Islanders Launch Esports Vertical and Isles Gaming Team

After opening up UBS Arena, the New York Islanders are stepping into the esports arena.
The Islanders announced the launch of the Isles Gaming Team (Isles GT) on Thursday, marking the organization's first foray into the esports space.
Isles GT will be made up of six professional gamers, who will compete in one-vs-one and six-vs-six National Hockey League esports tournaments. Fans will be able to follow Isles GT on

The six starting players are: Lucas Hendry, Joshua Claus, Eric Fisher, George Katehis, Justin Reguly and Keith Scheckel. These six players will create gaming content for the team and represent Isles GT in NHL club competitions. The team will also search for substitute players.
While Isles GT will compete professionally, the Islanders will also host the IGT Circuit, a series of NHL22 tournaments for fans to compete in.
Jordan Zelniker is the Islanders esports strategy lead, joining the organization after launching Caps Gaming in 2019. Zelniker, a born-and-raised Islanders fan, is looking to do the same for his hometown team.
NewYorkIslanders.com caught up with Zelniker to get more details on Isles GT.

NewYorkIslanders.com: How have you seen the esports space grow and evolve over the past few years?
Jordan Zelniker:We've seen it multiply extensively. Back in the day, it was more of a one-vs-one scene. In the past few years we've seen the six-vs-six scene explode. That six-vs-six scene is what we're really focused on here with Isles GT. We are in the business of team sports, so we believe that having each person play a position and use teamwork amplifies what we're going for as a team.
NYI: What kind of an impact does an NHL team have on the growth of esports?
JZ:As other NHL teams get into the space, you're going to see the userbase and player base grow. Now people aren't just picking up the game because they enjoy playing the game. They can now make this a career and say 'I might be able to go pro for my favorite team one day if I put in the effort.' We are starting to see the player base grow as well as the competitive scene. If you look back in the day, the idea of a player playing for his favorite team, or even any NHL team, was non-existent.
NYI: What is the path for someone to become a professional gamer and to get on the radar of an NHL team?
JZ:It starts with picking up a controller and just playing the game. From there, it's getting friends together, even just playing in one-vs-one tournaments and getting engrained in the community. You'll see team or community tournaments all over social media and most of them are free to sign up. They have separate ones for North America and Europe. You may lose in the first round and it may take time to grow your abilities to win rounds, or you may realize in your first round that you're pretty good and that you can compete with a lot of these guys right away.

NYI: Is it just a matter of entering and winning tournaments, kind of like a player working their way up through the minors?
JZ:About 75% of it is just going around and consistently finishing top four or top eight in tournaments. That's how you get recognition. It's important to stay together as a team because sometimes you see these teams break up and players move from team to team each year, and it's really hard to get recognition as you continue to do that. The other piece of it is making sure you have a professional social media slate. That's a big piece of it for NHL teams. These players will come to represent the brand, and just like any spokesman, you want to make sure there is a good fit. We're seeing that a lot of these guys know how to act professional before they get signed and it's really reassuring to teams.
NYI: What is the tournament experience like?
JZ: There are a bunch of different formats for tournaments. Other NHL teams offer tournaments where you sign up and hop on once or twice a week to play your games. We're about to bring something very new to the table. We will host a new series system made up of two individual open series where teams can sign up and accumulate points by furthering in the tournament. After the two open series, we'll have a championship series where we take the top eight teams in points and pin them against each other. The goal is to see if we can get the best eight teams out of it.
Editor's note: The IGT Circuit will be a six-vs-six NHL 22 tournament with two open series where teams can accumulate points to compete for a prize pool of $15,000. The top eight teams will qualify for the championship series in March.
Fans will be able to follow Isles GT on Twitter, Instagram and on Twitch. As Zelniker points out, the world of esports is digital first and in-person second.
NYI: How essential has live streaming been to the growth of esports?
JZ:Live streaming is essential, whether it's Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook gaming. That's how we find these guys and watch them play tournaments. That's how a lot of these players get discovered. NHL teams aren't going to take people who just show up on the stat sheet. We want to see players live stream their games so we can get to see their reactions and get to know their personalities. That's a huge piece of it, especially for our fans. This is their way to connect with our players.

NYI: Is the goal to deeply engage the New York Islanders fans that are gamers or to grow the Islanders brand in the gaming community?
JZ:JZ: It's a strong combination of both. Our tournaments are a way to connect to the broader gaming community, whereas Isles GT is more for our Islanders fans. The team is made up of personalities that our fans can connect with or root for. The tournament and the team are two different aspects on that front.
NYI: There seems to be a growing number of soccer fans who discovered the sport through a video game like FIFA. Is there a sense that both hockey, and specifically the Islanders, could see the same effect through esports and the exposure from Isles GT and the Isles GT circuit?
JZ:It's actually one of the reasons I got into esports. When I was at MLS, I learned that a lot of soccer fans in North America picked their team based off what team they liked to use in FIFA. We are now seeing this trend across a variety of sports. In fact, several of the Islanders' international supporter clubs got started by people who connected to the team first through gaming.
NYI: What excites you about the Islanders getting into esports?
JZ:The biggest piece that excites me is that there is really no cap on this. There are limitless possibilities with where esports can go, whether that's integrating the experience into the arena, or growing the actual game itself with youth development programs, female gaming programs, etc.