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NHLGamers, Although the ECL season is in the books, this past weekend has still been full of excitement and drama for NHL gaming fans around the world. That's because the NHL GWC is rolling on and this Saturday marked the date for the European Play-In Bracket that determines which gamers are punching their ticket to the regional finals at Viasat studios in Stockholm on May 18th. The games started Saturday afternoon and although they are something of a grind - the format this year was a single elimination bracket which resulted in the day progressing rather quickly. The single elimination format has been criticised heavily on social media due to the harshness and the nature of the game in its current state - meaning it allows for uncontrollable bounces and unfortunate goals to happen on the regular. Regardless of this, a good player can always create their own luck and at the end of the day we're certainly seeing some top notch gamers grabbing their spot in the regional finals. Here are the gamers moving through at the end of Saturday: PS4 Saku @Sagee95 Björn, Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola, Risto @Dominointi Järvi and Paul @PleeMaker Arontie. Xbox Erik @Eki Tammenpää, Eilung, Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen and Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta. Check Eki's reaction to making the regional finals: The defending champion didn't beat around the bush when asked about the NHL GWC format this year: "I don't like the format, you simply need to have more shots at making the biggest tournament of the year than one. One and done isn't the way to do it. It's the same for everyone but at the end of the day think we're going to see some players at the finals who probably wouldn't deserve to be there." It's great to see a few names making their presence felt, although it means a few established players have to face disappointments. Some of last years regional finalists including @Artuzio, @Darkic01 and @FlyerKungen fell short this time, being eliminated in the earlier stages of the brutal single elimination bracket. One of the new names included is Saku @Sagee95 Björn, who we reached for some comments about the NHL GWC so far: "There's certainly some positives and negatives about the format this year. I like moving over to HUT in the sense that you're seeing some diversity in the teams which wouldn't be there if it was versus. The single elimination bracket is rough, since one mistake could cost you the whole tournament." "I don't want to put down my opponents, but I think I had an easy way to the regionals. None of my opponents so far really tested me too much. The upcoming draft is going to be interesting, I'll try to build a team with big bodies and Zdeno Chara is a guy I hope I can secure in my lineup.", Sagee continues. Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta is another new name, who's been one of the fastest growing NHL streamers out there recently: "It feels amazing to qualify for my first bigger tournament. What makes it extra special is sharing those moments with all the people in my stream and getting all the support from there." The NHL GWC will continue with the Canadian Play-In Bracket next weekend and the US Play-In Bracket the weekend after that, so there's still lots of action to go around before the grand finals. Remember to tune in and watch the regional finals on May 18th. Who will you be cheering for? @jahajaha93 NHLGamer Editor

(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.

ECL All Stars The first ever ECL All Star week has come and gone, leaving us with a single winner but multiple fond memories. The week began with a draft, broadcasted live at NHLGamerTwitch, as the eight captains came together to select their teams. Every team was to be comprised of one goaltender, one defender and two forwards. At the same time, all of the 16 teams from ECL Elite were to be represented by at least one player. In the end, both the draft and the live broadcast proceeded smoothly and set the tone for future events to come. Once the drafting was complete, many viewers made sure to single out and praise @cHIIMEERa, @FlyerKungen and @vatalisti for putting together strong teams. The eight teams were randomly seeded into two groups of four. The group stage was played over a stretch of two days (Wednesday, Thursday) with each group taking center stage for one day each. You can watch the recorded streams by following the below links: Wednesday stream, Group 1: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/245812315 Thursday stream, Group 2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/245813540 