The 4th Installment of the 2016-2017 NYTHL season had much to talk about and did not disappoint. Players from all over the Tristate area converged once again at Mother Pugs to do battle and in the end it was Lou Marinoff who claimed the top spot. There were a few surprises along the way. The round robin featured the first big surprise of the day. Lou Marinoff led the pack with a 12-2-0 record, finishing 2 points ahead of the 10-2-2 Vinner. Johnny "NY lightning" Fayolle finished 3rd with a 8-4-2 record and rounding out the top 5 was Bob D'Addario with a 7-5-2 record and Len Mecca 6-5-3. Where was the surprise you ask? George Slater in his table hockey debut won 2 games and tied 2 others finishing 2-10-2 and was a point ahead of both Larry Durham and James Friedl. George who is brand new to the game has already displayed a knack for solid defensive play and will be a force to be reckoned with once he develops his offensive game. Once the playoffs began the first round went according to plan with Lou, The Vinner, and John Fayolle sweeping their first round series. The 4th Seeded Bob D'Addario vs the 5th seeded Len Mecca was predicted to be a very tight series and there was the 2nd surprise on the day. Len Mecca who played very well throughout the day (taking a game from Lou Marinoff and tying both games with The Vinner) took D'Addario to the woodshed in a three game sweep. Len prevailed in overtime in game one by a score of 4-3, then recorded a 3-0 shutout in game two then again in game three won in overtime 5-4 which sent Bob packing. The Semi Finals featured excellent matchups. In the first Semi Final Lou Marinoff defeated Len Mecca in three games by scores of 5-2, 5-3, and 4-3 in overtime. Len's solid play continued as he played a tight series with the Champ, but fell a little short. In the other Semi Final - most figured it was just a formality that the Vinner would get past John Fayolle as he has done for the better part of the past 2 seasons and meet Lou in the Finals once again. As the series started it was more of the same as The Vinner took game one 4-3 and then took an exciting game two in overtime 3-2. Then as Fate would have it Lightning struck. In the form of Johnny "NY Lightning". Fayolle put together a defensive effort not ever seen by the Vinner or anyone else in the NYTHL shutting out Catania 3-0 to force a game four. Fayolle's suffocating defense continued, coupled with a solid offense - he put together a very efficient 6-3 victory, forcing a deciding fifth game. The storm was not yet over as Fayolle stormed out to a 3-0 lead. The Vinner answered back with a couple of goals forcing John to call a well timed time out. The two exchanged 3 goals each going back and forth in what was probably the game of the year, but Fayolle scored late and pulled away with a 7-5 victory, pulling off the reverse sweep to comeback from down 2-0 and win the series 3-2 games for the day's biggest surprise. For the first time in a long time the Final was not Marinoff vs Catania but instead was "Lou Marinoff vs John Fayolle. These two have met several times in the past and the NYTHL League Date 4 Championship was to be the latest installment in the rivalry. The two battled their way through an epic game one which saw Marinoff come back from 2 goals down to win it in overtime by a score of 7-6. Game two was just as exciting; however The Legend prevailed 5-4. Finally in game three Marinoff pulled away from the red-hot Fayolle capping off the three game sweep with an impressive 12-6 victory to take the 4th League Date title. That was Marinoff's third of the year, having one three straight. It was another great day of table hockey which featured new blood and old rivalries. League Date 5 should be very interesting.....