, 3-2;
Chris Walker/Viktor Berg d John Russell/Preston Quick, 3-1;
Willie Hosey/Ben Gould d Joe Pentland/Mark Price, 3-0.

Semis:
Waite/Mudge d Butcher/Leach, 3-2, 9-4, def. (Butcher inj);
Walker/Berg d Hosey/Gould, 3-2.

Final:
Waite/Mudge d Walker/Berg, 3-1.

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