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This season, Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen had a career performance with his new team SAWO ESPORTS. Their run fell short of complete success in the quarterfinals recently, but we still decided that now is the time to take a look at the up-and coming goalie talent a bit closer. Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen, who is only 20 years old, has been one of the biggest names of the current Elite season, as he truly had a career season this ECL. The youngster has taken some very big strides forward and ended up dominating the regular season in several statistical categories. The new kid on the block has left several superstars, like Casper @ICappeI Lundgren and Filip @Faze91- Azri in the dust. "One of the enabling factors of my success was definitely the spirit in our team. I know a lot of the guys really well and the confidence level is very high. I spend a lot of time studying how other goalies play and draw inspiration from them into my own game. The team has been great to this point, but we can be even better. Personally, I didn't think I could be this good after the break I had, so I've even surprised myself", the young netminder goes over the success he had this season. More and more young players are pushing for their own spot among the European Elite. Nieminen states that it isn't enough just to claim a place in the lineup, but you have to be prepared to continue developing after that, otherwise the next big talent will pass you soon enough. He sees that in the future Roots' Linus @Limu95 Christiansson and GOONS’ Arttu @laitineen64 Laitinen are some of the names to keep an eye on. To get a better idea of the personality of the man of the hour, we asked the other players at SAWO Esports what kind of teammate and player Nieminen is like. ”As a player, Nikke is the most self-critical person I've ever encountered, no matter what happens, he always strives to do even better. In the party, Nikke isn't the loudest guy, but mainly focuses on stopping the pucks swung at him. I think he's a really relaxed and supportive teammate”, says SAWO winger Valtteri @Vattuyy Virtanen. ”Nikke is calm and is quite demanding for himself, he always tries to think about what he could do better and that's why Nikke is one of the best goalkeepers in Elite. Nikke has quite an elite skill to read the game that sometimes also helps the skaters out there”, Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen praises his teammate. Nieminen tells how he eventually became a goalkeeper in the early days of his competitive playing career: ”So I ended up playing goalie when I joined HokiDogs for ECL 6 Lite. Before that, I had never even touched the virtual pads. Previously I had played on defense in various groups.” The Lohja, Finland native says that the first game in the NHL game series was NHL 13, after which the yearly iteration has been a must-have. It was only at a later stage that competitive gaming stepped in. He says that the games in the NHL franchise have been his favourites for a long time, but in his free time he also enjoys playing FIFA and CS:GO. hREDS captain Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen gets a shoutout as a player whose helped Nieminen progress along his career: "One of my best memories is definitely back when I got involved with hREDS, and how Perttu helped me become a better player while being a part of that team." Nieminen says that he doesn't have any actual routines on the day of the game. He usually goes for a longer run and enjoys a gameday Red Bull. He notes that his absolute strengths as a player are calmness and perseverance. He tells me that always when on the ice, he tries to give it his all. Nieminen's team TUNNEL VISION signed with SAWO ESPORTS just a few days before the season started. We asked the goalie how this change has affected the team. ”Moving to SAWO ESPORTS has been a good thing and I really enjoy the responsibility I'm being given. I've been able to develop as a goalkeeper with the increased playing time. While i was in the army, I was in a backup role for hREDS because I couldn't get the right to practice and play from the army. I was quite close to quitting for a while at that point, but I decided to venture into the free agent market and that's when @tombo_02 reached out to me. When I hear that @Vattuyy was also getting on board, the deal was signed”, Nieminen goes over some events of his career. SAWO ESPORTS had a sensational regular season, securing the #2 spot into the postseason to everyones surprise. However, in the playoffs, Granit Gaming ended up being too much for them to handle, and their season ended in the Quarterfinals this past week. Despite their success, Nieminen still sees a lot to improve moving forward. ”From the goalkeepers point of view, our possession play and teamplay play has been very good in both directions. I expect that we will be able to continue in the same way and improve in all areas to become a more well-rounded team.”

