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NHLGamers, It's the day of the FCL kickoff and what better time than to announce a new traditional sports club joining our ranks with an NHL roster. This time, we're glad to welcome TuTo, hailing from the historical city of Turku in southern Finland. TuTo as an organization is involved in a number of various sports including ice hockey, wrestling, football and many more. Esports rounds out that selection into an even ten for the prestigious club founded already in 1929. The club has partnered with graphic design agency Midström in order to produce top-notch media content. Midström will also act as the main sponsor of the esports team. "Lately we've been putting a lot of thought into the development of our kids and youth, and trying to find out role as a club in the change that's happening which brought esports to the forefront for us last year. We saw the possibilities and felt that it could be a successful concept for us alike so many other traditional sports clubs, with a goal to expand but also to learn about the expanding world of sports. As soon as Sami (@Samzoni) contacted me, we found a mutual understanding. We're happy to secure TuTo representation in esports and will continue developing that side of operations once we gain experience." - TuTo ry Operations Manager Sini Paakkinen The roster formerly known as DIKTATUURI will from now on bear the logo and name of TuTo Esports. The team took their first strides on the competitive ice in ECL 10 Lite, making a playoff push that unfortunately ended in the first round at the hands of 2nd seeded EBR eSports Official. Despite being a young club, the roster has some solid experience in their ranks. Assistant captains Sami @Samzoni Lehtonen and Tuomas @Tumpp1A Aaltonen combine for over 300 games throughout the NHLGamer era of NHL esports, whereas defenseman Janne @K31jj0 Matilainen is another player on the team who has been around since the inception of the ECL. "We've discussed a possible affiliation in our club for quite some time already and feel that our game has taken some steps in a good direction lately, which pushed us into discussions with TuTo. I've personally been a supporter of TuTo for quite some time already and our goaltender Henry @Fobba71 Kivilä has represented TuTo back in his hockey playing days, which made them a natural selection to partner with. We're extremely happy to make our deal official and being able to get to work!" - Assistant captain Sami @Samzoni Lehtonen explains some background behind the deal. TuTo ry TuTo Ry is a sports club operating in a total of ten various sports including ice hockey, football, wrestling and esports to name a few. The club was founded in 1929 and has since dabbled in a multitude of sports out of which some have been dropped due to various reasons. Their hockey club competes at the second tier (Mestis) in Finland, and hereby the club becomes the second Mestis club to sign an esports roster.

NHLGamers, As the summer turns to fall we’re accustomed to be getting news about the next iteration in the EA Sports NHL-series that we’ve all grown to love. This year with the pandemic and speculation about the PS5 launch, the news have been pushed back a bit, but we’re getting closer to a closed beta and the final release of NHL 21. The new game will be released on PS4 and Xbox One, but the new consoles will as announced be backwards compatible. The cover athlete of NHL 21 will be Alexander Ovechkin - The Great Eight. Ovechkin came into the league in a time shortly after the “dead puck era”, where scoring was at an all time low and grindy, physical teams prevailed. The Russian superstar was a welcome splash of personality into an NHL that was at a dull moment in time. Ovechkin made an immediate impact and hasn’t stopped baffling us since his first strides on the NHL ice. We all remember that tinted visor, the yellow laces and the incredible highlight reel performances that has inspired a whole new generation of hockey players - and also the creative team of NHL 21. This years iteration of the game series has drawn inspiration from the eccentric personality of Ovie and the astounding skill that he possesses. From tons of individual customization to all new creative ways of beating your opponent, this is the year for skill hockey to shine. What’s new in NHL 21? The new game brings a few new or overhauled features out of which the largest are an all new casual mode called HUT Rush and the massively improved Be A Pro. HUT Rush is all about skill and showing off those sweet moves in combinations to earn the biggest possible rewards. It is a fast-paced mode that lets you hop into action through either a quick draft or with you HUT team and go up against others in either 5v5, 3v3 or arcade 3’s games. More skill - more points! Be A Pro has seen a massive overhaul and now gives you more control than ever over what kind of career you want to shape. Start either in Europe, the Canadian Junior Leagues or go directly into the NHL and start creating your own puck personality. Complete challenges during games to earn more XP, engage with media, players and coaches at key moments throughout your career and finally hoist the cup. Be A Pro also features an all new player hub that lets you see all information on one screen and navigate way faster and easier. The skill moves! You’ve probably heard about these already. Some of you are scared, myself included. NHL 21 will feature a bunch of new big and small skill moves such as the michigan, behind the net bank and the Kucherov no-move. Added to your arsenal in small space are slip dekes and standing dekes together with chips off the boards and into empty space. Moves such as the michigan and behind the net bank are of course highlight reel stuff and shouldn’t be all too easy to pull off, which will be fine-tuned based on player feedback over the course of the closed beta. However based on our experiences with a build not final - the michigan is REALLY hard to pull off. Improved goaltender controls Goaltender controls have seen minor changes and improvements.Save animations and reactions combined with positioning have been in focus this year. Goaltending controls have been very coarse earlier, but now it should be way easier to make minute movements very smoothly. EASHL practice mode You’ve been heard! NHL 21 brings back one of the most requested features for the competitive community. There are now a free skate and team practice mode in EASHL, where you can either test out your builds on an open sheet of ice or play together with you teammates against an AI opponent to sort out various strategies and set plays. In an open practice, teammates can shoot against either a CPU or human goalie. Server select in private EASHL matches Another great addition for the competitive community that allows a more even playing field when going up against opponents from various geographical locations. In addition to all of these concrete changes in the game, the team has continued to develop the AI in the game. This year, organic play flow has been a big theme in driving the development and bringing the AI to the next level. The AI is now challenging but realistic, your teammates are more predictable and puck carriers are driving the play more than before. Support positioning on defense is greatly improved in order to reward players that put pressure on the opposition. What’s still missing? The missing components are for the most part the usual suspects. This years iteration has addressed some issues like the practice mode and server select, but things like spectator mode are still absent. Some hardcore fans of GM connected have been advocating for bringing that mode back for years, but their voices are still left unheard. Maybe next year! Release date & editions The NHL 21 Closed Beta will be out on the 28th of August. NHL 21 will release on the 16th of October, with the preorder versions of the Deluxe and Ultimate editions granting three days of early access. The available editions are: NHL 21 Standard Edition 69,95€ Preorder bonus: - Up to 2 HUT Diamond Player Choice Packs (1 per month for 2 months) - Be A Pro XP Boost and Bonus Trait and Specialization Points - 1 Unlocked World of Chel Hockey Bag NHL 21 Deluxe Edition 89,95€ Preorder bonus: - Up to 5 HUT Diamond Player Choice Packs (1 per month for 5 months) - HUT Synergy Veteran Choice Pack (Choice 1 of 10; +1 OVR per month until August 2021) - HUT Cover Athlete Choice Pack (Choice of: Ovechkin, Matthews, McDavid, Pettersson, Laine, Subban) - 3 Days Early Access - Be A Pro XP Boost and Bonus Trait and Specialization Points - 2 Unlocked World of Chel Hockey Bags NHL 21 Great Eight Edition 99,95€ Preorder bonus: - Up to 10 HUT Diamond Player Choice Packs (2 per month for 5 months) - HUT Synergy Veteran Choice Pack (Choice 1 of 10; +1 OVR per month until August 2021) - HUT Cover Athlete Choice Pack (Choice of: Ovechkin, Matthews, McDavid, Pettersson, Laine, Subban) - 3 Days Early Access - Be A Pro XP Boost and Bonus Trait and Specialization Points - 5 Unlocked World of Chel Hockey Bags What are your thoughts on the information we’ve got? What did you with they would have added? What are you expecting from the beta? Let us know in the comments!

