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“NJ Devil Cup” Video Game Tournament Announced by Devils

And now for something completely different.

The Devils announced yesterday that the inaugural NJ Devil Cup will be held on Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25. The tournament follows the release of EA Sports’ NHL 21 this Friday.

According to the press release put out by the Devils, the tournament will “feature eight NHL mascots and eight professional gamers in a best-of-three series.” The start times will be 11 AM on Saturday and 10 AM on Sunday.

The presser notes that “each mascot participating will team up with a professional gamer, who will play as the rest of the team.” (It is not mentioned, but I will assume the mascots will control the goalie, then.)

The press release goes on to mention the format: all three rounds of the tourney will be best-of-three and a mascot and a pro gamer will comprise a full team.

The teams will feature: the Colorado Avalanche represented by Bernie (mascot) and DekeSlayer (gamer); St. Louis Blues with Louie (mascot) and DaddyPadre (gamer); Florida Panthers’ Stanley (mascot) and FlaPanthersGaming (gamer); Columbus Blue Jacket’ Stinger (mascot) and TopShelfCookie (gamer); your New Jersey Devils with NJ Devil (mascot) and Henreek (gamer); the San Jose Sharks with SJ Sharkie (mascot) and NoSleeves (gamer); the Chicago Blackhawks featuring Tommy Hawk (mascot) and DontBeSaad20 (gamer); and, finally, the Anaheim Ducks featuring Wild Wing (mascot) and AnaheimDucksGaming (gamer).

The press release did give bios for each gamer and mascot. I’m not going to bore you with the other guys, but thought I’d scout our heroes (who will be designated Team 5) exclusively. “Henreek is an EA Game Changer Twitch Partner and Youtuber. He is one of the most consistent streamers and prides himself on streaming NHL 20 6 days a week. With 14.7k subscribers on Youtube, and just nearly 10k followers on Twitch, he has quite the following and influence in the world of gaming.”

As for good ol’ NJ: “The one and only, NJ Devil, is 7-feet tall and lives at the Rock, otherwise known as Prudential Center. NJ is non-stop entertainment both in and out of the arena. In arena, you can catch him playing his favorite instrument, the drum, or running through the aisles high fiving Devils fans. He loves to play and teach hockey, read, dance, throw t-shirts, and of course, pull pranks!”

Very enlightening stuff.

The event is presented in partnership “with Alpha Esports Inc., a multi-fold, vertically integrated esports company, to host and operate the inaugural NJ Devil Cup. The tournament will be hosted on the company’s online tournament platform.”

You can watch the tournament on NewJerseyDevils.com/NJDevilCup. Fans can also follow everything “across Devils social channels @NJDevils and @NJDevil and use the tag #NJDevilCup.”

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Devils Co-Host “Hockey Night” at Trenton Thunder

Earlier tonight, the Trenton Thunder, the Double-A Eastern League affiliate of the New York Yankees, hosted Hockey Night at Arm & Hammer Park. The event was co-hosted by the New Jersey Devils and the NHL Network.

As part of the festivities, “Mr. Devil” Ken Daneyko was on hand to throw out one of the ceremonial first pitches and to sign autographs. He was joined by team mascot NJ Devil and three members of the Metropolitan Riveters, champions of the NWHL. Those three players were Rebecca Russo, Kelsey Koelzer and Madison Packer.

The three players threw out first pitches as well and then all five moved to the concourse of the stadium and signed autographs.

The NHL Network auctioned off signed memorabilia including an autographed Alex Ovechkin Capitals jersey. Many of the items were donated by the various NHL teams.

Fans were encouraged to wear hockey team gear and there were representations of the obvious Devils, Rangers and Flyers, but also teams like the Bruins, Red Wings and Coyotes.

The Devils had a presence all night, with a table giving people information about season tickets and the upcoming season as well as Beach Blast.

For the record, the Thunder lost the game 9-7 to the Altoona Curve (affilitate of the Pittsburgh Pirates) after a thrilling ninth inning rally was choked off.

Following the game the Devils presented fireworks and the crowd went home happy, forgetting about the hard luck loss by Trenton.