The SCL 6v6 season recap

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: