Eighth Annual “Commissioner’s Surprise” HOCKEY BLAST Tournament!
NOTE that this blog post will be updated with fresh results as this year's tournament progresses...
Time again for our Eighth Annual "Commissioner's Surprise” HOCKEY BLAST tournament, where we crown our OWN pro hockey champion in a chaotic, anything-can-happen, "hockey madness" tournament structure! As always, we'll be inviting the PLAAY Games community to join in the fun by playing out the tournament on YOUR game table!
EVERY pro team from the current HOCKEY BLAST Pro Season card set is included in our annual tournament, using the 2021-22 Pro Hockey Season cards. It's single-elimination format and the match-ups are completely random! We will literally drew them out of a hat in a LIVE PLAAY Games YouTube stream on Thursday evening 10.20.22.
Here are the winners from our previous seven tournaments (location of game and participants in parentheses)...
2021: Winnipeg 4, Tampa Bay 1 (Denver, CO, Dave Kauffman and Glen Oberhauser)
2020: Boston 4, Philadelphia 1 (online, Mike Vacco and Steve Tower)
2019: Tampa Bay 4, New York RGR 0 (Boston, MA, Brien Aronov and Joe Petrafassi)
2018: Boston 2, Toronto 1 (Pittsburgh, PA, Art Campana and Mark Russell)
2017: Philadelphia 3, Minnesota 2 (Hamilton, ON, Michael Owens and Greg Flynn)
2016: Nashville 4, Washington 3 (OT) (Las Vegas, NV, Grant Fines and Gary Chrosniak)
2015: Chicago 2, Tampa Bay 1 (Denver, CO, Steve Heller and David Santistevan)
Boston is our only two-time winner (so far), Tampa Bay has made it to the title game three times. It's always fun, always dramatic--it's a (hockey) blast! You're invited to help us make this year's tournament the best-ever!...
The pro league's expansion to Seattle gives us an even number of teams again. Since we have a perfect 32-team field, we're eliminating the PLAAY-in game and also doing away with the bye week for the real-life championship series teams. EVERY team starts from scratch, and must WIN to stay IN!
The run-down of the tournament is featured below. Everything from the first round through the "Final Four" will be played by the PLAAY Games community. The championship game will be played live on our 11.21.22 PLAAY Space YouTube stream. More on that, coming soon.
Here's this year's schedule (the name of the community member playing the game is in parentheses)...
FIRST ROUND
Game ONE: Minnesota 1, at Colorado 4 (Chris Day): The Avs added a couple late goals to seal off a hard-fought victory over the Wild. JT Compher scored 1:09 into the game and then iced it with an empty-netter 11 seconds from the end. The Avs never trailed as Rantannen and MacKinnon both had 2-point games.
Game TWO: Florida 4, at Columbus 6 (Steve Heller): The Blue Jackets shocked the #1 regular season Panthers! They had a 5-0 lead after two periods and were out shot 16-7 in the third but hung for the upset win. The Jackets first line of Bjorkstrand, Jenner and Nyquist accounted for three of the six goals.
Game THREE: Anaheim 2, at New York ISL 3 (OT) (Giorgio Salvadego): A very entertaining game, with a fight breaking out after just 3 seconds! Matt Martin and Troy Terry dropped the gloves and started the first fight of the night (Martin was the clear cut winner)! Five minutes later, Zdeno Chara and Sam Carrick dropped the gloves and the aging Chara put Carrick quickly to rest with a very quick knockdown! (Chara also mixed it up with Max Comptois in the second period!) There was also some hockey action to report: at 13:11 Anaheim took the lead when Troy Terry' shot got past an excellent Ilia Sorokin for the 1-0 lead. New York rallied twice in the third to end the regulation time at 2-2 with a 6-on-5 goal from Josh Bailey at 18:54. The OT saw two teams more worried to not allow the opponent to create scoring chances, when at 15:16 Matt Barzal with one of his dazzling move got past John Gibson, sending the Isles to the second round.
Game FOUR: Buffalo 5, at Winnipeg 4 (OT) (Michael Owens): Jets lose 5-4 in overtime after spirited comeback in third period. The jets were down 4-2 but got 2 goals in third period , including Blake Wheeler PP goal with 1:21 left. Sadly, Jeff Skinner scored 10 seconds into overtime and the Sabres move on!
