Finals Preview [ECL 3]

Hello NHLGamers

Today we bring you a preview of the ECL 3 Finals or as Gandalf would put it: "So, we come to it at last... The great battle of our time". The featured teams in this spectacular finish to our longest season yet will be Finnish Roosters and X-Factor - two teams that have lived up to their hype before the season and navigated their way through some of the toughest teams in the world to reach this point. But enough hype, let us move on to the show:

[Research (statistics) and matchup analysis by Ranksu]
[Additional text, player interviews and editing by The_Alpha_Furyan]
[Art by OxtreeLAT]

X- FACTOR

Projected lineup
Vilupoika - Penatski - KingOfApes_

nylanderi - F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_

Danielcadabra

Statistics (Forwards):

• Vilupoika
  Regular season: 44 GP [55G + 55A] 110 P / +127 / 8 PPG / 2 SHG / 148 HITS
  Playoffs: 23 GP [17G + 17A] 34 P / +14 / 2 PPG / 0 SHG / 87 HITS
• Penatski
  Regular season: 46 GP [70G + 95A] 165 P / +134 / 9 PPG / 1 SHG / 129 HITS
  Playoffs: 20 GP [17G + 21A] 38 P / +18 / 3 PPG / 0 SHG / 49 HITS
• KingOfApes_
  Regular season: 46 GP [48G + 63A] 111 P / +134 / 9 PPG / 0 SHG / 135 HITS
  Playoffs: 23 GP [13G + 17A] 30 P / +14 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 97 HITS

Statistics (Defenders):

• nylanderi
  Regular season: 40 GP [14G + 38A] 53 P / +87 / 3 PPG / 1 SHG / 38 HITS
  Playoffs: 23 GP [3G + 12A] 15 P / +14 / 1 PPG / 1 SHG / 19 HITS
• F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_
  Regular season: 8GP [4G + 10A] 14 P / +19 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 40 HITS
  Playoffs: 22GP [2G + 17A] 19 P / +14 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 59 HITS

Statistics (Goaltender):

• Danielcadabra
  Regular season: 28GP / 18 W / 6 L / 4 OTL / 79.38% / 1.67 GAA / 5 SO
  Playoffs: 23GP / 16W / 5 L / 2 OTL / 78.67% / 1.95 GAA /  5 SO

How did they get here?

X-Factor reached to finals by defeating the top-notch team Aapon Taikasauva in Game 7 in the 3rd round. This is X-Factors first appearance in the ECL Finals. X-Factor and Finnish Rooster faced each other in the regular season with the following results: 1-3 to FR and 0-4 to XF.

How will they win?

X-Factor signed F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_ at the ECL Trade Deadline which was in my book easily the best acquire at TDL. "Andy" is well known for playoff performances and is considered a "big games player". He's going to face the FR top scoring forward PleeMaker, who had yet another outstanding regular season and an even better post-season. If "Andy" can win that match up, that would be huge for X-Factor. Finally, I believe they will win if Penatski can break down Finnish Roosters redline trap and find the holes for it.

How will they lose?

X-Factor can sometimes be too reckless offensively which will put their D pairing in awkward positions - knowing the fast break game Finnish Roosters will execute. We saw it in game 6 against Aapon Taikasauva (1-5 to Aapo). It will be hard for X-Factor if they don't keep up nylanderi's game philosophy and trust his gameplan. X-Factor will lose this series if they can't find a way to deal with FR's hard blueline trap and can't find a way to shut down PleeMaker. You could say this set-up is almost the same like against Aapo were they needed to shutdown Joukki13 and they did. However, this time they are facing more defensively oriented 5-man team who will heavily lean on offensive mistakes and lurk around for fast breakaways.

* * *

FINNISH ROOSTERS

Projected lineup
PleeMaker - tbnantti - johtaja699

JParola - ktewjh

FinKonna

Statistics (Forwards):

• PleeMaker
  Regular season: 46 GP [83G + 56A] 139 P / +137 / 10 PPG / 2 SHG / 251 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [29G + 11A] 40 P / +24 / 8 PPG / 1 SHG / 125 HITS
• tbnantti
  Regular season: 46 GP [68G + 84A] 152 P / +137 / 7 PPG / 6 SHG / 11 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [17G + 20A] 37 P / +24 / 4 PPG / 0 SHG / 22 HITS
• johtaja699
  Regular season: 44 GP [39G + 42A] 81 P / +118 / 9 PPG / 0 SHG / 81 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [5G + 13A] 18 P / +24 / 1 PPG / 0 SHG / 44 HITS

Statistics (Defenders):

• JParola
  Regular season: 36 GP [5G + 60A] 65 P / +87 / 3 PPG / 0 SHG / 67 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [1G + 23A] 24 P / +24 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 36 HITS
• ktewjh
  Regular season: 46 GP [8G + 40A] 48 P / +137 / 2 PPG / 1 SHG / 104 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [2G + 11A] 13 P / +24 / 0 PPG / 1 SHG / 46 HITS

Statistics (Goaltender):

• FinKonna
  Regular season: 52 GP / 43 W / 8 L / 1 OTL / 80.88% / 1.82 GAA / 10 SO
  Playoffs: 19 GP / 16 W / 2 L / 1 OTL / 83.78% / 1.57 GAA / 3 SO

How did they get here?
The Roosters reached the finals by first beating Alliance HT, only to enter a tough battle with Nordic Blizzard. After narrowly defeating the Blizzard in an entertaining Game 7 they moved on to Written In The Stars - a team many thought would go far in the playoffs. However, Written were missing some of their players and the Roosters played a great series to win 4-0. After such a morale booster, they went on to dethrone championship favorites Laser HT in 4 straight games.

