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NHLGamers, Today is a special day. As elven queen Lady Galadriel put it in Peter Jackson’s cinematic masterpiece The Lord of the Rings; “I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.”. Today is the day when ECL Elite completes its quarterfinal stage and we get down to the final four contenders for the crown of ECL Grand Champion. The teams referred to as “The Big Two” in Part I of our Season Preview, HAVU Gaming and Linköping HC, both swept their quarterfinal series 4-0 against BRAYCE Phantoms and Roots, respectively. With that, last season’s finalists are already back in the semifinals. Now who will join them? Färjestad BK - JYP Jyväskylä SERIES SCORE 3-1 TOP SCORER Andreas @affelj96 Ljungberg (5+1=6) vs Antti @tbnantti Kuittinen (1+5=6) GOALTENDER Johan @Rundqviiist Rundqvist (3 W, 85,11 SV%, 1,75 GAA, 0 SO) vs Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos (1 W, 70,37 SV%, 2 GAA, 1 SO) This series has the makings of an upset as 8th seed Färjestad BK has pushed regular season winners JYP Jyväskyla to the brink of elimination. Up 3-1 in the series, FBK has set themselves up with three separate match points – to borrow a tennis term – and will look to close out the series early tonight against JYP. FBK took a commanding 2-0 series lead on the first game day of the series. JYP came back to win Game 3 but series standout Andreas @affelj96 Ljungberg made sure to bring Game 4 back in FBK’s camp, scoring the deciding 3-2-goal with mere seconds remaining of the third period. JYP has struggled to get their powerful offense going, with left-winger Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola even abandoning his patented Grinder build; the build that saw him lead the regular season in hits, to try his luck as a smaller Sniper. So far, FBK:s defense and goaltender Johan @Rundqviiist Rundqvist has stood tall. Employing a similarly powerful build to kriketski's original, FBK right-winger Sebastian @eBasstian Nagel has made it his personal mission to hit everything and everyone in sight – making it tough for JYP's offensive-minded defenders Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen and Ilmari @iilmarii Töyrylä to navigate through the neutral zone. In the end, a lot has come down to affelj in this matchup. From the timely game-deciding goals to the constant threat of him sneaking in behind JYP's defense, the tiny Swedish Sniper has been the biggest thorn in JYP's side through the first four games of the series. Will we see the upset completed tonight? Or will JYP re-discover their offense and find it within themselves to turn the series around? Unlucky Boys HC - hREDS SERIES SCORE 2-2 TOP SCORER Antti @Anhel Kuru (3+2=5) vs Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen (2+6=8) GOALTENDER Ville @Viltzup Poutiainen (2 W, 78,72 SV%, 2,5 GAA, 0 SO) vs Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen (2 W, 87,5 SV%, 1,5 GAA, 1 SO) With the exception of Game 2 where hReds walked all over Unlucky Boys to the tune of a 6-1 win, this series has been a real nail-biter. UB took home Game 1 in overtime, hReds took Game 3 off a beautiful deciding goal with less than a minute remaining from Joakim @Joukki Nyholm and with Game 4, we saw overtime once again. On the powerplay, Julius @Exel56 Rissanen snuck down from his spot as left defender and delivered a crushing slapshot to the top corner off an intelligent feed from right-winger Tim @Timasy Hess, ending hReds hopes to go up 3-1 in the series. We know the matchup tonight will feature at least two games between these teams. We can’t say for sure if the games will be close or not but based on how the series has gone thus far it’s a pretty safe bet. We might even see three games; wouldn’t that be something? Regardless if there is a Game 7 or not, these teams have given it everything they’ve got and will continue to do so all the way to the end. Today will be a special day. I can smell it in the air. Now let's drop the puck and play some hockey. Tune in for all the action starting tonight at 20:00 CEST over at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer, alternatively ISTV, and Ruutu for our Finnish viewers.

