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It's been a rather young but highly successful ECL career for Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen thus far, as he's spent all but his rookie season with Tunnel Vision, claiming his first Elite title last season and representing Europe in the World Finals against the NACL Champions, Entourage.  The ECL '23 Winter season was a big one and it brought a lot of changes and marked a milestone with the first ever NHL Esports World Finals hosted at Assembly Winter 2023. Tunnel Vision and Entourage went head-to-head in a clash that eventually, the North American Champions ran away with in convincing fashion. Despite the disappointment, Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen and his team have picked up the pieces and are determined to return stronger than before for a title defense. The young captain of Tunnel Vision has seen a lot of success in his career both on the 1v1 and 6v6 sides of the game, but his only Championship title is the one won with Tunnel Vision in ECL '23 Winter. On the 1v1 side, Tomboo has managed to compete at the top for quite some time already, but success has avoided him. He has represented Tampereen Ilves in both seasons of eLiiga and is intent of focusing more also on the 1v1 side in the future. List of previous ECL cover gamers: ECL 8: Erik @Eki Tammenpää ECL 9: Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen ECL 10: Casper @ICappeI Lundgren ECL 11: Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha ECL 12: Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen ECL '22 Winter: Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann & Hampus @l-Furyan-l Duvefelt ECL '23 Spring: Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen ECL '23 Winter: Erik @Eki Tammenpää First off, how did you get into competitive NHL gaming? I've always played and enjoyed different sports and been interested in video games. Getting into NHL was a natural outcome of that. I started out playing mostly HUT and 1v1 modes ever since NHL 13, but it took until the end of NHL 19 until I really got into competitive action.  Your ECL career took off real quick and you actually started off as a winger, can you go through those experiences a bit? The start of my ECL career was a sum of several random events. I had been playing HUT and gotten to know Tapani @Tappu Anttila through that, which landed me a spot with Rookie Mistakes in ECL 10 Pro. I think the team was somewhere around a mid-tier Pro squad at that time, and I started off playing on the right wing, sharing responsibilities with Miikka @xColeslaww Kolehmainen in my first season. I think the main reason for my quick development has been playing the game so much and doing that with likeminded experienced players. A lot of my early development could be attributed to the early times with Tunnel Vision alongside players like Eemil @Sokkelo__ Soikkeli, Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen and Aki @Frilander Frilander who already had some Elite experience under their belts. We played a lot and discussed the game which really helped me take a big leap in the development on a personal level.  What would you say are some of the attributes that sets top players apart from the rest and what makes the best stay at the top? It might be quite obvious, but you just have to play the game and put in the hours consistently. As an example, many top players have fallen off in the past when they haven't had the fire to grind the game enough anymore. At the very top, the margins are small and you have to gain the competitive edge in any way possible, our team spends time watching our past games and learning from them through discussing development points. An individual ability I think is exceptionally important is just being able to keep your cool and being level-headed. After all, we're playing a video game and there's several aspects in any game you just can't control, so not letting those things rattle you is a massive factor in making you a better player. Lately there's been some discussion about various leadership types and team dynamics, how do you see yourself as a leader and what does the dynamic in Tunnel Vision look like? Well when we started Tunnel Vision, I didn't have a leadership role, but since then I've continued on the same path that we started and kept it going for about two years now. All decisions are made within the entire team and a big part of the recruitment process is making sure our new players fit the vibe of our team and are able to weigh in with valuable input in team discussion. For me, an open dialogue is very important within the entire team.  How is Tunnel Vision looking heading into the ECL '23 Spring season? Honestly, I'd say we were in better overall form during the Winter season. I feel like our game has been fluctuating a lot since the ECL & World Finals, which is a bit uncharacteristic for us. An obvious reason is that we've played less, but we'll pick things back up as the ECL kicks off again. At our best, I think we've been way better than ever before lately. We've also enjoyed playing without the banned abilities and I think it's also made the game more fun to watch.  What are some of the opponents you'll be on the lookout for in the upcoming season? I think there's more good teams than before. hREDS are the strongest team on paper, I think they have the best players on each position and they are the ones to beat. Frölunda is another team I expect to continue their good run and Erik @Eki Tammenpää & Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha switching places could be a good thing for them, they've looked good. JYP Jyväskylä has taken back their position as a solid top team and they should be a consistent Playoff contender as long as they keep things going. The most interesting teams to follow, though are GOONS and Nordic Stars. GOONS have a highly skilled roster and their offense especially is one of the toughest to guard when they are on their game. They've got golden one tees on both flanks and know how to use them. Nordic Stars took a big leap forward by getting Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen (KingOfApes_) in the offseason and have some success to show for that in the eHSM 2023. They'll surely continue improving.  ECL '23 Spring Elite starts on Monday, April 24th and Tunnel Vision is entering their title defense in confident manner. You can follow the league on all of the social media channels of the teams and in weekly broadcasts at Twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG!

