One of the best in the competitive NHL sphere and a finalist for NHL 24's North America Finals
One of the best in the competitive NHL sphere and a finalist for NHL 24's North America Finals
The NHL 24 North America Championship takes place on Sunday, March 24th, in New York. Eight finalists will duel it out. They will be split into two pools of four players and will compete in a best-of-one round-robin. Newmarket native Ethan "Polgz" Kerr-Polgar has his sights on taking home the NA Championship this weekend and advancing to the NHL 24 World Championship.
Polgz grew up in a big hockey family, playing hockey with his brother, and was born in the blue and white cheering on the Toronto Maple Leafs. He played hockey his whole life, patrolling the blueline as a defenseman. He played competitively at the A and AA levels in Ontario and played Jr. C for the Innisfil Spartans of the PJCHL this past year.
When asked what's the highlight of his playing career, he responded, "The highlight of it all was spending the time and playing with my brother and being able to read each other so well on the ice. We played together our whole lives, and we had a couple of plays, one called "walker" where he's the forward with the puck in the corner, and I would drop in the slot from the point." Polgz is a triplet, so it makes sense why he had great chemistry on the ice with his brother.
"Being able to grow up with my brother playing together and enjoy playing hockey as much as we can, I'm forever grateful for."
His mom earlier this month rang the bell to beat cancer for the third time in 14 years, "She's doing great, and she's always in high spirits, you couldn't even tell she had cancer to be honest she's always so happy. If I could win and help her out and the family, that would be awesome."
His favourite NHL player is Auston Matthews, and with Polgz being a diehard Maple Leafs fan, we had to ask him what his reaction was to Toronto winning their first playoff series last April in over 20 years. "I was ready for the heartbreak that's for sure. I was with my brother and some buddies on the couch watching it on a big 70-inch TV. It was unbelievable. You just see Johnny (John Tavares) put it in the net. It was nuts. Being on the other side of it definitely felt good."
He started playing NHL very early on in his life, "I started playing NHL when I was as young as I can remember, playing against my Dad, my brother, and siblings. It was always something we liked to do. I'd always lose because I was so young, as I didn't know all the controls at the time."
He won his first LAN tournament in Tampa Bay for the Bolts Chel Challenge in 2022, which he mentioned is the highlight of his competitive career thus far. "I was super nervous, but once I got settled, I felt really comfortable. I felt NHL 22 was my best game." He took down Joseph "Jos X 10" Olmstead - who won last year's EA SPORTS NHL 23 World Championship - in three games in the finals, taking home a pretty $6,000 check.
Polgz has been well-documented as one of the most skilled NHL players in North America. He was the runner-up at the EA SPORTS NHL 24 All-Star Open. He also plays for one of the top competitive 6s teams in CapsGaming. "I started playing competitively in NHL 16 and 17, and then I hit my stride around late 2019."
When asked if he was upset losing to his good buddy CadCooks, and that he wouldn't be able to get revenge for that loss, seeing as CadCooks didn't make it to the NA Final Eight. He responded, "Obviously I'm upset he didn't advance, Sam is one of my best friends and he's a great guy, but definitely, the revenge part would've been nice. But I'm also a little bit happy that he didn't make it through because he's absolutely disgusting, and I really thought he was the best player in North America this year for sure."
After finishing second playing at the Hockey Hall of Fame in February, he's got a fire lit underneath him and is hungry to get the dub this coming weekend. "I feel confident going into the event. I've been practicing a lot with the team I've drafted. I just got to make sure I play good defense and counterattack well." Polgz had the No. 1 pick in the HUT Draft and was able to snag the best card in the game in Connor McDavid, which he sees as an x-factor that he'll be using a lot.
We asked him what he feels are his strengths in the game, to which he replied, "My offense, I think I'm one of the most creative players in the game and I can do pretty much anything in the game mechanically as well."
We had to ask him who he feels would be his toughest opponent(s) this coming weekend, "100% Regs or Gren. They both just have the experience and their teams are unbelievable. I've been playing against them in scrimmages."
Hockey players are known for having superstitions and rituals before a game. So, is that the same when a competitive NHL player is about to participate in an event? "It's definitely different because you don't have to prepare yourself physically as much. But I like to listen to music and get a really good sleep. Usually I don't eat in the mornings, I don't know why. I've just always kind of been like that, but for tournaments, I definitely eat before to make sure I have energy to play."
Polgz loves country music. It’s his genre of choice to help calm himself mentally before he plays in a fast-paced, adrenaline-rushing NHL tournament. "I was raised listening to The Highway. My Dad would always play that on the way to hockey games."
If he's able to listen to music during a game, he likes to switch off the country music twang to something more fast-paced such as EDM. "I usually listen to fast-paced music to keep my game fast-paced. I want to play the speed and hear the speed in my head as fast as I want to play."
Polgz is an NHL content creator and a Twitch partner with over 8,000 followers on their platform. What motivates him to push content and the NHL competitive scene to its next level is seeing leagues like 2K, Fifa, and Madden do so well, "I think NHL has the potential one day. Hockey is obviously a very niche sport, but guys like Eki and NoSleeves pump out content weekly and it's definitely a big inspiration."
"I would definitely advise anybody who wants to get into that. It's really fun and enjoyable. You get to build a community of friends and people start supporting you. I want to win for my community and my family and friends."
Of course, we had to end the interview by asking him for his NHL 25 wish list. His response didn't have anything to do with the gameplay instead he'd love for more customization, "I've been saying this for so long, customized coloured sticks. Like say, there's a red JetSpeed FT6 Pro, and then there's a green and a blue one. Also, being able to spray paint your stick like William Nylander would be a really cool option as well."
Polgz mentioned that he's tried Nylander's spray-painted stick in person and loves it. "My little brother uses it as well and a lot of kids are inspired to do it."
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