As a relatively new bud on the scene, I've quickly developed some relationships within this community that I'm very thankful for. This post is meant to thank those buds who have had a meaningful impact in one way or another in 2019. These are not in any particular order, and not everyone involved follows this page.
First off is Charlie Bravo. He's never played a game of 94 with us, but he's responsible for the continued creation of Lord Manly's Cup, the best trophy in all of retro sports games.
Next on my list is @angryjay93. He is one of only 5 people that have attended every one of our NHL94 tournaments. The others are @Nmufred, The Shield, Moe Man, and Carter F(my son). However, he was the first to travel from afar, and the first notable bud from the community at large. His vote of confidence on how we've been running things encouraged others to attend, and for that I'm eternally grateful. His willingness to keep the streak alive by taking a red eye flight and playing at less than 100% health for the 2nd year in a row shows his incredible dedication to this game.
I'd like to take the time to thank "The Ref" Nick Wautier for all his efforts keeping things moving smoothly with our score keeping during the Barry Melrose tournament. We were able to advance things at a much accelerated pace compared to the prior year's tournament. I wish I had a better photo of him somewhere.
We were able to do something for someone else this year. The Lion's share of the money we were able to gift to the family of "Michy" Boyd came from Game Trade, one of our sponsors. Seriously, the biggest of thanks to Greg and his team for having an amazing store, and for his considerable generosity.
If Angryjay93 was the first big name in the NHL94 community to attend, then we can't leave out 3 time champion @kingraph from the conversation. His contributions on the microphone with Angryjay93, high praise of our events, and just general positive attitude are exactly what this community needs. Thanks for supporting what we do, and for being a positive ambassador for NHL94.
I'd like to thank the entire gaggle of players from the great city of Chicago that drove up this year, and added some meat to our SNES brackets. Guys like Charlie R hopped on the mic with me during the SNES finals. @mort1237 was amazing and ran a 2nd stream on the Retro Sports Gamer Channel, @Green Majik and Phil Naumann from DMEN Tap also contributed throughout the day on the mic.
Most of you don't know Nelson79 aka Levi L, but he is responsible for getting me connected, and ultimately put on the Game N Culture Show to help promote the event locally, and ultimately got us some local news coverage the day of the event as well. Levi is also responsible for the awesome flyers being made the tournaments. He doesn't ask for anything, and is always willing to help. He's wearing the Griswold jersey below, getting absolutely trucked by the Blues.
@LeifErikson, pictured in the Pens jersey, has been absolutely lights out from a support standpoint. Without his help, moving the tournament to Minneapolis wouldn't be happening. The laundry list of logistical tasks he's locking down for us would fill this entire thread. I'll scale it all back by saying that he's amazing, generous, and a vital piece of our success moving forward. He is my sole nomination for "Bud of the Year", sadly the association rejected my nomination. I tried to get my goons on the ice during their line, but alas we're the away team.
The Shield has had a tremendous run, and has been to all of our tournaments to date. His generosity to the prize pools of our tournaments has been ongoing, and he's helping us again for 2020. Thank you so much!
EA has been an amazing add to our fold, and the Chicago RSG guys. Twice I've been surprised with cartridges signed by the entire tournament, and I'm always greeted with a big bro hug. He even found someone to finally beat me in a game of Mortal Kombat 2 this year!
Tom S, aka The Retro Sports Gamer has contributed resources and helped promote my events. He wasn't there personally this year, but his team of players was from Chicago, and so was their streaming presence.
While I'm sure I missed somebody, I'm going to thank our friends at the Edge VR Arcade for hosting us for the past two years, and all their support from a promotion standpoint. As their venue has grown, we aren't holding events there due to our size, but we're happy for them as they continue to expand! This was their better side.
I guess one final thank you to everyone that attended, watched on stream, left positive feedback, shared our posts on social media this year. 2020 is gonna be great! If I missed anything, cross check me later.