GCL 11: Ending Eras & New Beginnings

Dear SportsGamers,

another GCL Season is about to kick off. In GCL 10 we have seen the record champions of The Deadly Phantoms finishing on Top of the DACH area after an exciting final against HC Lugano Esports. Their Swiss counterpart managed to crown themselves GCL Cup Champion earlier that season after a quite surprising win against The Black Jacks (formerly ZSC Esports). While the Luganesi were quite a newcomer among the juggernauts in the German Community, DPH and TBJ battled for that top spot in the German Championship League almost since Day 1. An important part for their longevity and success are their respective Captains. Frank @Franky__2768 Münch and Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi who are our Cover Athletes for GCL 11! Both played many seasons on the highest level of virtual European Hockey and decided to take a step back from competitive Gaming. While Münch took a step back as a backup player two seasons ago, Julmi announced his retirement from competing on the highest level in ECL just after the season ended. Two Eras are ending but new beginnings are about to breakout this season. It is time to take a look back with two virtual legends of GCL Hockey and talk about their biggest victories, disappointments and surprises during their careers. If you have any questions or any interesting stories you made along the way with these two, make sure to drop a comment down below 👇

Dear Frank & Sven, thank you for finding some time to take a look back at your biggest accomplishments, regrets and sweetest moments in your respective SportsGamer careers in EASPORTS NHL! Obviously everybody wants to know what is your best memory from all those years on the virtual ice?

Frank: Obviously in the ECL we had many great memories. Fighting all the way from ECL Lite up into the Elite Division and especially winning the Championship in ECL Pro was something I will never forget. If I had to pick a special memory I would had to pick our 4th Place and securing a spot in the Playoffs in our first season on Elite Level. Back then many players did not think that teams from Central Server were capable of doing so. That made it even sweeter!

Sven: Our first GCL Title with ZSC Esports and Promotion to ECL Elite. After many losses in the GCL Finals it was such a relief to finally finish on top and exorcise our demons. After winning the Lite Championship in ECL 7 we paved our way to the Pro Division and just as Frank said many Teams did not put Central European teams on the map of virtual 6s hockey. That made it even better to beat Gotham Knights in the Elite relegation and arrive in the Top 16 of our continent.

Which NHL title of the past years was your favourite?

Frank: If I'm totally honest there has not been a title in the recent years that I really fell in love with. The main factor of grinding was the friendships you made over all those years and practicing for reaching the same goals as a team. Spending all these hours with my mates has made all of this very special and is worth more than playing the game itself.

Sven: While I totally agree with what Frank said I have to pick NHL 18. The Gameplay overall was really smooth and nice especially for 6s. On top of that we secured our first title in ECL 7 that year. So that will obviously always stay in my mind.

What has been your biggest motivation to lead a team on and off the virtual ice over all those years?

Frank: Becoming a captain was actually some kind of coincidence. Back then when we gathered the band back together, Stefan @Rayman Mieth, Fynn @willywonkaaa Willer and me built the captains trio. Basically due to the fact that I was most fluent in English I got the "C" on my chest. Over all that time it just became natural and the most important factor of being a Captain is to always be honest. You need to find the right mixture for the chemistry on and off the ice. Some players might be better individually but if there is no personal chemistry it can become tough within the collective. The biggest goal was to put together a good group of guys and be as successful as we can in EASHL.

Sven: In the beginning of my career I played for the PSHL Roadrunners and Coyotes. After some time I disagreed with certain decisions made by their former Captains and I thought to myself that I am able to be a better Captain and leader for my team. That's where it all started and I founded my own squad.

What are the biggest difficulties to overcome when being a Captain?

Frank: As mentioned earlier personally there are two important factors. First: Be honest. You need to be aware of yourself on what level you are playing on and may be able to reach someday. Also considering playing time for certain players it is important to communicate. In the end no one will be happy if someone is promised to play 80% of the games but ends up sitting on the bench. And secondly and even more important to me, build a team full of characters that fit to each other. Chemistry off the ice can be more clutch than the individual skill of certain teams. You will spend so much time together it is vital to build an environment that you like to be around.

Sven: There are lots of problems you could face during your time as a Captain! To me it was always important to be proactive, talk to every player because even backup players are an important part of any squad in the league. Developing some kind of understanding to certain situations is also pretty important to keep the whole group confident. In the end we are spending a lot of time in the game and do not make - and if so not much - money with it. So sometimes family and job is obviously priority number one.

