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SportsGamers, The regular season of the 9th iteration of the German Championship League is done. While the two DACH powerhouses ZSC Esports and Deadly Phantoms secured the top seeds for the postseason, we have seen a few new faces stepping up causing quite some surprises in the regular season. Now it is time to take a closer look at the upcoming Best-Of-7 Quarterfinal series in GCL 9! ZSC Esports (1) vs. Deggendorfer SC Esports (8) (written by @OGjahajaha) The back-to-back Champion from Switzerland will face a familiar opponent: DSC Esports. The two teams already met in the regular season with two spectacular goalfestivals (10:6 & 11:2 W for ZSC Esports). While the Swiss juggernauts grabbed the #1 overall seed with a perfect record (14-0-0), the Bavarian underdogs grabbed the last playoffspot with two important wins on their last matchday. While Deggendorf is well known for their quick counterattacks they need to find a way to stabilize their defense. 67 goals conceded in 14 games is the worst defense out of all 16 GCL teams. On the other hand ZSC Esports scored the most goals (104) and conceded the least goals (22) in the whole league. Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg (31G+50A), Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi (34G+29A), Max @Toneee9 Tonitz (6G+47A) and Chris @GERxVillain Ungeheuer (20G+26A) can all be found among the top 4 scorers of the league. For Deggendorfer SC Esports it will be a mammoth task to breakdown their offensive game. Players to watch: Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi & Tobias @blechi12 Blechinger Predicition: 4-0 ZSC Esports Deadly Phantoms (2) vs. Düsseldorfer EG eSports (7) Two of the most experienced teams in the DACH-Community will face each other in the quarterfinals of GCL9! While the Deadly Phantoms have seen quite a few changes to their roster, melting into one team with former ECL Lite Quarterfinalist “Hyperion”, DEG eSports are still led by their two veterans Steffen @Seibertus94(Leuch-T) Leuchtenberger and Daniel @DangerBrooklyn Göpfert. While the Phantoms grabbed rank 1 in group 2 of GCL 9 with a record of 10-1-3, Düsseldorf managed to secure rank 4 in the same group on the last matchday. The matchup in the regular season of these two teams could not have been any more contrary. A 7:0 win for the Phantoms in game 1 faces a 6:5 OT win for DEG eSports in game 2. The key factor for this series will be consistency. The Deadly Phantoms used 12 different players during the regular season while their opponent relied on the same lineup most of the times. Especially DEG topscorer Alexander @Fire_019 Eder (16G+14A) can hurt the German juggernaut on counterattacks. If the Phantoms find their lineup, consistency and rhythm for the playoffs they should advance to the semifinals. Players to watch: Niklas @xXPsykoSkillsXx Schmitz & Alexander @Fire_019 Eder Prediction: 4-1 Deadly Phantoms Predators (3) vs. Red Bull Munich eSports (6) Surely on of the biggest surprises in the 9th campaign of GCL hockey are the Predators! @LTorro managed to create a very balanced team of experienced and very talented young players. Playing all 14 games in the same lineup shows the consistency and is surely one of the reasons for their recent success. Especially Slovakian loanplayer Roland @jasomnajlepsi Nemec (12G+19A) is an exciting player to watch who adds the needed scoring touch to their offensive game. Their regular season record of 10-3-1 on rank 2 of group 2 underline their solid performances. But will they be able to maintain their game in the post season? Red Bull Munich eSports had a tough start to the season but came back on track thanks to a 5 game winning streak in the middle of the season, giving them that decisive push to the playoffs. The experienced Lauri @Lamsa Lamsa added that needed scoring ability. The Finnish loanplayer is always able to create danger around the opponents net and makes his teammates better. While Predators were more consistent during the season, the Red Bulls dropped many points in tight matchups. This can be the x-factor in a long and tight quarterfinalseries. Players to watch: Florian @Flo_goes_grazy(flgr93) Griechbaum & Roland @jasomnajlepsi Nemec Prediction: 4-3 Predators SCB eSports (4) vs. Team NGU (5) Another very tight and exciting series in the quarterfinals of GCL9! The Swiss Esports Squad from Bern managed to secure a strong rank 2 in group 1 right behind their countrymen