Game FIVE: Vegas 3, at Vancouver 1 (Rob Gallamore): Vegas gets two goals from Max Pacioretty and Robin Lehner was solid in stopping 25 Vancouver shots as visitors defeat the Canucks. Line mates Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson each had two assists as the line dominated the JT Miller line. Quinn Hughes had the lone Vancouver goal.
Game SIX: Nashville 1, at Pittsburgh 4 (Chris Hoffman): Rickard Rakell scored a power play goal in the second, and added an even-strength tally later in the period. Tristan Jarry recorded 37 saves. In the second, Pit took a cheap shot on Nashville's Filip Forsberg. The fight that resulted later to settle it produced the longest fight sequence I can ever remember having (8 blows, 4 apiece between Ryan Johansen, and Mike Matheson)! Also, early in the third, a crazy sequence occurred! Nashville's Josi had a scoring chance that was stopped, Nashville got two rebounds that were also stopped. On the 2nd stopped rebound, Pittsburgh got a breakaway play, which was stopped, and Nashville got a breakaway play, which was stopped, and two more rebound chances which were stopped!
Game SEVEN: Boston 1, at Tampa Bay 4 (Jamie Watkins): Stamkos with a Hat Trick (2 PPG's and an ENG) and 31 saves by Vasilevskiy leads to a Lightning win. Point with no points, but came up big with some big faceoff wins in the key 3rd period. Marchant with the lone Bruins Goal.
Game EIGHT: Washington 5, at Dallas 4 (Greg Flynn): Wild and a crazy game! The first shot on goal doesn’t occur until the 3rd shift with Oettinger making the spectacular save off of Oshie. With 8 minutes to play in the first period, a “12” is rolled off the face-off followed by another roll “12” and then yet another! The result is back-to-back goals 1st by Benn followed by Kuznetsov making it a 1 - 1 tie. Right off the draw Sheary scores with an immediate play and help from momentum chip. Teams exchange goals in the second period, one from Robertson, the other from Ovechkin. 3 - 2 Washington heading into the third. Six minutes into the period Kuznetsov makes it 4 - 2 Washington. With 7 minutes to play Peterson gets an unlikely goal as Vanecek misses the spectacular save attempt! (4 - 3 Washington) Last minute of play, Dallas pulls, Dallas wins a “Star” check on the Ice Blast, and Namestnikov scores to end regulation tied at 4-4. Backstrom scores on a breakaway the 3-on-3 in overtime!
Game NINE: Chicago 1, at Montreal 0 (Alexander Pawlik): A tight goaltenders duel, lots of shots being tossed at both goaltenders nets. Lots of Lulls early on in the 1st (15) and in the 2nd (11), but the downside for Chicago is that their Starting Goaltender for the game, Kevin Lankinen, suffered a rare injury and had to be carted of the ice in the middle of the 2nd Period, probably ending his tournament before it got started. Colin Delia filled in for the rest of the game and got the win as he stopped the remaining 11 of 22 total Montreal Shots on Goal, going a perfect 11 for 11. Montreal had a chance to tie the game late, off a breakaway chance from Nick Suzuki, but Colin Delia made the Game Saving Save for the Hawks. Despite the lone goal came from Chicago's Tyler Johnson at 11:28 of the 3rd period, with an assist coming from Jake McCabe, it was more than enough to help Chicago eliminate Montreal and advance to Round 2 of the Commissioners Surprise Tournament.
Game TEN: Toronto 0, at Seattle 2 (Travis Jansen): A Nylander goal in the first period puts Seattle ahead early. McCann would add another in the 2nd getting revenge on being stopped on a spectacular save earlier in the period. Period 3 saw some back and forth, but no scoring occurred and Seattle emerged victorious.
Game ELEVEN: Edmonton 0, at Ottawa 3 (Derek Jones): This game was streamed on the ImagiSport Network, Friday 10.28.22! Josh Norris scored twice and Anton Forsberg posted a 26-save shutout.
Game TWELVE: Calgary 3, at San Jose 1 (Jeff Tomlinson): Matthew Tkachuk was the antagonist and points leader in this game. The first period San Jose kept the Flames to only one goal and two scoring chances. The second period was chippy with penalties and a fight. Tkachuk was in the middle of everything. Meier evened the score at 1 - 1 with an early goal in the second. The third period was all Calgary. San Jose’s James Reimer kept it close but allowed 2 more goals under relentless pressure.
