Finnish Hockey team IFK Helsinki have announced that they are taking steps into the world of esports by launching their own Overwatch team by the name of Helsinki REDS.
Their goals are nothing short of ambitious, as in the announcement they said: "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."
During the last few months team captain Roope "Ruape" Kurkela has assembled some players for the team, along with manager Christer Kasurinen, and training started last month. The team lineup is as follow:
Roope "Ruape" Kurkela (Captain)
Eemeli "Woomera" Ikonen
Miika "BBR" Tekoniemi
Toni "Effix" Hurme
Jani "Exceed" Kosonen
Ville "prettyWise" Mikkonen
Christer Kasurinen said: "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."
Does IFK Helsinki's venture into esports surprise you?