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NHLGamers, It's with great pleasure we're able to announce that we have teamed up with Gigantti in order to bring you the Finnish Championship League! The FCL has the official Finnish Championship license (eSM 2019) from the Finnish Esports Federation (SEUL) and it will be played in both the 6vs6 and 1vs1 game modes. The FCL will be hosted over the next upcoming weeks and will culminate at Assembly Summer 2019 in Helsinki on Friday the 2nd (1vs1) and Saturday 3rd of August (6vs6) 2019. The game used to decide the new Finnish champions in ehockey will be NHL 19. The combined prize pool is 10 000 EUR, with both 6vs6 and 1vs1 getting a 5 000 EUR split (see below for a more detailed look)! This time around also non-Finnish citizens will be able to participate in the 6vs6 portion! The upcoming tournament will feature a foreign player quota, which entails that a majority (51%) of the teams roster (and line-up) must be Finnish. In addition, all captains must be Finnish citizens. All players require an eSM 2019 license in order to participate in FCL 6vs6 and/or FCL 1vs1. The cost of the license is 5 EUR and it can be obtained at esm.gg/pelaajalisenssi/ (click here for instructions in English). The one-time purchase of the license allows you to take part in all eSM 2019 leagues and tournaments (for 1vs1 you must be a Finnish citizen). "Why now, it's the Summer!?", someone might ask. To get to play for the Finnish championship at Summer Assembly powered by Gigantti is simply a great opportunity that fits together with our vision of providing high quality leagues and tournaments for our gamers all year long. We have been looking to give the teams and players an opportunity to prepare a bit longer for the Finnish championships than they have in the past and this enables us to do so also in the future. Signups are open effective immediately and will be open until Friday, 5th of July at 23:59 CEST. Please find a preliminary schedule for FCL 6vs6 below: Sign-ups: 28.6.-5.7. Group stage: 8.-17.7. Playoffs Round 1: 19.-21.7. (BO3) Quarter Finals 22.-24.7. (BO3) Semi-Finals (BO3), Bronze game (BO1) and Finals (BO3) @ Assembly Summer 3.8. SIGN UP YOUR TEAM FOR FCL 6vs6 HERE Please find a preliminary schedule for FCL 1vs1 below: Sign-ups: 28.6.-5.7. Group stage: 7.-17.7. Round of 112 19.-20.7. (BO3) Round of 56 21.-22.7. (BO3) Round of 28 23.-24.7. (BO3) TOP 16 Finals @ Assembly Summer 2.8. SIGN UP FOR FCL 1vs1 HERE (Finnish citizen only) NHLGamer reserves the right to adjust the schedule and structure based on the number of teams and players signed up to the FCL. The qualification stage for FCL 1vs1 is open to users on both Playstation 4 and Xbox One. The total amount of finalists from either console is yet to be determined but will be confirmed once the sign-up period has ended. The final tournament is played on the Playstation 4 console. FCL 6vs6 is played only on the Playstation 4 platform. Invitations FCL 6vs6: Reigning Finnish champion FILADELPHIA will be invited to round 1 of the playoff stage as the #1 seed as per eSM 2019 rules (restrictions apply). FCL 1vs1: Reigning Finnish champion Erik @Eki Tammenpää will be invited to the final tournament as the #1 seed as per eSM 2019 rules. Eki also finished #4 in the NHL GWC 2019. Eki represents Team Sampi. Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen, who finished 6th in the NHL GWC 2019 will be invited to the final tournament as the #2 seed. Hansulinho represents HAVU Gaming. About us Since its inception, NHLGamer has continuously strived to offer the best possible experience for any and all gamers who have come to enjoy the competitiveness of playing the EA Sports series of NHL games. We made our biggest stride forward yet when we in late 2015 introduced the first ever European Championship League (ECL) - a league where all the best European NHL gamers create teams and compete against each other in the game mode EASHL (6vs6) for the title of Best EASHL Team in Europe. While proud of our achievements and the success we've had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, we are not done yet. Our long-term goals include growing the community, hosting larger leagues with prize pools and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports. About our partners Gigantti is the largest consumer electronics retailer in Finland, with 41 stores and 1200 employees. In 2017, Gigantti started its own esports organization Team Gigantti. Team Gigantti's top achievements include among others Overwatch Contenders European and Finnish Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Assembly is a bi-annual computer festival, esports event, demoscene and lan party in Helsinki, Finland. Assembly Organizing is a community of over 