How will they win?
The Roosters will win by unleashing their offense while maintaining their tight team defense. The key is for johtaja699 to keep doing the terrific two-way work he has been doing together with defenders JParola and ktewjh and for Plee and tbnantti to work their offensive magic on a somtimes reckless X Factor squad. FinKonna also needs to be his usual talented self.

How will they lose?
The Roosters will lose if they can't get that offense going and also if they underestimate the X Factor offense which at times can be really dangerous. If FinKonna should falter or have a bad series, this could also spell doom for the Roosters because even if they have a truly impressive offense, their defense and goaltending is what has gotten them this far.

* * *
 

5 things to look for, in general:

1. Both teams have 1-2 punch, Penatski - Ape and tbnantti - Plee.

2. Both teams have a guy who can change the series in Plee vs. Ape.

3. FinKonna vs. Danielcadabra - who will step up and who will melt down?

4. Finnish Rooster has the best powerplay % from regular season 35.4%, compared to X-Factors 21.6%

5. tbnantti has the most SHG in regular season by 6 goals - look out!

* * *

5 Questions with X-Factor Captain nylanderi and Finnish Roosters Assistant Captain PleeMaker

Give us a few words on your opponent!

Nylanderi (X Factor):
Roosters is a great team with good mixture of offense and defense. They got forwards who can score and defenders who work really well together. With FinKonna being one of the top goalies in the game, it is certainly going to be really hard to score against these guys.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
XF is a great defensive team with a lot of individual skill. They have two top quality defensemen and a great goalie. And they also have three really high skilled forwards - Penatski is a top center and the wingers Vilupoika and Kingofapes_ can score goals thanks to their great talent and stick handling.

Who would you consider to be the toughest player to defend on the opposing squad?

Nylanderi (X Factor):
Tough question! PleeMaker and tbnantti are both really dangerous, and it is going to be really hard to keep that tag team from scoring.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
Penatski is, in my opinion, the best player of XF so I would consider him the toughest opponent to defend. I would say he is one of the best playmakers in this game with maybe the best hands out there.

Tell us a little bit of your playoff run so far

Nylanderi (X Factor):
I did expect us to go pretty far, especially since our game has developed a lot throughout this tournament. We had our fair share of problems, but I am still really happy with our performance in this ECL. I feel like we could have maybe done even better (considering a couple of our series went to game7) but since we have made the Finals I can’t really complain, can I? Haha.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
Our goal was champion so it's not surprise to me that we are playing finals. Our first round opponent was Alliance HT and I think it was kind of a warm up round for us, but they are actually the best Russian team that I have ever seen so, well played. The 2nd round against NBz - that was close. I will tell you more about them in the next question!

Then the 3rd round against Written In The Stars. That was… well, much easier than I was expecting before the games. After Adetikki and Flyerkungen left for the army, they have started to play with a "weird" style. Lot of shots and always trying to go for rebounds. But anyway, well played SKY.

As for the semi-finals against Laser HT - 4 tight games against them. They have lot of skill but team defense was their weakness in that series. So 4 tight wins to us (I think it was 2 OT wins?) and we managed to get our spot in the finals.

Which series gave you the most amount of trouble?

Nylanderi (X Factor):
I would have to say… either Aapon Taikasauva or Dynasty. To be honest, those were two totally different kind of teams and especially Dynastys defense was one of the best I have ever seen in this game. On the other hand, Aapos offense was really hard to defend. Really hard to decide actually, but in my opinion Dynasty was the tougher series.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
Nordic Blizzard was the toughest opponent for us in this tournament so far. Great team defense and truly a dangerous offense. If you have players like Gendlik and Hooneli, your opponent will always give you a hard series. It was actually close that NBz beat us, when the 3rd period of Game 7 started NBz was leading 1-3 but we managed to get momentum with a 2-3 goal and then it was our game after that… Well played NBz and it is a shame that it seems you can't get a team to next season. 

What key factors should the community be on the lookout for in this series?

Nylanderi (X Factor):
Both teams have rock solid defensive strategies, so I think that will certainly be one of the deciding factors in this series. Also, in my opinion, tbnantti and Penatski are both Top-3 centers overall in this game so it will be nice to see who can put on the greatest performance and lead their team to victory.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
I think the key factor in finals will be which team can break their opponents great team defense! I think the finals has the two best defensive teams in the ECL so I acutally think that we won’t see so many goals this series. Anyway, good luck in the finals XF and good luck to next season everyone!

* * *

The series goes live at 20 CET/21 FIN tonight so be sure to check it out!


For NHLGamer.com,

The_Alpha_Furyan