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The date was Saturday September 12, 2015. I was still reeling from the pain of losing 2-1 to AJ a few games earlier, after making the mistake of picking Anaheim and giving him Florida. I had clawed my way back to him again after 3 hard fought wins against 3 skilled online players of whose names I shall withhold. I didn't think I'd get another crack at him. A revenge opportunity in the same day, perfect! But why was I even at this point? 2 losses?? This was not how it was supposed to go down. It was all going according to plan until I met kgman earlier, and was shocked to get bested 6-4. And then the next game was my previously mentioned ANH-FLA game with AJ. This all didn't compute. It wasn't supposed to be this difficult. But that's okay! I earned another shot. And this time, I had the opportunity to choose the matchup. This felt like a wonderful example of justice. I was extremely overwhelmed with pressure and commotion and my brain was in a foggy haze. But I still had enough brainpower to know, no way in hell I'm letting this be another bottom-tier grind match. I'm going to hit him with the hardest-hitting matchup I can think of! (that I hadn't picked in a previous game). And so... I gave AJ Chicago at home. And the rest is history. That was my last game of nhl 94 against another human. And my life has been slowly spiraling even more out of control ever since

I did not make any quotes that made the teaser, BUT! I just re-watched it and noticed that my Sega and NHL94 cartdrige -- which has a #2 on it and a strawberry sticker (so I would know it was mine when it came time to collect) -- is showcased for over 2 seconds, halfway through, in a closeup. NAILED IT!!! Just showed the wife and my kid and they had no reaction.

That first event was absolute chaos. First time meeting everyone, a crowded room full of people, the pressure of playing... I can assure you that if you ever decided to try another tournament, it is a lot less hectic and a lot more player-friendly.

The title kind of makes it sound like a monster movie. Just in case one is interested in a bit more detail, I did do a little write up regarding the games. Game 11: AJ (Fla) vs TomKabs (Anh) Obviously I was able to pick the game here as I had already had planned long ahead of time that I would attempt to drag TomKabs through my torture 101 class. I wasn't concerned with what team I'd get because my strategy was the same regardless. I wanted to drag the speed of this game to the minimal amount and make TomKabs as uncomfortable as possible. It seemed to have worked as Tomkabs played into my strategy as he tried to push the pace of the game as best he could. All I wanted to do was stretch his formation out and then counter when possible. It did take a while but I was able to get out to a 2-0 lead before TomKabs found an answer late in the 2nd period to make it 2-1 heading into the third. I stuck to my guns and never allowed a quality chance in the 3rd as I was able to successfully stymie TK into submission. A tough game indeed as TK fared better than I had expected but I felt I was really finding my groove at this point as any team I picked was playing well. Result: AJ 2 - TK 1 Game 14: AJ (Chi) vs. TomKabs (Buf) To say that TK wanted to give me some pay back would be a bit of an understatement. The guy was out for blood and his team selection showed it. I decided to give Roenick a shot as I felt he would be tougher to deal with than Mogilny considering the supporting cast for each team. I've watched a lot of TK's tape with high skilled players at his disposal and it can get a bit graphic what he does to his opponent. I wasn't going to allow myself to be a victim and I've actually been developing very specific tech to deal with TK and I have to say it worked wonders in this game. I jumped out to a fast lead and never allowed TK to get all that close. I kept him guessing as to what to do on defense and didn't let Mogilny get much open ice to work with. This was the exact kind of game I needed to get me back on track and feel confident going into the top 3. Result: AJ 5 - TK 2

Just gotta wait until super bowl and the aftermath is done. Then it’ll air. And we get to hear my favourite @kingraphline again about how the game has the “secret sauce”.

Time to get back on that horse. There are a lot of tiny duck-sized horses at these things. Just beware the horse-sized ducks.

Signed up and paid in full........

Based on the success of our 2019 tournament, we are coming back in 2020! More details to come... REGISTRATION https://www.nhl94.com/nyctourney/ DATE: Saturday, April 18, 2020 TIME: Tournament starts at 11:00 am, registration 10:30 COST: $25 LOCATION St. Pat's Bar & Grill 22W 46th Street New York, NY, 10036 https://stpatsbar.com RULES & OTHER INFORMATION Sega Genesis Only Original cartridges, systems and CRTs 40 Person Cap 5 Games guaranteed Progressive / Swiss Style Group Play 1st round matchups will be random (drawn at the start of the tournament) Win your game and play against another 1-0 person. Lose and you play against another 0-1. Rounds progress each way such that you play against someone with your same record 24 Players make it to bracket play. Top 8 seeds get 1st round bye Depending on number of players, group play may extend by one game for certain players Bracket play - 24 seeds from group play. Seeds are based on record, then GF - GA. Single elimination, best of 3 each round KO94 style rules Coin flip winner chooses two teams for matchup and is Home Ice Coin flip loser selects which team he wants to use No coin flip needed if two people play against each other again, just reverse previous winner/loser choice. PRIZES $250 for first place (plus trophy!) $100 for 2nd place $50 for 3rd place LOTS of random raffles * 2 Tickets to LI Retro Expo in August (TBD) * Canvas Wall Art * 90's NHL Memorabilia! STREAMING We will announce when we go live: www.twitch.tv/kingraph PLAYERS Will be listed as registrations sign-up. 01. Evan E. ( @Evan )(organizer) 02. John G. ( @chaos ) (organizer) 03. Scott S. ( @MikeGartner22 ) (organizer) 04. Raphael F. ( @kingraph ) (organizer) 05. Kevin B. ( @corbettkb ) 06. John S. ( @JSchmidt ) 07. Bill S. 08. Andrew C. 09. Tom E. ( @aepurniet ) 10. Ron D. 11. Herb W. 12. John K. ( @kuefner ) 13. James M. ( @clockwise ) 14. Matt P. 15. Eric K. ( @eggink444 ) 16. Nick D. 17. Chris D. 18. Matt H. (@sonoffett87) 19. Dennis H. 20. Jaime A. ( @jmomonyc) 21. Greg C. ( @angryjay93) 22. Dan S. ( @CamKneely @CamKneely2) 23. Cory C. 24. Stan Y. 25. Paul G. 26. Kevin K. 27. Kyle W. ( @kylewat ) 28. Andrew B. 29. Nick P. 30. Anthony G. 31. Todd K. 32. Steve G. 33. John Smith 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. Waitlist (not paid): Tom W. Michael S. Don S. Trevor S. Gerald H. William M. Jesse R. Anthony C. Brett H.

I feel like this will show up in my news feed on Facebook as one of those beautifully written player tribune articles. Thats it! This forum needs a “NHL94 Players Tribune” section.