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Table hockey strong in New England --- Sign up for Boston Challenge Today 2-24-07

The resurgence of table hockey is spreading to the Hartford area. Father and son Matt and Chris DiDomizio, whom many of you know from Stiga tour events, will host their first North American Stiga tour sanctioned tournament around mid-September. The tournament likely will be called the New England Open, or possibly the Hartford Open. The DiDomizios got the organizing bug after watching a gathering earlier this month attract a few visiting players. This will be bring to 12 the number of events scheduled for the 2007-08 tour year. Amazing. Much credit to all the table hockey organizers in the US and Canada for making this happen. Boston 2007: the next stop on the tour is the premier Boston Challenge event. It's at a new venue this year and anyone interested should help the organizers by signing up as soon as possible. The Boston Challenge draws the most players each year of any tour event and should not be missed. Please click on the Boston Challenge icon on the left for more information.

Dubois wins Stiga Las Vegas 2007 1-30-07

Kenny Dubois of the Boston area won the 21-player Stiga tournament at the Let's Play Hockey International Table Hockey Championships. He defeated Rob Chargo of Gurnee, IL in the finals, 4-1 in a series with three games decided by one goal, two of them in sudden-death OT. Edmonton's Reggie Stefaniszn took third. John Power of Breezy Point, NY won the B pool over Zach Pohlman of Madison, WI, while Rob Meer defeated his friend AJ Sarma to win the C pool. The excitement continued on Tuesday as Dave Kraehling defeated legend Lou Marinoff in a seven-game series in a Coleco tournament. Full results to come at the tournament website.

Change of date, venue for Boston tournament this year 1-27-07

The marquee event of the North American Stiga Tour, the Boston Challenge, has a new date and venue. Organizers Steve Bernstein, Mike Caponetti and Kenny Dubois will host the tournament on April 14. The Can-Am Cup tournament, a special event featuring the top players from the U.S. and Canada, will take place on the evening of April 13. The date had to be moved from April 7 because that's Easter weekend. The new venue is at Framingham State College's athletic center in Framingham, MA. You can find out all the new details at the tournament web site, click here.

Detroit, Shawinigan join Disney on North American Tour next year! 12-9-06

The USTHA and CTHA are proud to announce two new stops on the Stiga North American Tour in addition to the already-announced Stiga Wizards near Orlando, FL. First up will be the Shawinigan Challenge on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2007 in Shawinigan, QUE. Organizers are Jonathan Belanger and table hockey star Jean "Junior" Gelinas. The two have teamed up to stage an event at the Escapde Inn. Shawinigan is about 115 miles from Montreal. First prize is $250 (CDN). More details and a tournament website to come. Until then, please e-mail Junior.

We're also very proud to announce that Detroit, MI --- Hockeytown, USA --- will host a tournament in early March 2008. It'll be called the Stiga North American Championships. Detroit has been an important city in the history of table hockey, with a huge tournament taking place during the 1970s at the Pontiac Silverdome. Organizers Paul Brotz, Tim Walker and Tom Warren are working on a date and will have more details soon, but promise a venue close to the airport for those who want to fly in. You can stay posted at the DTHL website.

And in between those two debut events will be the Stiga Wizards tournament put on by organizer Jim Rzonca, who is known for his top-notch events in Lemont and Las Vegas. The event near Disney is aimed at all table hockey players, of course, but those players with families will especially love this one. The tournament will take place Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007. For more information, please e-mail Jim at this time.

USTHA now accepting memberships again 11-19-06

Hello table hockey enthusiasts. I'm proud to announce that the USTHA is once again accepting memberships. We're going to start simple, offering one membership package. If the demand is there, we'll add more options, including one with a t-shirt. Membership is $10/yr or $25/3 years. You'll get all the issues of the excellent table hockey newsletter, The Score. In fact, that's the only way you can get The Score. You'll also get a 10 percent discount at the premier U.S. table hockey dealers Tablehockeygames.com and Rodwarriors.com. And you'll get a $5 discount at North American Stiga Tour events. The membership practically pays for itself, and it's a great way to support the USTHA and its efforts to promote table hockey. You can sign up here: USTHA Memberships

