Meet the ECL '25: Spring Cover Gamer: Lauri "sopulii_" Enström

The ECL '25: Spring season is here, and leading the way as the Cover Gamer is none other than Lauri @sopulii_ Enström of Blackbirds. A Pro division champion, competitive floorball player, content creator, and a driving force behind Blackbirds' esports project, Enström embodies what it means to be an ECL athlete both on and off the ice.

We caught up with him to talk about his journey, his team's rise through the divisions, the connection between virtual hockey and floorball, and what it means to represent Blackbirds on two fronts.

List of previous ECL cover gamers:
ECL 8: Erik @Eki Tammenpää  🇫🇮
ECL 9: Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen  🇫🇮
ECL 10: Casper @ICappeI Lundgren 🇸🇪
ECL 11: Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha  🇫🇮
ECL 12: Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen  🇫🇮
ECL '22: Winter: Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann  🇸🇪 & Hampus @l-Furyan-l Duvefelt 🇸🇪
ECL '23: Spring: Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen 🇫🇮
ECL '23: Winter: Erik @Eki Tammenpää 🇫🇮
ECL '23: Spring: Tomi @tomboo- Laitinen 🇫🇮
ECL ‘24: Winter: Adam @dzouvi Menšík 🇨🇿
ECL ‘24: Spring: Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen 🇫🇮

Interview with Lauri "sopulii_" Enström

Congrats on becoming the ECL '25: Spring Cover Gamer! What does this recognition mean to you personally and as part of the Blackbirds organization?

Thank you, being named cover gamer is of course a great honour considering the cover gamers in the past. It is very cool to be able to represent the league as a team that was just promoted to Elite for this season. The journey we've had with this team has been unbelievable and finally, after so many seasons in lower divisions, we have our chance to give it all we have at the highest level.

Your journey in the ECL has been steadily rising season by season—how did it all start for you, and what motivated you to keep pushing to this level?

I personally started in ECL 11 during NHL 21, but the story of the modern-day Blackbirds really began in the ECL'23 Winter season with xBots. Finally, we were able to build a team around the Xbox community since this was the time cross-play was added to the game. We were also the first and only Xbox team to compete that season, and we managed to push into the Lite division in the qualifiers. Our group has always been pretty close, so I think over the years that has been our strength - being able to really stick together as a group even through the tough times.

Blackbirds had a dominant Winter season and capped it off with the Pro title. What do you think made the difference this time compared to earlier seasons?

This is a pretty simple one to answer - we played much more together than any previous season. And we played with this exact roster a lot. Most seasons during our club's existence have seen sometimes even up to 10+ players playing throughout the season. But this past season it was really the first time we were able to play a stable season without a huge amount of roster variance between games. The current roster was mainly 1v1 oriented players in the past meaning the motivation to play a lot of 6s wasn't really there.

You’ve been part of the team’s core through multiple seasons and changes. How has the chemistry evolved, and how important is that off-the-ice connection to your success?

I think the off-the-ice chemistry is a huge strength of ours - and has always been. The core of our team has been friends ever since around 2020, so the club was created much after we knew each other. What separates the current lineup from the ones in the past is probably the way we're all more or less on the same page about how we want to play and what our expectations/goals are. It's a young team but I think the past 2 seasons have given us so much growth as a team - both on the ice and off it.

Are there any teams or players in Elite you’re especially looking forward to matching up against?

The floorball derby - Blackbirds vs Heimo. Both teams are representatives of Finnish floorball clubs (Blackbirds, Kerava & Westend Indians). Funny enough we have a player playing for Heimo in real life, so this is a matchup I'm looking forward to. SportsGamer was even kind enough to schedule this matchup as a broadcast game.

You’re not just a top-tier NHL player—you also compete in floorball at a high level. How do the two sports complement each other for you, if at all?

I've said this for years and I still believe it's true - the virtual hockey gameplay resembles floorball much more than real hockey.

So I really think they do complement each other in a lot of ways. The principles of the games are very similar - a good play in one is very likely a good play in the other. The gameplay allows for much more control than real-life hockey does, meaning it's possible to make for example passing plays the same way it can be done on the field in floorball.

What does it mean to represent Blackbirds in both physical and digital arenas? That’s a pretty unique position to be in.

Haha, yeah. I've represented Blackbirds in real life for almost 10 years now and it is always a cool feeling to step on the field or virtual ice at "Kurkela Garden".

Tune in to the Season Opening Broadcast Tonight!

Stay tuned as Lauri and Blackbirds take on their biggest challenge yet in the Elite division. Watch them live this season on twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG and twitch.tv/BlackbirdsUnited follow their journey across both the esports and floorball arenas.

Both Blackbirds and ONSE Esports kick off their maiden ECL Elite broadcast matchup together, starting tonight at 19:45 CEST, followed by NOVA taking on Polski Boys - be sure to tune in!