OGjahajaha

NHLGamers, We’re proudly welcoming yet another traditional sports organisation into the world of esports and NHL gaming as Växjö Lakers from Sweden have acquired the team formerly known as Lavetten. Recently we’ve seen an increasing number of teams sign deals and represent various organisations in our tournaments, not only is this a step towards a more professional environment but it is growing the game that we love. With traditional sports teams such as Düsseldorf, AIK and today Växjö Lakers joining our ranks we create a connection between the traditional sport and the quickly growing esports scene. This connection will hopefully induce growth on both the virtual and real life sides of the sport. Fredrik Sandberg from the Växjö Lakers organisation highlights the fact that esports is an uncharted territory for them: “In esports, we’re reaching a new demographic in which we see tremendous potential. We’re excited about setting the Växjö Lakers brand into new waters and very happy to have a few hometown guys on the roster.” We caught up with Växjö Lakers captains Fredric @EDHOLMINHO Edholm and Fredrik @Kattenj Jansson for a short interview about the teams current status: How did this project take off and is there a specific connection to Växjö within your team? Fredrik (Kattenj): It all took off a couple weeks back when we made the decision to make a return as Lavetten. One of our new recruits is @Hockeyjohannes, who mentioned that he’s been in talks with Växjö previously and that there’s interest on that front. After some emails back and forth with Fredrik Sandberg at Växjö, we set up a meeting and things went on smoothly from there. We’ve got three guys from Växjö on our roster, so that’s the main reason and it’s with pride we represent our club. Both of you have represented Lavetten before, your new roster consists of some familiar faces but a whole bunch of new guys, what kind of hockey can we expect from you guys in IS Cup 4? Fredrik (Kattenj): Both me and Edholm have represented Lavetten before. Ever since that era came to an end, we have been thinking about joining forces again and now the time seemed right. We knew our team could be successful if we find the right pieces to fit our puzzle. We’ve been able to recruit a competitive roster with impressive depth and having @Hullued as our backstop is a great confidence boost. Our aim is to play fast counter hockey and I believe that is something we’ve excelled at in the last few weeks. We’ve been on a hard grind and are definitely ready for what IS Cup has in store for us. How excited are you about representing Växjö Lakers and what are your goals for IS Cup 4? Fredric (EDHOLMINHO): First of all, we’re extremely grateful to have this opportunity. Växjö Lakers is a large and very well-known organisation and it’s very motivating to represent them in the upcoming IS Cup. Our number one goal is to make the playoffs, after that we’ll see what we can make happen. The roster of Växjö Lakers for IS Cup 4 Växjö Lakers Esport will be making their debut tonight as they face the German based Shooting Stars in an IS Cup 4 double-header tonight at 21:00 CEST. The games can be watched on the Växjö Lakers Esport Twitch channel and will be commentated by Adam @esdor Ericson. The team also has new Twitter and Instagram profiles that they welcome you to follow. Växjö Lakers Växjö Lakers Hockey Club, commonly referred to as Växjö Lakers is an ice hockey club playing at the highest level in Sweden (SHL). The club was founded in 1997 and plays their home games at Vida Arena. Despite their short history, the team has seen some success in recent years, hoisting the Le Mat Trophy awarded to the SHL champions in both 2015 and 2018.

Hi there NHLGamers, We're kicking off the 4th iteration of the IS Cup with a bang. At NHLGamer we really appreciate the possibility to cooperate with Ilta-Sanomat on this traditional tournament. This year we welcomed teams from all around Europe and with that we're happy to say that we've set an IS Cup record in terms of teams signing up. With 73 total teams signed up this time, let's make sure we are as welcoming to new members as possible to make sure we continue on this path. If you didn't read our news story with information about the event and prize pool, check it out here. The group stage kicks off today on Sunday 13th of October. Default gamedays are set to Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Please prioritize your default opponents when scheduling. All games have to be played by Sunday, October 20th at 23:59 CEST. Please head over here to find the group stage schedule. Now let's get into all you need to know: IS Cup 4 Rules As usual, we have fine-tuned our ruleset, so we suggest you give them a good read before going ahead with your games! Please find the rulebook here. Tournament Administration All league related verdicts will be decided by the Tournament Administration. To open up a case, visit the new Support section on the forums. Please note: before contacting the Tournament Administration, teams are expected to 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. In which group can I find each team? Groups were drawn by dividing teams into baskets based on skill level and previous merit. Each group contains an even amount of teams from each basket. The groups were revealed in our stream on Saturday, October 12th. Team management tools All teams have been created, the team management tools on the main page have been unlocked for the team captains (find the Team Tools dropdown in the top right corner of the menu). All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of your 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! Playoffs A total of 32 teams will make the playoffs The top 3 teams from each group will progress to the playoffs Out of all the remaining teams across all groups, the top 2 based on PPG will be selected to advance. Playoff Seeding Group winners are seeded #1-10 Group runners-up #11-20 Teams that finished 3rd #21-30 Remaining teams with the highest PPG #31-32 The seeding of the teams within these levels will be decided using the usual tiebreakers, found in 11.3 of the IS Cup 4 Rules. Playoff Schedule Based on your feedback we were able to extend the playoffs to give the teams a little bit more time during these important games. Online Playoffs 28.10.-6.11. Round 1 (BO5): 28.-30.10. Round 2 (BO5): 31.10.-3.11. Quarterfinals (BO5): 4.11.-6.11. Semi-finals & Finals @ GameXpo 15.-16.11. Friday, November 15th 2019: Fri 15.11. @ 13.30 Semifinal #1, games 1-2 Fri 15.11. @ 14.45 Semifinal #2, games 1-2 Fri 15.11. @ 17.00 Semifinal #1, games 3-5 * Fri 15.11. @ 18.45 Semifinal #2, games 3-5 * Saturday, November 16th 2019: Sat 16.11. @ 12.00 Bronze Battle Sat 16.11. @ 13.45 Finals, games 1-2 Sat 16.11. @ 14.55 Intermission Sat 16.11. @ 16.00 Finals, games 3-4 Sat 16.11. @ 17.15 Finals, games 5 * Sat 16.11. @ 18.00 Finals, games 6 * Sat 16.11. @ 18.30 Finals, games 7 * *as necessary Semifinals = Best-of-Five Bronze battle = Best-of-Three Finals = Best-of-Seven Captain and player chat on Discord You can join the NHLGamer Discord and talk to your fellow players. For captains there's the captain channel, where you can ask fellow captains for help, schedule games or get notified of anything important going on right now. You can join the Discord by clicking here. The Discord is available throughout all of the NHLGamer leagues and tournaments. In case you have further questions, feel free to use the comment section below this article. We hope everyone has a great IS Cup 4 and good luck to all teams!

