We have finally arrived at the finals of the Ducks gaming event hosted by NHLGamer. It's been an exciting group stage leading into the innovative three-tier playoff system, and all eyes are now on the tier 1 finals and who will take the biggest slice of the $5000 prize pool. We’ve gone from 72 teams down to only two remaining, who will be the one to come out on top?

A Look at the Other Finals

While we look forward to the tier 1 finals, the unique approach of the Ducks Gaming Tournament brought two more finals games to be played during the playoffs. The playoff format separated teams into three different tiers for a chance to compete for prizes across all tiers. This brought us two more playoff finals to talk about. The Tier 3 Playoffs, or the Niedermayer Division, while it may be considered the lowest playoff tier, the drama and excitement it brought during the finals was nothing short of memorable. It was game 2, and with 3rd seed Blueline Bakery leading the series 1-0 as well as leading the game 2-1 with just under a minute to play, disaster struck. 

This may be something you never see again, or one of those 1 in 10,000 moments that you picture in your head happening, but it never actually manifesting. This however was very real for Blueline Bakery, and this unfortunately meant that game 2 was now tied and heading to overtime, where Unknown Talent would go on to win games 2 and 3 to take the series 2-1 and capture the Niedermayer Division title. Despite the oddities of the series, both of these teams had extremely strong playoff runs, as they both only dropped a single game combined between the two teams before the finals, which was a defensive battle with 11 goals in 3 games between the two teams. 

The Tier 2 Playoffs, better known as the Kariya Division, was less about the heartbreak but rather the strong play heading into the finals. Denial heading into group play could’ve been considered a contender for the tier 1 playoffs but a tough group draw and a head to head tie breaker sent them to the Tier 2 Playoffs instead. This team finished group play 11-2-1, but 3rd in their group, so expectations were very high for Denial and were the clear favourites for the bracket play. They certainly exceeded those expectations, as they only had 2 losses in 14 games on route to their Tier 2 title. No Expectations’ cinderella 11th seed run may of been stopped short of the goal, but their run was something to be proud of regardless, beating some solid teams along the way, and as the 11th seed nonetheless. 

Finals Preview

As we move on to the Tier 1 Selanne Playoffs, the teams that are set to clash have had very different roads to the finals. 

The first is Olympia, who has been known for the majority of the past year as a de facto top 5 team in North America, and could have the argument as the best team in NA. We most recently saw them on NHLGamer in the Northern Arena Cup last summer, where the core of the team finished 2nd out of 32 of the top teams with the New York Underdogs. We’ve seen them have deep runs in other events throughout the course of the 2020-21 season, and are back in yet another final and look to take their first crown on the NHLGamer site. Throughout the past year Olympia has proven to be one the biggest forces within North American Esports. Since their finals appearance in the NA Cup, they have 1 major event win, a finals appearances, and a top 8 finish this year, and look to add to the “event win” category with another one here. This team can score in many different ways, but also a very prevalent and strong defensive team. They’ve dominated their opponents, outscoring them 37-17 throughout the tier 1 playoffs, and against some pretty strong opponents as well. They’ll be looking to come out firing on all cylinders in this series, as I believe most people would consider them the favorites heading into the finals. 

Prodigy feels like the underdog in the series going up against a giant like Olympia, but these boys went through the gauntlet to get to this point. Despite finishing with an impressive 13-1-0 in group play, they ended up with a middling 8th seed for the playoffs, which certainly meant that their road to the finals was going to be more difficult than others. In the quarterfinals this prophecy came true in spades, as they had to go up against the number 2 seed in Hidden Potential, who just so happened to be undefeated in group play, scoring 87 goals in 14 games in the process. It was a long battle between these 2 teams, which took them all the way to 5 games, where @Canadiens 27 scored the series winning goal to send Prodigy to the semifinals. Their semifinal opponent? Well it just so happens that they drew the number 1 seed in Resilience, who also just so happened to have the best defense in group play with 11 goals against in 14 games. Prodigy went the distance again,  taking the number 1 seed to the 5th and final game, where Canadiens struck again, first with the tying goal early in the 3rd period, and then the series winning goal 10 mins into overtime to send Prodigy to the finals. This team has gone through the 2 best teams in group play, who individually boasted the 2nd best offense and the #1 defense out of all the teams, and still came out on top. While this team may be considered a dark horse, this team has proven that they can compete and beat the best teams, and will look to shock the world again. This time however, for the whole event.
 

