Leaderboard

Mika @mikaasi Heikkilä is very a experienced player and has represented the Gotham Knights, FILADELPHIA and FILADELPHIA Academy among others along his virtual hockey career. He first fell in love with the NHL game series back in 04 and admits that hockey is a sport very close to heart, although he never practiced the sport himself. "I started playing NHL back in -04, and from there on out every NHL game is in my collection. Hockey has always been close to my heart, even though I've never played it myself. I started playing 6v6 games during NHL 11 and then I also participated in the first 6v6 tournament organized by Consolehockey. Back then, as a young boy (14 years old) I just played for fun, but in a certain way also seriously because I wanted to develop as a player and help my team to survive. I couldn't imagine at the time that 6v6 tournaments would become such a competitive thing as they are at the moment. It's definitely been cool to watch the scene develop. It certainly became more goal-oriented when NHLGamer started organizing tournaments and also when a lot of players and teams moved to PlayStation and thus the level of tournaments reached a new level." Heikkilä states that the first Finnish championship and the ECL 7 title are his fondest memories with the game series. He has spent several years with FILADELPHIA and truly calls the club home.  "I'm sure a lot of people have a bunch of stories of themselves scoring decisive goals and making clutch plays but mine is simply all of my time with FILADELPHIA. Especially the first Finnish championship and the ECL Elite 7 Championship are some of the best memories for me. Even though I was more or less a bench warmer on that team, I've always appreciated the team's team spirit and that good vibe on the team way above simply looking out for myself. FILADELPHIA has always felt like a home of its own and for example the friendship I've build with team captain Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala (since NHL 12) is one I'm sure will last for life. Live events, on the other hand, are their own experience entirely and always bring fun memories to mind when looking back at them." As an experienced player, Heikkilä has a few thing in mind he'd like to see implemented even better to help the scene grow, but he admits that NHLGamer especially has done a great job. "I would say that surely the scene would develop even faster and better if EA advertised the 6v6 gaming more and used more resources to develop it anyway. NHLGamer has done a great job for tournaments and the scene is constantly growing, which hopefully only promises for a better future. It will be interesting to see what the future holds." A leader with experience to help younger players Last year, European top tier juggernaut FILADELPHIA set up an academy team aimed at developing both new talents as well as older players who are yet to reach their prime and might have a chance to once make an appearance for the main squad. "FILADELPHIA's academy activities are aimed at developing both young and also older players to reach their top level and perhaps one day represent the main team. They started recruiting for the team and Pontus @Pontinho (I-CLAUGHTON-I) Claughton was selected as the first captain. I played for the Gotham Knights at that time, and when that team fell apart, I thought about the continuation of my career for a while in peace. Patzlaf asked me how interested I was in joining that project and I went to see how the game felt for a few nights. I started to get excited about it, and I decided to join in. I was already supposed to play with the academy last ECL season, but there were roster changes going on in FILADELPHIA's main team and they needed a player there and of course I helped with it. After the season, however, I returned to the academy because I wanted to play and help the team develop any way I could." The main team and the academy work in tight cooperation. Heikkilä, who captains the Academy team, admits that one of the best things for the Academy in terms of cooperation is definitely the experience and know-how of FILADELPHIA's main squad and the possibility of playing in the first team in the future. FILADELPHIA, on the other hand, has the opportunity to get players from the academy if necessary. "I would like to raise the best things about it, at least from the academy's point of view, that GM Patzlaf has invested a lot of his own time and expertise to help academy players with game matters. I see a lot of potential individuals in our team who can even break into the Elite of the scene in the future and work for it." Mikaasi also sees himself as a good mentor for younger players, as he has played at various levels and through various eras of the NHL competitive scene. He tries his best to help his teammates with the game and any questions they might have for him. "Yes, I would be lying if I said that being captain didn't require any leadership and showing a model to the younger. As an experienced