Champions Cup Review

The EHL Champions Cup is over! Eight teams fought each other in a fiery double knockout playoff. 32 games, 744 shots, 287 goals – there was a lot to see in July and we did. It's time to take a look around.

The first article of today’s evening is all about the teams, and how they performed throughout the tourney. Next up is individual players awards, so stay tuned for both!

7-8th places: Agents and The Bandits

It was a debut tournament for both teams, and few expected high places from them. The result is a knockout after the first two rounds.

Battles of The Bandits against Ice Creamers and Unity developed according to a similar scenario: a big defeat in the first match, a tough victory in the second, and a final defeat in the third. Agents were much less fortunate with the grid: to show something with the future prize-winners The Oscars and Lemons was initially too difficult a task.

Howbeit, the teams have gained invaluable experience, and we will be waiting for them at the next EHL tournaments.

Best matches: Agents (5:7) Lemons, The Bandits (4:3) Ice Creamers.
Top Players: The Promise (Agents), puzikjan (The Bandits).

5-6th places: Nordic Union and Unity

Unity burst into the infofield on both feet, failing to show up for the quarterfinals against Alliance. It was bad for them to fly into the lower bracket, but the players didn’t lose their spirit and showed some remarkable matches: they beat The Bandits without any problems and played pretty much equal games against Ice Creamers. Unity took the first game with IC, but lost in the next two, and left the tournament.

The current league finalists, Nordic Union, started the Champions Cup with a victory over Lemons (3:6, 7:4, 6:4), but after that they were beaten by Oscars and the same Lemons. And if in the semifinals against OSC the team was smashed, the games with Lemons in the lower bracket went in a completely different way. In both matches, NU began to burn in several goals, took the initiative and heroically tried to catch up with the opponent (and almost caught up), but the result was a defeat followed by elimination. We can talk about the unsuccessful draw for the Nordics, but Egorka definitely has something to think about before the autumn games (the team misses the August Rapid League).

Top scorers: MoNsTeR (Unity, 14 шайб), Dkato (NU, 10 шайб).
Best near-comeback: Nordic Union (6:7 OT) Lemons match and an epic dash from 3:6 to 6:6 in the last minute of regular time.

4th place: Ice Creamers

The most appropriate word to describe the tournament for Ice Creamers is “uneven”. It fits the general performance (2:1 vs Bandits, 0:2 vs Alliance, 2:1 vs Unity, 0:2 vs Lemons), and the course of these games – the team had to rebuild more than once during unsuccessful matches (Jobson began to play in the attack, Lilipotto got down to the goals, the attackers changed, etc.) The latter can speak both of the tactical flexibility and character of the players, and of the shortcomings of the original plan.

IC are back in the league after a long hiatus, and they have yet to find a balance in the game, and the players have yet to get back in shape. However, the team has already felt the taste of victories.

Best comeback: 2:1 after 0:1 versus Unity.
Best Substitute Goalkeeper: Lilipotto.
Best Jobson of the Tournament: Jobson.

3rd place: Lemons

Lemons decided to go through the tournament on hard mode, and they almost managed to reach the final through the lower bracket. After they got eliminated out there as a result of defeat from Nordic Union, Lemons continued the tournament brightly: they dealt with Agents, made a revenge with NU, and beat Ice Creamers (the team never lost in all these duels).

Despite frequent changes in the line-up, Lemons consistently showed high-quality and efficient hockey. In the matches against IC and Alliance, the team still found a permanent line-up: Unnamed saved a lot, Gudlevskis covered def, Tidge and 72snake created a lot of chances (and 52 goals for two).

In the main final of the lower bracket, Lemons fought very hard, but they just didn't have enough of that firepower they had throughout the whole tourney, so that they lost to Alliance (2:3, 6:2, 2:9). Still, it was a glorious hike and a well-deserved third place.

Most important goal: Tidge (overtime against NU).
Most dribbles: 72snake (1271648172 ones).
The main voice and soul of the company: W.

2nd place: Alliance

Alliance cheerfully made it through the tournament bracket, losing only twice, and both times to future champions. After a technical victory over Unity, the team convincingly beat the Ice Creamers, and after losing in the Upper Final they snatched a victory in the Consolidation Final against Lemons.

The unchanging four players were able to show confident and balanced hockey. Federico made a lot of difficult saves, Zaripov and Bure directed the attacks, Wolk successfully held the opponent back. At the same time, if necessary, the players changed roles – this can be seen from the equal statistics of scoring actions and was especially noticeable during the Grand Final, when, due to technical problems with Bure, Wolk became an unexpected leader of the attack.

Despite the defeat in the final, Alliance can consider the tourney a success and look positively into the future. Will the games between Alliance and The Oscars become the new classic of the EHL finals? We will be able to find out at the Autumn Open, which starts in September.

The most fiery match: the last game with the Lemons, when thanks to Zaripov's five goals, the team led 6:0, and then won 9:2.
The Hero and Anti-Hero of the final: Wolk.
Achievement “made 8 cool rescues in the last game of the tournament”: Federico.

1st place: The Oscars

The Oscars have shown exactly what was expected of them and take away the second EHL Cup in a row. Having smashed Agents and Nordic Union, the team met more resistance from Alliance, but did not allow others to doubt them, collecting nine wins out of nine in the end (and only one in overtime).

Confidence is the most accurate characteristic for Oscars, who played the strongest hockey in the tournament. Everyone contributed to this: Panda became the best assistant of the tournament (and scored a lot by himself); the newcomer of the team, VipeR, successfully linked defense with attack; DeadMouse again showed why he is called the best GK of the league in recent years. Niko deserves a special mention: he played in an unusual position for himself, RD, but confidently did his job, managing the team's play on all parts of the field.

Probably, the roster changes that happened to The Oscars after the tourney will make adjustments to their game. But at the moment we must state the team's dominance in the league and congratulate OSC on the well-deserved championship.

Most difficult-to-describe position on the ice: niko.
Eternal Realization Record of All Time: oree (100%).

That's all! Read the second article where we give out personal awards to the skaters. EHL Season 2 continues – in a few days the Rapid League, the first 5v5 tournament in the history of our championships, will begin. Stay tuned.

More statistics and detailed information about the tournament: bit.ly/ehl-season2-champions-cup.
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