hREDS are the ECL '24: Winter - Elite Champions!

SportsGamers,

A few weeks ago we wrapped up the ECL Elite season as we got to enjoy the Finals series between hREDS and Tunnel Vision turn into yet another seven-game spectacle to be decided by only one goal, as @NikkeDangles secured his and hREDS' fourth ECL Elite Championship, solidifying them as the all-time winningest ECL team. This also marks only the second time someone outside of the TOP 3 finishers in the regular season wins the championship, with hREDS going into the Playoffs as the #4 seed (the first time was Laser HT, who finished the regular season with seed #7 and yet managed to win the championship in the ECL 4 season back in 2017).
 

Image: The ECL '24: Winter - Elite Champions - hREDS. From the left: FinSere, Mozjay, xDoumi, NikkeDangles, Vilupoika, Beniittto, Teemuyy

Now that the dust has settled, we took some time and spoke to captain Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen and goalie Sebastian @FINSeRe Remes about their thoughts about the season.

Interview: Captain Perttu "Beniiittto" Kemppainen

Now that it's been a few weeks since your win - how would you reflect on the season?

"Before the season I had high expectations for us as always, because I knew that if we were in good form no one could beat us and before this season our only problem was inconsistency. Although we still had those issues during the regular season and some games in the playoffs, we were able to keep our form good and stable enough in the playoffs, and that led us to the championship."

Take us through the finals - it looked like the series was going to be over in 5 games, but in the end, we got to enjoy a full seven-game series and a G7 decided by one goal

"Our start of the 1st game was bad but towards the end of the 1st game we were able to find our form and even though we lost game 1 we were able to improve our game for games 2,3 and 4.
Games 5 and 6 were bad defensively and we made a lot of mistakes that you can't make in the playoffs if you want to win and we picked up our form again for game 7."

How have you been preparing for the ECL '24: Spring season?

"We took some time off the game to enjoy the championship and relax. After that, we have just been playing FCL regular season and when we get to the playoffs we will start practicing more."

Interview: Sebastian "FINSeRe" Remes
 

How would you describe the season as a whole?

"I think we had a bit slow start to the regular season but started to gain momentum after NikkeDangles came back from the army. We carried that momentum to the playoffs and there we were playing extremely good hockey pretty much every game in every series.

Beniittto was playing like MacKinnon and deservedly won the Best Forward of the Season award. I think he really carried us when we were having difficult moments. I also think that Teemuyy got snubbed as for me he was the best defender of the season by looking at gameplay and not points.

You always expect a team like this to be up there fighting for the championship, and I think there was never any doubt among us during the season that we couldn't win it all if we just played on our level. Obviously, it's not that simple especially when you had to face both Straikers and Tunnel Vision in the playoffs but I think it just made our championship sweeter that way.

And for me, it's just nice to be in the right place at the right time and get the trust of my team."

What about the finals - it was looking like the Series might be over in 5 - but you found yourself in game 7 with a one-goal win. How were the finals from your perspective?

"I remember saying in our group chat after the 3rd win that now comes the hardest challenge - winning the 4th time. The 5th game could have gone either way, but Tunnel Vision tying the game in the 2nd period when there was 1s left in the clock was probably something that turned the tides for them. Also, benuh_ was giving them a chance and was making extremely important saves in games 5 and 6.

After game 6, heading to the 7th I didn't feel that anyone was nervous or anything, even after dropping 2 games. On the contrary, I got this feeling that we were more focused on our task and I think it really showed in game 7.

Game 7 was the best game we had all season in my opinion and honestly, it was the best game defensively I've ever been part of in any team. Yeah, I got shutout but I honestly felt like I didn't have to do anything because our 5 man defending was so unbelievably good."

This was your second ECL championship. Your first championship was in ECL Season 1 in 2016, which was before the divisions were introduced to the ECL. If you remember - how would you describe the experience of winning then vs now?

"I remember those days very well. To be honest I don't think that the skill level at the top was any lower back then than it is now. You got fewer players but you still had these same guys on the top. For example in the finals we had to face players like Patzlaf, PleeMaker, Joukkiii, and loimmu. Of course, there were lots of teams that had no chance so it worked pretty much like FCL works nowadays where the real games start in play-offs.

Also back then there were more teams that could win it all. I think this was because talent was more dispersed between the teams compared to now. But back then it was also normal to create a new team for every season so there wasn't as much stability as there is now.

Personally winning the championship now felt so much sweeter for me than it did then since I had to prove I belong to this level. The older you get, less people believe you still got it and honestly I've worked hard to prove them wrong."
 

hREDS' road to the championship:

• #4 seed with the record 18-5-1-6
• Quarterfinals: vs Radical (5) 4-1
• Semifinals: vs Straikers (1) 4-0
• Finals: vs Tunnel Vision (2) 4-3

The winning roster:

GOALTENDERS

 🇫🇮 #8 Sebastian @FINSeRe Remes
 

DEFENSEMEN

 🇫🇮 #3 Teemu @Teemuyy Polttila

  🇫🇮 #27 Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen

FORWARDS

🇫🇮 #23 Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen

 🇫🇮 #67 Aleksi @Mozjayh Kähkönen

  🇫🇮 #89 Vili @Vilupoika Häkkinen

   🇫🇮 #96 Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen

RELIVE THE FINALS

On behalf of the entire SportsGamer community, we congratulate the ECL '24: Winter - Elite Champions and extend a warm thank you to all participants!