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NHLGamers, We’re proudly welcoming yet another traditional sports organisation into the world of esports and NHL gaming as Växjö Lakers from Sweden have acquired the team formerly known as Lavetten. Recently we’ve seen an increasing number of teams sign deals and represent various organisations in our tournaments, not only is this a step towards a more professional environment but it is growing the game that we love. With traditional sports teams such as Düsseldorf, AIK and today Växjö Lakers joining our ranks we create a connection between the traditional sport and the quickly growing esports scene. This connection will hopefully induce growth on both the virtual and real life sides of the sport. Fredrik Sandberg from the Växjö Lakers organisation highlights the fact that esports is an uncharted territory for them: “In esports, we’re reaching a new demographic in which we see tremendous potential. We’re excited about setting the Växjö Lakers brand into new waters and very happy to have a few hometown guys on the roster.” We caught up with Växjö Lakers captains Fredric @EDHOLMINHO Edholm and Fredrik @Kattenj Jansson for a short interview about the teams current status: How did this project take off and is there a specific connection to Växjö within your team? Fredrik (Kattenj): It all took off a couple weeks back when we made the decision to make a return as Lavetten. One of our new recruits is @Hockeyjohannes, who mentioned that he’s been in talks with Växjö previously and that there’s interest on that front. After some emails back and forth with Fredrik Sandberg at Växjö, we set up a meeting and things went on smoothly from there. We’ve got three guys from Växjö on our roster, so that’s the main reason and it’s with pride we represent our club. Both of you have represented Lavetten before, your new roster consists of some familiar faces but a whole bunch of new guys, what kind of hockey can we expect from you guys in IS Cup 4? Fredrik (Kattenj): Both me and Edholm have represented Lavetten before. Ever since that era came to an end, we have been thinking about joining forces again and now the time seemed right. We knew our team could be successful if we find the right pieces to fit our puzzle. We’ve been able to recruit a competitive roster with impressive depth and having @Hullued as our backstop is a great confidence boost. Our aim is to play fast counter hockey and I believe that is something we’ve excelled at in the last few weeks. We’ve been on a hard grind and are definitely ready for what IS Cup has in store for us. How excited are you about representing Växjö Lakers and what are your goals for IS Cup 4? Fredric (EDHOLMINHO): First of all, we’re extremely grateful to have this opportunity. Växjö Lakers is a large and very well-known organisation and it’s very motivating to represent them in the upcoming IS Cup. Our number one goal is to make the playoffs, after that we’ll see what we can make happen. The roster of Växjö Lakers for IS Cup 4 Växjö Lakers Esport will be making their debut tonight as they face the German based Shooting Stars in an IS Cup 4 double-header tonight at 21:00 CEST. The games can be watched on the Växjö Lakers Esport Twitch channel and will be commentated by Adam @esdor Ericson. The team also has new Twitter and Instagram profiles that they welcome you to follow. Växjö Lakers Växjö Lakers Hockey Club, commonly referred to as Växjö Lakers is an ice hockey club playing at the highest level in Sweden (SHL). The club was founded in 1997 and plays their home games at Vida Arena. Despite their short history, the team has seen some success in recent years, hoisting the Le Mat Trophy awarded to the SHL champions in both 2015 and 2018.

Hi there NHLGamers, We're kicking off the 4th iteration of the IS Cup with a bang. At NHLGamer we really appreciate the possibility to cooperate with Ilta-Sanomat on this traditional tournament. This year we welcomed teams from all around Europe and with that we're happy to say that we've set an IS Cup record in terms of teams signing up. With 73 total teams signed up this time, let's make sure we are as welcoming to new members as possible to make sure we continue on this path. If you didn't read our news story with information about the event and prize pool, check it out here. The group stage kicks off today on Sunday 13th of October. Default gamedays are set to Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Please prioritize your default opponents when scheduling. All games have to be played by Sunday, October 20th at 23:59 CEST. Please head over here to find the group stage schedule. Now let's get into all you need to know: IS Cup 4 Rules As usual, we have fine-tuned our ruleset, so we suggest you give them a good read before going ahead with your games! Please find the rulebook here. Tournament Administration All league related verdicts will be decided by the Tournament Administration. To open up a case, visit the new Support section on the forums. Please note: before contacting the Tournament Administration, teams are expected to solve issues they might have on their own. Familiarize yourself with our rules first, as they include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always to be used as the last resort to solve any disagreements. In which group can I find each team? Groups were drawn by dividing teams into baskets based on skill level and previous merit. Each group contains an even amount of teams from each basket. The groups were revealed in our stream on Saturday, October 12th. Team management tools All teams have been created, the team management tools on the main page have been unlocked for the team captains (find the Team Tools dropdown in the top right corner of the menu). All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of your first game. Please note that all invited players need to accept the invitation (there will be a popup alert on the main page for them) before they show up on the team roster and can start playing! Playoffs A total of 32 teams will make the playoffs The top 3 teams from each group will progress to the playoffs Out of all the remaining teams across all groups, the top 2 based on PPG will be selected to advance. Playoff Seeding Group winners are seeded #1-10 Group runners-up #11-20 Teams that finished 3rd #21-30 Remaining teams with the highest PPG #31-32 The seeding of the teams within these levels will be decided using the usual tiebreakers, found in 11.3 of the IS Cup 4 Rules. Playoff Schedule Based on your feedback we were able to extend the playoffs to give the teams a little bit more time during these important games. Online Playoffs 28.10.-6.11. Round 1 (BO5): 28.-30.10. Round 2 (BO5): 31.10.-3.11. Quarterfinals (BO5): 4.11.-6.11. Semi-finals & Finals @ GameXpo 15.-16.11. Friday, November 15th 2019: Fri 15.11. @ 13.30 Semifinal #1, games 1-2 Fri 15.11. @ 14.45 Semifinal #2, games 1-2 Fri 15.11. @ 17.00 Semifinal #1, games 3-5 * Fri 15.11. @ 18.45 Semifinal #2, games 3-5 * Saturday, November 16th 2019: Sat 16.11. @ 12.00 Bronze Battle Sat 16.11. @ 13.45 Finals, games 1-2 Sat 16.11. @ 14.55 Intermission Sat 16.11. @ 16.00 Finals, games 3-4 Sat 16.11. @ 17.15 Finals, games 5 * Sat 16.11. @ 18.00 Finals, games 6 * Sat 16.11. @ 18.30 Finals, games 7 * *as necessary Semifinals = Best-of-Five Bronze battle = Best-of-Three Finals = Best-of-Seven Captain and player chat on Discord You can join the NHLGamer Discord and talk to your fellow players. For captains there's the captain channel, where you can ask fellow captains for help, schedule games or get notified of anything important going on right now. You can join the Discord by clicking here. The Discord is available throughout all of the NHLGamer leagues and tournaments. In case you have further questions, feel free to use the comment section below this article. We hope everyone has a great IS Cup 4 and good luck to all teams!