Helsinki based ice hockey club IFK Helsinki is proud to announce its eSports project. The Club has launched a team that competes in Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment game published in spring of 2016. The team will compete under the name Helsinki REDS and uses the tag #hREDS on social media.
Helsinki REDS goal is to become one of the leading and most popular brands in eSports and to provide teams players a caring environment to enable them to achieve their goals in eSports.
Helsinki REDS first competitive team was assembled by team manager Christer Kasurinen and team captain Roope “Ruape” Kurkela. During the past few months they gathered a tight group of players committed to work hard and grow together as a team that is competitive at high level matches and tournaments.
Helsinki REDS first competitive roster into Overwatch is composed of top tier talent from Finland and has started its heavy training program in October.
Helsinki REDS team
Roope “Ruape” Kurkela (Captain)
Eemeli “Woomera” Ikonen
Miika “BBR” Tekoniemi
Toni “Effix” Hurme
Jani “Exceed” Kosonen
Ville “prettyWise” Mikkonen
“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”, says Christer Kasurinen, team manager of Helsinki REDS.
Helsinki REDS are also pleased to announce its partnership with Jimm’s, Finland’s leading manufacturer of customized computers.
“We are really excited that eSports has been finally noticed by the older traditional sports clubs here in Finland, and it has been taken into account like any other team sport. Although the growing industry has been noticed around the world, Finns are still at the forefront of the competition”, says Antti Järvinen, the CEO of Jimm’s. “We are really pleased of the fact that IFK Helsinki contacted Jimm’s when starting an eSports organization. Here at Jimm’s it is of the utmost importance that Finnish teams have the needed requirements and gear to develop themselves to be the best in the world. This is why we are involved with several Finnish teams in the role of equipment supplier and sponsor. We expect the Helsinki REDS partnership to grant us visibility in the growing eSports market and look forward to working with the team in our future events.”
Helsinki REDS are also proud to announce a significant partnership with Battery Energy Drink.
“We are extremely excited about this partnership and look forward to cooperating with the team and the organization behind it. eSports is growing fast and this is a fantastic opportunity for us to get involved with gaming”, says Laura Niskanen, brand manager of Battery Energy Drink.