Carlo Bossio Turns Hat-Trick in Sherbrooke
Gino Bossio Grabs Quebec Cup Lead
Yours Truly Finishes 2007 in Top-10

Gino Bossio (3rd), Carlo Bossio (1st), Dave Kraehling (2nd)

Sherbrooke, Quebec, November 10

A scintillating performance by Carlo Bossio propelled him to his third consecutive title in Sherbrooke. Carlo defeated a determined Dave Kraehling in straight games in their best-of-three final. Dave himself had a remarkable day, rebounding from his dismal outing in Montreal to reach the finals in a very tough Sherbrooke field. (New lucky hat, eh Dave?) Gino Bossio finished third, thus earning enough points to take the lead in the current Quebec Cup race. Carlo had defeated Gino in a 3-game semi-final series, while Dave eliminated Eric Larochelle in the other semi-final. Eric played very well to finish fourth on the day, behind Carlo, Dave and Gino.

Thirty-five players showed up to vie for the Sherbrooke title, and to jockey for position in the overall Quebec Cup standings. The field included almost all the top players, with the exceptions of Burt Brassard and Greg Peden. As well, with fewer weaker players in attendance compared with the Montreal tournament, the competition in Sherbrooke feels especially tough.

If you don’t believe me, just consider the opening round-robin. There were three pools (12, 12, and 11 players), with the top four from each pool advancing to the second-round A-pool. After the dust had settled in the opening round, no fewer than three top-10 players (Gino Bossio, Denis Begin, Alain Gamache) found themselves relegated to the second-round B-pool. While these three great players had no trouble playing their way back into the final 16, only Gino was able to surge from that position into the final four.

I was fortunate to avoid relegation, finishing fourth in my opening pool – behind Dany Leclerc, Martin Labelle and Jr. Gelinas. I edged out the Anoussis brothers (Alex and Sam) by just one point. Alex Anoussis ended up performing well, finishing 12 on the day after defeating reigning Quebec Cup champ Patrick Cote in a subsequent playoff round. Patrick does not like playing in Sherbrooke – historically he has had problems here. For me, it was like “old home week” playing the Anoussis brothers again. We last played together in the Montreal Table Hockey League in the early 1980s – 27 years ago! So it’s great to see them back in action. They are both talented players, moving up in the rankings after only two tournaments each.

all first round results here

Second Round: A-Pool

This is definitely my favorite round-robin, and it’s a thrill every time I manage to make the cut. Only in this second-round A-pool can you play so many top players back-to-back-to-back. It’s like playing in a league comprised of superstars. There are no easy games; on the contrary, the only easy thing is getting mugged if you’re not sharp.

Carlo Bossio definitely displayed his talent, finishing first in this round with a record of 8-2-1 – amazing considering the level of competition. So he assured himself of being #1 seed in the playoffs, guaranteed to encounter the lowest-seeded survivor of every playoff round.

There are two predominant schools of thought governing the second-round A-pool: I call them the “nonchalant” school and the “percentage” school. The nonchalant school says: “You have nothing to lose; you’re guaranteed a berth in the final 16; relax and enjoy the round.” I tried that a couple of times, and got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. So I switched schools. The percentage school says: “You need to place as highly as possible in this round, to assure yourself of meeting a lower seed in the playoffs and thus having a better chance of winning.” I tried that a couple of times, and it worked. Here's to percentages: they got me into the top-10.

