ECL '22 Spring Lite Playoffs: Quarterfinals Preview - Trading Blows

In the Quarterfinal round of the ECL '22 Spring Lite Playoffs we're in for some very tough battles, where these teams are expected to trade blows back and forth. There's really no telling who will come out as the victor in the end, but we'll do our best to predict some outcomes!

Structure & Prize Pool

Lainaa

5.7 ECL Lite Playoffs

In ECL Lite, 8 out of 16 teams from each group will make the playoffs, in which they will be seeded against all playoff-bound teams in ECL Lite from best to worst according to the system detailed below, as well as with the general tiebreakers mentioned in 11.3.

• Group winners are seeded #1-4
• Group runners-up #5-8
• Teams that finished 3rd #9-12
• Teams that finished 4th #13-16
• Teams that finished 5th #17-20
• Teams that finished 6th #21-24
• Teams that finished 7th #25-28
• Teams that finish 8th #29-32

The winner of ECL Lite will be instantly promoted, along with the runner up, and the bronze-game winning team. Teams finishing from 4th to 9th in the playoffs will be placed in the Pro – Lite qualifier for the ensuing ECL season. Teams that finish 15th and 16th in their group will be directly relegated to Core, whilst teams that finish 13th and 14th will find themselves competing in the Lite – Core qualifier for the ensuing ECL season to secure their position in Lite.

Schedule

Lainaa

10.6.3 ECL Lite

Playoff Schedule

• Round-of-32: 08.05 – 12.05 (BO7)
• Round-of-16: 15.05 – 25.05 (BO7)
• Quarterfinals: 30.05 – 02.06 (BO7)
• Semifinals: 05.06 – 08.06 (BO7)
• Finals: 15.06 – 16.06 (BO7)

One interesting fact about the Quarterfinals this season is that Group 3 is very well represented, in fact 50% of the teams at this stage played in that same group in the regular season. All of these teams have a very experienced roster, which simply goes to show that despite perhaps not always performing to their best ability in the regular season, that x-factor is a much needed commodity for a deep run in the playoffs. Now it's time to turn our heads toward the upcoming round and see if that experience and skill can carry some of these teams onward, or if we'll continue seeing upsets. The Quarterfinals are to be played between Monday, May 30th and Thursday, June 2nd.
 

(2)  Tadpole vs Valco  (26)

We've got a group 3 rivalry on tap. These two split victories in the regular season, but Tadpole walked away with a point more due to an OT loss. It seems like most teams have beef with Valco and they've really embraced being the villain, taking down Arkham Asylum in the second round. Arkham, who were the favorites by a long shot have built a reputation of falling short in the playoffs, but Valco sure had to put in work in order to advance. We should be in for a similar story in this one, as Tadpole has all the skill in the world and on paper looks like the easy pick in this one, but the good old Valco with @itspardytime up front should never be counted out.

Prediction: 3-4 Valco
 

(3)  Destiny vs Synergy Hockey (10)
Destiny is another one of those teams that are able to dominate games with sheer skill and excellent puck movement, but now they'll be going up against Synergy Hockey, a team that brings back a lot of memories for long-time community members. While perhaps not as individually skilled, these guys have patented a special brand of hockey, which is recognized by great puck movement and a strong five man defense. Synergy simply seems to be build for the playoffs and if they are able to employ their own style of play in this series, they'll be the ones to advance. 

Prediction: 2-4 Synergy Hockey
 

(4)  Project X vs IK Oskarshamn  (7)
Project X has been on an impressive run in the playoffs, advancing with relative ease from both rounds as they dropped only one win each. On the other hand, IK Oskarshamn has had to fight a bit more, especially in the first round against the 26th seed Lemmenvelhot. We should be in for a very tight series that comes down to small margins, but Project X might be the more established team by a bit, which tips the scales in their favor for me. Neither team is very known for scoring explosions, but especially Project X would benefit from keeping the scores low and extending the games, even into overtime if required.

Prediction: 4-2 Project X
 

(5)  Bastu vs Spirit  (6)
The Bastu is really heating up just in time for springtime and the biggest games of the playoffs. These guys have advanced through both of their opponents thus far quite easily and are looking to do the same against Spirit, who are naturally going to pull out all the stops in order to end their run. Spirit has been in even better form, sending both Resurrection and Hyperion packing with sweeps in the first two rounds. This one isn't going to be a sweep, that's for sure, but the offense of Bastu has a bit more sides to it, whereas Spirit has to rely a lot on @Toivonen_ to produce for them. This could also end up being a big battle between goalies @Giinis for Bastu and @Misantti for Spirit, and they are very close right now. 

Prediction: 4-3 Bastu

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.