Live Updates: 2025 Commissioner’s Surprise Hockey Blast Tournament
Welcome to the live update page for our 11th annual Commissioner's Surprise Hockey Blast Tournament--where EVERY team has a chance to win it all! Last year, we played the finals of the tournament on-location in Salt Lake City as part of our “UTAH-ctober” event. This year, we’re again conducting the preliminary rounds through the PLAAY Games community, we’ll conclude the tournament on-location in Dallas, TX at BGG.CON 2025, the annual BoardGame Geek convention at the Hyatt Regency hotel (we’ll have more information on our BGG.CON booth and activities coming soon!)
Want to claim a game? We’d love to have you participate! You can play with either the full-play or “express” versions of HOCKEY BLAST Pro Hockey Game, you’ll be using the just-released 2024-25 Pro Season cards (or PDF). Just look over what’s available and let us know what game you’d like to play!
How does the Commissioner's Surprise Tournament work? Well, EVERY pro team from the HOCKEY BLAST 2024-25 Pro Season card set is included in the tournament, all 32 teams! It's single-elimination, and the match-ups were completely random—we literally DRAW them out of a hat! This format always generates some surprises, as there's no seeding, home ice is assigned randomly and hot streaks are over-rewarded! Last year's final four included three teams who finished second in their respective divisions in real life (Carolina, Edmonton, Boston) and our annual “Cinderella team,” last year it was Washington . We expect similar drama again THIS year! Here’s a recap of the entire 2024 tournament.
Games are listed below. The community member who is playing/played the game is indicated in (parentheses), the winner of the game in green.
First Round
Joe Cards got the tourney underway with New York/Vegas, let us know if YOU’D like to be part of the fun!
New York RGR 3 at Las Vegas 5 (Joe Cards): This was a great game. Started out looking like Vegas was going to run away with this game, but The Rangers fought back in the third period, pulled the goalie with a little under 2 minutes left in the game, scored, and came within 1 goal of tying the game. NYR Pulled the goalie again with under a minute to play, but Las Vegas scored an ENG to seal the win!
Montreal 5, at Philadelphia 2 (Hans Larsen): The visiting Canadiens got down 3-0 in the first period and would not recover. An early slashing penalty by Montreal winger Emil Heineman set up a Philly PP goal by Jakob Pelletier (2). Owen Tippett (1) scored next followed by the eventual game winner netted by Matvei Michkov (2). Montreal finally broke the goose egg at the 13:00min mark of the third on a blue line howitzer by defenseman David Savard (1). Nick Suzuki (1) added another 3-mins later but it wouldn’t be enough.
New York ISL 0, at Los Angeles 4 (Giorgio Salvadego): This turned out to be a sixty-minute, one-way game with just one team on the ice—the Kings! Kempe with a pair of goals for Los Angeles, Moore and Foegele with the other two.
Vancouver 3, at Seattle 4 (SO) (Rob Gallamore): The Seattle Kraken pull off the near impossible scoring twice in the last three minutes to tie the game and force Overtime. OT settled nothing and in the shootout the Kraken score the only goal to win a wild come from behind 4-3 hockey game over the Vancouver Canucks. Former Regina Pat Chandler Stephenson would tie the game up at 18:22 . But the real hero might be Jared McCann. McCann scored the big goal to make it 3-2 and then, McCann scored the only goal of the shootout to allow the Kraken to advance in this tournament.
Anaheim 3, at Tampa Bay 1 (Joe Cards): After the Bolts scored an immediate Goal off the opening faceoff, the game turned into a tight checking end to end game for the remainder of the period, and all through the second period. In the third Tampa turned on the heat and peppered Ducks Goalie John Gibson with shot after shot, but Gibson stood strong, stopped the Lighting each time, and his stellar play allowed his offense to score three goals in the final period.
Pittsburgh 4, at Utah 3 (Chris Hoffman): Pittsburgh scored two in the first; Hayes on a fluky play, and Novak on the power play. Utah dominated the second, and scored 2 in 2 minutes early in the period. Logan Cooley cut it to 2-1, and Barrett Hayton tied it in the next minute. Early in the 3rd, Sergachev put Utah up 3-2 on a spectacular shot. The lead was short-lived, however, as Richard Rakell scored in the next minute on assists from Crosby, and Rust. Connor Dewar scored on a rebound chance in the final minute to give the Penguins the lead. Utah won the ensuing faceoff, and gained an immediate play, but Mikhail Sergachev's shot was stopped, and Jarry controlled the puck to end it.
