Mika "mikaasi" Heikkilä - A leader with experience to help young players - SportsGamer

Mika @mikaasi Heikkilä is very a experienced player and has represented the Gotham Knights, FILADELPHIA and FILADELPHIA Academy among others along his virtual hockey career. He first fell in love with the NHL game series back in 04 and admits that hockey is a sport very close to heart, although he never practiced the sport himself.

"I started playing NHL back in -04, and from there on out every NHL game is in my collection. Hockey has always been close to my heart, even though I've never played it myself. I started playing 6v6 games during NHL 11 and then I also participated in the first 6v6 tournament organized by Consolehockey. Back then, as a young boy (14 years old) I just played for fun, but in a certain way also seriously because I wanted to develop as a player and help my team to survive. I couldn't imagine at the time that 6v6 tournaments would become such a competitive thing as they are at the moment. It's definitely been cool to watch the scene develop. It certainly became more goal-oriented when NHLGamer started organizing tournaments and also when a lot of players and teams moved to PlayStation and thus the level of tournaments reached a new level."

Heikkilä states that the first Finnish championship and the ECL 7 title are his fondest memories with the game series. He has spent several years with FILADELPHIA and truly calls the club home.

"I'm sure a lot of people have a bunch of stories of themselves scoring decisive goals and making clutch plays but mine is simply all of my time with FILADELPHIA. Especially the first Finnish championship and the ECL Elite 7 Championship are some of the best memories for me. Even though I was more or less a bench warmer on that team, I've always appreciated the team's team spirit and that good vibe on the team way above simply looking out for myself. FILADELPHIA has always felt like a home of its own and for example the friendship I've build with team captain Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala (since NHL 12) is one I'm sure will last for life. Live events, on the other hand, are their own experience entirely and always bring fun memories to mind when looking back at them."

As an experienced player, Heikkilä has a few thing in mind he'd like to see implemented even better to help the scene grow, but he admits that NHLGamer especially has done a great job.

"I would say that surely the scene would develop even faster and better if EA advertised the 6v6 gaming more and used more resources to develop it anyway. NHLGamer has done a great job for tournaments and the scene is constantly growing, which hopefully only promises for a better future. It will be interesting to see what the future holds."

A leader with experience to help younger players

Last year, European top tier juggernaut FILADELPHIA set up an academy team aimed at developing both new talents as well as older players who are yet to reach their prime and might have a chance to once make an appearance for the main squad.

"FILADELPHIA's academy activities are aimed at developing both young and also older players to reach their top level and perhaps one day represent the main team. They started recruiting for the team and Pontus @Pontinho (I-CLAUGHTON-I) Claughton was selected as the first captain. I played for the Gotham Knights at that time, and when that team fell apart, I thought about the continuation of my career for a while in peace. Patzlaf asked me how interested I was in joining that project and I went to see how the game felt for a few nights. I started to get excited about it, and I decided to join in. I was already supposed to play with the academy last ECL season, but there were roster changes going on in FILADELPHIA's main team and they needed a player there and of course I helped with it. After the season, however, I returned to the academy because I wanted to play and help the team develop any way I could."

The main team and the academy work in tight cooperation. Heikkilä, who captains the Academy team, admits that one of the best things for the Academy in terms of cooperation is definitely the experience and know-how of FILADELPHIA's main squad and the possibility of playing in the first team in the future. FILADELPHIA, on the other hand, has the opportunity to get players from the academy if necessary.

"I would like to raise the best things about it, at least from the academy's point of view, that GM Patzlaf has invested a lot of his own time and expertise to help academy players with game matters. I see a lot of potential individuals in our team who can even break into the Elite of the scene in the future and work for it."

Mikaasi also sees himself as a good mentor for younger players, as he has played at various levels and through various eras of the NHL competitive scene. He tries his best to help his teammates with the game and any questions they might have for him.

"Yes, I would be lying if I said that being captain didn't require any leadership and showing a model to the younger. As an experienced player, I have tried to help every player around me with just that everyday work during games. For example, if there are situations that need to be reviewed, we will discuss the matter together and try it out so that we can make it work. At least I've felt that academy players have already learned new things at this point."

As usual, we also asked Mikaasi to pick out his own 6v6 team of potential future stars:

Center: @theMaddias Apparently could play a multitude of positions, but had such a nice FCL run so he can't be left out of this lineup.

Right wing: @xColeslaww Hands are fine and overall a good player in question.

Left wing: I could say @pikkuroger, but he's already playing at a high level, so I'm going to pull home and say @xAaro89x. This guy's going to be a top player in the near future.

Right defenseman: @Bobiraataja(Nikhaa27) Great with the defensive skill stick.

Left defenseman: @viba2008 He's got all the potential to be a top 5 defenseman in the scene.

Goaltender: Our Academy goalie @Edvvinio, he surprises me time and time again with his skills.

Heikkilä hopes that in the future even more clubs would be eager to start affiliate clubs or entertain the thought of similar development projects. FILADELPHIA aims to act as a pioneer.

"Of course, it would be great to see more academy activities by other squads in the scene, and I would see it in such a way that we would have to have a system where representative teams could use their academy players in a similar way as NHL clubs use their AHL squads. However, there is still a lot of work to do in order to achieve that, so let's take one step at a time."