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NHLGamers, Tonight we kick off the FCL 6v6 season, and we're pleased to see so many of you taking part in the biggest Finnish NHL Esports league! A total of 85 teams are taking part in this year's Finnish championships, and teams are divided into nine groups of 9-10 teams. Seven teams out of each group will make the playoffs, where they will be joined by reigning champion FILADELPHIA as the #1 seed. The rulebook is out now and we ask all players to get familiar with it before commencing their games. There signups for the 1v1 portion of the FCL are still open until 17.8 - sign up for that here! Schedule Default gamedays for the FCL 2021 season will be Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Group stage: 16.-31.8 Playoffs round 1: 2.-5.9 Playoffs round 2: 6.-9.9 (BO5) Playoffs round 3: 13.-16.9 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 20.-23.9 (BO5) Semifinals: 27.-29.9 (BO5) Finals: 2.10. (BO5) License & Eligibility The FCL 2021 features a foreign player quota, which entails that a majority (51%) of the team's roster (and line-up) must be Finnish. In addition, all captains must be Finnish citizens. All players require an eSM 2021 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 2021 leagues and tournaments (for 1v1 you must be a Finnish citizen). 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 @esm_gg #FCL2021 #MukanaWilhelm #kouvolanlakritsi Instagram: When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerOfficial @esmkisat @atria_wilhelm #FCL2021 #MukanaWilhelm #kouvolanlakritsi 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, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below)

Having won the inaugural Swedish Championship League back in 2019, Vesa Pompa came back to defend their title in last year’s SCL – crowning a successful campaign by defeating Northern Ascendancy in Game 7 of the 2020 finals. Many assumed the team would be going for the so-called “Threepeat”, but here at NHLGamer.com we can confirm that Vesa Pompa will not be the champions of SCL 2021. But the team is indeed back to try and defend their title. While we’ve had several Swedish sports associations join our ranks in NHL esports, today we welcome our very first Swedish esports organization as Granit Gaming has signed the Vesa Pompa roster for SCL and future tournaments. Abbreviated GG, Granit Gaming was founded in December of 2017 by owner Kim “KMF” Engström. Still owned and operated by Engström, Granit is an international organization with players from all over world that feature teams in games like Heroes of the Storm, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros, Overwatch, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) – and now NHL. “We’ve been involved in around 50% of all competitive games in the last few years and have had several different team outlooks; including female teams, academy teams, “stream teams” and others”, says Engström to NHLGamer.com. “Competitively, our best result is finishing 4th in the world.” With a background in the world of pro sports playing competitive tennis, and with a massive interest in hockey and the National Hockey League, Engström spent a long time looking for the right fit to enter NHL esports with Granit Gaming. He found it in Vesa Pompa. “When I got in touch with Johan (@Lehmannens) and Henrik (@Eken45jr), I immediately felt like I had found the right fit. I know the individual skill these players possess, and I know the roster we’ve put together has potential. My message to all my teams and players is the same; go out there and have fun, knowing you’ll have the full support of our organization regardless of the outcome. As for our first tournament together – the SCL – the players and I agree that a top-4 spot is a reasonable goal to have.” Team captain Johan Lehmann: “It’s a tremendous honor to be able to partner up with such a well-established and professional organization as Granit. It’s been a fun ride under the Vesa Pompa banner, and I can’t imagine a better way to continue that journey than with Granit.” “Our main objective is to establish a solid team foundation and a long-term partnership with Granit. Naturally, we’re competitive people who always want to win – so our goal will obviously be to compete for titles in the tournaments we enter. We’ll do everything in our power to defend our SCL title.” Suiting up for Granit Gaming in SCL 2021 will be three former Farjestad BK players, three players from Vesa Pompa’s ECL 12 roster and a “familiar” netminder. “I’m very happy with our roster composition. We’ve gathered players who share the same mindset, with qualities that complement each other quite well. There’s a bond of friendship, a willingness to grind the game, youthful exuberance, and plenty of experience”, says Lehmann. “My long-time friend, partner in crime and assistant captain @Eken45jr is one of the most skilled forwards around and has proven time after time that he is at the very top of both 6v6 and 1v1. My other assistant captain, @l-Furyan-l, is unmatched in terms of experience – a prototypical two-way defender with an offensive edge.” Hampus @l-Furyan-l Duvefelt (A), Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann (C) and Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund (A). “Additionally, @antoniomannen004 has come into his own as a top Elite forward through sheer determination, hard work and talent. @dzouvi has exploded on to the scene in recent tournaments with his impressive skill, elusiveness and creativity from the center spot. @Thunborg5 is a uniquely calm goaltender with the valuable trait of being at his best when the games mean the most. @LastMandalorian is back between the pipes and will be an important part of the puzzle with his competitiveness and drive to succeed” Granit Gaming is also set to enter the NHL 1v1 competitive scene, with announcements to follow next week on which players have been added to the organization's 1v1 roster. You'll be able to see the team in action for the first time tonight, as they take on HockeyProfessorn HC tonight at 21:00 CEST, the games will be streamed at www.twitch.tv/eken45jr. If you want to support the latest esport organization to join NHL gaming, you’ll find Granit Gaming in these locations: Twitter (https://twitter.com/granitgaming) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/granitgaming/) Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/teamgranit) TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@granitgaming) Homepage (https://www.granitgaming.com/)

NHLGamers, What a wild ride it's been, not only the FCL but the entire NHL 20 competitive season. We had an exceptionally long time with the game due to the delay of the NHL 21 release, but we sure took advantage of the time we had. This past weekend featured the finale of NHL 20 with the grand finals of the FCL. Alike our other leagues, also the FCL showed great growth by almost doubling the amount of participating teams from the first FCL season in 2019. Let's keep going and continue the growth into ECL 11! With the FCL and SCL championships being played for on consecutive weekends, we now also have some players that have secured a championship in both of those tournaments within the span of one week. Joel @jtorro1233 Tourunen played defense for both Vesa Pompa HC and FILADELPHIA, whereas Casper @ICappeI Lundgren has made history and set a record that will definitely be tough to break. The man secured a SCL championship on the left wing of Vesa Pompa HC first, after which he stopped pucks for FILADELPHIA, winning the FCL championship in net. Winning a championship by playing both in net and as a skater is something that legendary Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen has previously accomplished back in ECL 4 with Laser HT, but doing so with two different teams on consecutive weekends is something that most likely won't be happening again for a while. Group stage With the large amount of teams participating and the restricted time to complete the tournament, the playoff picture this year was arguably rather unforgiving, with only four teams from each group and the three best fifth placed teams making it to the postseason. We'll be focusing on the advancing teams when taking a closer look at the playoff matchups, but let's take an overviews of some teams that didn't make it in this section. Group 1 saw two excellent teams face disappointment, as both HanaaHC and the recent Lite champions Sack Brothers didn't qualify for the postseason. Despite good performances throughout the season, especially Sack Brothers ended up dropping decisive points against lower seeded teams such as Kiekkonapalmi. HanaaHC ended up being the 5th placing team, which wasn't quite enough to put them through this time. HC Wildcard faced a similar end result to HanaaHC in their respective group. Despite putting up decent numbers and being just a point behind the 4th place Sulkavan Sudet, they fell short and wasn't seen in the postseason. We were pleasantly surprised to see Oulunsalon Pallo push through to the playoffs in group 3, overcoming experienced teams such as Mockba and the greatly improved HUIPPUPASSI. Group 4 showcased a tough three way battle for 4th place between Angry Cats, Cheers Hockey and We Kings. Those three teams eventually finished in that order based on tiebreakers, after which Cheers Hockey made the postseason as the 3rd best 5th placing team. In group 5, SJ Gaming was seen as a team that should advance, but they didn't do so without hickups, dropping important points against Hokurit right out of the gates and putting forth slightly shaky performances throughout the group stage. SJ managed to find their stride a bit later on and got into the playoffs as the best 5th placing team. The 5th place battle was up to Gotham Knights and Armada Hockey in group 6, where the Knights finally managed to gather enough points to make the postseason, but didn't do so without trouble as they lost some matchups that they wish they had back along the way. The 7th and final group featured the three way Mestis rivalry between SAWO, Frosty Kiekko-Vantaa and TuTo Esports out of which the two first pushed through to the playoffs. The experienced Murohoki came very close, but didn't find enough points to go through from their 5th place. Playoffs A bit under half of the participating teams qualified for the playoffs, making it a run to the finish line for only the very best clubs in the scene. Right out of the gates we saw some interesting matchups as some high level teams struggled in the group stage, putting them at lower seeds than perhaps expected. The most exciting first round matchups were definitely the unexpected clashes between FILADELPHIA and Gotham Knights, YMCA Esports and SJ Gaming and finally the Mestis rivalry vol. 2 between SAWO Esports and Frosty Kiekko-Vantaa, out of which all offered some juicy storylines. Actually, from the second round on it wasn't until the finals that a lower seeded team came away with the victory in a series. During round two, the lower seeded teams managed to extract only two wins, which are credited to the names of Nordic Stars and Kaupallinen Yhteistyo. Moving on, the quarterfinals were played in a similar manner except for JYP Jyvaskyla vs GHETTO FIREBIRDS, where the Birds came close to an upset, faltering only 3-2 to the strong JYP squad. The semifinals offered action in the form of a HAVU Gaming - JYP Jyvaskyla thriller and a high skill free-for-all between FILADELPHIA and hREDS. Now HAVU and JYP were extremely tightly matched and ended up going to an exciting fifth game where HAVU had to make a roster substitution when Eemil @Eemil Koski took the ice at an unfamiliar LW position in the place of HAVU's mainstay winger Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen. The youngster put forth a convincing effort in a tough spot, ultimately securing the second consecutive FCL final spot for HAVU Gaming. Going into their series against FILADELPHIA, hREDS were looking sharp and had their offense firing on all cylinders, but ended up falling short against a FILA that looked stronger than eve Finals The finals were hyped up a lot this year and that was definitely for a reason. We've been calling it the El Clásico of NHL gaming and these two teams are yet to disappoint. It's always a joy to watch with the sheer overflow of skill that's present when HAVU Gaming and FILADELPHIA meet on the virtual ice. In this years iteration of the FCL playoffs, this classic featured a full five game series with lots of back and forth action. The scoring was kept low as expected, but we didn't have to extend for overtime in any of the games this year. Game five in the extremely tough series ended up being a thriller, having FILADELPHIA in a 3-1 lead until the dying seconds, when HAVU managed to push back, but being left just short putting the final score at 3-2 for FILA, as also the final score of the series. We crowned a new champion! If you happened to miss the broadcast, check it out here: