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We suppose it's safe to say no one has been able to escape the harsh reality we live in today, a world at war and very divided, truly difficult times. Our platform has always aimed to serve as a place to escape all that, and to focus on the games we all love together. However, today the need has come to take a stand and do what we can to help our brothers and sisters in need. Due to the hostile actions of the Russian government towards Ukraine and their people, and the entire Western world, SportsGamer has decided to hold all operations around the RCL effective immediately. This entails that the RCL 9 season will be terminated. In addition, SportsGamer has decided to prohibit the participation of Russian-owned organizations in upcoming tournaments and leagues indefinitely. The ban affects organizations, meaning that Russian players and their private created teams will be able to participate, but cannot be affiliated to a Russian-owned organization. Simultaneously, we must recognize that this is not a war of the Russian people, but its government. We appreciate and support all of our players of all nationalities and hope to see you join us in our continued journey. Let's come together wishing for peace.   If you're looking to help Ukraine, there are many organizations collecting donations right now. Here is one for Unicef: https://help.unicef.org/ukraine-emergency

After a couple of months we have finally arrived at terminus of the Winter season - only two teams remain. This season has again offered us some big surprises and exciting moments. It's been a grind throughout, but we're now seeing the new ECL El Clasico get a Finals trilogy, when hREDS and Frölunda HC will clash for the third time in a row. We will see what the future holds for us, but it's also interesting that the winner of this series will be the first one to claim their ticket to the June Grand Finals. If one team manages to win both the ECL Winter and Spring seasons, they will automatically be crowned the Grand Champions. Tune in for the ECL '22 Winter Elite Finals this weekend! The broadcast will start at 19:30 CET on both Friday and Thursday. You'll find us at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG with Cody "Tougie" Tougas and Paul "Cyn" Anderson in the booth to call the action! hREDS (1) vs Frölunda HC (3) TOP SCORER Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen 9 GP, 7+10=17 vs Paul @PleeMaker Arontie 9 GP, 7+8=15 GOALTENDER Filip @Faze91- Azri 9 GP, 8W, 80,28 SV%, 1.56 GAA, 2 SO vs Casper @ICappeI Lundgren 9 GP, 8W, 83,33 SV%, 1.22 GAA, 1 SO REGULAR SEASON RECORD 25-2-3 vs 22-5-3 REGULAR SEASON SERIES 0-1, 4-5OT After winning the regular season and dominating all player statistics, the red beasts are looking for their second consecutive ECL Elite title, this time not YET crowning them the European Champions, but earning them a spot in the Grand Finals, awaiting in June. In the semifinals, hREDS were able to stop Granit Gamings dream for their first final spot in the highest league of Europe by besting the Swedish group 4-1. Like the whole season also in those games every guy from red and black jerseys had their shining moments and proved that there are no missing pieces to the puzzle that is this team. hREDS made their Elite debut in ECL 10, and since then, every season they have managed to get into the semifinals. This season, hREDS got to start with the same lineup as last season. The main changes they made after the ECL 11 season were on the left side where they got Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen and Vili @Vilupoika Häkkinen to boost their squad. Especially the latter one of these two has been able to find a new level to his game in hREDS. There's also some history of player movement betwee the two finalist teams, as Teemu @Teemuyy Polttila played for hREDS in ECL 10 and 11, but left for Frölunda HC after his tenure there. Last season, he made his debut in the new jersey and he's had time to make both good and bad memories in this squad - first losing to his old team in the ECL 12 Finals, after which they made up for that with a FCL 2021 Finals win in the rematch. This regular season was the most difficult in a long time - if not ever - for Frölunda HC. Despite that, the multiple European champion was able to secure the third seed and go into the playoffs just behind SAWO ESPORTS and their final rivals hREDS. By the numbers, it looks like the playoffs have been a cakewalk for Frölunda, but especially the sweep against HAVU Gaming looked like a way tighter series than the result would suggest. Their semifinals opponent Färjestad BK was familiar for the Indians because it was actually the third time in four seasons those teams went head-to-head in the semifinals. The record from those games is a miserable story for Färjestad BK as Frölunda has a 12-2 stranglehold on that rivalry series. Frölunda has been a dynasty over the last few years and there's no denying that. Since ECL 7, they have three ECL titles and they've appeared in the finals every season. However, even this group hasn't been able to get two championships in a row. Their offensive trio has stuck together throughout the years, which definitely gives them the edge of superior chemistry, and it's easier to trust the guy next to you when having all that experience together. Defensively, they've seen some changes like mentioned earlier, but Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta has been a lock down low since ECL 7, with one season of absence in ECL 8. @loimmu centerman Joonas @PatzlafPaatiala also have some memories together with a few hREDS players way back from the days with Carlsberg HC. All ECL seasons combined, Frölunda and hREDS have clashed eight times in the regular season. The record is 6-2 in favor of Frölunda including this seasons wins in both games in the season series. A strange coincidence between these two is that both ECL Finals and the FCL finals have ended in a sweep in either way. Every one of these series have been expected to be really tight but it seems that in every series the first win has started a snowball effect and the winner has gained the momentum. We will see which way this series starts to go but maybe now it's time for us to see a longer series than four games. Two very skilled teams are going up against each other again but right now it feels like hREDS has a slight advantage on their side. Prediction: hREDS will become the first team to win back-to-back ECL Elite champion titles with a 4-2 series win. Read more: ECL '22 Winter Elite Finals: "You haven't seen the best of us yet" - with Paul @PleeMaker Arontie from Frölunda HC Read more: ECL '22 Winter Elite Finals: "We have some aces up our sleeves" - with Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen (KingOfApes_) from hREDS

