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Art by Efraim Larsson. Photos courtesy of Tölzer Löwen. You might think the life of a pro hockey player (any pro athlete for that matter) is awesome and all glamour. The reality can be quite different. Ben says he’s just a regular guy who happens to have some talent in hockey. It hasn’t always been that way though. There’s been a massive change in mentality and thought process to get to the point he is at today. Most of you have probably never heard of Ben Meisner and frankly it’s no surprise. The now 28-year old German-Canadian goaltender spent most of his junior career in smaller minor teams in his home province of Nova Scotia before moving away from home as a teenager to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a professional hockey player. The first years of his professional career was spent around the ECHL after which he headed over to Europe for a change of scenery. Name: Ben Meisner Date of birth: June 20th, 1990 Place of birth: Halifax, NS, CAN Nationality: Canada/Germany When talking to Ben he seems like a really down-to-earth guy who is really outspoken and passionate about what he has to say. A first impression wouldn’t give away his troubled past and deep scars. In an article Ben wrote for The Players Tribune, he states that his story is “about a kid who loved hockey so much that he forgot to love himself”. Those might be some confusing words to hear for an average Joe, but it was a gruesome reality for Ben and what ultimately almost led to the end of his life. Let us backtrack a little bit to get you guys up to speed. To kick off the interview with Ben, the very first question I asked was about his gaming habits and to my surprise I learned that he had never even touched a video game. That’s refreshing, right? Ben grew up on a farm in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada spending most if not all of his free time as a kid shooting pucks alone in their driveway or out fishing. His main aspiration in life was to be a pro hockey player. Quite early on, Ben was signed up for a local hockey team and he progressed rather quickly - he was obsessed with becoming the best player he could possibly be. Ben’s words really paint the picture of a generic happy Canadian upbringing: “Growing up, I had both my parents at all my games pretty much always so that was awesome.” It isn’t all that unusual for young players in Canada and the US to move around looking for development opportunities in their junior careers, and Ben was no different. Before kicking off his college career he played at two different boarding schools in Ontario, Canada and just outside of Boston, Massachusetts in the US. It’s a competitive environment where thousands of kids chase the best opportunities and try to make their dreams come true. “It’s definitely a tough choice to make and you’ve got to be ready for it and go into it with your eyes open.”- Ben about moving away from home to pursue a hockey career at a young age. Playing team sports in a competitive environment is tough as it is, but being a teenager trying to figure yourself out far away from home surely adds its own spice to the mix. While the experience can be a valuable life lesson, it is also extremely scary and a difficult situation to be in as the youngins are pretty much left to their own devices. It was at a rather young age that Ben realised he might have some issues. He struggled fitting in with the team, having a hard time communicating and finding friends in a new environment. At first, the issues were chalked up to “goalie weirdness”, but as years went by and Ben moved around to different teams, the severity of the problem started coming to light. Social awkwardness led to bullying, which in turn led to anxiety, depression and OCD, the effects were many. Being anxious, tired, depressed and scared all at the same time while being a pro hockey goaltender in a league like the ECHL, in which teams can pretty much release a player at a moments notice is certainly leading down a destructive path. Especially when all you’ve done for your whole life was play hockey and nothing else. “I grew up playing hockey outside. Every day I was out shooting pucks, I was skating…I lived and breathed hockey. It’s all I ever knew and all I ever wanted to do. There was a fear of losing that. If one day hockey wasn’t there, I wouldn’t know who I was. I didn’t think I had any other skills and I didn’t think I brought anything to the table as a person.” The OCD kicked in and the anxiety levels skyrocketed, Ben as quoted from The Players Tribune: “I knew that there were 98 professional teams in North America … so there were exactly 196 jobs for goalies. I’d always come back to the fact that in North America alone there are usually around 320 free agent goalies