The Toronto Maple Leafs held their NHL 24 Club Championship this past Sunday
The Toronto Maple Leafs held their NHL 24 Club Championship this past Sunday
Leafs Gaming had their season four Grand Finals Sunday, hosted at the Red Bull Gaming Studio in Downtown Toronto. The online qualifiers consisted of 301 total contestants and the best competitive NHL 24 players.
The majority of NHL Club Championships have a prize pool of $1,000. This event reigns supreme, as MLSE helps to put it together. This year's prize pool was $2,500. The winner took home with him $2,000, while the runner-up earned $500.
The first best-of-three semi-final matchup was between Dany-Karl "Deeks" Lévesque (who participated in the NHL 24 All-Star Open) and Loïc "Blouin" Blouin, this marked Blouin's first Esports LAN event, and he did not disappoint.
Deeks took a thrilling back-and-forth game one, 6-5, that required overtime to end it. Blouin rebounded in game two, taking it 6-3 and forcing a do-or-die game three.
The third game started with Deeks taking an early 2-0 lead in the first four minutes. Blouin though quickly responded with two goals 30 seconds apart.
These two competitors could not have been more evenly matched, as they headed into the final frame with the score all tied up at 4-4. After trading a pair of goals, Blouin scored with five minutes left in the third to take the lead. That goal turned out to be the series-clinching goal and sent him to the finals.
That semifinal victory also secured Blouin a seat at the NHL 24 North American World Championship.
Semifinal matchup number two was between the winningest player in NHL Esports, Justin "Regs" Reguly" and a former Leafs Gaming League World Champion, Matthew "Geimer" Geim. Both players play on the top two LGHL 6v6 club teams, Regs representing IslesGT and Geimer for CapsGaming.
Regs took game one with a convincing 6-3 win, but Geimer rallied back in game two after being down 3-1, winning 4-3 and forcing a game three. It was the hometown boy Geimer who took game three and booked his ticket to the finals to face Blouin.
Host Cameron "NoSleeves" Halbert asked Geimer after his win, "Was that the biggest win of your NHL Esports career?". He responded, "I haven't won the tournament yet so, I don't really care until I win the tournament." Foreshadowing perhaps?
Geimer's fresher hands proved to be a difference maker in game one against Blouin as he throttled his way to victory and bested him by a score of 11-5.
Game two was a much closer match and a low-scoring affair. Blouin gets an unreal backdoor save with two and a half minutes left in the third while down 2-1. He then storms down the ice and scores the equalizer.
In overtime, Geimer comes out of the corner with T.J. Brodie and fires a wrister far side to take the series and win the Leafs Gaming League Grand Finals.
Geimer was beaten 12-2 in game one of his best-of-three series against CadCooks in the All-Star Open just a few days prior. After his series win, he said with a big smile, "I'm just happy I put up the double digits in a game and it wasn't against me." He certainly got his redemption.
He gave his competitor Blouin flowers after the game for how he bounced back in game two, saying, "Kudos to Blouin, he came back composed in game two and played really well and didn't make it easy on me. I was up 2-0 and thought maybe I had it, and then he gave me a run there."
Geimer takes home the $2,000 check and the Leafs Gaming League trophy.
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