Keys to the Series

Sniper Shootout

While both of these teams have a large arsenal of weapons to score with, the biggest matchup of them all will come down to the biggest snipers on both teams, that being @Canadiens 27 for Prodigy and @gillyfor Olympia. These 2 players are 1st and 2nd out of all players in the Tier 1 playoffs with 23 and 21 goals respectively, with the next best player being only at 15. They also happen to be 1 and 2 in shots on goal (57 for Canadiens, 49 for Gilleh), and game winning goals (6 for Canadiens, 5 for Gilleh). These guys are by far the most dangerous scorers for their teams, and will look to continue their scoring ways in the finals to be the factor to get their team over the line.

Fire and Ice - Offense and Defense

To get this far in the playoffs, you have to be good at both ends of the rink, but both of these teams have seemingly contrasting styles in how they have had success this event. For Prodigy, they have been a high octane offensive team, with the forward core of Canadiens, @Polgzand @xDeath(Ethancy) being capable of scoring goals out of seemingly nothing, but also the blueline of @Geimerand @desyd19are skilled, dependable offensive defensemen who can get the job done when needed. On the other hand, Olympia are built around a rock solid defense with @Ruxand @Grim, with a fantastic goaltender in @Rainz to boot. While Prodigy’s front 3 forwards are 1-2-3 in playoff scoring, Olympia’s players are tied for the lead in +/- with a +21. Not to mention that Rainz boasts a 1.42 GAA and an 84.4 SV% with 3 shutouts, in which he leads all 3 of these categories for playoff goaltenders. 

The X-Factor for these 2 teams is finding the ying to their yang, or rather the opposite of their team strengths. With Prodigy having such a high powered offense, can the defense and @o S m i i t t y come out and match the play of Olympia’s backend? Sure they can score goals, but if they can’t keep up with the strong defensive play the other side will bring, it will be a nail biting shootout for the title. On the flipside, Olympia will look to be just as explosive as Prodigy is going to be. It’s not as if they don’t have the weapons, as alongside Gilleh, @Gabseh and @McFleury are highly skilled forwards who can score in bunches if need be. We know that Prodigy can score, but Olympia is going to need to supplement their strong defensive play with some key goals and capitalizing on their chances to have the most success this series.  

That’s going to wrap up the finals preview! Be sure to check out all of the coverage over at twitch.tv/anaheimducks starting at 6pm PT! Good luck to all of the competitors involved, it’s going to be an exciting series. 

It's been a while since I've done a piece  here at NHLGamer,  but it seems like the perfect time to make a comeback with the group play wrapping up in the Anaheim Ducks 6v6 event. 72 teams across 9 groups battled it out and we've now reached the conclusion of the group play and heading into the new three tiered system playoffs (The Selanne, Kariya and Niedermayer tiers). This is something that has never been seen before, and it encourages more teams to continue grinding through the playoffs and potentially win some prizes even if you aren't in the Tier 1 playoffs. Those who finished top 2 in their group will move on to the tier 1 playoffs, while the 3rd-4th and 5th-6th of each group will play in the tier 2 and tier 3 playoffs respectively. But before we get to the playoffs, let's see how group play went for some of these teams.

