The fourth season of the SHL's virtual counterpart, the eSHL is kicking off tonight! This season, all 14 SHL clubs will participate for the first time ever. Brynäs IF will participate for their first time ever, and HV71 returns after a season of absence to fill out the full team lineup.

The eSHL has established itself as one of the prime 6v6 events of the year and with the prize pool of 100 000 SEK, there's some big cash on the line too! It all kicks off tonight at 19:00 CET with full force and all 14 SHL clubs in participation. SportsGamerGG enters season 4 as the official stats partner, and with that all league statistics and the full schedule can be found at the league page. In difference to previous seasons, this year all games will be available as streams on official eSHL Twitch-channels labeled eSHLse 2-7, and the main channel being www.twitch.tv/eSHLse. All main broadcasts will also be available in Sweden at C More and TV4 Play. The season opener will be played between Luleå Hockey and the defending Champions Växjö Lakers HC, after which Färjestad BK and HV71 will take the ice in the broadcast.

Official gamedays this season will be on Monday and Wednesday, with the main broadcast going live at 19:00 CET and the rest of the games starting an hour later at 20:00 CET. This season, Marcus "McMaggan" Magnusson is returning as the studio host and he's joined by both Adam @esdor Ericson and Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann as commentators. 

It'll be enormously exciting to watch the fourth season, now with the full SHL team lineup participating. The SHL clubs have been eager to get on board and all of them have managed to find highly competitive rosters to represent them. This iteration of the eSHL will without a doubt be the most competitive year yet. Your usual suspects Frölunda HC, Färjestad BK, and the defending champion Växjö Lakers HC are definitely some of the hottest squads to be on the lookout for, but a new challenger that emerges will be Rögle BK, who recently secured the services of ECL Elite top team Tunnel Vision. Malmö Redhawks is also looking like a top 6 team at the very least with their highly experienced roster. Luleå Hockey, Örebro Hockey, Leksands IF, IK Oskarshamn and HV71 should be able to challenge the contenders. Brynäs IF have signed a highly experienced roster that has struggled in the ECL this season, but they should be able to slot in as "the best of the rest". Linköping HC, Skellefteå AIK and Timrå IK will be the ones chasing down the rest of the pack. 

Format

The eSHL includes all 14 SHL clubs, which will be playing out a full regular season with one gameday against each opponent. Every gameday entails a double-header against the assigned opponent. At the end of the regular season, the top six teams will reach the Quarterfinals, whereas the teams placing 7-10 will enter a Play-in round for the two last spots in the Quarterfinals. The Playoffs are played as best-of-three series throughout, with the Finals being hosted live at SPACE in Stockholm on March 10th, 2023. 

Schedule

Regular season: 16.1.2023-17.2.2023
Play-in round: 20.2.2023
Quarterfinals: 22.2.2023 & 27.2.2023
Semifinals: 1.3.2023
Finals: 10.3.2023 @ SPACE in Stockholm

Find more information about the eSHL and all relevant links for past and the upcoming seasons at the eSHL homepage! 

NHLGamers,

It's been an interesting road and it was surely an exciting project to complete the inaugural season of the eSHL together with the SHL, Aftonbladet and Area Academy. The league was announced in early December and we have surely came a long way since that. A total of 159 has been played over the course of 1,5 months. Now with the season in the rearview and all the celebrations out of the way, it's a good time to take a look back at what was accomplished along the way.

 Linkoping HC
The eventual champions had an inaugural season to remember. Coming fresh off a European championship run, they added to their trophy case by claiming the beautiful eSHL championship trophy almost two weeks back. To be fair it wasn't much of a surprise that Linkoping was the team to hoist the cup at the end of the day, as they were highly touted championship candidates ever since the season started. The teams right winger Erik @Eki Tammenpää is one of the most recognizable faces in virtual hockey and played a monumental role in the success of his team, but ultimately the factor that won them the trophy was the chemistry built over time. The team especially thanked goaltender Casper @ICappeI Lundgren for his outstanding efforts in both setting up the contract and his stellar play throughout the season. They'll surely have some tougher competition in the seasons going forward, but for now Linkoping goes down in history as the first squad to hoist the cup.
 

Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

Malmö Redhawks
Malmo Redhawks recruited a particularly skilled Swedish bunch ahead of the players and added to it with some great Finnish talent, out of which especially Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha and Risto @Dominointi Järvi were excellent additions to an already strong roster. We knew ahead of the season what these guys could do, but the timely additions to the crew elevated the level of play a few notches and Malmo really found their stride in the later half of the season as they strung together a record setting 19 victories before Farjestad BK finally succeeded in cracking them in game two of the semifinals. Long-time defensive pairing Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann and Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander were arguably one of the most balanced duos all season long. A success of a season resulted in a second place finish, which Malmo can be satisfied with.

Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

  Farjestad BK
Being one of the first teams to announce their esports affiliation, FBK had a chance to get ahead of the competition and did so by signing one of the strongest Swedish-based teams. Prior to the season the squad stacked up their roster by adding the dominant defensive pairing Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto & Wille @willekunq Juntunen to solidify their opening squad, which turned out to be some of the biggest signings overall during the season. Centerman Christoffer @I-Maise-I Berntsson elevated his level and punched his ticket into the discussion about the very elite players on that particular position. FBK was expected to finish in the top four and did just that.

Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

 Leksands IF
Leksands IF was one of the positive surprises this season. After a very disappointing finish to their ECL 9 campaign in the Elite division, the squad remained virtually unchanged and went back to the drawing board. With the backing forces of a stellar organisation and an accomplished esports personality as their manager, LIF managed to turn the page and found a new level to their play. The tight defense was extremely tough to crack for a multitude of teams over the course of the season and having goalies Kimmo @DUNZA Sunnari and Johan @Rundqviiist Rundqvist come to play at an extremely high level helped LIF a lot. Finishing in the top four is a pleasant surprise as stated.

Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård


Lulea Hockey
One of the disappointments of the season can be found in Lulea, who only managed to accomplish a high mid-table finish despite coming off a promising ECL 9 performance and having time to perfect their play with their rather new found construction of players from several previous teams. LHF struggled to find any type of consistency throughout the season and as a result didn't string together any longer win streaks. We saw a lot of rotation in the roster as players even switched positions among themselves. Even signing superstar winger Jere @jergelii Jortama couldn't save LHF from a quarterfinal elimination against Leksands IF.

 Vaxjo Lakers HC
Vaxjo was also quite early to announce their roster and with that had some time to adjust in their new colors before the season. The team boasted a rather large roster and ended up having a total of nine skaters play at least two games during the season. Performances were rather consistent and as expected, a mid-table finish is what the team managed to accomplish. FBK was a very tough opponent in the quarterfinals, but VLH managed to steal one victory in the series.

 Djurgarden Hockey
The current hockey pride of Stockholm finalized their roster a few days before the season. The team mostly consisted of former Miracle-players, so we had an idea of how DIF would match up against the competition in this league. In regards to earlier performances, the team finished somewhere around the expected positions by just about making the playoffs. Some internal differences were rumored throughout the season and might have affected performances to some extent.

 HV71
HV71 had an interesting take on team building, as they had been chipping away at their eSHL-project for quite some time prior to the season. Jönköping native and team captain Daniel @Demski13 Gadd was selected to lead the process and recruit a team consisting of local talents, a feat in which he succeeded rather well. The team pushed into the playoffs and managed to challenge several contenders with their structured defensive play and fast paced counter offense over the course of the season. It'll be interesting to see how the team fares and develops going forward but once again the importance of captain @Demski13 for this team cannot be stressed enough.

 Rogle BK
Company of Geeks is a long-time virtual hockey franchise and has seen some great success in their time but fallen off the radar a bit in recent years. That is the roster that Rogle BK recruited for their inaugural eSHL push and their team did a decent job when taking into account the circumstances. By no means was Rogle the strongest team around, but not making the playoffs must sting.

 Orebro Hockey
Orebro Hockey signed an interesting mix of rather experienced players to their team. With that, there were some expectations set and the team had a realistic chance of making the playoffs. A playoff spot eventually fell out of reach and the biggest problem of the season was lack of scoring power. A total of nine skaters played a minimum of two games, but five managed to find the net in the form of a goal or two. The team combined for only 41 goals in 22 games and will look to better that in the future.

 Skelleftea AIK
Skelleftea AIK is another team that decided to go mainly local in their recruiting process and as a result their roster was extremely inexperienced with only a few prior competitive 6's games combined. The beginning didn't look good as the team quickly fell into a losing streak, but eventually managed to overcome Rogle BK for their historical first win. Eventually the season was finished with a total of three wins and an 11th place finish, but the players have gained some valuable experience and rookie player Liam @RookieLIAMOVIC Carlsson won the internal scoring title with over a point per game, which is very promising for the youngster.

 IK Oskarshamn
A lot of eyebrows were raised when IK Oskarshamn first announced their roster - they had almost no prior experience of competitive 6vs6 NHL gaming and on top of that were one of the last teams to solidify their squad and start practicing. The start was absolutely horrendous as it seemed like team after team put IKO in a body bag on a nightly basis. It took a few weeks, but performances slowly started improving. A pivotal moment was the decision to recruit a few players with more experience at the transfer deadline. @Fancystick and @Halvdan89 handled the defensive responsibilities after the deadline, which gave the team a chance to compete against Skelleftea AIK in their headline matchup at Sportbladet. The clubs first eSHL season wasn't pretty to look at by any means, but rumours are out that development and preparation for the future is already being planned and put into action.

