NHLGamers,
First they were 32 on the starting line, now remains only two that are about to face each other in the first ever ECL Neo Finals, played on Tuesday January 21st, in a best-of-5 final series.
NHLGamer will be hosting a live broadcast of the entire series on Twitch. The broadcast will be starting at 19:00 CET and @Tougie24 together with @Cyn will be our casters that night, this is one you will not want to miss!
Both teams are coming from Group 1 of the Neo division. TanssiiTuhtienKansa finished first with a record of 11-2-3 and Olympia came in just behind with a record of 11-3-2. Points in the groupstage were distributed evenly: 5-2 TanssiiTuhtienKansa then 3-0 Olympia for two points each. We decided to ask some questions from the team Captains ahead of the matchup:
Can you shortly present your team and its history?
@Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Olympia was founded just a couple of weeks before ECL 9 started. I've been playing the game since forever, but never played ECL before because of lack of time. I've been on the leaderboards in HUT, I've been undefeated 50-0-0 and it was time to actually do something serious. I guess I wanted to prove myself that I can. Instead of going to a higher tier division I wanted to start in Neo with my own team for the first time. I recruited @SWE_KARLSSON16 and @Bloodymess at an early stage and from there we created what we have now."
@Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "We have a great group of close friends in TanssiiTuhtienKansa. We created the team in NHL19 but we mostly played without a goalkeeper and 3's. There has been some roster changes along time but the core hasn't changed. We started playing competitive games in IS Cup 4 and we all love it despite the fact that we played terrible. We started to develop after really creating our game system. There is still a lot of work to do but we are eager to learn new and our goal is to play Pro in ECL 11. We are not the typical six persons team which always plays with the same roster. There are nine important pieces in our team at the moment. We will for sure change things around for the finals as well."
What about the group phase, was it close?
@Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "We never played together before, all of us are new to each other. @BeastBenn14 (C) and @Teamplayer (LD) came in later. So as a group i think we definitely grew closer. I think I grew a lot as person by leading a team as a Captain although I'm familiar with that from real life already. Hating to lose sometimes shifted focus to negative, which could be improved. I think the groupstage was just the start for us. Now we have adapted to a playstyle that works and made a lot of progress."
@Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "As you can see both finalists are from the same group, that was definitely not the easiest one. It was a close group and I think there were many good teams left out of the playoffs. After all I think it was great for us because the tight games are the ones which improve you the most."
Same for the playoffs phase, how do you see your run so far?
@Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Playoffs have really been a turning point, being seeded eighth into the playoffs we met in my opinion some of the toughest opponents. I think we only lost two games and I thought they were pretty ridiculous losses to be honest. Our goal was to reach the playoffs, we did. Then we took one step at a time and really wanted to play in the semifinals. Against Kuutamokiekko we knew it was going to be tough, @Tsikago is a skilled and a good guy, they have a lot of good players. We really played our best hockey and swept them 3-0 and here we are, in the finals in our first ever run."
@Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "The playoff phase is always tight because everyone who has gone that far has already shown their skill. We have had some bad games along the playoffs but we have proven that we can play great when it's our life on the line."
What kind of games are you expecting during the finals?
@Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Against TanssiiTuhtienKansa I expect a skilful round, to be honest some games I've just wished for the game to end so it's nice to get this challenge. Some play styles are just really weary to play against. TanssiiTuhtienKansa is a good team, they have skilful players, but so do we. I hope to see good offense, good defense and some nice goals scored from us of course!"
@Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "Olympia is a great team. They play pretty tight, they are skilled in the offensive zone on the ice and they also read game situations really good. We need to be ready for the game before the puck hits the ice and I think we also need to play a bit simpler than usually. I'm expecting tight games which include fast hockey and lots of goals."
Explain why your team will be the first ECL Neo Champ?
@Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Olympia has the best goaltending and top tier players, we have players who really can change a game on their own. I know if we play the way we can, it's going to be tough beating us. We're proud to be here, but we won't stop until we are named Champions. Expect us."
@Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "We are a team, not just a bunch of individuals and we all believe on our game system. I think the main reason for being in this position is that we are always willing to find solutions on problems. We always try to improve our play and never play games without thinking of what we can do better. Within the group of friends we have a great team spirit. We always have fun when we play and we stay in touch with each other on a daily basis so even though we take the game seriously it's always a great way to spend some time with friends, especially now when some of the guys have moved to different cities. We also have a great mix of different kind of players who bring different things to the table. We have always succeeded when we have needed it, so we are confident that will be the atmosphere in the finals as well."
The road to the finals
Olympia
2nd seed of Group 1 / 11-3-2 (8th seed in total)
Biggest win: 13-1 (Varissuon Toverit)
Biggest loss: 2-5 (TanssiiTuhtienKansa)
67 GF / 34 GA / 40 % PP / 193 hits
1st round
Kulmalahengaus: 3-1
2nd round
Eliel Kings: 3-1
3rd round
Kuutamokiekko: 3-0
Team leaders
1. @Hagerstrom_99 85 pts (46+39)
2. @SWE_KARLSSON16: 63 pts (39+24)
3. @BeastBenn14: 39 pts (8+31)
Goaltending
@Bloodymess: 85 % / 2.14 GAA / 1 SO (Playoffs 80.85 % / 2.25 GAA / 1 SO)
THE KEY POINT : A deadly powerplay with a 40% success rate.
TanssiiTuhtienKansa
1st seed of Group 1 / 11-2-3 (4th seed in total)
Biggest win : 6-0 (Mustangs)
Biggest lost : 0-3 (Olympia)
62 GF / 44 GA / 17.65 % PP / 89 hits
1st round
MAD Knogmackers: 3-0
2nd round
EIS Force Hockey: 3-2
3rd round
Seinajoki Noms: 3-2
Team leaders
1. @Unrealhave: 86 pts (35+51)
2. @Valtter1111 : 82 pts (45+37)
3. @Wilhooo13 : 36 pts (17+19)
Goaltending
@Juhned32: 84.96 % / 2.13 GAA / 1 SO (playoffs : 88.37 % / 1.36 GAA / 2 SO)
@Häkä : 76.52 % / 3.38 GAA / 1 SO (playoffs : 86.49 % / 2.5 GAA)
THE KEY POINT : Four overtime victories since the start of the contest
A massive thanks to @Hagerstrom_99 and @Unrealhave for being available to answer all questions. Good luck in the finals!
Remember to tune in to the broadcast on Tuesday! Who do you think will win?
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