SportsGamers, The newest update to the ECL '23 Spring rulebook is now live and can be accessed through the league pages shortly. Generally speaking, the rulebook is a revised and improved version of the rulebook used in ECL '23 Winter. Find the new rulebook here. Some major changes have been made as follows: • 7.7 Active bans – for convenience, the active bans are now available in a Google sheet • 10.4 Postponing games – Introduced restrictions to how many times a game can be rescheduled (without agreement) • 11.7 Banned Player Abilities – Some player abilities are now banned as per feedback from community We ask every team and it's members to familiarize themselves with the rulebook before taking the ice for the ECL '23 Spring season. Please refer to the rulebook in case of any issues that may arise over the course of the season. In case of any questions, please be in touch with support.

We're pleased to announce the Madden 23 Academy Tournament, a casual-style Madden 23 tournament for any and all European gamers looking to get familiar with the more competitive side of the game. In cooperation with EA Sports, we're able to provide a low entry barrier by providing participants with game codes, so this is not only a great deal, but an amazing opportunity to start your career in a game that might not be familiar to you from before. The Madden 23 Academy Tournament is a one-day single-elimination tournament played in the Online Head to Head game mode of Madden NFL 23 on PlayStation 5. The tournament is open to European residents. Madden NFL 23 and the all-new FieldSENSE™-system change the foundation of how you play. The newest iteration of the legendary football franchise game gives you more control than ever before all around the field and allows you to make plays you never thought were possible before. Put the ball where only your receiver can catch it, control explosive cuts to lose your coverage, read plays and react better, and showcase your speed on the field for highlight reel plays. Now is your chance to pick up your competitive Madden career, whether you are a seasoned vet or a rookie who's never touched the game, it won't get any easier than this to try it out. Together with EA Sports, we're happy to bring great prizes to the table too, as the #1 player will win four general admission tickets to any NFL International Games event of their choice and the #2 player will be winning two tickets. These events are once-in-a-lifetime experiences bringing the NFL show on the road. On top of that, we've also got a bunch of cool NFL-themed surprise prizes for Semi-finalists. What? Online Madden NFL 23 Tournament on PlayStation 5 for European Players. When? One-day tournament, 29.4.2023 Where? Sign up here at SportsGamer.GG and find all info over at SportsGamer.GG/madden PLAY LIKE MAD.

SportsGamers, After a long and very fluctuating season, GCL 6v6 action has come to an end. We have seen many thrilling matchups and upsets in the 4th iteration of the GCL Cup. Honorable mention: Division 2 squad Old Primates managed to advance to the quarterfinals but eventually fell short to SCB eSports! In the end ZSC Esports completes the "double" for the second consecutive season. After clinching the German Championship League title in the previous week, the Swiss outfit had to face the Deadly Phantoms once again for the final time this season. In a thrilling and exciting Best-of-1 final the virtual lions came back from a 1-3 deficit and equalized 38 seconds before the end of regulation. With the 4-3 OT Win the Lions secured first back-to-back doubles in GCL history! Austrian Phantoms forward Felix @ProfaneKiss Kiss secures the top scoring title (10G+12A in 5GP) in this campaign. On behalf of the whole community we want to congratulate ZSC Esports and thank all participants. See you next season! Take a look at the OT GWG by Chris @GERxVillain Ungeheuer 👇   ZSC Esports' road to the Cup: Round 1: Bye Round 2: vs EV Duisburg 8-0 Round 3: vs Hannover Indians e Sports 5-0 Quarterfinals: vs HC Lugano eSports 4-3 Semifinals: vs SCB eSports 2-1 Finals: vs Deadly Phantoms 4-3 OT   The winning roster: GOALTENDERS #22 Reto @afc_Tschitsch(eTschitsch) Ulrich (A) #28 Alex @IDangledYouOut(I_Alex28_I) Wagner DEFENSEMEN #9 Max @Toneee9 Tonitz (A) #13 Reto @Haldeem Haldemann FORWARDS #2 Chris @GERxVillain Ungeheuer #21 Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi (C) #39 Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg