Through 5 of 7 League dates in the NYTHL's 2016-2017 season - one thing is abundantly clear. Lou "The Legend" Marinoff is clearly in a league by himself. Marinoff ripped through the double round robin without a loss. Only a 4-4 tie against Vinny Catania held him back from a perfect run. Lou finished 15-0-1 for 31 points which blew away the competition. Vinny Catania was 9 points back with a 10-4-2 record good for 22 points. Moussa Chermiti powered by a round robin sweep of The Vinner snuck into 3rd place with a 9-6-1 record good for 19 points. John Fayolle and Bob D'Addario each finished 8-7-1 for 17 points. Larry "L.D." Durham just missed a 500 finish with a 7-8-1 record which was 2 points better than his arch rival Len Mecca who finished 5-7-4. James Friedl finished 8th and George Slater occupied 9th just 2 points behind Friedl. To get down to an even 8 for the Quarterfinals George played James in a best of three play in round. George Slater won his first series with an impressive 2 game sweep of Friedl by scores of 3-1 and 4-1. His reward was a Quarterfinal Matchup against the 1st seeded Champion Lou Marinoff who dismissed George in the best of five series by sweeping him 5-1, 7-2, 7-3. The 2nd seeded Vinner avenged a 1st round 5-1 loss and 2nd round tie to Len Mecca who always gives him fits. The Vinner was able to defeat Mecca in 4 hard fought games by scores of 4-3, 5-2, 3-4, and 6-3. The other 2 Quarterfinal series were bareknuckle slugfests. The 3rd seeded Moussa Chermiti came back from a heartbreaking game 4 overtime loss to L.D. to win the series in 5 games. The Series which according to seedings should have been the closest, indeed was. Johnny "NY Lightening" Fayolle defeated Bob D'Addario in a very exciting, but controversial finish. Bob took the opening game 6-5 in Overtime. John took the next 2 games by 5-3 and 5-4 scores. D'Addario rebounded in game 4 winning 4-3. The deciding game was a thriller as Bob had a 4-1 lead heading into the game's final minute. Fayolle then miraculously scored 3 goals in the game's final minute including 2 in the final 26 seconds to force overtime; however it appeared that D'Addario scored a 5-4 victory at the buzzer when Fayolle put a puck into his own net, but it was ruled after the final horn. Replay which was not available at the time shows that it may have indeed been a good goal, but even watching it over and over isn't conclusive. Fayolle then scored the winning goal in overtime to win 5-4 and take the series 3-2. As earlier with George, Fayolle's reward was a series against the champ. Lou prevailed once again sweeping his way through the series by scores of 10-1, 7-5, 7-5. The Other Semi Final featured the 2nd seeded Vinner VS 3rd seeded Moussa "The Cleaver: Chermiti. It was Moussa's first appearance in a semi-final and he already had beaten The Vinner in both round robin games earlier in the day. With that said The Vinner exacted revenge by sweeping Moussa 8-2, 6-2 and 4-1. The stage was once again set for another Vinner VS Legend matchup. The one and two seeds once again collided and it was a high scoring series which tested the grit of each player. When all was said and done, The Legend was left standing. Marinoff took game 1 by the score of 8-5. The Vinner came back to win game 2 in overtime by a score of 4-3 in what was a very exciting game. The Vinner stormed ahead in game 3 getting out to a 3 goal lead and appeared to be poised to take a two games to one lead until The Champion Marinoff slammed his way back into the game and won it by a score of 8-6. At that point the cow was out of the barn and the wind out of the sail as The Legend won game 4 and the series in 4 by taking the final game 9-5. Marinoff remains the man to beat and clearly ahead of the pack. Through the years he has piled up various Championships and since the formation of the NYTHL last year he has added many league dates and a seasonal title to his very impressive resume. Lou "The Legend" Marinoff is clearly ahead of the pack as he eyes a repeat of his NYTHL Championship. Can he be caught in League date 6 and dethroned in the playoffs? Only time will tell but if history repeats itself it is not good news for the competition! It will take a massive effort to overcome the Champ.