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It's been a long road for both teams in the Finals and now it's finally time to determine the champion once and for all. Valco is coming into the Finals after an incredible run, taking down some of the top seeds along the way, whereas Synergy Hockey has been on a dominant path throughout the season. Who will hoist the cup? Structure & Prize Pool A long season sees its end once again and the only games left are the Finals. These teams have all certainly earned their right to direct promotion for next season. Synergy Hockey has been a solid team throughout the season and is a less surprising team at this point, whereas Valco has trodden a more rocky path, finding their form at the best of times. Many predictions I have put them to the losing side but the experience and the whole team playing together has shown their strength. The third direct promotion spot was decided this week between IK Oskarshamn and Spirit in the Bronze games and Oskarshamn walked away with a sweep in that series. (10) Synergy Hockey vs Valco (26) Synergy came through the Lite qualifiers for the Spring season, most likely as no surprise to anyone. Synergy Hockey continued their good form throughout regular season and maintained their level in the playoffs. Winning their first two series with a clean sweep and only losing one game to Destiny is a real show of power. However, their semifinals against IK Oskarshamn was another story. IK Oskarshamn defended firmly and used their scoring chances clinically. It ended up being a seven game saga where Synergy Hockey were down for the count 3-1 and were able to “reverse sweep” to the series victory with a game seven OT winner from @J-Foppa. A seeing-eye wrister from the point with a little luck clinched the victory for Synergy Hockey. Then we've got Valco. In the mid-season report, the writer (me) didn’t believe this team could even make it to the playoffs and the doubting and naysaying continued in the playoffs. However, here they are and no one can take that away from this team. Probably one of the hardest routes to the final. Facing TTK in the first round, Arkham Asylum in the second and TadPole in the third. Even Spirit couldn’t break the tight defence and goal scorer, by god’s grace @itspardytime, pushed his forces through to the finals. Look for an exciting battle where two different game styles will clash. You can follow the entire series through Valco's Twitch-channel at www.twitch.tv/Samila87 starting on Thursday, June 16th at 20:30 CEST. On Thursday, we will see at least three games of action, stay tuned for more information through the social media channels of the teams. Socials Here's an update to the social media instructions. Our sponsors this season are Kouvolan Lakritsi, St Hockey & Wilhelm. Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Note: It is very helpful and critical for us to succeed in getting our partners tagged, so they get the necessary mentions and interaction to validate their participation in the future. That being said, it is understandable that there may be circumstances due to your other partners where you are unable to tag competition etc. Your support is appreciated. As there are quite a few hashtags by now, especially from a Twitter perspective with limited characters, we recommend using at least #ECL22Spring in the text part of the tweet and leave the sponsor tags for the end. If you need to cut out tags, remove #esports and #NHL22. For Instagram this shouldn't be an issue.

SportsGamer hosts the ECL '22 Spring Elite Finals and possible Grand Finals in Helsinki this upcoming weekend and regardless of what transpires in the games, it will be a historical outcome. We've got two young and hungry teams clashing at an event unlike anything we've seen before, so we're happy to invite you to join us either live at the scene or in our stream! We've come a long way from the announcement of our reimagined ECL framework - "A Song of Winter and Spring" back in late 2021 and since then we've seen the likes of hREDS pulling off the historical back-to-back, the uprise of several interesting contenders such as SAWO ESPORTS and even the decline of some dynasties we once thought would never fade away. Now we're in for the finale of the ECL '22 season, as we'll first crown our Spring Champion and possibly even get to see a Grand Final on Sunday for the ECL '22 title. Both of the squads who have paved their way to the finals are hungry to get things going, but we'll need to hold them back for just a bit longer, as the Finals don't start until Friday evening. Until then, we'll be taking you through some details for the action packed weekend. What? The ECL '22 Spring Finals and The ECL '22 Grand Finals (If needed) #3 SAWO ESPORTS vs hREDS #1 When? Friday, June 17th 19:30 CEST (Games 1-2) Saturday, June 18th 18:45 CEST (Games 3-7) Sunday, June 19th 20:30 CEST (ECL '22 Grand Finals)* Where? Helsinki, Finland - Narinkkatori www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG You'll find us at the SportsGamer truck parked at Narinkkatori, the event is hosted in cooperation with St Hockey and besides their St Hockey Tour opening weekend event. Entry is free. "It's been a blast, however there's obviously so much work that goes into an event like this just behind the scenes. This time is going to be quite different from what we've ever done before with it being outside and all the challenges coming with that, but I think we've managed to tackle them well. Combining our event with both the St Hockey Tour and the Wilhelm eHockey Tour also adds to the experience of it all, it's definitely going to be a celebration of hockey in all forms", says SportsGamer COO Kenneth @Kenu Lehtinen. Stay tuned as the week progresses for more info about the Finals and everything we've got coming up! We'll also drop the extensive Finals preview later in the week.