To cap off the inaugural season, we'd also like to hand out some mentions in form of individual trophies to players that performed in exceptional manner throughout the season. These trophies are unofficial and have been chosen by the eSHL content creation team of yours truly and @l-Furyan-l. Here are your picks for each trophy:

Most valuable player - The MVP is awarded to a player that performed exceptionally well throughout the season and with those performances played a monumental role in the success of their team.
Awarded to: Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha - Malmo Redhawks
Honorable mentions: Daniel @Demski13 Gadd - HV71

Best offensive player - Awarded to the most offensively outstanding player of the season.
Awarded to: Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha - Malmo Redhawks
Honorable mentions: Risto @Dominointi Järvi - Malmo Redhawks, Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund - Malmo Redhawks & Paul @PleeMaker Arontie - Linkoping HC

Best defensive player - Awarded to the best shut-down player of the season.
Awarded to: Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto - Farjestad BK
Honorable mentions: Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann - Malmo Redhawks, Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta - Linkoping HC & Jonas @Supremski Söderlund - Leksands IF

Best goaltender - Awarded to the most outstanding goaltender of the season.
Awarded to: Casper @ICappeI Lundgren - Linkoping HC
Honorable mentions: Johan @Rundqviiist Rundqvist - Leksands IF


Thank you all for a successful inaugural season, we're extremely excited about the future holds and will be bringing you some interesting stuff in the coming weeks!


Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

 NHLGamers,

Your inaugural eSHL champions have been crowned! Twelve eSHL teams entered, eight progressed to the playoffs, and eventually, we were left with a somewhat familiar-looking matchup in Linköping HC vs. Malmö Redhawks. Both teams are no strangers to winning, with LHC featuring their exact same roster from their most recent ECL Elite victory, and Malmö boasting two players from HAVU as well as four from the Vesa Pompa HC team who won the SCL last Spring. Despite the final series resulting in a BO5 sweep, two of the three games were decided by one goal, and each game felt like it was on a knife's edge. 

Once the dust had settled LHC emerged as your eSHL champions, continuing their impressive form over the past few tournaments they have competed in.
 

Your new eSHL Champions - Linköping HC / Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

 Linköping HC 🏆

Group stage record: 21-1-0 (1st)
Round 1: vs HV71 (8) 3-0
Semifinals: vs Leksands IF (4) 3-1
Finals: vs Malmö Redhawks (2) 3-0

GOALIES

#72 C. Lundgren @ICappeI

DEFENSEMEN

#27 A. Loimuvirta @loimmu

#40 J. Torro @jtorro1233

#88 J. Virta @SUPERVIRTA

FORWARDS

#23 N. Tukiainen @NikkeDangles

#25 E. Tammenpaa @Eki

#44 P. Arontie @PleeMaker

#86 J. Paatiala @Juunas

After the games were played and Linköping HC had emerged as the champions, our editor-in-chief @jahajaha93 had a chance to talk to @Eki and asked him some questions:

You've now managed to secure two titles within a short span of time, what do you have to say about your run as of late?

"Obviously a championship always feels great, Cappe did an amazing job setting this up for us so it feels especially great to be able to play for him."

Malmo was your expected final opponent for quite some time, did you prepare for that ahead of time?

"We expected to meet Malmö in an eventual final. They have a very strong roster and we know their players well, so we didn't actually prepare too much per se since we've obviously met them before and had time to think things over."

The eSHL differs quite heavily in character from the ECL for example, what did you think were the biggest differences?

"Well, there's quite many but especially the heavily varying level of competition is different. Some clubs went with local talent and it's respectable, but they didn't fare too well in the end. It's obviously a bit of a different mindset going into the game when you're meeting a contender like Malmo versus when you're going up against a team you know you will beat with ease."

Finally, how did you like representing Linköping HC in this tournament and what does the future hold for you?

"It's been absolutely awesome and the support has been second to none. Linköping is a first-class organization that has really taken care of us players and seen to it that we can perform at our highest level. About the future - our contract term is for the remainder of NHL 20, no talks about extensions have been had yet so that's something that remains to be seen."

Eki and all of Linköping HC were all smiles all weekend  / Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård

NHLGamer would like to congratulate Linköping HC for their championship and thank all of the teams, players and organizations for an amazing first season of the eSHL! Stay tuned for a more detailed season recap later this week.

