The NYTHL’s Seventh season commenced with the drop of the puck this past Saturday. The start of the new 2021-2022 season took place at Plycon in East Northport, New York. Twelve players from three states competed in a double round robin that totaled 22 games. Arnie Layton along with the father / son tandem of Peter and Pierson Milazzo each made their debuts. An exciting day of hard fought competition concluded when Vinny Catania secured another league date championship, ending an impressive run by Chris D’Andrea who as a five seed made it to the finals. Let’s review the day
A quick review of the double round robin, tells us that defending league champion Vinny Catania finished first on the day with an 18-2-2 record. His only two losses, each by a goal, came to Len Mecca who finished fourth on the day. John Power and George Slater each finished the day with 32 points. Power’s extra win gave him the second seed. Chris D’Andrea took fifth with Bob D’Addario finishing sixth. Anthony Sciacca earned the seventh seed while Walter Zissler took eighth. Arnie Layton recorded a 9-13-0 in his debut earning him the ninth spot. Arnie served notice right away that he was going to make an immediate impact when he defeated Chris D’Andrea in his very first game in the league by a score of 3-2. Arnie also recorded wins against league veterans such as Bob D’Addario, Walter Zissler, Larry Durham and Anthony Sciacca. Larry Durham finished tenth with Peter and Pierson Milazzo who also made their debuts finishing eleventh and twelfth respectively. The Milazzos earned a split against each other as they make the transition from the Stiga to Coleco style game board. On to the playoffs.
With the top four players (Vinny, J.P., George and Len) all receiving byes, the next eight each played in a best of three series to see who would join them in the Quarterfinals. Five seed Chris D’Andrea swept past twelfth seed Pierson Milazzo 2-0 games. Six seed Bob D’Addario also swept Peter Milazzo 2-0 games. Seventh Seed Anthony Sciacca defeated Larry Durham also 2-0 as did eight seed Walter as he beat nine seed Arnie Layton in two very close games by scores of 2-1 in overtime and 1-0. The four who lost (Larry, Arnie, Peter and Pierson) would compete in a best of three “B” Semi-Finals which concluded with Arnie knocking off Peter 2-0 games, while Larry defeated Pierson 2-0 games. Arnie then swept past Larry in two close games by 2-1 and 4-3 scores to win the “B” title (9th overall on the day). A pretty good debut for Arnie. On to the “A” Quarters.
With a trip to the Semis on the line, The Vinner swept past Walter 3-0 games. John Power Also swept past the ageless Anthony Sciacca 3-0 games. In what was a thrilling series fifth seed Chris D’Andrea upset fourth seed Len Mecca in five games. Len took the opener 5-3. Chris rebounded with wins of 3-2 and 3-1 before Len tied the series with a 4-3 win. D’Andrea took the final contest with a very exciting 3-2 victory thus also winning the series 3-2. The final spot was decided when sixth seed Bob D’Addario defeated George Slater 3-2 games. Bob took the first two games, only to see George storm back and tie the series with two wins of his own. However, George fell short in game five when Bob defeated him 5-4.
The Semi-Finals were set. One seed Vinny Catania ended any dreams that Bob D’Addario may have had about pulling another upset. This series was decided quickly when Catania blew Bob out 10-0 in game one then defeated him 5-1 and 4-2 to sweep the series. With The Vinner in the finals, second seed John Power battled five seed Chris D’Andrea to see who would join him. D’Andrea took game one 4-2 the dropped game two. With the series tied, D’Andrea scored victories of 3-2 and 8-5 to pull off the upset and join Catania in the Finals.
With the Finals here - the Cinderella run of Chris D’Andrea looked as if it would continue as he took a 4-2 lead in game one into the final minute. Catania scored a goal with 58 seconds remaining and another with just 13 ticks left to force overtime. Catania took control of the faceoff and never let Chris take possession of the puck as the Vinner Scored just seconds into the overtime session for a 5-4 victory. Game two was close for a while but The Vinner eventually pulled away for a 4-1 victory. Catania then ended the series with a convincing 7-0 victory to sweep the series three games to none. It was the twenty second consecutive league date tournament victory for Vinny.
With new players comes new friendships and rivalries. Become part of the action by joining us. We will be back at Rab’s Country Lanes in Staten Island on Saturday November 13, 2021. If you love table hockey or are even curious about it – come down and check the NYTHL out. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. For more in depth game results, stats and standings please log on to WWW.NYTHL.COM
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