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The end of the line. That's where we've come. Season 7 of ECL Elite consisted of 15 teams in total, fighting tooth and nail for each and every point available. The regular season was tougher than ever - no, that isn't an overstatement. We were treated to exciting matchups all the way to the end as the last regular season matchups were decisive for the outcome of the regular season winner, as well as regulation matchups and the very last few available playoff spots. Your ECL 7 Elite Final matchup: (1) FILADELPHIA - Symphony (2) In competitive matchups, FILADELPHIA and Symphony have gone head-to-head a total of six times within the last few months, game wins being tied at 3-3 as it stands currently. FILA managed to overcome SYM in two games during the Finnish Championship Semifinals, but it's worth noting that SYM has swapped centerman @ADETIKKI for @tbnantti since. Their more recent ECL games ended 2-0 and 3-2 in favor of SYM, meaning FILA is yet to win against Symphony 2.0. @Eki and @PleeMaker of the FILA lineup have a big weekend behind them, with some tight 1vs1 games in the Finnish Championships that eventually had the pair meet in the Finals, where Eki was able to come out on top and win the title. We'll see if the wear of grinding live games for a day straight is still taking its toll as the big ECL games start tonight. It's an interesting game FILA plays, as their tasks are rather nicely divided on the ice. They have a more defensive defenseman in @Janzuh, who controls the pace of the game at appropriate times whereas his partner @vatalisti is the more offensive part we get to see more of on the breakout. Wingers Eki and Plee link up beautifully while "Mr. Selke" @Patzlaf hangs back and provides danger coming in the second wave. @Zande95 has been the brick wall we are used to seeing in net. Symphony's gone through an intriguing development during the season. They went from being just a shell of the former SJK eSports to an Finnish Championship (IS Cup 3) bronze medalist to an ECL Finalist. Some would call that a decent development curve, which is exactly what I'm doing in this preview. Their opponent is absolutely stacked to the gills with talent, but so is Symphony. Goaltender @ICappeI has been dominating the competition, setting a new Elite regular season record of 8 shutouts in 10 games. I don't regard their defense with @vSilenttio and @Ilmari_30 as balanced as FILA's counterpart, but the duo has still proven that they can swing against the best of them. @tbnantti at center seems to be what the doctor ordered for Symphony as the team has consistently improved since his addition. A few interesting notes stat-wise are that Symphony is the more physical team of the two, with especially Puantso and vSilenttio leading the way in that department. The explanation for this might be that FILA is controlling the puck more in most of their matchups. FILA seems to shoot slightly more than Symphony, as the shots for differential is 110 to 92 in favor of FILA in the playoffs so far. This is really a tough battle that can go either way and neither team winning would be an upset. FILA has, however managed to build quite the winning culture both as a team and for their individual players and head into the series as the favorite. Our prediction: FILADELHPIA wins 4-2 FILADELPHIA starting lineup evaluated by @ICappeI LW @PleeMaker 9GP, 7+12=19 FILADELPHIA's best player. Always a threat when he has the puck. C @Patzlaf 9GP, 7+5=12 Mr. Selke. Great two-way player. RW @Eki 9GP, 6+10=16 Also a great two-way player, who’s linking up good with Plee. LD @Janzuh 9GP, 0+3=3 Their most experienced guy. A calm player who doesn’t do a lot of mistakes. RD @vatalisti 9GP, 1+5=6 The best offensive d-man in the game. Will be interesting to see if he can handle Hans Moleman. (Puantso) G @sibeelius 7GP, 7W, 91.89 SV%, 0.42 GAA, 4 SO Amazing G! Looking forward to play against him. I think that both of us is going to face our most difficult challenge of the season in this series. Vatalisti scored the decisive goal of the Finnish Championship 6vs6 finals. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Symphony starting lineup evaluated by @Eki LW @Buantso 9GP, 6+8=14 The best player in symphony and one of the best players in the game . You can see he was born in a hockey family 🙂 C @tbnantti 9GP, 7+10=17 Symphony started playing better as soon as Antti started playing. Is that a coincidence? I don't think so. RW @indi969 9GP, 7+4=11 Solid two way forward. Very easy player to play with. LD @vSilenttio 9GP, 0+11=11 Good sense of humor. RD @Ilmari_30 9GP, 2+5=7 Very good offensive defenseman, one of the best in the game. But could improve defensively. G @ICappeI 7GP, 7W, 94.44 SV%, 0.57 GAA, 4 SO The 2nd best goalie in the game. Haven't really been tested this year so I'm interested to see how he does in the Finals. Symphony finished 3rd in the Finnish Championships and have a chance to go all the way in ECL 7. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) How to watch the finals? All of the ECL Elite Finals will be broadcasted with English commentary on our Twitch channel, which can be found at twitch.tv/NHLGamer, be sure to join us for the action! Schedule for the finals: Game 1: Monday, 17th of December 20:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Game 2: Monday, 17th of December 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA vs Symphony Game 3: Tuesday, 18th of December 20:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Game 4: Tuesday, 18th of December 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA vs Symphony Game 5: Thursday, 20th of December 20:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Game 6: Thursday, 20th of December 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA vs Symphony Game 7: Thursday, 20th of December 21:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Tonight's matchups for games 1 & 2 What are your expectations for the games? Let us know your thoughts below!

