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Hello NHLGamers, I want to start this post off right by giving credit to @OxtreeLAT for once again creating some spectacular art. Keep doing what you are doing sir, the staff (and the community) are all glad to have you onboard! Make sure to give Ox some love in the comment section if you appreciate the visuals. Anyway, getting back to the matter at hand: the ECL 3 playoffs. It's time for Round 4 - the Semi-Finals! I can't imagine anyone in the community has missed out on the great matchups that have been going on but on the off chance that you did, here is the quick recap; Laser HT beat Northern Ascendancy 4-2 Finnish Roosters beat Written In The Stars 4-0 Aapon Taikasauva beat MUKIMIEHET 4-3 X Factor beat SIKA 4-1 With Nordic Blizzard and MUKIMIEHET not part of the Final Four this means we will have a completely new champion for ECL 3. Anyway, without further delay, we present to you the playoff pairings for Round 4 (coupled with a preview/prediction from @vSilenttio and myself) - scheduled to be played 18/1 to 24/1; Laser HT - Finnish Roosters Preview, by vSilenttio Before I say anything specific on this series - I must say that this match-up feels like the Finals already. It's like the final showdown before the ultimate final super showdown - or something like that. LHT has been great since the beginning and you could say the same from FR as both teams have been dominating whole season three since day one. FR had little bit tougher regular season thanks to Group 1's teams being slightly more "Elite" if you could say so - oh wait, I can. What else we can predict than Game 7 finish? LHT has super offensive line-up which all starts from one of the best, if not the best, european center there is - Dominointi. Same goes for FR as tbnantti leads his squad from the center of the ice. What I'm saying is that one of the biggest factors in this series will be the battle between their centers. Both can do pretty much everything on the ice, Dominointi being maybe more defensive where Antti plays more offensively. Obviously they need help from their wingers to win this battle. Antti has one defensive winger in johtaja699, and one over-the-top offensive juggernaut wonder-kid in Plee. Dominointi then again has pretty much same kind of situation in LHT as Patzlaf in the left wing is their superman winger (originally center) and Hansulinho is literally the Patrick Kane of their team as his offensive awareness is just something out of this world. If FR can take Hansu out, LHT might think of replacing him with more defensive and disciplined but still super-skilled players like Leksa94 or Hittihermu. How about the defense or their goalies? I see FR's FinKonna being the best goalie of this whole tournament and his effort will perhaps be the one thing that can take FR to the finals over LHT. I'm not saying LHT has bad goalie in Hiirulainen as he was one of the best goalies in NHL14 but still - FR has the edge in goalies. Defensively then again, LHT has more offensive D-men and that is the spot to hit for FR. Vatalisti and no matter who with him (either DieCutterMC or willekunq) will be the more offensive pairing here compared to FR's solid two-way machine ktwejh and JParola combined together. I need to say that of course no one plays as an individuals here but that is more than obvious when you play hockey on this level - just need to say it out loud here. Both side's D-men are capable of making that one play that decides the one goal game's result - will be interesting to see that which side is the better one to support their team offensively AND defensively. I want Game 7 - and I think that most of the community see LHT as "better" team here but after seeing both team in these playoffs and time before all this - I'm going to say that it's Finnish Roosters who advances to the finals beating Laser in Game 7. LHT-FR 3-4. Aapon Taikasauva - X Factor Preview, by The_Alpha_Furyan There is no shortage of star players in either series here and for this one, the regular season masters Aapon Taikasauva (fronted by joukki13, Puantso, indi969, jtorro123, puke85 and Zande95) faces an X Factor team (led by captain Nylanderi and his playoff squad Penatski, KingOfApes_, Vilupoika, F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_ and Danielcadabra) that has continually gotten better ever since the start of NHL 17. Having been eliminated by Aapon, I know first hand what they can bring to a playoff matchup. When needed, they can balance their offence to include their defensive players as well and take some pressure of their top line. This also creates difficulties for the opposing team in shutting them down as you can't just take away that joukki13 one-timer on the right side and call it a day. However, featuring both the top goal scorer and top assist maker this season, you can never underestimate Aapons forwards. This will be the big challenge for Nylanderi and FBI Andy on X Factors blueline. Speaking of X Factor, they continue to impress as a team. From being one of the "potential top teams" at the start of the season they have devoloped into a force to be reckoned with and a proven contender. As a team, they play a similarly creative offensive style as Aapon - meaning this series has the potential to blow up a bit and be somewhat higher scoring than what we've seen in the playoffs thus far. To me, this one will come down to goaltending with the matchup between Danielcadabra and Zande95. If either one falters and fails to live up to the expectations they've set through their terrific playoff runs so far, that could decide the entire series. Seeing as both teams forwards are like sharks - if they smell blood in the water they will attack again and again - I wouldn't want to be in either goalies shoes for this series. Ultimately, I got to give this tone to Aapon as their offense if just too overwhelming to shut down over a lengthy playoff series. 4-2 series win, Aapon Taikasauva. Both pairs start their games tonight - as XF-Aapo goes live on 20:00CET and LHT-FR start their games on 21:00CET. Find their streams on NHLGamer's front page or in the chatbox later tonight! That's all from us right now, dont forget to subscribe to our various social media channels to show your support; Twitter: https://twitter.com/nhlgamercom Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NHLGamer/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch PS4: Search for community: "NHL Gamer" On behalf of the NHLGamer staff, The_Alpha_Furyan & vSilenttio