Table Hockey Heaven

[DTHLcommish]

Mr. Tom Warren begins his defense of one of the uglyest TH league trophys ever... the DTHL 's Munro's Cup when the DTHL starts our 2nd season this Sunday at 4pm .Fresh from his Gatineau A group showing Tom will be a tough old dog to best as he will be growling at anybody that tries to take that sad trophy away from him . We had twenty TH yahoos step up to the board last year and hope to better that number this year. If Tom is to repeat he'll need to put a beat down on the top three challengers in the form of Paul Brotz ( A group in Chicago ), Bob Monaghan , and Kevin Williams (B group in the Open ) Yea 6 months of pressure in table hockey town. Time to get the dogs barken !!

[Paul]

Hi Tim,

Are you guys meeting at the same place?

"Duff Field House"
360 Palmer
Madison Heights, MI

~Paul

[DTHLcommish]

You got it Paul, and I hope you and the boys can make it up a few times too. Everybody thinks they have a chance at that ugly old lamp of a trophy and I'll have fun watching the whole thing sort it self out . Because its only our second year there is still much grey area in regards to the pecking order. So... much to be decided in the next 6 months. Note as well that there are some TH players in the Detroit area who are members of this forum (THH ) who have yet to make an appearance at the DTHL .This is very sad so ... This is my invite to you players to come out Sunday and send a couple of hours meeting and playing against a great group of guys . The fur will be flying ! Jim , you have your catch phase now I have mine. LOL

[carlo bossio]

Flying furr, hahaha I like.

[Paul]

The first DTHL league night was tonight. Tim and Paul, thanks again for the fun evening.

I'll let Tim share the stats.

~Paul

[DETMURDS]

Great job in starting another season! Makes me so home sick!

[DTHLcommish]

Well , Stats, Hmm yes the boys from the DTHL convened once again last Sun to start our second season . Everyone was ammmped up for some good ole fasion fur flyen fun as a lot of growl-en over the Stiga boards took place. Our favorite buckeye from the south Mr. Paul Ruiz made his first cameo appearance at the Duff fieldhouse which is in a sub just out side of Detroit. Paul promptly went 8 and 1 against the field and gained 1st seed status .
P.Ruiz 8-1
P. Brotz 7-2
T. Warren 7-2
T. Walker 7-2
B. Monaghan 5-4
J. Brotz 4-5
M. Waldron 3-7
K. Williams 2-7
M. Sowa 2-7
J. Mclean 0-9
This year we have gone to a best 2-3 playoff format from the semi's on and that decision payed off as Paul Ruiz made his way threw to the finals to face Paul Brotz . In the Finals P. Brotz won the first game 2-1 but Paul Ruiz found his LW centrifuge in game two and won 7-1 . So it came down to game three . Mind you all three games were intense. But game three was a pressure filled ,back and forth battle. Brotz jumped out to a 2 -nil lead with two nice goals within the first two minutes of play but Ruiz kept his cool and a RW to center shovel narrowed the gap to 1. Then Ruiz struck a nice LW to center centrifuge to tie it with a minute 25 to play. It ended after 5 in a 2 - 2 tie. On to a fun filled overtime where @ 1:11 into sudden death Paul Ruiz sealed the deal with a fine LW centrifuge to claim his first league night win . Well done to both lads.

[ReggieJ44]

Good showing, Paul! I played Tom and Tim in Gatineau and they are top flight players. Sounds like an exciting final.

Are you 3 going to be in Vegas this year?

Reggie Stefaniszyn ETHL

[Cowboy]

Who is Paul Ruiz???

Paul looks like you were rocking man... way to go!

Warren

[Jim Rzonca]

Congratulations Paul. Looks like your turning it up a notch. How many days has it been now? Still not very long so Good goin. To Tim ~ Nice determined work to grow your league. May you always keep your players fur flyin Tim!

DTHL ROCKS!
Jim Rzonca

[DTHLcommish]

Thanks Jim for your kind advice and support . Your league is one of my role models for what I think the DTHL can be. The best is yet to come ! Im also going to do my best to make it out to Los Wage's at the end of Janurary to mix it up with the big dogs . T i m

[Paul]

I don't know who this Paul guy is. .. Thanks guys.

Jim, you asked

[Jim Rzonca]

[Paul]

Tim is going to be sending me some videos. I'll post some video highlights of the nite after I get the video.

~Paul

[DTHLcommish]

Thanks Paul ,Yes I will be taping all the DTHL finals this year (10) and then putting together a edited DTHL / DVD with maybe some big dog extras from Gat and Vegas . If anyone is intersed ( Highly unlikely ) I'll be selling those in March sometime. Hey maybe a package deal a DTHL DVD and t-shirt . Well see.

