NOTE: This article was written on Monday, 31st of January and reflects the situation prior to the matchups that evening.
We started off the week with a very hot matchup in the broadcast, as SAWO ESPORTS and HAVU Gaming clashed. Both teams are currently in great form and the games had both big points and pride at stake. SAWO have started off with an explosion and surged towards securing a playoff berth with the lead of Valtteri @Vattuyy Virtanen and Jere @jxrska Laukka on the wings, whereas HAVU Gaming have slowly found their winning ways after an exceptionally slow start to the season. Eventually, it all came down to the clinic that SAWO ESPORTS goaltender Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen put on display to clinch wins in both games for his team, earning him one of the best performances of the week already on Monday evening.
Atop the standings we can still find hREDS, who suffered their first few losses of the season over the course of the last week. It was a tough week to say the least for the big, bad REDS, who faced IQUE, Frölunda HC and GOONS with three wins, two losses and an OT loss as the outcome. Frölunda HC currently stand back in 5th place, but have some games in hand on the teams ahead of them. The Indians are looking strong as usual and won all of their four games over the past week, despite extending to overtime against both hREDS and Roots Gaming. Especially the big wins against hREDS will give them a big boost of confidence if the two end up clashing in the postseason eventually.
Around the middle of the pack, it's great to see that Swiss outfit ZSC Esports have managed to mount a formidable playoff push by racking up a nice four wins in their six games of the week, including two massive OT wins against Örebro Hockey. Big efforts by captain Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi and his winger turned backup goaltender Alex @IDangledYouOut Wagner have propelled them on an upwards trajectory that might just be enough to reach into the playoff race. There's still a lot of work left to be done, but things are looking good if they can keep their form up.
One team that started their season in great form, but has cooled off quite fast is Örebro Hockey. The team managed to win great teams like Frölunda HC and IQUE early on, but have now fallen into a losing fashion, faltering in games against ZSC Esports, Conquer Gaming and Färjestad BK lately. There's still a case pending investigation by the League Administration regarding their home matchup against Färjestad, so the end result for that one is yet to be determined. Either way, Örebro will need to course correct sooner than later if they want to sneak into the playoffs this season.
In addition to Örebro, another team that started their season in great shape but have since slipped into losing ways in GOONS, who have only collected four points out of their eight latest games. They have had some minor issues with scoring, but also with possession play to some extent, not in terms of being outpossessed, but they are having some trouble setting up plays from time to time and have to resort to counter attacking a bit too much as a result. This week will bring games against Roots Gaming, Örebro and ZSC Esports, so GOONS are hoping to turn their ship around and rack up some much needed points in these games.
HAVU Gaming had an excellent week as a team, but individually, Juho @RutonMosse Kinnunen (Juigelson) seems to be heating up too. The younger Kinnunen brother is now cashing in on the potential and all the hype surrounding him over the years. With 19+19=38 points in 18 games at this point of the season, the winger is on track for a career season and is manning the #1 spot in league scoring at the moment.
Our newest site update has brought some new individual statistics, bringing new layers to statistical analysis. Among skaters an interesting notion is that IQUE forward Janne @Nieppii Niemelä sticks out like a sore thumb as the forward with the most possession time by far. This further emphasizes the importance of Nieppi for his team, but also raises some questions about the style of play that IQUE are enforcing. An impressive stat going along with that possession time is the fact that Nieppi has drawn the most penalties league-wide with 17 infractions by opposing players toward him.
It's been an equally impressive week for both HAVU Gaming defensemen Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto and Wille @willekunq Juntunen, who are currently manning the #1 and #3 spots in point production for defensemen. Especially Nassustelija boosted his stat line with a good 11 points in the past six games. Young Niko @vVoDee Vottonen continues impressing for Roots Gaming, despite not topping the tables in any statistics, he has been very active all around the ice by laying the body causing turnovers, and jumping in on the offense when given the opportunity. He is an early nominee for rookie of the season in my mind.
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