NHLGamers, In the background of all the NHL 20-hype, we've been experiencing the finals of our annual Summer Cup and as we're used to, we saw some great stories and a somewhat surprising champion at the end - congratulations to NG Moevenpick! The Summer Cup is a tournament aimed to generate new friendships (or rivalries) and unite our community into a more casual environment while still having competitive games going on for you guys. With the somewhat renewed drafting system we employed in this years iteration we wanted to both level the playing field in the sense that teams would be more balanced and simultaneously promote the networking aspect of our tournament. NG Moevenpick 🏆 Regular season record: 11-4-3 Round 1: vs NG Baarikarpanen 3-2 Quarterfinals: vs NG Take Me To Church 3-2 Semifinals: vs NG Karaokemiehet 3-2 Finals: vs NG Vilun Taksi 3-0 Goaltenders #29 S.Netcirgenov @Darcam #33 J.Plattner @Joshua Plattner (C) Defensemen #9 M.Tetarenko @Toneee9 #19 S.Braun @Charly #55 R.Sepp @x Holtbeast #63 N.Schmitz @xXPsykoSkillsXx Forwards #6 J.Palapuz @Krinke #11 S.Seibert @Seibertus94 #22 B.Stotz @xxairmax1oo #34 F.Kiss @ProfaneKiss #79 T.Mouting @LosTypos #89 A.Eder @Fire_019 #96 -.Zettsyuk @Playmaker Congratulations to our champions NG Moevenpick! Captain Darth-SidiouzZ comments on his teams success as follows: "No one really expected us to go that far and to even win the whole tournament makes it that much more satisfying. It was a really exciting league, but now we wish all the best for all teams in NHL 20 😉👍" We're hoping to hear your thoughts on this years Summer Cup, so please share your feedback in the comments section. We know you guys are passionate and want games to play throughout the year, how can we make your experience even better? Keep in mind the original reasoning behind the Summer Cup though, we want to keep it casual and promote networking. Shoot!

Hey NHLGamers! The sun is coming up and the Summer Cup 4 is about to start soon. Here is our service announcement that provides all the necessary details for all captains and regular players to be ready for today's Live Draft and the league start. THE DRAFT The Live Draft will take place today, Sunday 4th of August, on NHLGamer Twitch at 17 CEST / 18 EEST and we will be streaming for approximately ~6 hours in an effort to draft all of the ~400 players, meaning the draft procedure will be finished by 00 CEST / 01 CEST. This will require all of the captains to make their selection in 30-60 seconds per turn. @Kenu and @Janikka will be functioning as our hosts during that time. We will also have a few topics to discuss, and are happy to answer any questions that come up in the chat! To all captains: We have sent out a private message to all of you, asking to confirm your presence for today's draft. It is crucial all of you are able to attend - otherwise we need to find backup captains on short notice! You have also been sent a message with more information about the player list and options to get connected. The draft order will be decided in a draft lottery, which we will broadcast very shortly, so get ready for a marathon stream! The draft will be a so-called 'snake draft', meaning that if you get the first pick in round 1, you will have the last pick in round 2. If you had the last pick in round 1, you'll have the first pick in round 2 - and so on. In addition to this, based on your feedback we've decided to run the draft with option number 1 from the SC announcement last week: Every team should have 1 Elite, 1 Pro and 1 Lite player in their roster after the first two rounds. For example: If you as a captain played in the Elite division in ECL 8, you have to pick one Pro and one Lite player in the first two rounds. If you as a a captain played in the Pro division in ECL 8, you have to pick one Elite and one Lite player in the first two rounds. If you as a captain played in the Lite division in ECL 8, you have to pick one Elite and one Pro player in the first two rounds. If you are a rookie and didn't play ECL before, you get recognized as a Lite player and have to pick one Elite and one Pro player in the first two rounds. After these first two rounds however your picks are unrestricted. We do kindly ask all players and captains to be aware of the picks of the other captains because our code will not cover this rule, so we have to manually catch those eventual mistakes. USEFUL LINKS FOR FOLLOWING THE DRAFT We will do our best to entertain you and keep you up to date on our stream. However, if you're a captain, or simply enjoy browsing through lists, you might find these useful. Full list of everyone who signed up for Summer Cup 4 (static) Same as above, but only including players that are undrafted (dynamic) See the draft picks here (dynamic) Static means that the information will not be updating, while dynamic means that these pages will update (requires a browser refresh) according to what happens in the draft DO YOU WISH TO BE A CAPTAIN? As always, if you're in anyway interested in being a captain but haven't been able to update your sign-up sheet to show this, then please send a message to @jahajaha93 and / or @MartindalexC as soon as possible. The more captains the better as it allows us to make sure that we hit our targets and thusly can provide you, the player, with the best Summer Cup experience possible! THE RULES The ruleset for this year's Summer Cup is currently being tweaked, however we will try to make it available to all players as soon as possible, so please stay tuned. LEAGUE FORMAT As we get a better picture on how many captains there are (and thusly the amount of teams) we will update this. Generally speaking however, we are looking to have 4 groups, with 8/9 teams in each. Additionally, we are aiming to have the regular season run for around 3 weeks, giving us this timeline: Regular season: 5.8.-25.8. Playoffs round 1: 26.8.-28.8. Quarter Finals: 29.8.-1.9. Semi Finals: 2.-4.9. Finals: 5.-7.9. As you may have noticed, the schedule for the SC this time around is quite intensive. All this means is that it is especially important that captains draft players who are available more often than not. That's all you need to know for now. Make sure to tune in for today's Live Draft!