 NHLGamers,

Unfortunately the series last night was cut short due to technical difficulties and ultimately an issue with EA's servers affecting a limited amount of users. The semifinal series between Malmo Redhawks and Farjestad BK could not be finished as scheduled. We have determined one finalist, as Linkoping HC paved their way into the title matchup by overcoming Leksands IF with a series score of 3-1. 

The call was made to continue the semifinal series between Malmo Redhawks and Farjestad BK today at 12:00 CET. 

All of the action will be casted on Sportbladet starting 12:00 CET. Join in to see who joins Linköping HC in the finals!
The finals will be played directly after the semifinals have been concluded.

Let's go over the preview of the series once more:

Lainaa

 

(2)  Malmo Redhawks vs Farjestad BK  (3)

 

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
19-3-0 vs 16-4-2

TOP SCORER
@FlyerKungen (51+47=98) vs @I-Maise-I (32+44=76)

GOALTENDER
@Thunborg5 (25GP, 22W, 78,31SV%, 1.44GAA, 7SO) vs @Pippo (6GP, 6W, 76,09SV%, 1,83GAA, 1SO)

The Redhawks are currently on a record setting run, as they have not lost a game in their last 18(!) outings and with that are on a real heater into the playoffs. Right winger @FlyerKungen has been by far the most efficient scorer of the league, but the quarterfinals against Djurgarden Hockey showed that secondary scoring is no problem and to be fair that wasn't a concern to begin with. The talking point of this series will definitely be the matchup between HAVU Gaming players @Dominointi & @FlyerKungen on Malmos side and @willekunq & @Nassustelija representing Farjestad. In the regular season matchup, Malmos offense prevailed.

We should see slightly higher scoring in this series, as we have two very offensively talented teams on the ice, but it is also notable that statistically goaltending and defense hasn't been as strong as in the other semifinal series.

NHLGamers,

During last week, the quarterfinals of the eSHL were played and with that we're left with the four best Swedish teams, who will match up against each other at Inferno Online in Stockholm over the weekend. We'll start off on Friday with the two semifinal series and continue on Saturday with the culmination point - the finals!

Here's a look at both of the semifinal series:

(1)  Linkoping HC vs Leksands IF  (4)

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
21-1-0 vs 14-7-1

TOP SCORER
@PleeMaker (46+39=85) vs @Isindar (24+26=50)

GOALTENDER
@ICappeI (25GP, 24W, 85.28SV%, 1.16GAA, 11SO) vs @Rundqviiist (17GP, 10W, 85.22%, 1,76GAA, 3SO)

Linkoping HC has expectedly plowed through opposition throughout the season and had no problem getting through to the semifinals in their quarterfinal matchup against the eighth seed HV71. Leksands IF on the other side has proven to be something of the overachiever this season. A playoff run was expected, but a surprisingly consistent push throughout the season put the team in great position for the playoffs, in which they competed a reverse sweep in a convincing comeback against Lulea Hockey. 

This matchup is going to be fought mainly between the quick witted offense of Linkoping and the defensive unit and goaltender of Leksand. A complete lockdown defense is what worked for Leksand in the quarterfinals, will they be able to continue on that path against one of the worlds most well oiled offensive machines?

(2)  Malmo Redhawks vs Farjestad BK  (3)

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
19-3-0 vs 16-4-2

TOP SCORER
@FlyerKungen (51+47=98) vs @I-Maise-I (32+44=76)

GOALTENDER
@Thunborg5 (25GP, 22W, 78,31SV%, 1.44GAA, 7SO) vs @Pippo (6GP, 6W, 76,09SV%, 1,83GAA, 1SO)

The Redhawks are currently on a record setting run, as they have not lost a game in their last 18(!) outings and with that are on a real heater into the playoffs. Right winger @FlyerKungen has been by far the most efficient scorer of the league, but the quarterfinals against Djurgarden Hockey showed that secondary scoring is no problem and to be fair that wasn't a concern to begin with. The talking point of this series will definitely be the matchup between HAVU Gaming players @Dominointi & @FlyerKungen on Malmos side and @willekunq & @Nassustelija representing Farjestad. In the regular season matchup, Malmos offense prevailed.

We should see slightly higher scoring in this series, as we have two very offensively talented teams on the ice, but it is also notable that statistically goaltending and defense hasn't been as strong as in the other semifinal series.

When/where to watch?

Friday, 28th of February
Semifinals starting 17:00 CET at Sportbladet

Saturday, 29th of February
Finals starting 12:00 CET at Sportbladet

Your dynamic duo of Fredrik "JAEGARNS" Andersson & Adam @esdor Ericson will cast all the action!
If you're in the Stockholm area, you can also come see the action live at Inferno Online Odenplan.


Who do you think will win?

