With the Play-in round finished and only the top 16 remaining ion the battle, it is time to really get going with the playoffs in the SCL 6v6 league! Round 1 will be starting today, Sunday 5th of September and can be played until Thursday, 9th of September. The playoffs are played in a best-of-seven format. We'll be covering the playoffs in broadcasts on our Twitch-channel, where the first matchups will be aired tonight and casted by Adam @esdor Ericson and Johan @Zalaz Nilsson. We wish all participating teams good luck moving forward!

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The SCL 6v6 Playoff Schedule:

• Play-in Round: 31.8.-3.9
• Round 1: 5.-9.9
• Quarterfinals: 12.-15.9
• Semifinals: 19.-22.9
• Finals 25.9

Here are your Round 1 matchups:

(1)   Granit Gaming vs Company of Geeks  (16)

#1 seed Granit Gaming chose to decline an invitation directly to the playoffs in favor of playing through the group stage along with all the other teams and it has paid off for them in a big way. They're now familiar with a lot of the teams and have gotten up to speed with the level of play in the SCL while retaining their #1 seed along the way. Their opponent Company of Geeks managed to push through the Play-In round in a battle against Blessed Suedis. Interestingly enough, these two clashed in the group stage already and those games were one-sided to say the least. Granit Gaming exited with full points and a goal differential of 18-2 in their favor. This will be a cakewalk for Granit unless Company of Geeks will be able to flip a switch and upset the entire league. 

(2)  Farjestad BK vs Luleå Hockey  (15)

Farjestad BK have for a long time been that #2 Swedish team but are now mounting an effort to change that with determination. They managed to go undefeated through the group stage and quite notably, they have been the most disciplined team in the league so far, with only 20 PIMs in 14 games this far. It is unlike to really play a role for them yet, but that will be important in the bigger games later in the postseason. Luleå, on the other hand managed to squeeze their way into the playoffs through the Play-in round and are a team that can surprise strong squads in low-scoring battles but have a tendency to go on cold streaks from time to time. Farjestad BK should advance with ease.

(3)  Djurgarden Hockey vs Nordic Nosebleed  (14)

Djurgarden have made a steady ascent towards the top in the Swedish scene during the past few seasons of virtual hockey and now it looks like they are close to truly challenging for the throne for the first time. After a great group stage, they are facing Nordic Nosebleed, who have a history of suffocating stronger teams in the early playoff rounds before in various tournaments and won't give this one up easily, that's for sure. 

(4)  HV71 vs Illumination  (13)

Much alike Djurgarden, HV71 have been on a similar trajectory towards the top and with some of the high-profile acquisitions made over the past six months, the team now looks stronger than ever, which is evident in their play. Despite ending up at the #4 seed, they are right there with the best of teams in the league and will be on the lookout for the biggest trophy. Illumination, who they will be facing are an ensemble of experienced gamers, but the team lacks that x-factor that could push them over the edge to being a true contender. 

(5)  AiKnown vs HockeyProfessorn HC  (12) 

With perhaps some of the most experienced players in the scene on their roster, AiKnown are pushing on with an exciting mix of experience and young talent. They've shown already in the group stage that they possess the skill to steal wins from strong teams and will be going into this series as a favorite. HockeyProfessorn are in for a big challenge and would need to tighten up their play a bit of they are looking to advance. Thjey struggled with scoring against stronger defensive units in the group stage and need to find a way past that.

(6)  Björklöven Esport vs Sjukstugan  (11)

Despite their #6 seed, Brörklöven are a team that could battle up there with the best of them. Statistically, they are a very strong defensive unit with stellar special teams that can seemingly score at will. However, the reinvented Sjukstugan won't be giving up easily and surely have the experience to handle themselves in tough spots, but haven't quite found their groove on the ice yet. Goaltender @poliskontroll is among the best ones in the league on a good day.

(7)  Södertälje SK vs IK Oskarshamn  (10)

It is looking like we could be in for a very tough series in this one, as both teams played through the group stage with rather moderate numbers. Södertalje SK are the lowest scoring team still left in the postseason, whereas IK Oskarshamn are following quite close behind in that department. Special teams could be a decisive factor if the series go the low-scoring route and in that department, SSK holds a minor edge. 

(8)  Raging Monkeys vs Ice MachineZ  (9)

Raging Monkeys and Ice MachineZ are going head-to-head in this mid-tier battle although it is tough to imagine Ice MachineZ not advancing. They have a strong squad consisting of players that don't necessarily have that much experience together, but should find a way to tighten things up in the playoffs. That is not to say that Raging Monkeys wouldn't be a good team, but their quality will be put to a true test in this matchup.

Tune in to www.Twitch.tv/NHLGamer tonight at 19:45 CEST for the first matchups of the SCL 6v6 Playoffs!

NHLGamers,

As we've closed down the group stage of this years Swedish Championship, many teams have fought bravely for their spots in the Playoffs, some came just short, and others will still have to prove themselves in the Play-ins. The SCL 2021 Play-ins will be played between the 31st of August and the 2nd of September and the participating teams are the squads that finished 4th and 5th in each group, eight teams in total. The Play-ins are played in a best-of-five manner and the winners of the series will enter the Playoffs as seeds 13 to 16.

Here are your SCL Play-ins matchups:

 Illumination vs Dompa Poppers HC 

 Blessed Suedis vs Company of Geeks 

 Mora IK Esport vs Luleå Hockey 

 Team Modo vs Nordic Nosebleed 

Good luck to all teams!

NHLGamers,

The 1v1-portion of our Swedish national league SCL has already been rolling on for a few days, and here we're dropping all necessary info for players to refer to in case of any problems or questions. We're happy to see so many signups this year with a total of 77 Swedish gamers signing up to fight for the championship title, defended by Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund for the third consecutive season.

Schedule

• Regular season: 20.8-6.9.
• Round 1: 7-9.9
• Round 2: 12-14.9
• Round 3: 15-19.9
• Round 4: 20-22.9
• Finals (Top 4): 24.9.
  
   

Brief season description

The regular season of SCL 1v1 lasts for just over two weeks. Players will compete in 6 groups with approximately 12-13 players in each group. Games are scheduled but can be rescheduled as desired within the given time constraints. All players within a group will face each other once. The top seven players (42 in total) will advance to the playoffs, where the top three out of each group go directly to the second round and players seeded 4-7 on each group will play in the first round. The playoffs are played in best-of-five manner. Invitee @Eken45jr will join in for the third round at seed #1.
 

Rulebook

You can find the rulebook here. It is also always available through the league menu. We strongly suggest every player gets familiar with the rules before jumping on the ice. 
 

League Administration

All league related verdicts will be decided by the League Administration. To open up a case, visit the Support section.

Please note: before contacting League Administration, players are expected to do their best and solve issues they might have on their own. Familiarize yourself with our rules first, as they include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always to be used as the last resort to solve any disagreements.

Communication

In order to get in touch with your opponent, you can use the private message function on our site or the SCL 1v1 discord channel which can be found on the NHLGamer discord server You can join our discord server by clicking the button below. Please communicate with your scheduled opponent in time. 

In the NHLGamer Discord you will find an SCL 1v1 group with designated channels for each group, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below)

Licenses

All participating players must acquire a SESF license, which is free to obtain. Participating without a license can lead to sanctions such as point loss or in grave cases disqualification.

Acquire your license here

Social media

Twitter:

When posting tweets about your tournament progress or any other related content - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerCOM
• @swehockeyse
• @svenskesport
• #SCL2021
• #SvSeHockey

Instagram:

When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerOfficial
• @swehockeyse
• #SCL2021
• #SvSeHockey

We hope everyone has a great SCL. Good luck to all players!

NHLGamers,

Time goes by fast and we've already arrived at the start date for the SCL 6v6 season. We've got a total of 35 teams divided into four groups fighting for the title this season. The two-time champion and invitee Vesa Pompa has decided - despite their invitation to the playoffs as the first seed - to play in the group stage. The top 3 out of each group will make it into the 2nd round of playoffs directly, while teams finishing in positions 4 and 5 will play a play-in round (BO5) to determine the last team to make it into the top 16. Here's a short recap of the most crucial information, please familiarize yourself with the full rulebook for a deeper understanding of how the league will operate.

Today is also the final day to sign up for the 1v1 portion of SCL! If you haven't done that yet, you can sign up here.

Schedule

Default gamedays for the SCL 2021 season will be Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. 

• Regular season 15.-30.8
• Playoffs Round 1: 31.8-3.9
• Playoffs Round 2: 5.-9.9
• Quarterfinals: 12.-15.9
• Semifinals: 19.-22.9
• Finals: 25.9

License & Eligibility

All Swedish and Finnish players require a player license from their respective esports federation, acquire your license by following instructions provided in the links below. For players of other nationalities, a license from their respective esports federation is recommended, but not required.

Acquire your license here (Swedes)
Acquire your license here (Finns)

All teams must always feature a minimum of 4 Swedish players in their on-ice lineup

• Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if both players are from a minor community (for example: Danish, Norwegian, Latvian)
• Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if one player is from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak) and the other player from a minor community.
• Teams may NOT feature two non-Swedish players on ice if both those players are from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak)

Below you will find an image to help illustrate this rule clarification:

Rosters are locked on 16.8 at 23:59, no transfers are allowed, only free agent signings.

Social media

Twitter:

When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerCOM
• @swehockeyse
• @svenskesport
• #SCL2021
• #SvSeHockey

Instagram:

When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerOfficial
• @swehockeyse
• #SCL2021
• #SvSeHockey

Communication

In order to get in touch with your opponent, you can use the "Message all captains" button (pictured below) on the team's page. This will send a private message on the NHLGamer community to the three listed captains.

Additionally, we offer an NHLGamer Discord server, which you can join by clicking the button below. We ask that at the very least the captains of each team join the server, as messaging through Discord is instant and it is a great way to communicate quickly and briefly.

In the NHLGamer Discord you will find an SCL 6v6 group, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below)

Groups

We hope everyone has a great SCL. Good luck to all teams!

NHLGamers,

There's still time to get in on the action in the biggest virtual hockey league in Sweden! Signups for the 6v6 league are open until 23:59 CEST on August 11th (Tomorrow!) and signups for the 1v1 league are open until 23:59 CEST on August 15th. If you need to catch up on what the SCL is all about, check out the full story here.

All Swedish and Finnish players require a player license from their respective esports federation, acquire your license by following instructions provided in the links below. For players of other nationalities, a license from their respective esports federation is recommended, but not required.

Acquire your license here (Swedes)
Acquire your license here (Finns)

PLEASE NOTE: There has been some changes to the eligibility rules and players (and goalies) can only participate in either FCL or SCL - not both. For full explanation of the eligibility and rules regarding that, please read more here.

SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE!

Registrations for SCL 1v1 are open 28.7-15.8

• Group stage: 19.8-6.9
• Playoffs: 9.9-20.9
• TOP 4 Finals: 24.9 (BO3)

SIGN UP FOR 6v6 HERE!

Registrations for SCL 6v6 are open 28.7-11.8

• Regular season 15.-30.8
• Playoffs Round 1: 31.8.-3.9 (BO5)
• Playoffs Round 2: 5.-9.9 (BO7)
• Quarterfinals: 12.-15.9 (BO7)
• Semifinals: 19.-22.9 (BO7)
• Finals 25.9 (BO7)

This is your chance to play with and against some of the best players in the world and compete for a slice of the 100 000 SEK prize pool, so don't wait, gather your friends and sign up now!
 