Here are the results of that group stage: GROUP 1 1. Team ICappeI - 3 GP, 6 P (3-0-0) 2. Team cHIIMEERa - 3 GP, 5 P (2-0-1) --------------- 3. Team TehhAhola - 3 GP, 2 P (1-2-0) 4. Team SepiDN - 3 GP, 0 P (0-3-0) GROUP 2 1. Team vatalisti - 3 GP, 4 P (2-1-0) 2. Team FlyerKungen - 3 GP, 4 P (2-1-0) --------------- 3. Team norpee - 3 GP, 4 P (2-1-0) 4. Team MartindalexC - 3 GP, 0 P (0-3-0) With the first stage of competition complete, it was time for the playoffs. Four teams had qualified; Teams @ICappeI, cHIIMEERa, vatalisti and FlyerKungen. Team @Norpee was also tied in points with Team vatalisti and team FlyerKungen in Group 2, but after the tie-breakers, the goal difference ended up being the deciding factor and putting the other two in front. During the qroup stage, Group 1 seemingly focused more on defense (perhaps not truly in the all star groove yet?) as the second group outmatched the first in terms of goals scored by quite a wide margin. Would it be defense versus offense in the playoffs? To the delight of every viewer who tuned in for the playoffs - it would turn out to be a full-out offensive war. You can watch the recorded stream with both of the Semifinasl and the Final here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/245814928. SEMIFINAL 1 Team ICappe vs. Team FlyerKungen 4-3 This game started out as the @Tuukka.R (KingOfApes_) show, with the highly skilled winger scoring two dazzling goals in the first period. Captain Cappe managed to wake his team up in the second period as defenseman @The_Alpha_Furyan scored two goals to tie the game at 2 before the third period. "Apes" completed his hat trick in the third period and seemed poised to lead Team FlyerKungen to a 3-2 victory... until @tbnantti stepped in with just three minutes remaining. First, he tied the game up and then - with just 55 seconds left on the clock - he scored the game-winning 4-3-goal. What a finish! SEMIFINAL 2 Team cHIIMEERa vs. Team vatalisti 6-7 If you thought the first semifinal was intense, boy you were in for a treat with this one. Before the game started, both teams were forced into some lineup changes. Due to the unavailability of @jtorro1233 and @Nampa77, @taemtaem and @SadaPoika stepped in as defender and forward for the respective teams. The game featured vatalistis team putting on a show with the captain himself scoring four (!) goals while new recruit Sada supplied a hat trick and playmaker @anrh17 dishing out 6 assists. Team vata held a 7-2 lead with just 8 minutes remaining and things seemed hopeless for cHIIMEERa and his team. Then, the veteran captain got his team moving. With four unanswered goals in the last few minutes, all of a sudden we were back to watching a one-goal game. Despite this, Team vata managed to hang on and secure a 7-6 win. Phew. Surely the finals couldnt top this? ALL STAR FINALS Team ICappeI vs. Team vatalisti 5-6 (OT) You had to know that the ONLY overtime game in the entire All Star-event was to take place in the finals, right? It was just too good to be true. Team vatalisti once again got out to a comforting lead by going up 4-1 - paced by two goals and two assists from the captain himself - before Team ICappeI even knew what hit them. Even though @Lamsa scored a nice goal to get the game to 4-2, things seemed hopeless with just a single minute remaining of the game. Thats when Team ICappeI scored twice to knot the game at 4. Incredibly enough, with a mere ten seconds remaining they scored again. 5-4 Cappe with 19.50 on the clock! Surely this was it? Nope. Team vatalisti won the faceoff, came down on one final rush and tied the game at 5 with SadaPoika dishing an incredible pass to anrh17 who scored. At this point, @Kenu and @Panarinz were going nuts in the broadcasting booth. In the overtime, Team vatalisti was the stronger team and took home the first ever ECL All Star-win through a goal by captain vatalisti. Congratulations to Team Vatalisti for taking home the first ever ECL Elite All-Star Week win! Thanks to all participants and viewers for a great event that is sure to come back again in the future. Below you will find the full stats and logos for each team: Team cHIIMEERA G, Supreex, 4GP 2W 71,1SV% 2,75GAA D, jtorro1234, 3GP 4+3=7 D, taemtaem, 1GP 3+2=5 F, indi969, 4GP 5+6=11 F, cHIIMEERa, 4GP 2+8=10 Team TehhAhola G, Zande95, 3GP 1W 69,56SV% 2,33GAA D, OxtreeLAT, 3GP 0+2=2 F, Foppatofflan, 3GP 2+1=3 F, TehhAhola, 3GP 3+1=4 Team SepiDN G, SepiDN, 3GP 0W 70,96SV% 3,00GAA D, Isumpppi90l, 3GP 1+1=2 F, Puantso, 3GP 1+1=2 F, koojiikoojii, 3GP 0+1=1 Team ICappeI G, ICappeI, 5GP 4W 70SV% 2,4GAA D, The_alpha_furyan, 5GP 6+6=12 F, tbnantti, 5GP 6+8=14 F, Lamsa, 5GP 5+7=12 Team MartindalexC G, Hullued, 3GP 0W 38,09SV% 4,33GAA D, MartindalexC, 3GP 0+2=2 F, Kungenkurwa, 3GP 2+2=4 F, Penatski, 3GP 4+2=6 Team Norpee G, poliskontroll, 3GP 2W 53,33SV% 4,66GAA D, JParola, 3GP 0+8=8 F, SadaPoika, 5GP 12+11=23 F, Norpee, 3GP 5+3=8 Team FlyerKungen G, Ranta83, 4GP 2W 51,43SV% 4,25GAA D, Ilmari30, 4GP 4+6=10 F, KingOfApes_, 4GP 10+4=14 F, FlyerKungen, 4GP 4+7=11 Team Vatalisti G, Danielcadabra, 5GP 5W 48,98SV% 5GAA D, Vatalisti, 5GP 12+13=25 F, Anrh17, 5GP 7+20=27 F, Nampa77, 3GP 9+6=15