NHLGamers, We’ve reached the end of the road as far as the NHLGamer ECL 10 regular season broadcasts go. With the playoffs looming large, we cap things off with two matchups that will decide how the playoff tree shakes out. Dynamic duo @Tougie24 and @Cyn will be casting the action tonight. SJ Gaming vs Roots RECORD 12-14-2 vs 13-10-5 TOP SCORER Jussi @JaKurrii Koivuniemi (22+21=43) vs Timi @Rimpe Rimpeläinen (21+19=40) GOALTENDER Janne @Janne Hietala Hietala (12 W, 77,27 SV%, 2,86 GAA, 2 SO) vs Joonas @swagx88 Kuossari (13W, 82,39 SV%, 2,23 GAA, 2 SO) First up, we have SJ Gaming taking on Roots Gaming. For SJ, a “perfect evening” with four points is needed to have a shot at sneaking in to the playoffs. The eight seed is still up for grabs, but a lot will need to go SJ’s way for them to qualify – starting with taking four points off of one of the best defensive teams in the game. At the same time, SJ is feeling the heat from teams like Ghetto Firebirds and KOVA Esports chasing them down to avoid the dreaded Elite Relegation Series. One win would secure the Elite contract for SJ, two would give them a shot at the playoffs. Zero wins? Well, that could mean playing for their lives in a couple of weeks. High stakes indeed for captain @Terodeeand his men. On the other side of the equation, Roots has secured a spot in the playoffs but the games against SJ will decide what seed they end up with. As things currently stand, they could end up 8th, 7th or 6th depending on various results. Either way, they’ll have to take on a powerhouse in the form of Linköping HC, HAVU Gaming or JYP Jyvaskyla in the playoffs. But if any team stacks up well against the top three, it’s the “big green team machine” that captain @Tanski87has built. All that remains is deciding which opponent will be theirs. BRAYCE Phantoms vs Vesa Pompa HC RECORD 16-10-2 vs 12-14-2 TOP SCORER Simon @PlaymakerSJ Junker (17+27+44) vs Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund (23+13=36) GOALTENDER Patrick @RPH_31 Braun (16 W, 75,54 SV%, 2,19 GAA, 5 SO) vs Philip @Pippo Johansson (10 W, 79,29 SV%, 2,19 GAA, 2 SO) For our second matchup, we’ll see Germany vs. Sweden as BRAYCE Phantoms play host to Vesa Pompa HC. In this battle between national champions, BRAYCE has already secured a playoff spot, with Vesa making a late-season push to qualify. BRAYCE can finish at worst 7th and at best 4th. Finishing 4th or 5th would mean avoiding the top three teams, which should see an inspired BRAYCE roster come storming out of the gates. For Vesa, it is do or die. Just like SJ, they need four points to have a shot at the playoffs. And just like SJ, they need at least one win to secure their contract in Elite for ECL 11. Good thing then that the “new-look” Vesa is one of the hottest teams in the league for the past two weeks. Will that be enough to complete a near-miraculous run to the playoffs? Find out tonight at NHLGamer Twitch. Tune in for all the action starting tonight at 20:00 CEST over at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer, alternatively ISTV, and Ruutu for our Finnish viewers.

NHLGamers, With just two weeks to go of the regular season, things are coming down to the wire for multiple teams. The battle for the top seed had an interesting wrinkle thrown into it when hReds defeated HAVU this past week, placing Linkoping and JYP Jyvaskyla in the driver’s seat to earn that coveted #1 seed. With a 17-0-1 record and 1,94 points earned per game, JYP are actually in the league lead when it comes to point percentage. With tonight’s featured NHLGamer broadcast including battles between JYP and hReds, followed by the re-match of the ECL 9 Grand Finals (HAVU vs. LHC), we should expect to see some movement in the standings as the top teams continue to jockey for position ahead of the playoffs. In the midfield – to borrow a Formula 1 expression – we find Unlucky Boys HC continuing their good form of late. The burger boys have continued to climb up the standings and are now 8-1-1 in their past ten games, including a clean sweep of four consecutive victories their past week (over Roots and BRAYCE Phantoms, respectively). KOVA Esports seems to have fortified their position, winning four out of their last six games. They did get knocked over the head by Vesa Pompa HC in their final games of the week – a team recently made more dangerous by the addition of deadline transfer Vili @Vilupoika Häkkinen – but overall, KOVA have proven their mettle and look poised to earn a playoff berth. The battle around the playoff cutoff line is, per usual, intense and unpredictable. In fact, between the #7 seed Roots and the #13 seed Gotham Knights, only a single point acts as a barrier. Roots, Färjestad BK and GHETTO FIREBIRDS sit at 19 points each, whereas BRAYCE Phantoms, Checkmate, SJ Gaming and Gotham Knights have all earned 18 points apiece. An intense two weeks are likely to follow for these playoff hopefuls. At the bottom of the standings we find Lulea Hockey, Vesa Pompa HC and Almost Famous. If these teams are to have any chance of digging themselves out of the deep pits they’ve created for themselves, they need to average 2-3 points per matchup the rest of the way. Impossible? No. But certainly a challenge at this level. Vesa Pompa showed signs of life with their recent dip into free agency, and Lulea did pick up six out of a possible twelve points last week. But is it too little, too late for these teams? PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK Scoring seven goals in the same game rarely happens in ECL competition. At the Elite level? Unheard of. Yet that’s precisely what Paul “PleeMaker” Arontie did in a 10-2 win over Almost Famous. Simply sensational. FORWARD OF THE WEEK Paul @PleeMaker Arontie, Linköping HC See above. Yes, the same player was featured here last week. But, well, scoring 23 points (14+9) in six games (!) makes Plees performance this past week hard to overlook. With 46 goals on the season already, he is approaching his own ECL Elite single-season goalscoring record of 49 (set in ECL 4). And LHC still has ten more games to play this regular season… DEFENDER OF THE WEEK Joel @jtorro1233 Tourunen, Linköping HC It has been a good week for LHC’s left defender. Not only did he rack up two goals and ten assists in the six games his team played, he was also featured here at NHLGamer in our latest edition of Player Spotlight, an interview series by @Faydas. GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos, JYP Jyvaskyla Sibelius has been one of the most consistent goalies on the European EASHL scene for quite some time now. This season is no exception. With save percentages of 100, 87.5, 81.8 and 93.3 in the four games he played last week (all wins), the last outpost of JYP is your goaltender of the week. Perhaps even the goaltender of the season – at least thus far.

