Drummondville, Quebec,
January 31, 2009
Martin Labelle followed
his November victory in Sherbrooke with a dominant performance
in Drummondville, and has now captured two consecutive titles
in his quest for Quebec Cup III. The Quebec Cup is awarded
annually to the player with the best aggregate record (best
3 performances) on the grueling Quebec Cup tour.
The tour boasts five tournaments this season:
Montreal (September 2008, won by Carlo Bossio) Sherbrooke
(November 2008, won by Labelle), Drummondville (January
2009, won by Labelle), Gatineau (April 2009), and Quebec
City (May 2009). If Martin Labelle wins either Gatineau
or Quebec City, he will clinch the Quebec Cup with a perfect
record of three tournament victories, equalling Carlo
Bossio’s feat of last season. If Labelle
wins both Gatineau and Quebec, he will set a new record
of four tournament wins in a single season.
Then again, if Carlo comes back to win in
Gatineau, he would tie Martin at 2 wins each. In that case
the Quebec Cup would be decided in Quebec City in May. Many
scenarios are still possible, but Labelle controls his destiny
for the time being.
Martin Labelle’s solid victory in
Drummondville was achieved by two main factors: His outstanding
offense, and the resurgence of Sam Anoussis,
who eliminated Gino and Carlo Bossio in back-to-back playoff
series. Martin’s precision scoring machine ran like
clockwork. No matter how many goals Labelle allowed, he
always managed to score more. For example, he eliminated
Pat Cote in game 2 of their semi-final
by a count of 9-7. In fact, Martin did not lose a single
playoff game, going a perfect 8-0 en route to the title.
Labelle defeated Eric Larochelle
in Final
On the other side of the draw, Sam
Anoussis had a remarkable tournament, defeating
the Bossio brothers back-to-back (an amazing feat), then
temporarily running out of gas against Eric Larochelle,
who played strongly to reach the final. Sam recovered his
form to snatch 3rd place from Pat Cote, while Eric went
down quickly and quietly in his final series against Martin.
Back to Sam: Imagine defeating the Bossio brothers and Pat
Cote in playoff series on the same day, and finishing only
3rd! That’s how tough the competition is in Quebec.
Even so, the spirit of the old Montreal
Table Hockey League (1978-1983) is alive and well, with
the Anoussis brothers -- Sam and Alex --
both in the current top 10. Sam is the first former MTHLer
to win a medal at an HSTQ event. If he keeps playing at
this level, and channels more of his energy into his game
(instead of erupting in all directions), he will win more
medals, and place higher than 3rd. Sam was a great player
back in the early 80s, and is even better now. Ditto for
Alex.
.
Sam Anoussis -- better than ever
So how hard is it to win the Quebec
Cup? And what befalls those who do? Let’s
look at the first two winners – Pat Cote (2006-07)
and Carlo Bossio (2007-08) – and see what has happened
to them since.
Pat Cote won the Cup in
its inaugural season, earning the nickpname “le phenomen”
in the process. But it wasn’t decided until the final
event, in Quebec City 2007. Pat defeated Gino Bossio
in the finals, becoming the first player to claim this prestigious
trophy, emblematic of Classic Table Hockey supremacy in
a province which is already supreme in this sport.
Pat went on win to the US Open in Chicago
(July 2007), defeating his brother Francois in the finals.
However, Pat has not won a tournament since then. He has
played well at many, to be sure, but for the time being
the Fates have derailed him. I managed to defeat him in
the New York Open (September 2007) and in Montreal (September
2008), both series going 3 games, one of them into overtime.
These series are among the highlights of my comeback so
far.
Pat is a giant among contemporary table
hockey players. As the first winner of the Quebec Cup, his
place in table hockey history is already assured. And he
is still young man, not content to rest on past laurels.
Having hoisted the Cup, he relinquished it to Carlo Bossio
the very next year. But he would like to hoist it again.
Pat "le phenomen" Cote
Carlo Bossio claimed the
Cup decisively in 2007-08. By winning the first three tournaments
in a row -- Montreal 2007, Sherbrooke 2007, Gatineau 2008
– he owned the Cup by March 2008, and did not even
need to show up in Quebec City in May. En route, Carlo had
defeated a different player in each final series: Pat
Cote in Montreal, Dave Kraehling
in Sherbrooke, Martin Labelle in Gatineau.
Carlo was simply unbeatable. He played like a wizard, casting
spells on the puck to make it do his bidding.
Great table hockey players love a challenge,
so of course Carlo came to Quebec. He had a chance to sweep
all 4 HSTQ tournaments that year, which is akin to winning
all 4 ATP majors in men’s singles tennis – a
“grand slam.” Roger Federer
has managed 3 of 4, but even he could not win them all.
The last man to win a tennis grand slam was the Australian
legend “Rocket” Rod Laver,
who did it twice. Now Carlo had a chance to be the first
to win an HSTQ grand slam, a feat of comparable difficulty.
Carlo "The King" Bossio
Rest assured that every other table hockey
player at the Quebec City event, in May 2008, was determined
to prevent Carlo from sweeping the tournament season. There
was a big effort all around, and Carlo looked vulnerable
for the first time in a long time. I was having a good day,
and beat him 6-2 in our A-pool match. But the real giant-killer
turned out to be Junior Gelinas, who came
back from the B-Pool to defeat both Pat and Carlo in the
playoffs! Junior was unbelievable.
On the other side of the draw, Dany
Leclerc prevailed, making the finals. There he
encountered a shell-shocked Gelinas, who paid the price
for eliminating the two Quebec Cup winners, Cote and Bossio,
back to back. Junior was now running on empty, and Dany
is not called “the punisher” for nothing. Dany
defeated Junior, but they both deserved their 1-2 finish.
Carlo had a bad day by his standards, yet he still placed
3rd. I know a lot of players, including this one, who would
be thrilled to finish 3rd at an HSTQ event. But for Carlo,
it had a taste of failure. That’s a measure of his
incredible talent. He won the Quebec Cup handily, but at
least (from the competition’s point of view) he did
not sweep the season.
The entire tournament was covered by a very
funky Radio Canada program, which digs into eccentric niches
of Quebec culture. At this event they struck a real vein.
The reporter, Stephane Leclair, really appreciated the greatness
of the sport, and the high performance of the players. He
produced a fabulous report, in French, which you can hear
in its entirety here: La
fievre du hockey sur table -- table hockey fever
Quebec Cup III
Carlo seemed to get back on track in September
2008, winning in Montreal over Dany. But now Martin Labelle
appeared on the podium, having captured 3rd. His appearance
would soon prove ominous. In November 2008, in Sherbrooke,
Sam Anoussis defeated Carlo in the playoffs, opening a door
for Martin, who walked through and won the tournament. As
we have just seen, Sam proved he is for real in Drummondville,
eliminating both Bossios and paving the way for Martin,
who calmly demolished the rest of the competition to win
his second in a row.
If this current trend continues, with each
year’s Quebec Cup winner getting derailed the following
season, it will soon be Martin’s turn to claim the
coveted trophy. But if Carlo can re-discover his wizardry,
and win in Gatineau in April, then the stage will be set
for an epic table hockey show-down in Quebec City in May.
Stay tuned, as Quebec Cup III lies
within Martin Labelle’s reach, but is not yet in his
grasp.
Thanks to Dany Leclerc,
and his brother-in-law Real, for organizing
a great event in Drummondville.
Table Hockey Terminators:
Labelle, Bossio, Cote
