Gatineau, Quebec, April 4
One thing for sure was decided in Gatineau
last Saturday: Quebec Cup III will be decided in Quebec
City on May 17. By winning Gatineau, and defeating Martin
Labelle en route, Carlo Bossio has drawn almost level with
Martin in the race for the coveted Quebec Cup, emblematic
of Coleco table hockey supremacy.
Carlo and Martin each have two tournament
victories this season: Carlo in Montreal and Gatineau; Martin
in Sherbrooke and Dummondville. If either of them wins in
Quebec City next month, he will take home the Quebec Cup
– awarded to the player with the best three tournament
results overall. With Carlo and Martin deadlocked at 2 victories
each, the stage is set for a dramatic finale to this 2008-09
season.
Last year at this time, Carlo had already
clinched the 2007-08 Quebec Cup by winning three tournaments
in a row (Montreal, Sherbrooke, Gatineau). His quest for
a table hockey “grand slam” was derailed in
Quebec City by Junior Gelinas. Junior defeated both Carlo
and Pat Cote in the playoffs before running out of gas against
Dany Leclerc, who swept Junior in the finals. But Carlo
still took home the Quebec Cup.
Martin could have clinched this year’s
Quebec Cup by winning in Gatineau, but the Fates of Table
Hockey had decreed otherwise. It was a hard-fought tournament
overall, with 16 players vying for eight playoff spots.
Most of the 16 were very strong players, and so the competition
was fierce – and close – right from the opening
face-off.
The Opening Round Robin
If you don’t believe how close it
was, check the opening round-robin stats. Five players were
tied for 1st place with 22 points each, and only 6 points
separated the top 9 players. The first tiebreak is number
of wins, which still left Gino and Martin tied for 1st place
(10 wins each); Pat, Sam and Dany tied for 3rd place (9
wins each); Denis and Carlo tied for 6th place (8 wins each);
yours truly and Eric tied for 8th place (7 wins each).
The second tiebreak is not head-to-head
play; rather, goal differential – a player’s
total goals scored minus his total goals allowed. Based
on differential, Gino edged out Martin by just one goal,
and the same for Denis over Carlo. I edged out Eric by only
two goals, but with poetic justice, having defeated him
3-2 in our head-to-head encounter.
The Philosophy
The philosopher with the best take on table
hockey tournaments never saw the game played, but that doesn’t
matter. I am referring to the great Roman stoic, Epictetus,
who observed that there are two kinds of circumstances:
Those within our control, and those outside our control.
His sage advice is that we should devote every effort to
matters we can control, while not wasting any effort worrying
about matters we cannot control.
The lesson for table hockey round-robins
is clear: You should devote every effort to the games you
play: each goal for, each goal against, and each final score,
is partly under your control and therefore supremely important.
At the same time, it makes no sense to worry about what
the other players are doing against each other – who
is beating whom, and by how much. Those matters lie completely
outside your control, and so they merit no concern. Just
play each of your games as best you can, and the rest will
take care of itself. That’s the theory, anyway.
The A-Pool: Epictetus to the Rescue
So the opening round-robin assorted the
16 players into A-pool (top 8) and B-pool. (bottom 8). Each
pool would then play its own round-robin to determine the
playoff seedings, but with one twist: a kind of cut-throat
repechage. After the round robins, the bottom two players
in the A-pool would have to face the top two players in
the B-pool, in best-of-3 series. The two winners would advance
to the A-pool playoffs (the repechage aspect), while the
two losers would be relegated to the B-pool playoffs (the
cut-throat aspect). So the objective for A-pool players
was: finish in the top 6, avoiding at all costs 7th or 8th
places. For B-pool players the objectve was: finish in the
top 2, thereby gaining another chance to make the A playoffs.
Playing in these A-pools is a special feeling.
It’s like a feeding frenzy among big sharks, all of
whom are trying to take large bites out of each other. If
you can play .500 hockey in this setting, you are doing
well, believe me.
Pat played an amazing round (6-0-1), while
Carlo started to recover his form (4-1-2). Applying Epictetus,
I had no idea what was going on outside my games, and did
not concern myself. Unfortunately, I had no idea what was
going on inside some of my games as well! Thus I ended up
winning only 2 of 7 – against Denis and Martin –
although I lost 4 other games by just one goal. I was pretty
sure that a record of 2-5-0 would leave me in 7th or 8th
place, and that I would have to face a hungry B-pool winner
in the cut-throat repechage.