from D-I, D-III, Canadian colleges, SPHL, AHL, ECHL and the NHL, fighting for what amounts to only a few open spots at any one time. I had nothing against any of those guys, but in my mind they became my enemies. And lots of times it seemed like I could actually feel them breathing down my neck. All 320 of them.” Ultimately, things got very bad. Ben was stuck in a vicious cycle where he couldn’t speak up of the fear of being released from his contract and not receiving proper help due to constantly relocating and being occupied by doing the thing that he loved - playing hockey. Doing so in a severely compromised mental state made his numbers drop, while also inflicting even more damage on his already bad psyche. All of this culminated in Ben almost taking his own life. (For this story, please ready Bens article at The Players Tribune.) Step by step, things got better. Ben reached out for help and found out it wasn’t the end of his career, but in fact the start of something new and better - a healthier life and a new found passion for helping others. The extremely important factor with mental issues is time. These issues have to be handled with urgency and professional sports organisations are now also starting to realise that. For example, several NHL teams have hired personnel to help their players deal with potential issues. With the stigma around mental health in sports slowly being lifted, more athletes have also come forth about some issues they have had or are still having, among some of those former NHL players Daniel Carcillo and Nick Boynton. Taking off with the release of his Players Tribune article, Ben has also started advocating for mental health awareness and is actively pursuing that opportunity to give back and get the word out there. Now Ben is working together with a whole bunch of different people (for example the aforementioned Carcillo) and organisations in order to further mental health awareness. Mental health issues are a widespread, although a not widely talked about problem worldwide. Just about anyone can find themselves in a tough situation where they will have to handle some type of mental problems, it could be just one traumatic life event or concussion away. Preemptive care is one of the best tools to tackle mental issues and Ben together with a whole company of other people strongly advocate for it. For young athletes out there that feel something might be wrong, Ben has an important pointer that cannot be stressed enough: “The number one thing is don’t wait. If you’re having an issue at a young age and parents or you yourself recognise it, please reach out. I knew I had these issues early on and I let it go until I was in my twenties so we’re talking over a decade. That really put me in a big hole and made my issues harder to handle and harder to hide - when you dig yourself a hole that deep, it takes a long time to fill back in.” Esports are no different from traditional sports in the sense that the environment is high-pressure. The straight-up physical requirements of the athletes might not meet the traditional standards but what is often talked about is the mental aspects of players. Quite often a player or a team is analysed based on their mental strength - "they don't have the winning mentality" is a cliché we're all familiar with. De-stressing activities or taking time off are often overlooked in pro sports, perhaps even more so in esports. The pace and player turnover is at such a high level that even a short vacation could set a top player back, and believe me - there are kids out there trying to take that spot! The result of this equation is players spending very close to all of their waking time at their screens - the very same screens that are the portal to Reddit and various other forums where their every single move, play and game is being scrutinised. Having an outlet and de-stressing is tremendously important, the physical capabilities of an athlete are also tremendously important in esports. Healthy bodies often promote healthy minds and the other way around, so remember to take care of yourselves out there! If you happen to find yourself out and about, here are some events that Ben will be attending as a speaker: The Global Goaltending Retreat - May 27th - 31st, Breckenridge, Colorado, US The Worth Living Conference - May 31st, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Make sure to follow Ben on Twitter for more info about upcoming events he will be attending. “My legacy may not be left hanging in the rafters or written on trophies, but I want to people to recognize me as a guy who tried to make the game we all love more enjoyable for the people playing it.” If you or someone you know are going through a tough time, please don't hesitate to reach out for help. Here's some contact info to get you started: Finland: Suomen Mielenterveysseura - Kriisipuhelin 010 195 202 Sweden: 1177 Vårdguiden - Hjälplinjen 0771-22 00 60 Germany: Telefonseelsorge 0800 111 0 111 UK: Samaritans 116 123 France: Suicide Écoute 01 45 39 40 00 Russia: sravni.ru 8 (800) 333-44-34 Take care and keep on playing! Your NHLGamer Editor, Janne @jahajaha93 Tarvonen

