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NHLGamers, This upcoming Tuesday (18th of June) marks the date of the grand final of the 2019 NHL Gaming World Championship! We'll once again be treated to the skilful play of ECL poster boy and reigning world champion Erik @Eki Tammenpää, who is joined by fellow Finnish NHL gaming juggernaut Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen. The European duo will be taking on the two best players from both the US and Canada in a quest for the world championship title and a cash prize of $50,000. The US finalists are winner Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski and runner-up John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda. The Canadian finalists are winner Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib and runner-up Matthew @YungGren Grenier. As anyone whose been following the NHLGWC might know, this years iteration of the tournament has been played with a slightly different format and also the game-mode has changed from online versus to HUT. The change of game-mode has brought some sought after diversity to the teams used by competitors and on top of that a draft prior to the finals has ensured that no competitor will be sporting the same two players in their lineup. Now enough with the talk, let's take a look at the lineups of each player. Link to HutDB team, 2019 placement and 2018 placement in brackets. 🇫🇮 Erik @Eki Tammenpää (EU Winner - Reigning champion 🏆) Eki is the reigning champion and is going into the tournament as a heavy favorite at least on our side of the pond. So far, the reigning champion has played through the tournament entirely undefeated besting the likes of @Dominointi, @kriketski17 and his fellow EU finalist in the regionals. The man himself has spoken about being able to go into this years tournament with a calmer attitude than last year despite being the defending champion. Confidence is oozing from this youngster and we're all certainly anxious to see what he will bring to the table come Tuesday night. 🇫🇮 Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen (EU Runner-up - Did not make finals in 2018) Hansu already made the headlines earlier today as his new contract with HAVU - a promising Finnish gaming org was announced. HAVU has been making some serious waves recently by signing major partnerships together with Finnish entertainment & IT giant Elisa Viihde and the almost cult-like clothing brand Billebeino. Hansu mentioned that moving on to HAVU is a natural step in the development of his career and will hopefully benefit both him and the organisation. On his way to Vegas, Hansu managed to win (still) young prodigy @PleeMaker in a thrilling bout. 🇺🇸 Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski (US Winner - 3rd place in regionals of 2018) Cookie made the regionals last year and was the last man out of the grand finals. That certainly must have stung, but the man showed relentless drive by coming back and catching fire by first winning the Columbus Blue Jackets Esports tournament in April and dominating the US regionals shortly thereafter. Cookie went undefeated through the regionals and beat competitors such as NippinBiscuits and US regional favourite johnwaynee along the way. 🇺🇸 John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda (US Runner-up - Grand finals 3rd place in 2018) John played his way into the hearts of NHL gaming fans during the 2018 iteration of the NHLGWC, when he became known as the Alaskan sensation. He was kind of an outsider who people didn't have a read on yet but he quickly proved he belongs at the top by ultimately finishing third over the likes of @Fool x 90 and YungGren. In an interview with NHL last week, John said his team might not be the strongest on paper, but if there was a "heart trait", his team would have 1980 "miracle on ice"-type heart! 🇨🇦 Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib (Canadian Winner - Did not participate in 2018) Nuke is the black horse in this years iteration of the NHLGWC as he hasn't really played that much competitively before. We had the opportunity to grab a quick chat with this young man: Nuke, you haven't played too much competitively before, what sparked your interest and how did you end up where you're at now? - I used to play NHL a lot on old gen. However, as time went on, I wasn’t really having fun with the current gen games. I watched last years grand finals and seeing how much fun those guys had coupled with the fact that I could play NHL for money, I thought I would at least give it a shot. What's your experience of playing the other guys like, who's the guy to beat? - I’ve played all the other competitors except the Finnish players. As far as I’m concerned, Cookie is the toughest guy for me to beat. I can only reach the finals if I beat him. Now, after the Canadian regionals you tweeted out your rather spartan home setup - how different is it to play on this new equipment on stage? - Playing on a competitive pro set up is something I really loved. I play on a 2008 model TV so there's definite input lag. I will really look forward to playing on future LAN events. You're going with some rather unorthodox lineup decisions into the finals - a rather diminutive team in size and Gaudreau on center to name a few quirks, thoughts on that? - My new team is definitely smaller than my old team. Gaudreau at center is definitely unconventional. However, he does have 76 faceoffs which will hold up relatively well. I feel my new team is definitely fast and skilled. Do not underestimate them because of their size. 🇨🇦 Matthew @YungGren Grenier (Canadian Runner-up - Grand finals 5th place in 2018) Gren is one of those personalities that splits opinions in the community. Some will love him and others - not so much. When it's all said and done though we can all agree that his playing skills are up there with the very best of them. Gren quickly caught the eye of te audience in the 2018 GWC when he made the finals as the youngest competitor at only 16 years old. The native of St. Georges, Quebéc is surely an interesting sight on stage as he plays with a lot of emotion and isn't shy to show it. Well, there you have it, folks! A short NHLGamer insight into the NHLGWC Grand Finals that will be played on Tuesday, 18th of June, 2019 at 21 CEST. Make sure to tune in on www.twitch.tv/NHL in order to cheer for your favourite, who hopefully is one of our NHLGamers! We would also like to remind our Finnish members that you can now bet on the grand finals at Veikkaus! Do so responsibly.