NHLGamers,

Both of our biggest regional tournaments are kicking off, so there's lots of action to get excited for! Find out all of the crucial details in this article and have a closer look at the changes made to our eligibility rules.

As the summer brings it's heat, it's also time for us to ramp it up when it comes to regional competition! With that, we present to you the third iteration of the SCL! This year sponsored by Svenska Spel and in co-operation with SESF - The Swedish Esports Federation and SIF - The Swedish Ice Hockey Association. We're bringing 100 000 SEK in cash and action in both the 1v1 and 6v6 modes, so gather your friends and register for a blast of a tournament and the chance to win some cash along the way!

To cap off the second season of the SCL, Vesa Pompa HC and Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund were able to reproduce back-to-back championships. According to the SCL ruleset, both will receive an invitation to join this years SCL as the #1 seed in the playoffs. 

Prize Pool

The SCL prize pool for 2021 will consist of 100 000 SEK in total, where 65 000 SEK will be allocated to prizes in the 6v6 mode and 35 000 SEK is allocated to prizes in the 1v1 mode. 

Players and teams can choose to invoice SESF through their organization for earnings in form of prize money. Otherwise prize money will be paid as salary and will be subject to taxation and fees incurred for the "employer" - SESF according to Swedish legislation. An invoice should include the entire amount of earnings including VAT.

Schedule
 

SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE!

Registrations for SCL 1v1 are open 28.7-15.8

• Group stage: 19.8-6.9
• Playoffs: 9.9-20.9
• TOP 4 Finals: 24.9 (BO3)

SIGN UP FOR 6v6 HERE!

Registrations for SCL 6v6 are open 28.7-11.8

• Regular season 15.-30.8
• Playoffs Round 1: 31.8.-3.9 (BO5)
• Playoffs Round 2: 5.-9.9 (BO7)
• Quarterfinals: 12.-15.9 (BO7)
• Semifinals: 19.-22.9 (BO7)
• Finals 25.9 (BO7)

Eligibility

With this being the third edition of SCL, many of you have come to expect rule tweaks as we continue to work towards perfecting the tournament formula here at NHLGamer.com. This year is no exception. The main events for our two largest communities, the SCL and the FCL, have grown increasingly entwined in terms of scheduling over the years – and will look to stay that way, e.g. both being played at the same time, for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, we’ve looked at ways of creating a structure that allows both the Swedish and the Finnish communities to shine, while strengthening each tournament’s own unique identity and sense of national pride.

In terms of the SCL, what we’ve seen in the past among teams making deep playoff runs in the SCL is a strong reliance on (temporarily) adding players specifically based in the FCL to further their own cause.

Therefore, in the interest of solidifying an identity for the SCL that has a stronger native focus while also avoiding scheduling issues for these two concurrently running tournaments, player participation in the SCL (native and foreign) will now exclude that player from participating in the FCL.

'Player participation' is defined as being listed on the roster of a team participating in the SCL. In short, players can not be listed in the roster for teams in both the SCL and the FCL.

What this means in practice is that anyone; Swedish, Finnish or otherwise can participate in either the SCL or the FCL - just not both.

Otherwise, our eligibility rule will follow the same format as before, only with more nationalities joining the list with "major community" status. For SCL 2021, two non-Swedish players will be allowed per team on ice in a game – under very specific conditions. Here they are:

Outside of the Swedish championship (SCL). The German (GCL), Finnish (FCL) Russian (RCL) and Czech and Slovak (CSCL) communities will be defined as the “major communities” for the purposes of this text.

Players hailing from nations that currently do not have a region-based championship to sign up for – one where they are allowed to play free of restrictions and are counted as the main target demographic – will be defined as “minor communities” for the purposes of this text.

All teams must always feature a minimum of 4 Swedish players in their on-ice lineup

• Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if both players are from a minor community (for example: Danish, Norwegian, Latvian)
• Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if one player is from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak) and the other player from a minor community
• Teams may NOT feature two non-Swedish players on ice if both those players are from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak)

Below you will find an image to help illustrate this rule clarification:

The 1vs1 portion of the SCL is available only for Swedish citizens.

License

All Swedish and Finnish players require a player license from their respective esports federation, acquire your license by following instructions provided in the links below. For players of other nationalities, a license from their respective esports federation is recommended, but not required.

Acquire your license here (Swedes)
Acquire your license here (Finns)

About us

Since its inception, NHLGamer has continuously strived to offer the best possible experience for any and all gamers who have come to enjoy the competitiveness of playing the EA Sports series of NHL games. Created by gamers for gamers, we are very much in touch with the growing community and want to understand the fundamental desires of our end customers fully. The international competitive leagues in Europe (ECL) and North America (NACL) are our crown jewels, which have proven to draw interest from the very best teams and players worldwide. 
While proud of our achievements and the success we've had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, we are not done yet. Our long-term goals include growing the community, hosting larger leagues with prize pools, and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports.

About our partners



SIF - The Swedish Ice Hockey Association

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association is the governing body in Swedish ice hockey and inline hockey. The association is involved in all levels of ice hockey in Sweden and organizes the two Swedish Championship leagues being the men's SHL and women's SDHL.

SESF - The Swedish Esports Federation

SESF stands for Svenska E-sportföreningen and they are the governing body of esports competition in Sweden at the moment. The objective of the organisation is to develop the Swedish esports scene and shows a constant presence in organising tournaments and events. Currently, SESF provides training for esports referees and licenses for both referees and players. In Swedish esports competition, a SESF license is a quality guarantee.

Main sponsor - Svenska Spel
Svenska Spel is all of Sweden’s gaming company. We want gaming to be enjoyed by all. Svenska Spel’s operations are divided into three business areas: Sport & Casino with well-known brands such as Stryktipset and Oddset, Tur with Triss and Lotto among other games, and Casino Cosmopol & Vegas with three international casinos and Vegas video lottery terminals in restaurants and bingo halls. Svenska Spel is the largest sponsor of Swedish sports and supports everything from small local sports clubs to some of our most beloved national teams. There are about 1400 employees within the Svenska Spel Group and the main office is in Visby. For more information visit svenskaspel.se

NHLGamers,

What a journey it has once again been! A competitive tourney is a taxing experience for all parties involved - players, teams and staff. The end, however is always equally rewarding as we see the eventual champions hoist the cup. Unfortunately this time, the hoisting had to be done virtually, but that didn't take away from the excitement and integrity of the victory that Vesa Pompa HC claimed for the second year running. 

For the second year of Swedish competition, we're happy to have almost doubled the participating teams, which shows great initiative from our Swedish community and the increase in interest toward what we see as the pinnacle of virtual hockey - competitive 6v6 leagues. We're hoping to see all of these teams and even more in the upcoming ECL! 

Svenska Spel and Svenska Ishockeyförbundet has decided to award caster Adam @esdor Ericson as the fair player of the tournament. Adam has showed an exemplary attitude throughout the duration of the season and has met the audience and his peers with respect, warmth and humor each day. He also competed in the 1v1 tourney, narrowly being eliminated form the top 8 due to tiebreakers. Adam is a role model in the community and has done great work to grow the sport. The 2020 fair player award consists of a 5000 SEK cheque and an official Tre Kronor jersey. Congrats Adam!
 

Group stage

The SCL group stage featured four groups with 9-10 teams each this season. As usual, the teams faced each other in double-headers, being awarded a maximum of two points for each win. Out of each group, three teams would advance directly to the playoffs, whereas the teams placed 4-5 in each group would meet in a play-in round to determine the fourth and final playoff spot.

The defending champion and therefore invitee Vesa Pompa HC decided to reject a direct invitation to the playoffs in favor of participating in the groupstage and building chemistry throughout the tournament. The defending champions passed with flying colors, being the only undefeated team and dominating their group 1 like only a champion could. Overall, group 1 featured a multitude of talented teams but it seemed like experience really prevailed, as Sjukstugan managed to snag second place and SSK Esports came in third leaving Almtuna IS eSport and HockeyProfessorn HC to battle in the play-in round. 

Group 2 featured two clear favorites with more established rosters in comparison to the competition. Northern Ascendancy and Djurgarden Hockey fought for the first place, with NOR eventually claiming the spot. Bask Nation came in third with their exciting ensemble of players from various backgrounds and levels of experience - only three losses and a victory stolen against NOR shows that they are a team to be taken seriously. Viper HC and Rogle BK were left to fight in the play-in round.

We saw an eSHL-dominant group 3, also including a total of six teams representing traditional Swedish clubs. Clear favorites were Farjestad BK and Leksands IF, who also finished in that order, but HV71 eSHL is never a team to be counted out and managed to challenge the top adequately. Places 4-6 were a tight three way battle between Orebro eHockey, Unwanted and Hammarby Hockey, out of which the last eventually was the odd team out.

Group 4 was Vaxjo's for the taking, and the clear favorites ran away with the victory leaving Company of Geeks and Studspoikarna SWC to battle for second place with an eventual one point differential. IK Oskarshamn showed a great improvement since their last competitive run, coming in 4th ahead of the experienced Nordic Nosebleed.
 

Play-in round

The play-in round was something new in NHLGamer leagues and added to some more excitement to the final battles for the last places in the postseason. By playing each other already in the group stage, these teams were able to build some minor rivalries, going up against one another in a high-stakes best of five to start the playoffs.

These were the play-in series and their respective results:

(4) Almtuna IS eSports vs HockeyProfessorn HC (5) 1-3
(4) Viper HC vs Rogle BK (5) 0-3
(4) Orebro eHockey vs Unwanted (5) 3-1
(4) IK Oskarshamn vs Nordic Nosebleed (5) 0-3
 

Playoffs

Once the playoffs commenced, we were left with the 16 top teams in Sweden who all believed in their chances at a title shot - at least to some extent. Obviously, there were favorites who should have advanced throughout the rounds unwaivered and that is to a large degree what we saw. The first round offered little in terms of surprises, but number one seed Vesa Pompa HC suffered their first loss in the tournament at the hands of Nordic Nosebleed, after which the champs ran away with the series. Some lower seeds that managed to push through were HV71 eSHL who went up as a 12th seed against Djurgarden Hockey at seed 5 and SSK Esports, who as seed 11 won seed 6 - Company of Geeks.

The quarterfinals didn't feature too much in terms of surprises either with one major exception. Despite being close in terms of seeding, Farjestad BK was coming into the SCL with an upwards trajectory after a successful run in the ECL and some time to practice even more in between tournaments, whereas Leksands IF was expected to have fallen out of their prime a bit after peaking early spring. Perhaps the oldest team in the tournament - Leksands showed us that not all can be predicted, when they beat the favorite surprisingly easily with a score of 4-2. 

By upsetting FBK in the quarters, Leksands punched their ticket to go up against Vesa Pompa in the semifinals - a task that proved to be all too much. Four straight losses put LIF's run to a rather anticlimactic end and sent Vesa Pompa to the finals. The other semifinal matchup showed us more action that we could've wished for as Vaxjo Lakers HC and Northern Ascendancy took it all the way to a game seven that ended in a gruelling way for VLH, who after an immense pressure in the last five minutes came just short this time. 