player, I have tried to help every player around me with just that everyday work during games. For example, if there are situations that need to be reviewed, we will discuss the matter together and try it out so that we can make it work. At least I've felt that academy players have already learned new things at this point." As usual, we also asked Mikaasi to pick out his own 6v6 team of potential future stars: Center: @theMaddias Apparently could play a multitude of positions, but had such a nice FCL run so he can't be left out of this lineup. Right wing: @xColeslaww Hands are fine and overall a good player in question. Left wing: I could say @pikkuroger, but he's already playing at a high level, so I'm going to pull home and say @xAaro89x. This guy's going to be a top player in the near future. Right defenseman: @Bobiraataja(Nikhaa27) Great with the defensive skill stick. Left defenseman: @viba2008 He's got all the potential to be a top 5 defenseman in the scene. Goaltender: Our Academy goalie @Edvvinio, he surprises me time and time again with his skills. Heikkilä hopes that in the future even more clubs would be eager to start affiliate clubs or entertain the thought of similar development projects. FILADELPHIA aims to act as a pioneer. "Of course, it would be great to see more academy activities by other squads in the scene, and I would see it in such a way that we would have to have a system where representative teams could use their academy players in a similar way as NHL clubs use their AHL squads. However, there is still a lot of work to do in order to achieve that, so let's take one step at a time."

Our regional leagues are an excellent platform for new talents to showcase themselves and that is exactly what Otukset eSports did during their past FCL campaign, which ended in the Quarterfinals at the hands of eventual champion FILADELPHIA. Otukset eSports is a slightly more unknown team for many, although the team has a wealth of experience in various competitive tournaments. Most of their players have already participated in previous ECL tournaments, but team captain Matias @theMaddias Kilpinen notes that only recently, a more goal-oriented approach to playing has started: "As players, the number of players became acquainted with ECL10 when NEO was played in different gangs. The project started because the goal was to play in the same gang before, now the timing was right. From then on, we played together from time to time, and now, at the end of ECL12, a gang was pulled together." Individual skill is perhaps not the strength of the team, but instead the fact that every player knows their role and play an equally important part in the game. "The strengths of our team are largely in the passing game as well as in defence, skill-wise, the team is very even, i.e. everyone is able to do a little bit of everything and adapt to different situations. We've got high ambitions, which means that at the moment we've got our sights set on an eventual promotion to Elite." "Although our FCL squad didn't consist of big profile players, each of the individuals had held important roles in their previous teams. I think that we were seen as underdogs simply because people hadn't heard of us before and we harnessed that as a strength." The team's captain notes that participating in the FCL was a foregone conclusion and the team's biggest goal in the tournament was to go as far as possible. To everyone's great surprise, the team managed to progress all the way to the playoffs, where they managed to beat skilled groups such as IQUE and RCTIC along the way. "In the IQUE series we started to win every game and got an OT win right from the first game, which was very important for the series. We simply stuck to the process without any special attempts to adapt to the opponent's style of play." In the quarterfinals, FILADELPHIA, who eventually progressed to become Finnish champion, was an insurmountable obstacle for the team. "Against FILADELPHIA, we wanted to continue in the same way, but the skill and experience of the opponent just ended up being too much for us to handle at that moment." A successful FCL tournament gave the young team a lot of confidence for the future. When asked about the team's next goals, participation in the Pro Qualifiers through a wildcard spot is what the team has their sights set on. "FCL provided a lot of confidence for the future and we also decided to stick with the same lineup going further, sadly losing the handsome Dane Mikkel @Birkedal96 Birkedal. Under the new ECL qualifier rules we'll be able to qualify for Pro through a wildcard spot, which we are very excited about, we're diving into action head first and of course are aiming to just win." Success stories like this are always exciting to see and it'll be interesting to follow the journey of Otukset also in the future. They will start their ECL 13 campaign through qualifiers to determine in which division they'll end up, so make sure to keep an eye on this ambitious group when the puck drops!