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Lamsa - Rusty Blades (RB) ECL Hidden Gems is a concept that was created by @The_Alpha_Furyan and @pnordetun (patovic). The idea evolved out of discussions concerning what type of content patovic himself would like to see more of at NHLGamer.com and what kind of texts he'd be most interested in writing. Hidden Gems, for the purposes of this feature, means players that the author feels haven't quite gotten their time to shine at NHLGamer or players that aren't getting full credit for the skill they bring to the table. This is the second edition in a six-part series that patovic has written so do enjoy the witty writing of "pato" and leave a comment with your thoughts on the piece. After the first edition of Hidden Gems, which was more of a "old school" type gem, we return with this second installment that is focused on a player that manages to be a veteran and a new addition to the community both at the same time. I am of course talking about good ol' @Lamsafrom Rusty Blades - a man so good on the offensive side of the puck that all of your team better be prepared to focus 110% when going up against Rusty Blades. The franchise itself has only participated in ECLs 3, 4 & 5 but wow (!) have they been taking some major steps in the right direction. After making their debut in ECL 3 to mixed reviews (IMDB rating: 6,1), they went back to the drawing board and decided to grind out some serious practice. And by "some", I mean a lot. I am not sure if any team played more EASHL games than Rusty between ECL 3 and 4 but they managed to do exactly what they set out to do - build a foundation for their style of play and learn how to play against (and defeat) the very best ECL teams. Under captain @Tanski87, Rusty have perfected the art of "brunk and dump hockey" mixed with some tic tac toe and have managed to make it the key to their success. In all this, Lamsa is the true catalyst: leading the way with all the different types of goals, assists and dirtyness only a true Kantor can bring. While being underrated on the defensive side of things - he describes himself as a defensive playmaker - Lamsa is most comfortable scoring points using his straight-forward style (the anti-skill hockey?) that has resulted in 155 goals and 101 assist in 112 games played. The fact that Lamsa is Rustys go-to guy in the scoring department get quite obvious when you consider the fact that in ECL 3 (Legacy) he scored 20 points more than anyone else on the RB squad. For next season, ECL 4 (Pro), he finished a full 33 points ahead of #2 and finally, in ECL 5 (Elite) he managed to repeat the feat once more by scoring 14 points more than his closest teammate. Now, Rusty has managed to build what many call the ultimate teamplay-focused team where every skater is a key cog in the machinery and they have certainly become one of the best at what they do, but when the chips are down and they need that one key play - Lamsa is most likely smack in the middle of it. Before ECL 5 I am sure many were curious how RB and Lamsa would hold up against Elite competition, but both of them certainly managed to put a sock in the mouth of their detractors. Rusty Blades by finishing 8th overall, making the playoffs and pushing Aapon Taikasauva to six games in their playoff series and Lamsa by scoring 25 goals and finishing tied for 9th in Goals amongst all Elite skaters. I think we can safely establish once and for all that, unlike the Dent Act and Roberts Rebellion, Lamsa is not built on a lie. Lamsa Fact Box [Player profile] Lauri Lämsä, Finland ECL All-Time Stats: 112GP, 155G, 101A, 256P, +33 Participated in ECL 3, 4 & 5 at NHLGamer: all three for Rusty Blades Favors the RW position in EASHL Part of Rusty Blades squad that got promoted from ECL Pro - ECL Elite after ECL 4 Runner-up and silver medalist for the 50 Shades of Blades in Summer Cup 2 Text by: @pnordetun Intro and editing by: @The_Alpha_Furyan Art by: @OxtreeLAT

