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SportsGamers, Manos capped off their NHL 22 season in great fashion by securing their first ever SCL 6v6 Championship in a Finals series against the experienced Falun Coal Miners. The series was expected to be a tough battle, but eventually Manos were just too strong and ran away with the games in a sweep. Adam @esdor Ericson reached out to Melvin @Melguss Gustafsson after the finals for a few comments on their success: You had an amazing scoring explosion in the second period of game 2, what happened there? "Just quality by me, and by the entire team, nothing else to it." You managed to stay efficient with your scoring chances throughout, what's your secret? "We're the best team in Sweden, and honestly it's not a huge surprise that we came away with the win in the end. It's what we expected since the start, and finishing on a high note feels great." You really showed what you can do in the Finals, what are your thoughts on that? "It was almost too easy. We have so much depth in the roster with @Klangen and @Frompa-, just to mention a few guys. It's been magical." Manos' Championship roster: GOALTENDERS #3 Viktor @Klangen Klang #38 Erik @MrAllsvenskan Rotsenius DEFENSEMEN #27 Samuel @EDHOLMEN3 Edholm (A) #72 Adam @Frompa- Fromholz #89 Putte @Putteekiing Unasin FORWARDS #2 Johannes @Hockeyjohannes Hultmark (C) #4 Mikkel @Birkedal96 Birkedal (A) #31 Melvin @Melguss Gustafsson #91 Fredrik @Kattenj Jansson Let's take a look at Manos' road to the Championship: Group Stage: 12-0-0 in Group 3 (seed #2) Round 1 vs TROJANS (15) 3-0 Quarterfinals vs Garotta Di Ansjovis (7) 3-0 Semifinals vs Sankens Soldater (3) 3-1 Finals vs Falun Coal Miners (4) 3-0 Congratulations to Manos for their victory and thanks to all participating teams! We hope your transition to NHL 23 has been great and wish to see you all again soon!

SportsGamers, A couple of weeks ago, we truly witnessed greatness at work, when Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund continued his dominant reign over the Swedish 1v1 NHL community. The superstar hailing from the small hockey town Örnsköldsvik has with his most recent Championship now secured four consecutive SCL titles, not letting anyone else get a taste of the gold since the inaugural season of the national league. In the Finals, Eken managed to dismantle Robin @Rubituss Söderqvist in convincing manner with a 3-0 sweep, earning him an undefeated run on his way to the title. First of all, congratulations on the title. How did the Finals series go in your opinion? "The first game was very tight and I wasn't really haoppy with my performance there. Rubituss got too much space in my zone and I had trouble setting up my defense. Moving on, I made some strategic changes and played more aggressively in the second and third game, which yielded results for me. The last two games were the style of play I like to employ and I'm very happy with how I could control those." It looked like your defensive game really ended up winning you the Championship there, right? "You could say that, Rubituss had some great plays in the first game, which I'm not really happy about giving up, but I'm happy with my ability to adjust going into games two and three." How does it feel going into every series with the pressure to win? "It feels like that's been the case in every SCL thus far. It might sound a bit cocky, but I've grown used to it. Usually I'm a bit nervous going into games, but when the puck drops, I get in my zone and manage to turn everything into positives." What are some tips you'd give to players out there aspiring to reach your level? "Definitely analyze your game. I recommend recording some gameplay and looking back at it in order to understand what to improve moving forward. Play the best players you can as much as possible, and watch other players play on streams. Finally of course, practice a lot." Let's take a look back at @Eken45jr's road to the Championship: Group stage record: Bye RO32 Bye RO16 vs @DAFA_03 3-0 Quarterfinals vs @eBasstian 3-0 Semifinals vs @Ted Kempe (Smayk99) 3-0 Finals vs @Rubituss 3-0 The top 3 of the 2022 SCL 1v1 are: 🥇 Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund 🥈 Robin @Rubituss Södervqist 🥉 Ted @Ted Kempe (Smayk99) Kempe​​​​​​​ Once more, congratulations to Eken on his tremendous feat and thank you all for participating. We hope to see you again for the SCL next year! 

EASHL Thursday's is a new collaboration between SportsGamer and EA Sports, throwing some of the most liked Finnish celebrities into some virtual hockey action, getting to know the people and showing just how much fun the most social gaming experience EA Sports NHL has to offer can be.  EASHL Thursday's gathers the most well liked Finnish celebrities for some EASHL action and relays their personalities and reactions directly to your screens at home. At it's best, EASHL is the most social gaming experience EA Sports NHL has to offer with all players, including the goaltender being human controlled. Players get to express their personalities by customizing their in-game avatars and their team branding freely according to their own liking. This makes for the ultimate teamplay experience with the social aspect highly present. The first EASHL Thursday's will air tonight at 18:00 EEST at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG, featuring record selling pop duo JVG consisting of Jare Brand and Ville Galle, rising star Ege Zulu, producer Niko Karlsson, Joonas "Mäk Gälis" Galle and Youtuber Jaakko Parkkali. Now your team can challenge the celebrity teams each Thursday, the only thing you need is five friends that are willing to join you! Sign up to be a challenger using this form.