FILADELPHIA is our IS Cup 3: 6vs6 eSM champion! (Picture courtesy of Jussi Jääskeläinen) What a weekend, gamers! GameXpo is now in the books and we can surely say it was a success. Saturday was the end of IS Cup 3 6vs6 and we set all kinds of records! It was most definitely a great stepping stone for the whole 6vs6 community. On behalf of NHLGamer, I’d like to thank everyone who showed up either to the event or joined via stream. Also a massive shoutout to everyone who helped out with the production of the event. Although we faced some adversity, our persistence prevailed and we were able to bring you what we are now proud to call the biggest event in NHL 6vs6 ever so far. While the stakes were high, the players were enjoying themselves. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Late on Saturday night, FILADELPHIA was crowned the champions of IS Cup 3: 6vs6 eSM. They are the first ever 6vs6 Finnish champions. FILADELPHIA’s road to the cup: 10 wins, 1 loss and 1 overtime loss earned FILA a 2nd place behind Symphony in their group. Their one loss came in a 1-0 game against Symphony, who they later swept in dominant fashion in the semi-finals. @PleeMaker led the team in scoring through the group stage with 20+10 combining for a total of 30 points. FILA was coming in very confident into the finals event at Messukeskus, as captain @Patzlaf stated in an interview for Ilta-Sanomat that nobody is going to stop them from winning the tournament. FILADELPHIA played their semi-final against Symphony, who managed to steal points from them in the group stage. This time, FILA came out strong right from the get-go and were determined to send their competition home quick. The first game ended up being tightly contested and ended in a 2-1 win for FILA, with an impressive amount of people watching the game both at the event and on stream. The boys in orange also managed to win the second game, now with a larger score margin, 4-1. FILA was now in for a short break as the bronze game was taking place before the finals. The final series were extremely even and long, the players had to focus for an extended amount of time. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) The finals were a different kind of spectacle for sure. I think it's safe to say we've never seen two teams matching up that well agains each other. All games went into OT and a total of only five goals were scored over the around 15 periods of hockey played. FILA won the first game as right wing @Eki opened the scoring of the IS Cup 3 6vs6 finals early in the first overtime period. The second game of the finals was one for the ages. Both teams went at it full-force and Written In The Stars had came back to play with their backs against the wall. FILA drew first blood and they looked like certain champions but SKY had different thoughts as they tied the game two minutes before the buzzer. Regular time ended 1-1 and we headed into overtime again. The teams played through five scoreless periods despite several scoring chances and bouncing pucks around the crease, only to see SKY right wing @Dominointi bury the series-tying goal in 6th overtime. What a thriller! There was still one decisive game left, both teams very exhausted but ready to go head-to-head for the trophy and a whole lot of cash that comes with it. We saw no surprise as it was yet agains a very tightly contested battle and both teams showed excellent defensive play and outstanding patience with the puck. It took 2nd overtime in game 3 to decide our IS Cup 3 6vs6 champion as @vatalisti, the right defenseman of FILA blasted a rocket from the blueline. The puck chipped the left post and crossed the line at 8:45 into double overtime of game 3 and we had a champion! Vatalisti scored the decisive goal of the IS Cup 3 6vs6 finals. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) 1. FILADELPHIA 🥇 Championship roster: Forwards Patzlaf (C) @Patzlaf 🥇 I_Eki_I (A) @Eki 🥇 PleeMaker @PleeMaker 🥇 mikaasi @mikaasi 🥇 FIN_Potilas @FIN_Potilas 🥇 Defensemen vatalisti @vatalisti 🥇 Janzuh @Janzuh 🥇 oGBioLan @oGBioLan 🥇 Goaltenders FinKonna (A) @FinKonna 🥇 Zande95 @sibeelius 🥇 2. Written In The Stars 🥈 Written In The Stars had to settle for second place this time - despite their great effort. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Forwards Dominointi (A) @Dominointi 🥈 FlyerKungen (C) @FlyerKungen 🥈 Bugimir @Bugimir 🥈 topikeranen @topikeranen 🥈 Defensemen jtorro1234 (A) @jtorro1233 🥈 willekunq @willekunq 🥈 JOHTAJAVIRTANEN @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN 🥈 VesKuLiNe @VesKuLiNe 🥈 Goaltenders JANURI98 @JanneK. 🥈 Hansulinho @Hansulinho 🥈 3. Symphony 🥉 Symphony managed to win the bronze game and secure the bronze medal. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Forwards ADETIKKI @ADETIKKI 🥉 indi969 (C) @indi969 🥉 Puantso (A) @Buantso 🥉 Defensemen vSilenttio (A) @vSilenttio 🥉 Ilmari_30 @Ilmari_30 🥉 Entii112 @entii112 🥉 Goaltenders Laurilion @Lauri 🥉 Results of IS Cup 3: 6vs6 eSM Semi-final: Written In The Stars - Dynasty 2-0 (5-0, 3-2 OT) Semi-final: FILADELPHIA - Symphony 2-0 (2-1, 4-1) Bronze game: Symphony - Dynasty 2-0 Final: Written In The Stars - FILADELPHIA 1-2 (0-1 OT, 2-1 OT, 0-1 OT) IS Cup 3 ended in a disappointing 4th place for Dynasty (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Once again, thanks to all the teams, viewers, staff and everyone who in some way participated in the event. We made history and we will continue on that path onto even greater things to come. Also, congratulations to FILADELPHIA as the recent IS Cup 3 6vs6 champions!

