Week 6

The Lemont Table Hockey League was graced with the presence of true 
table hockey royalty Saturday night, as North American standout Ron 
Marsik made his debut in the Stiga league at the Pytlewski garage 
dome in Lemont, IL. If there was a table hockey hall of fame, Ron is 
a sure-fire first-ballot inductee. His table hockey card (circa 1994) 
lists his impressive resume: he won tournaments in Toronto (1976), 
Chicago (1977), Boston (1979) and Detroit (1983), as well as six 
doubles tournaments. He picked a sweltering night to come out of semi-
retirement, as temperatures were over 80 degrees at game time with 
high humidity. Marsik and host Scott Pytlewski ran through the 
competition, each compiling 10-1 records in a round-robin tournament 
that featured 12 players, including the CTHL's Barry Daniels and Dave 
Kozak, both trying their hand at Stiga for the first time. Scott's 
only loss came to Marsik during the round-robin, while Marsik's only 
loss came to longtime rival Mike Lisowski. With ties for first, third 
and fifth, three playoff games were necessary. Will S., fresh off his 
trip to the Montreal tournament, defeated Eric Krol 2-0 to take 
fifth. The third place game featured a rematch of the CTHL Cup 
finals, with Lisowski taking on Jim Rzonca. Lisowski had never beaten 
Rzonca at Stiga, and it showed early, as Rzonca went up 2-0 amidst 
plenty of trash-talking. After a time-out to repair a broken rod, 
Lisowski tied the score only to see Rzonca go up 3-2. It stayed that 
way until less than 10 seconds were left, when Lisowski somehow got 
the equaliser. In the OT, Lisowski came up with a goal to take third 
place 4-3. Then came the evening's main event...Ron Marsik vs. Scott 
Pytlewski for first place. Scott went up 3-0 halfway through, but Ron 
roared back to tie it up and force OT. Fairly quickly into OT, Scott 
found his center for the game-winner, taking first place for the 
evening and garnering six points in the Molson Cup-style tournament 
(12 players/2= 6 points for first, 5 for second, etc.).

The Lemont league takes off next weekend before resuming play the 
weekend after Independence Day. Here are the results:

PLAYER                           W    L    POINTS
Scott Pytlewski (Team Sweden)   10    1      6
Ron Marsik (Tretiaks)           10    1      5
Mike Lisowski (Red Wings)        9    2      4
Jim Rzonca (Bruins)              9    2      3
Will S. (O'Victors)              6    5      2
Eric Krol (Cleveland Steamers)   6    5      1
Joe Salazar (Blackhawks)         5    6      0
Matt Soukup (Avalanche)          3    8      0
Dave Kozak (Rangers)             2    9      0
Barry Daniels (L.A. Kings)       2    9      0
John Phillips (Staleys)          2    9      0
Jerry Pytlewski (Svt. Red Army)  2    9      0