Leaderboard

NHLGamers, In the latest edition of Player Spotlight, we asked Joel @jtorro1233 Tourunen 17 questions. Today it’s once again time for a new article in the series and this time we are featuring the Swiss defender Reto @Haldeem Haldemann. We asked him 16 questions and as you already know, some are the same as earlier and some are brand new. 1. What was your first experience with the EASHL mode in NHL? - I started playing EASHL in the summer of NHL 09, only with random people in drop-ins, but the mode itself got me into the game. First I tried as a forward, but my teammates told me because of my “good“ positioning and calmness, I should play in the defense. 2. What’s the best part of playing NHL 20 for the Swiss club ZSC Lions? - My teammates, each individual is a bit crazy in their own way, but always with the right attitude when it comes to everything. Also the support from the fans increased enormously after we switched from The Black Jacks to ZSC Esports, which is a great feeling to watch in every game in the Twitch Chat. 3. What do you remember the most from your NHL 20 career?? - Three highlights came to my mind: 1. Playing in the team “The United Knights“ in NHL 12, with the forward Lineup @Foppatofflan, @hpkfani and @Urlauber61. Unbelievable what these guys were able to do. 2. The only EHL/ECL title I‘ve ever won in NHL 15 with MUKIMIEHET. Some guys say it doesn‘t count because it was on old gen, but hey - an EHL title is a title. 3. The 1vs1 tournament in Switzerland with over 100 participants. Every game was played on one monitor, so one player always had a disadvantage to play two periods downwards. The lucky fairy put me as top seed in the whole tourney and in every game I only played one period downwards. That was the advantage I needed to win the tourney. 4. Describe your perfect breakfast! - A coffee with milk, some pancakes and bacon, looooots of bacon. 5. If you would be a manager for a day and had to pick one defender, one forward and a goalie to build a new ECL Elite team around. Which players would you choose? You can only choose one from your own team. - In Net is Mr. Einstein @sibeelius. I have always been a big fan of him and his SV% in the current ECL shows the quality he has. My D-Partner would be another former teammate in @loimmu. Not only because of his offensive numbers but he‘s also reliable in defending the own zone and he‘s a Flyers fan, big plus. As forward I would take @FlyerKungen, in my opinion the best 6v6 player right now (let the debate begin). Great two-way game, pain in the ass in 1vs1 situations, good leader (that‘s a wild guess) and a fun guy in the party too. 6. What would you rather be, an average player in the real-life Swiss hockey league or the world’s best EA Sports NHL-player in both 1v1 and 6v6? - I prefer to be the best in a smaller community than average in a large community, so I’d take the best NHL-player. 7. Do you play or have you played hockey? - No, never in real life. My skating is too bad. 8. What’s your best hockey memory? - It was in 2015 when my local team SCL Tigers got promoted to the highest division in Switzerland. The series itself wasn‘t spectacular, but the party after is something I will not forget. 9. What do you like to do in your spare time besides playing NHL? - I used to play football in a lower division but because of motivation problems I quit. Now it‘s mostly hanging around with friends. 10. Pineapple or no pineapple on pizza? - NEVER pineapple on a pizza! 11. If you would have to spend one day playing NHL and had to listen to one song only, during the whole day, what song would you pick? - As I listen to basically every genre in music, I can’t decide on one specific song, so we go to the next question. 12. How did you come up with your PSN ID? - My friends came up with the name “Haldem“, which is a short form of my last name. It wasn‘t available anymore so I Added an extra “e“ into it, now everybody says Haldim. 13. Who’s the best player in ECL according to you? - Answer is in question 5, @FlyerKungen. 14. What kind of holiday is your favorite and why? - I guess it's a bit generic, but I‘d like to relax on a beach, enjoy the sun and go swimming. Combined with some day trips into hills/mountains. 15. For the last question, as you are from Switzerland, chocolate or cheese? - Hahaha always something “sour“, cheese in every sort and form possible. We thank Haldeem for taking the time to sit down with us for this interview. For next time we want you to tell us who to interview. Please let us know which player you would like to hear more from below in the comments!