It’s all about percentages, and match-ups. In general, higher seeds have a better chance against lower seeds. Of course, on any given day (like November 10) you might just meet a so-called “lower seed” like Gino Bossio, who may have slept through the preliminary round, got relegated, and woke up in time to trounce a lot of players seeded higher on the day. Even so, the percentages predict (correctly) that higher seeds beat lower seeds more often than not. That’s exactly why casinos make money: While there are always a few gamblers who win short-term in Vegas, most end up losing in the long run. That’s because the percentages always favor the House. So unless you’re Carlo Bossio, who has proven time and again that he can beat everyone on a given day, success in the playoffs depends on percentages and match-ups. The higher you’re seeded, the better your chances are of encountering lower seeds whom you can beat.

all second round results here

The Playoffs

In my case, I finished 7th in the A-pool, which represented an improvement (I had gone in there with the 11th-best record from the first round). So I drew the 10th seed in the playoffs: Michel Decarie, and managed to defeat him in 3 games. That assured me of a place in the final 8, and set up my second-round series against Eric Larochelle. I was leading Eric 3-1 in game #1, but lost my focus. He came back to tie the score, and he won the game 4-3 in overtime. He blew me away in the second game, 6-0. Eric then lost to Dave Kraehling in the semis, and lost again to Gino Bossio in the “bronze medal” series. No disgrace; Eric had played great on the day. Dave had been playing superbly himself, but seemed to run out of gas against Carlo. I thought Dave would force game 3, but Carlo was not about to let that happen. Carlo is so talented that he seems almost able to win at will. That’s quite a feat, given the depth of talent in the sport today.

Carlo wins 3rd straight title in Sherbrooke	Sam Anoussis (3) Eric Maurice (1) Remi Lemieux (2), B-series winners	Richard St-Laurent (right) wins C-series

Congratulations as well to Eric Maurice, for winning the B-series trophy. He is a truly spirited competitor. And congratulations to Richard St-Laurent, for winning the C-series trophy. He is a devoted educator as well as a die-hard table-hockey player.

I had been only one series away from contending with the best, and that felt good. So now I was jostling for position with Jr. Gelinas, Dany Leclerc and Alain Gamache: any of us could have finished 5,6,7 or 8. I defeated Jr. in 2 straight games (reversing my first-round loss to him in Montreal, where he had knocked me out of the final 8). Then I faced Dany (again!) – We had played for 13th and 14th spots in Montreal, and Dany had prevailed. Now we were playing for 5th and 6th spots – a big improvement. Dany prevailed again, and kudos to him for finishing 5th. I finished 6th, with no regrets. On the contrary: This had been my best performance yet in Quebec, since my 2006 comeback. If I can get past a few more guys, I will have a chance to play the Bossios for some hardware.

The Quebec Cup 2007-08

Now let’s put the Quebec Cup in perspective. The bigger picture is beginning to emerge. Not only is Quebec deep in table-hockey talent; it is also astute in table hockey organization. A lot of credit must be given to the chief organizers of Hockey-sur-Table Quebec – Martin Labelle, Carlo Bossio, Denis Begin – for developing a tournament format that brings out the best in everyone, showcases all the talent, and makes the sport as competitive as possible.

Just look at the standings, and you’ll see why: After three events (Quebec, Montreal, Sherbrooke) there are no fewer than three main contenders for the Quebec Cup, to be decided in Gatineau in March 2008. Gino Bossio, Patrick Cote, and Carlo Bossio all have a good chance to win. In fact, Gino or Patrick will win the Quebec Cup if either of them wins the Gatineau title. Carlo could win the Cup if he wins in Gatineau, but only if Gino and Patrick both finish third or lower there. And, depending on how these leaders fare in Gatineau, Jr. Gelinas and Dave Kraehling both have an outside chance of overtaking them on aggregate points. It will all be decided at the fourth and final tournament of the cycle. Now that’s competitive!

Quebec Cup standings here

Looking more closely at the playoff formats, you can see the astuteness of the organizers. At each tournament, everyone plays four playoff series. Each series represents a critical “fine-tuning” of the standings – on that day and therefore also overall. If you lose your first series at a given tournament, you can still finish 9th or 10th on the day and earn valuable points in the standings. If you win your first series and lose your second one (as I did in Sherbrooke), you can still improve to 5th or 6th spot by winning your third or fourth series, thus earning valuable points in the aggregate standings. This astute format gives everyone incentive to play as well as they can, right to the end. It makes for optimal competition.

