As Patrik Laine climbed the ranks of youth hockey in Finland Womens Scott Darling Jersey , he learned about the NHL from video games.”I learned probably just about the players,” the Winnipeg Jets star said. ”Nowadays it’s super realistic, and you can just pretty much see how everybody is playing and how good they are.”It’s about to get even more real with the NHL following the lead of the NBA, NFL, FIFA and other leagues in establishing a presence in a burgeoning esports market. The 2018 NHL Gaming World Championship, launched Friday, is a first step toward a potential version of the season-long NBA 2K League that’s set to begin in May or perhaps eMLS on FIFA 18.”You’re really both tapping into and expanding the existing fan base of the game,” said NBC Sports executive Rob Simmelkjaer, who got his introduction to hockey from playing ”NHL 94” on Sega Genesis. ”I think that’s something that the NHL can benefit from by putting esports front and center in the way that they market their sport.”Players will be able to match up 1-on-1 in EA Sports NHL 18 qualification rounds. That will be followed by regional finals in the United States, Canada and Europe on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Youth Sebastian Aho Jersey , and then the June 19 championship at Esports Arena Las Vegas during the NHL Awards with a prize pool of $100,000.The hope is to land new fans and connect with current fans in a different way.”This is really at its embryonic stage,” NHL executive vice president and chief revenue officer Keith Wachtel said. ”This is the most basic way for our fans to play. We’re also going to explore in the future the opportunity, and we’re going to test this with some of the guys at the regional tournaments and the final, maybe a two-versus-two or a three-versus-three.”WorldGaming and Collegiate StarLeague are already experimenting with gaming at movie theaters in Canada and are in the midst of the Snider Hockey Cup tournament on EA Sports NHL 18 with the finals taking place March 22 in Philadelphia, next to the Flyers‘ arena.”After the response we got to this tournament, we worked closely with the NHL and Electronic Arts for this program,” WorldGaming and Collegiate StarLeague CEO Wim Stocks said. ”They’re going to be in the marketplace with really cool esports programming in the very near future.”Sports-based esports have a long way to go to catch up to fighting games like ”Dota,” ”League of Legends” and ”Counter-Strike,” but National Amusements programming and corporate development executive Kevin Mitchell doesn’t believe the NHL needs to worry.”Console gaming is just now starting to take off Authentic Teuvo Teravainen Jersey ,” said Mitchell, who also teaches esports at Emerson College in Boston. ”I think it’s really just coming up with an ambidextrous strategy on finding ways to integrate with their traditional fan base and finding ways to create cross-over engagement for this new generation that has been primarily consuming content online.”Mitchell thinks esports ventures are ways for leagues to make fans of young people who get their sports largely through their smartphones or computers. According to Newzoo’s 2016 Esports Consumer Insights, 28 percent of hockey fans are 21-35, while 49 percent of esports enthusiasts are in that age bracket.”We have a very attractive fan base,” Wachtel said. ”It’s young, it’s very tech-savvy, and millennials these days, which is really the gamer, are consuming sports in a much different way.”For a sport grappling with challenges of getting kids interested in hockey in places where ice time and equipment can be expensive and difficult to come by, this is another possible route. Mitchell said about 50 U.S. colleges now offer esports scholarships and expects more development at youth levels as they become more popular.NBC Sports in the U.S. Womens Victor Rask Jersey , Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and Viasat in Europe will promote the event, airing regional finals and the championship and putting highlights on TV around playoff games.How it goes will help determine the NHL’s next steps.”We don’t really have a statement on what the future holds other than we’re going to be active in one way, shape or form,” said Chris Golier, NHL vice president of business development. ”We’re going to have a lot of involvement and conversation with a lot of the top gamers, as well, make sure that it’s fun, engaging, the content works and we’ll revise as we see fit going forward.”Esports might be a way for the NHL to grow its audience in China, where it is already broadcasting regular-season games and hosting exhibitions ahead of the 2022 Olympics.”China is a huge gaming population Alex DeBrincat Jersey ,” Stocks said. ”What better way to help bring the game of hockey to China than through video gaming? I think the NHL has a great opportunity.”