NHLGamers, A bit over a week ago we concluded a project that's been in the works for a long time - the ECL is waiting on its ninth season, the Finnish community has enjoyed eSM's and whatnot, GCL is alive and kicking and even the RCL has been running for some time. The thing that was missing was something for our Swedes, who make up a large portion of the community. Well now, some months back we announced a change to this stalemate as we launched the SCL, which is the very project I referred to at the start. It's been a long road, 22 teams signed up and we were treated to some high quality hockey all along the season. The regular season kicked off on Tuesday, 16th of April with a 22-team regular season. Teams were divided into two groups, out of which the eight best would make it into the playoffs. It's often a point of debate wether or not a final seed into the playoffs should be overly speculated, as in the end in order to be a champion you need to beat everyone, right? Well, one team certainly took this into consideration and finished above everyone else - Bucketeers bested the opposition by a wide margin in the group stage as they went a perfect 20-0-0, overcoming teams such as the eventual champion Vesa Pompa HC and the respectable Northern Stars (RIP) along the way. The "Buckets" were a clear 1st place seed into the playoffs, but the five remaining teams of the top six were all neck and neck, finishing within a five point margin of each other in the following order: Northern Ascendancy (35p), Vesa Pompa HC (34p), AIK Hockey (33p), Synergy Hockey (32p) and Northern Stars (30p). It was great seeing some new teams entering our tournaments and although some might have had a tough time, we hope they will be back stronger next time around. Not only new teams had a difficult season though, one of the most mentionable playoff no-shows was Korpens Finest, who actually finished a lackluster season in last place of group 1. This is in no way an acceptable performance for a well established team, we'll be looking for these guys to bounce back in coming tournaments! Interestingly enough, we ended up seeing the four best performers of the group stage paving their way into the final four. Through the first two rounfs, we only saw one series where the lower seeded team overcame the higher seed, this example was Stayhard Stallions (5) beating Cannonieris (4) in seven, so we can't talk about any kind of major upset here. "The playoffs are a different beast" - that's a phrase heard in the hockey world quite often and it's even considered a cliché, but it's also the cold hard truth all too often. That was the case in the final four of the SCL's inaugural season. We saw Bucketeers come in sporting an undefeated group stage record and Northern Ascendancy marching on stage with the championship in sight only to see Vesa Pompa and AIK steal the show - Vesa Pompa doing so in a very convincing manner to add insult to injury. We all know how that ended by now. If you for some reason missed out on the action from the finals at Birdie, please check out our broadcast below: AWARDS Most Points: @Tacterz, Northern Ascendancy, 35 Goals, 36 Assists, 71 Points in 20 games Most Goals: @FlyerKungen, AIK Hockey, 43 Goals, 26 Assists, 69 Points in 18 games Most Assists: @pajenc, AIK Hockey, 18 Goals, 38 Assists, 56 Points in 18 games Most Hits by a Forward: @bede, Verket, 96 Hits in 20 games Best +/-: @Tacterz, Northern Ascendancy, +63 in 20 games Most Points by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 20 Goals, 26 Assists, 46 Points in 20 games Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 20 Goals, 26 Assists, 46 Points in 20 games Most Assists by a Defenseman: @The_Alpha_Furyan, Northern Ascendancy, 11 Goals, 28 Assists, 39 Points in 20 games Most Hits by a Defenseman: @Skogan, Nordic Vipers, 157 Hits in 20 games Now, enough with the writing - let's see some pictures: @Zalaz and @esdor were the dynamic duo in the commentary booth for all of the Finals weekend. Northern Ascendancy went into the finals with a commanding favorite status, but struggled mightily, ending up at fourth place. Before the final day commenced, players gathered for a photoshoot and some interviews. AIK captain @Bjono being interviewed for a video segment. AIK Hockey and Vesa Pompa HC went head to head in the Finals, @FlyerKungen with a staredown of the opposition. The trophy was up for display during the final day of the Finals. Tensions were rising as players awaited their turn to take the stage. Vesa Pompa HC remained focused and felt right at home on stage all weekend.