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NHLGamers, The ECL 9 Lite season has progressed all the way to the Semifinals in which we're seeing two very exciting matchups. All of the teams that are left have been storming through playoffs with just a few losses each so we can say that the competition is ramping up to a level where there will be no easy games. All of the teams that are left have secured promotions to ECL Pro for next season. Now all that remains is to determine the final marching order and crowning a champion. Without further ado, let's get into the details of our semi's. The ECL 9 Lite Semifinals are to be played between Friday, January 17th and Sunday, January 26th. Here are the matchups for the Semifinals of the ECL 9 Lite playoffs: (2.) Mockba vs. Sulkavan Sudet (7.) Mockba has defeated teams that were ranked 31st, 32nd and 19th and now Sulkavan Sudet will be their first true challenge. They had no problems against GREED, Carolus Icemen and Hokurit even though many of their games have been decided by small goal differences. Sulkavan Sudet haven't lost a game in the playoffs. They destroyed DEG eSports in the first round of the playoffs with goal differential of +18 but after that, WEREWOLVES HC and offensively skilled Rookie Mistakes were more of a challenge to them even though both series ended in a sweep. Sulkavan Sudet have the top 2 regular season scorers @Oxdoggi (78 points) and @Kemppane_ (75 points) in their lineup. Mockba isn't as offensively skilled, but their team play and ''quarterback'' defenseman @riihimaenharski is a winning combination. Will the offense of Sulkavan Sudet overpower the fact that they have only seen average goaltending so far this season? Is Mockba ready for their first real challenge? Can Mockba frustrate their opponent with their chemistry and play style? Find out in the semifinals! (3.) Riven Johdolla vs. Clumsy Penguins (4.) Riven Johdolla has been the biggest surprise this ECL Lite season as their fairly inexperienced lineup had a strong regular season and in the playoffs have battled their way into the semifinals. @Vattu__ is the purest goal scorer this season in Lite after coming second in regular season goals with 37 notches and leading playoff goal scoring with 27 goals to his name. He also leads playoff scoring with 40 points and has a shooting percentage of over 40% this season. Pro experienced Clumsy Penguins have lost only one game in the playoffs and have had no problems advancing to the semifinals beating Saucer Hockey, Sack Brothers and Company of Geeks. @Jugi9 is tied for most penalties (20min) in the playoffs with the rest of Clumsy Penguins getting only 12 penalty minutes combined, but penalties may not be a problem for Clumsy Penguins since Riven Johdolla has only scored 4 power play goals in the playoffs. Which will prevail - experience or confidence? Can @Vattu__ continue his scoring? Can @Jugi9 stay out of the box and find a way to help his team in other areas? Find out when the games start! Who are you rooting for to win it all? Leave a comment down below!

NHLGamers, First they were 32 on the starting line, now remains only two that are about to face each other in the first ever ECL Neo Finals, played on Tuesday January 21st, in a best-of-5 final series. NHLGamer will be hosting a live broadcast of the entire series on Twitch. The broadcast will be starting at 19:00 CET and @Tougie24 together with @Cyn will be our casters that night, this is one you will not want to miss! Both teams are coming from Group 1 of the Neo division. TanssiiTuhtienKansa finished first with a record of 11-2-3 and Olympia came in just behind with a record of 11-3-2. Points in the groupstage were distributed evenly: 5-2 TanssiiTuhtienKansa then 3-0 Olympia for two points each. We decided to ask some questions from the team Captains ahead of the matchup: Can you shortly present your team and its history? @Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Olympia was founded just a couple of weeks before ECL 9 started. I've been playing the game since forever, but never played ECL before because of lack of time. I've been on the leaderboards in HUT, I've been undefeated 50-0-0 and it was time to actually do something serious. I guess I wanted to prove myself that I can. Instead of going to a higher tier division I wanted to start in Neo with my own team for the first time. I recruited @SWE_KARLSSON16 and @Bloodymess at an early stage and from there we created what we have now." @Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "We have a great group of close friends in TanssiiTuhtienKansa. We created the team in NHL19 but we mostly played without a goalkeeper and 3's. There has been some roster changes along time but the core hasn't changed. We started playing competitive games in IS Cup 4 and we all love it despite the fact that we played terrible. We started to develop after really creating our game system. There is still a lot of work to do but we are eager to learn new and our goal is to play Pro in ECL 11. We are not the typical six persons team which always plays with the same roster. There are nine important pieces in our team at the moment. We will for sure change things around for the finals as well." What about the group