Pierre Chastenais' table hockey blog
• Sunday, September 14, 2008 - The main event has passed, now let's get on with our normal lives!!!
Which ain't normal at all!!!
This past week-end the cream of the table hockey world met in Repentigny, QC for a joint venture between 2 table hockey greats. Carlo Bossio and Junior Gelinas joined forces to make this event the largest table hockey happening so far in North America, with over 70 players who played coleco, stiga or both!
I couldn't make it this week-end because of working commitments (most of the people who will read this might think it's all BS, but I had to work, and only time I play table hockey tournaments is when I'm on vacation, therefore I can get free from work!) but it appears the reviews will be good, as the venue was super, unlike the venue I use year in year out for my end of may event. I'm sure those who came this week-end will come back next year!
Next shall be Gatineau next month, then a coleco event in Sherbrooke in november.
And the Montreal stiga league will start it's 18th season next saturday and I'll miss that, as I have to work. Will be able to play the next 2 times, as I'll be free those saturdays, as I'll have worked the nightshift before.
It's going to be an interesting year, indeed! |
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• Monday, September 1, 2008 - Happy Labour day!!!
And I take time and write here in my blog, since the tavern is closed for the week-end, and Heaven isn't what it's meant to be anymore.
I was appalled that fellows in Chicago playing on vintage Munro games got their thread removed, because of Stalin politics! I've met with the WTHA boys in my travels to Lemont and the organiser has a very nice system of resurrecting these old games, and puts them on solid bases! But there are some people who do not like how the promotion of their association is done. For crissakes! It's a vintage game we're talking about!!!
Closer to home, in two weeks there will be a major table hockey event that I will not attend, because of working commitments. The Repentigny field on both Coleco and Stiga will be very tough, and there is no place for me in there, as I wouldn't have fun playing in it. But 14 of those who will attend play or have played in the LHTSO, the oldest Stiga league in Canada!!! I know they'll do allright, especially those who will play this year, as this event will give them a head start for the regular season that will start the week-end after, because those same players may attend Gatineau next month, and possibly make a trip to New Jersey in april, on the last week-end of regular season activities. So I'm starting earlier, to accomodate those who "ruin" my scheduling, stating that the dates they chose were the best for them to hold their event.
I'm juggling with the idea of a no-nonsense table hockey discussion board, that will cater to everyone who is into all kinds of table hockey played with slots and rods. I'm tired of this one model attitude, and the best players want to play on as many as they can, and I understand that.
More to come in the days or weeks ahead, stay tuned! |
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• Thursday, August 7, 2008 - you play table hockey for 25 years? You must be crazy!!!
Perhaps I am, for having chosen a simple game as a hobby, and look at where it has led me... writing about it online!
Having spent nearly my entire life behind slots and rods is something, especially when you can't play the real game on ice because coaches told you long ago you aren't fast enough to keep up with the rest of'em. I still skate, but only when there are commercials at Bell Centre for hockey games, when I remove the snow in unwanted places on the ice.
So why have I spent the last 24 years behind slots and rods year after year? guess I still love to play. I read somewhere that the only way to have fun is to win a few games. But for the past 10 years when you have more losses than wins, you have to ask yourself some questions:
Are you getting too old to play this?
Reflexes aren't the same as when you started?
When will you completely cease playing activity?
One thing I did is to stay away from a place called Table Hockey Heaven, because of some people who don't find my comments funny, as they believe I'm mocking them. Those people do not have a sense of humor... Perhaps writing here will sooth the pain of not posting in there anymore. I've been to numerous table hockey boards online, and it's really not the same as 10 years ago! No, it IS, the same as 10 years ago!
For the past 20 years I've only been toying my skills on Stiga models from Sweden, which is still having problems being liked by north american table hockey aficionados. Recently, while in Lemont, I did take part in the coleco version of the US Open, and boy did I do lousy, finishing next to last in a pool of 16 people, and exiting quickly from a possible move from the bottom to the middle by losing 3 little 5 minute games. I'd rather take a wickedslapshot with gear driven players than boot it in with player bases, as the current coleco pucks are too heavy to be shot in the correct manner. But for some, table hockey is like pinball, anything goes... and I just don't like the style of that!
I started on coleco gameroom models and played 3 years, then played closer to home as one guy made his version of the game, and have developped a scoring touch with defencemen, something I still love to do on Stiga! And in september 1990 I started an experimental league in which I lost the final. This led to the foundation of my table hockey league, which is the oldest in Canada to use Stiga models! With it's 18th season soon to get underway, I consider my league as some launchpad for greater things, as more than 20 countries around the world play the games I use!!! I always ask how many countries still play the old games I played as a kid, or copies of? 2. North America still has a problem in adapting to the world of table hockey, despite being the first people to play a wooden game, with a very high centre with only one lever to activate 5 playing figures made of wooden pegs, and a folded clotheshanger wire as a hockey stick! Goalie was moved to block a marble from entering the net by moving left to right.
But Sweden actually designed the future of table hockey, as they were the first to have actual playing figures made of tin and metal sticks, and they were going up and down the ice on a track, thus, the expression "Slots and Rods" was created. It was only in the early 50s, that North America had it's first taste of slots and rods, as swedish based games were produced in Canada. Other companies made tin flat figures, but the centre of the ice was higher than the goal area and you still whacked a marble...
North America has a history of having different models used and there are those die-hards who still play them! I definitely like what they've done, as it promotes how table hockey is played!
During my 24 year career I did take part in many World Championships, and have seen the growth of international table hockey. But right now, you have 3 tiers of levels: 6 european countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Czech Republic, Russia and Latvia) that focus on being the best, the rest of the european countries are divided into 2 factions: the established nations who are not good enough for the big Six (Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary to name a few) and those who love to play table hockey, despite losing all the time and who do not follow ice hockey! These people are having fun, but to what extent?
The third tier is north american table hockey. Very good players on numerous models, but few who excel on all of them on a constant basis. The very best is Ken Dubois. I do mention Ken as he plays all contenders on any game imaginable: Coleco, Benej, Stiga, Munro (which he played as a kid). And if the best players in Europe, who only play on one game (except for Jacob Lindahl and Daniel Wallen, who actually came to North America to see how north american table hockey was like, and they gave a clinic on how they can adapt on another game quickly!), then perhaps a multi-game event would come out of it, as surely in Finland they still have some POLAs that can still be used and could be added tot he mix!
So in a few weeks, I'll be embarking on my 25th year of playing table hockey. This could very well be, a chronicle of the upcoming year. Stay tuned! |
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