Like we hinted at in last week’s recap, the big (h)RED machine seems to be waking up. After opening their season uncharacteristically weak, hREDS have rattled off eight straight wins – including four consecutive wins in their last four games. The hot streak has catapulted the team into the top four, which now consists of the foursome many expected to be there: HAVU Gaming, JYP Jyvaskyla, Linköping HC, and hREDS. A quick look at the leaderboards for individual statistics further enhance the domination by these four teams. The top six is made up of three LHC forwards and three HAVU forwards. The remaining four are two hREDS forwards and two JYP forwards. At the other end of the spectrum, we find Almost Famous and Luleå Hockey who both went 0-4 the past week, picking up no points in the process. Luleå is riding a nine-game losing streak overall (0-7-2) whereas aF (1-7-1) has had an increasingly tough go of things lately as well. Another team that is struggling is Vesa Pompa, one of the teams promoted from Pro. The reigning SCL champions did manage to pick up an overtime win against another Swedish team, Färjestad BK, in the NHLGamer-featured broadcast matchup between the two, but have gone 1-5-0 in their past six games and lost three out of four games the past week. One suspects these three teams are happy to turn the page on the past week and start a new chapter. When sorting by “points collected per game” for teams, we can deduce that Roots Gaming especially have been doing well beyond the top four. With a record of 4-1-1 the past week, the team has continued to build on what had already begun to look like a strong campaign. We are only at the halfway point, but Roots seems to have already positioned themselves as a sure-fire playoff team. Beyond Roots, teams Checkmate and BRAYCE Phantoms are also putting together strong seasons – both hovering above one point collected per game. One team that took off this week and seemed to leave a bad start behind them was Unlucky Boys HC. After losing eight of their first ten games, the team announced their intentions to climb by going 4-0-0 in the early goings of the week, defeating both Luleå Hockey and KOVA Esports without surrendering a single point. Their upward trend came to a screeching halt when they were faced with reigning champions Linköping HC yesterday, though. LHC collected all four points – further cementing themselves at the top of the standings for what seems to be another successful season. Newcomers Gotham Knights and GHETTO FIREBIRDS both continue to acquit themselves well at the top tier of ECL competition, tallying roughly a point per game thus far into the season. Färjestad, KOVA, and SJ Gaming have also performed adequately so far and put themselves in solid contention for a playoff spot. PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK While it is in no way enjoyable to highlight these plays, at least not for this particular writer (Editors Note: the author represents Luleå Hockey), HAVU Gaming does deserve some credit for the highlight reel-worthy goals they scored against Luleå Hockey this past week. Enjoy. Or don’t. I certainly won’t… FORWARD OF THE WEEK Paul @PleeMaker Arontie, Linköping HC EASHL hockey is about scoring goals and as of right now, nobody does that better than Linköping HC left wing PleeMaker. With 32 goals in 14 games, he holds a commanding lead in the overall goal-scoring race – helped by his scorching performance last week where he tallied 11 (!) goals and 2 assists in just four games. With that, he is our forward of the week. DEFENDER OF THE WEEK Wille @willekunq Juntunen, HAVU Gaming HAVU Gaming had a busy week, playing four opponents for a total of eight games. Willekunq made sure to make the most of these games, amassing 10 points (4+6), and catapulting himself up to the top of the leaderboard for defender scoring. GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK Ville @Viltzup Poutiainen, Unlucky Boys HC Thrown straight into Elite by way of recruitment from ECL Pro team We Kings, “new” UB goalie Viltzup (he played for UB last season) certainly showed right away he can help the team win games. With an 85,19 save percentage, a 4-2-0 record, one shutout, and 2,00 goals against average, Viltzup is your goaltender of the week. Sure, he probably wishes he could forget about the LHC games yesterday – at least one of them – but overall, this first week for Viltzup in ECL 10 Elite was a roaring success.

