ECL '23 Winter Elite: Quarterfinals Preview

SportsGamers,

We're down to the top eight teams in the ECL '23 Winter Elite division and with that, it's time to start the Quarterfinals today! We've got some very familiar faces back in the Playoffs, once again looking for a taste of the Championship, while some surprising squads have managed to play their way into the top eight. Now it's time to really kick things of in the big games and fight all out to pave your road to the Finals at Assembly Winter 2023.

Schedule

• Quarterfinals: 25.1-1.2.2023
• Semifinals: 5-8.2.2023
• Finals: 24.2.2023 (Live in Helsinki)

Tunnel Vision  (1) vs JANO  (8)

TOP SCORER
Arttu @laitineen64 Laitinen 30 GP, 52+39=91 vs Wade @Wpaanane Paananen 30 GP, 32+39=71

GOALTENDER
Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen 26 GP, 23 W, 83,28 SV%, 1.88 GAA, 1 SO vs Jani @Vamoux Jämsäläinen 16 GP, 6 W, 81,47 SV%, 2.69 GAA, 1 SO

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
27-0-3 vs 13-9-8

REGULAR SEASON SERIES
3-2, 8-3

What an impressive season it's been for Tunnel Vision, who came so close to glory in the ECL '22 Spring season, and are back now hungrier than ever before. The most notable change we've seen in their roster is swapping superstar forward Jere @jxrska Laukka for another superstar in Arttu @laitineen64 Laitinen, and what a season it's been for the young winger. Honestly, it's been a long time coming already and this will certainly be remembered as his true breakout season. To be fair, it's been all out success up and down the Tunnel Vision roster this season and in fact, all of their players reached personal highs in point production. Most impressively, Veeti @Wenger Paloneva has more than doubled his production from the previous season, instantly filling his spot and finding chemistry with defensive pairing Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen.

There's no denying it, JANO is on a sensational run and they've been able to surprise many teams this season after claiming their Elite spot by winning their relegation matchup against HV71 at the end of the '22 Spring season. JANO has pretty much been on a similar improvement path to that of their Quarterfinals opponents, but in a much smaller proportion. All of their forwards are close to, or over a 2 point per game production pace, and Saku @Sakkem Saaranluoma has transformed from the defensive stay-at-home role he has with JYP Jyväskylä in the past to one of the leagues top two-way defensemen. Beside him, Markus @Makeaxl Lahti was expected to make a big impact as he is the guy who quarterbacks much of JANO's play, and he did. Can Make find his first goal of the season in the Playoffs?

hREDS  (2) vs Nordic Stars  (7)

TOP SCORER (Playoffs)
Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen 30 GP, 37+48=85 vs Valtteri @Vire30 Vireaho 30 GP, 18+31=49

GOALTENDER (Playoffs)
Filip @Faze91- Azri 28 GP, 22 W, 78,31 SV%, 1.93 GAA, 5 SO vs Axel @MonkeyHeadAF Falck 30 GP, 16 W, 77,35 SV%, 2.73 GAA, 3 SO

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
24-4-2 vs 16-10-4

REGULAR SEASON SERIES
8-0, 2-3 OT

We were expecting hREDS to be the ones leading the pack this season with Tunnel Vision and Frölunda HC in hot pursuit, but due to a minor slip-up in form in the second to last week of the regular season, the defending Champions dropped to second in the standings. Most likely, this squad won't be fazed at all by this, however, and they'll continue on their merry way towards another very likely Finals appearance. One interesting snippet of info we'll have to point out is the fact that goalie Filip @Faze91- Azri posted his career worst regular season SV% at only 78,81, while still managing to put up five shutouts in the process. Those are certainly some puzzling numbers, but there's no doubt that this squad will have the mental capacity to overcome those small hurdles and tighten things up for the Playoffs. On a positive note for the big, bad REDS, we've seen them once again be excellent with their special teams - league leading by a rather wide margin, in fact. 

Nordic Stars have been an exciting team to follow throughout the season, but it seems like inconsistency has been plaguing them a bit and while they've been able to string together two winning streaks over the course of the season, they're now coming into the Playoffs with only three wins in their last ten games. A good sign for the Stars is definitely the fact that they've been able to challenge high quality teams in tight battles and they're one of the few teams that were able to beat hREDS in the regular season, but on the other hand they've had some games get out of hand, like the second one against hREDS, in which they suffered a 8-0 beating. We'll see if that comes back to haunt them in this series at all.