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!

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. New name, new roster, new style, new captain… you get the picture. After winning ECL 4 there were perhaps mumblings about how likely Laser HT would be able to repeat such a feat, especially considering the quite frankly preposterous numbers that @Dominointi was able to put up (94pts in the regular season and 39pts in 17 for the playoffs). Obviously, there was some truth to the speculation as they made the finals for a second straight season but could only manage to win one game against a very dominant Aapon Taikasauva. They then went on to whimper out in 5 games to Dynasty in the first round of ECL 6. These lacklustre results paved the way for an exodus of players from SJK over the summer, leaving but 5 players behind. After the dust had settled, @indi969, @ICappeI, @Ilmari_30, @Selarit and @Lauri were faced with the daunting task of putting together a team that, at the very least, could compete in Elite. As such, unlike a lot of teams in Elite this season, Symphony has a quite uncommonly high player turnover, so with that in mind to help us gain an understanding of who has joined and left the team, we have contacted their captain indi969 and new addition @vSilenttio to give us a snapshot of how they are coming along in their preparation for ECL 7. IN ADETIKKI <-- Written In The Stars Puantso <-- Dynasty Tbnantti <-- Northern Stars Entii112 <-- Nordic Stars nylanderi <-- Break from NHL vsilenttio <-- SIKA OUT Dominointi --> Written In The Stars Hansulinho --> Written In The Stars VesKuLiNe --> Written In The Stars OriginalPumaz --> Dynasty Leksa94 --> Dynasty Current roster: Forwards ADETIKKI @ADETIKKI indi969 (C) @indi969 Puantso (A) @Buantso tbnantti @tbnantti Defensemen vSilenttio @vSilenttio nylanderi @nylanderi Ilmari_30 @Ilmari_30 Entii112 @entii112 Selarit @Selarit Goaltenders ICappeI (A) @ICappeI Laurilion @Lauri As the “old but new” team in elite (with plenty of top tier elite talent to boot) how are you approaching your debut season and what was the logic behind your offseason moves? @indi969: I think we have a really good team at the moment, consisting of lots of old SJK players and lots of new guys also. I think we can go really far in this next tournament. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? If you are indeed finalised, what will your starting line-up look like? @indi969: At the moment, I'm not 100% sure are we done yet and i don't know about the starting lineup. It'll remain to be seen! With all of this in mind, what are your expectations for the upcoming season? And who do you think are the current favourites to win it all? @indi969: There are many good teams in Elite this year, i think its gonna be harder than ever to win this next tournament. We are of course trying to do it. For favourites it's too lame to say your own team so I'm gonna go with Written In The Stars Symphony had probably the largest player turnover in Elite this offseason, surely many players knew each other from before, but how have the guys started gelling and building chemistry? As a new guy, how easy was it to join the team? @vSilenttio: I joined the team in April, so there's been some time to get to know the guys. We've been working on our chemistry hard all summer, you know, defensive positioning and all that stuff. I'll be blunt and say that it was a bit tough coming into a totally new team where the game speed and overall expected level of play was at a totally new level. However now as things have started rolling, I'd say I haven't had this much fun with this game since maybe NHL 14 and ECL 3. I'd like to extend a massive thanks to the team captains for making it so easy for the new guys to join the team! You're making your first strides on the Elite ice after quite a while this season, for the first time in a team with somewhat high expectations. What kind of thoughts does that bring to mind and how do you expect Symphony to handle this season? @vSilenttio: That's something I've thought about myself too. What kind of impact am I going to be able to make after a few seasons spent in Pro, and I didn't really play as much as I've wanted during NHL 18. At least the expectations are very different than ever before, and the IS Cup has started very well, so mine are high too. In the ECL, our only goal is the championship. Every guy is zoned in and gives a 100% every night, the work ethic and the morale within the team is what I've always wanted, so I'm sensing good things. Thanks indi & Sile for your answers and good luck with the upcoming season! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. Symphony 5. Dynasty 6. Northern Ascendancy 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty What do you guys think the top 3 will look like?