NHLGamers, As expected, the teams predicted to finish at the top of the standings got off to a good start. Well, most of them anyway. Reigning champions Linköping HC (4-0-0) began their ECL 10 journey with a bit of a scare as their initial opponent, German powerhouse Brayce Phantoms, came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game and nearly took home the opening game in overtime. However, LHC’s designated goalscorer Paul @PleeMaker Arontie stepped up and made sure to secure the win. Lifted by the opening win, the team came out and secured a second one as well. Momentum is certainly a thing in hockey and judging by how LHC leveraged their opening wins into their second matchup versus one of their top competitors, it seems to be a thing in its virtual counterpart as well. Consensus top-4 team hReds didn’t know what hit them until it was too late as LHC, for lack of a better word, crushed the recent Pro champion to the tune of 7-0 and 5-1 wins. With 16 points each through the opening four games, PleeMaker (9+7) and partner-in-crime Erik @Eki Tammenpää (7+9) are right at the top of the leaderboards for player statistics. Sitting just above the LHC forwards, notorious HAVU duo Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha with 23 points (11+12) and Risto @Dominointi Järvi with 18 points (6+12). With stats like that, it’s no surprise really to learn HAVU Gaming also opened their season with a perfect record at 6-0-0. The foes vanquished were Vesa Pompa, Almost Famous and Unlucky Boys and the opening week included dominant wins of 8-0 (vs. aF) and 7-1 (vs. UB). Only three teams remain undefeated in the league (not counting Färjestad BK who have yet to open their season) with the third outside of LHC and HAVU being new esport signee JYP Jyvaskyla (4-0-0). Led by powerful left winger Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola and his 12 points (7+5), the team has defeated Unlucky Boys HC twice in overtime and GHETTO FIREBIRDS twice – one win coming in overtime. Even if the wins haven’t come with the dominance or flair one might have expected from JYP, opening the season with a perfect record can never be anything less than a good start. The fourth team among the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, hReds, hasn’t come out of the gates roaring like the other three. Disappointing losses to LHC aside, the team suffered overtime losses to SJ Gaming (3-4) and KOVA Esports (0-1) and have gone 2-2-2 to open their inaugural season in ECL Elite. Coincidentally, SJ Gaming (4-2-0) and KOVA Esports (3-1-0) are two of the teams to have the best openings beyond the unbeaten trio. Albeit early, Checkmate (2-0-2) also deserves a mention here as the points they collected was enough to put them in 6th with the first week completed. At the bottom of the standings we find Färjestad BK (yet to play), Luleå Hockey (0-1-1), Unlucky Boys (0-2-2) and Vesa Pompa HC (1-3-0). PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK In Thursdays matchup between Linköping HC and hREDS, @PleeMaker delivered this outstanding goal, which we name the performance of thew week. FORWARD OF THE WEEK Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha, HAVU Gaming With 11 goals, 12 assist and 23 points in just six games and a five-point lead clear of the second best skater, how could this go to anyone other than the captain of HAVU Gaming? FlyerKungen continues to cement his status as the premiere point-producer in EASHL 6v6 competition right now. Honorable mentions: Risto @Dominointi Järvi (HAVU), Erik @Eki Tammenpää (LHC), Paul @PleeMaker Arontie (LHC), Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola (JYP). DEFENDER OF THE WEEK Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta, Linköping HC No other defender has scored more than one goal thus far this season, whereas loimmu has already lit the lamp three times. Add five assists to that and you get a phenomenal start for a defender with 8 points (3+5) through 4 games. Honorable mentions: Wille @willekunq Juntunen (HAVU), Eemil @Eemil Koski (HAVU). GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK Alex @MonkeyHeadAF Falck, KOVA Esports Making his ECL Elite debut, MonkeyHeadAF hasn’t looked out of place at all. In fact, he’s been one of KOVA’s top performers as the team got off to a solid start (3-1-0) this season. With two shutouts, a save percentage of 87,5 % and 1,25 goals allowed per game, MonkeyHeadAF has certainly made his mark on the young season. Honorable mentions: Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos (JYP), Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen (HAVU).

NHLGamers, The first few gamedays of ECL 10 Elite are in the rearview and boy, have we been treated to some exciting action already! There's lots more to come and the same goes for out preview series, in which we overviewed "Contenders, Swedes and Newcomers" last time around. In the third and last part, we'll discuss the remaining teams, which consist of: Brayce Phantoms and Almost Famous both saw disappointing results in ECL 9 by finishing 15th and 14th – both relegation spots. To make matters worse, both teams were defeated by hungry Pro teams in the promotion/relegation series; Brayce by Vesa as mentioned in our previous article and Almost Famous by Gotham Knights. But these teams weren’t going down without a fight. With the situation unclear for a number of teams going into ECL 10 Elite, two eventually decided they wouldn’t participate in the season due to disbandment: PARRU and Butterfly Effect. This led to a scramble to fill the two spots – resulting in the ECL 10 Elite Qualification Series. Brayce Phantoms, Almost