NHLGamers, That's another one in the books! What a weekend we've had at Assembly Summer 2019. Four tremendously skilled teams showed up to battle for the brightest medal, but one prevailed as champion - HAVU Gaming! It's been a year of success for the team, as they've now acquired three major titles during NHL 19. The ECL 8 and Spring League championships under the Written In The Stars banner and now the FCL championship in their new green HAVU Gaming colours. All in all, we can state that HAVU was the team to beat in NHL 19. The Top 4 of FCL 6vs6 season 1: HAVU Gaming 🏆 Regular season record: 12-2-0 Round 1: vs POGGERS 2-0 Quarterfinals: vs Almost Famous 2-0 Semifinals: vs Butterfly Effect 2-0 Finals: vs FILADELPHIA 3-0 LW #6 Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen C #13 Risto @Dominointi Järvi RW #91 Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha LD #78 Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto RD #43 Wille @willekunq Juntunen G #88 Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen FILADELPHIA 🥈 Regular season record: N/A Round 1: vs Invictus 2-0 Quarterfinals: vs GHETTO FIREBIRDS 2-0 Semifinals: vs Symphony 2-0 Finals: vs Havu Gaming 0-3 LW #44 Paul @PleeMaker Arontie C #86 Joonas @Juunas Paatiala RW #25 Erik @Eki Tammenpää LD #82 Janne @Janzuh Nyqvist RD #7 Aleksi @vatalisti Loimuvirta G #88 Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos Butterfly Effect 🥉 Regular season record: 9-2-1 Round 1: vs Rusty Blades 2-0 Quarterfinals: vs Northern Ascendancy 2-0 Semifinals: vs Havu Gaming 0-2 Bronze Game: vs Symphony 1-0 LW #89 Vili @Vilupoika Häkkinen C #91 Jere @jergelii Jortama RW #23 Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen LD #27 Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen RD #39 Ville-Petteri @vviljo Särmä G #85 Reittu @Roisto999 Hynynen Symphony Regular season record: 9-2-1 Round 1: vs Dynasty 2-1 Quarterfinals: vs SOPPAJENGI 2-0 Semifinals: vs FILADELPHIA 0-2 Bronze Game: vs Butterfly Effect 1-0 LW #92 Joakim @Joukki Nyholm C #96 Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen RW #9 Santeri @indi969 Pendolin LD #4 Markus @Makeaxl Lahti RD #63 Ilmari @Ilmari_30 Töyrylä G #25 Casper @ICappeI Lundgren Champions, enjoy this feeling! NHLGamer extends a warm thank you to everyone who made their way to Assembly Summer and checked in on the stream. Also a big thank you to Gigantti who made it all possible! Next up is the Summer Cup, if that's not for you, we'll see you in NHL 20!

