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I've wracked my brain trying to come up with non-joke answers to this thread, and so far all I've got is this: Make sure you budget your sleep correctly. Especially if you're going to be playing competitively the next day, but even just to function. It's very important. You don't want to be a zombie after spending time and money to come to one of these things, it really dampens the experience.

hey sorry bud, yes soon

Being one of the select few individuals to make it to all 5 NHL events that Troy @Edge of '94 Midwest has put together, it is incredible to see how far we have come. Every year the production value, quality of the competition, contributions from the community, and the fun experienced at the event goes up. If for some reason you are on the fence about these events, you need to jump right off that fence and get involved immediately. Win, lose, or draw you can not beat the amount of fun to be had at these events, bring your friends and make a day out of it. We enjoy a good time as much as we do good 94. This time around I had a very pleasurable experience from beginning to end. Moving the location for tournament from Green Bay to Minneapolis allowed for me to have a direct flight, a rare luxury for me to most of these events. No longer do I have to do the Sacramento-Phoenix-Atlanta-Minneapolis-Green Bay red eye flight the evening before a tournament. I felt so good about this trip that I even left the sunglasses at home. Once I arrived at the Moxy, I knew we were in a good place because I saw a few different NHL 94 setups in the lobby that were adjacent to the in house bar. Can't ask for much more than that type of setup. The discounted room rate was a great touch as these rooms really suited my style with their simplistic yet comfortable design. The location was fabulous as we were just a couple blocks from the venue and we were surrounded by a wide array of cuisine and drinks. I played a couple games before heading out with @IAmFleury'sHipCheck and his brother to one of the local spots for some high quality Italian food. By the time we got back to the hotel lobby it was getting a little late, I opted to stay away from the exi and 2 v 2 in an effort to get to bed at a reasonable hour. In retrospect this may have been a mistake as I instead was engaged in a conversation with EA, his brother, and KingRaph. During this conversation two girls from the bar were walking our way, the one girl who was a little less drunk than the other and almost literally dragging her friend out the door made eye contact with us and proceeded to say "My friend really wants to make out tonight but not with any of you!!!" Suffice to say, I was crushed by this revelation and I retreated up to my room shortly there after where I cried the night away thinking about my wasted opportunity. The next morning I got up early, got a coffee and some breakfast before heading over to the venue to help set things up for the tournament. I thought I was arriving pretty early and had a lot of heavy lifting ahead of me but boy was I ever wrong. By the time I arrived, things were already moving along smoothly, Trojan, Leif Eriksson, Darik Aho, Mort, Hank the Tank, and others were already well ahead of schedule at ensuring we would have an amazing tournament that day. There was the massive projector screen that allowed anyone and everyone within the venue to see what we were streaming on youtube. We had plenty of high quality CRTs, consoles, and controllers just ready and waiting for everyone. And oh yeah, there were also holograms and pyrotechnics! This event just continues to impress every year, I can't say enough about the thought and quality that goes into every aspect. The tournament itself was a blast, I had a really competitive group that included @danTML7, TecmoDPs, and @Scribe99. Getting to play with Scribe was a pretty big deal for me as he was one of the OG's from this site as he joined back in 2005. There was a time where Scribe was my main exi partner and it was incredible to see how much he still enjoys playing the game even though he hasn't been online for sometime. The man could still play as I sneaked out a win in group play and played a tight 2 game playoff series with him in bracket play. Mort also had an incredible showing and really impressed me with his play in our semifinal playoff matchup. This was all preamble though as I encountered Raph in the finals yet again. The last 2 GENS finals losses at Green Bay and the overtime loss in our 7 game epoch at Toronto were still fresh in my head. I did a little something different with my training this time around as the weekend before I went to visit @CoachMac up on the Nevada side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. We took advantage of those mountains as he and I literally climbed a couple different mountains, a small highlight real can be found below. Seriously though, we climbed mountains. And that's after we had been descending for a few minutes! My mettle was tested quickly as Raph won game 1 decisively and was up 2-0 early in game 2. I was able to reset mentally after that and the rest is all history. Raph and I hope to have some video breakdowns for everyone to view sooner rather than later as we want to try and share our thought process with the rest of the community. Raph and I are certainly rivals but the time is near where I think some other people will start making finals appearances of their own. For the time being, the frequency at which we face each other in the finals has been incredible and we may not ever see anything quite like it again. The SNES tournament was a rip roaring good time, the happy hour really spiced things up as the drinks were flowing around freely. Raph had my number that go around as I was unable to sweep the day and defend my SNES crown. We certainly had an incredible group of guys all contribute to a weekend that won't soon be forgotten. I want to thank @LeifErikson and Darik Aho for playing a huge role in helping make this tournament happen. Also thank you to The Shield for contributing all sorts of prizes to this event, I don't think I saw anyone walk away empty handed and we have you to thank for that. Major shout outs to the travelling folks @jer_33, @danTML7, @seventieslord, EA, @Votaw, Mort, DPS, Phil from Dmen Tap, @Mitch Kramer, Kevin Cabarello, and @kingraph. It is with your presence and your faith in these events that we are able to grow something from very humble beginnings to what we have here today. And lastly, thank you again to @Edge of '94 Midwest, you put on an absolutely incredible event and I can't wait until next year as I know you will do everything in power to make it another memorable experience.

I've uploaded a post-trade deadline update to the top post! Updated rosters, numbers, ratings, etc... Please let me know if you spot any bugs.