Famous, TIKI TALK, Leksand IF, Växjö Lakers, Reality Check, Black Horse and Kaupallinen Yhteistyo were all given another chance to prove they belonged in Elite. Brayce, Almost Famous, Kaupallinen Yhteistyo and Reality Check qualified from the group stage which led to the matchups: Brayce vs. Kaupallinen, and Almost vs. Reality. Here the former Elite teams really stepped up and won their series 4-1 and 4-0, respectively – displaying an impressive amount of psychological strength after being “down and out” for such a long time. As for the teams’ rosters, much of Brayces gameplay still revolves around playmaking genius Simon @PlaymakerSJ Junker at center, but the recent addition of Stephan @Krinke Krinke at LW could prove to be an interesting one as the man has proven to be a dependable goal-scorer in recent times. For Almost Famous, the players behind its revival are primarily assistant captains Janne @jahajaha93 Tarvonen and Joni @Tzon93 Tuovila whereas captain Aaro @Ikavalko Ikävalko will be spending the rest of the year serving in the Finnish military. Not only are they both skilled and capable players on the ice, their contributions off the ice should not be underestimated. Jahajaha93 brought the team back from death’s door through sheer force of will after a turbulent offseason. The team with new recruits tzon93, Samu @Ojamoska Ojamo, Eemil @Sokkelo__ Soikkeli and Lassi @Lazzio Hirvonen battled through the ECL 10 Elite Qualification Series with the energetic winger tzon93 instantly taking a supportive leadership role and bringing additional fire to the team. Brayce Phantoms and Almost Famous have been in playoff mode for the past months already – could that help them in ECL 10? It wasn’t just hReds and JYP Jyvaskyla who entered the NHL 6v6 scene ahead of ECL 10 Elite. ECL 9 teams Miracle and POGGERS each secured contracts with Finnish esports organizations; Miracle became KOVA Esports and POGGERS turned into SJ Gaming – both well-known and respected franchises in the Finnish esports scene. For KOVA, the team will look to build on their playoff finish last season while captain Kimi @Zip player Nordberg will be eager to prove that the mid-season additions of Mattias @iSvamp Björck and Amadeus @amadee21 Carlsson in ECL 9 wasn’t the driving factor behind the teams resurgence in the back half of that season. Miracle represented another esport organization, Swedish SHL club Djurgården Hockey, during eSHL but when a split occurred between the Finnish and the Swedish parts of the roster – eSvamp and amadee21 took on the Djurgården name whereas ZipPlayer quickly got to work securing a deal with the prestigious KOVA organization. SJ Gaming finished 12th last season in Elite but missed the playoffs by a mere two points, suggesting they are close to being a playoff contender. Captain Tero @Terodee Dahlström had a very impressive run in ECL 9 Elite, scoring 26 points in 26 games and finishing third overall among defenders in total points. This season he will look to build on that performance and lead his team to the playoffs. Unlucky Boys HC, Roots and Checkmate are returning to Elite after all performing well last season. Roots made the playoffs as the 4th seed, Unlucky Boys as the 6th and Checkmate just barely missed the playoffs, finishing 9th with the same point total as 8th seed Symphony. Being teams of supremely high ambitions, all three have made key changes to their rosters to take the next step in their evolution. Unlucky Boys have made two significant changes to their roster from ECL 9. Goaltenders Rami @ramseyy2 Rissanen and Janne @Jann3_67_ Saari were brought in to replace Ville @Viltzup Poutiainen, while Brayce Phantoms forward Tim @Timasy Hess joined as the primary RW with Veeti @Wenger Paloneva moving down to assume the RD position. For Roots, goalscoring legend Lauri @Lamsa Lämsä left the team and Timi @Rimpe Rimpeläinen joined. Jim @SadaPoika Leskinen was placed on “inactive status” due to joining the Finnish military services, leading Miko @Migo_boo Nurmi (who just came back after fulfilling that very same commitment) to assume the role of main center after acting as the teams backup for more than a year. The loss of Lamsa is a significant one as he had been the team’s leading goal scorer every single season Roots (Rusty Blades) has participated in ECL competition, but with captain Juhani @Tanski87 Tanskanen leading the team in a more balanced direction – having every player contribute equally on the offense – the team looks just as strong as last season, where they finished an impressive 4th during the regular season. Finally, Checkmate also made some key additions as “the Nikkinen brothers” (captain Jonne @TackleControl Nikkinen and assistant captain Juuso @Juizki Nikkinen) signed Markus @Makeaxl Lahti from Symphony and Ville-Petteri @vviljo Särmä from Butterfly Effect, both highly sought after, to act as the teams main defensive pairing. As 1v1 star Roni @MrNipsuli Kajan continues to ascend the rankings of “Elite 6v6 forwards”, Checkmate looks poised to build on last season and make the Elite playoffs. With this final preview part, we've taken a look at all 16 of the ECL 10 Elite teams to some extent - some more than others. The intent of this preview has not been to rank the teams in any way, but to create an understanding for the various situations that each of these teams are in. As we've stated numerous times before, we're extremely excited to get this season started! ECL 10 Elite continues tomorrow, Monday 13th of April with two matchups at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer. SJ Gaming will go up against Almost Famous and Checkmate in our featured matchups.