NHLGamers, The FCL season has been played in a quick pace so we can't really be talking about a "long, exhausting season" here. Instead we'll bring up the interesting and somewhat extraordinary circumstances that we're heading into the final weekend from. Everyone that's somewhat caught up with what's happening around the EA Sports NHL franchise is aware of the fact that the NHL 20 Beta has been out for the past few days. The fact that all of the players involved have spent the days leading up to a major tournament playing a completely different game might be mind-boggling to some, but I've heard through the grapevine that these guys trust their skill enough to not let that faze them. Nevertheless, all of that adds to the interesting nature of these finals. There's a lot on the line and the best team is going to take it home come Saturday evening. (#1) FILADELPHIA vs Symphony (#8) FILADELPHIA Regular season record: N/A GF/GA (Regular season): N/A Road to the Semi's: vs Invictus (2-0), vs GHETTO FIREBIRDS (2-0) FILADELPHIA headed into the tournament from an interesting position. It's customary in esports for a reigning champion to participate by invite but this is the first time that model is put into practice at NHLGamer. Some people worried if their form would be there and I would personally feel a bit odd coming into a tournament directly into the playoffs, but FILA passed that test with flying colours. Playing with exactly the same lineup as last time they took the title, we can surely expect them to put forth an impressive campaign once again. The advantage FILA has is certainly their established chemistry and according to themselves on multiple occasions a relaxed team spirit. FILADELPHIA has done some team practice in NHL 19 during the past week, so that might also benefit them. Symphony Regular season record: 9-2-1 GF/GA (Regular season): 54/13 Road to the Semi's: vs Dynasty (2-1), vs SOPPAJENGI (2-0) We saw symphony at the finals of IS Cup 3 too, as they finished 3rd after an outstanding campaign in which they dominated their groupstage and suffered their only playoff series loss against the eventual champion FILADELPHIA in the semifinals. The team has experienced some player turnover since then, but the efforts so far seem to be indicative of an eventual top 3 finish again. It'll be interesting to see how they fare against FILA this time, as their opponents are sporting exactly the same lineup as last time. The changes in Symphony has sacrificed a bit on their defensive end but bolstered their goaltending as they signed Swedish superstar netminder @ICappeI, which has turned out to be a great move. The Swede has been hard to beat and will definitely make scoring difficult for FILA. (#4) HAVU Gaming vs Butterfly Effect (#7) HAVU Gaming Regular season record: 12-2-0 GF/GA (Regular season): 72/17 Road to the Semi's: vs POGGERS (2-0), vs Almost Famous (2-0) The former Written In The Stars kicked off FCL with a boom as they announced their affiliation with HAVU Gaming and with that also assumed their name and appearance. The first few games under the new banner were a bit shaky, but in reality, no concern was warranted. The players were still the same and so was the game. After all, these are your reigning European champions. HAVU quickly took up pace and finished 2nd in their group after SOPPAJENGI. The playoffs haven't proven to be a challenge for these guys as they've swept the opposition in both matchups, and as a 4th seed these opponents were viable teams to put up a fight in POGGERS and Almost Famous. Butterfly Effect Regular season record: 9-2-1 GF/GA (Regular season): 58/15 Road to the Semi's: vs Rusty Blades (2-0), vs Northern Ascendancy (2-0) Butterfly Effect has played a tournament for the ages so far in the FCL. They quickly made their come up by grinding through our ECL divisions system and has been a consistent Elite performer ever since - though never really pushing past the last barrier. With the FCL they allowed themselves the possibility to do so by putting forth a satisfying groupstage effort but going off on a tear in the playoffs by dominating both Rusty Blades and Northern Ascendancy in their BO3 series. Youngster @NikkeDangles has been their main new recruit and he has performed extraordinarily alongside captain @jergelii and top-scorer @Vilupoika. FLY is looking good and are now also hoping to prove it in their first lan event. HAVU is a big mountain to climb, but an upset is not out of the question. Preliminary schedule for Saturday 3.8: (Times in CEST) 12:30-13:00 FILADELPHIA vs Symphony - Game 1 13:00-13:30 Symphony vs FILADELPHIA - Game 2 13:30-14:00 FILADELPHIA vs Symphony - Game 3 14:00-14:30 HAVU Gaming vs Butterfly Effect - Game 1 14:30-15:00 Butterfly Effect vs HAVU Gaming - Game 2 15:00-15:30 HAVU Gaming vs Butterfly Effect - Game 3 —————————————— 30 MIN BREAK —————————————— 16:00-16:45 SF1 Loser vs SF2 Loser - Bronze Game 17:00-20:10 Finals, BO5 Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta will be your commentators throughout the day. All games will be streamed on the Pelaajat.com Twitch channel.

NHLGamers, It's been a long Friday at Assembly Summer, but at the end of the day we're pleased to announce your new FCL 1vs1 champion - @kriketski17! Let's take a look back at 's road to the championship: Group stage record: 9-1-0-0 Knockout stage: vs Janeccu91 2-0 vs @Ojamoska 2-0 vs @Vilupoika 2-1 Finals group stage: 2-0-1-0 Quarterfinals vs @Dreamickie 2-0 Semifinals vs @FlyerKungen 2-0 Finals vs @Eki 2-0 The top 3 of FCL 1vs1 are: 1. @kriketski17 2. @Eki 3. @FlyerKungen NHLGamer would like to congratulate Kriketski17 on a tremendous tournament and the championship! See you tomorrow for some FCL 6vs6 action!

NHLGamers, Tomorrow, on Friday, 2nd of August it's time for 16 of the best NHL 19 1vs1 players to battle it out for the title of Finnish Champion at Assembly Summer in Messukeskus, Helsinki. There's multiple Finnish champions, both former and current among these players - also the former NHLGWC champion Eki can be found in these ranks, as probably the biggest favourite too! It's not only the title that's at stake, though. The 16 contenders will be fighting for their share of the 5000€ prize pool in the tournament. It'll be a long day full of joy, disappointment, exciting games and at the end we'll know who deserves the title - without further ado, let's get on by reviewing our groups. Group A @Eki - Erik Tammenpää @Nieppi - Janne Niemelä @SUPERVIRTA - Joonas Virta @FlyerKungen - Tuukka Kuha This is one pickle of a group as we see four very high level and high profile players go up against each other. Eki is the obvious favourite, but then we've got the extremely skilled FlyerKungen, who's admittedly more accomplished on the 6s side but also a force to be reckoned with in versus. We also see SUPERVIRTA, who's maybe more known as an entertaining streamer, but showed his competitive capabilities by going to the NHLGWC regionals this spring. Nieppi isn't one to count out either, he's a consistent performer who hasn't really stepped up to the bright lights yet, but we always seem to see him breathing down the neck of the top players. Eki is a safe bet, but otherwise it'll be a free-for-all. Group B @Hansulinho - Hannes Kettunen @xKeskitalo - Samuli Keskitalo @kriketski17 - Kristian Veijola @Xteemuz - Teemu Polttila Hansulinho and Kriketski are the favourites to advance from this group, but they won't do so without a fight. Hansu always seems to make it to the final events, but he has had some off-days in the past. I've heard some reports about xTeemuz looking good and having a proper chance to stand up to these guys, so don't count him out just yet! xKeskitalo will have his work cut out for him if he wants to advance from this group tomorrow, it should be noted that there are no bad players at this event so don't take these predictions for a fact! Group C @Artuzio - Arttu Mustila @PleeMaker - Paul Arontie @xDoumi - Aaro Ruuhinen @Sagee95 - Saku Björn Group C is without a doubt a group of death in this contest. The top contenders here are Plee and Doumi for sure, but I doubt Artuzio and Sagee will give anything up for free. It's a bit unfortunate to see so many talented players in the same group up front but hey - to be the best you will need to beat everyone at some point anyway. It's looking like Pleemaker and Doumi will advance and Artuzio together with Sagee will end up the odd men out. Group D @Dreamickie - Vesa Rajamäki @Hullued - Joona Saarinen @Spearzz_ - Olof Forsbacka @Aatu (Nuarikukko_) - Aatu Aarnio Group D is in contrast to group C, the weakest one in this event. Dreamickie is known to usually pave his way into the playoffs at these events, so there's your group winner. My sources tell me Spearzz_ isn't a bad bet to make it either. Preliminary schedule for Friday, 2.8: (Times in CEST) 11:00-11:30 Player check-in 12:00-14:00 Group stage 14:30-15:30 Quarterfinals BO3 15:30-16:30 Semifinals #1 BO3 16:30-17:30 Semifinals #2 BO3 ------- 30 MIN BREAK ----- 18:00-18:30 Bronze game BO1 18:30-19:30 Finals BO3 Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Rasmus @Rapsu Virtanen will be your commentators throughout the day. All games will be streamed on the Pelaajat.com Twitch channel. Good luck to all players and hope to see everyone else either live or in the stream chat!