NHLGamers, Some weeks ago, the IIHF announced their Esports Fan Championship, that is meant to be a replica of this years cancelled IIHF worlds, but taking place online on EA Sports NHL 20. At this point, the qualifiers for each nation have been held and a participant on both PS4 and Xbox have been chosen for each nation. The teams have been placed into a bracket and will play from a round of 16 onwards, starting May 29th. Here's a link to the tournament schedule & bracket. At NHLGamer, we're incredibly happy to see a strong community representation in the tournament as 13 (that we know of) out of the total 32 participants have earned their stripes in leagues organised by us. We're especially sending our good luck wishes to the following gamers representing their countries in the tournament: 🇱🇻 @PSchibra 🇱🇻@JLopatko 🇸🇪 @SebbeLarsen86 🇸🇪 @Eken45jr 🇮🇹 @Tron1x90 🇨🇿 pepcastachurcik 🇷🇺 @Serg1vratar 🇨🇭 @Original-SnuS 🇳🇴 @Larsto50 🇫🇮 @rottadee 🇫🇮 @Eki 🇬🇧 @MartindalexC 🇩🇪 @Timasy 🇩🇰 @vibholm10 Some exciting clashes in the round of 16 will obviously be the headline matchup between Canada and USA, but also some of the more non-traditional hockey markets have solid representation. The battle between Germany and Denmark will feature NHLGamers Tim @Timasy Hess and Martin @vibholm10 Vibholm in a heated battle on the PS4 side, whereas Swiss native Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi will go head-to-head with Norwegian Lars Petter @Larsto50 Stø. We reached out to some of the gamers for comments about the tournament: Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi, Swiss player on PS4, captain of ZSC Esports First of all, what does it mean for you personally to represent your country in a historic tournament like this? - It's an awesome feeling. I went into this tournament without any ambitions whatsoever. Having a versus record of 2-0-0 going in, I definitely wasn't expecting to go all the way in the qualifiers. Now I'm training hard to represent Switzerland to the best of my abilities in the tournament. A lot of new names are getting a shot at the big stage in this tournament. Do you know the players well and would you like to highlight any underdogs? - I know a few players from seeing them on the ECL ice. I think a great underdog would be Mirco @Tron1x90 Salvi, who is playing for Italy - Sweden better watch out in the first round! Also I think @PSchibra had a great qualification run for Latvia. What do you think about the tournament format and did you know your teammate from before? - I Think it's a great format and highlights the teamwork aspect in hockey. Reto @Haldeem Haldemann was playing on Xbox and the goal was to have two ZSC players represent our country, but Marco came out of the blue and won the finals against Reto on that side. I didn't know him from before but I'm confident in his talents. Sergei @Serg1vratar Filippov, Russian player on PS4, Captain of Blackdawgs What are your thoughts on the tournament format and did you know your teammate from before? - I really enjoy the format and it's cool that the IIHF was bold enough to bring something new to the competitive community. The thing i dislike a bit is that several top players from PS4 are switching over to Xbox just for the sake of these kinds of tournaments, making the contest less balanced. I didn't know my teammate from before, but from a short discussion we had I understood that he's a quite casual player. As there's a lot of new exciting names in the tournament, who would you want to highlight with the potential to cause an upset? - I have to say Czech Republic looks promising and I think they could have a real chance to compete. Also Switzerland has one of the strongest squads in the tournament. If we're looking at exciting players, I'd keep an eye on Sebastian @SebbeLarsen86 Larsen representing Sweden. He's already put his name on the map from performances in Linkoping and Vesa Pompa though. @rottadee for Finland is an exciting name too, he's overcome the likes of @Artuzio and @Hansulinho, which shows that there is a high level of talent there. Finally, I'd point out that the Czech pepcastachurcik is a talented guy with extremely good puck skills that have impressed me. We're excited about the tournament moving forward and will be following the progress of our community members. More info about the tournament can be found on the IIHF Esports Fan Championship website.

