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This weekend, the 2022 NHL GWC European Finals were concluded in Maastricht, the Netherlands and after a long tournament and some dramatic events throughout the weekend, the golden boy Erik @Eki Tammenpää secured his back-to-back title. With the grand prize of 15 000 USD at stake and for most players, the return to LAN events in practice was a very exciting setting for the weekend in Maastricht at the GG DreamHack Sports Festival, which eventually culminated with the crowning of a new European NHL GWC Champion. The contenders had all paved their way through a gruelling online qualifier stage, and eventually the eight best players were invited to enter the final weekend. Here's a list of those contenders: Erik @Eki Tammenpää 🇫🇮 Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann 🇸🇪 Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund 🇸🇪 Olli "IOLL1" Lehtimäki 🇫🇮  Jimi @jamal-_- Rönkkönen 🇫🇮 Teemu @Teemuyy Polttila 🇫🇮 Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen 🇫🇮 Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen 🇫🇮 Eventually, after lots of excitement and even some controversy we saw the Finns Eki and J-_-Jamaltheman qualify for the finals, and the two truly proved that both of them could be worthy of the Championship. The two of them went head-to-head in a full three game series, trading blows in a true ebb and flow situation. The first game of the finals was a 3-1 win for the defending champion Eki, and it looked like he had it all under control, but in the low-scoring series Jamal was able to surprise in the second game, taking it to a decisive third match. After a full three periods of the third game, the game was tied at 1-1 and we knew we'd see a worthy finish for the European NHL GWC Finals - the two best players going at it for one goal only. As the title of our article suggests, the scorer was eventually Eki, who managed to secure his back-to-back title! We reached out to the Champion for some comments about his feat: How would you compare this campaign to the one you had last year, and who was the best opponent you played? Well obviously the biggest difference was the LAN finals. It's all different when you get to see everyone and play at 0 ping, which is always great. I have to say that @jamal-_- was in a class of his own today, the finals were absolutely crazy and it speaks volumes that we went all the way to game 3 OT. I feel like he was way calmer than everyone else around and some of the dekes and plays he tried to pull were very different. The fact that he managed to stay so relaxed put me in a tough place since it's usually way easier to play off your opponents when you can tell they're nervous.  What are your thoughts about this years GWC overall and the format, how about the live finals? The format was good, I liked the fact that we had the draft earlier than before (already at the top 16 stage) and that the console qualifiers had a double elimination format. However, I've always wanted the GWC to be a longer tournament and for players to have more chances to qualify, I'm not a big fan of the "one and you're done format". Naturally it makes for some thrilling moments as we witnessed today but in general it's not my cup of tea.  How has it been for you to return to LAN games after a longer pause with the pandemic? It's been great. I already got some touch for playing big LAN games in Tampa Bay earlier this year. I've always been good at LANs for some reason, my first ever tournament I finished second although I by no means were the second best player at the event, but ever since then it's just been working for me. I can't tell why but maybe I'm just less nervous than the competition or can better use the advantage from the 0 ping factor, I'm just guessing but some of that could be. Finally, how are you going to celebrate this Championship? It's 10 PM and I'm at the hotel answering these interview questions, so that's pretty much it! We've got an early flight tomorrow and I'm not one to party too much anyways, so maybe I'll figure something out when I'm home but no bigger plans than that.  On behalf of the SportsGamer community, I extend a heartfelt thank you to the Champion and congratulations on the title! Now it's time for all the contenders to turn their heads toward next year and what's to come, maybe that will be your time to challenge Eki?