of ZSC Esports. Winning 7 out of their last 8 games it seems like SCB Esports have found their scoring touch right in time! The ECL Pro Qualifier participant of Team NGU once again added loanplayers Jani @Jaks_10 Sallila and Czech ECL Lite Champion Patrik @Winci Wenzel to their squad. Team NGU recovered from a four game losing streak and finished with a record of 9-4-1, winning even one more game than their quarterfinal opponent from Switzerland! While the Esports team of the “Schlittschuh Club Bern” used 11 players during the regular season, we could find mainly the same lineup for Team NGU on the other side. Akin @DaMan(Akin_Penta) Isik (9G+9A) and Bryan @CuteTerminator7 Bolliger switched roles which seemed to have worked quite well towards the end of the season in combination with one of their two licenseplayers on the other wing! Despite their lower seed but due to their experience on higher level Team NGU should be able to win this series and advance to the top 4 in GCL 9! Players to watch: Bryan @CuteTerminator7 Bolliger & Yves @Bille123(Bille1990) Bill Predicition: 4-2 Team NGU

We’re back with the biggest Finnish eHockey event of the year, big cash prizes and bigger Championship titles in both 1v1 and 6v6 on the line! Sign up now to compete among the very best in the 2023 eHockey Finnish Championship. The competitive NHL 23 season is chugging along nicely and with that the time has come to announce the next season of the eHockey Finnish Championships, licensed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. In the eHockey Finnish Championships, there’s obviously a Championship title on the line, but also some big cash prizes with a 10 000€ prize pool, and great Leijonat prize packages for top performers. This could be your time to shine! For the Finnish landing page, click here. Participation requires purchase of an eHockey Pelipassi (purchases made in 2022 are still valid this season) and payment of a participation fee (5€/player). All participation fees go directly into funding the prize pool. Both the eHockey Pelipassi and participation fee can be paid and acquired in the Suomisport-portal. Starting in late March, this eHockey SM is the second of its sort and one of the cornerstones in the cooperation between SportsGamer and the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. The inaugural season was one full of exciting action and incredible turns of events. In late 2022, Jere @jxrska Laukka was crowned the Champion on the 1v1 side of things, whereas GOONS managed to claim the trophy on the 6v6 side. The reigning Champions will receive invites to the Playoff stage to defend their titles. As in previous iterations of the tournament, we’ll play for the title in both the 1v1 and 6v6 game modes of NHL 23. 1v1 will be played strictly on PlayStation 5, whereas 6v6 teams will be able to participate both with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game. SCHEDULE Signups: 6.3-25.3 Tournament: 27.3-6.5 See the full schedule listed per game mode below. SIGN UP FOR 6v6 HERE Schedule for the 6v6 eHockey Finnish Championship: Registrations: 5.-25.3. Tournament: 27.3.-6.5. Group stage: 27.3.-6.4. Playoffs Round 1 (64) 9.-10.4. Playoffs Round 2 (32) 12.-13.4. Playoffs Round 3 (16) 16.-17.4. Quarterfinals (8) 19.-20.4. Semifinals (4) 28.-29.4. Bronze & Finals (2) 6.5. * * The schedule and location of the Finals is preliminary and will be confirmed later. Find the 6v6 eHockey Finnish Championship rulebook here! (Finnish) SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE! Schedule for the 1v1 eHockey Finnish Championship: Registration: 5. -25.3. Tournament: 29.3.-5.5. Group Stage 29.3.-8.4. Playoffs Round 1 (120) 11.4. Playoffs Round 2 (60) 12.4. Playoffs Round 3 (30) 15.4. Playoffs Round 4 (16) 17.-20.4. Quarterfinals (8) 22.4. LIVE Finals (4) 5.5.* * The schedule and location of the Finals is preliminary and will be confirmed later. Find the 1v1 eHockey Finnish Championship rulebook here (Finnish) With more parity than ever before across the sport and some interesting roster movement in top teams, the Championship could be up for grabs for anyone this season. We’ll know at the start of May and we’re as excited as ever to follow the action! Signups are now open and will close on Saturday, March 25th, so make sure to gather your friends and challenge the big dogs in one of the biggest tournaments of the eHockey season! Please note: Information about the SCL and ECL Spring will be available next week.