The German hockey club Düsseldorfer EG will branch out on to the virtual ice in the near future. As the first club of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the club with tradition dating back to 1935 will soon go into competition mode with its own esports team that will be taking part in several online leagues. The team "DEG eSports" currently consists of twelve experienced online ice hockey players from Germany and Austria. DEG eSports is now looking to follow in the footsteps of SJK eSports in taking a shot at establishing a successful franchise in the 6vs6 community. The team, established by long-time DEG fans Tobias Anton and Steffen Seibert, will mainly focus on competing in the ECL and GCL but also aim to compete in other leagues as opportunities present themselves. All of the teams games will be streamed live on the DEG eSports Facebook page. The members will be representing Düsseldorfer EG both virtually and in real-life events, which will be announced later. The club also promises that various other representatives of Düsseldorfer EG might join in on the fun from time to time. Stefan Adam, Managing Director of DEG Eishockey GmbH: "Esports is a young and dynamic sport, it's a community that is gaining more popularity among hockey fans. We are pleased to announce that we are pioneers with DEG in this environment, with our own esports team. It is a very interesting development in a completely new environment for us, which we are very excited about actively pursuing." Tobias Anton, team captain of DEG eSports: "It's a great thing for us to be the first official team of a DEL club. Our goal was to build an ambitious troupe of DEG fans, but also involve skilled players without the regional background. Our goal is to gain success as fast as possible in the ECL and play for the title in the GCL." Prior to the press conference held by Düsseldorfer EG, I had the pleasure of discussing this new venture with team captain Tobias Anton: Hi there, Tobias! We're very happy to hear about your new opportunity and you must be just as excited. I'm very interested in how the project took off. Could you please comment on that a bit? Well, it all started in June, when we made the suggestion to the german hockey club Düsseldorfer EG. I made a nice presentation with all interesting stuff about esports, questions like "Why esports?", "Why with us?", "Why is it a win-win situation?". They quickly invited us to present our concept live in their offices and after a short negotiation, they finally agreed to go ahead with this project. Now, here we are at the end of September, as representatives of DEG eSports. How did you come up with the idea? Actually, I got this idea after EV Duisburg won ECL6 Lite - they've played together for years, however they aren't an official part of the Duisburg hockey club. I liked the idea to make a team for my favourite hockey club, but I wanted to be serious about it. I am a kind of person who likes to think big, always on the lookout for the next cool thing I could launch. I started off by writing a post in a DEG facebook group, hiring players for a team with the idea of becoming an official esports team one day. Most of the reactions were negative. "You'll never do that', or "Maybe start smaller and not with big ideas like that" - but one guy immediately had the same fire, so we started this club together. I took more of a back-office role in writing to the hockey club and making a presentation as my teammate recruited more players - he knows the community better than I do. So, where do you go from here? How will you be co-operating with Düsseldorfer EG? On social media, we will run our own Facebook page and Twitch channel, but work together with DEG's official press department. So, some of our posts will be presented on their channels (FB, IG, Twitter...), we will have a presentation in the stadium and many more things planned so stay tuned! Today, we're having the press conference and if things go our way, we'll be airing our first training matches on our Twitch channel on Wednesday and Thursday. Do you think the club will expand into other esports in the future? After all, I don't think that the club will expand into other games or sports - it's a hockey thing, it's a regional thing, and there are no plans to do more than that at the moment. Thanks for your time Tobias and good luck in your future games to the team! Congratulations on behalf of the NHLGamer community to @Tümä and the boys!

