Autumn Open 2021 Review

February! Not the month you expect to read the fall championship review, right? But that's life, and life is full of pleasant surprises.

Autumn Open 2021, which ended the second season of the EHL, is over. Let's look back and remember how the teams got through the biggest tournament of recent years.

Personal awards for the tourney are here.
The tournament preview is here.

10th place. Ruffles Team

The guys from Ruffles, guests from the mysterious MBHL, finally joined our community and once again participated in our tournament. Unfortunately, the roster led by Slender#37 failed to get their first points in the EHL.

But the team can bring a lot of good things to its asset. The Ruffles Team fought with every opponent and managed to score almost everyone, showed themselves to be a well-coordinated and united crew with great potential, got heavy experience at the highest level. We saw and remembered many new names: dro9, RakKrab228, lord guzlik, Foucardek, Slender#37, Muges. We especially want to note three matches – in the games against Pizza Kings, O Block and Candy Cane, the guys fought on equal terms and could well take points if luck was on their side.

We believe that the guys have a great future in hockey, and they actively confirm this. Most of the Ruffles train steadily on the ranked server, the squad continues to grow (Slender has already created Ruffles B, other letters are on the way), some players have attracted the attention of more famous teams. At the qualifying tourney for Season 3, the team has already shown more confident hockey, but more on that another time.

9th place. Pizza Kings

Autumn Open became the most successful EHL tournament for our Hungarian friends – they scored 11 points and defeated as many as two opponents. But first things first.

Pizza Kings changed their lineup approach, bringing in foreign players from other countries and leaving most of the Hungarian fighters in reserve (these guys would later split from PZK to recreate the New Orleans Noobies). As a result, we saw a rather organized and skillful team with Marci at goal, Just Luck No Skill and DaP in defense, good old MigoMipo as the main striker. Of course, the team still has to gain muscles, but they have already proved to be able to butt heads with larger enemies and take points from them.

Having immediately started with a victory over Ruffles, Kings of Pizza went on a losing streak, but they already had a style – the guys focused on massive but competent defense, and Migo, with the support of DaP, ran into smashing counterattacks (everyone knows about his dangerous shots). The team's potential showed up already in the duel with O Block (in the first game, the pizza men scored 4 goals and were close to a draw), but then we had a battle with Candy Cane and the main sensation of the tournament. Pizza Kings did not break under the pressure of the playoff contender, punished him for mistakes over and over again and deservedly took 5 points out of 6.

Pizza plans to develop further, and we believe in a bright future for the team. Right after the tourney, DaP continued to make targeted changes in the roster, which increased the offensive potential and allowed them to gradually move away from defensive tactics. Let's see what the pizza guys will show in 2022.

8th place. Lemons

Lemons, who lost a couple of key players before the tournament, could not answer the main question – “how will we play now”. The result was an unusually low eighth place for them.

It can be said that the team had a very unstable tourney, having failed to find its hockey – despite the fact that it had a fairly strong line-up without any weaknesses. Unnamed and W on the net, Pogs and Gud in the defense, the AndrewGaze-Jeydon-Shpok trio in the attack – these guys sounded more powerful than many by their names, but unfortunately failed to show it in practice, losing both to tops and to direct competitors.

There were also bright moments, for example, in the games against ALL and NU, Lemons had a great start and led for a long time. But it ended the same way: a couple of missed goals, dismorality, loss of mood and game structure, a quick defeat. The most dramatic match was against Candy Cane, in which LMN fought like lions and strived to the end, but lost and said goodbye to playoff chances.

Immediately after the Autumn Open, several hockey players left the team, which forced Gaze to reassemble the roster once again. Looking ahead, we'll say that it worked, and the citrus dudes finally played more confidently. We hope that Lemons eventually left their problems in the past year.

7th place. Candy Cane

A step away from the playoff zone, the suddenly resurrected Candy Cane stopped. No one expected any feats from the guys, and they were able to surprise.

CC started the tournament right off the bat, splitting points first with Bandits and then with O Block. The team visibly leaned towards individual style (with all the pros and cons of such an approach), defiantly challenging the nominally stronger teams. The whole mess culminated in a battle with Lemons (from which Candy Cane came out victorious), but the denouement was not so fun – just one point in close matches against Alliance and Pizza, a missed opportunity to jump into sixth place. Nevertheless, it was a glorious attempt.

The core formed on the tournament is responsible for the strong performance: SlenderMan suddenly discovered his talent as a goalie, angel together with tima#15 started attacks, and Kredo with hot showed themselves to be excellent finishers. Unfortunately, we will no longer see this gang together – they went to different teams, free agents and armies. But we will definitely remember the bright tournament they held.

5-6th place. O Block

Another team that appeared in the EHL right before the tourney. Having merrily flown into the information field, the guys continued merrily on the ice, reaching the quarterfinals on their first attempt. Quite good.