SportsGamers, Let the Semifinals begin! It's been an exciting postseason thus far, with Granit Gaming causing the biggest upset by overcoming #2 seed SAWO ESPORTS in the Quarterfinals. We're all astonished by the resilience of the teams at this stage, after overcoming obstacle after obstacle, pushing onwards toward the ultimate goal - an ECL '22 Winter Championship and a ticket to the Grand Finals. Today we start the action in our broadcast over at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG as usual, make sure to tune in at 19:45 CET!      hREDS (1) vs  Granit Gaming (7) TOP SCORER Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen 4 GP, 4+4=8 vs Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund 6 GP, 4+7=11 GOALTENDER  Filip @Faze91- Azri 4 GP, 4 W, 76,67 SV%, 1.75 GAA, 0 SO vs Reittu @Roisto999 Hynynen 6 GP, 4 W, 85,25 SV%, 1.5 GAA, 0 SO REGULAR SEASON RECORD 25-2-3 vs 18-10-2 REGULAR SEASON SERIES 4-1, 4-1 hREDS were able to sweep GOONS in the first round of playoffs. Even though the series ended in four games, it perhaps doesn't tell whole story of how the games went. Only one goal separated them in every game and in three out of four games some overtime action was required. It's a clear showcase of the tenacity of this team as they are not rushing to get the game winning goal but when the chance comes they will score. REDS did continue where they left off when it comes to scoring because also in the quarterfinals every guy from the red jerseys were able to score important goals for their team. In the regular season games against Granit, both hREDS wingers were able to score a hat-trick so we will see if the Swedish guys can keep up the coverage better this time around. One fun fact is that hREDS is now the only Finnish team among the semifinal teams but of course Frölunda's core is also from Finland, despite the organization being Swedish.  Granit Gaming wasn't a favorite against SAWO ESPORTS, who were second in the regular season. Despite that, they were able to pull an upset against the young Finnish guys with a 4-2 series win. Granit was able to put SAWO in a tough spot by winning all three games in the series opening night. A clear strength in the series for Granit continued from their regular season campaign, the fact that all of their players are a scoring threat. The teams left winger Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund is leading the entire league in playoffs scoring with 4 goals and 7 assists. One guy you have to bring up from Granit's last series is their goalie Reittu @Roisto999 Hynynen. There is no denying that this experienced netminder stole a couple of goals in the first round from SAWO. It looks like the talented Swedish group have found a new level by combining individual skill and teamplay.  This upcoming series will be interesting to watch in many different ways. Granit managed to upgrade their game a lot to the quarterfinals but even though they were able to handle SAWO, in the semifinals they will face the best team in Europe right now.  It's hard to go against the reigning champion but it's obvious that Granit will make this series hard for hREDS. Knowing the fact that Granit and REDS are very similar when it comes to having scoring power in every position, the main thing will be the defensive effort in both ends of the ice. It's of course expected that REDS will dominate with puck possession so Granit will have to make their decisions wisely when they get to the offensive zone. The goaltending battle will be fun to watch as both have hot goalies. Despite a great first round, this challenge will be too much for Granit, and hREDS will make their third consecutive finals run with a 4-1 series win.     Frölunda HC (3) vs  Färjestad BK (4) TOP SCORER Erik @Eki Tammenpää 4 GP, 3+4=7 vs Andreas @affelj96 Ljungberg 6 GP, 8+1=9 GOALTENDER Casper @ICappeI Lundgren 4 GP, 4 W, 82,76 SV%, 1.25 GAA, 0 SO vs Johan @McSavid Rundqvist 6 GP, 4 W, 87,04 SV%, 1.17 GAA, 2 SO REGULAR SEASON RECORD 22-5-3 vs 22-7-1 REGULAR SEASON SERIES 3-4, 4-5 OT On paper, it was a dominant showing for Frölunda HC against their dear rival HAVU Gaming in the Quarterfinals. The Indians managed to sweep HAVU, despite the black and green being in the drivers seat for the entirety of the series. Frölunda HC seem to have mastered the current meta and are able to convert on chances from the dirty areas. All of their games against HAVU were very low scoring, which we're definitely used to between the two. The most impactful player thus far for Frölunda could very well be Paul @PleeMaker Arontie, who has managed to find alternative ways to help his team despite not yet finding that finishing touch we're used to seeing. The left winger is one of the more aggressive players on his team, meaning that from time to time he will force things to happen in a stalemate game. Despite not always being on their game, it seems like Frölunda HC is the most resilient team around, and they always find a way to turn games in their favor, especially the bigger the stakes on the line. Look for Erik @Eki Tammenpää to step up with some big goals when needed the most. On the other end of the series, we're finding Färjestad BK, who have paved their way to the Semifinals once again with a great team effort. They had to extend a bit longer than Frölunda in their Quarterfinal matchup against IQUE, who had a sensational regular season. With their 4-2 series victory, they move on to this SHL-team rivalry on the virtual ice. As previously stated, the former Färjestad BK has relied a lot on Andreas @affelj96 Ljungberg on that left wing to make things happen, but with their acquisition of André @Foppatofflan Liljegren, they have seen a big upgrade to their offense, turning it to a true triple threat situation. Färjestad definitely showcased their defensive efficiency in the quarterfinals against IQUE, and kept every game low in scoring against the very offensively talented Finnish squad. Look for a similar trend to continue against Frölunda in this bout. If the duo down low Sebastian @SebbeLarsen86 Larsen and Roni @MrNipsuli Kaján can find opening for their quick forwards, that is the opportunity to strike for FBK. In this exciting SHL-rivalry tilt, we can expect Frölunda HC to lead the way with possession, but Färjestad BK will cause them trouble with their fast counter-attacking and triple threat offense. Frölunda HC is undeniably the better unit and should be able to control play across all three zones consistently, which should lead to them having a considerable advantage in scoring chances. The goalie duel is also an interesting one, in which we see the arguably two best Swedish goalies go up against each other. Statistically it's a tough call to differentiate between Casper @ICappeI Lundgren and Johan @McSavid Rundqvist, but I'd give the edge to Cappe due to his wider understanding of the game mechanics - he also has experience of playing forward at high levels. Despite Färjestad managing to win the regular season series, I wouldn't expect them to continue on a winning path too much further. They can grab one or two wins, but Frölunda will advance in the end, let's say 4-1.