Finals

Vesa Pompa HC and Northern Ascendancy were the ones going at it in the finals this year. The biggest share of 100 000 SEK on the line and the right to call yourself a Swedish Champion for the next year was at stake and these two did not disappoint. Throughout the day of the finals, Vesa Pompa and NOR traded blows, going back and forth in both flow of game and series leads, until we eventually reached the inevitable - a game seven decision. Game seven brought the drama and everything we could ever wish for in a hockey game, if you're doubtful just check in at the six hour mark of the broadcast below! The last minute of game seven featured two goals, but eventually the game winner came from the stick of Casper @ICappeI Lundgren at 59:06. Vesa Pompa was able to hold off the strong attack of NOR and secured their back-to-back title run!

If you missed the finals, you can check in on the broadcast here:

NHLGamers,

With the events of the long SCL season and a whole seven game final series in the rearview, we are happy to announce that Vesa Pompa HC is your SCL champion! After seeing superstar winger Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund going back-to-back last night, also the club was determined to pull off a similar feat. 

Vesa Pompa HC's road to the championship:
Group stage: 16-0-0
Round 1: vs Nordic Nosebleed 4-1
Quarterfinals: vs HV71 eSHL 4-1
Semifinals: vs Leksands IF 4-0
Finals: vs Northern Ascendancy 4-3

The winning roster:
GOALTENDERS
#27 Philip @Pippo Johansson
#93 Edvin @Thunborg5 Thunborg

DEFENSEMEN
#26 Sebastian @SebbeLarsen86 Larsen
#40 Joel @jtorro1233 Tourunen
#50 Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann

FORWARDS
#19 Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund
#71 Casper @ICappeI Lundgren
#91 Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha

Congratulations to the champions on behalf of the entire community, and a warm thank you to all participants!

If you missed the broadcast, you can rewatch it here:

NHLGamers,

We've arrived! A long season has now reached terminus, as we're still left with four great teams out of which two will be battling for the title and a hefty slice of cash in the grande finale whereas the others will be going for what they can salvage in a bronze game. Ultimately, we've got the four most skilled teams in Sweden showing up tonight and we hope you do too!

(1)  Vesa Pompa HC vs Northern Ascendancy  (3)

TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Casper @ICappeI Lundgren (28+23=51) vs Erik @Eki Tammenpää (29+27=56)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Edvin @Thunborg5 Thunborg (82,22 SV%, 1.14 GAA, 3 SO) vs Jonas @poliskontroll Lindström (80.8 SV%, 1.5 GAA, 2 SO)

These are the two best teams in Sweden right now and all that remains is to determine an order in a gruesome best-of-seven final series. Both of these teams have gone through somewhat similar paths on their way to the final, although Vesa Pompa has came through with arguably an easier effort so far, which naturally is justified for a #1 seed. To go through some background, last year Vesa Pompa HC secured the title as the first ever 6v6 Swedish champion and are eagerly defending that throne whereas Northern Ascendancy faced defeat in the semifinals and finally also in the bronze game leading to utter disappointment. So, we've got two tremendously skilled teams heading into battle with similar, but also very different starting points.

Simply looking a few rows up at the top scorers of these teams is telling me this is going to be a legendary series. On Vesa Pompa we've got do-it-all superstar Casper @ICappeI Lundgren, whose capability of playing bigger games on the wing I somewhat doubted in the semifinal writeup, but the man proved all doubters wrong continuing his run and scoring cold-blooded snipes such as the one below in the process.

While @ICappeI looks to keep sniping, we're sure that his long-time teammate now playing on the other side, Erik @Eki Tammenpää looks to do just the same for his Northern Ascendancy. @Eki has been enjoying the legendary dishes of comeback kid Andre @Foppatofflan Liljegren who is once again proving his worth and elevating the game of his dear club, together with a partially renewed roster including lots of old acquaintances. Despite the immense star power that both of these clubs have an abundance of, we cannot forget the supporting cast that has played an important role in the success of both of these clubs this season. Besides the scorers and superstars, also players doing the work that's not as quantifiable in statistics will play an important role in the finals. Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann is the long time leader and captain of Vesa Pompa and has played through a multitude of situations, possessing experience from a variety of situations on both the 6v6 and 1v1 sides of the game. The captain has a balancing role to counter his superstar d-partner Joel @jtorro1233 Tourunen and is doing that work extremely well. On the Northern Ascendancy side we've also got an interesting character on defense - Mattias @iSvamp Björck has been in the community for what seems to be an eternity and has compiled an impressive amount of titles in that timespan, granted that the last time the man hoisted a trophy is quite a while ago. The defensively exceptional right defenseman of NOR looks to get back in his winning ways and doing so with an incredibly strong squad that has all the possibilities of taking a title.

Here's the community vote of the final series:

(2)  Vaxjo Lakers HC vs Leksands IF  (7)

TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander (17+21=38) vs Johan @Isindar Jonsson (15+16=31)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Filip @Fcoy_faze Azri (85.29 SV%, 1.56 GAA, 4 SO) vs Kimmo @DUNZA Sunnari (75.31 SV%, 2.5 GAA, 1 SO)

Before we get going with the final games of the season, we're in store for some additional top tier hockey shown in the bronze game, which is played as a best-of-three series between Vaxjo Lakers HC and Leksands IF. Despite facing disappointment in the semifinals, both of these squads will be coming to play when the puck drops and are looking to secure that 3rd spot and some hardware in their closets.

Vaxjo is coming into the bronze game in good form after losing to Northern Ascendancy in a game seven in which they arguably outplayed their opposition at times, but the result has to be respected nevertheless. If their most recent performances are any indication, I'm predicting a tough time for Leksands IF who had a tough time getting their game going against Vesa Pompa in their semifinal matchup. 

Tune in for the finals tonight!

We'll be broadcasting all the action during the day, with your favorites Adam @esdor Ericson and Johan @Zalaz Nilsson in the booth as usual. The stream will be going live at 17:30 CEST and we'll kick off with the BO3 bronze game series. Make sure to tell your friends and tune in at twitch.tv/NHLGamer for some quality virtual hockey!

Here's a preliminary schedule for the night:
17:30 Broadcast start
17:40 Puck drop for VLH-LIF
19:10 Bronze winner interview and recap
19:15 Finals intro
19:30 Game 1-3 of finals 
------BREAK------
21:15 Game 4-5 of finals
----- SHORT BREAK ----
22:30 Game 6-7 of finals

See you in the chat, gamers!

NHLGamers,

After a gruelling Friday night we're able to present to you the new SCL 1vs1 Champion Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund!

Let's take a look back at @Eken45jr's road to the championship:

Group stage record:
Invited straight to the finals stage 
Finals group stage record: 
6-0-0
Quarterfinals
vs @Rubituss 2-0
SemiFinals
vs @JoeeelOD 2-0
Finals
vs @SebbeLarsen86 2-0

The top 3 of SCL 1vs1 are:
1. Henrik Eklund @Eken45jr 
2. Sebastian Larsen @SebbeLarsen86
3. Anton Svensander @antoniomannen004

NHLGamer would like to congratulate Eken on a tremendous tournament and the championship!

If you wish to relive the broadcast, you can do so here:

NHLGamers, 

We're now at the stage of the SCL 1v1 where only the best remain. Last year, we saw 16 of the best Swedish players show up at the LAN finals in Uppsala, but this time we're taking things online due to the pandemic and restrictions coming with it. The goal of this article is to give an idea of how the tournament has went and who the remaining players are. We're also taking a shot at overviewing who has the best shot at advancing to the finals.

Anyways, here's a quick rundown of the tournament structure:

Group stage - around 90 participants

• 9 groups with 10 players
• One game against each opponent
• Six players from each group advance together with the six best 7th placed players (60 players in total)

2nd round - BO5 playoffs (60 players left)

• players were seeded into the playoffs based on the following tiebreakers: group stage placement, head-to-head result, goal differential, goals for and wins in regulation.

Third round - BO5 playoffs (30 players left)

Fourth round - Finals group stage (16 players left)  <--- WE ARE HERE!

• Invitee Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund joins the tournament at seed #1
• Players are placed into four groups with four players each
• Two games against each opponent
• Two players from each group advance into the top 8

Finals - 2nd of October @ twitch.tv/NHLGamer (8 players left)
 

Who's still in?

Lots of familiar names are in competition at this stage, but we've also got some fresh faces like @lidman1 and @Henka0009, who somewhat surprisingly are pushing through to the top 16 after upsetting @Frompa- and @Foppatofflan respectively in the 2nd playoff round. The reigning and defending champion Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund joins the competition at this stage and immediately jumps into action in a tough group 1 together with none other than dear teammate Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann.

Above: SCL 1v1 Champion 2019: Henrik "eken45jr" Eklund
 

We talked with the defending champion @Eken45jr to get an understanding of his mindset going into this tournament at this stage:

How do you feel about joining at this stage when the others are already warmed up, do you think it adds to the difficulty?
- It feels great to get going with competitive games once again, especially when joining the top 16. Watching the others play really got my itch to compete going. I don't think they have an advantage, I'm usually good to jump right into the thick of things.

What's your usual routine for keeping up the form?
- The recipe is simple, really. I just try to play some games every day against the best opposition I can get. 

Which players would you suggest keeping an eye on in the tournament? Is there any player that you wouldn't want to face moving forward?
- I feel that especially Sebastian @SebbeLarsen86 Larsen, who showed off his talent at the IIHF tourney earlier this year is an interesting name in the tournament, he is really good. Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander has also looked great this year but has struggled in tournaments so it'll be nice to see if he can make it this time. Naturally we also have the usual suspects Robin @Rubituss Söderqvist and @Lehmannens who aren't to be counted out. I don't think theres any players I wouldn't want to face, if I can reach my highest level, I'll beat anyone!
 

Once again, due to my very limited knowledge of the versus-scene, I turned to a fellow gamer and community favorite caster Adam @esdor Ericson for some insight into who to keep an eye on:

Note that the predictions were made in the afternoon of September 29th before any games were played.

Group 1:
Advancing: @Eken45jr
The players fighting for 2nd place are @Lehmannens and @Tmybror, unfortunately for @lidman1 the group is too tough for him.

Group 2:
Advancing: @Rubituss
Obviously, this is Esdors own group and he would like to advance himself, but if the other guys were to be evaluated, @Henka0009 is slightly ahead of @amadee21.

Group 3:
Advancing: @SebbeLarsen86
Behind the clear winner, the group is wide open. @Thunborg5 has some skill but is prone to letting his emotions get the best of him. @JoeeelOD flies a bit under the radar and can surprise. @xwirran isn't one to be counted out, he completed a reverse sweep against @Kingen_86 before the top 16.

Group 4:
Advancing: @antoniomannen004
All the press is on Ante to take the 1st place but he has struggled in tournaments this year. @Hockeyjohannes or @oggezed is the pick for the 2nd spot.

Who is your favorite to win it all this year? The finals are on already tomorrow, so don't forget to tune in for that event!

NHLGamers,

We are on our way to the finals and this week we'll find out which teams are to push through into the biggest games of the season with everything on the line. We're down to four contenders remaining and despite there being underdogs and favourites, realistically the title is anyones for the taking. Stay alert on social media in order to follow the finale of the SCL season this week!

