Two teams remain in the CapsGaming Showcase Finals set to play on Mar. 30
Two teams remain in the CapsGaming Showcase Finals set to play on Mar. 30
The semifinals for the CapsGaming season 5 showcase took place on Thursday, Mar. 14. Both matchups were being livestreamed over at twitch.tv/capitals.
Team IslesGT - a powerhouse organization within the NHL esports community - were looking to reach their third consecutive LAN event and defend their season four title. They were considered favorites to win their series against Team One Nation.
IslesGT went into their semifinal matchup with the highest goal differential at plus-30 and had a plus-78 shot differential. One Nation only had a plus-9 goal differential and a minus-23 shot differential.
One Nation took an extremely close opening game of their best-of-five series. IslesGT led for most of the game thanks to an early goal by Fisher. However, with 7:47 left to play in the third period, One Nation's Magik knotted the game at one on the powerplay. One minute later, One Nation took the lead with a goal by Skilzzy, and won game one 2-1.
Game two needed a restart due to technical issues, but once again, both teams played a tight defensive game. The teams were tied one apiece and needed overtime. One Nation's star forward, Barzy, blasted a one-timer from the goal line to put IslesGT on the brink of elimination.
Game three continued the trend of this series, which was low-scoring. It took until three minutes left in the second period to get our first goal of the game, which came off the stick of Magik.
It was the netminder for One Nation, Racc, who stole the show in the third - and in the entire series for that matter - making some unreal saves as his team hung on to take game three 1-0 and stun IslesGT with a 3-0 sweep, advancing to the LAN finals.
Team One Nation has had an exciting run in this showcase. They needed a sudden-death game five in the round of 16 against Team Legends Never Die. Then they had one of the toughest quarterfinal matchups against the host team CapsGaming, which they needed a game five to settle as well.
One Nation held IslesGT to just two goals in the series. Their goalie, Racc, was sensational, making 28 stops and 30 shots in the series.
The other semifinal matchup was between The Underdogs and SJSharks Gaming. The Underdogs boasted the second-highest goal differential behind IslesGT at plus-27, while their opponents, SJSharks Gaming, were a plus-13.
Boogie for SJSharks Gaming opened the scoring in game one while he and his club hung on to win a tight 2-1 game. The Underdogs outshot the Sharks 17-9 and spent over five more minutes on attack.
Loko Crusty for The Underdogs has been fantastic and one of the most dominant players during this event. He led the way in game two for his team, scoring a hat-trick, as The Underdogs took a convincing 5-2 win to tie the series up at one.
Game three was a wild one. The Sharks got off to a hot start, scoring three unanswered. However, guess who pulled his team back into the game? Loko Crusty scored two quick goals to narrow the Sharks lead to just one with just over two minutes left in the first.
In the second frame, Underdogs defenseman Dumoulin threw the puck on the net, which squirted out to Boily, and he buried to tie the game up 3-3. Then, it was their leader again, Loko Crusty, with another hat-trick, proving to be the game-winner as The Underdogs took game three 5-3 and a 2-1 series lead.
Boogie opened the scoring in game four, but Loko Crusty responded, scoring a garbage goal late in the first to tie things up. After a scoreless second period, just like their goal in the last game, Dumoulin creates a rebound for Boily to bury at the side of the net.
That would be the game-winning goal and series-clinching win to send The Underdogs to the finals to face One Nation on Mar. 30 in Washington, DC.
If there were an MVP to give out for the semifinals, it would've easily gone to Loko Crusty. His stat line in the series was seven goals and 12 points, and he recorded back-to-back hat-tricks in games two and three. Defenseman Dumoulin was also fantastic, collecting nine assists, including a couple of primary assists on game-winning goals.
A reminder that the CapsGaming Season 5 Showcase Championship takes place on Mar. 30 at a LAN event in Washington, DC and it will be a best-of-seven series. The event has a prize pool of $15,000.
The Underdogs lost the season four SJSharks Pacific Cup finals to IslesGT, so you know they aren't looking to come up short again. Team One Nation is on somewhat of a Cinderella story after defeating two of the top NHL esports organizations. Can they beat another top team and take home the championship?
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