NHLGamers, We'll make short work of the intro on this one and let you get down to the nitty gritty - ECL 10 Elite is rolling on and we've never been this excited about a season! Last time we checked out "The Big Two", which have been ruling the scene for quite some time already. Now it's time to move on to new subjects, which are the following: You’ve heard their names before. Odds are you’ve faced them. In fact, they were both mentioned in part I of this preview. If any teams are to challenge favorites HAVU Gaming or Linköping HC for the title in ECL 10 Elite, odds are it’ll be either ECL 9 Pro Champions and IS Cup 4 silver medalists hReds (formerly “Delusion”) or JYP Jyvaskyla (formerly “Symphony”). hReds has had quite the journey on their way to being considered an Elite title contender. Originally established ahead of early NHL 20-tournament IS Cup 4 under the team name “Delusion”, skilled forward trio Joakim @Joukki Nyholm, Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen and Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen took the tournament by storm and led the team all the way to the finals where they were eventually defeated by HAVU. As there are no shortcuts to ECL Elite, next up for this team was ECL 9 Pro – a tournament they made short work of by finishing as the #1 overall seed during the regular season. It wasn’t until they came across Vesa Pompa HC – another new Elite team – in the playoff finals that they were finally challenged. Even so, Delusion took the series and were crowned ECL 9 Pro Champions – ensuring a spot in Elite for ECL 10. With Casper @ICappeI Lundgren having been the team’s “loan” goaltender in IS Cup, gifted up-and-comer Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen manned the pipes for ECL 9 and performed outstandingly in his first Pro season. Chances are he’ll turn quite a few heads come the start of the Elite season so if you’re looking for a #HiddenGem, this guy is one to consider. On defense, veteran LD Janne @Janzuh Nyquist has been with the team since its inception and acts as the defensive fail-safe for the teams’ offense-first play style. ECL 10 will be Janzuhs fifth Elite season. On RD, the transfer of gifted offensive defender Ilmari @iilmarii Töyrylä from hReds to JYP after ECL 9 opened a hole that was filled by Teemu @Xteemuz Polttila. While a talented defender in his own right, xteemuzz would objectively be considered the wildcard on this roster. Finally, the team made another change as it was time for KingOfApes_ to fulfill his duty to the motherland and enlist in the Finnish military services for a time. To compensate for Apes assuming “inactive” status, the team brought in dangling wunderkid Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen from the since-then folded team Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly boys were on the verge of greatness in both IS Cup 4 and ECL 9 Elite but fell short on both occasions, leading its players to migrate to other teams. JYP Jyvaskyla has had an equally interesting path to becoming ECL 10 pre-season favorites. Bursting onto the scene as Symphony in IS Cup 3 (eSM 2018), former Aapon Taikasauva captain Santeri @indi969 Pendolin led a star-studded roster to a bronze medal in their first tournament together. For ECL 7 Elite, Aapon became Symphony and indi969 recruited what would become a cornerstone of the team: center and puck-possession wizard Antti @tbnantti Kuittinen. Right away in their first Elite season as Symphony, the team made it all the way to the finals. After losing a tough battle against FILADELPHIA, the team lost a key piece as Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen left to join Written In The Stars for ECL 8. The team failed to replicate their success in ECL 8, falling to Rusty Blades in the Quarterfinals and once ECL 9 rolled around, the only player left from the ECL 7 finals run was indi969 himself and backup goaltender, since promoted to starter, Lauri @Lauri Piipponen. Another first-round exit in ECL 9 lit a fire within indi969 and together with tbnantti, the center having now played five tournaments with the team, they set out to re-build the team and return it to its former glory. Bringing RD iilmarii back after two seasons with Delusion, adding 1v1 virtuoso (and Finnish Champion) Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola to be their LW, Oskari @SIbeIius Grönroos as their starting goaltender and the highest scoring defender in ECL 9 Elite, Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen, to act as their LD certainly has given them the tools to once again compete for a title. To add to what has been a very successful off-season for the team between ECL:s 9 and 10; just days before ECL 10 Elite opened its doors the team signed a deal with professional hockey team JYP Jyväskälä of Finnish Liiga to act as their esports representatives. How about that? You won’t ever see HAVU or Linköping shaking in their boots. It’s just not what they do. But if they ever did, it’d be because of either hReds or JYP Jyvaskyla. Outside of Linköping, ECL 10 Elite features an additional two SHL teams: Färjestad BK and Luleå Hockey. Or, as the ECL historians would call them; Bucketeers and Northern Ascendancy. Färjestad finished outside the playoffs in ECL 9 Elite but bounced back with a respectable top-4 finish in recent tournament eSHL – helped in part by the recruitment of HAVU defensive pairing Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto and Wille @willekunq Juntunen. The adjusted roster displayed a renewed sense of focus and energy, with cerebral center Christoffer @I-Maise-I Berntsson continually creating space for his teammates while allowing the HAVU defenders to attack at will. On the wings, Mattias @Tacterz Hjelm and Robin @Rubituss Söderqvist dodged, dipped, ducked, and slipped their way through opposing defenders and racked up respectable point totals between the two of them. As expected, the HAVU defenders returned to their former team upon the completion of eSHL – leaving FBK with a problem on their hands. Who would replace such a skilled defensive duo? The answer was a creative one. The team moved gifted RW Rubituss to slot in at LD and recruited Harri @Totalii Joona from Checkmate to act as the teams RD – the Finnish defenders’ 7th straight season in ECL Elite. On forward, Rubituss’ RW spot was filled by none other than Sebastian @eBasstian Nagel, recruited from ECL Pro team (and fellow eSHL participant) Växjö Lakers. At LW, Tacterz decided to take a step back and act as more of