phase, was it close? @Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "We never played together before, all of us are new to each other. @BeastBenn14 (C) and @Teamplayer (LD) came in later. So as a group i think we definitely grew closer. I think I grew a lot as person by leading a team as a Captain although I'm familiar with that from real life already. Hating to lose sometimes shifted focus to negative, which could be improved. I think the groupstage was just the start for us. Now we have adapted to a playstyle that works and made a lot of progress." @Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "As you can see both finalists are from the same group, that was definitely not the easiest one. It was a close group and I think there were many good teams left out of the playoffs. After all I think it was great for us because the tight games are the ones which improve you the most." Same for the playoffs phase, how do you see your run so far? @Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Playoffs have really been a turning point, being seeded eighth into the playoffs we met in my opinion some of the toughest opponents. I think we only lost two games and I thought they were pretty ridiculous losses to be honest. Our goal was to reach the playoffs, we did. Then we took one step at a time and really wanted to play in the semifinals. Against Kuutamokiekko we knew it was going to be tough, @Tsikago is a skilled and a good guy, they have a lot of good players. We really played our best hockey and swept them 3-0 and here we are, in the finals in our first ever run." @Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "The playoff phase is always tight because everyone who has gone that far has already shown their skill. We have had some bad games along the playoffs but we have proven that we can play great when it's our life on the line." What kind of games are you expecting during the finals? @Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Against TanssiiTuhtienKansa I expect a skilful round, to be honest some games I've just wished for the game to end so it's nice to get this challenge. Some play styles are just really weary to play against. TanssiiTuhtienKansa is a good team, they have skilful players, but so do we. I hope to see good offense, good defense and some nice goals scored from us of course!" @Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "Olympia is a great team. They play pretty tight, they are skilled in the offensive zone on the ice and they also read game situations really good. We need to be ready for the game before the puck hits the ice and I think we also need to play a bit simpler than usually. I'm expecting tight games which include fast hockey and lots of goals." Explain why your team will be the first ECL Neo Champ? @Hagerstrom_99, Olympia: "Olympia has the best goaltending and top tier players, we have players who really can change a game on their own. I know if we play the way we can, it's going to be tough beating us. We're proud to be here, but we won't stop until we are named Champions. Expect us." @Unrealhave, TanssiiTuhtienKansa: "We are a team, not just a bunch of individuals and we all believe on our game system. I think the main reason for being in this position is that we are always willing to find solutions on problems. We always try to improve our play and never play games without thinking of what we can do better. Within the group of friends we have a great team spirit. We always have fun when we play and we stay in touch with each other on a daily basis so even though we take the game seriously it's always a great way to spend some time with friends, especially now when some of the guys have moved to different cities. We also have a great mix of different kind of players who bring different things to the table. We have always succeeded when we have needed it, so we are confident that will be the atmosphere in the finals as well." The road to the finals Olympia 2nd seed of Group 1 / 11-3-2 (8th seed in total) Biggest win: 13-1 (Varissuon Toverit) Biggest loss: 2-5 (TanssiiTuhtienKansa) 67 GF / 34 GA / 40 % PP / 193 hits 1st round Kulmalahengaus: 3-1 2nd round Eliel Kings: 3-1 3rd round Kuutamokiekko: 3-0 Team leaders 1. @Hagerstrom_99 85 pts (46+39) 2. @SWE_KARLSSON16: 63 pts (39+24) 3. @BeastBenn14: 39 pts (8+31) Goaltending @Bloodymess: 85 % / 2.14 GAA / 1 SO (Playoffs 80.85 % / 2.25 GAA / 1 SO) THE KEY POINT : A deadly powerplay with a 40% success rate. TanssiiTuhtienKansa 1st seed of Group 1 / 11-2-3 (4th seed in total) Biggest win : 6-0 (Mustangs) Biggest lost : 0-3 (Olympia) 62 GF / 44 GA / 17.65 % PP / 89 hits 1st round MAD Knogmackers: 3-0 2nd round EIS Force Hockey: 3-2 3rd round Seinajoki Noms: 3-2 Team leaders 1. @Unrealhave: 86 pts (35+51) 2. @Valtter1111 : 82 pts (45+37) 3. @Wilhooo13 : 36 pts (17+19) Goaltending @Juhned32: 84.96 % / 2.13 GAA / 1 SO (playoffs : 88.37 % / 1.36 GAA / 2 SO) @Häkä : 76.52 % / 3.38 GAA / 1 SO (playoffs : 86.49 % / 2.5 GAA) THE KEY POINT : Four overtime victories since the start of the contest A massive thanks to @Hagerstrom_99 and @Unrealhave for being available to answer all questions. Good luck in the finals! Remember to tune in to the broadcast on Tuesday! Who do you think will win?

