Leaderboard

NHLGamers, It's been a long Friday at Assembly Summer, but at the end of the day we're pleased to announce your new FCL 1vs1 champion - @kriketski17! Let's take a look back at 's road to the championship: Group stage record: 9-1-0-0 Knockout stage: vs Janeccu91 2-0 vs @Ojamoska 2-0 vs @Vilupoika 2-1 Finals group stage: 2-0-1-0 Quarterfinals vs @Dreamickie 2-0 Semifinals vs @FlyerKungen 2-0 Finals vs @Eki 2-0 The top 3 of FCL 1vs1 are: 1. @kriketski17 2. @Eki 3. @FlyerKungen NHLGamer would like to congratulate Kriketski17 on a tremendous tournament and the championship! See you tomorrow for some FCL 6vs6 action!

NHLGamers, Tomorrow, on Friday, 2nd of August it's time for 16 of the best NHL 19 1vs1 players to battle it out for the title of Finnish Champion at Assembly Summer in Messukeskus, Helsinki. There's multiple Finnish champions, both former and current among these players - also the former NHLGWC champion Eki can be found in these ranks, as probably the biggest favourite too! It's not only the title that's at stake, though. The 16 contenders will be fighting for their share of the 5000€ prize pool in the tournament. It'll be a long day full of joy, disappointment, exciting games and at the end we'll know who deserves the title - without further ado, let's get on by reviewing our groups. Group A @Eki - Erik Tammenpää @Nieppi - Janne Niemelä @SUPERVIRTA - Joonas Virta @FlyerKungen - Tuukka Kuha This is one pickle of a group as we see four very high level and high profile players go up against each other. Eki is the obvious favourite, but then we've got the extremely skilled FlyerKungen, who's admittedly more accomplished on the 6s side but also a force to be reckoned with in versus. We also see SUPERVIRTA, who's maybe more known as an entertaining streamer, but showed his competitive capabilities by going to the NHLGWC regionals this spring. Nieppi isn't one to count out either, he's a consistent performer who hasn't really stepped up to the bright lights yet, but we always seem to see him breathing down the neck of the top players. Eki is a safe bet, but otherwise it'll be a free-for-all. Group B @Hansulinho - Hannes Kettunen @xKeskitalo - Samuli Keskitalo @kriketski17 - Kristian Veijola @Xteemuz - Teemu Polttila Hansulinho and Kriketski are the favourites to advance from this group, but they won't do so without a fight. Hansu always seems to make it to the final events, but he has had some off-days in the past. I've heard some reports about xTeemuz looking good and having a proper chance to stand up to these guys, so don't count him out just yet! xKeskitalo will have his work cut out for him if he wants to advance from this group tomorrow, it should be noted that there are no bad players at this event so don't take these predictions for a fact! Group C @Artuzio - Arttu Mustila @PleeMaker - Paul Arontie @xDoumi - Aaro Ruuhinen @Sagee95 - Saku Björn Group C is without a doubt a group of death in this contest. The top contenders here are Plee and Doumi for sure, but I doubt Artuzio and Sagee will give anything up for free. It's a bit unfortunate to see so many talented players in the same group up front but hey - to be the best you will need to beat everyone at some point anyway. It's looking like Pleemaker and Doumi will advance and Artuzio together with Sagee will end up the odd men out. Group D @Dreamickie - Vesa Rajamäki @Hullued - Joona Saarinen @Spearzz_ - Olof Forsbacka @Aatu (Nuarikukko_) - Aatu Aarnio Group D is in contrast to group C, the weakest one in this event. Dreamickie is known to usually pave his way into the playoffs at these events, so there's your group winner. My sources tell me Spearzz_ isn't a bad bet to make it either. Preliminary schedule for Friday, 2.8: (Times in CEST) 11:00-11:30 Player check-in 12:00-14:00 Group stage 14:30-15:30 Quarterfinals BO3 15:30-16:30 Semifinals #1 BO3 16:30-17:30 Semifinals #2 BO3 ------- 30 MIN BREAK ----- 18:00-18:30 Bronze game BO1 18:30-19:30 Finals BO3 Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Rasmus @Rapsu Virtanen will be your commentators throughout the day. All games will be streamed on the Pelaajat.com Twitch channel. Good luck to all players and hope to see everyone else either live or in the stream chat!

NHLGamers, Although a bit overshadowed by the NHL 20 Beta hype, we've yet again concluded a season in one of our leagues. The Spring League was started due to heavy interest from the community to have some competitive games going on and with 78 teams signing up we can call this one a success. At the end we had two teams remaining who battled it out for the title as Spring League champion. Written In The Stars played their last game under that name (now HAVU) as they faced off against Butterfly Effect in a best-of-5 series. Here's how it went: Game 1: Written In The Stars - Butterfly Effect 3-2 OT Game 2: Butterfly Effect - Written In The Stars 0-3 Game 3: Written In The Stars - Butterfly Effect 1-0 Written In The Stars ROAD TO THE FINALS Regular season record: 22-0-0 Round 1: BYE Round 2: vs HC Unknown Diamond 3-0 Round 3: vs The Black Jacks 3-0 Quarterfinals: vs Nordic Stars 3-1 Semifinals: vs Unlucky Boys HC 3-0 GOALTENDERS #16 V. Voutilainen @VesKuLiNe #88 H. Kettunen @Hansulinho DEFENSEMEN #43 Y. Wilhelm @willekunq #65 N. Mooh @kojowaa #78 M. Katajisto @Nassustelija FORWARDS #6 I. Lehkonen @Buantso #13 R. Järvi @Dominointi #25 E. Tammenpää @Eki #87 T. Keränen @topikeranen #91 T. Kuha @FlyerKungen NHLGamer congratulates Written In The Stars for the title!

