2026 Molson Masters Champions: Mike Snow and Mark Morand
WECKBA would like to congratulate 2026 Molson Masters Champions, Mike Snow (OPEN Division) and Mark Morand (SENIOR Division). This year’s tournament, the 70th was completed on Saturday, February 14, 2026.
The Molson Masters has a very long, rich history. It has been hosted at Palace Recreation, Crescent Lanes, Revs Bowlero, and now at Revs Rose Bowl. Tournament Director Nick Stein deserves much credit for this year’s tournament success, along with Jeremy Bas, Tournament Coordinator, and Tournament Sponsors Molson Coors Breweries, Reaume Chevy-Buick-GMC and Revs Rose Bowl. Cogeco Cable is now in its thirty-ninth year hosting the Molson Masters TV telecast.
Prize money totaled $17,850 for the 2026 tournament including $9,700 for the TV finals. The winner of the Open section earned $2,000 and Senior winner received $1,200. This year is the first time rings will be awarded to winners in the Open and Senior divisions. This year we are dedicating the tournament to Mark Labord and Jim Hussey.
In the Open Division, Jeff Kovack was the #5 seed and as a lefty had the left side all to himself, recently bowled his 1st 800 series and is making it for the first time to the TV finals. The #4 seed, Mike Snow, has 43 straight Molson appearances; has many 300 games and 800 series, member of Windsor Bowling Hall of Fame, member of Detroit Senior Bowling Hall of Fame, member of Canadian Senior Team for consecutive years, and will need to run the table for his first Molson’s Masters title. Dylin Hunter, the #3 seed, is already a two-time champion (2019 & 2022), and is trying to join a select group as a 3-time champion. The #2 seed, Steve Kubis, just missed being the top seed by 10 pins and is no stranger to the TV finals. Ryan Boismier, the #1 seed, is an outstanding bowler for a long time with a 200+ average, has bowled in the finals before, and needs just one game to become a Molson Masters champion.
For the Seniors, Dan Aqwa was the #1 seed, who normally bowls in the Open Division, but injury has forced him to bowl in Seniors to bowl 4 games verses 8 games. Dan has one dozen TV appearances winning as Open Champion in 2016. This time he just needs to win 1 game to become Senior Champion. The #2 seed, Mark Morand, a 70+ year old bowler from McGregor, won in 2019 so he is no stranger to the TV finals. The #3 seed, Chris Moxley is a former Team Canada Senior Member, from the Kitchener area but originally from Tilbury, who always supported this tournament. Richard McCloskey, the #4 seed, was the 2011 champion at age 63. This year at 78 years old, he is the oldest bowler to make the TV finals, coming from 3rd place in the last game of matchplay to make TV finals.
The Molson Masters runs over 4 weekends. It features a Senior Division (55+) and an Open Division. The tournament starts with two weeks of Qualifying, followed by one week of Matchplay, and the fourth week is the TV Step Ladder Finals. To qualify in the Senior Division, you bowl 4 games over 4 pairs of lanes while the Open Division participants complete 5 games over 5 pairs of lanes.
The TV format is set up so that the Open Division and the Senior Division alternate bowling matchplay in the stepladder finals. The Open Division bowls the first match then the Senior Division bowls their first match. The wait between matches is very challenging because it makes it harder to stay consistent because lanes can change between the starting and stopping. Sometimes the #1 seeds might see this as an advantage because they do not have to bowl then sit and wait to bowl again.
SENIOR DIVISION for Matchplay – the top 15 Senior bowlers, plus last year’s Champion, are divided into 4 groups of 4 bowlers each. They face each bowler once in their division. Then they bowl a final position round within their own group. Each time a bowler wins the match they earn a 30-pin bonus added to their score. They move over to a new pair of lanes for each new game bowled. The top Senior bowler from each of the 4 Senior Division groups advances to the TV stepladder finals.
Senior Division – Match-play – Final Results
Senior Division – Step Ladder- TV Finals
In the Senior Division Step Ladder finals, the results were as follows:
Richard McKoskey (175) vs. Chris Moxley (192)
Chris Moxley (160) vs. Mark Morand (236)
Mark Morand (211) vs. Dan Aqwa (177) – Mark Morand is 2026 Senior Molson Masters Champion
Richard McKoskey (4th seed) Averaged 188 with his match-play record being 2-2 (815). He qualified 5th in the senior division with a total of 838 when he bowled to get into matchplay. McKoskey bowled good in TV finals but consistently making spares proved to be costly. Richard started bowling at age 40. He indicated that his greatest accomplishments were serving his country and winning the Molson’s Senior Division in 2011. Richard stated that the hardest thing to learn in his bowling career was to learn how to compete when bowling in tournaments. He was excited to be back in the TV finals because his last time bowling in the finals was back in 2011. As indicated, he is the oldest competitor in the finals at age 78 – quite an accomplishment.