NHLGamers, After a longer break for christmas and new years we are back with another article in the Player Spotlight series. Before christmas we asked Antti @Anhel Kuru a bunch of questions. Today we are back with the next article in the series and this time we are featuring Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos. We asked him 19 questions and as you probably have noticed by now, some are the same as earlier, and some are new. Let's get to it: 1. What was your first experience with the EASHL mode in NHL like? - My first experience in EASHL was probably a random drop-in game in NHL 17. It was horrible but we've come a long way from that. 2. During this season you switched teams from Filadelphia to Butterfly Effect, has it been any different playing in Butterfly than in Filadelphia? - Yes for sure. Defense has been maybe the biggest difference between these two teams as FILA had really good discipline and a more passive style of defense while Butterfly is more active in the forecheck. Penalties have also been a big difference. 3. Who is the best hockey player in the world according to you? - McDavid is in a league of his own at the moment, there is no question about that. 4. Describe your perfect breakfast! - I rarely eat breakfast, but coffee is a must and maybe some kind of croissant with some ham, cheese and lettuce in it. 5. If you would be a manager for a day and had to pick one defender, one forward and a goalie to build a new ECL Elite team around. Which players would you choose? You can only choose one from your own team. - I would probably pick young players, so as a defender I would pick @xDoumi from Butterfly Effect. The forward choice is much harder but I think I would take @Beniittto because he is a center and already experienced and young. As a goalie I would probably go with @Hansulinho even tho he isn't as young anymore but he is the most consistent goalie at the moment. 6. What would you rather be, an average player in the real-life Finnish Liiga or the worlds best EA Sports NHL-player in both 1v1 and 6v6? - If I could be an average real life player in NHL I would choose that any day but in the Finnish league... I will go with being the best EA Sports NHL-player. 7. Do you play or have you played hockey? - I have only played hockey with friends at outdoor rinks. 8. What’s your best hockey memory? - My best hockey memory would be seeing my first NHL game live. It was Flyers vs Lightning. 6-5 overtime ending made it very enjoyable to watch. It was also my first time in America so that made it even more cool 9. What’s your favourite team? - My favourite team is the Chicago Blackhawks. 10. What do you do on a day off? - I don't have a job at the moment as I'm trying to get into law school, but on a day off I would probably just chill at home or see friends. 11. If you would have to spend one day playing NHL and had to listen to one song only, during the whole day, what song would you pick? - My favourite at the moment is probably Legends from Juice Wrld so I will go with that. 12. How did you come up with your PSN ID? - When I was younger and played soccer, my soccer coach gave me a nickname and that was Sibelius. People in real life also call me Sibbe as a shoter version of Sibelius. 13. Who’s the best player in ECL according to you? - I must say @Buantso is the best player in ECL at the moment for sure. 14. What is the first thing you are going to do when you retire? (from work) - When I retire from work I will just travel as much as I can. I love travelling. 15. What are your top 3 places or countries you want to visit? - That is a tough one. Probably 1. Bahamas 2. Australia 3. Hawaii 16. Which team will win ECL 9 Elite? - I hope Linköping wins it so HAVU won't get a second ECL title in a row. However I still think that HAVU will win it because they are more effective at scoring even though Linköping has scored more goals this season. HAVU has a better goalie and their forecheck will give a hard time to any team who they face at the moment. 17. The eSHL just started and a lot of players and some teams have been signed by SHL-clubs, what are your thoughts on the league and players going there? - I think the eSHL will be a great league with great players and teams and I hope it gets a lot of attention so it could maybe wake interest in other leagues to also create the same kind of tournaments or leagues. Hopefully this league will show the potential of this esport and help it grow. I'm also happy that it wasn't strictly for Swedish players so the league will be more competitive 18. Would you have liked to play in the eSHL? - Yes I'm kinda sad that I'm not participating in this league as it would have been a cool experience but sadly no one needed my services. 19. Last question, Sauna or hot tub? - Hot tub The stats of Oskari "Sibelius" Grönroos We thank @sibeelius for taking the time to sit down with us for this interview. Next weeks player has already been chosen but as we plan to release more of these articles, please let us know which player you would like to hear more from!

