NHL Gaming World Championship U.S. Regional preview

Editor's note: Arda Ocal, an Emmy award-nominated broadcaster and the voice of the NHL Gaming World Championship, will be covering the 2019 NHL Gaming World Championship for NHL.com. Here is his preview of the United States Regional Finals:

If you need proof that there's more than one path to success, look no further than David "JrPens" Roebuck and John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda.
Their resumes are similar: each made it through the U.S. Regional Finals in the first season of the NHL Gaming World Championship and represented the United States at the Grand Finals. Johnwaynee finished third, JrPens was the runner-up.
Entering the U.S. Regional Finals, which will be in Stamford, Connecticut, on Thursday, each is hoping to get back to the Final in Las Vegas on June 18.
Johnwaynee is a "champ champ," earning wins in the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings esports tournaments. JrPens captured the Pittsburgh Penguins crown.
JrPens is an actuarial science major at Robert Morris University. Give him a bunch of data and he will turn it into information gold. JrPens would be just as comfortable in a gaming chair on the big stage competing for $50,000 as he would in any NHL team's analytics department. His meticulous attention to detail leads JrPens to re-watch his NHL games, collecting data on his players; from that, he constructs his lines and methods of attack accordingly.

Preparing for the draft before the U.S. Regionals was no different.
"To help my approach in the draft, I went in RStudio, a statistical programming software I use for several classes at RMU," JrPens said.
"In this software, I took the data of the players' ratings and broke it all down to look at the pool from different perspectives. This enabled me to see what types of players had a lower supply and where some players were the most valuable with such a low number of them in their respective category. From this, I took that into account with players I enjoy playing with in the game and made a mock draft where for each round I had a list of players I would be interested in."
JrPens is treating the U.S. Regionals almost like an exam, and he is attacking his preparation.
"In the Hockey Ultimate Team] tournaments or HUT Champs, I have been using my [Gaming World Championship] team against stacked teams to help me work on my defense and make my reaction time quicker," he said. "In addition, I have been studying the European and Canadian regionals to see if there's anything I can incorporate into my play and going in Practice mode to make sure all of my skills are fine tuned."
As for Johnwaynee's preparation for the U.S. Regionals, "I'm having Regs help me with it," he said.
No spreadsheets, no number crunching: just get some help and trust your gut.
Justin "Regs" Reguly is a fellow NHL "champ champ" this season, winning the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals esports tournaments. Regs chipped in by sending Johnwaynee ideas prior to draft day. Johnwaynee also enlisted the help of two other competitors, Canadian Regional finalist Josh "Josh Fearless" D'Eri and Chicago Blackhawks esports champion Josh "HockeyKings" Fuss, acting as consultants in a group chat.
"They helped a lot. Good friends, those three!" Johnwaynee said.
As far as preparation goes, he prefers to cram.
"I've been enjoying time with the family and dog. I always do that," said Johnwaynee, who feels the mental break allows him to recharge and gives him more focus during the tournament. "Then I cram hard the night before I hop on the flight [to Stamford
NHL teams chosen by competitors to represent:
JrPens91 -- David Roebuck -- Pittsburgh Penguins
johnwaynee90 -- John Casagranda -- Arizona Coyotes
Top Shelf Cookie -- Matthew Gutkoski -- Columbus Blue Jackets
McLxvinn -- Brendan Reed -- New York Rangers
frogstomp33 -- Braedon Greenwood -- Colorado Avalanche
NJD3VS -- Mike Duro -- New Jersey Devils
Fishercelll25 -- Vic Ferreira -- Washington Capitals
NippinBiscuits -- Charles Ferris -- Dallas Stars
Predictions from the experts
Josh "HockeyKings" Fuss (@OFs\5), Chicago Blackhawks NHL esports champion, Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets NHL esports tournament finalist:
"Cookie is sweeping the one side easily. The guy has been great all year and is one of the top offensive players in the world right now. On the other side the finals to make Vegas will be Johnwaynee and JrPens. This game could go either way, they are both great players at the end of the day, but I think that John will pull it out, with the year that he has had and winning as much as he has this year!"
Tyler "Daddy Padre" Stewart (@Daddy\Padre), NHL 19 competitor, Toronto Maple Leafs Gaming League runner-up, St. Louis Blues emergency goalie
"Cookie would be my bet from the top bracket. I believe JrPens will play JW. That could be a toss-up with how this game is. But I think JohnWaynee will go through because he's the most consistent at tournaments.
Michael "Nuge" Nugent (@NugeTV), 2018 NHL GWC U.S. Regional Finalist
"Starting with the two favorites: Johnwaynee and JrPens, unfortunately they play each other in the semifinal so only one can make it through. The matchup should be incredibly close, but I have to give the edge to Johnwaynee. He's too cool under pressure and I think he'll win a couple of low-scoring games. From the other side of the bracket I think the two guys to look at are McLxvinn and Top Shelf Cookie. Cookie has been there before; last year he was was a total underdog and played exceptionally well. This year I think he's probably the player most would expect to win his side of the bracket, but personally I think McLxvinn will take it."
Dustin "The Clapperton" Wade (@TheClapperton), NHL Community Manager
"Cookie will go undefeated in the U.S. Regionals. Nothing else matters."
Alexander "The JERZ" Cerrano (@JERZNetwork), Content Creator and self-professed NHL community Legend**
"Take it from someone who has breathed virtual hockey gaming since 1993: These eight are of the very best virtual athletes America has to offer. With that said, there is no doubt in the JERZs mind that Johnwaynee will yet again stamp his ticket to Vegas. The kid has heart, plays elite manual defense and gets it done when it matters. He'll have a tough task getting through JrPens and his rebound shot offense, but in my opinion John goes to Vegas again.