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Exactly three years from the date of our first #NHL94 tournament, we're happy to announce that Wisconsin was not big enough to contain us! We are now Edge of '94 Midwest! Coming in 2020, to a major city near you! More details to come in the coming weeks and months, but here's a hint.....

Constructive criticism has its place and it is something that's needed to grow, but I'm going to have to side with fellow organizers here. The amount of work that goes in year round to investigate and promote these things is insane. I wasn't in this community during the 1st event. Perhaps it was lightning in a bottle, but I think Halifax has done everything he can to keep this going in the right direction. He has national sports news coverage, many of the world's best players in attendance, and a venue that seems to have been well received. I still believe growth for this game is possible. Just look at pockets of success and interest in the past 3 years out of Vancouver, Chicago, and Green Bay. Let's look at the positives regarding the traveling idea..... Vegas introduced everyone to Jamil, and one of the best Genesis series that's ever been witnessed. What a storyline that was. This led to the Vancouver tournament, which brought Daf and his fan club to the show. I've put my foot in my mouth regarding overly criticizing things. I think these thoughts are better communicated privately. The only criticism to the tournament is that I couldn't stay connected to streams for 12 hours a day lol. I'm sure the guys there didn't mind it. Thanks for doing everything you guys do @halifax @smozoma Sroka, Raph, AJ, and anyone else who was pitching in. It was a pleasure to witness.

This post is disappointing to read on so many levels. The time, money and effort that goes into putting these tournaments together is a ton. I could go through and comment on each one of these points to show how we’ve made improvements to the overall experience but it’s not worth my time. This tournament was the best one we’ve ever had. Its the most fun I’ve ever had. I watched some of the best Nhl’94 I’ve seen. It’s clear that we have for a vision for how king of 94 should be that isn’t aligned with how you want it to be. So it’s unlikely that I’ll get to hang out with you at another king of 94. And that’s what’s disappoints me the most.

I have to think that this weekend's King of 94 tournament can only be labelled a great success, congrats to @kingraph and Mikail on the championships (Mikail's 2nd) , and @halifax and @smozoma for organizing another great event. This was my 2nd King of 94 tournament (attended the 1st in Toronto 2015), and my 3rd competitive tournament overall. Without question, this one was stacked both days with incredible talent. As they were announcing our group of 8, it seemed like I knew them all from the forums... @corbettkb, @smozoma, @aqualizard, @Coffey, myself and 3 guys unknown to us. As it turns out, Nick (Thrillhouse) was the best of the bunch and took 3rd overall, with @corbettkb, @smozoma, @aqualizard and myself slotting in the top 10. Both finalists came out of different groups, but our group of 8 accounted for 50% of the top 10 finishers. We played 6 randomized round robin games (*randomly excluding 1 player from your group), 3 home and 3 away so there were no coin flips. You needed to finish with a .500 record to advance to the bracket play (top 16). I managed my 3 wins in 4 games, and was lined up against @corbettkb in game 5. We had played a couple of exis pre-tournament, and there is a lot of history here with online leagues and tournament games played in Green Bay in 2018. I picked the match-up HFD/NYI and he won by a 5-2 margin using NYI. My last game of the RR was versus Nick, who wanted to play on the stream. He picked the CHI/BUF match-up and I grabbed CHI as the home team. The game went to overtime, with Nick scoring the winner. Looking back, I guess things may have gone different if I had managed to squeak out that OT winner, because I was matched up against Nick again once the bracket play opened up. I was pretty thrilled to have made the top 16, given that I'd just missed the cut in the first Ko94. At this point, I knew Nick was pretty good - but maybe didn't peg him for a guy that could make the run that he did. Our first game, I picked a WPG/QUE match-up and we played a close 5-2 game with Nick coming out on top. Second game was an 8-3 blowout, TOR over LAK. That put me in the "loser bracket" and I waited for my next series opponent. I wandered over to chat with @AtomicRaven, who I had yet to actually meet in person. He'd lost his opening series as well, so we were busy commiserating when it was determined that we were matched up against each other in the next series. Double elimination here, so one of us was going to knock the other out of the tournament. We grabbed a set-up, were joined by @aqualizard, and proceeded to hammer out 2 games CGY/VAN and BOS/LAK which I managed to eke out by 4-2 and 3-1 scores. We shook hands and I awaited my next series in the bracket. Looking at the remaining players in the "losers bracket" was a real wake-up call, @kingraph got knocked down by @smozoma, @aqualizard was fighting to stay alive after getting knocked down by @IAmFleury'sHipCheck (who had just been knocked down by @angryjay93). My opponent ended up being Kevin B, who I'd never met - but was ranked #6 in the field. I managed a single win against Kevin, who ousted me in 3 games. Kevin went on to face @IAmFleury'sHipCheck in the next round, losing in what turned out to be an excellent run of games by the forum veteran who also goes by "EA". A quick note about "EA", if @halifax is the visionary that pulls this all together, and @smozoma is the brains that puts it all in a spreadsheet and brackets - then "EA" is the heart. Don't get me wrong, the guy is a great competitor, and played some incredible NHL94 this weekend. But he also goes out of his way to make everyone feel welcome, draw people into conversations, and introduce them to others. Whether intentional or not, that is what builds great communities, and that's what I witnessed for two full days this weekend. Guys smiling/laughing and having a generally good time during the early match-ups, and hanging around together to witness the excellent games played at the finish. If you haven't watched the finals for either Sega (Twitch link) or SNES (Twitch link), do yourself a favour and hit the links. Halifax's call in both series was on par with anything I've witnessed in a televised championship event. The good: Venue was obviously a dream for hosting (didn't need find/bring TVs), and streaming (place literally had it's own production room) The return of a lot of top players from the previous Toronto tournament, PLUS a good number who competed in Vancouver The "could be better": Better co-ordination of hotels - somehow ended up with players in 4-5 different hotels in the area A limited number of eating options - basically pizza/subs nearby The bad: No beer (but I didn't hear many complaining) Venue is a trek from the airport AND downtown, making travel difficult without a rental car