NHLGamers, Although a bit overshadowed by the NHL 20 Beta hype, we've yet again concluded a season in one of our leagues. The Spring League was started due to heavy interest from the community to have some competitive games going on and with 78 teams signing up we can call this one a success. At the end we had two teams remaining who battled it out for the title as Spring League champion. Written In The Stars played their last game under that name (now HAVU) as they faced off against Butterfly Effect in a best-of-5 series. Here's how it went: Game 1: Written In The Stars - Butterfly Effect 3-2 OT Game 2: Butterfly Effect - Written In The Stars 0-3 Game 3: Written In The Stars - Butterfly Effect 1-0 Written In The Stars ROAD TO THE FINALS Regular season record: 22-0-0 Round 1: BYE Round 2: vs HC Unknown Diamond 3-0 Round 3: vs The Black Jacks 3-0 Quarterfinals: vs Nordic Stars 3-1 Semifinals: vs Unlucky Boys HC 3-0 GOALTENDERS #16 V. Voutilainen @VesKuLiNe #88 H. Kettunen @Hansulinho DEFENSEMEN #43 Y. Wilhelm @willekunq #65 N. Mooh @kojowaa #78 M. Katajisto @Nassustelija FORWARDS #6 I. Lehkonen @Buantso #13 R. Järvi @Dominointi #25 E. Tammenpää @Eki #87 T. Keränen @topikeranen #91 T. Kuha @FlyerKungen NHLGamer congratulates Written In The Stars for the title!

NHLGamers, Friday, 2nd of August, 2019 doesn't only mean you get to turn pages in your almanac and enjoy the start of the weekend - it also marks the day of the FCL 1vs1 Finals at Assembly Summer 2019. NHLGamer together Gigantti are heading to Messukeskus for the biggest NHL gaming event of the summer and we invite you guys to join us! Head over to Assembly.org in order to purchase you tickets and get more info on the event itself. Let's continue by going over the agenda for the weekend. NHL 19 1vs1 - Friday 2nd of August starting at 12:00 CEST As stated, we'll kick things off on Friday with the NHL 1vs1 Finals, where the 16 best Finnish players will be going head-to-head in order to determine a new champion and also leave with a nice chunk of change. Without further ado, we present to you the final groups of the FCL 1vs1 Final: Group A @Eki - Erik Tammenpää @Nieppi - Janne Niemelä @SUPERVIRTA - Joonas Virta @FlyerKungen - Tuukka Kuha Group B @Hansulinho - Hannes Kettunen @xKeskitalo - Samuli Keskitalo @kriketski17 - Kristian Veijola @Xteemuz - Teemu Polttila Group C @Artuzio - Arttu Mustila @PleeMaker - Paul Arontie @xDoumi - Aaro Ruuhinen @Sagee95 - Saku Björn Group D @Dreamickie - Vesa Rajamäki @Hullued - Joona Saarinen @Spearzz_ - Olof Forsbacka @Aatu (Nuarikukko_) - Aatu Aarnio 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 Friday, 2.8: (Times in CEST) 11:00-11:30 Player check-in 12:00-14:00 Group stage 14:30-15:30 Quarterfinals BO3 15:30-16:30 Semifinals #1 BO3 16:30-17:30 Semifinals #2 BO3 ------- 30 MIN BREAK ----- 18:00-18:30 Bronze game BO1 18:30-19:30 Finals BO3 Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Rasmus @Rapsu Virtanen will be your commentators throughout the day. Watch the action live on Twitch starting 12:00 CEST.* NHL 19 6vs6 - Saturday 3rd of August starting at 12:30 CEST In addition to absolute top-tier 1vs1 action, you'll be treated to arguably the best 6vs6 ehockey in the world on Saturday! We're delighted to bring you four Elite level teams who all are eager to fight for the second ever title of Finnish 6vs6 NHL champion. Here are your Semifinal matchups for the FCL 6vs6 Final event: FILADELPHIA (#1) vs Symphony (#8) HAVU Gaming (#4) vs Butterfly Effect (#7) The semifinals will be played in best of 3 fashion after which the losers will face off in a bronze game. The night will culminate in a best of 5 final series. Preliminary schedule for Saturday, 3.8: (Times in CEST) 12:30-14:00 Semifinals #1 BO3 14:00-15:30 Semifinals #2 BO3 ------- 30 MIN BREAK ----- 16:00-16:45 Bronze game BO1 17:00-20:10 Finals BO5 Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta will be your commentators throughout the day. Watch the action live on Twitch starting 12:15 CEST.* Prizes are subject to tax as per Finnish law and the tax is withheld before payment Stay tuned for more detailed previews coming soon! * Times might be subject to change

