The big question Saturday night was this: which would last longer,
the Detroit-Carolina game or the fourth week of the Lemont Stiga
Table Hockey League? With 11 players on hand for week four and the
decision made to go with a double round-robin format, the games
stretched on into the night as the Stanley Cup game went into triple
OT. Warm weather has finally come to Chicago, making for a more
comfortable playing atmosphere. When the smoke cleared, Jim Rzonca
(the CTHL runner-up), emerged untouched, racking up a 20-0 record to
win first place for the night. Second place came down to a playoff
between CTHL'ers Gary Butler and Joe Salazar. This one went to OT, as
Butler slammed one home to win 4-3 and take second place. Perhaps
most impressive was the play of young Matt, the 11-year-old cousin of
hosts Scott and Jerry Pytlewski. The kid went an amazing 7-13, not
conceding anything to anyone and throwing quite a scare into a few
others, myself included. The Lemont league uses the Molson Cup
scoring system: divide the number of players by two to determine how
many points are up for grabs. That way, if you miss a week, you're
not totally screwed with a bunch of forefit losses. Jim Rzonca has
run the table so far, gobbling up every point possible. A special
shout-out to Scott Pytlewski for hosting the night's festivities even
though his father Jerry was out at a wedding. Given the rough style
of Chicago play, the equipment is taking a beating. Those Stiga rods
are just weaker compared to their Coleco counterparts. So we're
passing the hat each week in hopes of collecting enough to buy
another Stiga set. Here are this week's standings, with the overall
standings to follow in a different post:
PLAYER W L POINTS
Jim Rzonca 20 0 5.5
*Gary Butler 14 6 4.5
Joe Salazar 14 6 3.5
Scott Pytlewski 13 7 2.5
Ryan Heraldo 11 9 1.5
Eric Krol 10 10 0.5
Matt 7 13
Mike Lisowski 7 13
Bill McDaniel 6 14
John Phillips 5 15
John Buttney 3 17
* won tiebreaker playoff
