Islanders Represented at Gaming World Championships

The NHL Gaming World Championships are heating up and the New York Islanders have two representatives competing in the NHL esports showcase.
Justin Reguly, who plays under the gamertag
Regs84
, is the Islanders representative in the North American bracket, while Erik Tammenpää, whose gamertag is
I_Eki_I
, is representing the Islanders in the European bracket.
Both players are former champions and have advanced into the late stages, so the Islanders are well positioned in each bracket.

"We're proud to have two of the best players in the world, with existing GWC titles, select the Islanders to represent in this year's gaming world championship," Jordan Zelniker, Esports Strategy Lead for the Islanders, said. "Eki and Regs have incredible skill, we're here to support them by any means possible."

Reguly, who lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, was the Canadian champion in 2020 and was the North American runner-up in 2021. He is one of the final three in the North American PlayStation 5 bracket after beating JrPens91 in two games on May 21 and will compete in the upper bracket final on June 25.
If Reguly can beat Matthew Grenier - Gren-35- - in a best-of-three series, he'll advance to the final, which will be played in-person at the NHL Draft in Montreal. That's an exciting prospect for Reguly, whose championship appearances in 2020 and 2021 both came virtually.
"It's definitely a wonderful opportunity. I've been privileged enough to play LAN a couple of times, but never really in front of the crowd, so it's definitely an atmosphere I want to put myself in because I feel like I thrive in an atmosphere like that. And just being able to potentially see those up-and-coming stars in the NHL draft on the following day would be something extremely cool."
Tammenpää has already reached the European LAN Final and will compete against Lehmannens in the Xbox One Console Final on June 4 in Amsterdam. Tammenpää swept his way to the final, including a pair of wins over Lehmannens, who he'll face again given the double-elimination tournament format.

Tammenpää is looking to add another title to his trophy case, as the Finn won the NHL's first Gaming World Championship in 2018 during a LAN final in Las Vegas. Tammenpää, who was 18 at the time, won $50,000 as the grand prize and title of world champion. He's also a three-time European champion, including winning the 2021 title.
"The door is really wide open right now," Tammenpää said. "I think on paper I'm the guy to beat, but we'll see. There are lots of new names."
In years past, the North American and European champions would meet to determine a world champion, but the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the format in each of the past three years.
Reguly is 21, but has been playing competitively since 2017. He said making the jump from being a casual player to a professional - and premier - player required time and dedication, but perhaps more importantly, playing against top-quality competition.
"It was really more so about the quality of the practice I was putting in, opposed to the quantity," Reguly said. "If I go play 15 random scrubs in a day I'm not really learning anything. But if I take the time to play three or four extremely good players, I'm going to learn something and be able to take something away from each of those games."
His competition has certainly been tough so far at the GWC, as four of his five opponents thus far were top-32 players in the 2021 GWC North American bracket.

Tammenpää said there's plenty of pressure at the GWC, especially in the later rounds. He credits playing goalie growing up in Finland to help channel his focus.
"You really have all your nerves in those situations," Tammenpää said. "There's nothing more nerve wracking than being a goalie in real life, so it was kind of a good background going in. Everybody's nervous in the game. Regs is nervous. I get nervous, Gren gets nervous. Everyone gets nervous, so just keep that in mind. It'll be good."
Reguly and Tammenpää are competing in one-vs-one play at the GWC, but also play in the six-vs-six formats, like IslesGT. They say there are pros and cons to both. While there's camaraderie in winning as a group, both players enjoy the total control of a one-vs-one scenario.
They've even played each other, meeting in the 2019 Caps Gaming finals, where Reguly won a best-of-three matchup. They have respect for each other's games, with Reguly playing a more offensive game - a North American characteristic - while Tammenpää played a more defensive game, in typical European style.
"Eki is not only a great competitor, but he's also a great person," Reguly said. "He's the best at adapting to his opponent."
This year they're essentially on the same team and are appreciative of the Islanders backing.
"I'm very humbled and honored by having the opportunity to represent a wonderful organization like the Islanders," Reguly said. "With IslesGT, they've been nothing but great to me and they continue to show me support and just like I'm going to show their team support and do the best I can to be a good role model and face for the Islanders franchise in eSports."
Follow both players in the NHL GWC here
.
Follow the IslesGT here
.