In Group 1 it should be no surprise that Olympia top their group with a record of 13-1-0. The winners of the Caps Gaming Showcase only let in 13 goals in 14 games played,  and certainly looked in control in every single game that they played. @Rainz led all starting goaltenders with a 92.45 SV% through 7 games, backstopping his team to their success. One of the more surprising teams on the other hand was the second seed of the group being Momentumm. This team made waves in the most recent Kings Coast Cup taking BBB all the way to seven games before eventually losing in the final game. They took the experience from that series and were actually very successful in this group going 11-2-1 across 14 games.  This high scoring offensive team  has been turning a lot of heads recently and look to continue their hot pace into the Tier 1 playoffs, where they will face the challenge again going up against the best in elimination games. The rest of the group was very even matched,  with the rest of the teams trading wins out of each other every single match day.  Code of Conduct started off very slow in the group but  rattled off 4 straight wins  to finish third in the group, while newcomer Vanquish managed to win their final game of the group play to squeak into the last spot of the tier 2 playoffs. 

Group 2 was a three-headed monster with Hall 0f Fame, Composure and True North all at the top of their group, each with at least 20 points in group play. Hall 0f Fame and Composure’s only losses came at the hands of each other, while True North’s only losses came at the hands of the two teams above them, that’s how tight this battle was. All three of these teams are well experienced esports rosters here in North America,  and are by no means green to strong event placements, and look to do damage in each of the tier 1 and tier 2 playoffs respectively. While True North may not be considered contenders against the elite teams in the tier 1 playoffs,  with the unique format of the Ducks tournament here, expect them to be a team to watch out for in the tier 2 playoffs.

Group 3 was headlined by the first undefeated team from group play, with Instinct coming out as the top seed. Their impressive 14-0-0 record Isn't necessarily surprising given this team's high skill level,  but the most surprising thing about the run more so the 13-12 win against High Latency in week 2.  I can't tell if this was planned, or if this was just the most offensive game ever seen, but I'm not sure we'll ever see another score line like this for quite some time. So consider this something for the history books. l Knight Shift l has steadily been rising up the ranks, and have gone from a relatively high offense 3’s style team,  to a more defensive squad,  with a lot closer score lines but also a lot better at keeping the puck out of the net and also keeping the puck away from their net in general. Some newer teams such as Blueline Bakery and Believe the Hype round out the tier three spots of this group. 

Group 4 was another very top-heavy group, with Prodigy taking first place with BBB not far behind. This Prodigy squad is much more similar to the one that we saw they made a large run last summer in the Northern Arena Cup right here on NHLGamer,  with top 1v1 players transitioning over to 6’s and finding success immediately. BBB started out the group play extremely hot winning 10 straight games,  before stumbling into the playoffs losing three of their final four games,  albeit against the 3rd and the first seeds of their group. BBB has been all over the map in terms of success, as some events they looked like a dominant top five team in North America,  but other times they look like they could barely beat a fringe playoff game.  This team has massive potential to have success in the tier 1 playoffs,   it simply comes down to which BBB team shows up. The Helmet Boys has been another team that has been rising up the ranks slowly but surely throughout the year,  and find themselves with another fairly successful placement in an event,  finishing with the third seed in group four,  and a top seed in the tier 2 playoffs. While this team may not wow you with impressive stat lines or crazy run up the score games,  they always seem to be in every single game they play and always take good teams to fairly tight score lines.

Group 5 featured another undefeated team heading into the playoffs, as Hidden Potential topped their respective group. The addition of @DDW4 to the team has really proven to be quite beneficial for them, as they have had deep runs in previous events and look to do so again in this event.  They've always been a very dominant team in the regular season, it's just a matter of piecing it together come the playoffs, and being the 2nd seed heading into the tier 1 playoffs  is the perfect opportunity for them to shine. Hidden Potential LW @Shockz is having an MVP type performance as well, as he leads all players in goals, points, and shots on goal through group play. The west based team in Evolutional take the second spot here in group five and it was a little bit of a surprise.  Being as this tournament is hosted by the Anaheim Ducks,  who also hosts the WCHL here on NHLGamer, it's only fitting that we have a west coast team in the Tier 1 playoffs looking to battle it out for the top prize. While they're always seems to be controversy surrounding west coast teams and ping issues, there's no denying that this team can score, as they had multiple games with extreme high scoring games with 76 total goals in 14 games played. 

