Mike Dechaine and Kyle Pepin
In case you ever wondered why people when travelling will use the expression of going ‘down Maine,’ when, in the USA, it’s clearly north of all but a strip of New Hampshire, you have to go back a ways to when sailors and fishermen would say it in reference to sailing ‘downwind’ or ‘downstream’ to reach Maine’s coastal towns and shipyards, like Portland. In maritime terminology, ‘down’ refers to travelling along a coast, which doesn’t always line up with actual directions. Portland is the coastal city that hosted this past weekend’s (Feb. 22-23) $750-added, Maine State 9-Ball Championships, and is actually ‘down’ (south) from most of Maine, being just a little short of a two-hour drive, north of Boston.
It’s the home state of record for both the winner and runner-up of this past weekend’s event which drew 72 entrants to Forest City Billiards in Portland. Winner Mike Dechaine’s recorded career at the tables dates back to 2004, when he finished 9th at a stop on the Joss Tour in Quincy, MA. To name just a few other veterans on hand for that event, there was Mike Davis (the winner), Robb Saez (runner-up), Joey Korsiak, Mike Zuglan, Ryan McCreesh, and Frankie Hernandez. He moved on from that start to earn a reputation as a formidable opponent, reaching his earnings and arguably, reputation pinnacle in 2016, the year in which he appeared for the fourth and last time on the USA’s Mosconi Cup team.
Seven years after Dechaine’s career had gotten underway, Kyle Pepin in 2011, would record his first payout with us, winning a stop on what was then known as the Lucasi Hybrid New England 9-Ball Series, with nothing like the ‘rogues gallery’ of then or soon-to-be, well-known competitors that Dechaine faced in his first recorded outing. Seven years after that (2018), Pepin would chalk up his first victory on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour and make his first appearance at a Turning Stone event (XXIX, finishing 25th), which did feature its share of national ‘knowns’ like Billy Thorpe (who won), Dennis Hatch (runner-up), Jayson Shaw, Zion Zvi, Mika Immonen, Brandon Shuff, Shaun Wilkie and Johnny Archer to name just a few. The following year, still his best recorded earnings year, Pepin won his second stop on the Joss Tour, chalked up three runner-up finishes on the New England 9-Ball Tour and finished 9th at the 10th Annual New England Pool Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open.
So, the two of them went ‘down Maine’ to Portland. Pepin arrived as the 9-Ball Championship’s defending champion. “Fireball” Dechaine arrived, more or less ‘fresh off’ his undefeated run, claiming the inaugural State of Maine 9-Ball Open title, a little over two months ago (Nov. 30-Dec. 1).
Dechaine’s first two and last two matches were won by the same aggregate score, 18-1. The seven matches in between, which included his fourth-round loss to Dennis Patenaude 5-9, resulted in an aggregate score of 57-39, just shy of a 60% game-winning average. By the end, he’d raised that game-winning average to just shy of 70%.
He’d told us back in December after Maine’s 9-Ball Open that he was not necessarily on anything resembling a ‘comeback’ trail and that he wasn’t “really all that good, right now. I’m mediocre, at best,” he said. His one loss came at the hands of Patenaude, whose 602 FargoRate (versus Dechaine’s 799, the highest in the tournament), gave him (Patenaude) a less than 1% chance of winning that match (.03% to 99.7%), so it’s hard to argue with Dechaine’s assessment of his own current mediocrity. By the same token, through the next seven matches, “Fireball” didn’t lose again.
Meanwhile, Pepin and David Hall had set out on a converging path to the hot seat match. Pepin’s trip got underway on shaky ground as his first opponent, Todd Brown, battled him to double hill, before Pepin prevailed to chalk up two straight 9-5 wins over Sam Im and Tod Burnham, followed by a 9-3 victory over Roy Morgridge that put him into a winners’ side semifinal against Mike Perry. Hall, in the meantime, got by Bob Dennis (1), Rick Beaulieu (4), Jim Hayden (7), and Cody Porter (3) to draw the man who’d put Dechaine on the loss side, Dennis Patenaude, in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Hall sent Patenaude to the loss side 9-3 for an eventual rematch against Dechaine, as Pepin joined him in the battle for the hot seat after he’d sent Perry over 9-3. Pepin and Hall fought a spirited battle to claim the seat with Pepin winning it 9-6.
Dechaine had followed his loss to Patenaude with victories over Guy Bouthot and Ivaylo Petrov, both 9-4 and drew Perry. Patenaude came over to pick up Cody Francis, who’d followed his loss to Dechaine on the winners’ side (9-7), and won four straight, including two double-hill wins (Roger Barriere and Ray Morgridge) and a shutout over Greg Lamb.
Both matches for advancement to the quarterfinals went 9-7. Dechaine over Perry and Patenaude versus Francis, so the rematch was on. Not surprisingly, Dechaine came out on top, 9-4.
With the finish line in sight, it’s hard to imagine anyone who’d have bet against Dechaine as he came around the final turn on the tournament track, headed for home. He passed David Hall 9-4 in the semifinals and went on to defeat Pepin 9-1 in the opening set of the true double-elimination final. From there, it was like watching Secretariat extend his lead to 31 lengths in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. Dechaine shut Pepin out in the second set and claimed the Maine State 9-Ball Championship.
“Thanks to all of the great Maine pool players that attended this year’s Maine State 9-Ball Championship,” said Forest City Billiards owner Tyson Trepanier, “(and) for all the support in our growing pool community. We hope to see all these players and more compete next year, when (the event) is hosted by TJ’s Classic Billiards in Waterville, ME.”
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