Leaderboard

The 22-year-old Erno @egoapina Parkkonen is a multitalent, as his selection of competitive games includes both NHL and FIFA. Hockey is a big part of his life, and he's been playing the sport for several years at a reasonably high level. Erno Parkkonen is very well known on virtual football grounds, but not necessarily so well known for virtual hockey.  "As a kid I spent a lot of time with NHL all the way until NHL 15 when the  EASHL-mode disappeared on next gen. Joakim @Joukki Nyholm is one of the guys I played with and really liked 6v6 mainly cause of getting bored with playing HUT alone. After NHL, I've played FIFA and got some success by accident and just stayed on that path. I still buy NHL every year and really enjoy the game as hockey is very close to my heart." Parkkonen has a rather peculiar PSN-ID that stands out from the mass, at least for the Finnish-speaking. When asked about the origin story, he attributes that to his big brother: "I remember creating my user together with my big brother, all the names I suggested were taken so we went back to the drawing board. After a bit of thinking, my brother suggested egoapina - ego monkey. We had some laughs about it, but my brother thought it described me as a person to a tee. I haven't changed it later since people know that name by now." Parkkonen represented FC Honka in the recent eFutisliiga on FIFA together with Grilli Tulille teammate Jesper @jjesu3 Hietarinne. By playing both NHL and FIFA competitively, Parkkonen has grown very familiar with the scenes of both those games. Naturally we asked him for a comparison.  "In FIFA, I'd say everything is bigger, so to speak. Their 1v1 format has gone worldwide and the prize money is bigger with far more tournaments to play in. The 11v11-format is comparable to the 6v6-games in NHL, but it's far more geographically widespread and you'll find more players of various nationalities on your own squad, which I find interesting and fun. At it's current stage, I think FIFA is better than NHL competitively and despite it not being perfect either, it has way less uncontrollable factors than NHL. I think in Finland the 6v6 LAN events have been great steps towards developing the scene and I don't think that'll realistically happen anytime soon in FIFA." It can be said that Parkkonen knows the FIFA scene like the backs of his palms and that there are a few things from that environment that the NHL scene could learn from. "In order to grow, I think we need more competitive tournaments. At the current stage it's not realistic for players to sustain a professional status without added revenue streams such as streaming or other work." During his junior years, Parkkonen has played ice hockey for Kiekko-Espoo, where he also got to play a few mens games. We asked him if he feels that playing hockey has helped with virtual ice hockey, or the other way around. "All the same elements apply to virtual hockey, of course they must be applied according to the meta of the game. Especially in the 6v6 format, communication and the movement of players off the puck is really important if the team wants to succeed. Playing as a unit is emphasized in the defensive, neutral and offensive zones, as no one can carry their team alone. I'd also say that puck control and controlled breakout plays are more prevalent in virtual hockey due to dump-and-chase hockey not being as effective. Set plays and special teams formations are discussed just like in traditional hockey. When it comes to skills I've learned and used in both it's definitely the eye for the game combined with a certain kind of niftiness in scoring situations." "On our trip up North, we had a PlayStation on the bus and as we had our teams NHL-tournament, i ended up going up against the coach at some point. In the heat of the game he told me "Now I know why you're always looking for that extra pass", so I guess that might be something I've taken away from the console game." #11 for Kiekko-Espoo always likes to look for that extra pass. Picture by Riku Eskelinen. Parkkonen has been away from virtual hockey for a while. He notes that virtual hockey is a good change for competitive FIFA. "I'm taking a break from competitive FIFA for the summer Competitive FIFA will now take a break for the summer. I was asked to play ECL Pro, which was my original plan, but that team ended up folding. When I was contacted by Grilli Tulille I immediately knew that was the right decision. The group of guys I know from before and having fun is a guarantee regardless of our results." The Grilli Tulille team includes people familiar to Parkkonen. He feels that the team has a great deal of potential. "I knew I could bring experience and new strategies in order to develop the style of play. As I said, I was really happy to join Grilli since I know the guys from before and having fun is a guarantee with this group. There's a lot of potential, which I hope we'll be able to realize over the course of the season." Parkkonen has been in good form during the early part of the season and we asked how to keep this good vibe in the coming games. "I've always been a pass first player. As long as we play well as a unit and Jesper @jjesu3 Hietarinne is ready on the far post we should be able to keep things going!" You can follow egoapina and Grilli Tulille on their playoff hunt in Group 3 of the Lite division, where the team is currently outside of playoff positions but with some games still left to go, they are looking for a strong finish to their regular season run.