Group 6 ended up being a very top heavy group, with 3 teams over 20 points at the end. Leading the charge was the ever dominant Entourage, who continue their season long success with an almost perfect 13-1-0 record. At this point, it feels almost routine to see Entourage perform against the best, and it’s no surprise to see them at the top of any group. However, one big surprise was the 2nd seed, as Osiris came out on top with an impressive 11-3-0 record. While this may be a newer squad in the scene, the came out with a bang in their first event together, and ended up being only second to one of the best teams in the world currently. Teams like l Stealth l and Freedom both contain seasoned players here in North America, and beat out some recognizable brands from recent events like Unknown Talent and VIGILANCE for the tier 2 playoffs.

Starstruck has been a team on the rise in the past few months, and continue that trend with a dominant group play in Group 7. The addition of @JClaus33 has been everything and more for the team, and they look to be contenders heading into bracket play. A brand that has always been a dark horse in every event they play in, CBJ Gaming continues to prove the doubters wrong with a ticket to the tier 1 playoffs, with a record of 9-2-3. With the sudden retirements of No Expectations forwards @oSparz and @N a s t y x 93, there was some uncertainty surrounding the squad and how they would perform in the event. They ended up scrapping together a team and managed to grab a tier 2 playoff spot with a respectable 9-5-0 record. 

Group 8 had arguably the biggest surprise group winner with The Empire taking the top spot. The squad’s 13-1-0 record is nothing to scoff at, and they did so in a pretty tough group, beating out some high profile teams LFG and Highlanders along the way. While this team features members who have been playing with each other for a long time, the ability to create a new team and have such success so quickly is quite the feat. Rounding out the top 4 from this group is the Ephesians, who had a hot start, a slight stumble in week 2 before finishing off week 3 with a perfect 4-0 to finish in the 3rd seed of group 8. 

Finally, group 9 contained a number of heavy hitters at the top, but it was Resilience who topped all of them with a perfect 14-0-0 record. This team was both dominantly offensively as well as defensively, as they finished with the least amount of goals against with 11 goals against in 14 games played. Backed by @TH4 x W4LL and his 88.89 SV%, this team looks poised to make a run for the title. Joining Evolutional as a west coast competitor, Ice is a much more well known squad, having multiple high event finishes under their belt before this one. They’ll look to represent their region well, especially in an event located so close to home. Unfortunately one team had to get the short end of the stick in this group, and it ended up being Denial in this case. While 23 points and a 11-2-1 record could be a top 2 seed in multiple groups, the system was not kind to them in this case, and they will have to settle for the tier 2 playoffs. This team looked to be dangerous in the tier 1 playoffs, but now competing in the upcoming tier 2 playoffs, this team could be the team to beat.

The Selanne tier features the best performing squads from the group stage, with Resilience entering as the #1 seed.

The Kariya tier features teams that have also done well in the group play, and they are placed with squads of similar ability to fight for great prizes.

We've also got tons of skill in the Niedermayer tier, with Hydra Esports grabbing the #1 seed spot.

With group play wrapped up, teams will now look towards their respective playoff brackets. The big difference between other events and this one is the all new tiered playoff system, which gives more teams the ability to compete for prizes. Catch all of the games over at twitch.tv/anaheimducks for all of the playoff action!

The Anaheim Ducks and Ducks Gaming have now officially opened up the registrations for the 6v6 Tournament presented by McDonald's of Southern California. This event is guaranteed to be stacked with talent, offering total prizes worth $5,000.

This is going to be the first North American 6v6 tournament hosted by an NHL team that offers multiple-tier prizing. Hosted here at NHLGamer, the tournament and prize structure combined with server selection criteria is designed to encourage growth and participation of multiple skill levels in the EASHL community throughout the United States and Canada. 

“We are excited to host our first North American 6v6 Tournament presented by our partner, McDonald’s of Southern California. Combining our internal resources with the quality that NHLGamer has demonstrated, we are hopeful that this event can provide for a fun and unique experience for participants that will encourage the betterment and growth of NHL esports as a whole.” - G.M. Ciallella, Digital Marketing & Analytics Manager at the Anaheim Ducks.
 

