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NHLGamers, As always, we look to bring you the most superior competitive gaming experience possible, and we're continuously looking to improve on previous iterations of our leagues. Nothing has changed in regards to that in our ECL, and therefore we assure you that ECL 11 will be run at the premium level you are used to. This time, we wanted to launch the signups as early as possible in order to allow entry for as many teams as possible, also minimizing the risk of someone simply missing the deadline. Without further ado - here you go: Signups will be open until Wednesday, 11.11 at 23:59 CET. Divisions framework The divisions framework for the ECL 11 will follow the same logic as for previous seasons. We will have a total of four divisions with the following team allocation: Elite 16 teams, Pro 32 teams, Lite 96-128 teams*, Neo 32+ teams. ECL Elite: 16 teams Sign up: ECL Elite eligible teams Regular season: One group Playoffs: 8 teams Best-of-7 ECL Pro: 32 teams Sign up: ECL Pro eligible teams Regular season: Two groups Playoffs: 16 teams Best-of-7 ECL Lite: 96-128 teams Sign up: Anyone can apply for ECL Lite Teams will be decided by Franchise history, Roster composition, and EASHL record ECL Lite registrants are also allowed to apply for a spot in ECL Pro Teams signing up for ECL Lite that don't make it into ECL Pro or ECL Lite will be automatically placed in ECL Neo Regular season: TBD Playoffs: TBD Best-of-7 ECL Neo: 32+ teams Sign up: Without restrictions Regular season: TBD Playoffs: TBD Best-of-5 *NHLGamer reserves the right to alter the team allocation to ECL 11 Lite depending on the number of total teams signing up. Preliminary schedule for the ECL 11 season: ECL 11 Neo: Start Wednesday, 18.11 ECL 11 Lite: Start Tuesday, 17.11 ECL 11 Pro: Start Monday, 23.11 ECL 11 Elite: Start Monday, 30.11 Stay tuned for more info dropping over the coming weeks, we'll be releasing more detailed information about the season and announcing the cover gamer for ECL 11! What is the ECL? The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports. The abbreviation stands for the European Championship League and it features NHL 6v6 esports in four divisions aimed at various skill levels. League games are played in the EASHL mode and the platform is PlayStation 4. Basic information/requirements of ECL: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however, we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian players. A European server will always be used. In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. 6v6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL Challenge Club game mode in NHL 21. Individual requirements: Each player needs to have an account at NHLGamer.com and create their personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams in ECL Elite need to have at least 7 players to sign up. Teams in ECL Pro, ECL Lite and ECL Neo need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. ECL Elite license: Teams in ECL Elite will be required to pay for an ECL Elite license in order to play (more details to follow). Rules: The ECL 11 ruleset will follow the same foundation as in season 10. The updated rulebook will be available before the season. Don't have a team yet? Team looking for additions to your roster? If you are a free agent looking to be picked up, please head over here. If you are representing a team looking for players, please head over here.

NHLGamers, What a wild ride it's been, not only the FCL but the entire NHL 20 competitive season. We had an exceptionally long time with the game due to the delay of the NHL 21 release, but we sure took advantage of the time we had. This past weekend featured the finale of NHL 20 with the grand finals of the FCL. Alike our other leagues, also the FCL showed great growth by almost doubling the amount of participating teams from the first FCL season in 2019. Let's keep going and continue the growth into ECL 11! With the FCL and SCL championships being played for on consecutive weekends, we now also have some players that have secured a championship in both of those tournaments within the span of one week. Joel @jtorro1233 Tourunen played defense for both Vesa Pompa HC and FILADELPHIA, whereas Casper @ICappeI Lundgren has made history and set a record that will definitely be tough to break. The man secured a SCL championship on the left wing of Vesa Pompa HC first, after which he stopped pucks for FILADELPHIA, winning the FCL championship in net. Winning a championship by playing both in net and as a skater is something that legendary Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen has previously accomplished back in ECL 4 with Laser HT, but doing so with two different teams on consecutive weekends is something that most likely won't be happening again for a while. Group stage With the large amount of teams participating and the restricted time to complete the tournament, the playoff picture this year was arguably rather unforgiving, with only four teams from each group and the three best fifth placed teams making it to the postseason. We'll be focusing on the advancing teams when taking a closer look at the playoff matchups, but let's take an overviews of some teams that didn't make it in this section. Group 1 saw two excellent teams face disappointment, as both HanaaHC and the recent Lite champions Sack Brothers