Florida 4, at Buffalo 1 (Michael Balch): Sam Reinhart scored twice in the first period to give the Panthers all they needed. Thompson’s goal early in the second period made it a 2-1 game, but Marchand scored a couple minutes later to regain the two-goal cushion. Tkachuk’s goal in the third period rounded out the scoring.
Calgary 5, at Columbus 0 (Steve Heller): In real life, both teams missed their conference playoff spots by one place, so I knew this could be a good one. But Flames netminder, Dustin Wolf, had other thoughts. He stopped all 26 Columbus shots as Calgary ousted the Blue Jackets, 5-0. It was a 0-0 game with two minutes left in the first but then the Flames got back to back goals from Blake Coleman and Jonathan Huberdeau. Neither team scored in the second. In the final stanza, Huberdeau got his second of the game in the 4th minute to pretty much ice it and make it 3-0. Matthew Coronato added a goal and then Huberdeau completed the hat track later in the period. Both Huberdeau (3g, 1a) and Coronato (1g, 3a) had four points. The highlight of the game for Columbus was when Elvis Merzlikins rolled a 12 on the spectacular save chart early in the first period. He has a zero spec save rating so getting one was unusual.
San Jose 1, at New Jersey 2 (James Cast): San Jose got on the board first, taking advantage on a double shift in the second period. New Jersey followed with a quick goal of their own when they skipped the 4th line. The game winner came late in the 3rd, with Mercer netting his 2nd goal of the night.
Chicago 6, at Detroit 3 (Alex Pawlik): Connor Bedard got the scoring started as he silenced the rowdy Red Wings Crowd early, but Detroit would answer back with Jonatan Berggren to tie the game at 1. Former Red Wing Joe Veleno would answer right back, but Andrew Copp said, "Take this Traitor Joe," as he tied the game at 2. Chicago would answer right back as Ryan Danato scored to knock Alex Lyon from the game, bringing in Cam Talbot the rest of the way. After 40 minutes of hockey, Chicago led the Red Wings 4-2. Michael Rasmussen scored right away, but another Traitor and former Red Wing, Tyler Bertuzzi, scored to restore the 2-goal lead for Chicago. Not long after, "Traitor Joe" Joe Veleno scored his second goal of the game, delivering the knockout blow as the Blackhawks advanced in the HB Commissioner Surprise Tournament, defeating the Hometown Detroit Red Wings by a final score of 6 to 3.
Boston 0, at Toronto 3 (Andy Sexton): Toronto loses top Defenseman Morgan Reilly to a match penalty very early in the 1st period but the remaining 5 defenseman and G Anthony Stolarz shut out the Bruins 3-0. Nylander, Marner, and Matthews (ENG) were the goal scorers for Toronto.
Edmonton 2, at Winnipeg 0 (Michael Owens): A huge disappointment for the Jets. A 2-0 loss at home to Edmonton. Both goals by Draisaitl. First goal early in second period. Other goal empty net goal. Jets dominated game. Scoring chances 24-10 and shots 41-23. Skinner somehow made 3 spectacular saves.
Carolina 1, at St. Louis 4 (Joe Cards): The Blues defense limited Carolina to a total of 11 shots on goal after two periods, but the Canes capitalized on the opportunities that they were given and took a 2-1 lead into the third period. The Blues just couldn’t seem to get anything going in the third period and Carolina took full advantage of the blues lack of offense and added two more goals to their lead and went on to win by a score of 4-1.
Dallas 2, at Colorado 1 (Keith Curtis): Colorado scored first on a Brock Nelson goal 8 minutes into the second period. However, Stars goalie Jake Oettinger bounced back, and two saves led to breakaway goals. The first was scored by Thomas Harley, and Wyatt Johnston followed one minute into the third period. The Otter made two more big saves after the Avs pulled goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
Nashville 4, at Minnesota 5 (Tim Lucas): An OT offensive thriller. The Wild were up 4-2 after the second and the Preds tied it up at 13:14 of the 3rd period. Several players had three point games, but it was Freddy Gaudreau that found the net just 1:25 seconds into OT. Brodin to Foligno to Gaudreau. A total of 36 shots for the home team compared to 24 for the visiting Predators. Wild goalie Gustavsson even picked up an assist.
