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THE VINNER MAKES IT FOUR FOR FOUR IN NYTHL’S TENTH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

     The NYTHL’s fourth league date of its tenth anniversary season took place on Saturday January 18, 2025 at Rab’s on Staten Island.  It featured eighteen competitors from five different states.  The day also featured two new players, Glen Cullen of Trenton, NJ and Tom Kearns of Pittsburgh PA.  Each of whom performed very well in their debuts.   It was also great to see the return of John Power who made his first appearance since March of 2024.  The players on hand competed in a seventeen game single round robin then were ranked according to the day’s standings.  The top eight players would qualify for the “A” playoffs.   Players nine thru eighteen would then compete in the “B” playoffs.  At the conclusion of the round robin, Vinny “The Vinner” Catania finished in the top spot again, posting a 14-1-0 record.  George Slater who made his return after missing the prior two league dates made his presence felt with a very strong showing.  Slater’s 12-4-1 finish was highlighted by a 5-1 victory over Vinny Catania.  It was Catania’s only loss of the day, and just his second round robin loss of the season.  The surging Rob Brancucci was also 12-4-1, but was third due to the head to head loss to Slater.  The legendary Steve Bernstein kicked off his day by beating Bob D’Addario 4-2  in the opening grudge match, then went on to finish 11-4-2 landing him fourth.    The aforementioned D’Addario finished fifth, just a point behind Bernstein at 11-5-1.  Len Mecca was sixth at 10-5-2.  Chris D’Andrea had a rough day by his standards finishing seventh at 10-7-0.  Walter Zissler continued his steady play rounding out the top tier field of eight with a 9-6-2 mark.  Larry Durham finished a single point behind Zissler at 9-7-1 in ninth place.  Glen Cullen performed exceptionally well in his debut.  Glen also just missed the “A” playoffs by a single point as he finished 9-7-1 for tenth overall.  Just to exemplify how tough the NYTHL has become, one of the league’s top dogs John Power finished eleventh at 8-7-2.  That is not to say that J.P.’s inactivity since March of 2024 wasn’t a factor, but the competition is no doubt stronger now than ever before.  The second half of the surging Brancucci brothers – Phil had a solid day finishing 7-7-3 good for twelfth.  Brian Sullivan who was under the weather gutted out a 6-9-2 day landing him thirteenth.  The ageless Anthony Sciacca had a tough day finishing fourteenth at 6-10-1.  Dennis Simone fifteenth had five points.  Mike Digiulio was a point behind Dennis at sixteenth.  The debuting Tom Kearns played well enough to earn four points as he finishing seventeenth.  T.K. proved to be a tough opponent for various players, and will no doubt be a player to watch. Double L – Larry Lassiter who was much more competitive - rounded out the field finishing eighteenth.  Let’s move on to each of the “A” and “B” playoffs.

     In the “A” QuarterFinals the one seed Vinny Catania swept past eight seeded Walter Zissler by scores of 6-2, 4-2, and 5-1.  The two seed George Slater took on seventh seed Chris D’Andrea.  Unfortunately for George, his high seed was of no help as Chris had an off day in the round robin landing him seventh.  D’Andrea upped his level of play as Slater did not enjoy the same success he had earlier in the day. D’Andrea swept past George, taking game one 8-3, game two 4-2 and then won game three 4-1 to advance.  The three versus six series was a good one.  The three seed Robert Brancucci took on six seed Len Mecca.  Brancucci opened the series with victories of 3-1, and 2-1 to take a 2-0 series lead.  Mecca struck back, taking game three in overtime by an 8-7 score, but suffered an overtime loss of his own in game four.  Rob closed out the series beating Mecca 4-3.  The final Quarter-Final series was a rematch of the grudge match earlier in the day between fourth seed Steve “The Stein” Bernstein and fifth seed “The Bob O” Bob D’Addario.  D’Addario who fell behind last month’s Quarter-Final series against The Stein two games to none before roaring back to take the final three lost to Stein earlier in the round robin Grudge match by a 4-2 score.  This time D’Addario played exceptionally well especially on defense limiting Bernstein to just three goals in the entire series en-route to a three game sweep of the Stein.  The Bob O took down Steve by scores of 5-1, 3-1 and 3-1 respectively.  D’Addario has now won six straight playoff games against Bernstein.  Let’s move on to the Semi-Finals.