200 volunteers who passionately arrange the unique Assembly events in Finland since 1992. Their roots trace back to the early 90's when demo groups and individuals from the demoscene organized the first Assembly events. Assembly has been a catalyst to the Finnish game industry. They have been part of the birth of Rovio, Supercell, Remedy, Housemarque and many more gaming companies from the talents of the Finnish demoscene. Today they are backed by the Finnish non-profit company "Assembly Organizing". The Finnish Esports Federation (SEUL) works as the umbrella organization for Finnish competitive electronic gaming. Our mission is to improve and promote electronic sports and the activities of our members. The federation was established in December 2010 to respond to the growing need for an organization to promote esports as a hobby and as a respectable sport. The activities performed by SEUL are divided into the development of esports, protection of player’s interests and communicational work. The development of esports is done partly by utilizing workgroups, which are based on the work of our volunteers. The board is responsible for the day to day operations in co-operation with employees. The federation co-operates with many national organizations such as VERKE, EHYT ry and KAVI, promoting a positive image of gamers and gaming in general. The federation’s participation in international field is strong, since we represent Finland in the International Esports Federation (IESF). SEUL is also on the receiving end of the yearly grants given out by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture for youth programs. What are you waiting for? Sign up now for the chance of winning the Finnish Championship and some great cash prizes! We sincerely hope to see as many of you there as possible! Also, since the sign-up period is rather short, we'd appreciate it if you spread the word to everyone! On behalf of NHLGamer.com,

(Source: Ilta-Sanomat - Picture by Mika Tuononen) @Eki takes it home once again. Seems to be the common occurrence nowadays, right? Success just seems to follow this youngster. IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM was a blast and we had a lot of people showing up to cheer for their favourite in our stream! On top of that, we also had a nice amount of people show up at the event in Kauppakeskus REDI, Helsinki. The atmosphere was intense especially as the last games were being played. NHLGamer, together with your partners Ilta-Sanomat and SJK eSports would like to thank all of you for showing up, either live or through the broadcast! The event didn't lack any excitement as we were treated to some absolute thrillers by our competitors. Here are the results of each group after the group stage: Group A was regarded as 'the group of death' prior to the games, with really strong and experienced players @Dominointi, @Artuzio and @eskoeinari, joined by youngster @MrNipsuli who managed to cause an upset and make his way into the finals, playing as his favourite team Toronto Maple Leafs. Everything was up for grabs until the last round in group A, but Dominointi and MrNipsuli- managed to snag their second victories and move on. In group B we saw the only player who made it through the group stage without a loss in @kriketski17, a name that will certainly be on peoples lips in the versus scene from now on. @xDoumi managed to pave his way into the playoffs as the second player from group B. Group C didn't offer much in terms of surprising outcomes. @Eki took a routine route to the big games and @Nassustelija managed to cop the second place spot, although he edged out @Markoohh- only by goal differential. To no surprise @PleeMaker grabbed the first spot in group D, whereas @Hansulinho had himself a night to forget going 0-3-0. @buranaburana made his way to the playoffs in second place of group D. Upsets Galore. We definitely saw some upsets in the group stage already. @kriketski17 took the whole competition by storm as he went undefeated through a tough group B. Group A with @Dominointi, @eskoeinari, @Artuzio and @MrNipsuli was an absolute free-for-all, as players pretty much traded wins through the first two rounds, leaving a ton of factors to decide who moves on to the playoffs. The underdog in that group was definitely Nipsuli, who together with Dominointi managed to make it through from the group stage. Another massive surprise was the weak performance of @Hansulinho, who didn't quite get into the groove of things this time around. In a group where he could have had the chance of moving on from on a good day, the former IS Cup champion didn't get it done, dropping all group stage games. Playoff bracket: The most interesting quarterfinal matchup was definitely Dominointi vs xDoumi, which ended 1-2. The