SportsGamers, We're hoping you are as excited as we are for the SCL 6v6 Finals this evening! After a very strong performance by Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund last night in the 1v1 Finals, we're eagerly waiting to see if either team will be able to pull off a similar feat, or if this series could end up going all the way. The action will be casted by your favorite Swedish commentator Adam @esdor Ericson and we'll be going live at 19:30 CEST! Join us at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG as always. Falun Coal Miners  (4) vs Manos  (2) TOP SCORER (Playoffs) André @Foppatofflan Liljegren 12 GP, 9+21=30 vs Johannes @Hockeyjohannes Hultmark 8 GP, 11+12=23 GOALTENDER (Playoffs) Ville @Supreex Korhonen 11 GP, 8 W, 81,82 SV%, 1,64 GAA, 2 SO vs Erik @MrAllsvenskan Rotsenius 8 GP, 7 W, 83,81 SV%, 2,13 GAA, 0 SO REGULAR SEASON RECORD 13-1-0 vs 12-0-0 It's going to be tough to call a winner in this series. We're seeing the highly prestigious and experienced Falun Coal Miners with a combined over 1500 ECL Elite games under their belts - a number that doesn't even come close to sniffing. The Coal Miners also have experience together from an extended period of time, although they've been broken up at times and this SCL has been something of a coming home party for some of these players. In the Semifinals against Skutebrygga, the Coal Miners stumbled a bit early on, but then took a commanding lead in the series. Despite the game 5 series finish, it was never really in doubt for the squad, and they are now looking for a second consecutive title for some of their players.  Manos, on the other hand also have several experienced gamers in their ranks, and they all possess a truly astonishing amount of potential that hasn't been fully reached yet. We're talking about the kinds of Mikkel @Birkedal96 Birkedal, Melvin @Melguss Gustafsson, and even Samuel @EDHOLMEN3 Edholm, who are just some of the central pieces for Manos in their run to the Finals. All of these players have been fringe Elite players for quite some time already, and are on the brink of breaking through to the next level. In their latest matchup against Sankens Soldater in the Semifinals, Manos really showcased their ability to lock things down against an offensive powerhouse and came away with the series win as a result of four very tightly contested battles. Next, they'll have to pull off a similar feat against some of the games greatest passers in André @Foppatofflan Liljegren and Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander.  Prediction: Falun Coal Miners in 5.

SportsGamers, With the 5th generation of consoles being out for almost two years at this point, after careful consideration and community polls we've made the decision to move to Gen 5 consoles starting with ECL '23 Winter, as announced in late July in our article about the NHL 23 Technical Test. This means in all simplicity, that future tournaments organized by SportsGamer.GG will be played on Gen 5 versions (PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X|S) of NHL 23, but we will be gauging interest for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One tournaments, and external partners can still choose to host PlayStation 4 or Xbox One tournaments at SportsGamer.GG. What it all comes down to then is, which version should you get in order to make sure you can participate in all SportsGamer.GG events? Here's a quick reminder of how the cross-play feature on NHL 23 will work: Players can play against any opposing team within their console generation, but mixed teams will not be possible. Therefore, teams must be made up of only one console generation and type in order for cross-play to work. However, keep in mind that EA Sports hasn't yet announced when exactly the cross-play feature will be implemented to the game, and it is possible that tournaments launched before then will not be able to support teams from the other platform. For ECL '23 Winter specifically, the preferred platform of choice will be PlayStation 5. We predict Xbox Series X|S teams will be able to join in on the ECL action once cross-play is confirmed to have been added to NHL 23, so hopefully by the ECL '23 Spring season at the latest. NHL 23 features two versions of the game available for Pre-order. Players will be able to opt for the standard version or the X-Factor Edition on any console. When opting which version to go for, keep in mind that while NHL 23 will include cross-play for consoles within the same generation, it does not feature cross-play between console generations. If you are planning on upgrading to a next generation console over the course of the NHL 23 life cycle, you should definitely look to go for the X-Factor Edition in order to secure double entitlement without having to buy both editions separately. The bottom line is, if you want to be able to participate in all upcoming action, we recommend still purchasing the X-Factor edition, getting you the double-entitlement. However, our own tournaments and leagues will in the future be ran on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S platforms. Here are the NHL 23 Editions available for pre-order including the pre-order perks: Standard Edition - HUT X-Factor Women's choice pack - 5 World of Chel X-Factor Zone ability unlocks - Be a Pro X-Factor slot unlocks (2), XP boost and bonus trait points - Signed Sarah Nurse World of Chel jersey X-Factor Edition - Double entitlement (Unlocks the game for both Gen 4 & Gen 5 consoles) - 3-Days early access - 4600 NHL Points - HUT X-Factor Player choice pack - HUT X-Factor Power-up starter pack - HUT X-Factor Women's choice pack - 5 World of Chel X-Factor Zone ability unlocks - Be a Pro X-Factor slot unlocks (2), XP boost and bonus trait points - Signed Sarah Nurse World of Chel jersey