What was the biggest disappointment in your 6s career?

Frank: Probably when we did not reach our goal. If I had to pick one certain point of time in my career it was probably ending up losing Game 7 in the Quarterfinals of our first ECL Season against Dynastia. The disappointment was huge shortly after the game. But after some time you started to realize how big the accomplishment actually was.

Sven: Definitely underperforming in ECL'23 Spring Elite. We started off very strong into the season but couldn't keep up with our own pace and ended up losing most of the games in the second half of the season. After managing to qualify for the Playoffs in the prior season it was a big disappointment to play the Relegation series. Luckily we remained focused and stayed up after winning the series in six games against Lulea Hockey.

Have there been any funny stories stuck in your mind after all these years?

Frank: There were A LOT of memories during that time. But one thing that always comes to my mind was a Matchday in ECL Elite. We should have played in the early slot of the SportsGamer Broadcast. But unfortunately our former Forward Tim @Timasy Hess was lost without trace. After some wrangling and organizing we managed to swap the Broadcast games so we were able to play in the later slot. 15 Minutes after our actual Gametime Tim joined the PS Party after a relaxing nap. Still to that point he did not realize that he was actually too late. But luckily we managed to turn that around and play our Games later that night.

Sven: One of the best times we had as a team was actually off the virtual ice. We organized many events in Switzerland which ended up at Claudio @Freeman7187 Salamonis house. Apart from The Black Jacks and ZSC band a few members from former EHC Biel-Bienne Esports also joined. Just a lot of fun, good food and obviously some fresh beers!

Are there any certain hopes and wishes you have for the EA NHL series aswell as the DACH-Community?

Frank: The Game should go back to the basics. But do them right. Nobody in the competitive scene is interested in playing passes while falling down or scoring the 50th Michigan Goal by just pressing one button. Defenders should be able to pick up passes and make it more consistent. That's actually all that matters. To the community I hope that everyone works towards the same goal. Make the community bigger and improve the "product" GCL with its presentation, broadcasts as well as being respectful to each other!

Sven: I really hope that the activity of players, organizations and also viewers on Twitch rise back to the Level that it was during the COVID pandemic. The number of players, teams and the general interest on the streaming platforms steadily declines. Obviously an important factor for that is the quality of the game itself. The game and its scene has a lot of potential and it would be great to see the community becoming bigger in the future!

Once again thank you for your time! Are there any special words you would like to leave before the start of GCL 11?

Frank: To my Deadly Phantoms. To almost every player who ever wore our virtual jersey I wanna say Thank you. You will always have a special place in my heart and with all the joy and disappointments we witnessed during the last couple of years I have to admit that I enjoyed every second of it. To the DACH-Community: I am leaving with a smile on my face and I hope that during my time in the LA I did more positive than negative things. To @Kenu: Thank you for being the person that you are. Thank you for trusting me, thank you for teaching me, thank you for all the time we spent together. Living legend.

Sven: I want to thank all my companions and players. All the Guys who spend a lot of time with me in the last couple of seasons and spend many hours grinding this Game. Even though I probably was not the easiest person at all times I am glad that you took me as I am. Especially Mike @burban26 Müller and Reto @afc_Tschitsch Ulrich who made the project of ZSC Esports a big success for several seasons. The last one goes out to my current team The Black Jacks. I enjoyed every second of our successful ECL '24 Winter Elite campaign and I hope we can end on a good note in my last GCL. Last but not least to my fellow DACH-companions: I often got asked what to do to improve? Just keep it basic. Just play clean, quick and simple. Always try to play a quick pass, find the open man and go into the open spaces. Playing after this motto has brought us from Lite into ECL Elite.

On behalf of SportsGamer and the whole Community we want to thank Frank @Franky__2768 Münch and Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi for all their effort over the last couple of years. As players as well as an important part of the ECL and GCL League administration. Both players finish on rank 3 among - respectively all skaters or defensemen -the SportsGamers All Time Stats (Julmi 672GP: 631G + 981A; Münch 479GP: 143G +505A). We are looking forward to another exciting GCL Season and will see you soon with the next episode of Player's Diary!