[DTHLcommish]

Well the DTHL Doggies reconvened last Sunday afternoon at the historically significant Duff Fieldhouse to fight over second go round table scraps . Because of some positive local newspaper coverage I have gotten 6-7 calls of inquiry about the DTHL .As a result two *new local canines came out and tried their hand at DTHL table hockey. Jon is a long time Coleco vet and Torsten is originally from Germany but has been in the Detroit the area for the last 7 years and is also a 7 yr. Stiga veteran . We also got a second visit from our happy Ohio State fan Paul Ruiz .
Paul made the hour drive north from Toledo to take a shot at two DTHL dog bones in a row .( Its only been done once ).
Well because most of the DTHL boys play in two leagues the DTHL and the upstart CAGA they have gotten much better fast . So dogs big and small had revenge on their minds as play began . There were a couple of surprises in the RR. (see below)

RK Player RR record GF GA +/-

1) Tim Walker 10 -1 41 11 + 30
2) Paul Brotz 9 - 2 58 18 + 40
3) Tom Warren 8 - 3 48 24 + 24
4) Bob Monaghan 8 - 3 32 20 +12
5) Kevin Williams 7 - 4 46 26 +20
6) Josh Brotz 6 - 5 41 26 +15
7) Paul Ruiz 6 - 5 37 25 +12
Mike Sowa 5 - 6 28 33 - 5
9) Mike Waldron 4 - 7 30 37 - 7
10) Jim Mc lean 2 - 9 27 49 -22
11) * Jon Van Hoek 1- 10 20 65 -45
12) *Torsten Hoffman 0- 11 6 76 - 70

Once Ranking were established playoffs began with rankings basically holding till the finals . In the "A " pool Paul Brotz sought and achieved revenge on his earlier RR loss . He clamped down on that BOX and straight setted the RR 's #1 an overrated lower level C player and thus captured his first DTHL league night of the year . We have now gone to an " A " and " B " pool format and Paul Ruiz regained that great centrifuge and took our first " B " group Championship . However the biggest surprise of the night came from Kevin Williams who regained form that had him sitting in the " B " pool at the US Open in July . Kevin made his first but Im sure not last appearance in the final 4. Congrats to both Paul's and thanks for everyone for coming out. The fur did actually fly ... that night .
Happy Thanksgiving to all THH Daggs

[DTHLcommish]

DTHL afternoon # 3 took place at the historically significant Duff Fieldhouse in Madison Heights Mi this past Sunday . Four of the top five doggies in the point standings were elsewhere this fine Sunday and that left the DTHL" Champ" and old top pooch Tom Warren all alone and hungry in the larder. And as any good dog should do in that situation he gorged himself & grabbed as many points as he could (29) which vaulted him back into first place with 71 pts .

Its great to see the continued surprising fine play of Kevin Williams who went 7 and 2 in the RR robin and then gave Mr. Warren some concern in taking him to three in the "A" group finals .With a great night, Kevin jumped from 7th place to the 3ed spot this young season with 52 pts .

Tagging along with Kevin was his brother Dave ( first time at the DTHL dog pound ) who also went 7 and 2 in the RR .They split the RR games and Kevin beat him in the Semi's . It will be lots of fun seeing these two battle it out the remaining 7 nights . As any brothers in this spot know " nothing is EVER decided "

Counting Dave we had 3 new dogs show again this week with more to come . Our newbie from night two Jon returned and had a productive TH lesson from the guru Tom Warren earlier in the night and then went out and lowered his goals against by 27 and also went on to win our " B " group finals . Congrats to both the old dog (Tom) and the young pup (Jon) . We drop the puck again on the 16th .

[Paul]

Hi Tim,

I'm really sorry I didn't make it. You know how those priorities of life goes with a wife and three wonderful kids.

So did THH member Dar make it to the league night yet?

With my wrestling officiating starting up now most of my weekends are totally consumed. I hope to see you over the Christmas holiday.


Merry Christmas
~Paul

[Dar]

^^^^No I didnt. I probably wont be able to until a little later in the season. Wish I didnt work weekends. That and trying to juggle time with the GF.

[DTHLcommish]

The DTHL dog fight resumed last night ( #4 ) and we had 4 new ( dogs ) players to start there DTHL careers. That makes 10 pups so far this season. Two of which were a 16 year old ( Dan ) and a 11 yr. old ( Paul ). Dan won 3 times and Paul won five games. Congrats to those two young guys for stepping into a tough situation and doing great .
Top dog DTHL point leader and thus # 1 RR seed Tom Warren won the Round Robin with his best offensive showing ever scoring a impressive 61 goals in 11 games That tied the old DTHL mark set last March by Paul Brotz . Tom was one of 4 guys tied at 9 wins and 2 loses at the end of the RR . His + / - numbers were good enough to win the battle for # 1 . With Tim Walker seeded 2, Bob Monaghan seeded 3, and Kevin Williams seeded 4th.
Both the Williams brothers continued to make their mark on the league because the playoffs were not dominated by the aforementioned four. No , no the surprise of the night came from the #5 seed ( Kevin's brother ) Dave Williams ,who got hot at the right time and swept the playoff portion ( 5 - 0 ) by steamrolling through the 12th, 4th ,1st , and 2nd seeds respectfully to take home his first golden dog bone .Its the first time not only for him winning the playoffs but also for any player under the top four to take the playoff part of our tourney night . Congrats Dave !