NHLGamers,

The eSHL playoffs are here! We've weeded out the best from the rest and with that, the eight remaining teams will start their journey towards the title today. First up on the agenda will be the quarterfinal series, out of which two will be played in their entirety today and the remaining two will be played on Friday.



The regular season winner and most dominant team, Linköping HC will be going up against HV71 starting at 19:00 CET over at Sportbladet, whereas the second series of the night between Färjestad and Växjö will be airing over at the NHLGamer Twitch. Your very own @Tougie24 and @Cyn will be in the booth.

Where/how to watch?

Monday, 17th of February
Quarterfinal 1:  Linköping HC (1) -  HV71 (8) (19:00 CET, Sportbladet)
Quarterfinal 2:  Färjestad BK (3) -  Växjö Lakers HC (6) (19:30 CET, NHLGamer)

Friday, 21st of February
Quarterfinal 3:  Malmö Redhawks (2) -  Djurgården Hockey (7) (19:00, Sportbladet)
Quarterfinal 4:  Leksands IF (4) -  Luleå Hockey (5) (19:30, NHLGamer)

Friday, 28th of February
Semifinal 1 & Semifinal 2 (Sportbladet)

Saturday, 29th of February
Final (Sportbladet)

All series will be played in a best-of-5 format.

NHLGamers,

As advertised over the past month or so, Monday night was the start date for one of the most anticipated NHL esports tournaments yet, as we kicked off the eSHL with a full six game round, where Växjö Lakers and Färjestad BK stood for the main action in the eSHL studio at Sportbladet.

A total of 12 (out of 14) SHL clubs have signed their own teams going into the eSHL. Some have been announced a longer time ago whereas others waited until the last weekend before puck drop, but all teams have in unison stated that the esports initiative that the SHL is taking is an exciting road to travel and holds a tremendous amount of potential. That surely goes to show based on the viewer numbers during the first night, which ranged between 800-100 viewers on the main channels, not included the Sportbladet broadcast.

What is the eSHL?

If you've followed the news section at NHLGamer within the past month, you should be up to speed with the concept, but if not - here's a recap. The eSHL is a virtual counterpart to the real world SHL, which is the Swedish elite league in ice hockey. The league consists of 14 teams out of which 12 are now participating in the eSHL. The points system is similar to what you're used to seeing in our other leagues and tournaments, meaning that teams are awarded two points for a victory in regular time or OT, one point for a loss in OT and zero points for a loss. Eight teams will be making the playoffs, which will culminate in a live-event between the 28th and 29th of February in Stockholm, Sweden.

The prize pool of the league totals up to 150 000 SEK (~14 235 EUR), which will be divided among all participating teams in a following split:

• 1. 50 000 SEK
• 2. 25 000 SEK
• 3-4. 13 500 SEK
• 5-8. 8 000 SEK
• 9-12. 4 000 SEK

Participating teams

Djurgården Hockey 
Djurgården is the current pride of Stockholm when it comes to hockey and they will be looking to continue on that path in the virtual world too. Having signed a talented roster for this tournament, it shouldn't be out of the question for this team to finish in the top half of the standings. 

Check out our team announcement here.

Farjestad BK 
Having been one of the first SHL teams to announce their roster, the boys representing Farjestad have had some time to adjust to their new surroundings already. The team hailing from Karlstad made some massive signings just prior to the season by bringing in HAVU Gaming defensive pari Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto and Wille @willekunq Juntunen. A top four finish should be expected.

Team announcement here.

HV71 eSHL 
HV71 is a team that's been in the works for quite some time during the past few months. Captain Daniel @Demski13 Gadd has handpicked a group of local players and is hoping to create a coherent unit that could go far in the tournament. It's an interesting approach and should do good for the esports interest in the Jonkoping region.

Check out our team announcement here.

IK Oskarshamn 
Oskarshamn also went with a local initiative in the signing of their roster. Tryouts were hosted in cooperation with the local esports team E-sport Hultsfred in order to recruit local talent to the roster. Time will tell if it pays off, but we're expecting a tough challenge for this team.

Leksands IF 
A very experienced group of guys is what Leksand got when they signed the roster of former Synergy Hockey. It'll be interesting to see if they can find their stride again and get back to the glorious form that they once possessed. Expected to finish in the top half of the table.

Check out our team announcement here.

Linkoping HC 
Having signed the complete roster of former FILADELPHIA, Linkoping instantly made their way into the talks of championship contenders. Nothing but the cup will be enough for this team.

Check out our team announcement here.

Lulea Hockey 
Lulea announced their team quite early on and they've been performing very well in their new colors. The team has a very deep roster, which can be switched around into several different outlooks and should be dangerous in any given form. A top four finish is expected.