NHLGamers, The FCL season has been played in a quick pace so we can't really be talking about a "long, exhausting season" here. Instead we'll bring up the interesting and somewhat extraordinary circumstances that we're heading into the final weekend from. Everyone that's somewhat caught up with what's happening around the EA Sports NHL franchise is aware of the fact that the NHL 20 Beta has been out for the past few days. The fact that all of the players involved have spent the days leading up to a major tournament playing a completely different game might be mind-boggling to some, but I've heard through the grapevine that these guys trust their skill enough to not let that faze them. Nevertheless, all of that adds to the interesting nature of these finals. There's a lot on the line and the best team is going to take it home come Saturday evening. (#1) FILADELPHIA vs Symphony (#8) FILADELPHIA Regular season record: N/A GF/GA (Regular season): N/A Road to the Semi's: vs Invictus (2-0), vs GHETTO FIREBIRDS (2-0) FILADELPHIA headed into the tournament from an interesting position. It's customary in esports for a reigning champion to participate by invite but this is the first time that model is put into practice at NHLGamer. Some people worried if their form would be there and I would personally feel a bit odd coming into a tournament directly into the playoffs, but FILA passed that test with flying colours. Playing with exactly the same lineup as last time they took the title, we can surely expect them to put forth an impressive campaign once again. The advantage FILA has is certainly their established chemistry and according to themselves on multiple occasions a relaxed team spirit. FILADELPHIA has done some team practice in NHL 19 during the past week, so that might also benefit them. Symphony Regular season record: 9-2-1 GF/GA (Regular season): 54/13 Road to the Semi's: vs Dynasty (2-1), vs SOPPAJENGI (2-0) We saw symphony at the finals of IS Cup 3 too, as they finished 3rd after an outstanding campaign in which they dominated their groupstage and suffered their only playoff series loss against the eventual champion FILADELPHIA in the semifinals. The team has experienced some player turnover since then, but the efforts so far seem to be indicative of an eventual top 3 finish again. It'll be interesting to see how they fare against FILA this time, as their opponents are sporting exactly the same lineup as last time. The changes in Symphony has sacrificed a bit on their defensive end but bolstered their goaltending as they signed Swedish superstar netminder @ICappeI, which has turned out to be a great move. The Swede has been hard to beat and will definitely make scoring difficult for FILA. (#4) HAVU Gaming vs Butterfly Effect (#7) HAVU Gaming Regular season record: 12-2-0 GF/GA (Regular season): 72/17 Road to the Semi's: vs POGGERS (2-0), vs Almost Famous (2-0) The former Written In The Stars kicked off FCL with a boom as they announced their affiliation with HAVU Gaming and with that also assumed their name and appearance. The first few games under the new banner were a bit shaky, but in reality, no concern was warranted. The players were still the same and so was the game. After all, these are your reigning European champions. HAVU quickly took up pace and finished 2nd in their group after SOPPAJENGI. The playoffs haven't proven to be a challenge for these guys as they've swept the opposition in both matchups, and as a 4th seed these opponents were viable teams to put up a fight in POGGERS and Almost Famous. Butterfly Effect Regular season record: 9-2-1 GF/GA (Regular season): 58/15 Road to the Semi's: vs Rusty Blades (2-0), vs Northern Ascendancy (2-0) Butterfly Effect has played a tournament for the ages so far in the FCL. They quickly made their come up by grinding through our ECL divisions system and has been a consistent Elite performer ever since - though never really pushing past the last barrier. With the FCL they allowed themselves the possibility to do so by putting forth a satisfying groupstage effort but going off on a tear in the playoffs by dominating both Rusty Blades and Northern Ascendancy in their BO3 series. Youngster @NikkeDangles has been their main new recruit and he has performed extraordinarily alongside captain @jergelii and top-scorer @Vilupoika. FLY is looking good and are now also hoping to prove it in their first lan event. HAVU is a big mountain to climb, but an upset is not out of the question. Preliminary schedule for Saturday 3.8: (Times in CEST) 12:30-13:00 FILADELPHIA vs Symphony - Game 1 13:00-13:30 Symphony vs FILADELPHIA - Game 2 13:30-14:00 FILADELPHIA vs Symphony - Game 3 14:00-14:30 HAVU Gaming vs Butterfly Effect - Game 1 14:30-15:00 Butterfly Effect vs HAVU Gaming - Game 2 15:00-15:30 HAVU Gaming vs Butterfly Effect - Game 3 —————————————— 30 MIN BREAK —————————————— 16:00-16:45 SF1 Loser vs SF2 Loser - Bronze Game 17:00-20:10 Finals, BO5 Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta will be your commentators throughout the day. All games will be streamed on the Pelaajat.com Twitch channel.