— TORONTO (AP) — It took the Toronto Maple Leafs a little while to shake their West Coast hangover.Zach Hyman scored two goals late in third period and the Maple Leafs extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.Hyman’s second goal of the season came with 4:22 left in regulation when he redirected a shot from the point by Morgan Rielly. Hyman added an empty-netter with 61 seconds left.John Tavares had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Ennis also scored for Toronto. Andersen made 37 saves. Mitch Marner and Ron Hainsey each had two assistsThe Leafs were coming off a three-game California sweep. Toronto has a league-best 9-1-0 record on the road. The Leafs improved to 6-5-0 at home.The win wasn’t pretty for Toronto as Columbus built a two-goal lead after dominating the first 20 minutes.“We reset in the first intermission,” Andersen said. “None of us were too happy with our effort … we know we can play a lot better.“We came out in the second and third and proved it.”Cam Atkinson and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had a goal and an assist for Columbus. Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 stops.The Blue Jackets lost in regulation for the first time in eight games (5-1-2).“Freddie shut the door after that first period and we kind of rallied behind him,” said Hyman. “All four lines contributed … just a big team win.”Toronto came in with the league’s third-best record, while Columbus was one spot back in fourth.Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella was left fuming by the sequence that led to Hyman’s winner.“Dumb. It’s peewee coverage,” he said. “We played well enough to win, and not to get a point out of it off a simple coverage off the faceoff … . It’s dumb.”Tied 2-2 through 40 minutes, Marner had a backhand chance for the Leafs from the slot with just over eight minutes to go after Tavares hit the side of the net.Andersen made a big save at the other end moments later on a scramble in the crease before Hyman redirected Rielly’s shot past Bobrovsky.Columbus pulled Bobrovsky with 1:45 remaining.Down 2-0 after the first, Toronto got on the board with 6:59 left in the second when Ennis used a couple of spin moves and slid the puck through Bobrovsky’s legs from a tough angle.“Our line has been doing a good job of getting pucks in and working it low,” Ennis said. “It was nice to see it go in.”Andersen then stopped Josh Anderson’s move to the backhand on a breakaway to keep the Leafs down by one before Marner tied the game.Marner stepped past Columbus defenseman Scott Harrington before tapping his own rebound back in front of Bobrovsky’s net Minnesota Wild Hats Womens , where Tavares scored his 13th.Marner now has one goal and seven assists during a five-game point streak.“Our team never gives up,” said Marner. “That’s something we need to make sure we keep going.”Despite coming out flat following victories over the Los Angeles Kings (5-1), San Jose Sharks (5-3) and Anaheim Ducks (2-1 in overtime) last week, Toronto could have easily found themselves up 2-0 early on Monday.Ennis hit the post on a 2-on-1 break under three minutes in before Connor Brown somehow chipped a puck off the iron from the lip of the crease.Columbus carried much of the play and took the lead with 5:21 remaining in the first after some sloppy play from Rielly and Hainsey.Dubois knocked down Hainsey’s clearing attempt and fed Atkinson, who beat Andersen between the pads for his 13th goal and seventh in the last five outings.Columbus went up 2-0 with 47.5 seconds left in the period on another Leafs defensive miscue as Dubois cleaned up in front after Atkinson lost the puck on an attempted move between the legs for his 10th.With the victory, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock passed Red Kelly and Pat Burns for fifth place in franchise history with 133 regular-season coaching wins. Punch Imlach leads with 370, followed by Pat Quinn (300), Hap Day (259) and Dick Irvin (215).NOTES: There were no penalties called in the game. … Bobrovsky had allowed just one goal in each of his last four starts prior to Monday. … Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews practiced with his teammates Sunday for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury Oct. 27. The 21-year-old wore a red non-contact jersey for that session and was also out for Monday’s optional morning skate. … Atkinson scored the fifth hat trick of his career in Saturday’s 4-1 road victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.UP NEXTLeafs: Visit Carolina on Wednesday.Blue Jackets: Host Toronto in a rematch on Friday.