Chris Moxley (3rd seed) He averaged 195 in matchplay and posted a 3-1 (872) record. He qualified eleventh for matchplay with a 4-game series of 811. Chris bowled well against his first opponent in the TV finals, but in the second match he was unable to convert two spares, a few splits, and match his opponent’s strike for strike which proved to be costly. Moxley indicated he has been bowling for 53 years. His greatest accomplishment two years ago was bowling in the Canadian Senior Team Championships at Fredrick Lanes in Kitchener to make the Team Canada Senior Team. People would be surprised that when he still lived in Tilbury that he would ride his bike to Tilbury to Windsor then back to Tilbury once a week for three straight years. Something he had to learn the hard way in bowling was changing the way he threw the bowling ball. Over the years he slowly improved his wrist angle when throwing the bowling ball. Moxley said second thing in bowling he found extremely tough was trying not to be upset when he threw a bad game. Chris said this wouldbe his first time making the TV finals, so it was quite an accomplishment and a new experience for him.
Mark Morand (2nd seed, pictured above) Morand averaged 211 in matchplay and was 2-2 (905). He qualified fourth for matchplay with a series of 862. He was a Senior Molson’s Champ in 2019. Mark bowled very strong in his first TV match, stringing strikes together to move to the final match. He came up in the final match against seasoned veteran Dan Aqwa and was able to continue his consistency stringing strikes to become the Molson Masters Seniors Champion for a second time. Mark started bowling at the age of 11. He lived just down from the McGregor bowling alley, so he set pins at the bowling centre for years. He would set pins with a friend so they would take turns setting pins then they could bowl for free. Morand’s greatest accomplishment was bowling an 837 series (248, 300, 289). He said he is quite easy going, loves to bowl because it is so much fun, the Monday and Wednesday leagues are like a big family. He said what he learned about bowling is that he is self-taught, he learned to bowl all on his own just by going out and bowling and bowling. “Bowling in the TV finals was not a problem because I was not nervous since I had won a prior Senior title years ago so I knew what to expect.”
Dan Aqwa (1st seed) His match-play record was 4-0 (926) and averaged 201 in matchplay. He qualified 6th for matchplay with a series of 828. Dan was the Molson’s Open Champion in 2016. Dan only needed to bowl one game in the TV finals, but he was unable to consistently put strikes together, to win the match. Aqwa was trying to become the 4th bowler to win both the Open and Senior divisions. Dan started to bowl at age 5. His greatest bowling accomplishment in the Molson’s was bowling a 5-game block of 1319 which was a 5-game Canadian record back in 1991 with a Blue Hammer. People might be surprised to learn that he has been battling a hip injury for the last 4-5 years. Dan indicated “I made the TV show 3 of last 5 years. It’s tough to bowl with no balance. In Seniors division you only need to bowl 4 games, so it helps.” Aqwa indicated that the hardest thing for him to learn was that when you make a bad shot try and pick up the pins and leave that bad frame behind you, then start over for the next shot. He mentioned that “this is my 13th time on TV, so it is fun to compete on TV and just have the crowd behind me supporting you.”
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OPEN DIVISION for Matchplay – the top thirty-nine Open bowlers, plus last year’s Champion, were divided into five groups of eight bowlers each. They bowled each bowler once in their division. Then they bowled a final position round within their own group. Each time a bowler wins their match they get a 30-pin bonus added to their score. You move over to a new pair of lanes for each new game bowled. The top Open bowler from each of the five Open Division groups advances to the TV step ladder finals.
Open Division – Match-play – Final Results
Open Division – Step Ladder – TV Finals
In the Open Step Ladder finals, the results were as follows:
Jeff Kovack (197) vs. Mike Snow (227)
Mike Snow (224) vs. Dylin Hunter (181)
Mike Snow (224) vs. Steve Kubis (210)
Mike Snow (225) vs. Ryan Boismier (206) – Mike Snow is 2026 Open Molson Masters Champion
Jeff Kovack (fifth seed) In matchplay he averaged 215 and had a 5-3 (1877) record. He qualified 24th for matchplay with a 5-game total of 1020. He was attempting to win his 1st championship as the only left-hander in the field but would have to run the table to win. Jeff bowled a very tight match in the TV finals but just came up a little short, unable to string strikes together like his opponent to make it to the second round. Jeff started bowling at about 5 years old and took off maybe one year during Covid. Kovack’s greatest accomplishment was bowling his first 800 series in December. He has just one perfect game bowled back in 2011. Some people might be surprised to hear that Jeff is not naturally left-handed because when he first started bowling he bowled two handed and the coach told him he had to pick a hand to bowl so his dad made him bowl left handed. Kovack said the hardest thing he had to learn in bowling was to come back from a bad game or missing spares. Jeff indicated he was nervous about being on TV finals bowling behind a crowd and the silence while bowling.
