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Live tournament, Chicago, IL, Thursday Oct.17


halifax

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Getting ready to head off to that tourney... pretty excited.

Just spoke with the bar, sounds like there's going to be a good turnout.

I'll make sure to spread the word about nhl94.com too, hopefully we can grab some new recruits!

Good luck Eric! Sucks i'm out there next week instead of this week.

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yeeeaaahh thats awesome, good luck dude, 94.com represent :P

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professional representation.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey guys, sorry it has taken me a little while to respond with a summary of the event but things have been a little crazy lately.

This bar that hosted the event, Mac's, is a place I used to live a couple blocks from in Chicago for years and have been to plenty of times. In fact, I was there a couple weeks prior to the event and didn't even see the flyer... to be fair, I'm not too surprised since it was towards the end of a night of too much fun.

I arrived to the tourney that Thursday night 45 mins before the tourney started just because I didn't want to leave anything to chance (I know, I'm lame like that). Also, I brought 2 extra brand new Gens pads in case they had some jenky set up going on... and I didn't want to take any chances in case there were any "tossers" or "throwers" present.

The bartender was hosting the event and a group of his friends were already there practicing. I jumped in for a practice game and during the set up screen, the guy I was playing chose ‘5 min periods’, 'manual goalie', 'penalties no offsides', switched lines to 'on', and hit start. I said in the attitude like he made a mistake "wait, we might have to start over, you put lines on". His response "yeah, I know, the whole tourney is going to be lines on". After a moment of panic and shock wore off since I have played lines on maybe 1 or 2 times in my life, I asked like a dimwitted dbag "are you sure?" haha

So the tourney started at around 7pm. $10 buy in but that came with a free beer and a shot of Jamo. There were 20 guys, 2 gens going in the back room with a double elimination format. Before each game, you flip a coin first, the winner of the flip decides on home ice or choice of team. We had to draw numbers for seed. I drew 19 which put me in a pre-tourney play-in game that would decide if I would start in the winners or losers bracket. I asked a question to the guy I was going to play, "where do we seed once we finish our game?". He responded with "Dude, it's really not going to matter since I'm going to win". Of course, there's a number of things I wanted to say but I just said "sounds like I'm in trouble".

We flip, he wins… chooses Chicago. I choose Detroit at home. He gets beat down 4-0. Honestly, with lines on… the gameplay is much slower and scoring 4 goals at that pace is considered a good game. One timers are more rare, the strategy is more about passing around looking for an opening and of course, B-check defense. To my surprise, I didn’t feel like anyone had a good grasp of the poke check which put me at a huge advantage.

The next round I win 6-0.
The round after that, I play this guy who’s in my face trashtalking the whole time who gets his beat down 4-0.
At this point, I’m finally getting a feel for this lines thing and I’ve been playing with Detroit the whole time so I’m learning a lot of their backups deep into their line.
The problem is, there are 20 guys and only 2 Gens so in between games moves slow… also, I’m trying to pace myself but I’ve probably had 1 manhattan and 4 double capn cokes. I am mixing in waters there but you know, I’m feeling it. Haha

Here’s a look at the bracket at that point…

NHL94%2010.17.13%20ph1.jpg


So next is the winners bracket semis against the tourney host, Yuri the bartender. He wins flip, chooses Chicago… I take Detroit at home. The puck drops and goes to Goulet who hits a gap after my D pinches and scores in the first 16 secs. There’s a lot of cheering for Yuri b/c he knows a lot of these guys and apparently he’s the NHL 94 guy around that part of town. Well then JR puts another in a min later… and then another… and another. Then Dirk Graham gets some crazy nonsense in on me. So in case you lost track, I’m down 5-0 at the end of the 1st. I don’t mind losing but he started to pass the puck back deep into his D zone and skate around back there to waste time. I don’t know, just didn’t sit too well with me. To make a long story short, I end up getting pounded for a final score of 6-3 catapulting me into the losers bracket.

Now the speed of the tourney is picking up because there’s not many people left. Now that I’m in the losers bracket semis, I end up playing that same trash talker from earlier. He picks Quebec which is a pretty good call in lines on and it’s different b/c everyone has chosen Chicago, Montreal or Detroit. I score first but then he ends up scoring the next 2. Then midway through the game I take over and score 2 quick ones which sends him into a hokkee-esque rage in which he pounds his fist on the table sending a number of beers flying [actually that’s not hokkee, he would never put so many brewskis in danger  ]… unfortunately for him, they ended up landing mostly in his lap which didn’t help his attitude any. In the 3rd I tacked on 1 more for good measure for a final tally of 4-2.