The main feature of the team was the uncompromising rotation. 72snake constantly changed the roster, trying to give each of the oblocks maximum playing time. The main goalkeeper, for example, was Novastar19 from Canada (not the most obvious choice, which in the end proved to be pretty good). The second main feature is a slightly crazy attacking style that allowed O Block to score on par with the top four, but concede on par with the bottom.

All this resulted in a series of interesting matches. O Block effortlessly dealt with the underdogs (not forgetting to let them play and score), shared points with neighbors Candy Cane and The Bandits (in games with an abundance of goals) and failed again and again against the favorites. Ironically, the team showed the most consistent hockey in the last match of the tournament – in the quarterfinals, Nordics met with a new scheme with Tidge at the forefront of attack, good implementation, attentive and tenacious defense. But for O Block, this battle still ended in defeat, and the team went home.

The match against NU was the last for O Block and in a more global sense - they most likely will not perform in the EHL Season 3. As in the case of Candy Cane, part of the team ended the loan period, part went to other clubs, and Captain Snake went to conquer new heights by joining Alliance. Let's hope that sometime in the future we will see a reunion of these gangsters.

5-6th place. The Bandits

The second team that did not manage to overcome the quarter-final stage was The Bandits.

We can say that Bandits could not surprise with much. A cohesive and fairly effective defense, an emphasis on combinational hockey, but at the same time there were too few problems delivered to the top teams. The exception was one of the games with Alliance at the group stage (due to this victory, BND managed to bypass O Block), but the same Alliance did not notice the opponent at all in the playoffs, crushing them completely. We can only mention the veteran Dr.Pivo, who confidently played the entire tournament in defense, and Panda, who took part in almost every goal attack of Bandits. But they were not able to show themselves in 1/4 at all.

Autumn Open posed more questions to the team than it answered. Will the guys be able to qualitatively improve the stability and level of the game in order to counter the bigger players? Will they have to change tactics for this, and will their current resources be enough? We'll see in the new season.

3-4th place. Alliance

Alliance was considered by many to be one of the favorites for the upcoming tourney. Bright individually strong players in good shape, noticeable attacking power. Overall, they lived up to those expectations with a strong semi-final against Oscars, but let's talk about everything in order.

The guys exchanged victories with NU in the opening match of the Autumn Open, and then continued to show their hockey and win. Yes, there was a misfire in the second game against Bandits, but the team dominated here too, it was just unlucky in some way. Zaripov#25, leading the team in most attacks, Frisbee and 3sqa helping him, traditionally reliable Federico – Alliance dealt with each new opponent, almost without feeling resistance.

Things started to change a little after the equator of the group stage: the players seemed to have lost their tone, the opponents adapted and started to close Zaripov, the team went haywire and started to lose. First there were The Oscars – no one will blame you for losing to them, but we didn’t see much of a struggle either – and then there were Ice Creamers and another loss, including an unexpected 0-7 in the first game. IC completely neutralized the captain, and with him the entire offensive potential of the Alliance. Fourth place in the group, loss of 3sqa, vague prospects for the playoffs.

But ALL managed to pleasantly surprise. By the final starts, the guys got back in shape, and the veterans Wolk and Bure#10 returned to the roster, making the attack less predictable. At first, the Alliance simply swept away Bandits, and then hacked to death with Oscars, giving us one of the most dramatic games of the tournament (winning by a margin a couple of minutes before the end, but failing to keep the advantage).

The guys left the tournament after the semifinals, but they did it with their heads up and good prospects for the future. Helping them in this future will be the newly signed 72snake, who has increased the number of strong dribblers in the team to some indecent numbers.

3-4th place. Nordic Union

The second set of bronze medals is taken by NU – perhaps the main antagonists of Alliance in terms of attacking style. After being absent from the previous tournament, Nordics approached the Autumn Open fully armed, having strengthened their roster and got in good shape at scrims.

We saw the good old Nordic Union: the emphasis on combination play and lack of attachment to positions, the rejection of dribbling and long-range shots, an equal fight with other top teams and a slight beat of smaller teams. The place at the gate was staked out by the newcomer of the team named Stegen, the usual trio ryan-egorka-Dkato had fun in the field, and Torres (more often), Erthe and Nando (less often) were helping them. Nordics confidently scored points, exchanged victories with ALL and IC, and also looked decent in one of the games against OSC (leading the score for a long time and holding back the formidable opponent with pressure). The team finished the group in third place and had good prospects to reach the finals.