Game THIRTEEN: Detroit 2, at Carolina 7 (Tim Lucas): The Wings only goals came off of power plays in the second and third periods. Carolina dominated in every category with Teravainen and Aho both having four point games. Just a warm-up game for the Hurricanes advancing to the next round.
Game FOURTEEN: Arizona 2, at Philadelphia 3 (SO) (David Kauffman): Flyers goalie Hart went down with an injury in the first period and the Coyotes took advantage, grabbing a 2-0 lead on goals from Gostisbehere and Chychrun, both assisted by Keller. Philly rallied late with third-period goals from Brown and York. No scoring in overtime, so these two clubs went to a shootout, won by the Flyers!
Game FIFTEEN: New Jersey 4 at New York RGR, 3 (OT) (Giorgio Salvadego): The rebuilding Devils pulled the trigger in overtime to beat the heavily favorite Rangers in a nearly perfect game. NJ dominated from the opening face off, blocking any NYR play attempts and forcing them to chase the young Devils both up on the scoreboard and down on the ice. The Rangers looked to have found the Devils numbers in the third period when they drew even at 3-3 on a Filip Chytil goal and things looked bright with the looming OT. But at 3:37 in the OT period Damon Severson scored the game winner and stunned the sellout crowd at MSG!
Game SIXTEEN: St. Louis 4, at Los Angeles 2 (Dave Jackson): The Blues rallied with four goals in the third period, scoring two goals 58 seconds apart to take a lead they would not relinquish. Ryan O'Reilly led the Blues with three assists, and linemates Vladimir Tarasenko and David Perron each tallied a goal and an assist. Dustin Brown's first-period goal held up through the first two periods for Los Angeles, but Blake Lizotte's slashing penalty in the waning seconds of the second period led to Brandon Saad's power-play goal 1:12 into the final period, tying the score 1-1. In the very next minute, Tarasenko beat Jonathan Quick to give St. Louis its first lead. Colton Parayko's blast at 6:14 of the third was the eventual game-winner. Drew Doughty gave the Kings same life with a power-play goal midway through the third, but Jordan Binnington kept the Kings from getting the equalizer, and Perron's empty-net goal finished the scoring. Binnington stopped 30 of 32 shots for St. Louis, including two spectacular saves. Quick had 23 saves for Los Angeles.
SECOND ROUND, "Sweet Sixteen"
Game SEVENTEEN: Ottawa 2, at Colorado 5 (Chris Day): The Avs moved into the quarterfinals with a hard-fought, penalty plagued game. The teams were called for 13 combined penalties, including five lulls, for 32 minutes in the box. In the end, the Avs got out to a 2-0 lead before the Senators came back to tie with two power play goals. However, a 4v4 goal in the second period from Kadri and third period tallies from MacKinnon and Landeskog gave the Avs the win.
Game EIGHTEEN: Tampa Bay 7, at Columbus 4 (Steve Heller): Columbus tried to upset another team from Florida. Entertaining game, including no lulls in the third period (very rare!). Tampa Bay had a 3-1 lead in the second but Columbus tied up with a goal in the last minute of the period from Boone Jenner. Victors Hedman's (3 pts in the game) power play goal put the Lightning up 4-3 early in the third stanza. But Jenner tied up it midway through.Steven Stamkos scored Tampa Bay's third power play goal of the game a few minutes later to make it 5-4. Just a couple minutes after that, Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevsky stoned Jenner with a spectacular save and that took the air out of the Blue Jackets and the building. Braydeon Point scored for Tampa Bay with a few minutes to go to make it 6-4 and they added an empty netter for the final of 7-4. To add insult to injury, in the last minute Vasilevsky once again stopped Jenner with a spectacular save. Tampa Bay outshot Columbus 36-21 for the game. The Blue Jackets gave it a good shot but the Lightning just had too much offense in the end.
