By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada – It was the Jillian Hyman show last Saturday when the North American Dominoes Federation (NADF) staged the Toronto leg of the tournament, featuring players from the host team, New York, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Maryland and Montreal at the St John Devine Anglican Church, Scarborough here.
In a dominant display, rarely seen in dominoes competition, Hyman registered the maximum 18 games in both the preliminary round and also in the final, leading New York to winners’ row, much to the delight of her teammates and the several followers who made the journey to Toronto. Of much significance was the fact that Hyman only “gave away” 34 games in her superb performance, 19 in the first round and 15 in the final.
The final, which featured eventual winners New York, West Palm Beach and Orlando seemed an even one at the end of the second sitting with New York and West Palm Beach tied on 26 games and Orlando lagging behind on 20.
West Palm Beach then took what looked like a commanding lead after the third, stretching their lead to 10 over New York and 11 from Orlando.
New York, however, bounced back with the maximum 18 games in the fourth to again level with West Palm Beach on 50 while Orlando were stuck on 42.
The two front-runners were again deadlocked on 60 games at the end of the penultimate sitting while Orlando slowly dropped out of contention.
In the end, New York prevailed in the final sitting, ending with 74 games to West Palm Beach’s 68 and Orlando occupying the third spot with 64.
Apart from Hyman’s 18, Donna Degroot also played well for her 16 games. The top markers for West Palm Beach were Andrew Charles (17 games) and Deryck Jones (14 games) while Phillip Scantlebury and Phillip Pompey had 17 and 13 respectively for Orlando. The lone lovebird was New York’s Lurline Tracey.
The first round saw West Palm Beach edge New York on sixes, eight to seven, with both teams tallying 78 games while Toronto were eliminated.
Hyman was again in destructive mood with her 18 games while skipper Eldon Phillips marked 15. Anthony Hendricks made 16 for West Palm Beach while the best player for Toronto was Terry Reynolds with 12.
Orlando, with 82 games, took top honours over Maryland (72) and Montreal (70) in the other first round fixture. Eric McFarlane and Lynden Jones led the way for the winners with 17 games each.
There were three lovebirds in Camille Austin (Orlando), Jainraine (Maryland) and Ronald Chin (Oralndo), with Dennis Hosanna having the distinction of sharing the first double love in the tournament with Austin and Jainarine being the victims.
With the two winners and the best second team advancing to the final, it meant Orlando, West Palm Beach qualified for the grand showdown.
Apart from copping the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, Hyman was also adjudged the overall MVP while Charles and Scantlebury were the MVPs for West Palm Beach and Orlando respectively. Players from all three finalists were also in receipt of medals.
The win marks New York first lien on the winners’ trophy following a similar performance by Toronto in the first leg, played in Orlando earlier this year. Montreal will host the next leg in June next year.