didn't qualify for the postseason. Despite good performances throughout the season, especially Sack Brothers ended up dropping decisive points against lower seeded teams such as Kiekkonapalmi. HanaaHC ended up being the 5th placing team, which wasn't quite enough to put them through this time. HC Wildcard faced a similar end result to HanaaHC in their respective group. Despite putting up decent numbers and being just a point behind the 4th place Sulkavan Sudet, they fell short and wasn't seen in the postseason. We were pleasantly surprised to see Oulunsalon Pallo push through to the playoffs in group 3, overcoming experienced teams such as Mockba and the greatly improved HUIPPUPASSI. Group 4 showcased a tough three way battle for 4th place between Angry Cats, Cheers Hockey and We Kings. Those three teams eventually finished in that order based on tiebreakers, after which Cheers Hockey made the postseason as the 3rd best 5th placing team. In group 5, SJ Gaming was seen as a team that should advance, but they didn't do so without hickups, dropping important points against Hokurit right out of the gates and putting forth slightly shaky performances throughout the group stage. SJ managed to find their stride a bit later on and got into the playoffs as the best 5th placing team. The 5th place battle was up to Gotham Knights and Armada Hockey in group 6, where the Knights finally managed to gather enough points to make the postseason, but didn't do so without trouble as they lost some matchups that they wish they had back along the way. The 7th and final group featured the three way Mestis rivalry between SAWO, Frosty Kiekko-Vantaa and TuTo Esports out of which the two first pushed through to the playoffs. The experienced Murohoki came very close, but didn't find enough points to go through from their 5th place. Playoffs A bit under half of the participating teams qualified for the playoffs, making it a run to the finish line for only the very best clubs in the scene. Right out of the gates we saw some interesting matchups as some high level teams struggled in the group stage, putting them at lower seeds than perhaps expected. The most exciting first round matchups were definitely the unexpected clashes between FILADELPHIA and Gotham Knights, YMCA Esports and SJ Gaming and finally the Mestis rivalry vol. 2 between SAWO Esports and Frosty Kiekko-Vantaa, out of which all offered some juicy storylines. Actually, from the second round on it wasn't until the finals that a lower seeded team came away with the victory in a series. During round two, the lower seeded teams managed to extract only two wins, which are credited to the names of Nordic Stars and Kaupallinen Yhteistyo. Moving on, the quarterfinals were played in a similar manner except for JYP Jyvaskyla vs GHETTO FIREBIRDS, where the Birds came close to an upset, faltering only 3-2 to the strong JYP squad. The semifinals offered action in the form of a HAVU Gaming - JYP Jyvaskyla thriller and a high skill free-for-all between FILADELPHIA and hREDS. Now HAVU and JYP were extremely tightly matched and ended up going to an exciting fifth game where HAVU had to make a roster substitution when Eemil @Eemil Koski took the ice at an unfamiliar LW position in the place of HAVU's mainstay winger Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen. The youngster put forth a convincing effort in a tough spot, ultimately securing the second consecutive FCL final spot for HAVU Gaming. Going into their series against FILADELPHIA, hREDS were looking sharp and had their offense firing on all cylinders, but ended up falling short against a FILA that looked stronger than eve Finals The finals were hyped up a lot this year and that was definitely for a reason. We've been calling it the El Clásico of NHL gaming and these two teams are yet to disappoint. It's always a joy to watch with the sheer overflow of skill that's present when HAVU Gaming and FILADELPHIA meet on the virtual ice. In this years iteration of the FCL playoffs, this classic featured a full five game series with lots of back and forth action. The scoring was kept low as expected, but we didn't have to extend for overtime in any of the games this year. Game five in the extremely tough series ended up being a thriller, having FILADELPHIA in a 3-1 lead until the dying seconds, when HAVU managed to push back, but being left just short putting the final score at 3-2 for FILA, as also the final score of the series. We crowned a new champion! If you happened to miss the broadcast, check it out here:

Hey NHLGamers, In what can only be described as the fastest patch on record for an NHL iteration, EA are going to release the 1.1 patch in just over one hour from now (19cet) on the 20th of October, 2020. To the surprise of no-one who has had the fortune of playing the game recently, the hallmark change in this patch is the improvement in the logic dicatating whether a defensive skill stick poke would trip someone or not. As this patch appears to be expedited due to complaints from the aforementioned issue, there are little to no other changes that are of major note. Of course, there are still some 'miscellaneous' changes, ranging from skating preview animations being fixed to general UI stability improvements. What's your experience with the game so far? Was this an anticipated patch? Anything else you'd like fixed? Let us know in the comments below.