On March 19^th, 2019, The Washington Capitals hosted a 3v3 EA NHL 19 showcase vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was the first NHL esports event the Capitals had hosted and spurned the idea to host a larger scale tournament that everyone could get involved in. In this event, Capitals topped the Lightning 3-0 in a BO5 series.

The Caps Gaming Showcase was the first 6v6 EA Sports NHL Competition to be held by an official NHL esports team. The first season began in December of 2019, featuring 82 teams. The top 32 teams moved on to a single-elimination tournament, followed by two rounds of online bracket play, and concluded with the top four teams in Washington, DC for the live, in-person semifinals and finals. The tournament now spans 5 years of competition and is the longest running NHL tournament by a club.

Season 1 Winner: Entourage

Season 2 Winner: Olympia

Season 3 Winner: Scary Hours

Season 4 Winner: Isles GT

Revisit Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin’s epic charity face-off in EA SPORTS’ NHL®20. “The Great One vs. The Great Eight” charity event featured Gretzky playing alongside his sons Ty and Trevor against Ovechkin and Washington Capitals gaming pro John Wayne to raise funds for COVID-19 relief with Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation’s “Feeding the Frontlines” fund and Edmonton’s Food Bank. The esports duel was streamed on the Caps Gaming Twitch channel and netted over $41,000 for charity. Click HERE to watch the VOD.

The first Caps Gaming 3s Challenge was a 3v3 EA Sports NHL tournament that took place over the course of two weekends in November of 2020. The tournament consisted of 32 teams and brought together our normal fanbase with a fun twist on the usual 6s format. The tournament has had 3 iterations with our 2022 versions being split into 2 sides: Xbox and PS5.

2020 Winner: Team Taco Tuesday

2022 Spring Winners: Xbox - IslesGT & PS5 - Prodigy

2022 Fall Winners: Xbox - IslesGT & PS5 - Entourage

The Caps Gaming Invitational was a 1v1 EA Sports NHL Tournament consisting of 16 players selected by Caps Gaming to compete. The first Invitational took place in April of 2021 ending in an 8-player knockout bracket.

Caps Gaming 2021 Invitational Winner: Polgz

48 special hockey athletes from the United States & Canada teamed up to play NHL21 in the first-ever adaptive virtual tournament to create awareness about special hockey. The event was livestreamed on the Caps Gaming Twitch channel and raised over $63,000 for ASHA! Click HERE to watch the VOD.

During season 2 of the Caps Gaming Showcase, 12 exceptional players from the tournament were selected and placed on competing teams, Red vs. Blue, in a 6v6, best of 5 match in February of 2021. Team Blue came out victorious.

In August of 2022, Caps Gaming decided to branch out of EA SPORTS NHL and hosted a tournament in Rocket League’s Snow Day mode which replaces the ball with a puck. 18 teams competed in this event.

The Capitals challenged Anaheim Ducks Gaming to see which club is better in the Rocket League Snow Day mode. With the help of McDonald’s, the Rocket League Snowdown was born. All registrations were broken into two brackets: one to represent the Capitals and one to represent the Ducks. 12 teams battled it out and the Capitals came out on top.