two guys battled hard trading wins and going into double overtime of game two. The younger xDoumi showed his skill and managed to take home the tight series, moving on to a semifinal matchup against PleeMaker. Plee managed to overcome Nassustelija 2-0, as did Eki against buranaburana. Kriketsi17 also won 2-o against MrNipsuli, we saw an interesting turn of events in their second game, as Kriketsi managed to score on a pass from the neutral zone after Freddy Andersen of Nipsuli's Maple Leafs let in an abomination of a goal in the first period. The game was tied up after which Kriketsi managed to secure a win in overtime of game 2. Jani "JiiHoo86" Hetta and Arttu Hämäläinen had a busy day in the commentator booth. (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen) The semifinals offered us a series to remember as PleeMaker and xDoumi went head-to-head. Plee drew first blood in game 1 after a long period of offensive pressure from Doumi to start the game. The game was close all the way through, Plee leading 2-1 until just about the end of regulation when Doumi managed to score off of a shorthanded one-timer chance with 4,7 seconds remaining in the game. To start OT we saw some undisciplined play by Plee, allowing Doumi to snag the win of game 1 by scoring on the powerplay. The second game was a one goal bout - a defensive battle ending in Plee tying up the series. Game 3 was certainly a headscratcher. Doumi came out swinging with two quick goals to start the game, whereafter Plee managed to mount a comeback and the guys went on somewhat on a scoring spree, leaving the game at 5-4 in favour of Doumi at the start of the 3rd period, which is where miracles happened. Doumi scored two goals first, putting him at a three goal advantage. Plee came back to 7-5, Doumi made it 8-5, Plee scored - 8-6 - spectators couldn't even keep up! The guys were nowhere near done, Plee scored three unanswered and the game seemed like a win until Doumi decided to spoil the party again, tying it up AGAIN with 8,5 seconds left! Regulation ends 9-9. Plee ended up securing a final spot in after scoring his 10th goal of the game about halfway through the first period of OT. As Eki managed to win two games against Kriketski, we were treated to a final game with the matchup Eki vs Plee! See PleeMaker vs xDoumi here: The Plee - xDoumi series is certainly hard to top in terms of excitement. However, the final matchup was one of the best we could ever have asked for. Eki and Plee are FILADELPHIA teammates, they are arguably the two best NHL 19 players of the world - and we were treated to the opportunity of seeing the two battle it out with 4000€ on the line. The first game of the finals was a tight battle as expected, Plee opened the scoring, but Eki quickly came back. Both guys scored once more in regulation sending us to overtime, which was decided about three minutes into OT at the hands of Eki, making his first claim for the championship. Game two was a bit different in the sense that Eki seemed to run away with the game early as he made it 2-0 in the first period. Plee had different ideas as he scored three unanswered. That remained the case until 41,9 seconds remaining, when Eki managed to find twine on a cross-crease one-timer. We had OT on our hands once again! The first OT period went into the closing seconds, where Eki had an offensive zone faceoff and managed to find the lane for a blueline slapshot - we had a winner! See the decisive final game here: Eki was certainly the favourite to take it home all along. The world champion joined the tournament through invite and didn't disappoint. Eki lost only one game in the final tournament, his last group stage game against Nassustelija - a game without any real meaning going forward as Eki had already secured a playoff spot by winning his first two games. When being asked how he felt about the result of the final, Eki stated: "Games between me and Plee have always been a coin toss, he had his chances that didn't go in and I had some luck on my blueline slapshot. It's the way this game is, sometimes the bounces go your way." Eki is the new champion! (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen) PleeMaker had to settle for second place (Source: Ilta-Sanomat - Picture by Mika Tuononen) Kriketsi17 took home the bronze. (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen) Here are the final standings of IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM: (Source: Ilta-Sanomat) Congratulations to all participants! Once again, NHLGamer would like to thank everyone involved in the event and all of you who tuned in to the stream or showed up at the event. You have played a significant part in promoting the NHLGaming scene and we greatly appreciate every single one of you! Thank you.

