Ice Hockey club, IFK Helsinki has announced that they have taken their first steps in organizing their own eSports team. The club has put together a team to compete in Overwatch. Under the name, Helsinki REDS, the club strives to became one of the leading and most recognizable brands in eSports, while also giving its players a space for them to compete to their fullest potential in the game.
The team was put together by team manager, Christer Kasurinen and team captain Roope “Ruape” Kurkela. Posting not he teams new website, Kasurinen describes the process of organizing the team and what his expectations for future endeavors. He states, “Building the team with a relatively fast pace was a challenge, but with the lead of our team captain Roope Kurkela, we were able to obtain four of the core players relatively fast. We took our time with the last member and found our team’s youngest player Toni ‘Effix’ Hurme, who is certainly going to turn some heads in the coming months. The ‘Original Six’ is everything we could expect from a top tier team and I am really looking forward to our cooperation for the upcoming future”
To help them on their way to achieving their goals, the team has announced their partnership with Jimm’s, one of Finland’s leading custom computer manufacturers. They have also received a sponsorship with Battery Energy Drink also.
The team is excited that older traditional sports clubs are opening up to the idea of eSports and are also excited to have brought in such influential sponsors to aid them in making their organization stronger.
As of now, the Team’s lineup is as follows:
- Roope “Ruape” Kurkela (Captain)
- Eemeli “Woomera” Ikonen
- Miika “BBR” Tekoniemi
- Toni “Effix” Hurme
- Jani “Exceed” Kosonen
- Ville “prettyWise” Mikkonen
We expect to see great things from the Helsinki REDS in the future.