     The “A” Semi-Finals were underway.  The top seeded Vinner would go on to end D’Andrea’s day via a sweep.  The Vinner defeated the seven seeded D’Andrea by scores of 6-2, 7-1 and 3-1 to reach the finals.  In the other Semi-Final three seed Rob Brancucci took on five seed Bob D’Addario.  The Bob O jumped out to the lead with an opening 5-2 victory.  Brancucci tied the series with a 5-3 victory.  The Bob O once again took the lead by winning game three 3-1.  The ever improving Brancucci’s resiliency enabled him to win game four 5-3 to tie the series and force a deciding game five for a trip to the Finals.  The deciding game was a tight affair that was tied 2-2 with fewer than two minutes remaining.  The Bob O then pumped in three straight in under a minute to storm ahead 5-2.  Brancucci once again showed why he is now a top player.  Rob scored two quick goals to pull within one at 5-4.  D’Addario finally settled the affair with just under twenty seconds when he scored to go up by two and on to win 6-4.   It was now on to the Finals.

     For a fourth straight month Vinny Catania was in the Finals.  This was Bob D’Addario’s first trip of the year.  He was swept by Catania in the Semi-Finals of league date one, then did not participate in league dates two and three.  The Vinner opened the series with a 5-1 triumph.  Game two was even worse for the Bob O as Catania really worked him over by winning 9-1.  Game three switched over to the Bob O’s choice of board.  Although the third contest was closer, the game or series was never in doubt.  The Vinner finished off the sweep by winning game three 3-1 to take the League Date Four title.  D’Addario with his strong day finished second overall.  Robert Brancucci finished third on the day by virtue of the standings.

     In the “B” Playoffs Number thirteen seed Brian Sullivan did not participate.  The field was then left with nine.  A one game playoff between the seventeen seed Newcomer Tom Kearns and eighteen seed Double L – Larry Lassiter was played.  Tom Kearns earned his first ever NYTHL victory via a 3-0 shutout to advance into the Quarters.  In the “B” Quarter-Finals nine seed Larry Durham then swept seventeen seed Tom Kearns in three. Ten seed Glen Cullen continued his amazing debut as he swept past number sixteen seed Mike Digiulio.  Number eleven John Power went on to sweep fifteen seed Dennis Simone.  Twelfth seed Phil Brancucci then took on fourteen seed Anthony Sciacca.  Phil opened the series with a 3-1 victory.  Brancucci then won a very exciting game two in overtime by a 4-3 margin.  Sciacca struck back in game three shutting out Phil 2-0.  Brancucci refused to let the series slip away as the fourth game also required overtime, this time with Phil coming out on top 3-2 to win the series in four.  In the “B” Semi-Finals, Phil Brancucci kept rolling as he swept past nine seed Larry Durham by scores of 2-1, 6-3 and 3-2 to advance to the Final.  The other half of the bracket featured number ten seed Glen Cullen versus number eleven John Power.  Glen opened the series with a 3-1 win.  J.P. struck back in game two by winning 1-0, then pulled ahead in the series by taking game three 2-1.  Glen’s magic in his debut was not yet exhausted.  Cullen tied the series with an impressive 4-1 win to force a fifth and deciding game.  Glen’s game five performance was even more impressive as he powered past J.P. in game five by a 5-2 score to win the series 3-2 games.  The “B” Final was set.  Both Phil Brancucci and Glen Cullen were playing well and the series figured to be close.  Indeed it was.  Glen won a thrilling game one in overtime 3-2.  Phil struck back with a 2-1 overtime victory of his own to tie the series at one.  Game three AGAIN required overtime and again Phil earned a duplicate 2-1 victory.  Phil finally ended Cullen’s impressive debut when he won the only game of the series not decided by a goal.  Brancucci clinched his first ever “B” title with a 4-2 win to clinch the series three games to one earning him the NYTHL League Date 4 “B” Championship.

     Another extraordinary league date is now in the history books.  Eighteen players participated in League date four and twenty-one have now already competed this year overall.  The league continues to grow as interest in this great sport continues to escalate.  Dare I again ask?  With great games to play and great people to compete on them – what are you waiting for?  Get behind the rods and Join the NYTHL.  Like so many others, you will be glad you did.  See you at League Date V on Saturday February 22, 2025.


See you next month - God Bless!


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