After months and months of grinding it out online, the inaugural season has come to a close. While teams continue to duke it out online for bragging rights, we have gone ahead and selected 16 of the top Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 teams to take part in this year's post-season tournament, the NHL 09 EASHL Invitational.
The online portion of the tournament will have the eight teams per console squaring off against each other in a first-round elimination game on June 27th. Winners will then move on to the second round on July 4th and the winners from there will then advance to the Console Championships taking place online July 11th. Console Champions will earn an invite to EA Canada in Vancouver to then play in a Best-of-Seven series to take place August 5th-7th.
Here are the tournament match-ups for the first round:
PlayStation 3 Console Championships
#1 No CryBabys vs #8 MiNNeApoLIs KiDs
#2 Angry Whoppers vs #7 HE HATE ME
#3 NHL Regulators vs #6 ATLANTIC DANGLERS
#4 Mega Meat Stars vs #5 RapidCity Riot
Xbox 360 Console Championships
#1 Shammers United vs #8 THE HITMEN
#2 DREAM KILLERS vs #7 Dragon Force
#3 The White Church vs #6 xX DiRtY SniPe Xx
#4 13th Amendment vs #5 Purple Cobraz
With the invites sent to the GM's there has already been a lot of talk about the competition in the tournament and it's looking to be quite a fierce race to the EASHL Championship. Zach Flinn, aka Izzy Toasty, from the #3 ranked The White Church, talked about their chances of winning, "We have a solid offensive gameplan and a great commitment to defense. Shutting out another top team 1-0 gives us more pride than a 10-4 win. If our defense is playing the way we can, it's going to be a tough day for the opposition offense."
Brandon LeBourveau, aka DoMiNaTioN x21, from the #5 Purple Cobraz looks at making a run in the tourney, "We feel like we have as good of a chance to win the tournament as any of the other seven teams. If we come prepared to play and stick to our gameplan, we are confident that we can win. The key for us starts and ends with our ability to stay out of the penalty box which has routinely killed us in big games against top competition." When asked about what other teams they'll be watching out for, "Shammers United and DREAM KILLERS are definitely going to be the toughest competition. They are both extremely solid teams defensively."
Sneaking into the tournament on the final day, #8 THE HITMEN aren't looking to back down to the #1 Shammers United in the first round. "I think our chances are no different than anyone else in the tournament," says GM Michael Illig, aka Rickeeslade. "The records of the teams in the tournament shows how tight of a race it's going to be. Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes and capitalizes on their changes is going to take it."
On the PS3 side, GM Eric Harydzak, aka Smak148 of the #4 Mega Meat Stars talks about the league in general, "The EASHL puts video game hockey on a whole new level. This gives you something to play for instead of fake championships. I don't care what team you're on, everyone wants to be number one. The EASHL is the best thing in video game hockey since making people's head bleed!" On his team in general, "I personally consider all my players as GM's. No one person is ever told he is a bad player...except for ckfly because he thinks he's God's gift to NHL 09 ;)"
One spot above them, the #3 NHL Regulators have 2765 games to earn the right to be in the tournament. "Playing blueline shutdown defense, having strong play behind the net, solid one-touch passing, and getting in front of the net to redirect shots and put in rebounds will be keys to us winning," says GM Bobby Jones, aka Jones412pa.
They will be facing the #6 Atlantic Danglers and GM Joey Morash, aka XxMORASHxX, feels as with any team, they can make a run at the championship. "With the single elimination we have the same chance as anyone. We have beat all the top teams so who's to say that we can't do it again."
With the first round slated for next Saturday we will continue to feature the hockey gaming stars taking part in the tournament including a discussion with the GM's of Shammers United and No CryBabys, regular season X360 and PS3 console points winners. Tune into the EA SPORTS Live show tomorrow to hear what they have to say about their season and the upcoming tournament. We'll keep the ball rolling next week with more from the teams and following the first round, we will post the winners and re-seed them for the second round.
On behalf of the NHL team, I would like to thank all the players from each and every team that has taken part in this first year of the EASHL. With many changes to come next year, we are looking forward to an even better league and much more fever-pitched action! More importantly, we're stoked to find out which two teams will earn the right to play for the our version of the Holy Grail come August!
Good luck!