Check out our team announcement here.

Malmo Redhawks 
Championship potential definitely not lacking from the roster of Malmo Redhawks as all of their players are currently reigning champions of some form. Together with Linkoping HC, Malmö will form the duo that is most likely to take home the title in this inaugural season.

Check out our team announcement here.

Orebro Hockey 
Orebro signed an experienced bunch of players, who are looking to improve their performances after some difficult times as of late. Captained by Joakim @Nexhztah Stewart, the team has made some new signings and should be able to fight their way into the playoffs if all the pieces fall into place.

Check out our team announcement here.

Rogle BK 
One of the latest roster announcements came from Rogle BK as they signed the former Company of Geeks, which is one of the most long-lived EASHL clubs despite some short breaks in their history. The roster is experienced but hasn't shown much in terms of competitive success as of late. They should be able to fight for a playoff spot.

Check out our team announcement here.

Skelleftea AIK 
Much alike their SHL counterpart, Skelleftea is investing in local players to represent them. Players were mainly recruited by local tryouts. Captain Christoffer @Xence1 Kauppi has a massive task at hand in generating a competitive unit in a short period of time. Anything is possible, but most likely this team is out of the playoffs at the end of the regular season.

Vaxjo Lakers HC 
Vaxjo was the very first SHL team to announce their roster and have been doing rather well in their new colors. The team has found a good balance in signing local players such as captain Fredric @EDHOLMINHO Edholm and defenseman Johannes @Hockeyjohannes Hultmark but simultaneously bringing in external talent such as highly touted Finnish goaltender Joona @Hullued Saarinen. Växjo should finish in the top half of the standings.

Check out our team announcement here.

How to watch?

The league is played with a fixed schedule, which makes it easy to follow whichever games you want to. Every gameday consists of six matchups, out of which one will be the selected main matchup of the night. The main matchup will be streamed by Sportbladet, and will feature an eSHL studio with a commentary team consisting of Fredrik "JAEGARNS" Andersson and Adam @esdor Ericson. The Sportbladet broadcast will start at 19:00 CET, whereas other games will start at 20:00 CET.


Fredrik "JAEGARNS" Andersson and Adam @esdor Ericson in the Sportbladet studio.

Here is a list of all the main matchups during the season:

• Monday, 13th of January at 19:15 CET: Vaxjo Lakers vs Farjestad BK 
• Friday, 17th of January at 19:15 CET: Malmo Redhawks vs Linkoping HC
• Monday, 20th of January at 19:15 CET: Leksands IF vs Djurgården Hockey
• Friday, 24th of January at 19:15 CET: Rogle BK vs Vaxjo Lakers
• Monday, 27th of January at 19:15 CET: Orebro Hockey vs HV71
• Friday, 29th of January at 19:15 CET: Leksands IF vs Lulea Hockey
• Monday, 31st of January at 19:15 CET: Djurgarden Hockey vs HV71
• Friday, 3rd of February at 19:15 CET: Rogle BK vs Orebro Hockey
• Monday, 7th of February at 19:15 CET: IK Oskarshamn vs Skelleftea AIK
• Friday, 10th of February at 19:15 CET: Farjestad BK vs Linkoping HC
• Monday, 14th of February at 19:15 CET: Lulea Hockey vs Malmo Redhawks

Find the full schedule here.

All of the games except the headline matchup of each gameday will be streamed on the teams respective Twitch-channels.

Remember to follow the eSHL on all social media channels for information about the league!
e.shl.se
Twitter
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NHLGamers,

We hope that many of you had the possibility to watch the opening round of the eSHL last night - at least the numbers suggest so! Streams of respective teams had and incredible viewer turnout varying between 800-100 viewers on the most popular channels. That is something we could not have expected and are very grateful! 

Although the league started last night, we haven't presented all teams to you guys yet, and with that we take the time to welcome the roster of Örebro Hockey to the league. Captain Joakim @Nexhztah Stewart has brought over the base of the former Nordic Lightning roster and made some interesting new signings in order to make this team as competitive as can be. Their first round games against an admittedly major underdog in IK Oskarshamn surely shows that their offense is running on all cylinders as they combined for a total of 15 goals in the two games played. 

"The team is based on players from the former Nordic Lightning, but we needed to replace some players who decided to move on after the latest ECL tournament. I feel like our recruitment process was successful as we've been able to create a nice mix of players and assign our guys to suitable positions where they will be able to utilise their respective strengths." - Captain @Nexhztah on the current roster and recruitment process.

Nordic Lightning saw a disappointing finish to the ECL 9 season in which they competed in the Pro division. The team was rejuvenated after a short hiatus and going into play, things were looking good. 30 games later, however, the team found themselves on the outside looking in and in need of some new direction, which the eSHL so timely provided.