Registrations will be open until May 25th, and pool play will start on June 1st. Participants must be 13+ years of age and live in North America. Please note: Registering Team must be created in EASHL in NHL21 on Xbox before sign-up can be completed

Tournament format

Pool play starts on June 1st. At this stage, teams will be divided into even pools with default gamedays on Sundays and Tuesdays. Based on results from the pool play stage, teams will be divided into the Selänne, Kariya and Niedermayer divisions. These divisions are skill-based and prizes reflect the level of teams in each division, with higher prizing in the division with the better performing pool play teams. Refer to the tournament rules for a full description of prizing.

Matchup criteria

After conducting thorough research into fair-play scenarios, teams will have to register their "best server" when signing up for the tournament. The server selection will work as follows:

1. Teams can agree to play on a server of their choice if both teams agree.
2. Teams can agree to a home-and-home scenario where the home team picks the server of their choice.
3. If teams cannot agree to the first two options they will use the following table. You will cross-reference your team’s best server with your opponent’s to determine which server you will use. The best server is based on what server would provide players/teams the lowest latency and lowest difference in latency.
 

Teams can mutually agree on a server of their choice to play on. If no agreement is made, teams will play with a home-and-home scenario, where the server is based on the home teams selection. If for some reason neither of these scenarios can be applied, a table has been created using the average latency data from all regions of North America to each server, as stated, if neither of the previously mentioned scenarios can be applied, please refer to the table below for server selection:

Discord

Please join the NHLGamer Discord server and use the #role-registration channel to assign yourself to the Ducks Gaming role by clicking the reaction logo (shown in the image below). This will enable you to see the Ducks Gaming category and channels.

About Ducks Gaming
Anaheim Ducks Gaming is a newly formed entity that focuses on creating relationships, fostering competition and building valuable skill sets through esports all while exposing new audiences to the sport of hockey. Participants in Anaheim Ducks Gaming events learn communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and other tools that are beneficial beyond just virtual reality. The Anaheim Ducks were the first Western NHL team actively fielding teams in competitive esports events, they are the first team to use their in-arena DJ in streamed content and the first team to utilize an active-roster player in a 6v6 Competitive Tournament. In addition to the three tournaments, Ducks gaming also hosts a West Coast 6v6 league on PS4 and Xbox that is focused on giving competitors on Western-located servers a fair and competitive place to play for all skill levels. For more information visit AnaheimDucks.com/gaming.

We've progressed to the playoff phase of The Anaheim Ducks 1v1 NHL 21 Tournaments presented by McDonald's of Southern California and with that we would like to congratulate all participants who have made it to this stage, we'd also like to thank all the players that participated and did not qualify to this stage. This is where the top players clash and we're guaranteed some intense games!

To start off the playoffs, brackets for both the PS4 and Xbox tournaments are listed below. The top 8 seeded players will receive a bye this week. 

Please note, this round is a Best of 3 single elimination, meaning that the first participant with 2 wins will advance. You have until Friday, April 30th to complete this round of playoffs. 

Please refer to the the full tournament rules for the entire playoff schedule.

Social Media and Hashtags:

The Anaheim Ducks Xbox and PlayStation NHL 21 1v1 Tournaments presented by McDonald's of Southern California begin today with a prize pool of $1,500 and Ducks prizes. With nearly 100 registrants from the Southern California area, this will offer competitive gameplay and great entertainment for virtual hockey fans to tune in for globally. We'll be kicking off the action with online pool play among all the registered players. Here's an overview of how the tournament is going to progress all the way through pool play to the grand finals on Saturday, May 15th:

Pool Play: Wednesday, April 15th - Monday, April 26th

• Best of 1
• Each player will face five or six opponents in this timeframe.
• The top 24 players on both consoles will advance to the playoffs.

