Josh Fuss wins 2020 U.S. Regional Final of NHL Gaming World Championship

NEW YORK -The 2020 NHL Gaming World Championship™ has a new Regional champion as Josh 'OFs_HK' Fuss, also known as Hockey Kings, captured the U.S. title and $10,000 USD grand prize, the National Hockey League announced today. The U.S. Final competition, which was produced remotely and streamed on the NHL's Twitch channel, saw last year's World Champion Matthew 'Top Shelf Cookie' Gutkoski finish second.

A native of Fairfield, Conn., who is studying accounting, Fuss placed third in XBOX qualifying and played his Regional matches representing the New York Rangers. He dropped only one match in the best-of-three format, going 6-1 to capture his first Gaming World Championship Regional title. He won his quarterfinal series against Mekilu, 6-4, 3-2, and semifinal against PureFiishin, 7-2, (2-3) and 2-1. OFs_HK won the first game of the Regional Final decisively, with a 5-1 score, but Game 2 came down to the wire as the reigning World Champion mounted a comeback by scoring two goals in the final minute of play. In the end, Hockey Kings' lead proved insurmountable with the game ending 6-5. HK finished the Regional round with 31 goals, 109 shots on net, 52 hits, 30 penalty minutes and an average attack time of 9:38.

Fuss is a member of Homeland Gaming and has competed in several NHL Club tournaments in the past couple of years, including events hosted by the Chicago Blackhawks (won), Columbus Blue Jackets (placed 2nd), Detroit Red Wings (placed 2nd) and Winnipeg Jets(placed 2nd). He also competed in the Qualification Round of the 2019 NHL Gaming World Championship™ and came within one win of the U.S. Regionals.

The final 2020 NHL GWC Regional competition -- the European Regional Final -- will be broadcast on Twitch on Saturday, Aug. 22, starting with The GWC Lobby at 2:30 p.m. ET, followed by the main competition. This past Saturday, Justin 'Reg84' Reguly captured the Canadian title. For tournament information, fans can visit NHL.com/Gaming and follow #NHLGWC.