NHLGamers, Right before the start of the 12th iteration of the European Championship League, Swiss hockey club EHC Biel-Bienne signed the roster of former The Black Jacks! The 3-time Swiss champions from the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne are after ZSC Esports, HC Lugano, EHC Basel and SC Bern already the fifth professional club from Switzerland who enters the EA Sports NHL 6s scene. After being founded in 1939 and reaching their three titles in 1978, 1981 and 1983, EHCB had to gain promotion back to NLA (the Swiss top tier) in 2008. In their red and yellow, EHC Biel-Bienne is on their hunt for the playoffs – in real life as well as on the virtual ice! Team captain Bryan @CuteTerminator7 Bolliger looks optimistically to the future: "We want to represent the club in its best light and with that we also hope that other clubs from Switzerland will enter the esports scene. Maybe we will see even more teams from the NLA on NHLGamer? We want to develop as a team and improve our style of play. Making the Playoffs this ECL will be the next step as well as finishing as good as possible in the next German Championship League!" Captain CuteTerminator7, Oliver @Red09Dragon08 Knapp and Dean @Sm0kez13_Bachmann played together since GCL 6, where they managed to win the Division 2 Championship with the Redlight Jokers. After that season, former Zürich defenseman Mario @Cami_7 Camenzind rebranded the former The Black Jacks as a partner team of ZSC Esports and added the mentioned trio as well as goalie veteran Peter @wobfighter Stein and big EHCB supporter Kyle @KG12PK88 Grossen to the team. In their first ECL 11 campaign in Lite the team managed to secure a strong 6th place in Group 1 but eventually got swept by TTK in the first round of the playoffs. Before the start of GCL 7, Sebastian @Sebwies2139 Wieser joined the "Eidgenossen“ to complete the goalie duo and later on received the Rookie of the Season-trophy for his efforts. Kevin @Gregson91 Householder and Janick @Janick_97 (ovechkin97) Hauser also joined the club to strengthen their offensive force. The Black Jacks managed to gain promotion in the qualification tournament and underlined their ambition by making the playoffs on a solid 4th seed but eventually found an early exit against PENTA in Round 1. Before the start of ECL 12 Lite The Black Jacks started the cooperation with EHC Biel-Bienne and is currently in a tight battle for a spot in the playoffs in group 2! We welcome EHC Biel-Bienne eSports to NHLGamer and wish them good luck in their first season in red and yellow!

It's been an exciting start to the season, which surely sets expectations high moving forward. We're excited for what's to come and brought friends Wilhelm, Kouvolan Lakritsi and Viaplay along for the ride! The first week of Elite action featured three full broadcast nights, out of which Thursday was hosted in Finnish by Oskari Koski, Julius Sorjonen and special guest Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha, who chimed in for color commentary in the first game between Tunnel Vision and YMCA Esports. As we're used to, the golden voices of Cody @Tougie24 Tougas and Paul @Cyn Anderson carried us through both the Monday and Wednesday broadcasts, with lots of more action to expect. We saw the first goal of the ECL 12 Elite season early on in the matchup between KOVA Esports and Rusty Blades in our broadcast on Monday evening, when Valtteri @Vire30 Vireaho not only opened the scoring for the season, but also opened scoring for his ECL Elite career - congrats! The Elite rookie does since then lead scoring for his team, that has struggled mightily with getting the puck to the back of the net, only racking up four goals in as many games played. Another team that somewhat surprisingly struggled with scoring has been HAVU Gaming, who only netted nine goals through their first five games played, but managed to salvage things on the statistical side by crushing ZSC Esports by 7-1 in their sixth game of the season. Consequently, the consistent contenders have dropped some points early on in matchups against YMCA Esports and Vesa Pompa, out of which their bouts against the Swedes extended into overtime on both occasions. A big talking point ahead of the season was definitely how Teemu @Xteemuz (Teemuyy) Polttila would fit in with his new team in FILADELPHIA and how the squad would rally around him in the adjustment period. Well, as you'd have it, FILADELPHIA has had a rather favorable schedule to start their season which arguably could have helped the adjustment, but Teemuyy has looked great in orange and black