New issue of "The Score" is out! 11-19-06

The latest issue of the USTHA/CTHA newsletter, The Score, is now out. The only way you can get it is to sign up for a USTHA membership. This issue contains details about the Next Play DVD, a recap of tournaments and rankings, an interview with table hockey wonderkid Mike Sacco Jr. of Long Island, and much, much more. It's all designed professionally by the LAHTO's Pascal Theriault. You can view a sample issue by clicking on The Score icon to the right. You can sign up for membership here and your issue of The Score will be e-mailed to you: Sign up to get The Score via a USTHA membership

Table Hockey Tips DVD now available 11-14-06

Ever wanted to learn to play table hockey a little better? The guys in the Gatineau league have put together a DVD to help you. The newly-released disc features tips on making shots, video footage of tournament games and segments with top players like Kenny Dubois and Junior Gelinas showing their craft. It even comes in two different versions, one for those who use NHL-style players and another for those who use International-style players. Check out the NextPlay DVD here: Table Hockey Tips DVD

Pontus wins Gatineau 10-21-06

Pontus Eriksson of Skinnskatteberg, SWE wins this year's Canada Challenge. He defeated Montreal's Junior Gelinas 4-1 in the finals to take first place. Third place went to Kenny Dubois of the Boston area over Bruce Turner of Kitchener, ONT. The B pool winner was Steve Levesque and C pool winner was Matt DiDomizio of Connecticut. Congrats to all the winners and congrats to Pascal Theriault and the LAHTO crew for putting on a successful tournament. The tournament web site: Canada Challenge

Stefaniszyn wins Edmonton 9-23-06

Congrats to Reggie Stefaniszyn of Edmonton for winning the ETHL's CCC event on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the West Edmonton Mall. Reggie defeated fellow Canadian Matt Ross 4-0 in the finals. Stats will be posted here: CCC stats

Moe wins inaugural Stiga Shootout in SoCal 9-16-06

Espen Moe of Norway won the first-ever United States Stiga Shootout in Ladera Ranch, Calif. He defeated Ron Marsik 4-0 in the finals. Congrats to Espen, who made his return to SoCal table hockey and to tournament organizer Dr. Kevin Rafferty, who made the final four along with Mike Allen. The Edmonton tournament is next weekend. What a month for table hockey!

North American rankings updated 8-2-06

Hello. I've updated the North American rankings to include the Battle in Seattle, King of Table Hockey and Stiga U.S. Open. Just click on the link up top there. The separate U.S. and Canadian rankings will be compiled shortly.

Dubois wins Stiga U.S. Open in Lemont 7-29-06

Ken Dubois of the Boston area won his third Stiga U.S. Open tournament in four years by defeating Bernie Kunzler of Kitchener, Ontario four games to none in the finals. Dubois only lost one game all day. The Open marked Kunzler's third straight North American tour finals appearance. He previously lost in Montreal at the RBC and won the KOTH in Vancouver. Taking first in the B pool was Paul Ruiz of Toledo, OH and winning the C pool was Jerry Miller of Homewood, IL. As always, congrats to all the winners. Full results and photos are at the tournament website: U.S. Open

Timo T. wins Montreal, Kunzler wins Vancouver 7-2-06

Finland's Timo Toivonen won the Rose Bowl Classic V tournament in Montreal in early June, coming back from a 3-0 finals deficit to defeat Bernie Kunzler of Kitchener. On July 1, Kunzler defeated Ron Marsik of the Chicago area in the finals of the King of Table Hockey tournament in Vancouver. Congrats to Bernie on his first tournament title. Go to Table Hockey Heaven and Rose Bowl Classic for more info.

Stensmyer wins first-ever Battle in Seattle 5-13-06

The inaugural edition of the Battle of Seattle took place on May 13, 2006 in downtown Seattle, WA. Peter Stensmyr (Sweden) went undefeated over the course of the tournament. He captured the final series (4-0) over Warren Klotz (BC). Matt Ross (BC) took third place.

Go to Battle in Seattle for more info.

