After 14 regular season round-robin tournaments and more than
1,000 games played, the Lemont Table Hockey League kicked
off Round One of the playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night at the
Pytlewski Dome. Four first-round matchups would help
determine next week's quarterfinals. The players would play
best-of-seven series rotating on three impeccably tuned Stiga
sets beefed up by league MVP Jim Rzonca. See Jim's earlier
postings with pictures for details on what he did to the games.
Tonight's playoff series ranged from a pair of 4-0 sweeps to a
hard-fought six-game series and an absolutely amazing
seven-game series. On to the games...
#1 Ron Marsik vs. #12 Matt Soukup
Game 1: Marsik 5, Soukup 0
Game 2: Marsik 5, Soukup 1
Game 3: Marsik 4, Soukup 0
Game 4: Marsik 5, Soukup 0
Marsik wins series 4-0
Notes: Ron Marsik, the top seed by virtue of his league -best
winning percentage in the regular season, outscored young Matt
Soukup 19-1 en route to advancing to the second round. Marsik,
a big-time tournament winner in the 1970s and 80s, led from
start to finish against 11-year-old Soukup, who played tough
defense against one of the nation's premier table hockey
players. For a kid who played with the big boys all year, Matt
played extremely well. If we had a junior division, no doubt he'd
have come out on top. Marsik's patented right wing-to-center
lightning quick pass was too much here.
#5 Mike Lisowski vs. #11 Bill McDaniel Jr.
Game 1: Lisowski 6, McDaniel 1
Game 2: Lisowski 4, McDaniel 2
Game 3: Lisowski 2, McDaniel 0
Game 4: Lisowski 5, McDaniel 1
Lisowski wins series 4-0
Notes: Mike Lisowski, a five-time Chicago Table Hockey League
champ on Coleco, has been steadily improving his Stiga skills
all season. He was in fine form tonight against McDaniel, who
sported a nasty cut from shaving. The cut was so bad, he had
blood on his t-shirt. That move did not psyche out Lisowski, who
outscored McDaniel 17-4 in the series. I don't believe Lisowski
ever trailed in a game in this one. He moves on to a tough
second round matchup.
#6 Jim Gove vs. #10 Jeff Farwell
Game 1: Gove 3, Farwell 2 (OT)
Game 2: Farwell 4, Gove 2
Game 3: Farwell 2, Gove 1 (OT)
Game 4: Gove 5, Farwell 3
Game 5: Gove 3, Farwell 2
Game 6: Gove 4, Farwell 1
Gove wins series 4-2
Game 1: Like just about every game in this series, a hard-fought
contest that could not be decided by one, five-minute period.
They went into OT, and Gove put one in with 1:36 gone by to
jump out to a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2: Farwell went up 1-0 but couldn't hold the lead as Gove
shot two in the net to lead 2-1 for a long time. But in the final
minute, everything changed. Farwell poured in three goals to
erase that deficit and win by 2.
Game 3: Neither player would give ground in this one, perhaps
the toughest game of the series. Nobody could dent the net in
the first half of this one, but Farwell got the puck rockin' and rollin'
and his center put a moving puck into the net to go up 1-0 with 2
minutes left. With 1:10 left, Gove got the equalizer with a pass to
his center. That's how regulation ended, 1-1. About a minute into
overtime, Farwell hit a pass out of the corner from his RW to his
center, who rammed it home for the 2-1 win and a 2-1 series
lead.
Game 4: Gove needed to avoid going down 3-1 in the series, so
he struck quickly with his center, 20 seconds in to go up 1-0.
Thirty seconds later, he made it 2-0 with the RW-to-C pass up
high, his favorite play of the evening. Gove's star center got the
hat trick off a turnover with 3:21 left. But Farwell fought back to
make it 3-1 just 14 seconds later. Gove sealed it, going up 5-1
with just under two minutes left. Farwell got two late ones to
make it respectable, but the series was tied 2-2.
Game 5: The pivotal game in a tied series, to be sure. The
winner would have some momentum, only needing to win one
more. The loser's back would be up against the wall. Gove went
on top again 1-0 about 50 seconds into the game with a bank
shot from his right defenseman. With 3:35 left, Gove's left
defenseman got in on the scoring action, a soft shot reaction
goal that made it 2-0. Farwell really beared down from there,
cutting the lead in half 13 seconds later and tying things up 2-2
with 2:10 left. That's how things stayed for nearly two minutes.
But with 18 seconds left, Gove found the net, and that's how it
ended, 3-2. That's also Gove's series lead after five games.
Game 6: Gove jumped out on top again, this time 30 seconds in,
a center goal off a turnover. For half the game, no one else
scored. But Gove scored again with two minutes left for a 2-0
lead, then made it 3-0 before Farwell avoided a shutout to make
it 3-1. Gove got a center deflection with 58 ticks left, and that's
how it ended, a 4-1 victory. Gove takes the closely-played series
4 games to 2.