Fourth seed Mike Snow (pictured above) averaged 211 and his match-play record was 8-0 (1932). He qualified third for matchplay with a 5-game series of 1160. Mike is a long-time member of Team Canada Senior team and is appearing in his 43rd straight Molson’s. This time around Mike needed to win 4 matches in TV finals to become Open Champion. The first two matches for Snow were not as close. The second two games were very tight matches, but Mike made the most of it largely because he was able to consistently put strikes together to win each match. Mike Snow has become Molson Masters Open Champion for the first time. Snow said he wished Jean Deslippe was here to watch him win for the first time. Joel Lewsaw indicated that the two of them (Mike & Jean) were known as the dynamic duo coaching team.
Mike has been bowling for about 60 years, starting at Crescent and Bowlero. He indicated that his bowling career has been consistent in that he has longevity in his bowling career and now bowling with Team Canada and the World Senior Championships. He said he learned to be stoic and in control most of the time. Snow indicated that “he learned the ability to take the ups and downs and stay even keeled during the highs and lows. This is my 5th-6th time in the TV finals. Most I have won in the past TV finals is one game so I am hoping to go much further this time around.”
Dylin Hunter (third seed) His match-play record was 6-2 (1958) while averaging 222. He qualified second for matchplay with a five-game total of 1182. Dylin won the Open Championship in 2019 & 2022 and was trying to join a select few to have won 3 titles. During his match against Mike Snow, he had a split and an open frame which proved to be costly, but he will be in the TV finals for many years into the future because he is such an exceptional bowler. Hunter has been bowling for 21 years. His greatest accomplishment was in college when he made the CTCBA All American Team and the Youth National Team. Dylin said most of his bowling career he has been a quiet kid, but he has started to open up a little more. The hardest thing that Dylin had to learn in his bowling career was to get out of his own way, do not be so hardheaded and be open to everything. He was hoping in the TV finals to win another Open Championship – it has been a long time, so he hopes it happens again.
Steve Kubis, the second seed, averaged 229 and had a 5-3 (1985) matchplay record. He qualified 36thfor matchplay with a total of 1020. Steve has been on TV before, but he is still looking for his first title. Steve started out with 5 strikes against Mike Snow which gave him a large lead, but then he had a split and an open frame in the second half of the game that ended up costing Kubis the match. Mike went on a run stringing strikes during the second half of the match to move ahead and eventually win the game. Steve will be bowling in the TV finals again since he is such a very skilled bowler. Kubis has been bowling for 30 years. His greatest accomplishment was bowling a 279 triplicate which is the WECKBA record and tied the CTF record. People might be surprised to learn that Steve and his buddy have opened the Pro-Shop at Super Bowl and have been drilling balls for the last 2-3 years. Kubis stated that “the hardest thing I had to learn about the game of bowling was not to worry about what other people are doing and just to focus on myself and my game and how I am doing. You cannot control breaks other people get, so there is no point getting frustrated with it. Just keep grinding and hope the result is in my favour in the end.” Steve has been to the TV finals 3 times now. First time he was nervous, second time after first few frames he said he found the zone, and the third time after practice I should be good to go.
Ryan Boismier, the first seed, averaged 225 and had a 6.5/1.5 (1995) matchplay record. He qualified 20thfor matchplay with a series of 1063. Boismier as the number one seed, had to bowl just one game to win the open title but was unable to string consecutive strikes like his opponent. The match was still quite close down to the final 3 frames. Ryan has been bowling for 41 years. His two greatest bowling accomplishments are his 845 series and making it to the Molson’s TV finals as the #1 seed. Some people may be surprised to know that he has triplets plus an older son so with 4 kids it is quite busy. “Something I had to learn in bowling the hard way was to deal with failure, learn to adjust, overcome my stubbornness, need to be able to try and grind it out, and learn to switch balls and not to be afraid.” Boismier looked at the TV finals as being excited and ready for it. Ryan indicated “I have been in TV finals a few times before so I hope I can rely on past experience.”
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