a reserve. This problem was quickly solved by adding another Växjö player, goalscoring machine and reigning SCL champion Andreas @affelj96 Ljungberg. With all the changes made to the FBK roster, predicting how they will finish in ECL 10 is no easy task. But judging by the gameplay they have shown when this writer has faced them in regular EASHL, they could very well surprise quite a few people and end up a playoff team. For Luleå, not much has changed in the roster since their disappointing quarterfinal exit in eSHL against Leksand. The team looked poised to build on their impressive, yet somewhat surprising, top-4 finish in ECL 9 but instead took a step backwards during eSHL while never finding the team chemistry necessary to move forward. Since eSHL, Luleå has focused on re-establishing their basics in practice – “walk before you can run again”, as one player put it – and are entering the tournament with the hopes of re-discovering their ECL 9 magic. Left wing Ville @hpkfani Luukkonen is still to be considered the teams primary scoring threat, yet persistent rumors suggest the team still has one big, final piece of the puzzle to add. Stay tuned for more. Vesa Pompa HC, Gotham Knights and Ghetto Firebirds joined Delusion in advancing from Pro – all of them defeating “their” Elite opponent in the relegation/promotion battle. Gotham Knights make their long-awaited return to Elite after spending ECL:s 8 and 9 in Pro as a top team and title contender. The team, led by captain and center Joni @ReDMisTi Kaikkonen, has been together for a long time and is one of the precious few teams in the community that have been around ever since ECL 1. The re-branding to “Gotham Knights” took place in ECL 5, whereas before that the team was known as “Refuse To Lose”. Other key players for the team include dangerous wingers Emil @Hanssonni Hansson and Joni @selänne8 Kurtti. Expect Gotham Knights to be hungry for success and with enough steps forward from the teams’ defense and goaltending, they very well might achieve it. Ghetto Firebirds is another one of those teams that have been around for a long, long time – battling their way all the way from Lite in ECL 4 to finally reach the coveted Elite division in ECL 10. What a journey it has been for the team and what an experience for captain Keka @KepakkoFIN Muyima and players Joonas @Taettonov Siira and Ville @Vilze Systä, who have been around ever since the team first saw the light of day, to finally see the proud Firebird with an ECL Elite logo next to it. Stories like Ghetto Firebirds’ is really what the ECL divisional system is all about. With a healthy portion of skill, a powerful dedication to teamwork and an uncompromising attitude towards putting in the necessary work, advancement through the system is within your grasp. Look for the Firebirds to come out swinging with their stingy defense and hard-working offense – eager to prove they belong at the pinnacle of European 6v6 hockey. Vesa Pompa HC was an expected addition to Elite, if you can ever really say something like that. If Delusion was the clear favorite in ECL 9 Pro, Vesa was definitely the second team on that ranking. And wouldn’t you know it – those are the exact teams that ended up in the finals. After giving Delusion a solid fight but failing to retrieve the Pro title, captain Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann and his team faced off with Brayce Phantoms in the relegation/promotion battle. The reigning SCL champions Vesa managed to defeat the four-time German champions Brayce in OT of Game 7 after coming back to tie the deciding game up in the final minute. With a core built around Lehmannens, fellow defender Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander, star winger Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund and lightning-quick goaltender Edvin @Thunborg5 Thunborg, the team guest starred as Malmö Redhawks in the eSHL. A tournament in which they, with the help of HAVU forwards Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha and Risto @Dominointi Järvi, made it all the way to the finals against Linköping where they gave the eventual champions a good battle before securing a silver medal. Replacing two such prestigious forwards was no easy task but Vesa quickly found a solution by retaining their Finnish forwards Mikke @Nampa77 Nampajärvi and Olof @Spearzz_ Forsbacka, while adding Butterfly Effects former captain Jere @jergelii Jortama as the teams’ centerpiece. With a winning attitude and success in many of their previous tournaments, Vesa is a prime candidate to challenge the top teams for a solid playoff spot. That'll be it for this time, we still have a handful of teams to go, which we'll take a closer look at tomorrow! Next up; the final part of the ECL 10 Elite preview where we break down the remaining handful of teams. Some who took the hard way, some new organisations and finally, some familiar faces making a return. Stay tuned!

The arrival of the global pandemic known as COVID-19 has brought about quite a few changes to life as we know it. While these changes – the arrival of the phenomenon “social distancing”, for example – won’t be permanent, they have certainly had an impact on most of us, if not all of us. Perhaps you have a friend or relative that has fallen ill. Perhaps you yourself have been battling the virus. Perhaps you’ve lost your job as a consequence of the radical changes in consumer behavior around the globe. Perhaps you’ve even lost someone close to you. In short, things aren’t great. And what’s worse is that no one can accurately predict how long we’ll be in this predicament. Still. As Harvey Dent of The Dark Knight (2008) would say – you know, before he turned all evil and homicidal – “The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you: the dawn is coming”. As we wait for the sun to come up and illuminate our path forward, we could all use a distraction. Something to take our minds off headlines of pain and suffering. So, with every sport from Formula 1 to curling canceled or put on indefinite hold – not to mention our favorite sport of ice hockey – and guidelines in most countries suggesting that we stay at home as much as possible, what could be better than some competitive esports? I mean, not to make light of the current situation but… as gamers, we’re kind of used to staying inside and maintaining distance to people. No? All kidding aside, with the whole world essentially put on pause we can and should consider ourselves lucky that we are still able to do what we love on