The Finals are here and we're expecting some fireworks between two excellent virtual hockey teams. Both squads have proved dominant on their campaigns throughout and it's looking like these two will match up for a very tough series. May the best team win! Schedule   Preview (1)  Reality Check vs Växjö Lakers  (2) Both of these teams are coming into the finals off of very similar campaigns, and to no one's surprise, these two are the teams that managed to dominate their respective groups in the regular season too. While Växjö had a very disappointing Winter season and are now proving themselves in an incredible bounce back effort, Reality Check is heading to the finals for the second time in a row. They've been a fringe Elite team for a very long time, and maybe this is going to be their turn to shine? Reality Check is 12-1-1 thus far in the playoffs and they've been in very convincing form throughout. Most of their games have been rather tight and we've seen several one goal differentials, but the main thing for this team is that they seem to be able to turn almost every game in their favor in one way or another. Usually this entails stringing together solid decisions and managing to limit high danger scoring chances for the opposition, which also statistics support for this team. They've been excellent throughout their lineup and their goaltender @FINSeRe has been a beast. The team has allowed a bit over 9 shots per game against and the goalie stops pucks at a rate of 86,05%, which surely indicates that opponents will have a rough go scoring against this squad.  Just like Reality Check, Växjö Lakers have been very impressive all season without too much of a slip-up at any point. The fact that their forward trio @Kattenj, @Birkedal96 alnd @dzouvi are topping the scoring statistics between the tree of them is a pure show of their scoring power and the dominance they've been able to exhibit thus far in the playoffs especially. Due to their high offensive drive, Växjö Lakers is also a bit more probable to allow more shots, and they've been fine with that since they've been able to trust their goaltending and match the scoring whenever needed. Regardless of who will take this series in the end, it's guaranteed we'll see a great fight and some fireworks in the series coming up. Prediction: Reality Check wins 4-3 The Finals will begin today and the first games will be featured on the SportsGamer Sunday broadcast starting already at 18:15 CEST! If you are interested in any individual statistics, visit the league page or reach your preferred team's page by clicking their name in this article. PS: We would love for you to follow our social channels, as they are an integral part of the ECL season. Discord Instagram Facebook Twitch Twitter

As the season has rolled on already to the semifinals, we're now in for a couple of very exciting matchups, where younger underdogs are challenging the proven top teams. Both hREDS and Frölunda HC are clearly hunting for the title, whereas GOONS and SAWO ESPORTS are the young guns around trying to have their say in the eventual winner. Structure & Prize Pool Schedule The previews were written in cooperation by @jahajaha93 & @ose16. (1) hREDS vs GOONS (5) TOP SCORER (Playoffs) Vili @Vilupoika Häkkinen 4 GP, 7+6=13 vs Samu @xKeskitalo Keskitalo 5 GP, 4+9=13 GOALTENDER (Playoffs) Filip @Faze91- Azri 4 GP, 4 W, 93,94 SV%, 0.5 GAA, 2 SO vs Ville @Supreex Korhonen 5 GP, 4 W, 83,33 SV%, 1.6 GAA, 1 SO REGULAR SEASON RECORD 26-2-2 vs 20-8-2 REGULAR SEASON SERIES 3-0, 4-0 hREDS dominated in the first round against Conquer Gaming. Their 18-2 goal differential against the regular seasons biggest dark horse tells that the back-to-back champions are getting warmed up just in time for the bigger games. Starting the playoff run with an 8-0 win is a statement of it's own, that's for sure. Once again the predators showed that their ability to defend patiently when it's needed is also a big strength in this team. Even though sometimes their defense would slip up there is still a big hill to climb when scoring goal against hREDS as their goalie Filip @Faze91- Azri once again leads all the goalie stats and was the only goaltender to record two shoutouts in the first round. There is still no signs for hREDS' momentum dropping and they have more than a solid chance to make it three in a row this season. GOONS managed to win Örebro Hockey in 5 games on their way to the semifinals. A crazy coincidence is that just like their coming opponent hREDS, also this black and red team started their playoff campaign with a 8-0 blowout win. The series between GOONS and Örebro was expected to maybe be a little tighter than it was but the numbers don't lie and they were the much better team in that series. It's interesting to see if they could find some keys to break hREDS' insane momentum. 21 scored goals in the opening round of the playoffs definitely boosted their goal scoring confidence, which is a good thing because against a top team in Europe you have to capitalize on every chance you get. Last season we saw this same matchup the quarterfinals as hREDS were able to sweep GOONS. Among the top 10 point producers in the playoffs you can find 9 players from these teams. The first game of the playoffs of course is the biggest factor for that but it doesn't take away the fact that both of these teams include a lot of firepower. Young guns Arttu @laitineen64(Laiitinen) Laitinen and Roope @pikkuroger Bergström have already proved their scoring ability in the playoffs also. You can find a lot of similarities when you compare these two to hREDS' Niklas @NikkeDangles(NikkeNHL)Tukianen in being first a very skilled forward but now being great on the defensive side of things also. In the goalie battle Ville @Supreex Korhonen is ready for the matchup against the best goalie in the league as he made 40 saves in the first round which was most among the goaltenders whose team made to the semifinals. This season has had many positive signs for GOONS but it's not yet their time to advance to the finals. HREDS will go hunt their third straight championship to the finals by shooting GOONS down in 5 games. (2) Frölunda HC vs SAWO ESPORTS (3) TOP SCORER (Playoffs) Paul @PleeMaker Arontie 4 GP, 7+3=10 vs Valtteri @Vattuyy Virtanen 6 GP, 5+3=8 GOALTENDER (Playoffs) Casper @ICappeI Lundgren 4 GP, 4 W, 84,62 SV%, 1.00 GAA, 0 SO vs Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen 6 GP, 4 W, 75,00 SV%, 1.83 GAA, 1 SO REGULAR SEASON RECORD 23-4-3 vs 21-7-2 REGULAR SEASON SERIES 2-1 OT, 3-2 Frölunda HC managed their first playoff test with their new lineup very well. Still, a sweep against Roots Gaming was only a start and they will definitely want more from this season, and their semifinal opponent will be tougher to beat. Erik @Eki Tammenpää is in the look for his first goal of the playoffs as surprisingly, he wasn’t able to get one in the Quarterfinals. Like the regular season showed, Paul @PleeMaker Arontie has a hot stick as now in the playoffs he has been able to light the lamp 7 times which is leading the league. Defense also worked well as the Indians surrendered only 1 goal in every game. Frölunda HC are now looking to get to the finals for the eighth season in a row. SAWO ESPORTS was able to get the monkey off their back by winning HAVU Gaming in 6 games after last seasons huge disappointment in the playoffs. HAVU managed to even things up after being 2-0 down in the series but perhaps that only strengthened the SAWO squad - they were put in a tough spot, which they handled very well. Putting away the series after a couple of tough losses will bring experience to the future in similar positions. Against Frölunda they will likely need more goal scoring power than only their wingers, who scored 10 out of SAWO's 12 goals in a 6 games series. Like the whole lineup, Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen had a tough time in the second night of the series against HAVU, but were able to bounce back in games 5 and 6. In this matchup those kind of off games aren't possible if SAWO wants to make it to the finals. This series you could expect to be tighter than the other. SAWO has a very talented team with great ability to defend well and at the same time make incredible plays in the offensive zone. Both of these teams are looking to get all their players involved in scoring. One of the key points will be how well Frölunda will be able to contain Jere @jxrska Laukka and Valtteri @Vattuyy Virtanen. These teams started their season against each other so we will see which team has developed their game more during the season. It all will come down to the fact that Frölunda's scoring power is more well rounded. Frölunda will continue their hunt to get back to the top with a 4-2 series win. See all of these teams in action tonight at the SportsGamer Twitch-channel! Our broadcast is starting with the Pro Finals already at 18:15 CEST!

SportsGamers, It's been a long road to travel for teams in the Core division thus far, and now we're down to the top four! Through four playoff rounds, these teams have defied odds and bested their opponents, now only eight wins away from the trophy. In Core, the playoffs consist of the top 8 teams from each group being seeded against other teams who finished in the same position (e.g. group winners are seeded #1-4, group runners-up are seeded #5-8 and so on.). The Semifinal round of the playoffs will start on Sunday the 5th of June 2022 and end on Thursday the 9th of June 2022. Here is a full schedule of the ECL '22 Spring Core playoffs: Round-of-64: 01.05 – 05.05 (BO7) Round-of-32: 08.05 – 12.05 (BO7) Round-of-16: 15.05 – 25.05 (BO7) Quarterfinals: 30.05 – 02.06 (BO7) Semifinals: 05.06 – 09.06 (BO7) Finals: 13.06 – 14.06 (BO7) [Provisional date] For the relevant rules regarding these playoffs, please find extracts from the ECL Rulebook below. Essentially, each series will be a best-of-seven and the higher seeded team will play 'at home' first, then alternate back and forth with the lower seeded team.    (1)  Rögle BK vs Chiefzz HC  (7) A quick glance at the rosters puts Rögle BK in the favorite position in this series by a landslide and they've consistently plowed through opposition throughout the season at convincing pace. Chiefzz HC will be in for a challenge unlike anything they've seen thus far this season. While Rögle is surely looking to crush their opponents with scoring explosions like only they've been able to do this season, Chiefzz HC will benefit from trying to keep the score low for as long as possible. It's tough to imagine this series going past five games.  Prediction: Rögle BK advances, 4-1 (3)  Frolunda HC Region vs Etelan Vetelat  (6) This one could turn out to be a very interesting series. Frolunda HC consists of several up-and-comers and some very talented players with lots still to learn, but great potential, whereas Etelan Vetelat holds some very experienced gamers in their roster, with several seasons at higher levels under their belts. Statistically, Frolunda HC has a tendency to play a bit more offensive compared to their opponents, who you could imagine want to utilize their experience and chemistry in order to overcome this challenge.  Prediction: Etelan Vetelat advances, 3-4   Good luck for everyone!

SportsGamers, We're closing in on the grande finale of the Neo season, but first - the Semifinals! Last round, the #1 seed London Lightning were trampled in a surprising sweep by HC KOROBKA, who seem to be on a mission to take down the big dogs. Quite interestingly we've also got the FIFA extraordinaire team Turkunummi paving their way this far into the postseason, going up against KH Torun Esports! The Semifinal round of the playoffs will start on Sunday the 5th of June 2022 and end on Wednesday the 8th of June 2022. Here is a full schedule of the ECL '22 Spring Neo playoffs: Round-of-32: 08.05 – 12.05 (BO5) Round-of-16: 15.05 – 25.05 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 30.05 – 02.06 (BO5) Semifinals: 05.06 – 08.06 (BO5) Finals: 12.06 (BO5) For the relevant rules regarding these playoffs, please find extracts from the ECL Rulebook below. Essentially, each series will be a best-of-five and the higher seeded team will play 'at home' first, then alternate back and forth with the lower seeded team.  Click here to view the matchups for the Semifinals of the ECL '22 Spring Neo Playoffs   Good luck for everyone!