as of late. With five points in six games, he seems to be on par for similar production pace as in his previous ECL Elite campaigns, but most importantly he has played a big role in helping his teammates reach even higher highs - Erik @Eki Tammenpää, Paul @PleeMaker Arontie and Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala currently hold a triple lead in the scoring department. A defenseman who has produced exceptionally well, on the other hand, is Farjestad BK defenseman Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann. In his first season with the squad from Karlstad, the right defenseman has racked up 3+10=13 points thru his first six games, and is rightfully topping the scoring table for defensemen in the league. Keeping up a pace of above two points per game in the best league in the world is unlikely, but his feat this far surely is admirable, it'll remain to be seen for how long he can keep this going. Finally, when it comes to netminding in the ECL 12 Elite, our Swedish brick walls seem to have things on lock this season with a five man lead and who else than Casper @ICappeI Lundgren topping the tables. Honorable mentions in this department go out to Elite rookies Erik @MrAllsvenskan Rotsenius and Ben @benu Rinnet, who have taken the league by storm and solidified themselves as formidable contenders in the rookie of the season-race early on. Transfers It's a somewhat rare occasion to see some movement at the Elite level after the start of the season, but some transfers have come to knowledge in the past week or so, we'll also be recapping possible movement in these reports. Here are the transfers that have come to light since the ECL 12 Elite season preview: JYP Jyvaskyla IN Joonas @swagx88 Kuossari (Free agent) The former Roots goaltender joins the ranks of JYP Jyvaskyla, after leaving the black and green on the brink of the season start. As a very experienced netminder at the Elite level, swagx88 is expected to form a very capable duo together with Santeri @Sandr0hh Reijasalo. Known for his aggressive style in net, he could very well be utilized especially against opponents who could have had trouble overcoming his style in the past. While swagx88 is very skilled on the ice, he is also an important player in the chat and as a vocal player he will surely help out his teammates in any way possible. OUT Teemu @ITemeI Laukkanen ITemeI leaves the team as is only natural, after being pushed down in the depth ranks due to the acquisition of swagx88. His new team is currently unknown, but he will surely be a great addition at least to any team in the Pro division on the lookout for a capable netminder with experience against top players. Power Rankings Provided by @MartindalexC This season, the logic behind the power rankings have been overhauled in order to make them based on something tangible that can actually be quantified - as opposed to just, "well these guys are doing kinda bad, right?". In short, a number (or points rather) is generated for each matchup a team plays that they should attain, going above this number (by collecting more points) means that they are above average, whereas going below (failing to collect points) means that they are below average. Said positive / negative number will be reset each week and the rankings will be based solely off of that, this decision was made so that each week's rankings are truly separate, and teams are not afforded a higher position simply based on previous weeks (i.e. the rank decay is incredibly high). With that said however, each team will also have their 'season-wide' rating visible so everyone can see how precarious, or safe, each team is based on their current form. There are some downsides, for instance the current 'model' is not fully fleshed out and this has led to some anomalous data entries that are kind of messing with the predicted points, so it may be that some teams are a little iffy in where they have been placed. However, for next week I will try to expand the data points that it's drawing from and that should hopefully even out any problematic entries. Either way, here are the ECL Elite Week 1 Power Rankings: 1. FILADELPHIA (6-0-0) [+4.5] 2. hREDS (4-0-0) [+4] 3. YMCA Esports (4-2-0) [+3] T4. Färjestad BK (5-1-0) [+2] T4. IQUE (1-2-1) [+2] T4. Vesa Pompa (4-1-1) [+2] 7. JYP Jyvaskyla (2-2-0) [+1.5] 8. HAVU Gaming (4-1-1) [+1] 9. POGGERS (5-3-0) [0] 10. SAWO Esports (1-3-0) [-0.5] T11. Rusty Blades (0-4-0) [-1] T11. KOVA Esports (2-2-0) [-1] 13. Tunnel Vision (0-4-0) [-2.5] T14. GOONS (3-2-1) [-4] T14. ZSC Esports (0-5-1) [-4] 16. Northern Ascendancy (1-4-1) [-5]