The Lemont Table Hockey League hit the Stiga hard for Week 12 of the
regular season, drawing 13 guys to the Pytlewski Dome in sticky but
not overly hot Lemont, IL. This was our first week back since the
barnburner on Aug. 10, the Big 54 Open that drew a season-high 19
guys, including two great players from north of the border.
Tight competition was the operative phrase of the night, as four
players were tied with 9-3 records after the end of the single round-
robin tournament. Jim Rzonca, the season leader, finished first with
an 11-1 record, his only blemish coming against up-and-comer Jason
Walker, who beat Rzonca for the first time ever, 4-3 (I think).
Rzonca shut down the rest of the competition to win the 6.5 points
available for first place. That left the four-way tie for second to
be decided by a round-robin playoff. The first round saw 5-time CTHL
champ Mike Lisowski upend Eric Krol 3-2 in OT. Lisowski dominated in
the OT, dodging a Krol blast from the defense to eventually put one
in on the old RW-to-C pass to win the contest. On the other table,
Scott Pytlewski defeated Garry Butler 2-0, using a great defense to
win a tight game. In the second round of the tiebreaker, Pytlewski
upended Krol 3-1 and Lisowski defeated Butler. That left a battle of
the 0-2's, with Krol against Butler for fourth and fifth place, and a
battle of the 2-0's, Lisowski vs. Pytlewski, for second and third
place. Krol came back with a fluke shot from the defense to send
Butler into OT 2-2. Butler then put one in his own net from his left
wing, giving Krol a 3-2 win fairly quickly into extra time. Sometimes
it's better to be lucky than good, as that ended a pretty lengthy
winning streak that Butler had over Krol. In the final game of the
night, Pytlewski's always-tough defense was enough to outlast
Lisowski, 3-0. Scott finished second and Lisowski third. Finishing
sixth was newcomer Adam Thill, a teenager (16?) who ripped off eight
wins to finish 8-4. He even defeated Butler, who is ranked third in
the league this year. Thill has been playing Coleco his whole life,
but hadn't touched the Stiga until tonight. His father Rich Thill, a
Coleco star in the '70s, also was a newcomer to Stiga. There were two
other new players. CTHL'er Roger Connolly defeated Lisowski, getting
some revenge from Lisowski's CTHL dominance, before departing early
and forefiting a spate of games. Luke Walker, a friend of Scott
Pytlewski (no relation to Jason Walker), also made his debut. Once
again, thanks to Jerry Pytlewski for hosting a great night of table
hockey. Players get a point for showing up, and first through seventh
place got bonus points for order of finish (13 players/2 = 6.5 for
first, and so on):
PLAYER W L POINTS
Jim Rzonca 11 1 7.5
Scott Pytlewski 9 3 6.5
Mike Lisowski 9 3 5.5
Eric Krol 9 3 4.5
Garry Butler 9 3 3.5
Adam Thill 8 4 2.5
Bill McDaniel 6 6 1.5
Jason Walker 5 7 1.0
Jeff Farwell 5 7 1.0
Jerry Pytlewski 4 8 1.0
Rich Thill 3 9 1.0
Luke Walker 1 11 1.0
Roger Connolly 1 11 1.0