Hello NHLGamers, It has been a pleasure for all to see the pace of expansion in the NHLGamer community. There’s well over 4000 of us here today. With the number of players, teams, leagues and tournaments and the organization thereof, NHLGamer – to us at least, fully qualifies as an esports organizer. Fortunately, that is also the perception outside of NHLGamer. To illustrate that point, NHLGamer was invited to organize two major NHL/FIFA events in Finland last year, broadcasted on TV, with responsibilities ranging from online qualifications to live commentary in said broadcasts. The events themselves were a great success, including the experience and the lessons learned from all the inevitable small bumps on the road. One of the goals of NHLGamer has been to bring together on one platform as much of the competitive EASHL userbase as possible, whether competitiveness meant having fun in the Summer Cup, or pursuing the toughest objective – winning the ECL Elite. The growth we have seen in just a few years is a delight to many, but it does not come without new challenges. The community had a fantastic response to the pronounced need for additional staff. Nothing but a heartful thank you will do service for that. It signals that you, the players, share our vision and goal. Though to avoid the pitfalls of complacency, we must recognize there is still a long road ahead. If you would also like to see NHL-gaming mature to its full potential as a legitimate and well-recognized esports, but don’t feel like a staff responsibility is really your thing, don’t worry. There are issues that must be confronted on a team-level if the objective in horizon is a (semi)professional esports league. It has been wonderful to see many teams starting up their social-media channels and beginning to create an identity, be it through writing, logos or just pure memery. It is an extremely important task, branding many would call it, because sponsorship is not charity. Companies do not hand out sponsorship to various places from their marketing budget based on whatever individual preferences. This is an important point; sponsorship deals come from the marketing budget. They always expect a return on investment, or ROI in short, for all marketing. Otherwise it is just a waste of money. In the case of sports teams and especially esports, the value of a team is mostly made of its visibility. There are various tools and methods for companies of numerating the visibility or the value of it, but those details are outside the scope of this article. What this means is that if you would like to see your team grow in status, or just help the community grow and be recognized, as a whole (preferably both!), you must create value. Big and medium-sized companies always have some kind of a brand identity, an image of the company that it tries to reinforce through various methods. Astronomical sums can be used for this purpose, for sometimes the brand is the only thing the company is valued of. Let’s take an example from a brand very known in sports: Nike. Unlike many would think, Nike does not produce a single shoe. It licenses the production to subcontractors and instead spends almost a billion dollars a year for marketing and reinforcing its brand, including the careful selection of athletes, teams and organizations it sponsors, those that are seen fitting for its brand image. Perhaps a plural should be used, because there can simultaneously be different images being portrayed to different audiences. Some avid readers might be worried of this corporate talk, reflecting on the dull-and-boring interviews of athletes we see nowadays. While those without a doubt stem from the wishes and requirements of financial backers, it is to be remembered that on the quest for the end of the rainbow, the road is painted in many colors. Last year the amount of Twitch users surpassed that of Netflix or any other on-demand streaming service. As of February 2018, Twitch had over 2 million monthly broadcasters and 15 million active daily users. The typical characteristics of a Twitch user is a male between 18 and 34 years of age. What it means for the esports community, NHLGamer included, is that a company is far more likely to see marketing value in an esports team, if it is trying to target a similar demographic for its products. That’s why an energy drink company is far more likely to sponsor an esports team than a spring water company would be. This of course reflects to the desired or sought-after images that potential sponsorship targets portray; Ninjas in Pyjamas works much better in esports than it would in horse polo. NHL-gaming has large untapped potential as an esports. While hockey is not a major global sport it still gives an enormous base of audience, who do not play the virtual game themselves, but are already completely familiar with the rules and various nuances of the game. Therefore, were the community to grow in quantity and professionality, it does not take a long leap of imagination to one day see ECL Finals on live television. One discussed topic around the community lately has been the concept of buy-in tournaments, where the teams pay a certain amount to enter a tournament in hopes to get their hands on a bigger prize pool. We will be talking a lot more