Game NINETEEN: Carolina 3, at Pittsburgh 2 (Chris Hoffman): Hurricanes won on a late goal (19th minute) by Jordan Staal (assists to Teravainen and Neiderreiter) to advance in the tournament. Pittsburgh immediately pulled Jarry for an extra attacker in the 20th minute, which led to a great chance by Rust (save by Andersen), followed by a rebound chance by Guentzel, which was stopped, and cleared to end it. First period was choppy early, with multiple penalties, then settled down a bit. Guentzel got the scoring started (assists to Rust and Crosby), then, Aho got Carolina on the board with a power play marker, to tie it. Crosby tallied apower play goal of his own late in the period. The second period saw no scoring, or penalties, but was hardly without action! Both teams exchanged hits, and momentum swings, and both had great scoring chances stopped by exceptional goaltending! Neiderreiter tied it for Carolina early in the third, setting the stage for Staal's late heroics.
Game TWENTY: New York ISL 3, at Buffalo 2 (Giorgio Salvadego): The start of the game was lethargic, to say the least, with the first signs of life recorded at the 17th minute, and with the Isles scoring the opening goal at 19:58! The middle period started with more Isles action and two spectacular saves by Sabres goalie Craig Anderson. The Isles took a 2-0 lead at 9:51 on Ryan Pulock missile from the blue line. And finally Buffalo showed some life to end the period. And right after the opening third period face-off at 0:11 Tage Thompson beat Ilya Sorokin to trim down the lead at 2-1. Things got a bit nasty at 9:45 with coincidental minors and at 10:46 when Rasmus Dahlin got a 5 minute major for roughing. And on the ensuing PP the Isles scored again with Anders Lee for the 3-1 lead at 14:22. At 18:03 Buffalo pulled the goalie and 12 seconds later scored 6 on 5 the final 3-2 goal of the match with Dylan Cozens. And the NY Islanders manage to get to the third round!
Game TWENTY-ONE: Philadelphia 4, at Seattle 3 (OT) (Steve Tower, streamed LIVE on AFR, Thursday, 11.03.22, 630p MDT, 830p EDT). What a game! Seattle took a 2-0 lead in the first period, Philly answered with three goals in the second. The Kraken tied it in the third, Flyers won in OT. All the action archived on AFR.
Game TWENTY-TWO: Calgary 4, at New Jersey 1 (Jeff Tomlinson): The Flames dominated the Devils, roughing them up when they could and taking advantage of turnovers and penalties. The game was tied at 1-1 after the first, but that was all the offence that New Jersey could muster. Markstrom made great saves when called upon and the Flames defence did well to move rebounds out of the zone, setting up excellent scoring chances. Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk lead the game in points with 1 goal and 1 assist each.
Game TWENTY-THREE: Washington 3, at Chicago 4 (Dave Jackson): Patrick Kane's second goal of the game, coming on the final shot, gave the Blackhawks a victory over the Capitals. Kane's stunning goal gave Chicago its only lead of the game, after the Capitals had the lead three different times. Kane and Alex DeBrincat, Chicago's two top offensive players, did all the scoring, with Jonathan Toews and Dylan Strome each contributing two assists while Kane had one of his own. Tom Wilson scored twice for the Capitals in the second period, giving Washington a 2-1 lead after two periods. But DeBrincat converted on a power-play to tie the score, only to see the Caps' goal-scoring machine, Alex Ovechkin, put his team up near the midway point of the period. That's when Kane asserted himself, with blistering shots past Vitek Vanecek at 13:48 and then again at 19:50 for the game-winner. Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves made for the Blackhawks, none bigger than a spectacular save right after Wilson's second goal to keep his team within one. Vanecek stopped 23 shots for Washington.
Game TWENTY-FOUR: Las Vegas 0, at St. Louis 2 (Dave Kauffman): St. Louis dominated the gam defensively, keeping the puck in the Vegas end most of the game. Buchnevich got both Blues goals, scoring in the first and second periods.
THIRD ROUND, "Elite Eight"
Game TWENTY-FIVE: Carolina 2, at Calgary 3 (Jeff Tomlinson): This game held up to the hype with a very close game between two well matched teams. The first and second periods were very close with both teams sharing equal penalty minutes and goals. The score was 1-1 with goals from Lindholm (CAL) and Jarvis (CAR) after two. In the third period it looked like Calgary had shot themselves in the foot when Zadarov took a 5 minute major for drawing blood with a high stick on Steven Lorentz. Sebastian Aho took advantage of the power play, scoring the go ahead goal 9:00 minutes into the period. Martin Necas was called with a 2 minute tripping penalty giving the Flames a chance to get back in the game with 7:00 minutes left. The Hurricanes managed to kill the penalty putting the pressure on Calgary with only 5:00 to go. Andrew Mangiapane was left open in the slot forcing Frederick Andersen to make a spectacular save attempt. He was too slow on the stick side, and Calgary tied the game at the 17:00 minute mark. Before the Canes knew what was happening they were left flat footed when Elias Lindholm forced Andersen into another spectacular save situation. Frederick didn’t have a chance. GOAL! What a finish!