What's up NHLGamers, Today we're extremely happy to have the opportunity in bringing you some world class 6vs6 action from our live event at GameXpo, Messukeskus in Helsinki. We're of course referring to the Finnish Champiopnships in NHL 6vs6, also known as IS Cup 3 and more exactly the final four of this tournament. The schedule of today will look as follows (times are CET): 10:30 | Dynasty – Written In The Stars (BO3) 12:00 | FILADELPHIA – Symphony (BO3) 16:00 | Bronze Game 16:30 | Final (BO3) All games will be streamed live over at our Twitch channel. Please tune in and support your favourites! We'll also be active on all our social media channels, so make sure to follow our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If you're from around the Helsinki area, you can also visit us and watch the games live on the big stage at GameXpo. Also note that t-shirts are still available at our booth if you didn't preorder. See you at 10:30!

Hey NHLGamers, We are proud to announce that in addition to NHLGamer now being a member of SEUL (Suomen elektronisen urheilun liitto / Finnish Esports Federation), we have also signed a contract that covers the NHL and FIFA eSM - the Finnish Championships - license for two additional years. NHLGamer hereby announces the following eSM tournaments for 2018: FIFA 18: 1 vs. 1 (Summer 2018) NHL 19: 1 vs. 1 (End of 2018) NHL 19: 6 vs. 6 (End of 2018) Yes, you read it correctly - in addition to battling out the 1 vs. 1 Finnish Champion in 2018, we will also be crowning the Finnish Champions in 6 vs. 6 NHL! We are working together with SJK eSports in creating the best live events. More details about participation, prerequisites and prize pools will be released after the negotiations are completed, so stay tuned! Extending this partnership is the next logical step towards establishing NHLGamer and its leagues and tournaments in the gaming landscape. Together with our allies, we will remain dedicated to bringing you - the players - the thrilling and meaningful gaming experiences you are looking for. About the Finnish Esports Federation The Finnish Esports Federation (SEUL) works as the umbrella organization for Finnish competitive electronic gaming. Their mission is to improve and promote electronic sports and the activities of their members. The federation was established in December 2010 to respond to the growing need for an organization to promote esports as a hobby and as a respectable sport. The activities performed by SEUL are divided into the development of esports, protection of player’s interests and communicational work. The development of esports is done partly by utilizing workgroups, which are based on the work of our volunteers. The board is responsible for the day to day operations in co-operation with employees. The federation co-operates with many national organizations such as VERKE, EHYT ry and KAVI, promoting a positive image of gamers and gaming in general. The federation’s participation in international field is strong, since we represent Finland in the International Esports Federation (IESF). SEUL is also on the receiving end of the yearly grants given out by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture for youth programs. eSM 2018 will feature the following games: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, Dota 2, NHL, FIFA, League of Legends, Tekken 7 and iRacing. The official eSM website is available at eSM.gg. About SJK eSports SJK eSports is an organisation that functions under SJK, a football club in Seinäjoki, Finland. SJK eSports is mainly focused in bringing new business concepts into the Finnish gaming scene. SJK eSports is especially commited to the growth of the console gaming scene, and is happy to work alongside NHLGamer to achieve that. About NHLGamer NHLGamer.com first saw the light of day in the end of 2015 by launching the European Championship League („ECL“), a 6 vs. 6 virtual ice hockey league carried out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The platform started off with immediate success, hosting 50 teams in its initial season, and has since grown exponentially into what is the largest community for EA SPORTS NHL gamers in Europe. NHLGamer continuously strives to offer the best experience for any and all gamers who have come to enjoy the competitiveness of playing the EA SPORTS series of NHL games. Today, over 4000 website members not only visit NHLGamer to step on the ice themselves. We also enable them to be on top of all the latest NHL and gaming related news, watch broadcasts of NHLGamer league games featuring the very best players in the world, and enjoy exclusive content such as developer interviews and early gameplay impressions of upcoming titles. While proud of our achievements and the success we‘ve had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, this is just the beginning. Our long-term goals include further growth to host even larger leagues with prize pools, and working together with gaming oriented organizations to ultimately establish a platform for professional NHL players at the cutting edge of esports.