But Epictetus came to my rescue. It turned
out that Denis and Martin were exactly the 2 guys I had
to beat to avoid the repechage. They both finished 1-5-1,
so my 2-5-0 was good enough for 6th place. That’s
how tough the feeding frenzy is: Only 3 players out of 8
(Pat, Carlo, Gino) had positive goal differentials. The
rest of us were all outscored by our opposition. This round
was a disaster for Martin, and a harbinger of worse things
to come.
The “A/2” Pool
Don’t be misled by the letter “B”:
In most HTQ tournaments, there are really about 12-16 “top-10”
players. There just isn’t enough room for all of them
on a given day. So imagine yourself in the so-called “B-pool”
in Gatineau. Take a look at the competition: Alex Anoussis,
Alain Gamache, Michel Decarie, Eric Larochelle. All of these
guys are, or recently were, in the top-10. That’s
half the pool. Not exactly “B.” More like “A/2”.
Alex and Eric prevailed, with 6 wins each
in their 7 games. Alain came right behind them, with 5 wins.
Then it was time for the cut-throat repechage. Martin eliminated
Alex by the narrowest of margins, in game-3 overtime; while
Eric defeated Denis in 3 games as well, all of them decided
by just one goal.
The Playoffs
In the quarter-finals, Pat
(1) beat Eric (8) in 3 games. Likewise, Gino (3) defeated
me (6) in 3 games – all close. Meanwhile Sam (4) disposed
of Dany (5) in 2 one-goal games. In the biggest series,
with most on the line, Carlo (2) faced Martin (7). Carlo
had elevated his game in successive rounds, while Martin
lacked his early-round intensity. Carlo sensed an opportunity
and made the most of it, eliminating Labelle 7-1, 7-3.
In the semi-finals, Carlo beat
Gino (for a change) in 3 games, while Pat walloped Sam 12-5,
5-3. In the finals, Carlo beat Pat (for a change) in straight
games, pulling level with Labelle in the Quebec Cup race.
final series action
Sam beat Gino for the bronze.
This was Sam’s second bronze of the season. He and
Alex are playing stellar table hockey since their comeback,
following a 25-year hiatus from the game.
In the back draw, Dany took
out Eric in two, while I managed to defeat Martin in two,
6–5 and 2-1 (OT). Martin had eliminated me in Drummondville,
also in 2 close games. But on this day the capricious Fates
of Table Hockey saw fit to even the score.
Playoff
results, A
The Stage
It will all be decided in Quebec on May
17. The smart money (not mine!) would be on either Carlo
or Martin to win a decisive 3rd tournament this season,
and with it the Quebec Cup 2008-09. In a perfect world,
they would meet in the finals, and play game-3 overtime.
But this imperfect world is also unpredictable.
Carlo came to Quebec City last May looking for an unprecedented
4th consecutive title, and he got mauled by Junior. Martin
came to Gatineau this year seeking his 3rd consecutive title,
which would have tied Carlo’s record. But somehow
the bottom fell out of Martin’s game.
Many scenarios are possible in Quebec City
2009. Carlo’s 3rd and Martin’s 13th (from Quebec
2008) will fall off the rolling table, which gives Labelle
a numerical edge. Martin’s three best numbers coming
into Quebec are 1,1,3; while Carlo’s are 1,1,5. So
if Martin finishes ahead of Carlo in Quebec he will win
the Cup no matter what. And if Carlo finishes 4th or worse,
Martin will win the Cup no matter what. But if Carlo places
2nd and finishes ahead of Martin, then Carlo will win the
Cup no matter what. Should both these giants get mown down
by “giant-killers” lurking in the depths of
the A-Pool or the shallows of the B-Pool, then all bets
are off.
Last but not least, thanks to Alain Gamache
and Eric Desjardins for their superb organization. A la
prochaine! A la partie!
B-winners
Eric Desjardins(2), Alain Gamache (1),
Alex Anoussis (3)
|
C-winners
Steve Gosselin (3), Michel Decarie (1),
Mikhael Larochelle (2) |
