They set a limit of 512 participants in both the Xbox and PlayStation tournaments and filled those easily. The Blues created three divisions: two open divisions for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and one for high school-aged players. “We were able to expedite our plans there and get that launched to make sure we were getting our fans something at a time when they probably had a little more time on their hands than they normally would.” “We already had that in the works, and it allowed us to act very quickly to get some content out there to our fans,” Gardner said. Registration was scheduled to take place in late March, but when the league paused earlier that month because of the pandemic, the Blues bumped up their timetable. ![]() Through a cooperation with Maryville University and the Rawlings Sports Business Management program, an esports association was created and the idea to host an NHL 20 tournament in the spring of 2020 was hatched. “But we decided to take a step back and spend a little bit more time going over what we figured was going to be the direction for us … to best activate through our local market,” Gardner said. There were already a few NHL teams who had jumped into esports, and in communication with those clubs, the Blues believed it was a viable platform. The Blues actually began brainstorming how they could incorporate esports in their content two years ago. ![]() To be able to launch this esports tournament was a great thing, so people could take in a little Blues hockey when they were missing it and not able to go to games.” The second was to entertain our fans at a time when they probably needed that more than anything - take their mind off all the craziness that was going on in the world. Louis and everyone that was going to be impacted by this pandemic. “The first was to make sure we’re using our communication to support St. ![]() “As we went into this (quarantine) period, we had a couple of big goals in mind,” said Matt Gardner, the Blues’ vice president of Digital Media and Emerging Technology. The competition was well-timed, and while not all fans are gamers, seeing the players’ names and incredibly detailed graphics of the game did give some their fix until the league resumes. The Blues’ first foray into the esports world was successful, with more than 1,000 participants taking part in the event and winners crowned over the weekend. “It was a great opportunity to connect with fans and give a little hockey feel to everyone. “Yeah, didn’t have much else going on at all,” he said. So when the Blues reached out to him and teammate Colton Parayko and asked them to play in the Blues Gaming NHL 20 Showdown, he was on board right away. Tito, a former Hurricanes player and Wellington coach, is a lineout specialist and while the set piece itself was okay at AAMI Park (it was disastrous against the Crusaders in last season’s grand final), the Blues’ vulnerability to the driving maul will interest every other team in the competition.But when the NHL paused the regular season in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas was like the rest of us, quarantined at home with few responsibilities. “We’ve got a lot to work on,” assistant coach Paul Tito said. Their discipline was poor in Melbourne – they gave up 17 penalties to the Brumbies’ nine and had Caleb Clarke and James Lay sinbinned in the first quarter – and the way they were pushed around in the lineout drive, and to a lesser extent the breakdown, exposed flaws they were understandably keen to fix this week against a potentially difficult visit to the capital. After thrashing the Highlanders in Dunedin in round one with their traditional counter-attacking, ruck and run style, they had a serious malfunction against the Brumbies in Melbourne at the weekend and another defeat could paint a team that began the season as one of the competition favourites as a little mentally and physically fragile.
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