about this in the near future, but for the time being, let us at least confirm to you today, that this concept is definitely on our road map and you will be able to participate in these kinds of tournaments right here at NHLGamer. “Why so serious?” – the big question of our generation. You don’t have to be serious to be successful. Sports is an entertainment business and it is very hard to entertain if you are not having fun. An image of a group of laid-back guys having a blast and left-handedly crushing their opposition is not a bad sales pitch at all. Keep developing your own brand of hockey. Do not hesitate in finding ways to increase the visibility of your brand and contacting potential sponsors or partners. There is simply nothing to lose. NHLGamer is an expanding canvas and everyone has been given a brush. You have the power to define the outlines of the picture that forms; every drop of paint is a step closer to our goal. Good luck and have fun! Yours truly, NHLGamer

NHLGamers, It seems like it has been the month of announcements, doesn't it? Well, today we bring you another one. NHLGamer.com are immensly proud to announce that we are partnering with Ilta-Sanomat, SJK eSports and SeAMK for the latest edition of the IS Cup! You may remember our reporting from the last edition of IS Cup, if not you can find it here (Part 1) and here (Part 2), where we met up with many community members (including eventual winner @plee999) and covered the event from a journalistic perspective. This time around we will be an active host and participant in the prestigious tournament that will be open to players from all over Europe and is free to sign up for. Oh and, did we mention the 6000€ prize pool? Here you can find the official news story from main partner Ilta-Sanomat [Article in Finnish]. However, if you're not a native Finnish speaker, here's our brief breakdown of the event: As mentioned before, here at NHLGamer.com we are truly proud to be one of the main, active partners of this tournament and will work tirelessly to see it top the tremendous experience that was provided through the last IS Cup. So, how do I sign up? As mentioned above, the tournament is available to anyone in Europe, as long as you're available to travel to Helsinki for the final tournament (at your own expense). Here's where to sign up: Finnish speakers can sign up by heading over to https://nhlgamer.com/iscup If you're not from Finland, you might want to head over to the sign-up page in English over at https://nhlgamer.com/iscup/index_en.php For all of our members out there, old and new, I suggest you strap in - the NHLGamer journey is just getting started. (Article editor: @The_Alpha_Furyan) Facebook (NHLGamer)Twitter (NHLGamerCOM)YouTube (NHLGamer Official) Instagram (NHLGamerOfficial) Twitch (NHLGamerTwitch)

Howdy, Gamers! We told you earlier this week that there was going to be one more cool thing released before the NHL 18 Beta kicks off next Tuesday and here it is! Well, at least we think it's cool. NHLGamer Presents: ECL Talk is our brand new podcast program for the official ECL news, trades and other things that are associated with NHL gaming. How does it work then, you might ask. Basically, it's about two passionate NHL gamers talking about what is going on around NHLGamer - and sometimes outside of it. We have two hosts: @The_Alpha_Furyan and I, @vSilenttio, and we might have some guests with us talking about stuff in the future. As we tell the latest news and other things that are going on, we're also giving our personal opinions on things. We would like to emphasize that the things we say are not official words of NHLGamer - we just tell our opinions as individual gamers. Anyways, give us a listen and find out yourself if it's your thing or not! If you enjoy it, be sure to subscribe to our channel and give the video a thumbs up! PS: We're working on improving the technical quality of the series in the future. Until next time, have a nice day!

Hello NHLGamers, For the second week in a row we bring you a very special kind of news story here on NHLGamer.com. It is a deal that has been in the works for quite some time but we can finally say - with great pride - that we have confirmation that another one of our fellow NHLGamer members has signed a deal to play NHL professionally. We are of course referring to previous ECL championship winner, champion of the last NHL 17 10k$ Worldgaming Faceoff tournament and captain of Laser HT... Risto "Dominointi" Järvi! What team was lucky enough to snag this top-ranked player? Look no further than the eSports section of professional Finnish football club SJK (SJK eSports), currently playing in the top Finnish division. Just like with Hansulinho, The_Alpha_Furyan managed to get a hold of Dominointi for a few minutes to pick his brain on this recent development NHLG: Congratulations Dominointi - I'm sure you must be thrilled to sign this deal! Dominointi: Haha, thanks. Yes, of course I am! To be honest, I actually had a couple really good options to consider... but for me this was the best offer. I was truly happy that a team like SJK would like me to play in their eSports section. I feel like this team has enormous potential overall and I hope - and also believe - we are going to do some great stuff