2023 Sponsors

Title Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

 

Bronze Sponsors

The Cromwell/McConnell Family

 

Douglas Hoffberger and Beth Elser

 

Catherine and Slater Ottenritter

 

Rencourt Foundation

 

Bob and Arden Travers

 

Mary Jean & Oliver Travers

Sarah and Ned Walton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrons

Michael Ballo
Rick Berndt
Jon Cusson
Rob Deans III
Michael Dockman
Chris Feiss
Barrett Freedlander
Greg Hurlbrink
Dan Kallaugher
Steve Leary – American Business Forms
Orlando Springs
Lissen Tutrone

Baltimore to host Can-Am 2023

The 7th bi-annual Can-Am Cup is set for Oct. 27-29, 2023 at the Maryland Club in Baltimore, MD. Top-ranked teams from each age group compete for the prestigious honor. U.S. National Champions and #1 ranked players are automatically invited to participate. Contact U.S. Captain Mike McGorry with any questions. Selection criteria can be found here.

Canada wins 10th Anniversary Can-Am Cup

For the first time in its 10 year history, Canada won both the men’s and women’s trophies at the 2018 Can-Am Cup. The overall Can-Am win was cemented late Saturday afternoon, even before the start of Sunday’s mixed doubles matches.

The Can-Am was hosted entirely on the Toronto Cricket Skating & Curling Club’s 3 courts the weekend of October 26 – 28 with the generous support of Slaight Music and Ridley Windows & Doors. Canadian team members hailed from Vancouver, Calgary, London, Toronto and Montreal.  US players came from Portland Oregon, San Francisco, Denver, St. Louis, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore.

The weekend was initially shaping up to be a cliff-hanger.  At the end of Day 1 and 30 matches, the U.S. and Canada were perfectly tied with the men at 9 matches each and the women at 6.  Friday’s biggest surprise was the upset win by the #2 American open women’s team of Maria Elena Ubina & Katherine Tutrone (NYC) over Canada’s #1 pair Seanna Keating & Stephanie Hewitt (Toronto) 15-12, 9-15, 15-11, 8-15, 15-6. On the men’s side, the match of the day was the narrow win by the #1 US open pair Alex Domenick (NYC) & Will Hartigan (Boston) over Canada’s #2 team Fred Reid Jr. & Brian Hong (Toronto) 12-15, 15-9, 12-15, 15-11, 15-10.

The Saturday schedule of 30 matches began with the teams trading wins, albeit with the US women streaking ahead winning the first 4 matches while the Canadian men notched the equivalent number to stay square. Starting with the open matches mid-day, the Canadian women went on a dominating run of 4 consecutive 3-0 matches to pull back to even in the Women’s competition and go on to win the Gillen-Pierce Trophy for women’s play.

The men’s teams swapped wins as the day wore on and the score remained close. With 4 matches remaining, Canada was just a win away from locking up the sweep.  The US fought back taking the next 2 before the Canadian men’s 45s pairs of Scott Dulmage & Rich Thomson (Toronto) beat Ryan O’Connell (NYC) & Doug Hoffberger (Baltimore) 15-11, 15-8, 15-12. Next, Scott Stoneburgh & Eric Baldwin (Toronto) blanked Doug Lifford & Scott Poirier (Boston) 15-6, 15-9, 15-10 to close out the Men’s Bernheimer/Bell Trophy and secure the Can-Am Cup for Canada.

Day 2 highlight matches included the early morning Men’s 70 #1 match up of Dave Potter & Chris Wheeler (Toronto) edging John Brazilian (Boston) & Clark Amos (St. Louis) in a marathon 5 gamer 11-15, 15-12, 9-15, 15-14, 15-12. Shortly after that Dawn Gray (Philadelphia) & Amy Milanek (Philadelphia) snuck by Paula Jenkins (London) & Heather MacLean (Toronto) 15-12, 11-15, 15-11, 14-15, 15-12.

The Sunday Mixed Doubles pairings were announced at the Saturday dinner and although the Can-Am outcome was known, there was an opportunity for the US team to narrow the margin of victory to be reflected in the permanent record. In the end, Friday’s theme was restored and the matches were split 3-3.  The outstanding match of the day occurred when Canada stole the 50’s match as Paula Jenkins (London) & John Hall (Toronto) defeated Phoebe Trubowitz (Portland OR) & Ed Chilton (Wilmington) by the seemingly impossible score of 15-14, 15-14, 9-15, 11-15, 15-14.

A review of the 2018 Can-Am Cup would not be complete without recognizing the generous support of Slaight Music and Ridley Windows & Doors which made the weekend possible. Gary Slaight of Slaight Music and Jon LeHeup of Ridley Windows & Doors have been outstanding patrons of squash in Canada for many years.

The next edition of the biannual Can-Am Cup matches will be in Baltimore in 2020.

2018 Can Am Cup – Toronto

The 10th Anniversary of the Can-Am Cup Doubles Squash Matches will be hosted by the Toronto Cricket Skating & Curling Club October 26 – 28, 2018. 10 years of memorable matches, each played at the standard of the Canadian or U.S. Championship finals, has built the reputation of the Can-Am as being one of the handful of most important doubles fixtures on the schedule.