Lainaa

6) Turneringsstruktur

• Registrering: 18.8.-27.8.
• Grundserie: 28.8.-13.9.
• Play-in Runda: 14.9.-15.9. (BO5) 4/8
• Playoffs Runda 1 17.-20.9. (BO7)
• Kvartsfinal: 22.-25.9. (BO7)
• Semifinal: 27.9.-30.9. (BO7)
• Bronskamp 3.10. (BO3)
• Final (Top 2): 3.10. (BO7)

Grundserien spelas i fyra grupper, där de tre bästa lagen i varje grupp (totalt 12 lag) går direkt till slutspelet. Utöver detta kommer lagen på plats 4-5 i varje grupp att spela en Play-in runda för gruppens sista plats i slutspelet.

Play-in rundan spelas i bäst av fem. Slutspel spelas med den bästa av sju-metoden. Det bästa laget i ordinarie säsong möter det 16: e laget och så vidare.

Here are your semifinal matchups:

(1)  Vesa Pompa HC vs Leksands IF  (7)
TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Casper @ICappeI Lundgren (24+17=41) vs Johan @Isindar Jonsson (14+13=27)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Edvin @Thunborg5 Thunborg (78,38 SV%, 1.33 GAA, 2 SO) vs Kimmo @DUNZA Sunnari (75.68 SV%, 2.25 GAA, 1 SO)

The all-star lineup that defending champion Vesa Pompa HC is running has been clicking well so far into the tournament, putting the team at a 24-1-1 record throughout the season including their playoff push so far. The fact right now is that their leading playoff scorer is best known for stopping pucks than putting them into the back of the net. It's not a massively worrying factor since @ICappeI has surely proven capable of doing both and superstars Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund and Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha have no problem stepping up when required but it just makes you wonder if such a setup really can carry them all the way. Another fact is that their upcoming opponent Leksands IF is a squad that for years have honed their defensive play that they are so well known for, but are definitely no slouches on offense either. I've seen Leksand pull of impressive one-touch passing plays on several occasions and they possess the skill to capitalize when given the opportunity. Experienced defenseman Jonas @Supremski Söderlund is the man to keep an eye on in white and blue, since he can play up and down the ice and has the skill to get some really nasty pucks on net at the most opportune moments of big games. The goalie matchup in this series should also not be understated. Vesa Pompa has the option to go with either @Thunborg5 or Philip @Pippo Johansson, who despite seeing less ice time has been statistically superior in net in these playoffs. Leksand on the other hand has gone with their mainstay @DUNZA who has struggled a bit and still needs to get his percentages up and averages down. Which goalie will manage to turn it around? It might be the decisive factor in this series.
 

(2)  Vaxjo Lakers HC vs Northern Ascendancy  (3)
TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander (13+17=30) vs Erik @Eki Tammenpää (23+21=44)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Filip @Fcoy_faze Azri (88.06 SV%, 0.89 GAA, 4 SO) vs Jonas @poliskontroll Lindström (80 SV%, 1.22 GAA, 2 SO)

Personally, I see Vaxjo as somewhat of a surprise pushing this far into the postseason, but the team has proven to find prime form during SCL and has made some fitting acquisitions to help them along the way. Former defenseman @antoniomannen004is doing well on the wing and inexperienced but very talented goaltender @Fcoy_faze is topping statistics and playing the game of a bona fide Elite-level netminder to keep his team battling through any opponent. Last year we saw Northern Ascendancy crumble in the semifinals, resulting in a massive disappointment to cap off the tournament but that is surely something that the largely renewed squad is looking to change. @Eki currently leads the playoffs in scoring and surely hopes to keep up the same pace, but now needs to get past the hottest goaltender in the league in order to do so. So far into the tournament, NOR hasn't really been tested yet and has only seen two losses at the hands of Bask Nation and Sjukstugan, I'm expecting them to have an increasingly tough time overcoming Vaxjo especially if the goaltending stays at a high level. In this series, the men who decide the outcome will be @Fcoy_faze and @Eki. It's your play, guys.

Let's cap this article off by taking a look at the community consensus about the series. We put out a poll on Twitter and you guys answered as follows:

Tune in for the playoffs tonight!

The semifinals start tonight  as we'll see Leksands If and Vesa Pompa HC go head to head in a broadcast commentated by Adam @esdor Ericson and Johan @Zalaz Nilsson, starting at 20:30 CEST on twitch.tv/NHLGamer.

NHLGamers,

The past year has brought a multitude of organizations into the NHL esports scene out of which a vast majority are Swedish traditional hockey clubs which is a joy to see. The latest addition to this group of clubs is going to be Sodertalje SK, who will be competing as SSK Esports in NHLGamer organized tournaments and have in fact pushed into the quarterfinals of the SCL already, where the team will be facing the very strong Vaxjo Lakers HC in a series that will be starting tonight and is broadcasted at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer.

"Now is the time to act on this and we've been impressed with the quick growth of esports in general. Basically every SHL club is represented in esports and we wanted to jump on that train in also establishing a HockeyAllsvenskan presence in esports. We welcome our esports team with open arms and will be doing everything we can to back them in their efforts going forward. It's especially heartwarming to be represented by true supporters of SSK on the virtual ice." - Club director Robert Andersson

The roster of SSK Esports consist of several experienced Swedish players with some Norwegian spice in the form of Henning @el_tacobag Drange. The captain trio of David @HambergD Hamberg, Philip @Strumpan87 Ström and Asko @minokin Grön have all played through their own paths and ended up crossing paths in the former Syndicate, who they now have turned into SSK Esports with a few interesting acquisitions, mainly their Norwegian addition and Tobias @svetidaje Karlsson to help out on defense.

We had a few words with captain @HambergD ahead of tonight's games against Vaxjo:

You've been doing well so far into the SCL and are now heading into a massive challenge facing Vaxjo, what's your gameplan going into this series?
- We've been trying to stick to our guns as much as possible and in general it's been working well for us. In order to fight our way tot he semi's we'll keep doing just the same - trusting that we truly can challenge even the best teams and offer a good fight in all three zones of the ice. Vaxjo is a tremendously skilled team that you have to make it hard for to enter your zone. They're at their best when setting up around the net so we'll really have to give our all in every situation in order to top that.

Take us through your roster a bit, what are some of your strengths?
- I believe we're quite the pain to play against as our system is built on puck cycling offense with lots of movement up front. Our defenders also play a big role in creating offense. We know that we can trust our defense since on top of our two regulars, we've got former defensemen up front who definitely know how to handle themselves without the puck on their stick. 

If you were to pick out one team that you definitely want to beat, who would that be?
- If I were to mention one, I'd say Company of Geeks. We managed to keep a high level throughout that series and were glad to be able to take home that victory. When looking ahead, I'd say Vesa Pompa HC has to be the team everyone wants to beat. They've got the ability to do such unexpected things on the ice and possess all the skill in the world. We felt that we challenged them well in the group stage, so we're definitely eager for a rematch if the opportunity should present itself. 

Sodertalje SK

Sodertalje SK, also known as SSK hails from the east coast of Sweden as Södertälje is located just south of the nations capital Stockholm. The club currently competes at the second highest tier of Swedish hockey - HockeyAllsvenskan and is among the older clubs in the country, as SSK was founded in 1902 and started their hockey operations in 1925.

Follow SSK Esports on social media here:
Twitch
Twitter
The team also has an open Discord-server for fans, please request an invite from a team member if you wish to join.

NHLGamers,

Welcome to the quarterfinals of the SCL playoffs, where the top 8 teams of Sweden will go to battle for the championship. The first playoff round was one of few surprises, but we saw some lower seeds push through despite some doubt of that happening as HV71 overcame 5th seed Djurgarden and SSK Esports managed to upset 6th seed Company of Geeks. We've got some interesting matchups to offer up in the quarters and will be broadcasting some action whenever possible. Stay tuned for more information about that!

Quote

6) Turneringsstruktur

• Registrering: 18.8.-27.8.
• Grundserie: 28.8.-13.9.
• Play-in Runda: 14.9.-15.9. (BO5) 4/8
• Playoffs Runda 1 17.-20.9. (BO7)
• Kvartsfinal: 22.-25.9. (BO7)
• Semifinal: 27.9.-30.9. (BO7)
• Bronskamp 3.10. (BO3)
• Final (Top 2): 3.10. (BO7)

Grundserien spelas i fyra grupper, där de tre bästa lagen i varje grupp (totalt 12 lag) går direkt till slutspelet. Utöver detta kommer lagen på plats 4-5 i varje grupp att spela en Play-in runda för gruppens sista plats i slutspelet.

Play-in rundan spelas i bäst av fem. Slutspel spelas med den bästa av sju-metoden. Det bästa laget i ordinarie säsong möter det 16: e laget och så vidare.

Here are your quarterfinal matchups:

(1)  Vesa Pompa HC vs HV71 eSHL  (12)
TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Casper @ICappeI Lundgren (13+12=25) vs Tobias @Tkautto98 Kautto (9+4=13)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Edvin @Thunborg5 Thunborg (73.33 SV%, 1.6 GAA, 1 SO) vs Isak @IsakTuvesson Tuvesson (82.93 SV%, 2 GAA, 0 SO)

The reigning SCL champions Vesa Pompa HC have put together a quite exciting and talented squad for their title defense season. Superstar goalie @ICappeI as a leading scorer - you bet! The scoring goalie is backed by arguably the best player in the world Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha and the usual Vesa Pompa suspects, it's a tough team to beat for sure. If anyone's going to prove an upset though, who better to do so than HV71 eSHL, who now have racked up a ton of experience around their captain Daniel @Demski13 Gadd. I'm doubting Vesa Pompa are yet to meet their match in this series and should make rather quick work of HV71, unless the Jonkoping-based club can shut down the offense of the defending champs.

(2)  Vaxjo Lakers HC vs SSK Esports  (11)
TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander (9+10=19) vs Philip @Drunkendefender Ström (4+10=14)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Filip @Fcoy_faze Azri (86.96 SV%, 0.75 GAA, 1 SO) vs Mikael @Tauri Tauriainen (69.57 SV%, 1.4 GAA, 1 SO)

Vaxjo managed to get out of the first round in rather easy fashion against Rogle BK, who didn't manage to match the speed of VLH, whereas SSK caused the first real upset of the season when overwhelming 6th seed Company of Geeks 4-1 in the series. The depth of Vaxjos roster is second to none as the team could almost put up two competitive lines and stand up to SSK in this series, but we're expecting them to settle with for the players already proven in the first round. Wingers Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen and Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander possess all the skill in the world and will make the lives of SSK defenders tough throughout this series.

(3)   Northern Ascendancy vs Sjukstugan  (8)
TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Erik @Eki Tammenpää (17+14=31) vs Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala (6+8=14)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Jonas @poliskontroll Lindström (76.92 SV%, 0.75 GAA, 2 SO) vs Patric @Thunstrom89 Thunström (73.24 SV%, 2.71 GAA, 1 SO)

It was an absolute landslide in the first round when Northern Ascendancy walked over HockeyProfessorn HC, going 39-3 in aggregate score over the four games played. The experienced lineup surely is gelling well and is expected to make a cup run this season, but the team is still to be tested by a tough opponent. With Sjukstugan, we see a team that has tons of potential and has put together all the right pieces for success, but haven't quite clicked yet. All-time players such as Reto @Haldeem Haldemann, Björn @Bjono Nordetun and Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala look good on any roster, but will need to find chemistry in order to overcome their biggest challenge of the tourney yet.

