ECL Elite 16 in 16: Unlucky Boys HC

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain.

Perhaps one of the more non-descript teams in Elite, Unlucky Boys HC are rare in that they do not seem to do anything fancy or step on anyone’s toes, instead they just go about and do their thing without making much of a racket so to speak. Do not dismiss their quiet nature as weakness however, as they harbour a team that perhaps works together more efficiently than any other team in Elite. This is exhibited quite nicely by their results in Pro and Elite over the years that they have been active. In ECL 4 (Pro) they finished mid table in a strong group which Carlsberg, Sjukstugan & Rusty Blades all called home before they moved up to Elite. In ECL 5 (Pro) UB upped their play after not clinching promotion to Elite in the previous season and stamped their ticket to the playoffs with a very strong 52pts in 30 games; ultimately achieving automatic promotion to Elite for the next season. Finally, in a rare feat for newly promoted team, they made the playoffs in Elite (ECL 6) and even went to a game 7 before ultimately falling to Northern Ascendancy. Throughout all of these seasons their captain @anhel_kuru was in and around the top point scorer for his team. With no signs of slowing down being seen throughout their roster one can only imagine what the ceiling is for Unlucky Boys HC, so with that in mind then we’ll switch over to the interview part of this report and see what thoughts their captain has about their run to elite, as well as what the future holds for them.

Crimson_XX <-- TIKI TALK

Sweaty__99 <-- Gotham Knights

Viltzup <-- Club de Caballeros

OUT

Will_yo7 --> Butterfly Effect

Ramboviking88 --> Monarchs/Free Agent

Current roster:

Forwards
Anhel_Kuru (C) @Anhel
Crimson_xX @Crimson
re_Wenger (A) @Wenger
Sweaty__99 @Sweaty__99
jm__98__ @JimBoo

Defensemen
Jugeh_ (A) @Jugeh_
Friilander @Frilander

Goaltenders
Danielcadabra @Danielcadabra
Viltzup @Viltzup

I had a short discussion with team captain @Anhel about the upcoming season for Unlucky Boys:

As one of the new additions to Elite last year you captained the team towards a very successful debut season, not only making the playoffs but pushing the eventual ECL 6 runner up to 7 games. With that in mind, how did you approach this off-season, namely how were you looking to improve the roster to push your team further in the upcoming season’s playoffs? (For simplicity sake could you list all transactions for the team this past off-season?)

Firstly we believe that playing with the same roster gives a better chance to be succesful. So keeping that in mind, we tried to make as few transactions as possible. Obviously there were going to be some new faces on our roster and I'm happy about our off-season. Overall we tried to get more depth on our squad and I'm confident that we made the right moves.

In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? If you are indeed finalised, what will your starting line-up look like?

We are still looking for a backup goalie and a all-rounder but our first lineup is quite clear currently.

With all of this in mind, what are your expectations for the upcoming season? And who do you think are the current favourites to win it all?

Our only goal is to qualify for playoffs and I'm confident in reaching it. Imo Elite is now much tighter and the mid-table placements are impossible to predict. We believe Filadelphia is the strongest team and are going to win it all.

Thanks for your answers Anhel, see you on the ice and good luck to UB for the upcoming season.

ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far:

1. _______________
2. _______________
3. _______________
4. _______________
5. _______________
6. _______________
7. _______________
8. _______________
9. Unlucky Boys
10. Rusty Blades
11. Almost Famous
12. _____________ (To be released)
13. SIKA
14. Gotham Knights
15. Falun Coal Miners
16. Team Frosty

Join us again tomorrow, as we take a look at a very prestigious and traditional club from up north. Who do you think was predicted in place #8?