Hey NHLGamers! Many of you have been asking for it, and here we are - delivering. The Summer Cup has been a very nice tradition for three consecutive years already, bringing the community together and giving us something to play for during the summer months. This year has been a bit different in the sense that interest around NHL gaming is ramping up and we've been hosting a number of great leagues and tournaments including live events - with more to come. Therefore we made the decision to postpone the start of our beloved casual tourney. Despite the delay, the Summer Cup is now here! Due to community feedback we will be suggesting altering some aspects of this iteration, mainly with the drafting in order to ensure a more even spread of talent throughout the teams in the tournament. For the draft, we will be giving you guys two alternatives to choose between, we'll be implementing the more popular one. Our suggestions are: 1. Captains will be seeded into baskets based on perceived skill level (based on previous season - Elite, Pro or Lite). During the first two rounds captains get to pick one player from each of the two divisions that they do not represent. (In the case of the player representing a team that was relegated from or promoted to Elite at the end of ECL 8, the player will be interpreted as an Elite player). 2. Keep it as it has been in the past - no restrictions apply to the drafting. Please submit your votes/opinions in the comments section. What is the Summer Cup? The Summer Cup is a draft-type league aimed at both experienced community members and complete rookies. The stated goal of this tournament is to improve networking within the community and introduce new players to the great world of NHLGamer. Our Summer Cup is always a great venue for prospects to open up doors for entry into the upcoming ECL season. The same promise remains for season 4, only this time we’ll deliver better! Last year over 400 players took part in our tournament, which were drafted in a quite nice fashion (compared to some other years 😅) during the live stream. As always, we will need a good number of volunteer captains that are up for the challenge, so please consider your availability to act as a Summer Cup captain. Similarly to last summer, we will not be having any prizes for this season. We’ve received valuable feedback from our community members and based on this, the decision was made that a Summer Cup without prizes will best serve the original purpose of the tournament – to increase networking and allow new players entry to our community. SUMMER CUP 4 FRAMEWORK Team building: No more than 2 players from a single ECL 8 team are allowed to play on the same Summer Cup team. This rule applies to the final rosters, after transfers and free agents. Team names: The Summer Cup will be played in dedicated EASHL teams which will have "NG" as a prefix - for example "NG Golden Knights". Sign-ups: To rule out unfortunate circumstances when it comes to player positioning, holidays and other aspects, the sign-ups will follow a clear structure, allowing captains to recognize fitting players more easily. Draft procedure: The team captains will be taking part in a snake draft, where all of the signed up players will be drafted during one night. LEAGUE DETAILS Summer Cup Season 4 will take place on the PS4 version of NHL 19. Last day to sign up is Saturday 3rd of August 2019. Players sign up using the registration tool linked at the bottom of the post. Due to the latency issues experienced by the North American players in Summer Cup 2, Summer Cup 4 is only for European players. All signed up players are aimed to be seeded into teams with a size of 10 players (may vary). Out of all registrations, NHLGamer Staff will select an according number of team captains from the players that offered to take on a captaincy role in their sign-up post - anyone is allowed to apply for it. Team captains will receive a draft sheet on Sunday 4th of August, containing all signed up players and relevant information in a structured form. Team captains will be taking part in a live draft event on Sunday 4th of August picking their roster until all players are seeded. The draft will be streamed live on our Twitch channel. All games are played 6vs6 using dedicated EASHL teams. The Summer Cup is set to start on the week of August 5th and aimed to be finished before the release of NHL 20. Full rules will be released after the registration is over. HOW TO PARTICIPATE To participate, make sure you are logged in or create an account first, visit the sign-up page and fill in all fields of the registration form like below - make sure the player positions in your Player Card are up-to-date so captains know who they are drafting! You can update your Player Card on the "Edit Player" page. Sign-up page: Click here! Let's make this year's Summer Cup at least as memorable as the previous ones! Looking forward to seeing you on the ice!

NHLGamers, First round action in the FCL was short but sweet! The games continue in quick succession as we are closing in on the grand final at Assembly Summer 2019. The quarterfinal round of playoffs is to be completed and reported by end-of-day Wednesday July 24th. Playoffs are played best-of-3 - meaning two wins takes you to the next round. FILADELPHIA (#1) vs GHETTO FIREBIRDS (#11) The reigning champion kicked off their FCL campaign by a first round matchup against Invictus, in which they showed no signs of rust or struggle to get going. Although Invictus put up a good fight in game 2 by taking it to double overtime, FILA were in the drivers seat all along. That is exactly what we are expecting of this series. The Firebirds have already played a sensational tournament by making it this far and have a chance of extending their streak by upsetting a giant in this series. They are heavy underdogs and have nothing to lose going into these games. The games will be played on Wednesday, 24th of July at 21 CEST. SOPPAJENGI (#2) vs Symphony (#8) I'll bet you most people hadn't even heard of SOPPAJENGI prior to the FCL. Their tournament so far has been a fairytale for them as they had an incredible road paved for them, starting with splitting points in their very first group stage matchup against HAVU Gaming. SOPPAJENGI is a wildcard and is by no means to be counted out of the top 4 contention. Although being one of the more established top-tier teams, Symphony only came in 3rd in their group 3. Swedish import goaltender @ICappeI paired with their overwhelming offensive firepower will be the tools they need in order to make a second consecutive final event appearance. According to current information, the games will be played on Wednesday 24th of July, time TBA. Northern Ascendancy (#3) vs Butterfly Effect (#7) Northern Ascendancy are sporting a somewhat different lineup than usual, as they are now trying to invade Finnish soil and therefore forced to comply with FCL rules. The teams new recruits are no slouches, as they've brought in veterans @Aze and @Nampa77 together with goalie @Supreex, who we're used to seeing between the posts for Rusty Blades in the past. Butterfly Effect are a younger team who made a fast rise to the top and have been steadily improving in the recent tournaments. Their lineup is stacked with talent. Don't be surprised if they manage to take the series. It looks like the games will be played on Tuesday, 23rd of July at 20 CEST. HAVU Gaming (#4) vs Almost Famous (#5) HAVU dropped a few positions due to surprising group stage losses but still managed to climb to a #4 spot overall. Despite not having an undefeated record this time around, they are as big of favourites as ever to take the trophy home. Almost Famous is going into the series with a rather heavy underdog status. The team has never beaten HAVU in a competitive setting and needs to do that twice in the coming days. To quote NHLGamer insider @vSilenttio: "aF good luck :D" Currently it looks like the series will be played today, Monday 22nd of July at 22:00 CEST. Stay tuned for possible broadcast announcements!