(4)  Farjestad BK vs Leksands IF  (7)
TOP SCORER (playoffs)
Andreas @affelj96 Ljungberg (10+6=16) vs Johan @Isindar Jonsson (4+6=10)

GOALTENDER (playoffs)
Johan @Rundqviiist Rundqvist (81.08 SV%, 1.4 GAA, 2 SO) vs Kimmo @DUNZA Sunnari (60.61 SV%, 2.6 GAA, 0 SO)

This is going to be an exciting clash of two very different styles of play. We know that FBK likes to utilize their quick feet on the wings but also have two defenders in Harri @Totalii Joona and Robin @Rubituss Söderqvist who aren't afraid to join the rush themselves if need be. Leksands is known for running a tight ship defensively and showed just that throughout the groupstage and even into the playoffs. The team isn't afraid to trust the process and give up possession if that means they can look for openings to strike back on counters. The battle of the goalies is also interesting, as Johan @Rundqviiist Rundqvist and Kimmo @DUNZA Sunnari actually shared responsibility for Leksands in eSHL, but are now at opposite ends of the ice, may the best man win!

Tune in for the playoffs tonight!

The quarterfinals start tonight  as we'll see SSK Esports take on Vaxjo Lakers HC in a broadcast commentated by Adam @esdor Ericson and Johan @Zalaz Nilsson, starting at 21:20 CEST on twitch.tv/NHLGamer.

Who are your picks to advance? Let us know in the comments section below!

 NHLGamers,

We're getting into the real important games of the SCL and with the play-in round being over, we're now down to the best 16 teams in Sweden to battle it out for the title - and the cash. 

Quote

6) Turneringsstruktur

• Registrering: 18.8.-27.8.
• Grundserie: 28.8.-13.9.
• Play-in Runda: 14.9.-15.9. (BO5) 4/8
• Playoffs Runda 1 17.-20.9. (BO7)
• Kvartsfinal: 22.-25.9. (BO7)
• Semifinal: 27.9.-30.9. (BO7)
• Bronskamp 3.10. (BO3)
• Final (Top 2): 3.10. (BO7)

Grundserien spelas i fyra grupper, där de tre bästa lagen i varje grupp (totalt 12 lag) går direkt till slutspelet. Utöver detta kommer lagen på plats 4-5 i varje grupp att spela en Play-in runda för gruppens sista plats i slutspelet.

Play-in rundan spelas i bäst av fem. Slutspel spelas med den bästa av sju-metoden. Det bästa laget i ordinarie säsong möter det 16: e laget och så vidare.

According to the above excerpt from the SCL 6v6 rulebook, the first round of the playoffs is to be played between 17.9 and 20.9. The playoffs will be played in a best-of-seven manner.

(1)  Vesa Pompa HC vs Nordic Nosebleed  (16)

The reigning champions decided to reject a direct invitation to the first round of playoffs in favour of playing through the group stage and building chemistry with their somewhat overhauled talent arsenal. In the first round we'll see an undefeated, seemingly championship-ready Vesa Pompa face an experienced and resilient Nordic Nosebleed. 

(2)  Vaxjo Lakers HC vs Rogle BK  (15)

In this matchup we'll see two dear enemies face off, Vaxjo paving their way through the group stage as clear winners of their arguably slightly easier group whereas Rogle struggled through the play-ins as clear winners over Viper HC. Vaxjo has a major advantage going into the series.

(3)   Northern Ascendancy vs HockeyProfessorn HC  (14)

NOR was the second highest scoring team throughout the league during the group stage and to no surprise - just looking at their lineup you'd think we'd be talking about a hall of fame of some sorts! HockeyProfessorn is in for a massive challenge and will need to think defense first if they want to get a whiff of a victory in the series.

(4)  Farjestad BK vs Orebro eHockey  (13)

FBK is known for being a tough team to play against - knocking out JYP in the ECL 10 playoffs was a major surprise and this team looks to continue their good run of form. Solid defenders combined with their multiple offensive weapons will pose a challenge for Orebro, who need to bring top level focus and next level luck if they want to advance.

(5)  Djurgarden Hockey vs HV71 eSHL  (12)

DIF has skill up front and a solid defensive core - but so does HV71. This series is going to be a tough battle that's up for grabs for either team. Despite gelling well over time, HV71 still relies heavily on captain Daniel @Demski13 Gadd to provide, so DIF should target him in order to shut the opposing offense down.

(6)  Company of Geeks vs SSK Esports  (11)

The legendary CoG proved to be a serious force in the group stage, even challenging Vaxjo for the group win but falling just short. On the other side, SSK is built around the former Syndicate base and possess a tremendous amount of skill, but will need to tighten up defensively if they wish to advance further into the playoffs. 

(7)  Leksands IF vs Studspoikarna SWC  (10)

Leksands IF has proven to be a tough team to beat when they get going and the eSHL semifinalists sure know how to play competitive playoff hockey. Studspoikarna is something of a counterpart to the Finnish SOPPAJENGI, where skilled players from various teams have built a competitive ensemble to challenge the greats - and doing so in a convincing manner. These guys have the talent to go far, but will need to overcome the sheer experience that gives LIF the advantage.

(8)  Sjukstugan vs Bask Nation  (9)

Sjukstugan is one of those teams that has a long tradition in the scene and is always a joy to see take the ice. This time, the team has some new faces in their roster and hasn't seemed to gel quite that well yet, but once they click, they do have the skill to make miracles happen. Bask Nation looks to prove themselves in the playoffs and had some promising showings in the group stage, like beating Northern Ascendancy once.

Tune in for the playoffs tonight!

The SCL playoffs start tonight with a bang as we'll see Farjestad BK take on Orebro eHockey and Sjukstugan take on Bask Nation in a broadcast commentated by Adam @esdor Ericson and Johan @Zalaz Nilsson, starting at 19:50 CEST on twitch.tv/NHLGamer.

NHLGamers,

It's time to jumpstart also the 1v1-action in our national leagues, with that you'll obviously also need some information on how to get the ball rolling. We're happy to see so many signups this year with a total of over 90 Swedish gamers signing up to fight for the championship title, defended by Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund. 

Below is a quick walkthrough of the most important information for participants:


Schedule

• Regular season: 31.8.-12.9.
• Playoffs: 14.9.-24.9.
• Finals (Top 16): 2.10.

The schedule is accessible through the league page, please remember to contact your opponents in time before the scheduled date.

Brief season description

The regular season of SCL 1v1 lasts for two weeks. Players will compete in 9 groups with approximately 10 players in each group. Games are scheduled but can be rescheduled as desired within the given time constraints. All players within a group will face each other once. The top six players (54 in total) and the six best 7th placed players will advance to the playoffs (60 players in total). The playoffs are played in best-of-five manner. The finals with the top 16 players will consist of a group stage with four players in each group. All players in a group will face each other twice and the top two players in each group will advance to the eventual playoffs with the eight best players. 

Rulebook

You can find the rulebook here. It is also always available through the league menu. We strongly suggest every player gets familiar with the rules before jumping on the ice. 
 

League Administration

All league related verdicts will be decided by the League Administration. To open up a case, visit the Support section.

Please note: before contacting League Administration, players are expected to do their best and solve issues they might have on their own. Familiarize yourself with our rules first, as they include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always to be used as the last resort to solve any disagreements.

Communication

In order to get in touch with your opponent, you can use the private message function on our site or the SCL 1v1 discord channel which can be found on the NHLGamer discord server You can join our discord server by clicking the button below. Please communicate with your scheduled opponent in time. 

In the NHLGamer Discord you will find an SCL 1v1 group with designated channels for each group, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below)

Licenses

All participating players must acquire a SESF license, which is free to obtain. Participating without a license can lead to sanctions such as point loss or in grave cases disqualification.

Acquire your license here

Social media

Twitter:

When posting tweets about your tournament progress or any other related content - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerCOM
• @swehockeyse
• @svenskesport
• #SCL
• #NHLGamer
• #esports

Instagram:

When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerOfficial
• @swehockeyse
• #SCL
• #NHLGamer
• #esports

We hope everyone has a great SCL. Good luck to all players!

NHLGamers,

The time has come for the Swedish Champions League to kick off. Last year when the SCL was introduced for the first time, 22 teams signed up for the competition. This year we’ve seen a massive increase in numbers as an outstanding 40 teams have registered for the race! We are happy to see such big growth happening in the Swedish community. Let's make sure we are as welcoming to new members as possible to make sure we continue on this path.
 

Below we have collected the most important information for our teams and captains:

Schedule

The season kicks off today, Saturday 28th of August, after which we will be following the following default game days and times:

• Tuesday 20:00 CEST
• Thursday 20:00 CEST
• Sunday 20:00 CEST

The schedule is available through the menu both on the main page and here on the community side. Please note that some scheduled days feature two matchups.
 

Schedule for SCL 6v6:

• Group stage: 29.8-13.9
• Play-in Round: 14.-15.9. (BO5)
• Playoffs Round 1: 17.-20.9 (BO7)
• Quarterfinals: 22.-25.9 (BO7)
• Semifinals: 27.-30.9 (BO7)
• Bronze series (BO3) + Finals: 3.10 (BO7)

Groups

Below is the complete list of the teams participating this season and in which groups they will play (teams displayed in random order):

The reigning Swedish Champion Vesa Pompa HC was invited to round 1 of the playoff stage as the #1 seed, but the team announced that they have decided not to accept this invitation, as they would rather work on their team play by participating in the group stage.

Brief season description
The regular season lasts 3 weeks. The top 3 teams of each group advance directly to the playoffs. Teams finishing the regular season in spots 4 and 5  will play a BO5 Play-in Series to determine which team in each group takes the 4th and last spot into the Playoffs. The Playoffs will be played in BO7 series'. Please see the rulebook for a more detailed description. 

Rulebook

You can find the rulebook here. It is also always available through the league menu. We strongly suggest every player gets familiar with the rules before jumping on the ice and at the very least that the captains do so. The rulebook is in Swedish, so any foreign players will have to turn to their captains for a recap. The rulebook strongly builds on the ECL 10 rulebook, but there are some minor differences, such as the instigation of fights being forbidden.
 

League Administration

All league related verdicts will be decided by the League Administration. To open up a case, visit the Support section.

Please note: before contacting League Administration, teams are expected to do their best and solve issues they might have on their own. Familiarize yourself with our rules first, as they include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always to be used as the last resort to solve any disagreements.

Communication

In order to get in touch with your opponent, you can use the "Message all captains" button (pictured below) on the team's page. This will send a private message on the NHLGamer community to the three listed captains.

Additionally, we offer an NHLGamer Discord server, which you can join by clicking the button below. We ask that at the very least the captains of each team join the server, as messaging through Discord is instant and it is a great way to communicate quickly and briefly.

In the NHLGamer Discord you will find an SCL 6v6 group with designated channels for each group, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below)

A cool feature on Discord is also being able to get a team role (example above), which enables people to see what team you represent. See the channel #team-commands-guide for instructions on how to get your own role. If you need help with this, please see the #discord-support channel.

Broadcasts

The official NHLGamer broadcasts will be on NHLGamer's Twitch channel. Please follow our channel to support us and to get notified when we go live.

The broadcast schedule and more comprehensive instructions will be published later.
 