Playoffs (BO3 single elimination): Wednesday, April 28th - Saturday, May 15th

• Round of 24: Wednesday, April 18th - Friday, April 30th
• Round of 16: Sunday, May 2nd - Tuesday, May 4th
• Quarterfinals: Wednesday, May 5th - Saturday, May 8th
• Semifinals (Xbox): Monday, May 10th
• Semifinals (PS4): Wednesday, May 12th
• Finals: Saturday, May 15th

Click the buttons below to access the groups for both platforms:

Please read the full tournament rules for more detailed information.

IMPORTANT TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
If any questions arise, please contact Support.

Please join the NHLGamer Discord server and use the #role-registration channel to assign yourself to the Ducks Gaming role by clicking the reaction logo (shown in the image below). This will enable you to see the Ducks Gaming category and channels.

Ducks Gaming, the esports organization of NHL franchise The Anaheim Ducks have announced three esports tournaments that will be hosted in partnership with NHLGamer, the Prize pool of said tournaments will total up to $5,000.

The Anaheim Ducks have announced that Ducks Gaming will launch three Esports tournaments, presented by McDonald’s of Southern California, with prizing totaling $5,000. Anaheim Ducks Gaming presented by McDonald's of Southern California is the official Gaming arm of the NHL organization. The first two Anaheim Ducks Gaming 1v1 NHL 21 Tournaments presented by McDonald's will both begin on April 14 when players will battle for up to $2,000 worth of combined prizes on both Xbox and PS4. The Ducks will then host a 6v6 Xbox-only tournament that will run on Tuesdays and Sundays from June 1 through mid-July with prizing up to $3,000. Matches throughout all three events will be broadcast on the team's Twitch-channel: Twitch.tv/AnaheimDucks. Registration information and dates are provided below.
 

Registration Information
To get more information on Ducks Gaming make sure to follow on Twitter @NHLDucksGaming or visit the webpage AnaheimDucks.com/Gaming. For tournament registration visit NHLGamer.com/Ducks.

We at NHLGamer will serve as the platform all games are run through, with our vast experience in hosting esports events across a variety of sports titles and having ran the largest NHL Esports league in the world for several seasons already, we are confident and eager to make the Ducks Gaming 2021 Esports Tournaments presented by McDonald's of Southern California a stellar experience for both participants, fans as well as organizers.

"The Anaheim Ducks are looking forward to working with NHLGamer on these upcoming initiatives. Discussions with Kenu and his team have shown their commitment to the growth of esports in the NHL gaming community and together we are hopeful to produce events and content that are at the forefront of the space." - G.M. Ciallella, Digital Marketing & Analytics Manager at the Anaheim Ducks.
 

Both the 1v1 tournaments for Xbox and PlayStation, as well as the 6v6 tournament for Xbox will be hosted here at NHLGamer. See below for details*.

1v1 Xbox and PlayStation Esports Tournaments

• For Participants 13 years and older who reside in Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties
• Registration will run from Mar. 28-Apr. 11
• Tournament begins April 14th
• Finals May 15th
• Tournament Rules
• Tournament Registration
• Tournament Discord

6v6 Xbox Esports Tournaments

• For Participants 13 years and older who reside in North America
• Registration will run from May 1 to May 25
• Default game days will be Sundays and Tuesdays beginning June 1st
• Finals July 18th
• Survey about server selection

*Subject to change

About Ducks Gaming
Anaheim Ducks Gaming is a newly formed entity that focuses on creating relationships, fostering competition and building valuable skill sets through esports all while exposing new audiences to the sport of hockey. Participants in Anaheim Ducks Gaming events learn communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and other tools that are beneficial beyond just virtual reality. The Anaheim Ducks were the first Western NHL team actively fielding teams in competitive esports events, they are the first team to use their in-arena DJ in streamed content and the first team to utilize an active-roster player in a 6v6 Competitive Tournament. In addition to the three tournaments, Ducks gaming also hosts a West Coast 6v6 league on PS4 and Xbox that is focused on giving competitors on Western-located servers a fair and competitive place to play for all skill levels. For more information visit AnaheimDucks.com/gaming.