Good day NHLGamers, As some of you may know, we here at NHLGamer.com recently made the decision to provide coverage of the IS Cup NHL tournament, hosted by SJK (Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho) - a sports team in the top professional league of Finnish football and also one of the first organizations to establish an eSports section within their club. You may remember that a big part of SJKs investment in eSport was signing NHLGamer staff member Dominointi as their NHL player and enlisting ECL franchise Rynnäkköviikset as their grassroots organizaton. The following article will be Part One in a Two-Part series where we cover the event, recap all the exciting things that happened and show off all the fun image and video material we collected during our stay. Look for a video-heavy Part Two later this week where we provide you with some interviews plus some sights and sounds of the tournament! The IS Cup The concept of the IS Cup meant bringing together 16 top NHL Versus players from all over Finland (including NHLGamer members Jageksi, Hansulinho, Dominointi, Artuzio, KingOfApes_, Chafak, PleeMaker, Kaneyh and I_Eki_I) to do battle at SJKs home stadium, OmaSP Stadion, for a total prize pool of 1500 €. The tournament also featured a FIFA competition using the same structure and prizes but for the purposes of this article, we will be focusing on NHL. To be able to participate in the IS Cup finals, the contestants had to either fight their way through an extensive online qualifier or participate in a local event organized in Seinäjoki a couple of weeks prior. For me personally, covering this tournament meant traveling from the relatively safe confines of Stockholm, Sweden to the deep forests of Seinäjoki, Finland. In an effort to try and get to know the city I was due to visit, I did what any reasonably sane man with limited time would do - I turned to Wikipedia. During my research process, I learned a great many things. I learned that the city of Seinäjoki originated around a gunpowder factory around the turn of the 18th century. I learned that the city is famous for its three big events; its tango festival, its racing festival and its rock festival. Finally, I also came to understand I was looking at a 3 hour train ride from Helsinki to Seinäjoki, accompanied by nothing more than @Kenu and his wits. As I was leaving Wikipedia, I was not sure what to expect. However, as it turns out, I needn't worry - the city (and tournament) exceeded all my expectations. But now, let us get to the coverage of this event: All 16 players of the IS Cup were divided into groups of 4 and put through a group stage to determine which 8 players would move on to the tournament Quarterfinals. Going into the tournament, professional eSports players Hansulinho of ENCE eSports, Dominointi of SJK eSports and Chafak of Paranoia eSports had to be considered among the favorites to win the trophy, but each player would be tested early and often in their groups. The level of play at IS Cup was incredibly high and not something you see in your everyday NHL 17 Versus sessions. After many tough games and unexpected outcomes, the playoff tree shaped up like this (with all series being played Best of-3): Quarterfinals Dominointi - PleeMaker [1-2 in games] Hansulinho - Eskoeinari [2-0 in games] Chafak - Dreammickie [0-2 in games] I_EKI_I - EEPI [2-0 in games] As expected, the Quarterfinals featured several big moments and tight-checking playoff hockey. The first-round series we found ourselves most invested in was the one between @Dominointi and @plee999, this partly due to the rivalry of the match-up (these players faced each other quite recently in another Versus tournament, FCT - Finnish Championship Tournament, where Plee barely edged out Domi in the Semifinals) but also due to the big crowd of people amassed around these two star players. Throughout the entire tournament Plee had, without a doubt, the biggest fan following - something that can usually either make or break a player when push comes to shove. At this point in the tournament the fan support had seemed to benefit Plee, but going up against Domi would prove to be his biggest test yet. Plee took