I got a chance to go downtown and noticed a shirt......We Kane, We Shaw, We Crawford.......pretty cool Blackhawks shirt.  The State Wars Staff came, saw and conquered.  For the last two weeks, we have seen people come and go, games be played, tears flow for wins and losses but at the end of the day.....what a great event.  Earlier this week, I wrote a blog about the great "event" that was being held here at the Darien Sportsplex and now its come to a close.  

Yes, I have written this before and I will do it again.  Some of the best roller hockey players, coaches, parents, officials and teams came to State Wars 9 and let me tell you, I have seen so many happy faces it brought tears to my eyes.  Mr State Wars(Tim McManus) will never take credit and never wants to be recognized because he feels what he does is for the love of the game.  It shows.  Attention to detail, dotting the I's and crossing the T's is what he does.  And it flows through our staff.  I have had the chacne to work for State Wars for a few years now and I must say,  I had a great time during these two weeks.  There are so many things going on at the same time to make sure everything goes off without a hitch and its the staff that I get to work with that makes it happen.  Scorekeepers working 12 hours shifts, sleeping for 4 hours and going right back to work....Tournament Directors working 15 hour days to make sure the floors, board stickers, jerseys and pants are all set to go for each team.  Coaches meetings being held for information that was necessary to distribute to all the participants, skills competitions being packed and organized for all the kids to enjoy...WOW, I can keep going for days.  Well, I will.  How about the merchandise tent with new items, how about the field house with all sorts of activity going on and things for the kids to do.

So with all of this, I say thank you.  As I walk down the hallway at the hotel and ride down the elevator, I look around and for the first time, I get an empty feeling.  There are no kids running around, no mini hockey games going on...no kids playing hockey in the lobby and just an empty hotel.  But, As I go around to say goodbye to all of my co-staff members, I want to remind them, what a great job they have done and what a great privilege it has been to work with them at State Wars 9.  The best event out there!

-Denis Jelcic