NHLGamers, As promised, we'll be delivering a good amount of FCL action tonight. The group stage of the league is heading into the conclusive fixtures and we've secured some crucial games to be streamed for you guys. Arttu Hämäläinen and Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta will be your casters. Tonight's matchups: 20:00CEST Symphony - Blackdawgs Symphony were one of the favourites to win group 3, but due to unfortunate point losses against a surprisingly strong GHETTO FIREBIRDS and Virtual Horizons, their chances to win the group are looking slim. Blackdawgs are still in the playoff race, but this matchup will seal their fate. 21:00CEST POGGERS - Cannonieris POGGERS didn't do a lot of training efter their last ECL stint so their form was a bit in question, but they have surely proven themselves, going 5-1-0 so far and looking like very strong candidates to win their group. Cannonieris haven't performed up to par, but can put a dent into POGGERS' playoff aspirations tonight. 22:00CEST SOPPAJENGI - Supernatural Group 1 has a surprising leader as SOPPAJENGI has taken the league by storm. The eccentric mix of players managed to win favourite HAVU Gaming in their debut and have gone 10-0-0 in their last ten. Supernatural are out of the playoff race, but will be looking to effect SOPPAJENGI's playoff seed. Tune in tonight at www.twitch.tv/pelaajatcom

NHLGamers, Today we’re extremely happy in announcing that Written In The Stars - our reigning ECL Champions and one of the most successful teams in the NHLGamer era has commenced a partnership together with HAVU Gaming - one of the most exciting organisations in Finnish esports. HAVU is one of the most well-established and active organisations in the Finnish esports scene and they have been announcing lots of convincing partnerships as of late. With the start of FCL today the timing is great to commence yet another tale of success. “HAVU has been looking for different options to expand into more games in competitive esports. Both the growth in popularity in different sporting games & the strong community and history around ice-hockey really made sense to go strongly into NHL esports. We had a great open discussion with the the team and our goals in the future were really similar. We want to show the world that Finnish NHL esports is going to stay in the absolute top also in the future. We are here to stay and to win titles.” - Lasse Salminen, CEO of HAVU Gaming "It is a great honor to welcome HAVU Gaming into NHL esports. HAVU has in only a couple years been able to make themselves an impressive powerhouse within esports and we know that anything they decide to dive into, they do it with focus and effort. NHL esports has taken some massive strides recently and a lot of the credit goes to organisations such as HAVU that possess the vision and courage to jump into uncharted territory, providing support to a very potential competitive NHL Gaming scene and bringing it to the eyes of an even bigger audience. Written In The Stars is the reigning ECL Champion and one of the most consistent performers in the NHLGamer era, I am confident these guys representing HAVU are destined to do great things in the future." -NHLGamer founder Kenneth @Kenu Lehtinen HAVU will from today onwards take the spot of Written In The Stars in ECL Elite. All team history will also be assumed by the new organisation. We had a short talk with the team captain Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha: HAVU has formed several interesting partnerships as of late and is making a convincing surge for the top of Finnish esports. What does it mean for you guys to represent HAVU? - We’re very excited and privileged to have this opportunity. HAVU has a great drive, an exciting brand and an organisation full of amazing people. We really got the feeling that HAVU wants to make a big push and invest in us, which surely adds to our excitement. How does it feel to turn a new page in the history of Written In The Stars? After all, you were one of the most consistent top-level performers in recent years at NHLGamer. - Personally I feel a bit sad, but all things must end someday and this new chapter will certainly be an interesting one. We’ve always wanted to lead the way and you’ll be seeing an even bigger push from us in the future tournaments. In the end, there’s nothing else but excitement about this new venture! Do you think the new organisation will effect your team in some way? What can we expect from HAVU’s NHL team going forward? - That’s a question you’ll have to ask again in a few months, but obviously the organisation having our backs will be a massive help to our team. We’ll have to take this chance in absorbing the positive energy and turning it into our asset moving forward. After all, we’re still playing the same game with the same guys, now only with more style! HAVU NHL Roster: Risto @Dominointi Järvi Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen Topi @topikeranen Keränen Wille @willekunq Juntunen Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen Vesa @VesKuLiNe Voutilainen Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto (In order of appearence in photo, from left to right) About HAVU Gaming Having been established in April of 2017, HAVU Gaming has just over 2 years worth of history in the rearview. Despite a rather young age, the organisation has been making waves in the esports world and is currently one of the most followed Finnish organisations. The organisations most notable accomplishments include a Finnish Esports League Counter Strike-championship in 2018 and a second place finish in 2019. In addition to this, HAVU has an impressive variety of streamers on their roster. Partnerships with the wildly popular lifestyle clothing brand Billebeino, Finnish hypermarket giant Prisma and multinational tech company Lenovo in the last month speaks volumes about the impressive surge for the top HAVU is starting to make. About NHLGamer 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. Since then, NHLGamer has hosted a wide variety of leagues worldwide and live-events in both Finland and Sweden.

