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The NHL Gaming World Championship returns for its third iteration with a record breaking $150,000 USD prize pool. This year, the championship features a number of changes based on public feedback from previous iterations. Together with a number of partners, the NHL has realised the rapid growth of the gaming community and will be bringing gamers the biggest event of NHL esports yet! Registrations are open now - register here. Here's how the tournament will be played: Round 1: Online open play The online open play will be running on PS4 and Xbox for four weeks, starting March 11th. Each week 32 players from each console and each region will advance to round two. The last chance to register for online open play is on Sunday, March 29th. Round 2: Online play-in bracket This is a bracket that will be hosted on two dates for each region. EU: April 11th & April 19th US: April 18th & April 25th CAN: April 25th & May 2nd NEW! The Online play-in bracket will be played in best-of-three rounds head-to-head. NEW! Players who advance to rounds 4-7 of the Online play-in bracket will earn cash prizes of between $200-$1,000 USD. Find specifics in the tournament rules. Regional finals: EU: Viaplay Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark - May 16th US: NBC Sports Studios, Stamford, Connectitut - May 22nd CAN: Sportsnet Studios, Toronto, Ontario - May 30th NEW! Players finishing 3rd and 4th will face each other in a best-of-three consolation round, with the winner earning a spot at the World finals. World finals: The World finals will be hosted at the 2020 NHL Awards, time and place still TBA. The champion will receive the largest share of the prize pool - $60,000 USD. NEW! This year, the World final features nine players in a two-stage event. The first stage consists of a head-to-head round robin best-of-three series between the three third place regional finalists - the top two will be advancing to the final eight-person bracket. NEW! The World final is played with the top eight competitors in a single elimination bracket consisting of head-to-head, best-of-three series (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 etc.). Where to watch and follow? Find all information about the tournament at www.nhl.com/fans/gaming The Regional finals and World finals will be streamed on the NHL Twitch channel. Tournament brackets can be followed on FACEIT once the play has commenced. On social media, #NHLGWC lets you follow the conversation around the event.

NHLGamers, We have received the devastating news that a beloved member of the community - Sami @Ampuhaukka Luoma passed away at the young age of 41 this past Friday. Sami was a family man and a long-time community member, who enjoyed spending his pastime playing the NHL series in good company. Over the years several of us had the privilege to play alongside this man and he touched many of our lives in one way or another. To honor Sami's memory, some of his past teammates and friends have shared some of their memories below: - @Tzon93 - @l-Furyan-l - @Lamsa A word from @Kenu on behalf of NHLGamer: I would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family, friends and teammates of Sami in this tragic loss. I was in touch with Sami in early January and he spoke about his plans to build a team together with @pelimies80 and he had some questions around the upcoming season. It's hard to accept that that discussion was the last chance I got to talk to him. I didn't know Sami well, but I did talk a lot of ECL with him throughout the years and also remember trying out for his team back in the day. He was always polite, positive and fun to talk to and I he will be missed. During his career of 227 games as a right defenseman in the ECL Sami racked up 26 goals and 125 assists, totalling 151 points. Aside from the the ECL, he was also active in a lot of our other leagues. You can see his full career stats below. The staff at NHLGamer extends our heartfelt condolences to everyone touched by Sami during his lifetime. Please also share your memory in the comment section if you wish to do so.