(The news story in Finnish - Uutinen Suomeksi: https://nhlgamer.com/grail_finnish.php) Good evening NHLGamers, Today, on the day of the NHL 18 pre-release, we are truly proud to announce that NHLGamer and Grail Group have agreed on a partnership. The agreement stipulates that NHLGamer will have the honor of organizing both the NHL 18 and FIFA 18 1vs1 Finnish Championships for Grail Group, which will culminate with a live final at Grail Quest in the Turku Gatorade Center on October 19th - 21st, 2017. The prize pool is 1200 € per game! Not only will NHLGamer be producing the live event, we are also very proud to say that the online qualification stage will be held right here at NHLGamer.com. The online qualifications for NHL 18 will be played 25th of September - 4th of October and the online qualifications for FIFA 18 will take place between the 4th and the 14th of October, so be sure to be available around those dates. The qualifications will be played as a best-of-3 knockout tournament and the 16 best players for both NHL 18 and FIFA 18 will be making their way to the finals in Turku.* The qualification stage is open to users on both Playstation 4 and Xbox One. The total amount of finalists from either console is yet to be determined but will be confirmed once the sign-up period has ended. The final tournament is played on the Playstation 4 console. In order to sign up, check out the rest of this article and then head over to https://nhlgamer.com/grail-quest/. *We reserve the right to make changes to the tournament structure, if necessary. What is Grail Quest? Grail Quest is an event in which every visitor has the opportunity to experience the whole spectrum of gaming during one amazing weekend, with different things to experience on each day of the event. The programme includes - among other things - presentations of the latest games and technologies, competitions, exhibition activities, stage shows and last but not least; the Finnish championships in eSports. In short, the event is suitable for anyone and everyone interested in gaming and the gaming industry, regardless of age or gender. As mentioned earlier, Grail Quest is hosted at the Gatorade Center (home arena to TPS in the Finnish Liiga) in Turku, 19th - 21st of October 2017. The event opens on Thursday the 19th at 12:00 and closes on Saturday the 21st around midnight. You can read more about Grail Quest at http://www.grailquest.fi Participating in the Finnish Championships - also known as eSM - is only possible for Finnish citizens. In order to participate in any of the tournaments, every participating player has to have the official "eSM-player license", which currently costs 10 euro. The license allows you to participate in several eSM-tournaments. The license can be bought at http://www.esm.gg/. About us For those of you who don't know us all that well, NHLGamer continuously strives to offer the best 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 (6v6) for the title of Best EASHL Team in Europe. Today, over 2500 website members also visit NHLGamer for all the latest NHL and gaming related news and exclusive content such as developer interviews and early gameplay impressions of upcoming titles. While proud of our achievements and the success we‘ve had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, this is just the beginning. Our long-term goals include growing the community to host larger leagues with prize pools and working together with EA SPORTS and gaming-focused organizations, like Grail Group, to ultimately establish a platform for professional players at the cutting edge of Esports. NHLGamer also features some of the very best 1 vs 1 players in Europe like Dominointi, Hansulinho and PleeMaker. Ultimately, we believe that if you want to be one of the best players in the world - you practice, chat and play with the pros. Grail Group Grail Group is a Finnish start-up dedicated to providing gamers with those extra thrills for their online experience. One of the main objectives for Grail Group has been - and continues to be - building a bridge between the eSports community and various business partners by managing athletes, offering game training and organizing events such as Grail Quest. --- So there you have it Gamers - we're very excited about Grail Quest and the opportunity to crown the best FIFA 18 and NHL 18 players in Finland! I look forward to seeing you in Turku in October! And if you're not Finnish and are feeling left out - don't worry. We have other exciting projects coming up in the future. On behalf of the NHLGamer staff