The Can-Am Cup began in 2008 as a biannual doubles squash competition between Canada and the United States.  Although the weekend exemplifies the very best spirit of sportsmanship, the Can-Am Cup is at its core a competition-based event. Team Captains are selected more than a year in advance and charged with bringing leadership, and the ability to recruit and motivate their country’s top doubles players, with the goal of producing a successful team result.

The Can-Am is divided into 3 competitions:  the Men’s Bernheimer/Bell Trophy, the Women’s Gillen/Pierce Trophy and the overall Can-Am Cup.  Canada and the U.S. field their best 2 pairs in 15 categories from Men’s Open to 75+ and Women’s Open to 60+. The North American rankings are used to identify the top ranked right and left wall players in each category, each who receive an invitation to their country’s team.  The Canadian and U.S. Doubles Championships are recognized and any player winning their own country’s most recent championship receives an invitation to their country’s team.

Remaining selections and team pairings are made by the Captains based entirely on merit.  A player that has teamed exclusively with the same partner may find themselves invited but not their partner.  A player that has always successfully competed in younger age categories may be assigned to play in their own age division to ensure their team wins those matches.  The Can-Am Cup is not about matching opponents to create competitive games. The Can-Am Cup is about winning convincingly and establishing their country’s dominance of North American doubles.

Day 1 of the Toronto 2018 matches will pit the #2 team from each country against the #1 team of the other in each division. Day 2 features the #1’s and #2’s facing off against their counterparts.  New this year and a return to the original Cup format, Day 3 will feature 6 Mixed Doubles matches: one from the Open, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+ and 60+ categories.  The Mixed match results will only apply to the overall Can-Am results and not the Men’s and Women’s competitions.

The inaugural Can-Am in Boston 2008 saw the U.S team win convincingly.  Two years later at Toronto 2012 the US team retained the Can-Am Cup despite the Canadians winning the men’s division. Buffalo 2012 saw Canada finally taking the Can-Am Cup by a mere 3 points but in Montreal 2014 the US recaptured it. At Wilmington 2016 the US retained the Cup despite losing the Bernheimer/Bell Trophy.  The US has held the Cup for 8 of the 10 years it has existed, surrendering it only in Buffalo and hinting Hurricane Sandy somehow tilted the balance in favour of Canada.

The Toronto Cricket Skating & Curling Club is looking forward to hosting the best doubles players from Canada and the U.S. for 3 days and 66 matches under one roof.  Canada is overdue to hoist the Cup!

 

2016 Can Am Cup – Wilmington, DE

The Can-Am Cup is a biennial doubles squash competition between the United States and Canada, and is usually referred to as the “Ryder Cup of Squash”. The Top 60 doubles players from each country will be converging on Wilmington, Delaware to compete for the Can-AM Cup. The best two teams in each age group, which includes, Open, 40+,45+,50+,55+,60+,65+,70+, and 75+ for men and women play three matches each. It is a remarkable tournament that has the excitement of a very close “Ryder Cup”, and makes for a very memorable experience.  Plenty of National flag waving and patriotism with terrific competition and camaraderie. This will be the 5th edition of this competitive rivalry. The men play for the Bernheimer-Bell Trophy and the women play for the Gillen-Pierce Trophy. The overall winners win the Can-AM Cup. USA was victorious in 2008 in the first running of the event in Boston. In Toronto, Ont. (2010), USA edged out Canada in the overall score despite the US men losing their division. In 2012, Canada won by just 3 points in Buffalo, NY (a snow storm sent some Americans scrambling to get back state side on Saturday night), and in Montreal, the USA reclaimed the cup in 2014. Now on October 28-30, 2016, the player representation from both countries looks to be shaping up for a real barn burner of a tournament in Wilmington, DE.

Each countries respective Captains select team members based upon a player/teams ranking by US Squash and Squash Canada.  Those players who win the US National Doubles Tournament as well as those players ranked #1 in their respective age group on their respective walls are automatically invited to play. Each team selected for the event shall play two matches as well as a lightning round match. This years Canadian Captain is Chris Wheeler, and his Vice Captains are Pat Richardson and Al Hunt as well as women’s Vice Captains Stephanie Hewitt and Cathy Covernton.  USA Captains are Mike McGorry, Len Bernheimer and Morris Clothier.  USA Women’s Captains are Molly Pierce, Lee Belknap and Emily Lungstrum.

Can-Am Cup Scoring

Lightning Round

Within groups, teams are randomly selected to play one game against each other. Scoring: 0.5 points per game. 15 Points Total

Round 2

Each division will pit the #1 team of one country against the #2 of the opposite country, and the #2’s versus the #1’s in best of five matches. Scoring: 1.0 points per match. 30 Points Total.

Round 3

Each division will play their #1 team against the #1 team of the opposite country and the #2 against the #2 in best of five matches. Scoring: 1.5 points per match. 45 Points Total.

A total of 90 points is possible, the first team to score 45.5 points wins the Can-Am Cup.

54 Total/27.5 Wins for Men; 36/18.5 Wins for women.

 

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