SportsGamers, the Player Spotlight series is making its return with the objective of showcasing gamers that would perhaps otherwise fall outside normal reporting, but that we want to get to know better. Our strength is this community, so let's get to know each other! You asked for it, so we'll provide! This time we had a chat with Santeri @Sanezh Maanselkä, who has spent all of his virtual hockey career with Hokurit. The defenseman hailing from Mikkeli in southeastern Finland has come a long way together with his team, with their sights set on consistent improvement, one step at a time. 1.    What was your first experience with the EASHL mode in NHL? I think it was back in NHL 13 when I first played EASHL with a couple of friends, quite casually. The fire for playing competitively was ignited somewhere around NHL 16, when Hokurit was founded. 2. What’s the best part of playing for your current club Hokurit? I've played for Hokurit for my entire career and several of my teammates have become great friends for me even outside of the virtual rinks. The best part though is the way the core players have been committed to our long project that started already in 2015. Naturally we've had some roster turnover over the years, but it's been great to see how each player has grown through the years and with each iteration of the game. 3. What is your greatest NHL gaming memory? There's so many and it's tough to pick just one. I think one of the most memorable moments was our ECL 8 debut when every player was so nervous and some shaky hands were evident! Another more recent memory was our promotion to ECL '22 Winter Pro through the qualifiers. The five season grind finally paid off and the feeling was incredible when we managed to secure our spot at the second highest tier in the final matchup of the qualifiers. 4. Describe your perfect breakfast! I'm not a big breakfast person and often tend to skip it, but a true and tested combo I've stuck with is a few slices of rye bread with ham and cheese, washed down with a couple glasses of cold milk. 5. You're GM for a day and get to pick any player for your 6v6 team but none of your current teammates. Who's in your starting six and why? I could easily pick a player each from the top 3 teams, but I'll go with players I've played with over the years and that have made an impression on me: @jouni29 - @MozjaTG (Mozjayh) - @vepdsssss (Werppi) @Maestroffi - @ripKeisari @burban26 I started my career playing with Mozja so he is an easy pick for center. He is a very skilled player and I'd say he is one of the best centermen in Elite right now. Flanking him I've got Jouni, who I've played with for several years. He's a guy who handles his defensive duties with care and backs his teammates regardless of the situation. On the right flank I've picked a rather unknown name, Werppi. Be on the lookout for his skill. On defense I've picked my former defensive partners. Maestroffi is a very good player in his own zone and also handles scoring when some backup is needed on that front. ripKeisari is a guy I've known for over ten years and he is a high-skill defenseman who is great with the puck.  In net, I've got the Swiss beard king, Burban. I had the honor of playing an FCL tournament with him and he made an impression as a very nice person with a passion and fire for the game. 6. What was your dream job growing up and what do you currently do? As a kid I always wanted to be a police officer, but later on I've dreamt about a job in sports. A marketing job for a hockey team could be very cool. Right now I'm working at the fresh meat counter of a supermarket. 7. Do you play or have you played hockey? I've never played for a team although I wanted to do so as a kid. 8. What’s your best hockey memory? The best memory is from 2015 and it's not even close. That's when my hometown team Mikkelin Jukurit secured the Mestis championship, which sealed the deal for them to advance to playing at the highest level in Liiga. 9. What do you like to do in your spare time besides playing NHL? I like playing other games too, especially FIFA and Call of Duty. I'm also an avid sports fan and I can be found in the stands cheering on local football and hockey teams throughout the winter and summer. Nothing beats having a few beers in a group of friends after a tough week of work, though. 10. Pizza with three toppings, what are your choices? Pepperoni, blue cheese and paprika mayonnaise to top it off. 11. You're the locker room DJ and get one song to hype up your team. What do you play? Motörhead – The Game. 12. How did you come up with your PSN ID? My name is Santeri, and most of my friends call me Sane, which eventually transformed into Sanezh, when all other options for my PSN ID were taken. 13. Who’s the best player in the ECL according to you? @Beniittto. He's the captain and centerman for the best team in Europe. If anyone, he makes the game look easy. 14. Describe your ideal holiday! On a beach somewhere warm with good friends. 15. Now it's up to you to suggest who we should interview next. Who do you want to hear from and why? I'm gonna call out @Rytze_. I think this gentleman could provide a great interview for you! Feel free to also suggest who you'd want to see in the Player Spotlight-series. Also, if there are any questions you'd like us to add to the arsenal, let us know!