NEW YORK/TORONTO - The 2021 NHL® Gaming World Championship™ will crown a new North American Champion this Saturday, July 24, the National Hockey League announced today. Hosted by GWC voice Arda Ocal and analyst Andrew 'Nasher' Telfer, the Championship live stream will begin at 2 p.m. ET on the NHL's
Twitch
channel. The NHL's annual gaming event features the best EA SPORTS™ NHL® 21 players in the world.
NHL Gaming World Championship to crown North American winner
Finalists will compete for $25,000 grand prize during live stream on Twitch
It has been a long road for the four NHL GWC finalists, who have represented their NHL Clubs with excitement and passion - Ottawa Senators rep Joshua 'joshfearless13' D'Eri, Dallas Stars rep Matthew 'Gren-35-' Grenier, Boston Bruins rep Justin 'Ez_Regs' Reguly and Minnesota Wild rep Samuel 'Canadiens-27' Landry, who was the final player to advance when he clinched the Honda NHL West Division title last weekend. The players will need to put their Chel skills to the test one more time to take home the $25,000 USD grand prize. To get to this point, they have outplayed their opponents through online weekly qualifying, the play-in round, the Club Championships and, finally, Division Final matches. For winning their Club Final and Division titles, players already have collected additional prizing.
Catch the final edition of Show and Chel with Jason Kaplan on Thursday, July 22, at 3 p.m. ET on
Twitch
. The show will take a closer look at each finalist, set up Saturday's matches and review overall tournament standings.
The NHL's digital platforms currently are carrying highlights of the GWC, with cut-down versions distributed by NHL global broadcast partners - NBC Sports in the U.S.; Sportsnet in Canada; and Viaplay, NENT Group, Sport1 and Premier Sports in Europe. Tournament rules, regulations, prize pools, schedules and results can be found
here
. Fans can follow the conversation using social hashtag #NHLGWC. The 2021 NHL GWC is being produced by DreamHack Sports Games (DHSG), a global leader in producing esports tournaments for traditional sports leagues and properties.
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SEEDING
The seeding for the Club Championship Final weekend was determined by each competitor's Online Open Play record (all players qualified in Week 1 of Online Open Play). The rank for the Championship round, which will be played best-of-three, 1v4, 2v3, is as follows:
Seed, Player, NHL Team, Qualifying Console, Online Open Play Rank, Online Open Play Record
1, joshfearless13, Ottawa Senators, Xbox, 2, 24 wins, 2350 pts
2, Canadiens-27, Minnesota Wild, PS4, 4, 24 wins, 2515 pts
3, Ez-Regs, Boston Bruins, PS4, 7, 23 wins, 2430 pts
4, Gren-35-, Dallas Stars, PS4, 9, 23 wins, 2286 pts
MATCHUPS
MEET THE FINALISTS
joshfearless13
Name: Joshua D'Eri
Seed: 1
Division Champion: Ottawa Senators, Scotia NHL North
A consummate performer on the NHL gaming circuit, the 24-year-old is coming into the Championship Final as the No. 1 seed. A game programmer by trade, Fearless started playing NHL in 2009 and advanced to the NHL GWC Canadian Regional in 2019. His games are entertaining to watch as he describes himself as a loud and passionate player who likes to chirp his opponents. He lists fellow finalist Gren as his toughest competitor. Growing up, D'Eri played ice hockey and competitive soccer and, like his favorite NHL player Pavel Datsyuk, had the moves to outscore his opponents 35-21 through seven games in the Division Final round. D'Eri is a tough competitor and has participated in many NHL Club gaming tournaments throughout the years to pad his gaming résumé.
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Canadiens-27
Name: Samuel Landry
Seed: 2
Division Champion: Minnesota Wild, Honda NHL West
The youngest competitor in the Final field, 19-year-old Canadiens-27 is a forceful GWC up-and-comer. He enters the Final as the No. 2 seed after he stormed through his matches, including the Wild Club Championship, without losing a game. He also went 24-0 in the Online Open Play stage. Landry competed in the GWC last season, placing among the top 16 for the Canadian Regionals, where he eventually lost to Gren. Canadiens-27 won the Bolts Chel Challenge in February 2020 and has competed in several NHL Club gaming tournaments over the past number of years. His game style is puck control and patience and he lists his favorite NHL player as Capitals Alex Ovechkin. The Quebec-native likes playing ice hockey and soccer when he's not practicing Chel.
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Ez_Regs
Name: Justin Reguly
Seed: 3
Division Champion: Boston Bruins, MassMutual NHL East
Reigning GWC Canadian Champion Regs is a goal-scoring machine, posting 59 goals against his opponents and giving up only 18 through the GWC Division Finals, marking the highest goal total of the four finalists. Perhaps he picked up some tips watching the scoring ability of his favorite NHL player, Nathan McKinnon. Regs is ranked as the No. 3 seed for the Championship Final with 23 wins and 2430 points in Online Open Play. He lists his strengths as passing vision and big game experience. Reguly played ice hockey for 12 years and now is a third-year university business student who enjoys golfing in his spare time. No stranger to NHL Gaming competitions, he was a finalist for the NHL Gaming World Championship Canadian Regional in 2018 and is a familiar competitor for many NHL Club gaming events.
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Gren-35-
Name: Matthew Grenier
Seed: 4
Division Champion: Dallas Stars, Discover NHL Central
As the only player to advance to the GWC Final in four consecutive years, Gren's track record speaks for itself -- advancing to the World Finals from 2018 to 2020, after taking second place in the GWC Canadian Regional Final for those three seasons as well. Grenier enters the Championship Final as the No. 4 seed and hopes to bring home his first GWC title. Representing the U.S. in this year's competition, the 20-year-old Gren grew up playing ice hockey in Quebec, Canada, and played his first virtual game on NHL16. As one of the best defensive players in the game, Gren also possesses the skill to score from just about anywhere like his favorite NHL player Alex Ovechkin. Gren lists both Fearless and Regs as his biggest rivals, so he'll need to be on top of his game to capture the title. In the past, Grenier has won several NHL Club tournaments, including with the Maple Leafs, Wild, Canadiens and Flyers.