Ottawa 0, at Washington 3 (Hans Larsen): The visiting Ottawa Senators did not receive a pleasant welcome to Capital One Arena. The first period was a sleeper until the Sens found themselves in penalty trouble in the second period giving up a power play goal that would turn out to be the game winner by Alexander Ovechkin. Of note, two Sens players (Nick Cousins & Michael Amadio) were ejected from the game in the second with 10 minute Gross Misconducts for “confronting fans in the stands” Washington would add 2 more goals in the 3rd period including an empty netter by Ryan Leonard.
Second Round
Anaheim 3, at Minnesota 7 (Tim Lucas): Marco Rossi put up a hat trick for the Wild and everyone else wanted to contribute as well. Filip Gustavsson held the Ducks scoreless for the first two periods. Mason McTavish scored a PPG 7:14 into the third to give some spark to their dismal performance. Just over 2 minutes later Frank Vatrano added his own. Troy Terry would add another for a big final period, but not big enough. The Wild are moving on!
Calgary 0, at Florida 2 (Hans Larsen): The Flames knew that strolling into Amerant Bank Arena (home of the champs) would be a tall order to fill. Calgary clearly tried to slow play the Panthers and “lull” em to sleep in the hopes of keeping it close. The strategy worked until the 14:00 min mark of the 2nd period when Florida LW Verhaeghe scored on a beauty tic tac toe feed from Tkachuk and Barkov. The Flames stayed the course and held Florida to a 1-0 lead until 2 mins remained and Calgary called Goalie Dustin Wolf to the bench.
The Flames generated a great 6 on 5 scoring opportunity but it would be short lived as Florida Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky lobbed a pass up the middle to a streaking Sam Bennett who gently tucked it and iced the cake.
Dallas 2, at St. Louis 5 (Andy Sexton): Jordan Kyrou’s hat trick leads St. Louis to a 5-2 win over Dallas. Dylan Holloway had 4 assists for the Blues. St Louis controlled the 1st two periods building a 4-0 lead. The Stars tried to fight back with back to back goals early in the 3rd period from Harley and Bourque but Binnington held strong in goal the rest of the way and Kyrou’s 3rd goal on the empty net sealed the win.
Toronto at Los Angeles (Reiner Böger):
New Jersey 2, at Montreal 0 (Joe Cards): Devils Goalie Jake Allen was spectacular, coming up really big in the third period.
Las Vegas 6, at Seattle 2 (Keith Avallone, YouTube): Vegas opened the game on the power play, converted, and never looked back in posting an easy road win over the out-matched Kraken. Hertl scored twice to lead the Knights into the third round.
Chicago 0, at Edmonton 4 (John Bowen): Oilers netminder Skinner had to make a spectacular save in the opening minutes and was solid all game. Goal scorers for Edmonton were McDavid, Hyman, Bouchard,and Draisaitl. Foligno scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks, early in the second period to pull Chicago to within 1 at 2-1. Edmonton added two 3rd period goals to put the game away and advance.
Pittsburgh 4, at Washington 3 (OT) (Chris Hoffman): Sidney Crosby scored 8 minutes into overtime to propel the Penguins past the Capitals 4-3, and into the quarterfinals of the Commissioner's Surprise Tournament. Crosby scored 5 minutes in to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Allaksei Protas tied it 1-1 in the final minute of the first period. Puustinen took a cross-checking penalty early in the second, and Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play to give the Caps a 2-1 lead. Halfway through the period, Thomas Novak converted on a Spectacular Shot chance for Pittsburgh to tie it 2-2. In the 19th minute, Kris Letang was assessed a double-minor for high sticking, and Alex Ovechkin was assessed a minor penalty for interference.
The power play carried over into the third period for Washington, and Protas scored again in the opening minute of the third to put the Caps ahead again, 3-2. In the fifth minute, Pittsburgh received a bit of good fortune on an Unusual Result: Odd Goal, awarded to Evgeni Malkin, which tied it once again, 3-3. Sidney Crosby and Tom Wilson squared off in a fight that was broken up before it really got started. Another Unusual Result was not so kind to the Penguins, as they suffered another high-sticking double minor to Matt Grzelcyk late in the 3rd period. Tom Wilson was stopped cold on two prime chances in the final minute, as the game, and the power-plays carried into overtime.
Pittsburgh killed off the penalties early in the OT period, regained their footing, so to speak, and Crosby converted on his Spectacular Shot chance for the win.
Third Round
(matchup TBD)(Steve Heller):
(matchup TBD)(Giorgio Salvadego):
(matchup TBD)(Joe Cards):
(matchup TBD)(TBD):