A Historical Feat: hREDS' back-to-back Championships

The ECL '22 Winter Elite season came to a worthy conclusion when hREDS won their second consecutive ECL Elite (season) Championship and with that, made history being the first back to back champion. We got to talk about their journey with team captain Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen, ECL '22 Winter defender of the season Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen and Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen, the team's young star player.

Simply put, over the past two seasons not a single team has been able to stop hREDS. The team also exudes a very good team spirit and they play as a team with great individuals. These are some of the factors that make the redshirts as strong as they are at the moment.

The question is, what made hREDS such a great team and why can't no one seem to stop them right now? 

@xDoumi: ”We've put the hours into the game, carefully thinking of how we could improve or what we could do differently. I can't think of many Elite players that are able to perform at their best level throughout the season, but for us even if that would happen, we're fine since there's a top player patching up at every position.”

@Beniittto: ”All of us are really skilled and versatile, chemistry is great on and off the field, we can discuss how to play as a team or individuals very openly in the best interests of the team. We're very confident and we're used to playing under pressure.”

@NikkeDangles: ”Every player has that little extra that makes the player beside them even better. Also, our chemistry is definitely top notch - that's what makes us the almost perfect team.”

Before the start of the Winter season, hREDS was definitely considered one of the biggest favorites and the pressure for success was mounting. What makes these two consecutive championships so special is not only the historical feat, but also the stranglehold they've now taken on the rivalry series against Frölunda HC.

Looking at your game, it's obvious that you've put a lot of hours into perfecting the craft, what is the secret to achieving such a clinical level? And how do you discuss improvements within the squad?

@xDoumi: ”After the release of the new NHL, we try to reinvent ourselves as much as possible with the offseason so that when the season starts, our game is as ready as possible and adjusted to the meta. For example we talk a lot about minimising mistakes or understanding what's wrong in certain situations and making sure such things won't happen again in the future. If you make the same mistakes over and over in practice, you'll continue doing that in competitive games too. Small mistakes often decide big games. Often we'll try to play a warmup match before any competitive game and otherwise practice consistently at least on four days a week. Break from the game are also good to unwind a bit."

@Beniittto: ”What makes our game look great is individual skill and chemistry, the clinical approach is based very much on those same things. The exact number of hours is difficult to say, but in fact every time you we play, we always try something new, such as breakouts, passing combinations, diversions and different shots from different places.”

@NikkeDangles: ”We try to play a few times, if not every day, every week. We have a clear game plan and we've only refined it for the better with time. We usually focus a lot on team defense and how we could be more dangerous in the offensive end.”

Road to the back-to-back ECL Elite Championship

hREDS was superior in the ECL '22 Winter regular season and held first place almost continuously from start to finish. The top spot in the regular season guaranteed the team a very good starting point for the playoffs.

In the quarterfinals, the redshirts faced #8 seed GOONS, and although the playoff series ended in a 4-0 sweep, the result doesn't always say everything about the matches. In fact, during the playoff series, three matches were decided only after overtime, so the playoff series against GOONS was very even overall.

If the Quarterfinals were a tight ordeal, then that was also the case in the Semifinals, even more so. This is when the redshirts faced the Swedish side Granit Gaming. Perhaps evident of how tough the series were is the fact that almost all games were decided by a one goal margin. In the end, the Semifinal series ended with a 4-1 win for hREDS and as expected, they earned a Finals spot in the ECL '22 Winter season.

The matches against GOONS and Granit were really even but your were able to turn those series in your favor. What impact did these GOONS and Granit series have for the continuation of your playoff run?

@xDoumi: ”Experience, routine, skill, etc. Both GOONS and Granit went into the past season with a couple of player changes. We have had the same composition for some time now, and it definitely matters. We know where Vili  @Vilupoika Häkkinen is able to score from at will, we know that @Beniittto has his silky mitts when he needs to, we know that @NikkeDangles is the best passer in the game, it is known that Tuukka  @Tuukka.R(KingofApes) Röpelinen has the poke down to a tee, and finally it is known that Filip @Faze91- Azri can make gamesavers when the team most needs them.”

@Beniittto: ”In this NHL, the games are more even than in the previous ones, but we managed to win the games with routine and experience. Winning the playoff series brings nothing special, other than the ability to see what was done well as a team and what was bad, and you can start to improve from there.”

@NikkeDangles: ”All that matters is a win, so we didn't care that most of the games were held tight. I think we've got a bit of a mental edge on most teams and we're a really confident team. We know that we can win tight games even if there's the occasional setback."

Let's get back to the moment before the finals. When hREDS started the season as the biggest front-runner, their confidence in success helped deal with the pressure. In practice, it can even be said that any other outcome but a championship would have been a disappointment to this team. Looking back at the past ECL Elite season, no other team held as high of a level as hREDS.

These Finals were also a repeat of the two latest ECL Finals, where Frölunda and hREDS have clashed. Despite the tendency of several playoffs series to be over rather quick as of late, many people expected to see this one extend past the five games it did. hREDS definitely showed the way right from the very first matches in the Finals. At times, it even felt like Frölunda was going to get trampled under the heavy onslaught. Although the outcomes of the first Final games were very ugly from Frölunda's perspective, they still don't give a complete overview of the entirety of the matches, as the element of luck was heavily on the side of hREDS - although some might say that has to be earned.

For the second day of the Finals, we saw a very calm Frölunda HC, arriving with confidence and frankly, nothing left to lose. They managed to grab one win and looked to be on a path towards their second one of the series until it all fell apart with a second to spare in game five. The decisive goal was scored by who else than hREDS captain @Beniittto - crowning the redshirts the first ever back-to-back ECL Champions.