[jblay]

We, as always, had a great time at Connecticut. It seems like every year the event is better run and the volume of great robots rises. The event really has a Championship feel to it with the amount of excitement and every match being interesting to watch.

We would like to thank our partners 383 and 20. It was awesome playing with both of you for the first time.

383, your robot was awesome and it was unfortunate that you had those code issues when we hit the eliminations but despite not moving for most of the second match you managed to put up your minibot and win the race because you decided to restart your robot, which while scaring the bejesus out of our coach, was a really clutch move and almost won us that match.

20, your defense in the eliminations was invaluable and your human player was the best I have seen play, every single tube he threw ended up in our scoring zone and it gave us a big advantage. It is always fun when we played with you guys on occasion in the qualification matches and I am happy we finally got to play together in the elimination rounds.

I want to give my congrats to the winners. 1923 and 195 were monstrous scorers throughout all three days and 155 you were a stone-cold sleeper that was very high on our own list and your minibot was crazy fast and your scoring was very effective.

A few side shout-outs:

1073, it was a pleasure playing along side you as well. I hope that we get to play with you again in the future. I love playing with teams in the qualification matches that look at the game and decide this is what we have to do to win this match, this is the way to put up the most points and take the idea of showing themselves off out of the equation.

173, I always love the rage machine and I was shocked to see that you guys did not play in the eliminations considering the fact that you had one of the fastest minibots out there and were excellent at herding the tubes. You guys played well and I loved that one match when we played together, I look forward to playing with you guys again in the future.

This event was one of the craziest roller coaster rides our team has ever been on. We entered the event knowing that we needed to win to get into the championship. We received a red card, that we took big issue with, early on in the event and then lost two straight matches but after that did not lose a single qualification match and found ourselves close to the top 8 and were pushed into the top 8 right before 383 selected us. We had some bad luck with 383 having code issues and lost almost immediately and it looked like our season was over. As the awards were being announced I could tell all the kids were getting upset that we would miss the Championship. As the judges reached their final award and all hope seemed to be lost, Andy Grady began to describe details about the winner of this years Chairman's award and I began to think to myself, "we did that and that and all of this." When I heard the word "pulse" on the speakers I screamed "YES" louder than I ever have in my life and that was true for everyone sitting in our section of the stands. We could not believe that we had done it two years in a row and are headed to St. Louis. I hope to see many Connecticut teams there!