As well, it has interesting ramifications for the Quebec Cup itself. One consequence is that consistency pays bigger dividends than intermittent brilliance. Gino Bossio leads the race without having won any of the 3 events to date – he has placed 2, 3 and 9. Another consequence is that even top-10 players can afford one bad outing and still do well overall. For example, Patrick finished 15th in Sherbrooke but is currently ranked #2; Dave finished 17th in Montreal but is currently ranked #5. Yet another consequence is that even the most outstanding players must play multiple tournaments in order to remain in contention. For example, Carlo has played only 2 events (Montreal, Sherbrooke) and won them both: an outstanding feat to be sure, but only good enough for 3rd place in the aggregate race. Burt Brassard remains in the top-10 after finishing 3rd and 6th in Montreal and Quebec, but is effectively out of the running after missing the Sherbrooke event. So to win the Quebec Cup, you have to play brilliantly at (virtually) every tournament. This whole cycle of events, and aggregate standings, is itself brilliantly conceived, and superbly organized. That’s why I congratulate Hockey-sur-Table’s “brain trust” – Martin, Carlo and Denis. Not only are they great players in their own right: They have devised a way to get the greatest play out of everyone on the circuit. Bravo!

All this competitive energy and organizational acumen will culminate in Gatineau, in March, where the winner of the Quebec Cup 2007-08 will be deservedly crowned. If you love table hockey, be there! No matter what happens, you will be in for a treat.

Parting Shots: How to qualify as a “serious” table hockey player

As some of you already know, I was in Frankfurt, Germany from November 7-9, at the China Europe Business Meeting. Some of you also know that international travel (especially to and from the US) has become much more difficult since 9/11 – more security, more delays, more stress, less predictability. Greg Scoma knows all about the vicissitudes of air-travel, and wrote about it on Table Hockey Heaven. So if you don’t believe me, just ask him. I had told Martin that I would make it to Sherbrooke from Frankfurt if at all possible. Even contemplating it struck me as a little crazy. So what? All serious table hockey players are at least a little crazy. That’s how you qualify. But the matter was not entirely in my hands. Here’s how things worked out:

Friday, November 9

7:00 am: Wake-up call in Frankfurt, Germany. Breakfast and check-out.
8:00 am: Taxi to airport. Check-in for 10:15 a.m. flight to Newark.
10:35 am: Flight departs, almost on-time – good news.
2:05 pm: (local time): 8 ½ hour flight arrives in Newark, 10 minutes early!
3:05 pm: Cleared customs, baggage, immigration, air-train, parking. On the road!
7:35 pm: Four and half hours to Hartford, CT! (almost double normal time). Rainy Friday on Garden State Parkway: a mess. Routes 87 and 84 also a mess. Accidents, stalled cars and traffic jams.
11:05 pm: Finally arrive in Sherbrooke, after 8-hour drive (normally 6 hours). Have been up for 22 hours. Time for supper & sleep.

Saturday, November 10

8:00 am: I awoke refreshed and energized – happy to be in Sherbrooke to play table hockey with the best. It doesn’t get any better than this! And that’s the truth. I had no expectations about performance, and was just glad that the traveling had worked out.

My reasoning: If you don’t attend a tournament, you are guaranteed to earn no points. If you do attend a tournament, you are bound to earn some points. Some points are better than no points. So I was happy to be there.

After my 6th place finish, Carlo (who has a great sense of humor) had these words to say: “The further you travel, the better you play. Maybe you should travel to Gatineau from China; you could win it all.” Don’t tempt me, Carlo, I just might do it!

Sunday, November 11

8:00 am: Checked email in my Sherbrooke hotel. Received this from Martin:
"Te voilà maintenant dans le top 10!" (Here you are, now in the top-10!)

If this is a dream, please don’t wake me up! Making the top-10 today means as much to me as winning it all 27 years ago! It is a thrill to be in such amazing company. My thanks to you all. See the top-10 here