It's that time again, the ECL Elite finals are here, and a long season sees it's end. But this time, we'll have no new European champion just yet, but one team will punch their ticket to the Grand Final in June. This season we saw new stars on the ascent, like Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen for SAWO ESPORTS, but in the finals, we have the new El Clásico and a rematch from the two latest Elite finals - hREDS and Frölunda HC will clash. The Finals will be played over the course of two days (Friday 4.3 & Saturday 5.3) and the entirety of it will be broadcasted at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG. Action starts at 19:30 CET on both days and in the booth you'll see Cody @Tougie24 Tougas and Paul @Cyn Anderson getting the crowd hyped up for the battles. We reached out to hREDS defenseman and assistant captain Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen (KingOfApes_) for a few quick comments ahead of the finals: Barring just a few losses, you dominated the regular season with relative ease, where does your clinical execution come from? We've got top 2 players in Europe on every position, so that's definitely it. Also we've played together for a long time, which gives us an advantage and makes us even better. How was the team spirit when going in the playoffs, and how have your preparations gone since the Finals spot was confirmed? Our team spirit has always been really good, so no worries for the finals. Preparations have gone well and I'm confident we'll bee at our absolute best this weekend! Is your game on your highest level yet, or is there something more we can expect? I think we have a few new looks and some aces up our sleeves for the weekend that Frölunda won't be expecting. Otherwise we'll be trusting the process and doing what we do best. How will the series end and why? 4-1 to us, because we have more variation in our gameplay and our game is more versatile. Those things will make a difference in a long series. Good luck to both squads in the Finals! Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for a more extensive Finals preview dropping tonight!

NHLGamers, After a gruelling finals series, where we got to see a momentum change for the ages, we have a new ECL Pro Champion! JYP Jyväskylä got to hoist the cup and punch their ticket back to the Elite division after one season of absence from the European top 16. Reality Check ended up cooling down significantly after a dream start to the finals, and now will be facing Conquer Gaming in Qualifiers to determine their fate.   JYP Jyväskylä's s road to the championship: #1 seed from group 1 with the record 23-4-2 Round 1: vs GIFU Hockey (8) 4-0 Quarterfinals: vs noRex Gaming (13) 4-3 Semifinals: vs  RCTIC (9) 4-3 Finals: vs Reality Check (1) 4-2 The winning roster: GOALTENDERS #37 Kasper @Kaz_zu Ramstedt #73 Santeri @Sandr0hh Reijasalo DEFENSEMEN #11 Saku @Sakkem Saaranluoma #17 Niklas @Talonmies69 Tamminen #28 Väinö @vSilenttio Pietilä FORWARDS #6 Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen #8 Antti @tbnantti Kuittinen (A) #9 Santeri @indi969 Pendolin (C)     Congratulations to the champions on behalf of the entire community, and a warm thank you to all participants!

SportsGamers, After a long ECL '22 Winter Elite season, this weekend we'll arrive at the culmination point, which will go down between the #1 seed hREDS and the #3 seed Frölunda HC. Does that ring any bells? Yes, we've got a rematch of the ECL 12 Elite and FCL 2021 Finals - the new ECL Elite El Clásico if you will. The Finals will be played over the course of two days (Friday 4.3 & Saturday 5.3) and the entirety of it will be broadcasted at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG. Action starts at 19:30 CET on both days and in the booth you'll see Cody @Tougie24 Tougas and Paul @Cyn Anderson getting the crowd hyped up for the battles. We had a short chat with Frölunda HC winger Paul @PleeMaker Arontie ahead of the big games this weekend: We'll see a rematch of the ECL 12 Finals this weekend and you guys had an unusually fluctuant regular season. Has there been any certain factor that you feel has weakened you guys? We've been playing three tournaments simultaneously, often having six gamedays a week. That's lead to simply not getting the best our of ourselves every night. Also, in this iteration of the game, we haven't clicked like clockwork just yet, so we'll be looking to get back to that. How was the team spirit when going in the playoffs, and how are you preparing for the Finals? Our spirit has been the same as usual, very high. It was nice to get HAVU Gaming as our first round opponents, where we were really able to make a statement. We'll prepare for the finals quite normally, a few games Thursday night to get the feeling for the finals. Has your game reached its highest level yet, or can we expect you guys to step it up this weekend? I feel like you haven't seen the best of us yet this season. Our routine level has been enough for the wins, for the finals we'll need to kick things up a notch. How will the series end, and why? If I'd have to guess, I'd say it's going to be a sweep in either direction as that's been the trend. We'll take it 4-0. The form of the day and a little bit of luck will decide. Stay tuned for our extensive ECL '22 Winter Elite Finals Preview, dropping Thursday evening!