NHLGamers, Here are the playoff pairings and framework for Round 2 of the ECL 5 playoffs for Pro & Elite: FRAMEWORK Each pairing, Elite or Pro, must be finished within 7 days from today, meaning last evening to play games is December 5th. Don't expect any extensions! All pairings are to be played in a best-of-7 series (teams on the left side below play home first) PRO PLAYOFFS After the cross-seeding of the first round between Group 1 and Group 2, we now return to our usual points per game seeding for the rest of the playoffs. Here is how last round ended: Gotham Knights vs. J P T J [2-1, final two games WO from J P T J due to no players available in the alloted time] SIKA vs. THE UNITED KNIGHTS [3-4] Inter Iceland vs. EN HUND [4-2] Lavetten vs. Pata Hellalla [2-4] Unlucky Boys HC vs. Alliance HT [4-2] Shameful Knights vs. Falun Coal Miners [1-4] Nordic Stars vs. White Trash [4-2] Baltic Sea Eagles vs. Evolution [3-4] This gives us the following pairings for Round 2 (new seeds based on points per game relative to each other in regular season): #1 Unlucky Boys HC vs. #8 THE UNITED KNIGHTS #2 Nordic Stars vs. #7 Falun Coal Miners #3 Gotham Knights vs. #6 Pata Hellalla #4 Inter Iceland vs. #5 Evolution ELITE PLAYOFFS For Elite, these were the results of Round 1. Aapon Taikasauva vs. Rusty Blades [4-2] Carlsberg HC vs. Northern Stars [3-4] SJK eSports vs. Northern Ascendancy [4-2] Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty [4-0] This gives us the following pairings for Round 2 (seeds remain unchanged = sorted by points per game in regular season): #1 Aapon Taikasauva vs. #7 Northern Stars #3 SJK eSports vs. #4 Written In The Stars Good luck to all teams and see you for Round 3! ECL Lite announcement regarding Round 3 will be out tomorrow. @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Hi fellow NHLGamers. Like many of you guys know the IS Cup was played about a week ago in Helsinki. I want to say thanks to everyone involved and to all the Finnish guys in the community that made me feel very welcome. Now to the more important stuff, the actual gaming. On the first day of the tournament, players that did not make it to the main tournament through the online qualifiers had a chance to qualify. 64 players got divided into two different knockout brackets. The winner of the first bracket was hardly surprising, as on top came @Dominointi after beating @Rimpe in the final. In the other bracket a more (to me) unknown player made it all the way to the group stage of the IS Cup Finals. @MUFASAN-VALITTU won the second bracket after beating Kaneyh (@Kane) in the final. The final 16 competed in the IS Cup Finals on Saturday and the first phase was for the TOP 8 to make it through the group stage. The 16 players were split into four groups and below is how things went down: Group stage Group 1: In my opinion this group was the group of death. I_Eki_I (@Erkki) had a lot of pressure going into the tournament after finishing second in the eSM (Finnish Championships) and after beating @willekunq in the final of the online qualifier. I_Eki_I got a very good start in the first game against Dominointi with an early 4-0 lead that Dominointi never managed to recover from. I_Eki_I won the game 6-3. Dominointi got his revenge on @xDoumi after losing to him in the online qualifiers but that game was not the most important in their careers since both of them were out already after losing to @SadaPoika and I_Eki_I. Sadapoika impressed me by beating Dominointi as well and won the group after beating I_Eki_I in the last game with a score of 4-3. Group 2: In this group I expected @Hansulinho to win comfortably, but I was so wrong. Hansulinho lost his first game 6-4 to @Dreamickie and @Leksa94 lost his first game to @Nikeez98 3-2. SJK eSports teammates Hansulinho and Leksa94 were now up against each other in a game that would mean that one of them were out of the tournament. Leksa had the lead until there was only 2,3 seconds left of the game. It was unreal how Hansulinho was only 2,3 seconds away from being eliminated. It´s even more impressive the way he scored in that crucial moment. Hansu scored a spectacular goal after a difficult saucer pass when he tied the game 2-2. Hansu managed to win the game in overtime. Dreamickie impressed and won the group after a perfect 3 wins. Hansulinho joined Dreammickie into the top 8 knockouts after beating Nikeez98 5-0 in their last game of the group stage. Group 3: The Finnish Champion @eskoeinari managed to win this group after an impressive 3 straight wins. Buranaburana (@[email protected]) followed him into the playoffs after beating both @Kim_20_00_ and @JaKurrii. It was great to see the skill of the players participating in live-tournaments and to see that there are so many good players, for example JaKurri made it to the semifinals in eSM but now in IS Cup he did not manage to win any of the three group stage games. Group 4: This group was the one that I had the least knowledge about upfront. I must say that I am impressed by MUFASAN-VALITTU winning this group after he secured his spot the day before. MUFASAN-VALITTU did participate in the eSM but he did not make it to the top 8 in that tournament. @Kemppane_ took the other top 8 spot from group 4 after beating @kojowaa 4-1. Quarterfinals In the first quarterfinal Hansulinho beat Sadapoika 2-0 in games after winning the second game 4-3 in OT. The most entertaining quarterfinal was between Dreamickie and I_Eki_I. Dreamickie managed to win the first game 5-3. The second game in the series was the craziest game in this tournament I would say. Dreammickie managed to come back into the game after being down 3-1. With around 4 minutes left Dreammickie scored 6-5 that was so close of being the game series winning goal, but somehow I_Eki_I managed to equalize with only 13 seconds left. I_Eki_I won the game in OT after being very close to be out of the tournament. In the third game I_Eki_I won the game 4-2 to secure his spot in the semifinals. In the third quarterfinal the Finnish champion eskoeinari beat Kemppane 2-0 in games after two close games (3-2, 4-2). Last quarterfinal was played between MUFASAN-VALITTU and buranaburana. The first game of the series was very close. buranaburana had the 3-1 lead, but MUFASAN-VALITTU made it back into the game and took the game into OT. In the OT buranaburana scored to make the series 1-0 in his favor. buranaburana won the second game with the same result 4-3 in regulation time. 2-0 in the series for buranaburana took him to the semifinals. Semifinals First out in the semfinals was the series between buranaburana and eskoeinari. The question was if buranaburana was going to get revenge against eskoeinari after losing to him in the semfinal of the eSM. The answer was no. Exactly like in eSM, the series went to a third game where eskoeinari was able to win and go through to the final. eskoeinari won 2-1 in game 3. The second semifinal between the 5x Finnish champion Hansulinho and I_Eki_I was going to be something special. In Hansulinho's latest live apperance he lost the semifinal against Pleemaker in the IS Cup last year. I_Eki_I has become very experienced at events like this after being in the final of both the eSM and the IS Cup last year. I_Eki_I managed to win game 1 with 5-4 in OT. After that Hansu won two straight games with 3-1 that took him to the final. Final The reigning Finnish champion Eskoeinari against the five-time former Finnish champion Hansulinho. I was hoping for a series that would go to game 3 but Hansulinho wanted something else. Hansulinho won both finals with the score of 4-2. In the second game Hansulinho found Crosby in the perfect spot to make it 3-2 in the game, that goal was the game winning goal that made Hansulinho the Champion of IS Cup this year. Enjoy the short after movie that was made by Ilta-Sanomat of this event. Below you can find the final results of the IS Cup 2 Final tournament: Place Player Prize 1. Hannes "Hansulinho" Kettunen 2000 € 2. Juho "eskoeinari" Sillantaus 1000 € 3.-4. Erik "I_EKI_I" Tammenpää 500 € 3.-4. Sami "buranaburana" Piiparinen 500 € 5.-8. Jim "Sadapoika" Leskinen 250 € 5.-8. Vesa "Dreamickie" Rajamäki 250 € 5.-8. Jesse "MUFASAN_VALITTU" Ruuskanen 250 € 5.-8. Juuso "Kemppane_" Kemppainen 250 € 9.-12. Juho "kojowaa" Törmälä 125 € 9.-12. Kim "Kim_20_00" Suokas 125 € 9.-12. Nikolas "Nikeez98" Hämäläinen 125 € 9.-12. Risto "Dominointi" Järvi 125 € 13.-16. Aaro "xDoumi" Ruuhinen 125 € 13.-16. Leo "Leksa94" Torri 125 € 13.-16. Jussi "JaKurrii" Koivuniemi 125 € 13.-16. Antero "xSelanne8x" Enbuske 125 € We want to thank the players and everyone who showed up to enjoy themselves and show their support. Together we are strong, so let this only be the beginning! Text by: @esdor Edited by: @Kenu Video: Ilta-Sanomat (Sorry for the poor quality of the group photo, we don't know why a potato was used to take this photo. Also, next time, let's get everyone in there!)