NHLGamers, The time has come for the Finnish Champions League to kick off. Last year when the FCL was introduced for the first time, 37 teams signed up for the competition. This year we’ve seen a massive increase in numbers as an outstanding 72 teams have registered for the race! We are happy to see such big growth happening once again, especially in a competition that requires the players to purchase a license. Let's make sure we are as welcoming to new members as possible to make sure we continue on this path. Below we have collected the most important information for our teams and captains: Schedule The season kicks off today, Monday 24th of August, with the following default game days and times: Monday 20:00 CEST Wednesday 20:00 CEST Thursday 20:00 CEST The schedule is available through the menu both on the main page and here on the community side. Schedule for FCL 6v6: Group stage: 24.8-11.9 Playoffs round 1: 14.-18.9. (BO5) Playoffs round 2: 21.-25.9 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 28.9-1.10 (BO5) Semifinals: 3.10-5.10 (BO5) Finals: 10.10 (BO5) If you're looking for FCL 1vs1, you can still sign up! SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE! Sign-ups for 1v1 will be open until Thursday 27.8. end of day (CEST). Groups Below is the complete list of the teams participating this season and in which groups they will play (teams displayed in random order): The reigning Finnish Champion HAVU Gaming will be invited to round 1 of the playoff stage as the #1 seed as per eSM 2020 rules (restrictions apply). Brief season description The regular season lasts 3 weeks. Top 4 teams of each group + three best #5 based on PPG will advance to the playoffs. This means 32 teams (31+HAVU Gaming) will make the playoffs. Playoffs will be played in BO5 series'. Please see the rulebook for a more detailed description. Rulebook You can find the rulebook here. It is also always available through the league menu. We strongly suggest every player gets familiar with the rules before jumping on the ice and at the very least that the captains do so. The rulebook is in Finnish, so any foreign players will have to turn to their captains for a recap. The rulebook strongly builds on the ECL 10 rulebook, but there are some minor differences, such as the instigation of fights being forbidden. League Administration All league related verdicts will be decided by the League Administration. To open up a case, visit the Support section. Please note: before contacting League Administration, teams are expected to do their best and 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. Communication In order to get in touch with your opponent, you can use the "Message all captains" button (pictured below) on the team's page. This will send a private message on the NHLGamer community to the three listed captains. Additionally, we offer an NHLGamer Discord server, which you can join by clicking the button below. We ask that at the very least the captains of each team join the server, as messaging through Discord is instant and it is a great way to communicate quickly and briefly. In the NHLGamer Discord you will find an FCL 6v6 group with designated channels for each group, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below) A cool feature on Discord is also being able to get a team role (example above), which enables people to see what team you represent. See the channel #team-commands-guide for instructions on how to get your own role. If you need help with this, please see the #discord-support channel. Broadcasts The official NHLGamer broadcasts will be on NHLGamer's Twitch channel. Please follow our channel to support us and to get notified when we go live. The broadcast schedule will be published later, but we have put together a small streaming guide for you. This guide applies for when your team is featured on an official broadcast. Team management tools All teams have been created, the team management tools on the main page have been unlocked for the team captains. All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of playing their 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! In case you have further questions, feel free to use the comment section below this article, or contact support. Licenses All players require an eSM 2020 license in order to participate in FCL 6v6 and/or FCL 1v1. The cost of the license is 5 EUR and it can be obtained at esm.gg/pelaajalisenssi/ (click here for instructions in English). The one-time purchase of the license allows you to take part in all eSM 2020 leagues and tournaments (for 1v1 you must be a Finnish citizen). We have contacted all teams (private message from @iRSPe) to get the necessary license information. There are some individual discrepancies on teams, but there are also still teams who have not sent their lists at all. Please note that playing without an active license is against the rules and can lead to forfeits and/or disqualification. Social media Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerCOM @Gigantti @esm_gg #FCL #eSM Instagram: When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerOfficial @GiganttiGaming @esmkisat #FCL #eSM We hope everyone has a great FCL. Good luck to all teams!

NHLGamers, During this past week the NHLGWC regional finals and in that also the final events of the GWC season were completed. Due to the worldwide pandemic situation, all live events were cancelled and with that also the grand finals will be absent this year. Instead, fans around the world got to enjoy the play of our regional finalists in what would be some incredibly high stakes regional finals that we would cap off by crowning three regional champions - one in Canada, one in Europe, one in the US. Each of the regional champions took home a total of $10,000 USD and runner-ups earned a hefty slice of prize money with $2,500 USD. Here are your 2020 NHLGWC regional champions: 🇨🇦 Canada: Justin @Regs84 Reguly 🇺🇸 US: Josh @OFs Fuss 🇪🇺 Europe: Arttu @Artuzio Mustila Artuzio had a massive comeback year after a somewhat disappointing showing in the 2018 NHLGWC finals and came back determined to show his doubters this time around. The long time gamer based in Tampere, Finland did so in style and ended up beating Roni @MrNipsuli Kajan in the finals and claiming the EU