Frölunda HC  (3) vs ZSC Esports  (6)

TOP SCORER (Playoffs)
Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala 30 GP, 30+29=59 vs Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg 30 GP, 20+17=37

GOALTENDER (Playoffs)
Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen 16 GP, 13 W, 81,66 SV%, 1.94 GAA, 3 SO vs Reto @afc_Tschitsch Ulrich 28 GP, 18 W, 82,64 SV%, 2.25 GAA, 4 SO

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
22-4-4 vs 18-12-0

REGULAR SEASON SERIES
2-0, 1-2 OT

The third party of this season's "big three", Frölunda HC will be heading south for a battle against the Swiss ZSC Esports in their Quarterfinal matchup. If we're basing expectations on the regular season games between these two, we're most likely in for a low-scoring series in which Frölunda should eventually come out on top due to being able to control most of the game events, but the Lions should be able to steal a win or two if they manage to stay opportunistic. For Frölunda, Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen could be a player that suits this series very well with his ability to surprise the opponent, and sometimes even his teammates by pulling somewhat unorthodox highlight-reel plays out of his bag of tricks. 

ZSC is by far the lowest scoring team in the Playoffs and in fact the only one who made the postseason with a negative goal differential. With the second lowest production rate out of the entire division, the Lions will, as stated, have to rely heavily on keeping the score down and capitalizing on their own chances. Statistically, they like to throw pucks on net and in a tight game, you'll never know what might come out of a seeing-eye shot through traffic. We're expecting ZSC to want to keep games low-event for Frölunda HC and they could end up trying to really shut things down in the neutral zone. Winger Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg most likely has the license to cherry pick a bit and the Frölunda defense will have to stay alert throughout the series with him. 

Reality Check HC  (4) vs JYP Jyväskylä  (5)

TOP SCORER (Playoffs)
V-V @vvlampela (cTunkeilija) Lampela 30 GP, 31+29=60 vs Aaro @xAaro89x Aarvala 30 GP, 29+26=55

GOALTENDER (Playoffs)
Sebastian @FINSeRe Remes 30 GP, 18 W, 86,23 SV%, 1.77 GAA, 5 SO vs Kasper @Kaz_zu Ramstedt 30 GP, 18 W, 77,78 SV%, 2.4 GAA, 1 SO

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
18-8-4 vs 18-9-3

REGULAR SEASON SERIES
1-2, 1-2 OT

This mid-table matchup could be an exciting battle between the newly promoted Reality Check HC and Elite mainstay JYP Jyväskylä. While Reality Check immediately managed to make an impact that no one was quite expecting, JYP have done a similar trick in climbing back up the ladder after a few tougher seasons now in the rearview. The black and yellow were really clicking all season long and even topped the standings for a while due to finishing their games ahead of their competition. The fact that they've been able to take a bit of a longer break from ECL Elite competition could either end up being beneficial or hurting them, we'll have to see which way it turns out. One of the most exciting players for Reality Check HC this season was definitely Sebastian @FINSeRe Remes, who has made a strong case for that Goaltender of The Year-trophy with his impressive campaign. FINSeRe leads the league in shutouts and SV% for starters, which is highly impressive for a team outside of the immediate title race. The team in front of him is also tied for the best defensive squad in the league together with Frölunda HC. 

As mentioned, it's been a pleasure to watch JYP rise from the ashes and claim their spot back in the Playoff competition of the Elite division and a lot of credit for that goes to captain Santeri @indi969 Pendolin and Antti @tbnantti Kuittinen, who have stuck with it through the highs and lows. We were quite vocal about our doubts towards JYP before the season and are happy to have been in the wrong on this one. Against our expectations, rookie defensive pair Aapeli @Frans-Fin Landström & Jimi @J-_-Jamaltheman Rönkkönen proved to be very capable at the Elite level as both managed to keep up a high production pace while staying solid defensively. 

Join us for the first Playoff gameday TONIGHT at Twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG! We're kicking off with Nordic Stars against hREDS at 19:45 CET, after which JANO and Tunnel Vision will take the ice at 21:15 CET!