NHLGamers, It's surely been a long road and no one knows that better than the new NHL Gaming World Champion Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkoski! Let's take a look back at Cookie's road to the championship: US regionals: vs NippinBiscuits 2-0 vs NJD3VS 2-0 vs Johnwaynee 2-0 Grand Final: vs Mg x Nuclear 2-1 vs Johnwaynee 2-1 The top 3 of the 2019 NHL Gaming World Championship were: 1. Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski 2. John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda 3. Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib NHLGamer congratulates Cookie on a tremendous tournament, the championship title and collecting a big check of $50,000! Congratulations also to all other players for an outstanding effort in the tournament.

NHLGamers, This upcoming Tuesday (18th of June) marks the date of the grand final of the 2019 NHL Gaming World Championship! We'll once again be treated to the skilful play of ECL poster boy and reigning world champion Erik @Eki Tammenpää, who is joined by fellow Finnish NHL gaming juggernaut Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen. The European duo will be taking on the two best players from both the US and Canada in a quest for the world championship title and a cash prize of $50,000. The US finalists are winner Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski and runner-up John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda. The Canadian finalists are winner Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib and runner-up Matthew @YungGren Grenier. As anyone whose been following the NHLGWC might know, this years iteration of the tournament has been played with a slightly different format and also the game-mode has changed from online versus to HUT. The change of game-mode has brought some sought after diversity to the teams used by competitors and on top of that a draft prior to the finals has ensured that no competitor will be sporting the same two players in their lineup. Now enough with the talk, let's take a look at the lineups of each player. Link to HutDB team, 2019 placement and 2018 placement in brackets. 🇫🇮 Erik @Eki Tammenpää (EU Winner - Reigning champion 🏆) Eki is the reigning champion and is going into the tournament as a heavy favorite at least on our side of the pond. So far, the reigning champion has played through the tournament entirely undefeated besting the likes of @Dominointi, @kriketski17 and his fellow EU finalist in the regionals. The man himself has spoken about being able to go into this years tournament with a calmer attitude than last year despite being the defending champion. Confidence is oozing from this youngster and we're all certainly anxious to see what he will bring to the table come Tuesday night. 🇫🇮 Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen (EU Runner-up - Did not make finals in 2018) Hansu already made the headlines earlier today as his new contract with HAVU - a promising Finnish gaming org was announced. HAVU has been making some serious waves recently by signing major partnerships together with Finnish entertainment & IT giant Elisa Viihde and the almost cult-like clothing brand Billebeino. Hansu mentioned that moving on to HAVU is a natural step in the development of his career and will hopefully benefit both him and the organisation. On his way to Vegas, Hansu managed to win (still) young prodigy @PleeMaker in a thrilling bout. 🇺🇸 Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski (US Winner - 3rd place in regionals of 2018) Cookie made the regionals last year and was the last man out of the grand finals. That certainly must have stung, but the man showed relentless drive by coming back and catching fire by first winning the Columbus Blue Jackets Esports tournament in April and dominating the US regionals shortly thereafter. Cookie went undefeated through the regionals and beat competitors such as NippinBiscuits and US regional favourite johnwaynee along the way. 🇺🇸 John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda (US Runner-up - Grand finals 3rd place in 2018) John played his way into the hearts of NHL gaming fans during the 2018 iteration of the NHLGWC, when he became known as the Alaskan sensation. He was kind of an outsider who people didn't have a read on yet but he quickly proved he belongs at the top by ultimately finishing third over the likes of @Fool x 90 and YungGren. In an interview with NHL last week, John said his team might not be the strongest on paper, but if there was a "heart trait", his team would have 1980 "miracle on ice"-type heart! 🇨🇦 Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib (Canadian Winner - Did not participate in 2018) Nuke is the black horse in this years iteration of the NHLGWC as he hasn't really played that much competitively before. We had the opportunity to grab a quick chat with this young man: Nuke, you haven't played too much competitively before, what sparked your interest and how did you end up where you're at now? - I used to play NHL a lot on old gen. However, as time went on, I wasn’t really having fun with the current gen games. I watched last years grand finals and seeing how much fun those guys had coupled with the fact that I could play NHL for money, I thought I would at least give it a shot. What's your experience of playing the other guys like, who's the guy to beat? - I’ve played all the other competitors except the Finnish players. As far as I’m concerned, Cookie is the toughest guy for me to beat. I can only reach the finals if I beat him. Now, after the Canadian regionals you tweeted out your rather spartan home setup - how different is it to play on this new equipment on stage? - Playing on a competitive pro set up is something I really loved. I play on a 2008 model TV so there's definite input lag. I will really look forward to playing on future LAN events. You're going with some rather unorthodox lineup decisions into the finals - a rather diminutive team in size and Gaudreau on center to name a few quirks, thoughts on that? - My new team is definitely smaller than my old team. Gaudreau at center is definitely unconventional. However, he does have 76 faceoffs which will hold up relatively well. I feel my new team is definitely fast and skilled. Do not underestimate them because of their size. 🇨🇦 Matthew @YungGren Grenier (Canadian Runner-up - Grand finals 5th place in 2018) Gren is one of those personalities that splits opinions in the community. Some will love him and others - not so much. When it's all said and done though we can all agree that his playing skills are up there with the very best of them. Gren quickly caught the eye of te audience in the 2018 GWC when he made the finals as the youngest competitor at only 16 years old. The native of St. Georges, Quebéc is surely an interesting sight on stage as he plays with a lot of emotion and isn't shy to show it. Well, there you have it, folks! A short NHLGamer insight into the NHLGWC Grand Finals that will be played on Tuesday, 18th of June, 2019 at 21 CEST. Make sure to tune in on www.twitch.tv/NHL in order to cheer for your favourite, who hopefully is one of our NHLGamers! We would also like to remind our Finnish members that you can now bet on the grand finals at Veikkaus! Do so responsibly.

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