Let's use a fresh thread to post thanks, feedback, suggestions, etc specific to Kof94IV. I'm at work now but I'll be back later to post my detailed recap.

And if you know Coach, he literally will go crawl back in a cave... most likely that he dug out with a pick axe on the side of a mountain. haha Coach, not sure what to say about your response here. You were spoke about in the highest regard this weekend as your presence was definitely missed but that post is not a good look. Are you reading too much Nietzsche up in those mountains with all this " *fill in the blank* is dead" talk??? What''s going on here? Surprised to hear you say Kof94 III was horrible. You didn't have a good time when we went out to eat, you and Jill talked teacher stuff, I heard all about how you made it to Nevada with your wife, to hear all about your kids and their adventures, when we watched your Blue Angels video, the exis in the room, good laughs with even greater buds? I don't know man, to me, I can't thank @halifax enough... Kof94 is the reason to bring us all together but you know it's more than the event itself that makes just as many memories. I'll be back soon to post my recap.

That's unfortunate Coach, you were definitely missed this past weekend. I get your angle, but the fact is that NHL'94 IS a video game, and a venue that caters to video game players was actually perfect for this event. Granted, Waves may have been a Taj Mahal for our backyard BBQ, but it was still very, very nice! You know that @halifax, @Edge of '94 Midwest, @smozoma, myself and anyone who runs retro game tournaments appreciates constructive feedback to try and make these events better, more efficient, more fun for all, etc. Especially from guys like you who are good to the community. It's a team effort from all of us. Your post really just shit all over everything, and that doesn't do any good to anyone. I think we also hashed out why KO94-1 had many flaws, mainly triple elim format, so I won't go through that again. I have to gather my own thoughts as well to post later, but am just surprised to hear you be so upset at everything '94.

Leagues are Dead. Forum is Dead. AIM is Dead. Gens is Dead. Kof94 One = Perfect. Why did anything change? Downtown, HHOF, Mikey, Toronto, Air Canada, Craziness, Triple elimination, Real Sports, Blue Jays vs Yankees, All the Best players and Best Guys. Kof94 Two = Uh oh we forgot to have it. HUGE MISTAKE and loss of Momentum. Kof94 Two Part 2 = Nice try. Good Idea and could have been awesome, but went to dead part of Vegas (did anyone consult the guy from Nevada). East Coast Bias and Eastern guys did not come in great numbers, Stupid format begins, Movie is late and still not complete. Kof94 Three = Horrible. Format stunk, Venue Stunk. Nobody came. Kof94 Four = No thanks. Video game geek venue. 94 use to feel like hockey, now it feels like video games. I hate video games.

Here is my feedback for the latest rendition: King of 94 IV in Toronto. Halifax and Smoz do an amazing job, of course. I figure these two must have to go into hibernation for two weeks after all of the effort that must go into putting this thing together. And Sroka was great with the stream. Some quick Pros and Cons: PROS 2 day event (with a dedicated day for Sega and one for SNES) Stream Facility itself (very modern and professional) * Those CRTs! They were great quality -- big, and in great condition for the most part. Organization (getting games in, and scores in, seems better/easier than ever) Got lots of games. Having a minimum of 6 games is cool. I think I had 12 games (made it to Round 3) CONS Location (so far outside of Toronto) * No beer! * * In short, the facility itself is amazing, but the location/alcohol sitch knocks it down considerably. Too few locals came out Wish more forum dudes made the trip, too Cost: $50 seems pricey. I wish it was like $15, just to cover expenses, and no (or little) prize $$ On a personal level, Atomic and I (who live in Toronto) got a hotel room for Friday night, thinking there would be some games happening, and to save travel time the next day. In retrospect, we should have booked a hotel for Saturday. After the Sega events Saturday, if we had a room, there would likely be more social games happening, plus we could have had place to relax after we got eliminated. I went home -- which took 90 minutes!! -- and was too burnt out to make it out again on Saturday. (I had the stream on from the comfort of my own home as soon as I got home, and it was awesome to watch! Especially the finals between AJ and Raph. Best finals ever, "in your life!", to quote Hali!) Note to self: Book hotel for day of the Sega event if it is in Toronto again. And I do selfishly hope the next one is in Toronto, too, but we need to get the beer sorted!