Team management tools

All teams have been created, the team management tools on the main page have been unlocked for the team captains. All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of playing their first game. Please note that all invited players need to accept the invitation (there will be a popup alert on the main page for them) before they show up on the team roster and can start playing!

In case you have further questions, feel free to use the comment section below this article, or contact support.

Licenses

All Swedish and Finnish players require a player license from their respective esports federation, acquire your license by following instructions provided in the links below. For players of other nationalities, a license from their respective esports federation is recommended, but not required.

Acquire your license here (Swedes)
Acquire your license here (Finns)

Please note that playing without an active license is against the rules and can lead to forfeits and/or disqualification.

All captains have been sent a Private Message last night and are expected to email in a response per email.

Social media

Twitter:

When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerCOM
• @swehockeyse
• @svenskesport
• #SvSeHockey
• #SCL
• #NHLGamer
• #esports

Instagram:

When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: 

• @NHLGamerOfficial
• @swehockeyse
• #SvSeHockey
• #SCL
• #NHLGamer
• #esports

We hope everyone has a great SCL. Good luck to all teams!

NHLGamers,

We're ready to crown the next Swedish champions! The second iteration of the SCL is here, this year produced by NHLGamer in cooperation with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIF), the Swedish Esports Federation (SESF) and Svenska Spel. The Swedish championship will feature an increased prize pool of 100 000 SEK divided between both the 6v6 and 1v1 game modes. Due to safety concerns around the pandemic situation, this years SCL will be produced online in its entirety. The entire league will be played on PlayStation 4.

The first SCL season was played in spring 2019 and finished at Birdie in Uppsala, where Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund and Vesa Pompa HC was crowned champions. According to the SCL ruleset, both will receive an invitation to join this years SCL as the #1 seed in the playoffs. 

Players and teams kan choose to invoice SESF through their organization for earnings in form of prize money. Otherwise prize money will be paid as salary and will be subject to taxation and fees incurred for the "employer" - SESF according to Swedish legislation. An invoice should include the entire amount of earnings including VAT.

Schedule

Registrations 17.8-27.8

• 1v1
  • Regular season 31.8-12.9.
  • Playoffs 14.9-24.9.
  • Finals 2.10.
• 6v6
• Regular season 29.8-18.9.
• Round 1 19.9-23.9.
• Quarterfinals 24-27.9
• Semifinals + Finals 3.10

SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE!

SIGN UP FOR 6v6 HERE!

Eligibility

A change from last year has been made in the eligibility rules, however the rule is still largely based on the same logic. This rule was intended to make sure the Swedish talent was emphasized and showcased, while remaining reasonably inclusive towards our other communities. For SCL 2020, two non-Swedish players will be allowed per team on ice in a game – under very specific conditions. Here they are:

Outside of the Swedish championship (SCL), three separate national communities currently feature their own region-based championship. These are the German (GCL), Finnish (FCL) and Russian (RCL) communities. These will be defined as the “major communities” for the purposes of this text.

Players hailing from nations that currently do not have a region-based championship to sign up for – one where they are allowed to play free of restrictions and are counted as the main target demographic – will be defined as “minor communities” for the purposes of this text.

All teams must always feature a minimum of 4 Swedish players in their on-ice lineup

• Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if both players are from a minor community (for example: Danish, Norwegian, Latvian)
• Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if one player is from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian) and the other player from a minor community
• Teams may NOT feature two non-Swedish players on ice if both those players are from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian)

Below you will find an image to help illustrate this rule clarification:

The 1vs1 portion of the SCL is available only for Swedish citizens.

License

All Swedish and Finnish players require a player license from their respective esports federation, acquire your license by following instructions provided in the links below. For players of other nationalities, a license from their respective esports federation is recommended, but not required.

Acquire your license here (Swedes)
Acquire your license here (Finns)

About us

Since its inception, NHLGamer has continuously strived to offer the best possible experience for any and all gamers who have come to enjoy the competitiveness of playing the EA Sports series of NHL games. Created by gamers for gamers, we are very much in touch with the growing community and want to understand the fundamental desires of our end customers fully. The international competitive leagues in Europe (ECL) and North America (NACL) are our crown jewels, which have proven to draw interest from the very best teams and players worldwide. 
While proud of our achievements and the success we've had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, we are not done yet. Our long-term goals include growing the community, hosting larger leagues with prize pools, and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports.

About our partners



SIF - The Swedish Ice Hockey Association

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association is the governing body in Swedish ice hockey and inline hockey. The association is involved in all levels of ice hockey in Sweden and organizes the two Swedish Championship leagues being the men's SHL and women's SDHL.

SESF - The Swedish Esports Federation

SESF stands for Svenska E-sportföreningen and they are the governing body of esports competition in Sweden at the moment. The objective of the organisation is to develop the Swedish esports scene and shows a constant presence in organising tournaments and events. Currently, SESF provides training for esports referees and licenses for both referees and players. In Swedish esports competition, a SESF license is a quality guarantee.

Main sponsor - Svenska Spel

Svenska Spel is a state-owned company operating the regulated gambling market in Sweden. As a state-owned company, their surplus is paid straight to the Swedish Public Treasury. Svenska Spel offers a multitude of various gambling alternatives including sports betting, casino games and bingo. Through its subsidiary Cosmopol Casino it also operates four casinos in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Sundsvall. Svenska Spel is a massive actor in Swedish sports as the main sponsor of football, handball, ice hockey and esports leagues, the organisation also sponsors the Swedish Olympic Committee. In addition, Svenska Spel supports youth sports in Sweden financially with up to 42 million SEK annually.

NHLGamers,

A bit over a week ago we concluded a project that's been in the works for a long time - the ECL is waiting on its ninth season, the Finnish community has enjoyed eSM's and whatnot, GCL is alive and kicking and even the RCL has been running for some time. The thing that was missing was something for our Swedes, who make up a large portion of the community. Well now, some months back we announced a change to this stalemate as we launched the SCL, which is the very project I referred to at the start. It's been a long road, 22 teams signed up and we were treated to some high quality hockey all along the season.

The regular season kicked off on Tuesday, 16th of April with a 22-team regular season. Teams were divided into two groups, out of which the eight best would make it into the playoffs. It's often a point of debate wether or not a final seed into the playoffs should be overly speculated, as in the end in order to be a champion you need to beat everyone, right? Well, one team certainly took this into consideration and finished above everyone else - Bucketeers bested the opposition by a wide margin in the group stage as they went a perfect 20-0-0, overcoming teams such as the eventual champion Vesa Pompa HC and the respectable Northern Stars (RIP) along the way. The "Buckets" were a clear 1st place seed into the playoffs, but the five remaining teams of the top six were all neck and neck, finishing within a five point margin of each other in the following order: Northern Ascendancy (35p), Vesa Pompa HC (34p), AIK Hockey (33p), Synergy Hockey (32p) and Northern Stars (30p). It was great seeing some new teams entering our tournaments and although some might have had a tough time, we hope they will be back stronger next time around. Not only new teams had a difficult season though, one of the most mentionable playoff no-shows was Korpens Finest, who actually finished a lackluster season in last place of group 1. This is in no way an acceptable performance for a well established team, we'll be looking for these guys to bounce back in coming tournaments! 

Interestingly enough, we ended up seeing the four best performers of the group stage paving their way into the final four. Through the first two rounfs, we only saw one series where the lower seeded team overcame the higher seed, this example was Stayhard Stallions (5) beating Cannonieris (4) in seven, so we can't talk about any kind of major upset here. "The playoffs are a different beast" - that's a phrase heard in the hockey world quite often and it's even considered a cliché, but it's also the cold hard truth all too often. That was the case in the final four of the SCL's inaugural season.

We saw Bucketeers come in sporting an undefeated group stage record and Northern Ascendancy marching on stage with the championship in sight only to see Vesa Pompa and AIK steal the show - Vesa Pompa doing so in a very convincing manner to add insult to injury. We all know how that ended by now.

If you for some reason missed out on the action from the finals at Birdie, please check out our broadcast below:
 

AWARDS

Most Points: @Tacterz, Northern Ascendancy, 35 Goals, 36 Assists, 71 Points in 20 games
Most Goals: @FlyerKungen, AIK Hockey, 43 Goals, 26 Assists, 69 Points in 18 games
Most Assists: @pajenc, AIK Hockey, 18 Goals, 38 Assists, 56 Points in 18 games
Most Hits by a Forward: @bede, Verket, 96 Hits in 20 games
Best +/-: @Tacterz, Northern Ascendancy, +63 in 20 games

Most Points by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 20 Goals, 26 Assists, 46 Points in 20 games
Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 20 Goals, 26 Assists, 46 Points in 20 games
Most Assists by a Defenseman: @The_Alpha_Furyan, Northern Ascendancy, 11 Goals, 28 Assists, 39 Points in 20 games
Most Hits by a Defenseman: @Skogan, Nordic Vipers, 157 Hits in 20 games

Now, enough with the writing - let's see some pictures:

@Zalaz and @esdor were the dynamic duo in the commentary booth for all of the Finals weekend.
 

Northern Ascendancy went into the finals with a commanding favorite status, but struggled mightily, ending up at fourth place.

Before the final day commenced, players gathered for a photoshoot and some interviews.


 

AIK captain @Bjono being interviewed for a video segment.
 

AIK Hockey and Vesa Pompa HC went head to head in the Finals, @FlyerKungen with a staredown of the opposition.

The trophy was up for display during the final day of the Finals.
 

Tensions were rising as players awaited their turn to take the stage.


Vesa Pompa HC remained focused and felt right at home on stage all weekend.

NHLGamers,

During the weekend we've played a massive amount of virtual hockey. The main goal was to determine the Swedish champions in 1vs1 and 6vs6 NHL19. Well, that has been done - Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund is your 1vs1 champion and the 6vs6 champion is Vesa Pompa HC!

It's been a long road to get here, countless hours of work and a lot of sweat has been put into this tournament both from the players side and our NHLGamer staff. The experience at Birdie was extraordinary despite all the troubles along the way. We'll keep this post short for now, but stay tuned for better recap material coming later!
 

The Top 3 of SCL 6vs6 season 1:
 Vesa Pompa HC
Regular season record: 16-2-2
Round 1: vs Western Express 4-0
Quarterfinals: vs Northern Stars 4-0
Semifinals: vs Northern Ascendancy 4-1

LW #33 Andreas @affelj96 Ljungberg
C #25 Erik @Eki Tammenpää
RW #19 Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund
LD # Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander
RD #50 Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann
G #1 Edvin @Thunborg5 Thunborg
 

 AIK Hockey
Regular season record: 16-3-1
Round 1: vs Verket 4-0
Quarterfinals: vs Synergy Hockey 4-1
Semifinals: vs Bucketeers 4-3

LW #32 Anton @pajenc Carlsson
C #84 Björn @Bjono Nordetun
RW #96 Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha
LD #7 Olof @Gustafsson7 Gustafsson
RD #86 Johan @JaikenK Kumling
G #27 Philip @Pippo Johansson

 Bucketeers
Regular season record: 20-0-0
Round 1: Bockens 4-1
Quarterfinals: Stayhard Stallions 4-0
Semifinals: AIK Hockey 4-3
Bronze Game: Northern Ascendancy 2-1

LW #8 Matti @SelanneFIN Makkonen
C #10 Christoffer @Chrisbernt Berntsson
RW #7 William @Dercie Boutelje
LD #28 Daniel @Demski13 Gadd
RD #55 Johan @Jerkix Eriksson
G #1 Filip @Obagol Feldt

Champions, enjoy this feeling! NHLGamer extends a warm thank you to everyone who made their way to Uppsala and checked in on the stream. 
We hope to see you again soon!