Game TWENTY-SIX: Tampa Bay 1, at New York ISL 5 (Giorgio Salvadego: Upset special!! A very unexpectedly one-sided game. The LIghtning shot themselves in the foot with two straight penalties at the beginning of the first period with Palat at 0:46 and Mc Donagh at 1:51 who set up a 5 on 3 power play which led to the first Isles goal with Zdeno Chara at 2:05 and at 5 on 4 with Anders Lee at 3:10 for a quick 2-0 lead. Put on top of that a couple of spectacular saves by Ilia Sorokin for the home team and you get the picture. Matt Barzal then scored the 3-0 lead to put the visiting team to bed for the first period. The second period was pretty uneventful except for the only two true scoring chances which led to the only sores of the period, first Anders Lee for the Isles at 5:09 and finally for the visiting team with Ondrei Palat at 9:53 for 4-1 NYI lead. The third period saw Tampa trying to steer the ship but with no success thanks to the stellar performance of Ilia Sorokin (later named second star of the game). At 17:33 TB pulled the goalie but NYI replied with the final goal of the game, an empty netter by Matt Barzal.
Game TWENTY-SEVEN: Philadelphia 6, at Chicago 1 (Dave Kauffman): I was expecting Chicago to put on a show but was I surprised. Philadelphia dominated the game, scoring three times in the first period and extending the lead to 5-0 before the Blackhawks even got on the board. Philly won 17 of 22 face-offs and 6 of those directly created plays. They scored 3 goals directly off face-offs and 2 goals on the power play. Atkinson and Van Riemsdyk each scored twice for the Flyers.
Game TWENTY-EIGHT: St. Louis 1, at Colorado 5 (Chris Day): The Avs continue to roll as they moved into the semifinals with a 5-1 win, keyed by four third-period goals. The big boys of the top line accounted for four of the goals as Rantanen had two goals and four points while MacKinnon and Landeskog had goals and 4-point games as well. Leading just 1-0 heading into the third, a 4v3 power play goal by Landeskog helped the Avs take a 2-0 lead before Rantanen scored his second to put the Avs back up by two (3-1) after St. Louis had pulled to within 2-1 less than two minutes earlier. Burakovsky and MacKinnon then scored goals just eight seconds apart to complete the scoring. The game featured two fights while Kuemper made 27 saves in net for the Avs, who took ten of their 25 shots during the third period.
FOURTH ROUND, "Final Four"
Game TWENTY-NINE: Calgary 4, at Colorado 3 (OT) (Derek Jones, streamed LIVE on the ImagiSport Network, 11.18.22): The Flames scored twice in the game’s first two minutes (Tkachuk and Stone), but the Avs stormed back in the second period, with a pair of goals from Kadri and a goal from Makar as the period ended. A scoreless third period sent the game to overtime tied at 3-3. As the first OT period was winding down, Lindholm powered in the game-winner, sending Calgary to the championship game!
Game THIRTY: Philadelphia 0, at New York ISL 5 (Streamed LIVE on Steve Tower’s AFR network, 11.17.22): No drama in this one as the Flyer’s good fortune ran out and the Islanders administered an old school beat-down to end Philly’s Cinderella “Surprise.” Two goals for Pageau, Parise with two assists.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Game THIRTY-ONE: Calgary 1, at New York Islanders 0 (streamed LIVE on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel, tentative date 11.21.22): This was one UGLY hockey game, complete with injuries, torn jerseys, big hits and ending with bad behavior! It figured to be a long night for the heavily-favord Flames when they were unable to convert an early first-period five-minute major power play opportunity! Indeed, the scrappy Isles kept it close with rope-a-dope play and (for them) good fortune. Tyler Toffoli’s power play goal in the second period was the game’s ONLY score, though there were plenty of opportunities for both clubs. Calgary benefitted from another sterling showing in the net from goalie Jacob Markstrom. Congrats to the Flames, our 2022 Commissioner’s Surprise Champion!