Potsdam Represented at Empire State Winter Games

A group of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players, content creators, and managers made the one-hour drive to Paul Smith's College on Friday, January 31 and Saturday, February 1 for the 2020 Empire State Winter Games.

A recent addition to the 40-year-old competition, the oldest of its kind in the United States involving amateur athletes, are open tournaments for Madden and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as a four-team collegiate invitational for Overwatch.

Seven players representing SUNY Potsdam participated in the Smash tournament on Friday night and out of 20 competing players, all of them finished in the Top 10.

The clubhouse leader was Theo Cannamela (Kurlz) who took home the bronze medal after wins over Xavenas, 12er, and Frig0maniac (Griffin Shenkel) before falling to eventual gold medalist Liyrex in the semifinals of the double elimination tournament.

The Bears rounded out the top five with Liam Schmith (Barrow) taking fourth place and Keanu Wiens (Strange) and Shenkel finished tied for fifth.

Three Potsdam players finished in a 4-way tie for 9th place with Adam Hartmann (Dogemann), Patrick Silk (PSK), and new addition Tyler Shenkel (Doc) rounding out the Top 10 on the leaderboard.

To see the complete bracket and final results, please click here.

Also part of the Smash tournament was the presence of SUNY Potsdam shoutcasters and content creators. Chris Falcon, Colin Michaud, and Paul Santos made the trip and streamed the tournament live on the PES Twitch channel from Paul Smith's College.

Falcon was back at the mic on Saturday for the Overwatch Finals, joined by Alec Knowles from SUNY Canton. The four-team invitational was won by Alfred State, who took the gold medal in a 3-1 win over UAlbany, who goes home with the silver medal.

The College of Saint Rose claimed the bronze medal with a 3-0 win over St. Peter's University.

A special thank you to Molly Mayer with the Empire State Winter Games and to Paul Smith's College for their support and hospitality in our coverage of the events!