NHLGamers,

Today we got a feel for 6vs6 action on Swedish soil as the very first live 6vs6 games were played at Birdie in Uppsala. We had four strong teams show up wit the same thing in mind - crushing the opposition and paving their way to the final. A total of 13 played games later, we've found out two deserving finalists, which are Vesa Pompa HC and AIK Hockey. 

Vesa Pompa HC went into their Semifinal matchup against the prestigious Northern Ascendancy with a clear underdog status, which they proved wrong right off the bat by scoring two early goals in game 1 and taking the driver seat from that point forward. @Eken45jr and @Eki were impressive to say the least, combining for nice passing plays and contributing to their teams possession play. Northern Ascendancy for that matter didn't show up with the flow we're used to seeing from them as they struggled with maintaining offensive pressure and as a result putting the puck in the net.
 

Let's take a look at Vesa Pompa's road to the final:

 Regular season record: 16-2-2
Round 1: vs Western Express 4-0
Quarterfinals: vs Northern Stars 4-0
Semifinals: vs Northern Ascendancy 4-1
 

Bucketeers and AIK dove head first into a defensive battle in the later matchup of today. The Buckets played an impressive (undefeated) regular season but that didn't mean much when AIK got their engines started. Six games were played with a total of 10 goals scored between the two teams. In the fourth game AIK and especially their import player @FlyerKungen exploded, resulting in a 4-0 win in game 7. The success AIK has came looking for is surely an arms length away, but to get to the final destination they'll have to beat Vesa Pompa tomorrow.

Let's take a look at AIK Hockey's road to the final:

 Regular season record: 16-3-1
Round 1: vs Verket 4-0
Quarterfinals: vs Synergy Hockey 4-1
Semifinals: vs Bucketeers 4-3

Preliminary schedule for Saturday 1.6:

12:00-12:30 BRONZE - Game 1
12:30-13:00 BRONZE - Game 2
13:00-13:30 BRONZE - Game 3*

13:45-14:15 FINALS - Game 1
14:20-14:55 FINALS - Game 2
15:00-15:35 FINALS - Game 3

------------- BREAK 1h ----------------

16:45-17:15 FINALS - Game 4
17:15-17:45 FINALS - Game 5*

------- BREAK 10 min -------

18:00-18:30 FINALS - Game 6*
18:30-19:00 FINALS - Game 7*

*If required

The SCL Finals are presented by Comeon! and we're really happy in being able to bring these games up for betting on their site. Unfortunately the Finals won't be up for betting but we hope you were able to bank some cash on the semifinals and betting on the champion beforehand! 

All games will be streamed on Twitch.

NHLGamers, 

As you all might have noted, we've traveled to Uppsala in Sweden for the SCL Finals. Birdie has treated us well so far and it's with great pleasure we got to announce @Eken45jr the new Swedish champion in 1vs1 NHL 19 earlier today. We even sent the kid home with a nice pocketful of change! 

Friday and Saturday are going to be dedicated to our 6vs6 gamers as we're extremely proudly bringing our Swedish community their first ever 6vs6 LAN event. These events have seen great success in Finland, so it's very timely we bring the action over the pond. The season kicked off with 22 teams, all dead set on achieving one goal - being crowned champions by the end of a gruelling season. 16 teams headed into the playoffs, some being eliminated round by round as is customary to these tournaments. Now we're at the point where we have only four left. 

We all know the Swedish community hold some very talented players, some have been there for years and some have astonished with their play more recently. This Nordic "home of the Vikings" is also home to some of the most prestigious and long-lived teams, such as Northern Stars (RIP) or Nordic Ascendancy, whose play we'll be treated to during the weekend. Also AIK (the former Sjukstugan) has been around for quite some time. Talk about heritage.

(1) Bucketeers vs AIK Hockey (4)

 Regular season record: 20-0-0
GF/GA (Regular season): 66/15
Top scorer (Regular season): @Chrisbernt (l-maise-l) 22+30=52pts in 20 games
Goaltending stats: @Obagol 20W, 87.50 SV%, 0.75 GAA in 20 games

The course of Bucketeers quickly skyrocketed after the team made their entry into the 6vs6-scene and NHLGamer. A mere four seasons ago, they started their journey in ECL Lite - the entry level division of our ECL franchise. After getting accustomed to the new environment in their first season, the "Buckets" made their presence felt by putting forth three very successful consecutive seasons advancing to the Elite Level as a result. Their defensive style of play and impressive shutdown ability has proven to be a recipe for success even at higher levels as the team came very close to making playoffs in their first Elite campaign. What is maybe most interesting about the team doesn't directly concern their impressive on-ice feats, but the fact that a large part of their starting six has actually been preserved from their very early days. Original members @Dercie, @Jerkix and @SelanneFIN have stayed with their team and played a majority of games throughout all of the clubs history so far. It's quite impressive to look back at the development curve of these players as it isn't all too usual for teams to make such a rapid climb towards the top - even more without radically retooling their lineup. "Continuity", is the word founding member and now right winger Dercie uses to describe the strength of his team. "The base of our teams is built from guys that have been playing together for a very long time, so the chemistry is definitely there.", he mentions that he, Jerkix, and SelanneFIN have played various games together for around ten years. "Vesa Pompa or Northern Stars have been our toughest opponents. NOS were actually the better team against us in the regular season, but somehow we managed to come away with the wins anyway."

Dercie, do you have any last words for your opponent AIK?
"I hope we'll have a tight and especially fun series, but Buckets will prevail."

 Regular season record: 16-3-1
GF/GA (Regular season): 84/23
Top scorer (Regular season): @FlyerKungen 43+26=69pts in 18 games
Goaltending stats: @poliskontroll 8W, 74.07 SV%, 1.40 GAA in 10 games

AIK is a franchise of such a caliber that surely a majority of Swedes and even non-Swedes are familiar with them. The Prestigious traditional sports franchise made their first endeavour into virtual hockey in ECL 8 and are now looking forward to achieving their first real success as they've pushed through to the semifinals in SCL 6vs6. After a difficult ECL Debut, the team decided to shuffle things around a little. Their moves seem to have worked wonders for the team, as AIK found themselves placing second in the regular season of group 2, losing only 4 games out of which one in overtime. 'as for the changes made in the offseason, AIK basically swapped goalies with Northern Ascendancy as they sent over @ICappeI and got @poliskontroll in return. Both very solid goaltenders. Other than that, AIK added old acquaintances and great defensemen @JaikenK & @Klingen45 to assist @Gustafsson7 on the back end - all old players from the Sjukstugan days. Not only did the defense get reworked, AIK also added on offense by signing recent ECL champ and Written In The Stars captain @FlyerKungen, who has been doing exactly what he was signed to do in scoring goals and creating chances.

(2) Northern Ascendancy vs Vesa Pompa HC (3)

 Regular season record: 17-2-1
GF/GA (Regular season): 99/21
Top scorer (Regular season): @Tacterz 35+36=71pts in 20 games
Goaltending stats: @ICappeI 8W, 83.58 SV%, 1.10 GAA in 10 games

After a short hiatus, Northern Ascendancy are making a very welcome return with a slightly renewed lineup that is looking stronger than ever. Even though they're missing @Foppatofflan, who is remembered as one of the more prolific scorers in club history - NOR is still arguably the strongest bunch on paper. The reworked NOR is expected to ice @jtorro1233 and @The_Alpha_Furyan on defense, together these two make up an intimidating duo with impressive scoring power simultaneously possessing the ability to complete smothering defensive plays. The forward group of NOR is definitely as dangerous as ever with @Tacterz more than effectively plugging the hole that Foppa left in the lineup - by being the league top scorer that is! The teams long lasting captain is at this point stuck waiting for a connecting flight, so we had to settle for interviewing the rest of NOR's lineup: "I had a lot of options but I knew I wanted to play with a strong offensive team. After some tryouts, NOR was the obvious choice.", says Torro, who is arguably one of the teams more high profile recruits. Although experiencing a relatively large scale makeover, the team has still managed to find chemistry "We've shuffled our lineup around a little bit, but after a short adjustment period the flow and chemistry has been there.", all the guys agreed.
 Regular season record: 16-2-2
GF/GA (Regular season): 70/21
Top scorer (Regular season): @Eki 14+35=49pts in 20 games
Goaltending stats: @Thunborg5 16W, 85.10 SV%, 1.05 GAA in 20 games

Vesa Pompa is quite the new acquaintance for many, as the team only played very casually and didn't have any notable success prior to the SCL. Don't sleep on these guys though, all of them are world class versus players and know how to handle themselves on the virtual ice. Their youngster and very talented right winger @Eken45jr, who recently introduced his patent pending "Eken-backskate" to the world in the Caps Esports Faceoff. As a result of some high-profile visibility, the team came in contact with arguably the worlds best player right now, @Eki, whom they recruited to play with them in the SCL. Vesa Pompa is still the fun-loving, easy going group of youngsters, but now their play has more of an objective. "We've put an immense effort into SCL. Eki has helped out a lot and it's not only that he's the best player in the world but such a nice guy too", says team captain @Lehmannens. Eken adds that they have been watching a lot of video of their games in order to get better and learn from their mistakes. 

The SCL Finals are presented by Comeon! and we're really happy in being able to bring these games up for betting on their site. Head over to https://m.comeon.com/fi/sports/e-sports/nhl-19/ in order to place your bets now!

Preliminary schedule for Friday 31.5:

10:00-10:30 Vesa Pompa vs Northern Ascendancy - Game 1
10:30-11:00 Northern Ascendancy vs Vesa Pompa - Game 2
11:00-11:30 Vesa Pompa vs Northern Ascendancy - Game 3

11:45-12:15 AIK Hockey vs Bucketeers - Game 1
12:15-12:45 Bucketeers vs AIK Hockey - Game 2
12:45-13:15 AIK Hockey vs Bucketeers - Game 3
——————————————
BREAK
——————————————
15:00-15:30 Northern Ascendancy vs Vesa Pompa - Game 4
15:30-16:00 Vesa Pompa vs Northern Ascendancy - Game 5*

16:15-16:45 Bucketeers vs AIK Hockey - Game 4
16:45-17:15 AIK Hockey vs Bucketeers - Game 5*

17:30-18:00 Northern Ascendancy vs Vesa Pompa - Game 6*
18:00-18:30 Vesa Pompa vs Northern Ascendancy - Game 7*

18:45-19:15 Bucketeers vs AIK Hockey - Game 6*
19:15-19:45 AIK Hockey vs Bucketeers - Game 7*

All games will be streamed on Twitch.

Who do you think will win?

NHLGamers,

After a long Thursday at Birdie we're able to present to you the new SCL 1vs1 Champion Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund!

Let's take a look back at @Eken45jr's road to the championship:

Group stage record:
9-0-1-0
Knockout stage: 
vs @Jerker 2-0
vs @eliekamel87 2-0
Finals group stage:
2-0-1
Quarterfinals
vs @ohrstedt07 2-0
Semifinals
vs @antoniomannen004 2-0
Finals
vs @Rubituss 
 

The top 3 of SCL 1vs1 are:
1. @Eken45jr
2. @Rubituss
3. @Lehmannens

NHLGamer would like to congratulate Eken on a tremendous tournament and the championship!