F1 Boston Challenge Crowns Iso-Tryykari 4-1-06

Kristian Iso-Tryykari won this years' F1 Boston Challenge 2006 and once again brings the trophy home to Finland. Kenny Dubois of the USA finished second and took home the silver medal, stretching Iso-Trykari to six games. Lars Fridell, Sweden, finished third and took the bronze medal. Go to the F1 Boston Challenge web site for more.

Lindahl wins inaugural Las Vegas event 1-10-06

Table hockey great Jacob Lindahl won the Let's Play Hockey Championship this weekend in Las Vegas. 44 players gathered at the Paris Hotel to take part in the event. Peter Ostlund took second and Pontus Eriksson third. Ken Dubois, the top player in the US, came in eighth. Go to www.stigalasvegas.com for more info.

A table hockey brother passes 12-2-05

Garry Butler, table hockey player, collector, dealer
and organizer, passed away Oct. 26 after fighting a
rare form of kidney cancer for nearly a year. Many of
you probably knew him as one of the organizers of the
annual U.S. Open tournament in Lemont, where he took
fourth in the B pool this year despite undergoing
treatment at the time. Some of Garry's fondest table
hockey memories came on the road at the Rose Bowl
Classic in Montreal and at the Vancouver tournament.
But he thrived on putting on the U.S. Open each year.
A funny guy, sharp dresser and tough competitor, Garry
truly will be missed. To visit his tribute web site,
click the picture

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Gatineau Challenge won by Steve Bernstein 11-2-05

On October 22 many of North Americas best table hockey players gathered in Gatineau , Que to play in the Gatineau Challenge 2005 table hockey tournament. 41 players turned out and Steve Bernstein surprised the field, winning his first Stiga event, 4-3 over Hugues Dery of Montreal , Que. Bruce Turner of Kitchner, Ont took third. Organizer Pascal Theriault and company again hosted a great event, one that shouldn't be missed. For final results, stats, pictures and more, go to Gatineau Challenge.

Marsik tops in Edmonton 9-30-05

Edmonton, AB - Table hockey veteran Ron Marsik from Hickory Hills, IL took top honors at this years Centennial Cup tournament held at the West Edmonton Mall. He beat Dominic Froome from Vancouver, BC 4-2 in the final series. Warren Klotz, also of Vancouver, took third.

Dubois reclaims Stiga US Open Cup 8-3-05

Lemont, IL - The US Open was played last weekend with Kenny Dubois of Worceter, MA winning his second US Open title in three years. He beat last years champion, Rob Chargo, 4 games to 2 in the final series. Bernie Kunzler took the third place trophy. Steve Puopolo Sr of Groveland, MA won the B Division Championship and Rich Thill Sr won the C Division for the second straight year. There were many new faces and surprises at this years tournament. Of note, nine year old Tanner Ruiz won the bronze medal in the C group playoffs and 13 year old Mike Sacco Jr won his first playoff round in the B group over long time table hockey veteran John Schenk. For full results visit the US Open web site and

John Schenk's Table Hockey for some great pictures.

ITHF formalized at World Championships 6-22-05

A group of fifteen nations ratified and signed a constitution creating the International Table Hockey Federation. Steve Bernstein, Commissioner of the USTHA, was voted onto the Executive Committee (EC) of the ITHF along with Vladamir Kraus of the Czech Republic, Magnus Bovie of Sweden, Bjarne Axelsen of Denmark and Intars Zubeckis of Latvia. The website for the newly formed association is still under construction and will be unveiled in the next few weeks. We are proud to note that website guru, Pascal Theriault, is very involved in that project.

Osterman wins third WC 6-7-05

Hans Osterman of Sweden beat out Finland's 14 year old phenom Roni Nuttunen 4 games to 2 in the open finals of the World Championships in Riga, Latvia. USA players played well with Kenny Dubios finishing in 49th place, Mike Caponetti finishing in 74th and Steve Bernstein finishing 76th. This was Caponetti and Bernstein's first WC and Kenny Dubois' second. Bernie Kunzler of Canada finished 50th.