NHLGamers, As advertised over the past month or so, Monday night was the start date for one of the most anticipated NHL esports tournaments yet, as we kicked off the eSHL with a full six game round, where Växjö Lakers and Färjestad BK stood for the main action in the eSHL studio at Sportbladet. A total of 12 (out of 14) SHL clubs have signed their own teams going into the eSHL. Some have been announced a longer time ago whereas others waited until the last weekend before puck drop, but all teams have in unison stated that the esports initiative that the SHL is taking is an exciting road to travel and holds a tremendous amount of potential. That surely goes to show based on the viewer numbers during the first night, which ranged between 800-100 viewers on the main channels, not included the Sportbladet broadcast. What is the eSHL? If you've followed the news section at NHLGamer within the past month, you should be up to speed with the concept, but if not - here's a recap. The eSHL is a virtual counterpart to the real world SHL, which is the Swedish elite league in ice hockey. The league consists of 14 teams out of which 12 are now participating in the eSHL. The points system is similar to what you're used to seeing in our other leagues and tournaments, meaning that teams are awarded two points for a victory in regular time or OT, one point for a loss in OT and zero points for a loss. Eight teams will be making the playoffs, which will culminate in a live-event between the 28th and 29th of February in Stockholm, Sweden. The prize pool of the league totals up to 150 000 SEK (~14 235 EUR), which will be divided among all participating teams in a following split: 1. 50 000 SEK 2. 25 000 SEK 3-4. 13 500 SEK 5-8. 8 000 SEK 9-12. 4 000 SEK Participating teams Djurgården Hockey Djurgården is the current pride of Stockholm when it comes to hockey and they will be looking to continue on that path in the virtual world too. Having signed a talented roster for this tournament, it shouldn't be out of the question for this team to finish in the top half of the standings. Check out our team announcement here. Farjestad BK Having been one of the first SHL teams to announce their roster, the boys representing Farjestad have had some time to adjust to their new surroundings already. The team hailing from Karlstad made some massive signings just prior to the season by bringing in HAVU Gaming defensive pari Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto and Wille @willekunq Juntunen. A top four finish should be expected. Team announcement here. HV71 eSHL HV71 is a team that's been in the works for quite some time during the past few months. Captain Daniel @Demski13 Gadd has handpicked a group of local players and is hoping to create a coherent unit that could go far in the tournament. It's an interesting approach and should do good for the esports interest in the Jonkoping region. Check out our team announcement here. IK Oskarshamn Oskarshamn also went with a local initiative in the signing of their roster. Tryouts were hosted in cooperation with the local esports team E-sport Hultsfred in order to recruit local talent to the roster. Time will tell if it pays off, but we're expecting a tough challenge for this team. Leksands IF A very experienced group of guys is what Leksand got when they signed the roster of former Synergy Hockey. It'll be interesting to see if they can find their stride again and get back to the glorious form that they once possessed. Expected to finish in the top half of the table. Check out our team announcement here. Linkoping HC Having signed the complete roster of former FILADELPHIA, Linkoping instantly made their way into the talks of championship contenders. Nothing but the cup will be enough for this team. Check out our team announcement here. Lulea Hockey Lulea announced their team quite early on and they've been performing very well in their new colors. The team has a very deep roster, which can be switched around into several different outlooks and should be dangerous in any given form. A top four finish is expected. Check out our team announcement here. Malmo Redhawks Championship potential definitely not lacking from the roster of Malmo Redhawks as all of their players are currently reigning champions of some form. Together with Linkoping HC, Malmö will form the duo that is most likely to take home the title in this inaugural season. Check out our team announcement here. Orebro Hockey Orebro signed an experienced bunch of players, who are looking to improve their performances after some difficult times as of late. Captained by Joakim @Nexhztah Stewart, the team has made some new signings and should be able to fight their way into the playoffs if all the pieces fall into place. Check out our team announcement here. Rogle BK One of the latest roster announcements came from Rogle BK as they signed the former Company of Geeks, which is one of the most long-lived EASHL clubs despite some short breaks in their history. The roster is experienced but hasn't shown much in terms of competitive success as of late. They should be able to fight for a playoff spot. Check out our team announcement here. Skelleftea AIK Much alike their SHL counterpart, Skelleftea is investing in local players to represent them. Players were mainly recruited by local tryouts. Captain Christoffer @Xence1 Kauppi has a massive task at hand in generating a competitive unit in a short period of time. Anything is possible, but most likely this team is out of the playoffs at the end of the regular