SportsGamers, the Player Spotlight series is making its return with the objective of showcasing gamers that would perhaps otherwise fall outside normal reporting, but that we want to get to know better. Our strength is this community, so let's get to know each other! Right in time we are back with yet another Player Spotlight! The first week in the 8th season of the German Championship League is on its way - so it's the perfect time to take a closer look at Reto "eTschitsch" (@afc_Tschitsch) Ulrich. Goalie of the reigning GCL champion ZSC Esports from Switzerland!   1. What was your first experience with the EASHL mode in NHL? I started playing in NHL09 with Claudio @Freeman7187 Salamoni. We started playing 2v2 where all remaining positions were played by the AI. After a few years I stopped playing until Claudio contacted me in 2018 again. They were in need of a Goalie for the former "The Black Jacks". That's when I started grinding again.   2. What do you value most in playing for ZSC Esports? It makes me extremely proud to be part of this team and represent one of the biggest clubs in the country. Furthermore ZSC is my childhood club. So it's even more special to me.   3. Describe your perfect day! Sleeping until 11am. Have a good workout in the gym and spending the rest of the day in Zürich, enjoying the sun and having good dinner.   4. You are GM for a day and get to pick any player for your 6v6 team. Who is in your perfect ECL lineup and GCL lineup (only DACH-players)? ECL Lineup: LW: @NikkeDangles C : @Eki RW: @FlyerKungen         LD: @Toneee9 RD: @Tuukka.R (KingOfApes_)                         G: @uhNikke   GCL Lineup: LW: @IDangledYouOut C : @PlaymakerSJ RW: @Freeman7187                              LD: @Toneee9 RD: @Haldeem                                          G: @PLA77NER     5. Do you play hockey in real life? I played 14 years for ZSC Lions Youth teams. When I was 18 years old I had to end my career due to an injury.   6. What's your best hockey memory? There are several moments I like to remember. I was able to play with great players who paved their way to the NHL. Such as Kevin Fiala, Jonas Siegenthaler, Denis Malgin, Sven Andrighetto and many more. But apart from that my biggest highlight was winning the Swiss Youth Championship back in 2012 and finishing as the top scorer of the league.   7. What do you like to do in your spare time besides playing NHL? I love doing sports and having a good time with my friends. Spending time with my family is really important to me as well as travelling as much as possible.   8. Pizza with Pineapples. Yes or No? NO!   9. What song do you listen to while playing an intense match in ECL? Currently my favourite tune is "Good Vibe" by R.I.O. & Kyanu.   10. What's the background story to your PSN ID? As a kid I fell in love with the Croatia kit at the World Cup 1998. My father bought me one and due to the fact that most of Croatias players name ended on "-cic" he told me that 'Cic" has to be my new name. A few friends started calling me that nickname and so it started its course until it eventually became "Tschitsch" instead of "Cic".   11. Who is the best player in the ECL? This is a really tough question to answer. There are many great players and talents out there. But if I had to choose one I would pick @Eki. He is almost always able to make a difference and give his team the edge over the opponents.   12. What's your favourite dish? As a Swiss there can be only one answer: cheese fondue.   13. What are your goals for this GCL and next ECL in NHL23? For this GCL I will take the role as a backup goalie to have Mike @burban26 Müller and Christian  @Fightlocke3 Schubert's back. But our only goal for this season has to be to defend the title. In the next ECL I would love to participate in the playoffs. In the past seasons we improved steadily and making the playoffs has to be the next step.   14. High scoring game or OT drama? Since I'm a Goalie I will obviously take the OT drama. And personally I feel like I perform best when being under pressure.   15. What are your NHL career highlights so far? My biggest highlight has to be winning the GCL7 title in the finals against Team LEISURE (now Deadly Phantoms again). After falling short in four finals it was a big relief to finally beat them. On top of that we were able to secure the title with three sweeps in a row and personally securing five shutouts in the postseason felt really good! The ECL 7 Lite title was also really special to me aswell as making it to the top of the ECL and playing there now for the 4th consecutive season.   16. Who should be featured next in "Player Spotlight"? In the next spotlight I would love to see my Swiss fellowman Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi!     Feel free to also suggest who you'd want to see in the Player Spotlight-series. Also, if there are any questions you'd like us to add to the arsenal, let us know!