together in the near future. Tell us a bit more about SJK - I am sure a lot of people (especially non-Finns) aren't entirely familiar with them SJK is actually a finnish football club from Seinäjoki! They play in what is known as the "Veikkausliiga" - which is the highest football league in Finland. SJK eSports is their video game team... I really can't explain it any better, haha. At the moment I am their NHL eSports player and "Koppinen" is their FIFA eSports player - meaning they have a total of two players in their eSports team at the moment, but they are expanding. For example, they actually have another connection to this website (NHLGamer.com) because they also have Rynnäkköviikset as their "minor" team. What do you mostly hope to achieve while playing for SJK eSports? Of course I want to continue playing good and win some tournaments as a SJK member. Personally, I also hope that these kind of contracts help our NHL community here to grow even bigger so that maybe in the future we might see some 6v6 team contracts too! I feel like most people know "Dominointi the NHL player" - people certainly know after they have played you in Versus, HUT or EASHL - but when did this whole journey start for you? When did you realize you were actually really good and one of the top players to play the game? Well, I have been playing the NHL Series since I think... NHL 07 and a few years after that (NHL 09) started playing online games and competing for real. I guess it was in that same game - NHL 09 - when I first started experiencing success with my NHL playing. If I remember correctly, I think I was ranked 4th Overall for Versus at the end of that game. I didn't lose that many games and eventually a lot of players were wondering who I was - that is when I would say I started to realize I was pretty good at this. "Pretty good"... I'd say that is being humble. What would you consider are some of your biggest achievements and greatest memories playing this game? Haha, thanks. Ah, that is a tough question. Well, I won the Finnish Moneyleague once in NHL 16 and also a 2v2 Finnish Championship with Hansulinho in NHL 14. My most recent win at the Worldgaming $10K Faceoff Tournament in NHL 17 is of course special. I am very proud over having been in Top 5 in Versus rankings ever since NHL 09. I would consider winning ECL 1 with Nordic Blizzard a great memory. Playing NHL professionally - will your view of the game change? Is it now more of a job than a hobby? It hasn't really changed that much, atleast not yet. I mean, after I won the Worldgaming tournament the support has been insane. Of course, there has been a lot of "roasting" too... but I like it. I think it is great because I love reading those messages. Honestly, in my opinion this is still a hobby even though I will now get paid So - with these news in mind - where do you see yourself in 5 years? Ah, man... that question is so damn hard. It is really tough to say but I of course hope I am able to keep playing NHL professionally. I mean, then again I could be doing so many different things. To be honest with you, things happen so fast nowadays that it is sometimes unreal - almost hard to keep up. Just take a look at whats going on with eSports - so many people streaming, many teams have social media accounts. But it is great - I love it - and again, I hope that with these kind of contracts we give a lot of hope for others to achieve similar things. Certainly. So, when you think of the future of NHL eSports - what do you see? The future of NHL eSports is bright in my opinion, I believe that. We just need more of these kind of contracts and we will continue to be noticed more and more. On a more personal note, what are your hopes for NHLGamer.com and this community moving forward? NHLGamer and the entire NHL community in general are really important for me. I see a lot of potential in NHLGamer. The site already features the best 1v1 players and 6v6 teams in Europe, for example. In the future, I hope we could play against NA teams/players more in the future. Also, some form of a live 6v6 tournament would be really cool. Got any tips for players who want to improve their NHL gaming? I will actually be streaming in SJK eSports twitch channel in future. So, if you want to challenge me and get some tips you are free to join! As a tip if you want to get better in game you have to play against the best players and teams, that is truly how you improve your skills. I might take you up on that! Lastly, what is the secret to beating our very own NHLGamer co-owner, @Kenu, in Versus? You should! Tough question again. How do I beat Kenu? Well, he is a really good player.... but I guess I know a few secret tactics that could give him a hard time if we would matchup, hehe. Dominointi Fact Box [Player profile] Winner of Worldgaming.com NHL 17 $10k Tournament Finished Top 5 at the Versus rankings in all iterations of NHL since 09 Participated in all 3 ECL tournaments, twice for Nordic Blizzard (champions of ECL 1) and now Laser HT 185 ECL regular season points in 58 games and 121 playoff points in 45 games Favors the C position in EASHL Read the full announcement article at: http://www.sjk2007.fi/w/sjk-esports-kiinnitti-risto--dominointi--jarven On behalf of the NHLGamer staff, The_Alpha_Furyan