season. Vaxjo Lakers HC Vaxjo was the very first SHL team to announce their roster and have been doing rather well in their new colors. The team has found a good balance in signing local players such as captain Fredric @EDHOLMINHO Edholm and defenseman Johannes @Hockeyjohannes Hultmark but simultaneously bringing in external talent such as highly touted Finnish goaltender Joona @Hullued Saarinen. Växjo should finish in the top half of the standings. Check out our team announcement here. How to watch? The league is played with a fixed schedule, which makes it easy to follow whichever games you want to. Every gameday consists of six matchups, out of which one will be the selected main matchup of the night. The main matchup will be streamed by Sportbladet, and will feature an eSHL studio with a commentary team consisting of Fredrik "JAEGARNS" Andersson and Adam @esdor Ericson. The Sportbladet broadcast will start at 19:00 CET, whereas other games will start at 20:00 CET. Fredrik "JAEGARNS" Andersson and Adam @esdor Ericson in the Sportbladet studio. Here is a list of all the main matchups during the season: Monday, 13th of January at 19:15 CET: Vaxjo Lakers vs Farjestad BK Friday, 17th of January at 19:15 CET: Malmo Redhawks vs Linkoping HC Monday, 20th of January at 19:15 CET: Leksands IF vs Djurgården Hockey Friday, 24th of January at 19:15 CET: Rogle BK vs Vaxjo Lakers Monday, 27th of January at 19:15 CET: Orebro Hockey vs HV71 Friday, 29th of January at 19:15 CET: Leksands IF vs Lulea Hockey Monday, 31st of January at 19:15 CET: Djurgarden Hockey vs HV71 Friday, 3rd of February at 19:15 CET: Rogle BK vs Orebro Hockey Monday, 7th of February at 19:15 CET: IK Oskarshamn vs Skelleftea AIK Friday, 10th of February at 19:15 CET: Farjestad BK vs Linkoping HC Monday, 14th of February at 19:15 CET: Lulea Hockey vs Malmo Redhawks Find the full schedule here. All of the games except the headline matchup of each gameday will be streamed on the teams respective Twitch-channels. Remember to follow the eSHL on all social media channels for information about the league! e.shl.se Twitter Instagram

The North American Championship league is making its long-awaited return. Would you like to help us come back in a big way? We are looking to bring the most exciting competitive format to the community by proposing a major playoff system change. This will be the first of its kind in NHL esports and we are looking for your feedback. With the new season of NACL, we want to make the regular season more meaningful and the playoffs more exciting. Keep reading to learn more about our proposal and what we plan to achieve by doing this. Proposed Playoff System: Challenge System To illustrate the proposed Challenge System, we will use a 16 team league format where 8 teams make the playoffs. However, this system can be adjusted depending on the number of team signups. In traditional playoff formats the 1st seed will play the 8th seed, the 2nd seed will play the 7th seed, and so on. While this format can still produce high quality matchups and excitement, we believe the proposed Challenge System will give teams more incentive to finish the regular season on top and will add a layer of anticipation to the first round of the playoffs. The proposed format will separate the playoff teams into two groups; group 1 will be teams seeded 1-4 and group 2 will be teams seeded 5-8. Example Standings: Team A Team B Team C Team D --------- Team E Team F Team G Team H Group 1 consists of teams A, B, C, and D, while group 2 consists of teams E, F, G, H. How the Challenge System will work: Team A will pick their first round opponent from any team in group 2 (team E, F, G, or H) Team B will then pick from the three remaining teams Team C will then pick from the two remaining teams Team D will match up with the team that wasn’t picked by the top 3 seeds To make this even more exciting, it is our goal to have the selection process broadcasted live on Twitch with one representative from the top three teams. The key benefits of this system: Additional content and added excitement during the first round of the playoffs Potential for new rivalries Completely eliminates any benefit of seed manipulation This new system is a fantastic way to build excitement and hype for a potential series. For starters, there will be a lot of anticipation to know which teams get matched up. There is also potential for drama during the draft: a team can fake out the stream, playfully trash talk their opponent, or present their case why they think they're number one. All of these factors can create an even more intense atmosphere, which will give viewers and the community more reasons to tune into the broadcasts. With this system, anyone who is looking to gain an advantageous first round matchup by intentionally underperforming won’t be able to, as the control of the pairings is in the hands of the top 3 performing teams. The rivalries that build up during the regular season, especially the rivalries that have been building up for years in other leagues, will be put to the test. Will the high seed play it safe? Will they challenge a familiar team to flex in front of an audience? The possibilities! The inspiration for this format comes from the Southern Professional Hockey League which has also inspired rule changes for the NHL. The most recent change being the implementation of 3-on-3 overtime. We are hoping this will bring a fresh, highly competitive format to NHL 6v6 in North America. Let us know how you feel about this new format in the comments section below.