[Jonathan Norris]

So regional registration is closed and Waterloo stands at 23 teams, hopefully another team will pop in there late to give us 24 teams (and hopefully no one drops off...).

Looking at the team list this year it is painfully obvious that most of the well known 'veteran' Canadian teams are not attending Waterloo this year: 1114, 188, 610, 771, 772, 1006, 1503, ect. It is too bad that these great teams will not be attending Waterloo this year, but I think it will give an opportunity for teams like 854, 1305, 2056, 2609 and other lesser known teams to shine (I'm bringing my rookie team with many familiar faces), many of whom have been overshadowed by the giant that is 1114.

As for why these teams are not attending Waterloo this year, from my understanding it has more to do with yearly complaint that Waterloo is the weekend before GTR, and in these tough economic times funding is tough to come by. Hopefully we will see a return of these great Canadian teams in the future to support Canada's second regional (or as I wish for every year Waterloo is moved to a earlier week).