Hewitt Double Dips Casanzio to Capture Joss Tour Win

Danny Hewitt 

By Markus Noé

For the second week in a row the Québec contingent of Martin Daigle, Danny Hewitt and Alain Parent hit the road to take part on the Joss Tour. This week at Premium Billiards in Fairmount New York situated just outside Syracuse, played host to latest edition of the Joss Tour. Québec city native Martin Daigle was looking to match his friend and fellow french Canadian Danny Hewitt feat of last year which was winning back to back.

Martin Daigle 

Daigle who was the only one of the Quebecois who had not suffered a loss after day 1, looked like he was on his way to winning back to back events. He marched his way through the field setting up a winners side final match-up between himself and his opponent in the previous weeks final Ron Casanzio. This was a tightly contested affair with Casanzio wining 9-8.

Danny Hewitt who suffered  an early loss to well known player on the Joss Tour, Bucky Souvanthong 9-5, rebounded with 5 straight wins one of which was against fan favourite Shaun Wilkie. This earned Hewitt a match with one of his road partners Alain Parent, who also lost early on in the tournament and charged his way back to the final four.

Parent went on to lose to Hewitt setting up the losers final match against Daigle. The reigning champion was up for most of this match but some errors from Daigle combined with Hewitt's break which was working nicely, resulted in a 9-7 for Hewitt. In the final Casanzio, for the second week in a row, would have to fade one of Québec's top professionals.

Ron Casanzio 

This time Casanzio had the edge as he was the one who was undefeated and had to be beaten twice. Watching on the stream I saw as Hewitt asked his opponent if he had to beat him twice, hearing yes they flipped the coin and Hewitt took down the first one in what seemed like a few minutes 9-3. The second set was a much different affair as Hewitt trailed the entire set before winning a thriller 9-8 to take home top prize.

As not only a billiards junkie but media source as well it is always nice to see a free live stream. This one in particular was one of the best I have ever seen for free as it boasted 6 camera angles and colour commentary.  What I did find a bit concerning was the lack of reference the players and promoters had for the 3 from Québec. This province has a stable of world class talent which begins with Alain Martel, Danny Hewitt and Luc Salvas. In reality outside the top tier players like Mike Dechaine, Jayson Shaw or Dennis Hatch showing up, the 3 from Québec are the favourites to win consistently.

Hewitt who does not travel as much as it is simply not as profitable as it used to be, has big wins to his name. In 2003 he won  $20,000 for the first event called the Trump Marina 10 Ball Challenge. This tournament saw the likes of Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante and Earl Strickland in its field. Hewitt even lost his first match in this tournament as well but went on to beat monsters such as  Ronnie Alcano, Jim Rempe and Bustamante.

In a gambling sense this lack of knowledge of players such as Hewitt could be considered a "beautiful thing." For us at Cue Sport Nation it just reaffirms the necessity of a news organization such as ours which highlights Canadian talent to the international billiards community.

Payouts: 

1st: Danny Hewitt – $1,050 
2nd: Ron Casanzio – $750 
3rd: Martin Daigle – $600 
4th: Alain Parent – $450 
5th/6th: Dwight Dixon, Shawn Wilkie – $300 
7th/8th: Willie Oney, Dave Grau – $200