Big Dave as no one likes to call him , showed a impressive balanced attack from both wingers and some fine defensive work as well . So Dave's of to Disneyland or so he said .
Last year two players stole all the kibble so far this year we have had 3 different RR winners in 4 nights and 4 different Playoff winners. I always talk about how I want parity and thats what we have .

Also Mike Sowa #6 also set a DTHL record with 6 defense shutouts for the evening.

We are up to 19 guys so far that have come out to fight at the pound this year with still more than half the season to go . Hey ,I don't think we will challenge Reg and the lads up in Edmonton with attendance just yet but were tryen .

Oh and thanks to THH 's own " Dar " for making it out to the historically significant Duff Field house to join us . Now everyone back to practice ! Hope to see all you out on the 20th .

The DTHL" Keeping the fur flying in the Motor city !! "

[Roadrunners]

I was the 4th seat that was victim to David Williams last Sunday. When he came over my house after the game (sporting the dogbone),he was still sort of in shock. Glad his CAGA training and Wheaties helped him out.

Did beat him 4-1 in the first Round-Robin, but he just overpowered me in the playoff round.

My hats off to Dave, good going!!

-Kevin Williams

[Roadrunners]

BTW.

Since "Hockey Weekend in Michigan" is being celebrated Febuary 15-17 2008, in celebration with Hockey in the Great Lakes State, "Table Hockey Week in Michigan" will be celebrated Feburaey 10th through the 17th, 2008.

In Celebration, DTHL will use their tourney on Feb 10th, 2008 to shoot for an "A" bracket and "B" bracket trophy. Kevin Williams will sponsor the trophys, and want to thank DTHL commish Tim Walker for letting this event take place. It will still be in the style of the DTHL, a round robin, then A and B playoffs. Results will still be used in the point structure of the DTHL.

CAGA will also celebrate with their toruney on February 13th, 2008 for "Table Hockey Week in Michigan" in bracket format , one round robin then single game elimination for the trophy. These games can be counted as Non-conference or Regular seasons games, but this must be declared BEFORE their round begins.

Hope all the Table Hockey heads out there will celebrate with TH's big brother (Hockey) to celebrate the fast game on ICE.

-Kevin Williams
CAGA Admin

[ReggieJ44]

Nice going with your league, Tim. Did you guys take a vote on a B division? If so, how did it go?

Reggie Stefaniszyn ETHL

[DTHLcommish]

The DTHL Dogs got back under the roof of the historically significant Duff Field House after a 40 day winter VK . Because of the rain and icy conditions in southeastern Michigan only the die hard , hard core pups ventured out this gloomy late February afternoon to witness DTHL champ Tom Warren pretty much seal up ( barring any unforeseen injury(s) ) his second straight DTHL / Munro Cup © win with exactly half the season in the can . The " Big dagg " went 8 and 1 and a snarling , tough box wielding Bob Monaghan went 7-2 in the round robin .

These two lads quickly dispatched their playoff rivals without any loses and found themselves facing each other in the finals .
Now " Coco " as we like to call him had beaten Bob in the round robin pretty good , shut the boy out in fact in a 6 - nil drubbing . So the Bulldozer was in a sour mood .He definitely had revenge on his mind as they stepped up to the board to see who was taken home the "golden dog bone " for the 5 th league night of play .
It was ... The DTHL's Mr. Offense vs Mr. Defense . This was Bob Monaghan's (#24 in the U.S. ) first ever trip to the DTHL finals and he gave the top seed (#8 in the U.S. ) all he wanted .

Game one of this 2 of of 3 final was a tight , see saw defense battle with Tom winning 2 to 1. Game two proved to be no less of a battle . Tom had a 2 to 1 lead late, late in this one. The wily vet tried his best to ice it and sit on that creaky 1 goal lead but with about 6 seconds left Bob turned a RW turnover by Tom into opportunistic LD ricochet shot that tied the game 2 - 2 and sent it into overtime . A great comeback ... but Bulldozers luck ran out when after only 5 sec into it ,Tom gained control of the face-off and executed a quick, clean and precise centrifuge to the right corner to end the night with a outstanding record of 13 and 1. Allowing only 5 goals in the 5 playoff games .
The DTHL will be back in action next Sunday the 24th in night 6 of our 10 night season . All the dogs and pups are looking forward to and tuning up for , the big SNAC on the 29th of March . That's when the real fur will be flying !!

[Dar]

I will have to be there next week. I worked overtime Sun and didnt get a chance to get there.