The NYTHL’s tenth anniversary season continued as it hosted its second league date on Saturday November 25, 2024 at Rab’s on Staten Island. It featured sixteen competitors representing five different states and two countries. Phil Brancucci, Hank Librandi, and Mike Digiulio made their season debuts along with the fourteen usual suspects from last month’s opening date. It was an action packed day which culminated in Vinny “The Vinner” Catania defeating table hockey’s fastest ascending star Dave Reid in the Finals. Let’s review the day.
League Date II featured sixteen players battling in a single round robin. The top ten would qualify for the day’s end “A” Playoffs. The top six seeds would receive byes. The remaining four would play to see which 2 would join those top six players in the “A” Quarter-Finals. Because Steve Bernstein would be unavailable for the playoffs all seeds below him were bumped up one. The two who lost would join players 11-15 and play in the “B” tournament. Round Robin play was very competitive. By day’s end it was Vinny Catania with a 14-0-1 record who took the top spot. His only blemish was a 2-2 tie to Chris D’Andrea. Last month’s round robin winner Dave Reid was five points behind Catania as he placed second at 12-3-0. Len Mecca played extremely well as he finished with the same 24 points as reid, but his one less win 11-2-2 landed him third. The Legendary Steve “The Stein” Bernstein continues his conquering of the S-Slot board as he finished fourth at 9-2-4. The always solid Chris D’Andrea was fifth as he finished 10-4-1. The much improving Rob Brancucci is reaping the benefits of his hard work. He continues to rise up as he was sixth on the day with a 7-2-6 mark. Larry Durham played well as he was seventh with an 8-6-1 record. The ageless Anthony Sciacca was eighth at 7-7-1. Phil Brancucci who himself continues to improve also was 7-7-1, but his 5-1 head to head loss to Sciacca landed him ninth. Walter Zissler and Brian Sullivan both finished 6-7-2, but Walt’s 4-1 head to head victory over Sullivan gave him the tenth spot and Brian slipped to eleven. The biggest story of the day was Derek Nisbett who at one point won three straight then tied his next game. Derek won four games total and finished twelfth. Hank Librandi who played well on defense placed thirteenth. Dennis Simone’s did not win, but tied four and ended the day fourteenth. Double L – Larry Lassiter is starting to figure things out. His one win put him fifteenth. The sixteenth spot went to Mike Digiulio who was only able to muster one tie. It was then on to the playoffs.
In the best of five Preliminary Round - Vinny Catania, Dave Reid, Len Mecca, Chris D’Andrea, Rob Brancucci, and Larry Durham each received byes. New seven seed Anthony Sciacca swept past Brian Sullivan by scores of 4-1, 5-1 and 1-0 in overtime. Eight seed Phil Brancucci was swept by nine seed Walter Zissler by the scores of 7-1, 6-5 and 5-3. On to the Quarters.
In the “A” Best of Five Quarterfinals one seed Vinny Catania swept past nine seed Walter Zissler by scores of 6-1, 4-3 (OT) and 5-1. Two seed Dave Reid defeated seven seed Anthony Sciacca in four games. Reid took game one 5-2. Sciacca tied the series with a 4-3 overtime victory. Reid then took the next two by scores of 5-2 and 6-0 to advance. Three seed Len Mecca took on his cross town rival and practice partner – seven seed Larry Durham. Mecca dropped game one 4-3. Len then tied the series with a 4-1 win. Mecca then pulled ahead with a 4-3 victory, then won the series with another 4-3 overtime triumph. The last Quarter-Final matchup was figured to be a close series and indeed was. Four seed Chris D’Andrea battled the much improved five seed Robert Brancucci. Chris took game one by a 4-2 score. Rob battled back with a solid 5-1 game two victory. Brancucci went ahead two games to one with his 3-2 overtime victory. D’Andrea showed why he made it to the Finals last season as he tied the series with a 2-0 shutout. Then in what was a thrilling game five, Chris edged past Rob 5-4 thus earning him a trip to the Semi-Finals.
In the Semis - One seed Vinny Catania Swept past four seed Chris D’Andrea by scores of 4-1, 4-0 and 3-2 in overtime. Two seed Dave Reid once again faced three seed Len Mecca. Virtually every series with these two are long fought battles, but not on this day. Reid found his stride, sweeping Len by scores of 5-3, 5-0 and 5-4. The League Date two Finals were all set. It was Catania versus Reid in a rematch of the league date one final and yet another chapter of what has become a great rivalry.
The League Date II Finals began. In a high scoring affair, The Vinner took an exciting game one by a 6-4 score. Catania followed that up with a better defensive effort as he prevailed 3-1 to take a 2-0 series lead. The series shifted to Reid’s Maple Leaf board. It was then Reid who put on a defensive clinic as he scored one early and one late to win by shutout 2-0. Reid however could not get the series tied as The Vinner put together his best game of the series and pulled away with a 5-1 victory to win the series three games to one. Defending champ Vinny Catania has secured both league date titles this year, but will have to be at the top of his game to ward off great players such as Reid, D’Andrea, Bernstein and Mecca along with those on the rise like Rob Brancucci and many others.
The consolation series for third place was not played therefore by virtue of the standings Len Mecca took third. In the “B” Playoffs top seed Phil Brancucci received a bye. Brian Sullivan swept Mike Digiulio. Larry Lassiter “Double L” upset and swept Derek Nisbett, avenging last month’s series loss. The last Semi-Final spot was earned by Hank Librandi as he swept Dennis Simone and won all three games by a 1-0 score with every game having gone to overtime. In the “B” Semi-Finals Phil Brancucci swept past Double L by scores of 3-0, 4-1 and 4-0. Brian Sullivan who had a disappointing day made the best of his “B” tournament opportunity. Sullivan swept past Hank Librandi by scores of 6-2, 5-0 and 6-1 to earn his spot in the “B” Finals versus Phil Brancucci. In that Final – Sullivan salvaged the day by playing real well as he took down Phil in a sweep winning all three games by an identical 5-2 score to secure the “B” title.
The NYTHL’S tenth season continues - another exciting league date is in the books. Next month on December 14th the league will host league its third league date at Rabs. We are expecting an even larger turnout for that one. As always we end with the same question. With now even better games and an ever growing league comprised of so many great players and even better men, what are you waiting for? Get behind the rods and GET IN THE GAME. Be a part of the NYTHL. For more info visit www.nythl.com
Happy Thanksgiving.
Until next month – Be Well!
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