Game 1 by a score of 4-3 and also took the lead in Game 2 to loud cheers, but Domi showed his tournament pedigree and came back to win Game 2 by another 4-3 score. The stakes were incredibly high for Game 3 but both players seemed unfazed and cool under pressure. Ultimately, Plee got off to a good start by scoring the first goal, forcing Domi to play more aggresive to go for the equalizing goal. As often happens when one team goes all-out, the other team takes advantage and mounts an effective counter-attack. Plee did just that and ended up shutting the game down by a 3-0 score. Plee moved on the next round where he would face tournament favorite @Hansulinho. In the other playoff series, MUKIMIEHET player @Erkki (I_EKI_I) managed to win his round and move on to the next round where he would face Dreammickie. Dreammickie advanced through somewhat of a surprise 2-0 win over @EA_BUNKA (Chafak). Semifinals I_EKI_I - Dreammickie [2-1 in games] Hansulinho - PleeMaker [0-2 in games] The matchups above meant 3 out of 4 players in the final rounds were members of the NHLGamer community, something we couldn't be prouder of. Perhaps Dreammickie will make it 4 out of 4 in the near future? Keep an eye out, Gamers! Sadly, we didn't get a chance to watch the Semifinal games as we were busy interviewing SJK tournament host Mikko Jokipii at the time, but judging by the amounts of cheers coming from the main event hall (where the game between Hansu and Plee was being displayed on the main screen), we could tell there was a great game going on. After consulting with fellow NHLGamers that were at the stadium, we learned that I_EKI_I had won his matchup over Dreammickie in a tight 2-1 series while Plee had continued his incredible hot streak and beaten Hansu by a score of 2-0. Bronze game Hansulinho - Dreammickie The Bronze game didn't actually feature a Best of-3; the tournament organizers instead opting for a one game, winner takes all-approach to this battle. Ultimately, these types of games can be hard to re-load for after you've been eliminated in the semifinals, but Dreammickie managed to give it one last push to beat Hansulinho and receive the consolation prize of a PSN Plus subscription (12 months). Finals I_EKI_I - PleeMaker [0-2 in games] So came the finals, and a chance for the winning player to walk away with 1000€ while the runner-up would receive 500€. Plee was heavily favored by many after weathering such a tough storm on his way to the finals, but I_EKI_I had nonetheless impressed as well on his way to the championship finals. The room was packed, the crowd was loud, both players had music in their ears and the announcers were ready - showtime. During the finals, the Twitch stream for the event reached almost 1000 viewers, which was incredibly fun to see. As far as the actual games go, Plee came roaring out of the gates with a vengeance and put up several goals in the first few minutes of Game 1. I_EKI_I never recovered from the intense start by Plee and lost Game 1 by several goals. He managed to re-load for Game 2 though and went toe-to-to with Plee through the scores of 1-1 and 2-2. In the end, Plee was a man on a mission and despite a quality game from I_EKI_I, Plee was the ultimate - and well deserved - winner of the IS Cup. Additional thoughts As we approach the end of this article, NHLGamer would also like to give a shout-out to the members of our community we got to meet that weren't playing in the tournament. For me personally, it was a lot of fun putting faces to gamertags I had been playing against for years. Outside of our 9 members that were tournament contenders, we met at least 9 more around the event hall. I can't even remember everyone I shook hands with and talked to but off the top of my head @Joonas Paatiala, @nylanderi, @Hoiggaa, @Zande95, @FinKonna & @RutonMosse. Remind me in the comment section who I missed out on mentioning! On a final note, we here at NHLGamer.com would like to thank organizers SJK for being so incredibly hospitable towards us - offering us chances both to interview tournament host Mikko Jokipii and to be interviewed ourselves on the official Twitch livestream for the event, putting us in front of hundreds and hundreds of stream viewers wearing nothing but our NHLGamer shirts. Well, pants too. We should have an edited version of the clip for you available in our upcoming video coverage of IS Cup, but if you want to check it out right now, go to the IS Cup Twitch feed and browse to the 3 hour, 42 minute mark. Look for the two guys wearing NHLGamer t-shirts Until we see you again in our video coverage post from IS Cup - later skaters, @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com