I immediately have to play the finals in the loser bracket. It was an uneventful defense heavy bout which ended up in me winning 1-0. But it was a nice win b/c he was one of the tourney faves.

Next I play the person who lost to Yuri the bartender in the winners bracket finals… and again, pretty defensive battle which I edged out the guy 3-1.

So now I move into the real finals. I have 1 loss and at this point, Yuri the bartender has 0 losses.
Yuri has won every toss in the tourney so far and this was no different. He chooses Chicago, I of course take Detroit Rock City at home.
It’s 0-0 after the first. At the start of the 2nd, he scores a quick one. Then late into the 2nd, I score a slapper over the middle with Ciccer to tie it up.
It’s a pretty tense scene by this point, Yuri hasn’t sat down the whole game, there’s a lot of guys yelling and I’m feeling a good amount of pressure.
In the middle of the 3rd, I get the puck up to the 2nd Yse of the Detroit team… Ysebart. I get stuck in a corner but work my way back up to the top of the circle and then move in with a double juke to body Belfour out of the crease to score the go ahead goal.
I end up holding on for the win 2-1.

We immediately start the Final of the Finals (for lack of a better term).
I can’t recall any real highlights from the 1st 2 periods… all I knew is that there’s no way I was letting JR get away. I did end up injuring JR in the 2nd period but only for 2 mins left in the period. So as you can imagine the 3rd period was extremely intense. Time is ticking down… 4 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins… I’m stuck deep in his zone with I believe Ysebart or Federov skating in a corner. I see his D split over the middle but no one is breaking but I pass it out so I don’t get squashed and lose possession. The puck crosses over the middle past his D over to I believe my right winger and I instinctively hit C for a 1 timer b/c I just want to put some kind of shot on goal since there was no offense out there from either side. The puck goes high close side and Belfour pulls one of those shoulder shrugs but he’s fading back in that position with the possession star flickering (I know you vets out there know what I’m talking about)… and I’m thinking this has got a shot… a cheap shot but a shot nonetheless. Belfour is fading backwards and sure enough he hits the back post and loses possession while the puck slides past for the goal! Thank you NHL94 gods!

There’s still a 1:15 left. Puck gets dropped immediately to JR and he crashes through my line to go for a juke but Yuri knows I like to play manual so he switches his side… but he makes the move too early and I’m able to jam the pad back to barely make the save.
30 secs left and he gets another surge with his forwards into my zone, he passes to JR who takes a wicked 1 timer slap from the edge of the red circle. I switch over to make the save and I feel I’m in position but the puck gets by me but HITS POST!
I manage to gain back possession and hold onto puck for the remainder of the game… 1-0 final!

I turn around obviously relieved and waiting for me is a bucket of champagne on ice! Haha what a nice touch. I crack it open and pass it around for all of us to enjoy.
For winning the tourney, I had a choice of 2 Hawks tix or a signed Chelios puck… I took the puck which for me was the obvious choice.
I have to admit, I was worn down… my first game started at about 7pm and the final horn ended that last period at 1:15am.
Still a group of us stuck around and recanted the night. There was a lot of laughing and it was a great vibe overall… just how any NHL 94 experience should be among fans of the game.


I want to thank Halifax again for reaching out to me directly to give me the heads up on this tournament.

I owe you big, buddy!


For those who have even made it this far in this War & Peace type length of a recap, here's a look at the final bracket:
NHL94%2010.17.13%20ph2.jpg

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I want to thank Halifax again for reaching out to me directly to give me the heads up on this tournament.

I owe you big, buddy!

For those who have even made it this far in this War & Peace type length of a recap, here's a look at the final bracket:

NHL94%2010.17.13%20ph2.jpg

Hey congrats....and I loved the write up. stickin it to em bud.

Post those pics as pngs so we can see em.

Awesome stuff!

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Cool story bro, next time we should all go and wacks our gas out!...and i would have taken the tickets :D not much of a collector guy, but congrats, 94 represent

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Can actually picture the scene you set up in description IAmFleury'sHipCheck lol. Was a sight to see I'm sure

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The pics don't need to be converted to PNG. JPG is appropriate (JPG is the best format for real-life photos.. PNG is very bad for real life photos, because the file size becomes huuuge).

You need to use the "More Reply Options" button below the post. Then you'll see the Attach Files / Choose Files button. Easy mistake, I was wondering how the hell do I attach an image, too!

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The pics don't need to be converted to PNG. JPG is appropriate (JPG is the best format for real-life photos.. PNG is very bad for real life photos, because the file size becomes huuuge).

You need to use the "More Reply Options" button below the post. Then you'll see the Attach Files / Choose Files button. Easy mistake, I was wondering how the hell do I attach an image, too!

Ugh I missed those additional options. Thanks Smoz!

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