The National Hockey League Players Association is conducting an NHLPA Open tournament featuring "Fortnite." In total, more than 80 players will take part in the three-hour event beginning at 2 p.m. ET Monday.
Organized by Colorado Avalanche forward J.T. Compher and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman, the participants will play four games of "trios" with the winner earning a $200,000 charity prize pool.
"Once the season got shut down, me and my teammates were playing 'Fortnite' a little more," Compher said in an interview with ESPN. "We kind of just came up with the idea of getting an NHL tournament together, where we could play against guys around the league."
Compher said the excitement about the "Fortnite" tournament has been building amongst the players. The event will be streamed on Twitch and the Avs forward hopes the players show a little restraint in what's said during the tournament.
"It's live, so there are going to be some check-ins with the guys. We want kids and families to be able to watch, so we're trying to limit the cursing," Compher said. "But we want to see that excitement. That's part of 'Fortnite.'"
In the end, the event will help raise money for a good cause.
"To do it for charity right now is most important thing right now," Compher said. "We have all this downtime, all these tough times going on in the world right now. For the players to step up, use our time, use our exposure in the right way was pretty exciting for us."
How to watch the NHLPA Open featuring "Fortnite"
- Time: 2-5 p.m. ET
- Stream: Twitch.tv/espnesports
The three-hour tournament will feature over 80 hockey players — more than 65 NHLers — separated in 28 different teams. Each team will have a captain designated with Hyman serving as one of the tournament hosts.
Participants
| Team | Players |
|---|---|
| Anaheim | Troy Terry (C), Max Jones, Josh Manson |
| Arizona | Clayton Keller (C), Conor Garland, Nick Schmaltz |
| Boston | David Pastrnak (C), Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy |
| Calgary | Johnny Gaudreau (C), Buddy Robinson, Andrew Mangiapane |
| Carolina | Brett Pesce (C), Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen |
| Colorado | J.T. Compher (C), Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Nieto |
| Columbus | Zach Werenski (C), Emil Bemstrom, Eric Robinson |
| Dallas | Jason Dickinson (C), Anthony Louis, Josh Melnick |
| Detroit | Turner Elson (C), Adam Erne, Eric Tangradi |
| Edmonton | Kailer Yamamoto (C), Logan Day, Evan Bouchard |
| Florida | Dom Toninato (C), Joel Lowry, Mason Marchment |
| Los Angeles | Trevor Moore (C), Michael Amadio, Ben Hutton |
| Minnesota | J.T. Brown (C), Mat Robson, Victor Rask |
| Montreal | Ryan Poehling (C), Cale Fleury, Jake Evans |
| Long Island | Grant Hutton (C), Kieffer Bellows, Simon Holmstrom |
| Ottawa | Thomas Chabot (C), Nick Paul, Chris Tierney |
| Philadelphia | Travis Konecny (C), Joel Farabee, Connor Bunnaman |
| Pittsburgh | Zach Aston-Reese (C), Bryan Rust, Brian Dumoulin |
| St. Louis | Robert Thomas (C), Jordan Kyrou, Vince Dunn |
| Tampa Bay | Scott Wedgewood (C), Carter Verhaeghe, Barclay Goodrow |
| Toronto | Mitch Marner (C), Travis Dermott, Frederik Gauthier |
| Vegas | Alex Tuch (C), William Karlsson, Nate Schmidt |
| Winnipeg | Anthony Bitetto (C), Jack Roslovic, Connor Hellebuyck |
| Sweden | Alex Nylander (CHI - C), William Nylander (TOR), Adrian Kempe (LAK) |
| PB&J | Jayce Hawryluk (OTT - C), Joe Morrow, Jayson Megna (COL) |
| Bush Bandits | Cale Makar (COL - C), Matt Calvert (COL), Mario Ferraro (SJ) |
| Women's Hockey Trio | Abby Roque (C), Britta Curl, Genevieve Lacasse |
| The Griefers | Jake Walman (STL - C), Devante Smith-Pelly, Josh Ho-Sang (NYI) |