However, the downside of NU hockey – some predictability and the denial of plan B – played a cruel joke on them. In the moments when the guys’ signature passes stopped working in the attack, they sharply turned out to be vulnerable - and if in the fights with Lemons in the group and O Block in 1/4 the class difference still played the main role, Ice Creamers was too tough nut to crack. The match in the semifinals turned out to be a continuation of the second game in the group (which ended with a score of 0-2): IC defended massively and intercepted all directions for passes, anticipating the actions of opponents; NU, in turn, failed to invent anything. We do not know exactly what caused the weak hockey, but the fact remains that the most intriguing semi-final ended in a complete defeat for Nordics.

The future will show whether the team will want to change somehow, or will not deviate from their principles, honing their hallmark trick for the ten thousandth time. But they will have to deal with emptied reserves – immediately after the tourney, Nando and Torres went to revive Puck Fuckers. In any case, it will be interesting to follow Nordic Union in the new season.

2nd place. Ice Creamers

The silver of the tournament is taken by IC, who recently returned to the league after a long break, for the second time in a row.

Unlike the competitors in the four, the bookmakers did not give IC much chance of success – the guys started training too late, and the friendly matches they managed to play did not give confidence in the current strength of the team. Ice Creamers began to shame all the critics and punish the haters from the very first game, quickly getting in shape and becoming a real machine during the tourney. Confident earning of points allowed the team to directly reach the semifinals, and a strong game against Nordics allowed them to get into the decisive Autumn Open match.

Icecream makers traditionally do not favor rotation, and good results are the merit of the main four players: DeadMouse, out of habit, shone at the goal; Jobson led the defense and cut off the air for everyone, getting the best defender prize; Ricky showed an enviable implementation, scoring thousands of goals; Lilipotto performed well throughout the court, becoming the third star of the tournament. It is also worth noting jERS, who showed himself great in the final, coming out during the match and helping the team with a confident game.

The main surprise that IC prepared is a new tactic in matches with top teams – playing on defense and avoiding high pressure (at least two players immediately went down to their zone when the puck has been lost), fast dangerous counterattacks. Someone will call it parking a bus, but we will express respect for the interesting approach, high-level organization (a usual feature of IC), unmistakable defense and cool finishing of the attacking duo Ricky & Lilipotto. All this allowed the team to completely outplay opponents in important matches: the crush of Alliance and 2-0 game against NU in the group, a well-deserved victory in the semi-final against the same Nordics.

Ice Creamers dealt with each of the rivals, except for the main one, The Oscars. Although, to give the guys their due, they were the closest to this – they managed to resist every time, and 2 out of 5 games ended in overtime. If not for Oscars, IC's players deserved gold, both in the team and individual classifications. And despite the fact that DeadMouse left the team after the tourney, there is a feeling that IC (with their tactical flexibility and strong performers) are on the right track.

1st place. The Oscars

A streak of 52 wins in a row, zero losses all season and a bunch of new personal records. Alright, we are talking about these guys from The Oscars.

Without going into details, we saw a continuation of what the team was doing before. The duo of the best players of recent months niko & vaiber tore apart the opponents' defense; oree, freed from participation in the attack, confidently cleaned up in the defense; Howl showed his class every time the need arose. The Oscars ruled the pace of the games out of habit and dominated every match, and the chemistry between niko and the finally strengthened vaiber allowed them to create, as if not noticing resistance. The guys are writing history by taking the effectiveness of the game to some new level.

The rest of the teams have not found an antidote to such hockey, but it must be said that Oscars also had problems. With each of the top opponents, OSC had situations when the game stalled, goals were conceded, and return goals were not scored at all. And every time the team (mostly by the efforts of the captain) still turned on at full capacity and showed a strong-willed comeback, smelled blood and confidently dealt with the enemy in the next game. Whatever the cause of such incidents – the pressure of the opponent, the excitement, the lack of warming up – the reaction to these problems was truly champion.

What will happen to Oscars in the new season? Good question, reader. So far, the team is only strengthening the roster – with DeadMouse returning from IC and another bright techie frisbi. There are no prerequisites for The Oscars to lose their level abruptly – the question is rather whether competitors will be able to reach this level. And now congratulations to OSC with a 100% result in EHL Season 2!

And now that's all for sure! It's time to say goodbye to the long Autumn Open, which gave a lot of emotions and took a lot of energy, and along with the second season of the EHL.

Season 3 will be even more interesting – several teams have joined the league, and now we are waiting for a firely games in two divisions at once.

Play hockey, love hockey, watch your posture and EHL!

Reviews of previous 2021 tournaments:
– EHL S1 Winter Open: vk.com/@hockeygamepro-zavershenie-pervogo-sezona-ehl;
– EHL S2 Champions Cup: teletype.in/@ehl/champions-cup-review-en;
– EHL S2 Rapid League: teletype.in/@ehl/rapid-league-review-en.

Full information on Autumn Open: bit.ly/ehl-season2-autumn-open.
Legendary EHL Discord Server: bit.ly/ehl-discord-server.