"We're eager to redeem ourselves after a frustrating performance in the latest ECL season. We'll compete hard every night and when we get our game going, I know we're a tough team to beat. Playoffs should be a realistic goal for our team, but once we get there - anything could happen." - @Nexhztah on the team aspirations for the upcoming season.

We are certainly just as excited as @Nexhztah and his team to get the eSHL started. Tune in on Friday at 19:00 CET to the Sportbladet broadcast for your next dose of eSHL action when contender teams Linkoping HC and Malmo Redhawks clash in a top-level battle!

NHLGamers,

We’re happy to announce that Rögle BK has secured a roster for the upcoming eSHL league that kicks off next week on Monday, January 13th 2020. For eSHL, Rögle has signed the roster of former Company of Geeks, which is a long lived franchise in the competitive NHL scene, having started their journey back in the early 2010’s in the days of EHL. There’s been some short breaks for the team, but they’ve remained a relevant piece of NHL gaming history and have since 2017 been back competing in the ECL. The team is currently on a playoff run in the Lite division.

“We’re heading into an interesting challenge - nowadays a strong digital presence is required and I believe that this is a step in that direction for Rögle BK. By having a team represent us in the eSHL we’re excited to engage a new demographic that we potentially couldn’t reach otherwise. We recognize a large potential to expand our brand in a rapidly growing market.” - Rögle BK CEO Daniel Koch on their esports initiative



For the upcoming season of eSHL, the team has revamped their roster a bit and made some additions in order to ensure the competitiveness of their team. Competition is hard, but long-time club member Simon @hammarjet Jönsson feels like they will be up for the challenge:

“Naturally our goal is to perform to the best of our abilities and in that achieve a high finish. It’s all very new and it’ll be interesting to see how the eSHL clubs match up against each other. We’re proud to represent Rögle and will do our very best to do so in a successful way. Obviously Linköping, Luleå and Färjestad are the ones to beat, but as I said it’s all very new and you never know what is going to happen.”

Rögle BK

Originally, Rögle BK was founded as a bandy club in the village of Rögle in southwestern Sweden. Nowadays, Catena Arena in Ängelholm is where the team calls home. The hockey club was founded in 1950, and as a younger club from a rather small city, the history of the team holds some interesting tales. Since 1991, Rögle has spent time up and down between the two highest divisions in the Swedish league system, with their most recent promotion happening in 2015.

NHLGamers,

With less than a week left until the first gameday of the Swedish eSHL, announcements from teams are ramping up and with that, HV71 has released their roster for the upcoming season. That roster is comprised of some fairly unknown talents, led by captain and SCL 6vs6 bronze medalist Daniel @Demski13 Gadd, who will look to center the somewhat inexperienced bunch. The team was selected in a somewhat different way compared to other rosters that have been announced for the eSHL, as HV71 held online tryouts in order to select their participating squad, which in its final form consists of seven players (5 skaters + 2 goaltenders).

"Our club meets the prospect of eSHL with open arms and we're excited about the initiative that the SHL is taking together with the teams. We believe that the timing is right and will see this as yet another tool for us to reach new audiences and increase the interest towards HV71." - HV71's Managing director Agne Bengtsson about their participation in the eSHL

As said, the roster of the team consists of mostly new faces, out of which @Demski13 will be acting as the team captain. Most guys are local, which is something special and was an important part of the team building process from the very beginning. The team was hand picked through tryouts by the captain himself, so the project is of extremely high importance to the man himself.

"It's a fun and inspiring project. We're a tremendously talented team and it's been a dream come true for me personally to be able to build this team in cooperation with HV71. I've been a fan of the club since childhood and I've seen every game for as long as I can remember. The statement that HV71 is the team my heart beats for doesn't even do this sentiment justice. The fact that we're a group of local guys just adds to the greatness of it all and surely makes us unique in comparison to the competition. The fact that we're such a tight knit group and have the physical ability to meet up for practices at Kinnarps Arena is something worth cherishing and I believe it'll play a big part for us down the line." - Captain @Demski13 on team building and representing the club he loves

The inaugural season of the eSHL kicks off on Monday, 13th of January with a full round of games. Stay tuned for more news and the full schedule soon!

NHLGamers,

With the eSHL season closing in on us, it's time to take a look at some of the teams that will be participating, and as we've released information about most other teams, let's now take a look at Malmö Redhawks. The club from the very south of Sweden has signed a highly competitive roster that is looking to take the league by storm. 