#7 Joe Salazar vs. #9 Jeff Thill
Game 1: Salazar 6, Thill 1
Game 2: Thill 2, Salazar 1
Game 3: Salazar 4, Thill 1
Game 4: Salazar 6, Thill 5 (OT)
Game 5: Thill 2, Salazar 1
Game 6: Thill 2, Salazar 1
Game 7: Thill 2, Salazar 1 (OT)
Thill wins series 4-3
Game 1: This was the biggest margin of victory in the entire
series, with Thill displaying some nervousness. Salazar, a CTHL
veteran, easily won this one 6-1. Salazar would outscore Thill in
the series 20-15.
Game 2: We pick up the action with a tie score 1-1 with 2:15 left.
That's how it stayed up until a minute left in regulation. Thill then
shot one with his right wing from the top of the slot to go up 2-1
with 49 seconds remaining. That's how it ended. Series is tied
1-1.
Game 3: Salazar put on a clinic in this one. The center trick is a
play that virtually no one in the LTHL has learned to hit at all,
much less on a semi-regular basis. Salazar is the exception. He
hit a center trick with 3:18 left to lead 1-0. He hit one again at 2:36
to go up 2-0. Salazar's left defenseman scored a minute later for
a three-goal lead. A right wing shot made it 4-0 with 28 ticks left.
Thill avoided the shutout by scoring with three seconds left.
Salazar up 2 games to 1.
Game 4: This one would turn out to be the wildest,
highest-scoring game of the series. Not that you'd know it with
1:15 left in the contest. At that point, the score was 4-2 Thill. How
we got to that point: Thill went up 1-0 less than 10 seconds into
the game, but Salazar tied it 20 seconds in. Jeff's right
defenseman hit a length-of-the-ice shot for a 2-1 lead with 3:50
left to play. A slightly less long shot from the same player made it
3-1, but Salazar narrowed the gap to 3-2. Thill got his 2-goal
margin back with a center rebound shot. Salazar turned it on at
this point, scoring three goals in 40 seconds to completely
switch momentum and take a 5-4 lead. Thill, in the first of
several clutch performances, managed to tie it up. On to OT,
where Salazar hit a RW-to-C pass roughly 1:15 in for the big win
and a seemingly insurmountable 3 games to 1 lead in the
series.
Game 5: They traded goals in the first two minutes for a 1-1 tie.
With 2:10 to play, Thill hit a RW-to-C pass for a 2-1 lead.
Surprisingly, that's how this one ended. Thill, on the brink of
elimination, held on to force a Game 6, still down 3-2 in the
series.
Game 6: Thill jumpd out on top 1-0 with a defenseman goal with
4:05 left. No scoring for more than three minutes, until Thill's
center put one in for a 2-0 lead with 50 seconds to play. Salazar
scored just eight seconds later to make it 2-1. Again, that's how it
ended, and this mammoth series was all tied at 3 games each.
We would have a Game 7.
Game 7: The classic rock music was turned off for this one, and
everyone gathered around to watch. Eric Krol took over reffing
duties, and didn't have much to do for nearly three minutes.
Salazar went up 1-0 on a pass from his LW back to his LD and a
quick knife home. Salazar put the clamps on, and as Jim Rzonca
rolled videotape, seemed like he was going to win Game 7 by a
1-0 score. With about 10 seconds left, Thill got possession of
the puck. He needed to set up a shot and score. So Thill went to
his bread-and-butter play, with his RW passing to his C. The
center actually whiffed on the first shot attempt, but with the clock
winding down, Thill rammed it home to tie the game 1-1 with just
four seconds left. The place went up for grabs as no one could
believe what a clutch goal was scored. Thill travelled all the way
back from Purdue University to make his playoff appearance,
and on the verge of elimination, down 3-1, had valiantly fought
back to tie the series and then Game 7 to force overtime. Those
expecting a long overtime were surprised when it only lasted
about 19 seconds. With momentum on his side, Thill won the
draw and set up his offense. He hit the pass from his RW to C,
who drove one home to end the game 2-1 in OT, capping an
incredible comeback from a 3-1 deficit to win the series 4-3. The
two shook hands afterward, a nice display of sportsmanship in
the most exciting series of the night.
After some trios play (teams of 3, each player plays one,
5-minute period against a member of the other team) in which
the team of Marsik, Krol and Adam Thill went 3-0 to claim some
tiny joke trophies given out by LTHL Commissioner Jerry
Pytlewski, the remaining players went inside to watch that great
Game 7 between Thill and Salazar one more time. Rzonca had a
steady hand on that camera. We'd post some of the video, but it
would take up too much space at Warren's site here.