regional championship. In the US regionals, OFs_HK showed up big and was something of a surprising winner as he managed to overcome the reigning world champion Matthew @TSCCookie Gutkoski in a thrilling final series! Our Canadian gamers brought on a show this year, but it was eventually two very familiar guys who fought for the title at the end, Regs and Matthew @YungGren Grenier went head-to-head in the final series, with Regs eventually walking away as the victor. We got a hold of the European champion Artuzio for a short interview: In 2018 you made a run all the way to the Grand Finals in Vegas. Did you utilize the experience and how have you developed in the last two years? "In Vegas i wasn't a consistent player. My offense was good back then but the defensive side needed improvements. After the 2018 GWC I reviewed my game and found some points on which to improve and since then, I've layed more focus on strategic defense and the hitting game, which i feel has been a great improvement for me." Which opponent do you think was the hardest this year? "Without a doubt @PleeMaker. I know his style very well, but he's always so dangerous, you really need to pay attention on defense in order to win. In both semifinal games, it looked like Plee was close to making a comeback, how did you stay calm during those moments? "I've tried to play a lot of wager games and smaller tourneys this year in order to improve my work under pressure and I feel like it's really paid off, just check the scoreboards!" Finally, what are you going to do with the prize money? "Haven't decided yet, so it'll be put into savings for starters." Congratulations to all participants! We're hoping to see you back next year, hopefully at live events! 🏆 Art: Chris @RyanDesigns Ryan

NHLGamers, SAWO ESPORTS is an organisation fresh out of the box and is the brainchild of community favorite caster Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen with help from the likes of Savo Volley and Finnish national team hitter Olli-Pekka Ojansivu, Iiro Naamanka from VR & AR specialists 3D-Talo and Mika Hyvärinen from hockey club Iisalmen Peli-Karhut. The organization prides itself in its heritage in the Savo-area in eastern Finland and has brought together four major clubs that are staples in sports across different sports in the area. Behind SAWO ESPORTS we find hockey clubs KalPa and Iisalmen Peli-Karhut together with football club KuPS. Their heritage is largely visible in the teams branding with the rooster logo that's become synonymous with Kuopio hockey and the black and yellow color scheme that is also repped by all three backing clubs. The objective of SAWO ESPORTS together with its partners is to create an organization with a widespread representation at the very top in various games. Two rosters will be announced this weekend and both are expected to make an immediate impact in their own games. In addition to focusing on the professional side of things, the organization wants to lay heavy focus on their youth operations, which will be run in cooperation with Juniori-KalPa ry. "We're launching an exceptional cooperation in the Finnish esports scene by having three major Savo-based sports clubs invested. Esports is definitely here to stay and will only continue the growing trend. There's also several development opportunities for us with KalPa", states Kalpa-Hockey Oy CEO Toni Saksman to Ilta-Sanomat. "A massive part of running a successful club is being able to productize and being an interesting and above all beneficial partner to our stakeholders. The beauty of these partnerships is the fact that we offer our traditional sports clubs a gateway to reach an audience unique to esports." - General Manager Hämäläinen on creating successful partnerships Today SAVO ESPORTS also announce their first roster, which will be competing at the highest level of NHL esports. The organisation has signed the roster of Checkmate, who has solidified their position as a fierce competitor in ECL Elite after working their way up from the Pro-division at the end of their ECL 8 campaign. The team has now completed two full seasons at the highest tier, having back-to-back heartbreak seasons where they barely missed the playoffs by not even a points margin. The Nikkinen brothers Jonne @TackleControl and Juuso @Juizki are the dynamic duo running the show at center and in net whereas the pieces around them have been shuffled a bit. After ECL 10 the main change will be seen in defense, as mainstay supporting cast Vesa @VesKuLiNe Voutilainen will step up in a bigger role and young stud Roni @MrNipsuli Kaján will move down the wing. The team has also acquired talented but unproven Atte @Akunkku Kuningas to boost their offense. When talking to captain @TackleControl, the man ensures that the team hasn't been in any rush to find a suitable organisation despite having been one of the few Elite teams with no affiliation: "The topic has come up on several occasions but the prevailing sentiment has always been that an affiliation isn't something we actively need, and that the organisation would have to seem interesting and professional for us to consider it. SAWO ESPORTS seems to be just that, we found our ambitions to line up nicely and wanted to see this opportunity through." "FCL is a challenge we take on with high, but realistic expectations, we've analyzed our game and made some roster changes out of necessity but also to simply improve our squad. We're confident in our defense, @Jooonasaurus adds some firepower up front and goaltender Saku @Mehukatti10 Serttilä impressed us during the offseason", Nikkinen continues when speaking about their roster. GM Hämäläinen is familiar to the NHL scene and therefore signing an NHL roster seemed natural: "Getting into NHL esports seemed like a natural choice also because we've partnered with two great hockey clubs KalPa and IPK. After a longer period of negotiations we finally managed to secure an ambitious roster that we believe can do great things for our team. We're hoping to start stocking our trophy shelves within our first year and the upcoming FCL is a great place to start." SAWO Esports start their NHL journey on Monday, 24th of August when the FCL season commences. Expect some tight battles in the fierce competition for the Finnish Championship title.