The base of Malmös roster consists of players from the reigning SCL champions Vesa Pompa HC and the team is captained by 25 year-old defenseman Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann. On top of Vesa Pompa players, such as Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund, Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander and Edvin@Thunborg5 Thunborg, the club has signed a few players who are the very cream of the crop when it comes to competitive NHL 6's. The guys we're talking about is of course HAVU Gaming forwards Risto @Dominointi Järvi and Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha, who are no strangers to hoisting trophies and will surely be giving a welcomed boost to this already strong roster. Having a roster comprised of both Swedish and Finnish champions, Malmö puts themselves right into the contender discussion from the get go.

"We got into contact with Malmö quite early on and realised that we had a shared understanding about the potential of NHL esports. Ever since our first contact, we've been convinced that the club is investing into this endeavor and have been met by nothing but top class attitude. It was honestly an easy decision to sign with Malmö and we're proud to be representing this club." - Captain @Lehmannens in an interview with Fragbite.se

"I'm excited to get playing already! I'm very familiar with my teammates and know that there's tremendous potential that we possess. We've got a bunch of young players and are hungry for both progress and success. All of us want to take home that trophy and I'm confident we have all the tools to do so." - Right winger @FlyerKungen on malmoredhawks.com

@Hansulinho will be serving as a backup for the team, which aims to play through the league with a tight set lineup.

Malmö Redhawks

Malmö is one of the largest Swedish cities and home to the southernmost team in the SHL. Having been founded in 1972, it is one of the younger clubs in the SHL. The club has won two Swedish championships (1992, 1994) and started their current run at the top level in 2015, when they gained their latest promotion.

NHLGamers,

We’ve started the NHL 20 season strong but it’s time to ramp up the heat. 

We’ve been plotting behind the scenes for quite some time now and so, without further ado, we are extremely proud to announce that, in cooperation with the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Aftonbladet and Area Academy, we will be launching the eSHL starting January 13th, 2020.

“This is truly an exciting venture for both us and our clubs as we’ll be expanding our product range while having the opportunity to reach a completely new audience”, says Michael Marchal, CEO of SHL.

The official broadcasting partner for the eSHL will be Aftonbladet, the biggest daily newspaper in Sweden with close to 4 million daily readers/viewers. A live studio broadcast will be hosted twice a week by Aftonbladet and all other games will be streamed on the Twitch channels of the respective teams, with the occasional matchup featured in an NHLGamer Twitch broadcast. Aftonbladet will also serve as one of the main news outlets for the eSHL for the duration of the season.

The eSHL will act as a virtual counterpart to the current SHL, where teams will play each other in a league format of 6v6 EASHL. The regular season will start on January 13th and end in February.

While other major professional hockey leagues around the world have slowly begun turning their eyes towards esports, the eSHL stands out in that it is a sanctioned, organized league played in the 6v6 format - something completely unparalleled in NHL esports up until this point. 

“The most successful esports worldwide are already team-based, not to mention the strong synergy that exists between real hockey and the EASHL mode where all six players on the ice need to work as a unit in order to win”, says Linus @KAWAIIII Eklund, Project manager at SHL.

To Eklund, partnering with NHLGamer for eSHL was the obvious choice:

“With their many years of experience hosting leagues within the EA SPORTS NHL series, NHLGamer made for a perfect fit as our league partner as we set out to create the eSHL. I have plenty of experience when it comes to competitive gaming, including the NHL series, and could tell NHLGamer had built things the right way, developing a community and a professional environment within an esport that didn’t really exist a few years ago.“

“Kenneth (Lehtinen - @Kenu ) has been an incredible resource for us when setting up this league and we look forward to working with him and NHLGamer to make this league reach its full potential.”
 

As NHLGamer members have surely noticed, a number of SHL teams like Växjö Lakers, Färjestad BK and Luleå Hockey already announced their EA Sports NHL rosters in recent months - announcements that have all been leading up to this project. As things currently stand, a vast majority of the 14 current SHL clubs will be participating in the eSHL. Rögle BK and HV71 are currently openly recruiting teams and players, others have not spoken out about their situation yet. This is what the list of teams looks like currently:

• Färjestad BK
• HV71
• IK Oskarshamn
• Leksands IF
• Linköping HC
• Luleå Hockey
• Malmö Redhawks
• Rögle BK
• Skellefteå AIK
• Växjö Lakers
• Örebro Hockey

All of the league action and standings can be followed at e.shl.se which will be going live in mid-December. 

Follow eSHL on their social media channels
Twitter - eSHLse
Instagram - eSHL_se

 

About SHL

Svenska Hockeyligan or the Swedish Hockey League is the highest tier of professional hockey in Sweden and also regarded as one of the best European hockey leagues. It was formerly known as Elitserien but renamed in 2013. The league consists of 14 teams who are competing for the Le Mat Trophy.

Read SHL’s story in Swedish here