NHLGamers,

Today is Thursday, May 30th, which marks the start date of Birdie 29 - the event at which the very first SCL finals will be held and one of our competitors will leave with a nice chunk of change in their pocket. 

Without further ado, we present to you the final groups of the SCL 1vs1 Final:

Group 1:
@Darkic01 - Darko Micic
@esdor - Adam Ericson
@Thunborg5 - Edvin Thunborg
@ohrstedt07 - Andreas Öhrstedt

Group 2:
@Lehmannens - Johan Lehmann
@Eken45jr - Henrik Eklund
@amadee21 - Amadeus Carlsson
@Basstian23 (JaromirSniper68) - Sebastian Nagel

Group 3:
@Hockeyjohannes - Johannes Hultmark
@antoniomannen004 - Anton Svensander
@Dercie - William Boutelje
@Edhoolm97 - Fredrik Edholm

Group 4:
@Rubituss - Robin Söderqvist
@Tmybror - Timmy Eriksson
@SebbeLarsen86 (SebbeLarsen99) - Sebastian Larsen
@jtorro1233 (jtorro_) - Joel Tourunen

These players will first compete in a group stage, after which the two top seeds from each group will advance to the playoffs, which are played in a best of 3 manner. Group 1 will be matched against group 2 and group 3 against group 4 in the playoffs. The evening will culminate in a best of 3 final series. The bronze game will be played prior to the final.

Preliminary schedule for Thursday 30.5:
10:00-10:30 Check-in för spelarna samt installation av konsolerna
11:00-13:00 Group stage
14:00-15:00 Kvartsfinal, BO3
15:15-16:15 Semifinal 1, BO3
16:15-17:15 Semifinal 2, BO3
17:20-17:50 Bronsmatch, BO1
18:00-19:00 FINAL, BO3

Watch the action live on Twitch starting 14:00 CEST.*

*Times may be subject to change

NHLGamers,

We are nearing the end of SCL regular season! So far things have been running along fine. Below though is a list of situations were SCL Staff had to be involved.
 

Korpens Finest - Style
In the game between Style and Korpens Finest, the goalie leaves the goal crease near the end of the game which results in a goal for Style in an empty net. Korpens Finest claims that this is due to a bug showing a delayed penalty for their goalie, but this claim has not been proven. Thus, the match result stands.
 

Hidden Gemz - Cannonieris
Walkover wins are handed to Cannonieris in their matchup against Hidden Gemz. This is because Hidden Gemz rescheduled their game and yet failed to show up to play against Cannonieris.
 

Bydemar, tobbe_persson and Drunken_Swede (Svea Kronor)
Svea Kronor has been disqualified from SCL because they are not planning to play their remaining matches. Svea Kronor captains (Bydemar, tobbe_persson and Drunken_Swede) are banned from any captain role in leagues/tournaments on NHLGamer during 2019.
 

robbieaik, Legenden1985 and Carlbrandt-79 (Socialdemokraterna)
Socialdemokraterna has been disqualified from SCL because they are not planning to play their remaining matches. Socialdemokraterna captains are banned from any captain role in leagues/tournaments on NHLGamer during 2019.
 

lbjonol (AIK Hockey)
AIK Hockey had a player that was not properly registered to the team who participated in SCL matches. This player was present in AIK Hockey registration post and has played in AIK Hockey in previous seasons. This is therefore seen as a minor offence. SCL Staff is handing out a ban of 2 matches for lbjonol that applies in the next two scheduled matches.

We are looking forward to an ending of the regular season with good communications between participating teams and SCL Staff!

NHLGamers,

As promised, we're now kicking off the Swedish championships of NHL 19 1vs1. The tournament is hosted by us and online qualifiers will start in early May depending on how many participants we'll have. Unlike the SCL, this tournament is only for Swedish citizens. All participants must obtain the Swedish Esports License from SESF.

The SCL 1vs1 will conclude at Birdie together with the SCL Finals. Out of all participants, the top 16 will be making it to the final event in order to battle for the grand prize of 10 000 SEK and the Swedish Championship title. 

Please note that both PS4 and Xbox One Players are welcome to participate. The amount of qualifying spots on each console will be relative to the amount of total participants on each platform.

Here's a preliminary schedule:

6.-8.5. Qualifying round 512 (If necessary)
9.-11.5. Qualifying round 256
12.-14.5. Qualifying round 128
15.-17.5. Qualifying round 64
18.-20.5. Qualifying round 32
30.5. Top 16 Finals @Birdie LAN

Obtain your Swedish Esports License here.

Registrations

Registrations are now open, please head over here in order to sign up. You can sign up until Saturday, 4th of May, 2019 at 23:59 CEST.

Stay up to date with the SCL 6vs6 and the 1vs1 tourney by checking out the SCL main page: https://nhlgamer.com/scl/
We're excited to see you guys at Birdie, good luck in your upcoming games!

NHLGamers,

Today marks the start of the SCL! The regular season starts today, Tuesday 16th of April, 2019 and will end on Sunday, the 12th of May, 2019. We're issuing this announcement in order to secure that everyone is up to speed with some crucial info and therefore this will be something of an info post. There's a few different things we'd like to go over so get ready for the barrage:

SCL Rulebook

First off, we'd like to announce that the SCL rulebook is now available by clicking here. We ask all team captains to familiarise themselves with the rulebook as soon as possible. The rules have been altered from the ECL format.

Season Schedule

As stated, the regular season ends on Sunday, the 12th of May and marks the start of the playoffs the next day. The playoffs will be played in a best of 7 manner (we reserve the right to change the semifinals into BO5  to the schedule at Birdie) except for the Bronze Game that will be decided in one game. Here's the playoff schedule:

Round 1: 13.5-19.5 (Online)
Round 2: 20.5-26.5 (Online)
Semifinals: 31.5 @ Birdie
Bronze Game: 1.6 @ Birdie
Finals: 1.6 @ Birdie

Prize Pool Division

You might have noted that the SCL will feature a prize pool amounting to a total of 65 000 SEK. This prize pool has been divided into 50 000 SEK for SCL 6vs6 and 15 000 SEK for our Swedish 1vs1 Championships that will be hosted at Birdie. The 50 000 SEK will be divided between the top 3 teams of the SCL as follows:



1vs1 sign-ups will open during this week.

Mandatory License

We would also like to remind all Swedish and Finnish players to obtain a license from their countrys respective esports association.
Swedes: SESF
Finns: SEUL

Transfer Window

The SCL will include a one week transfer window at the start of the season in order to allow teams to make some minor adjustments to their squads. With this being said, transfers can be made until Tuesday, 23rd of April, 2019 at 23:59 CEST. Please note that trades are not allowed - only picking up free agents.

Tonight's Broadcast

Tonight's SCL Broadcast will be live at 20:00 CEST at twitch.tv/NHLGamer, featuring Borgarbracka HC vs Cannonieris and Stayhard Stallions vs Northern Stars Tonights games will be commentated by Adam "@esdor" Ericson and Kenneth "@Kenu" Lehtinen.

NHLGamers,

The SCL is here!
As you might have suspected based on the teaser video we launched a couple weeks back, we’re now pleased to be able to bring you the Swedish Championship League! It’s been a long time coming, as the GCL and RCL have been running nicely for a couple of seasons already and the Finns have got to enjoy the eSM and IS Cup organised by us.

The 6vs6 portion of SCL is targeted at ambitious Swedish teams looking to enter the competitive 6vs6-scene in their home country and play for the Swedish Championship in eHockey. The 6vs6 league is played on Playstation. As we all know, the Swedish 6’s community is highly developed and therefore we’re aiming to generate a highly competitive experience right off the bat. In order to ensure this extraordinary competitive experience, we’re partnering with Birdie, Esport United and SESF to organise a live finals event to the tournament. The prize pool for the Swedish Championships in 6vs6 will be 50 000 SEK.

On top of launching the 6vs6 SCL, we would also like to announce that we are hosting a the Swedish Championships in 1vs1 as well! The 1vs1 will be played in the Versus mode. This event will include an online qualifier out of which the top 16 will make their way to the finals! Both Playstation 4 and Xbox One players will be welcome to participate. The prize pool for the Swedish Championships in 1vs1 will be 15 000 SEK. More info on the schedule and signups for 1vs1 will be released soon.

The live finals will take place between the 30th of May and the 1st of June at Birdie LAN in Uppsala, Sweden and will consist of semifinals and the grand final. The action will be live broadcasted over at our Twitch channel as usual, but we highly recommend for all of you to attend the event and wish to meet you there!

Eligibility

All Swedish citizens are eligible to participate in the SCL. On top of this, all teams are allowed to contain a maximum of three foreign players, out of which one at a time is allowed to be on the playing line-up. However, Norwegian and Danish players are granted exceptional status and will only count towards the foreign player limit as halves - meaning two Norwegian/Danish players can participate on the same team. (Specifications will be published in the rulebook coming next week, see image below for demonstration). Only Swedish citizens are eligible for team captaincy.

Swedish and Finnish players are required to have player licenses of their respective countries (valid in all SESF/SEUL tournaments for 2019), we also recommend participants of other nationalities to acquire a player license from their country.

Swedish license (free): https://www.sesf.se/licenser
Finnish license (5 EUR): http://www.esm.gg/pelaajalisenssi/

SIGN UP FOR SCL SEASON 1 NOW!

The first season of the SCL (6vs6) will be kicking off on Tuesday, 16th of April and signups are now open. Click here to sign your team up!

Signups will close on Saturday, the 13th of April at 23:59 CEST.

A more accurate schedule for the live finals will be released soon, but keep your eyes open for announcements at our site and our social media channels. More information for participating players will also be communicated as the registration deadline closes in on us.

About us

Since its inception, NHLGamer has continuously strived to offer the best possible experience for any and all gamers who have come to enjoy the competitiveness of playing the EA Sports series of NHL games. We made our biggest stride forward yet when we in late 2015 introduced the first ever European Championship League (ECL) - a league where all the best European NHL gamers create teams and compete against each other in the game mode EASHL (6vs6) for the title of Best EASHL Team in Europe.

While proud of our achievements and the success we've had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, we are not done yet. Our long-term goals include growing the community, hosting larger leagues with prize pools and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports.

About our partners

Birdie is the oldest LAN in Sweden, as it’s been organised in Uppsala, just outside Stockholm ever since 1993. In 2019, Birdie is being organised for the 29th time between may 30th and June 1st.




Esport United was founded somewhere around 2005 with the objective of developing the esports scene and gathering esports talent all at one place. ESU also drives hard to develop female esports.
 

SESF stands for Svenska E-sportföreningen and they are the governing body of esports competition in Sweden at the moment. The objective of the organisation is to develop the Swedish esports scene and shows a constant presence in organising tournaments and events. Currently, SESF provides training for esports referees and licenses for both referees and players. In Swedish esports competition, a SESF license is a quality guarantee.

What are you waiting for? Sign up now and enjoy the biggest and best NHL 6vs6 experience in Sweden with the chance of winning some great cash prizes! We sincerely hope to see as many of you there as possible!