On the one hand, today is just a regular Wednesday. It could just be any day that ends with a -y really – keeping track of time tends to get bumped down on the list of priorities in the time of the pandemic. On the other hand, today is not just a regular Wednesday. It is another NHLGamer ECL Elite Playoff Broadcast day. And you know those days are special. Especially when you have Elite teams like Färjestad BK, Linköping HC, hREDS and HAVU Gaming on the virtual ice and talent like @Tougie24, @Cynand @f5penguin in the broadcasting booth. Check your local listings for information on when the broadcast starts. Or, you know, just take a look at the dashing poster art below. It starts at 20:00 CEST, okay? Playoff broadcast. 20.00. Write it down. See you there (twitch.tv/NHLGamer). Färjestad BK - Linköping HC 1-1 (0-5, 6-3) The Färjestad underdog train just keeps on chugging, does it not? While it looked like the big, bad Linköping established dominance in Game 1 through a 5-0 drubbing, FBK dug deep and came back to win game 2 by way of a 6-3 score. And they did so in classic FBK fashion: solid defense, strong goaltending, smart decisions with the puck and X factors like @affelj96 and @eBasstian who both scored hat tricks in Game 2. The championship experience of LHC shouldn’t be underestimated, though. These guys have been here before. They’ve faced underdogs, they’ve been down 3-1 in the ECL finals… they’ve seen it all. Goaltender @ICappeI said before Game 1 that LHC wouldn’t adapt to FBK's game style, instead choosing to play their game while forcing FBK to adapt. Perhaps that mindset has changed ahead of Games 3 and 4? It remains to be seen. hREDS - HAVU Gaming 0-2 (2-3 OT, 2-3 3OT) One could argue the hREDS - HAVU series was actually a lot closer than the FBK - LHC series judging by Games 1 & 2. Even so, that series is tied at 1 whereas this one has HAVU in the lead 2-0. How did we get here? Well, by way of identical 3-2 (OT) scores. Both games played in this series saw HAVU carrying a 2-1-lead heading into the 3rd period with hREDS coming back to tie it late, once by leading playoff scorer @NikkeDangles and once by the lethal @Joukki. However, HAVU showed their championship pedigree by getting the deciding goal in overtime two times over – one by assistant captain @Dominointiand one by deadly defender @willekunq. As two games are set to be played tonight, Games 3 & 4, hREDS actually faces the very real danger of elimination. Can they stave it off and steal a game (or two) against the green and black? Tune in to find out.

NHLGamers, We're advancing on to the most exciting games of the season in our ECL Pro division. As we're down to four teams remaining, all of the teams left in the battle will earn a chance to fight for a promotion spot as the season comes to an end but the marching order still has to be determined and obviously the biggest price at stake is being crowned the ECL 10 Pro champion and being granted instant promotion. Here are the semifinal matchups of ECL 10 Pro: (1) Black Horse vs HanaaHC (14) Series score 2-0 Black Horse is a force to be reckoned with and seems to be absolutely unstoppable so far into the season. The team faced disappointment before the season when they were unable to advance trough the Elite Qualification Series but have bounced back nicely. @Tapparafan is leading the club from the front with solid backup from @Pasi Modry who recently made the switch over to the center position from his more familiar defensive post while @PCJP is a wall at the back end with an outstanding SV % of 85,11. Whereas Black Horse was considered a team able to qualify for Elite before the season, HanaaHC was among the group of Lite teams that were up for Pro consideration. After getting and proving a deserved promotion, the team has now risen out of nowhere into actual title contention. @Hazard-laser has proven to be a scoring weapon and is leading the team with his experience. Players to watch: @Pasi Modry (10+15=25) Black Horse @Hazard-laser (13+11=24) HanaaHC (9) Reality Check vs Enigma (10) Series score 0-2 Reality Check is a team that alike Black Horse that had to face disappointment before the season when being unable to advance in the Elite Qualification Series, but the consistently strong squad has been given second wind and are running with their chances. Their regular season performance granted the team a 9th seed into the playoffs, which has led them to going up against a very tough challenge in Enigma in these semifinals. Enigma is a group of guys with plenty of Elite experience both at the back end and in their forward department. Being one of the more high-scoring groups, Reality Check will have their work cut out for them. I'd keep an eye out for the battle between Enigma scoring leader @Nieppii and Reality Check goalie @Jann3_67_. Players to watch: @jorma2001 (12+10=22) Reality Check @Nieppii (11+13=24) Enigma Both series are already underway, but there's hopefully a whole lot of good hockey left to be played. As always , have fun - play hard!

NHLGamers, As in all of our divisions, the playoffs are also underway in our entry level Neo division, and have been for a while already. We're currently in the third round with 16 teams remaining. It's a long way that these teams have come and there's still a good part left to push, purely looking at the effort in terms of games played in order to win it all - Neo is one of the divisions that require the most consistent effort and we all respect the teams who are able to grind through it. Here are your third round matchups: Ringette HC (1) - EIS Force Hockey (43) Pahat Pommittajat (2) - Evolution HC (41) Taavetin Starat (3) - Beastie Boys (32) Jarnkaminerna (4) - MAXIMUM EFFECT (31) ScandinavianFishingGroup (6) - Masiina (21) Suomen Dynamo (9) - Wisby Islanders (20) Veikkolan Veikot (10) - NHL4you Gaming (18) Polarbears HC (11) - Otukset (12) As always, play hard - have fun!