a daily basis: play and compete in NHL 20. And who knows – while we are busy battling our rivals for supremacy in the four separate divisions of the European Championship League, we might even be able to offer a sliver of happiness to someone who is going through a tough time; be it a spectator or a player. If you ask me, that’s not "nothing". The competitive aspect should of course not be forgotten. After all, this is NHLGamer and 6v6 EASHL hockey is what we do. So, let’s talk competition. For the purposes of this article, that means taking a long, hard look at the 16 teams set to participate in the premier division of European 6v6 gaming, ECL Elite. For the seventh edition of this ultra-tough division – the first three seasons of ECL did not feature divisional separation – we begin by taking a look at two teams that are no strangers to winning. Teams many would say stand the best chance of claiming the coveted title of ECL Grand Champion. And so, without further ado, what better way to start than by focusing on… THE BIG TWO Their dominant run as we know it began in November of 2018, in IS Cup 3 (eSM 2018). That’s when the team known as FILADELPHIA secured their first championship title. They did so by defeating a team known at the time as Written In The Stars. Make a mental note of that because the rivalry of these two teams had only just gotten started. Mere weeks after winning the IS Cup 3 title, “FILA” added another trophy to their collection – none other than the ECL 7 Elite title: their first championship win in Elite. Only this time their opponent wasn’t Written In The Stars, it was newly established team Symphony. However, as the calendar year of 2018 ended and 2019 began, the balance of power shifted. ECL 8 Elite saw FILA face off in the finals against Written In The Stars; a re-match of the IS Cup 3 finals. Only this time it was “SKY” who brought home the championship. SKY proceeded to win the “just for fun”-tournament Spring League and followed that up by signing a contract with professional esports organization HAVU Gaming. Next up was the last event of EA SPORTS NHL 19; the summer tournament of FCL (eSM 2019). Once again, we were treated to a matchup in the finals between FILA and HAVU. The now green-and-black HAVU continued their dominant end to NHL 19 by defeating FILA and bringing home their third straight tournament win. Picture: HAVU Gaming celebrating FCL Championship 2019. Photo credit: SEUL / Arttu Kokkonen Along came the fall and EA SPORTS NHL 20 – but HAVU weren’t done winning. The first tournament of NHL 20, IS Cup 4, saw HAVU bring home their fourth (!) straight title – defeating newly created team Delusion in the finals. FILA finished a (for them) disappointing third and with that decided changes needed to be made. Delusion goaltender Casper @ICappeI Lundgren was brought in to replace previous net-minding stalwarts Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos and Mika @FinKonna Paasikontu. With that, it was time for the balance of power to shift once more. With the arrival of ICappeI, FILA proceeded to sign an esports deal with Swedish hockey organization Linköping HC of the SHL – the highest tier of professional hockey in Sweden. Switching from the orange stag of FILA to the White Lion of Linköping, LHC dove head-first into ECL 9 and decisively mopped the floor with most opponents. Sporting an ECL Elite-record 27-2-1 (tied with SKY from ECL 6), LHC claimed the #1 overall seed in the regular season and worked their way through Symphony and Luleå Hockey in the playoffs to reach the finals… where none other than, you guessed it, HAVU awaited them. With HAVU up 3-1 in the best of-7 series, LHC dug deep and found another gear – turning the series around and winning their first title since ECL 7. Linköping surfed their new-found wave of success all the way to winning the inaugural eSHL championship – including a win in the finals against a Malmö Redhawks team that featured HAVU players Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha (RW), Risto @Dominointi Järvi (C), Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen (G, reserve) and Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen (LW, reserve) on loan. Picture: Linköping HC celebrating eSHL Championship 2020. Photo credit: Elias Gammelgård To summarize: in the last eight tournaments organized by NHLGamer (not including the differently formatted Summer Cup or the inaugural edition of the SCL where neither team had a chance to participate), FILADELPHIA/Linköping HC have won four and Written In The Stars/HAVU Gaming four – including four finals where they’ve been pitted directly against each other. That’s a near unprecedented dominance not seen on the NHL esports scene since Swedish teams Northern Stars and Unknown were lining up tournament wins in the previous gen (pre-NHL 16) of the game. The way Linköping and HAVU have made competitive NHL 6v6 gaming a two-horse race in the past 18 months (or NHLs 19 and 20, for those keeping track) almost defies explanation – bringing about comparisons to the famous rivalry in Spanish football league La Liga between standout clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. And wouldn’t you know it? Whenever these two behemoths of NHL gaming get matched up against each other, especially in the playoffs, you will usually find at least 5-10 comments in the NHLGamer Twitch stream – because let’s face it, their matchups should never not be broadcasted – calling the matchup the “El Clasico of NHL gaming”. It does have a nice ring to it. And the rivalry is just as fierce. I’m talking about the battle between bearded beasts ICappeI and Hansulinho in net, the two-way talent in two of the strongest defender pairings of all time (Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto & Wille @willekunq Juntunen for HAVU; Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta & Joel @jtorro1233 Tourunen for LHC) and the matchup of six of the best forwards NHL esports have to offer: the above mentioned trio of FlyerKungen, Dominointi and Puantso facing off against Erik @Eki Tammenpää, Paul @PleeMaker Arontie and Joonas @Juunas Paatiala. With ECL 10 fast approaching and both teams looking as strong as ever, can anyone really be blamed for predicting another matchup in the ECL Elite finals between HAVU and LHC? I certainly wouldn’t put it past them. Next up; the second half of the ECL 10 Elite preview where we break down the remaining 14 teams. The challengers, the new arrivals and which teams and players to keep an extra eye out for.