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  1. This is a reminder for all ECL Elite and ECL Pro teams to finish any player transfers or free agent pickups before midnight tonight.
  2. Hello Gamers! It's that time of the year again that we are proud to present you the preview of the upcoming Elite season and more importantly it's time to start playing ECL again! We are going to have the best coverage of any season so far with not yet published additional content on the way to make the season even more exciting. A slightly slower pace this season will ensure that the pinnacle of ECL will be the ECL Elite finals that will be played 25.4-3.5. The off-season has probably been busier than ever with some teams breaking apart, high profile players such as @Erkki, @Joonas Paatiala and @mikaasi forming a new team Filadelphia, that will be playing in the Pro division for next season and there has been lots of trades and struggles in the other Elite teams as well. Silver Sword Griffins having some degree of overhaul in their team and so on. There's also quite a bunch of teams being promoted from Pro: Evolution, Unlucky boys HC, Pata Hellalla, Falun Coal Miners and in addition to these four, also Nordic Stars and Gotham Knights are being promoted due to Aapon Taikasauva and Mukimiehet falling apart. ECL Elite will work, as usual, with 16 teams and all battling for the top 8 playoffs spots, #9-12 being safe, #13-14 will face the Pro semifinal losers and positions #15-16 will be relegated straight away. As a reminder, the rules have had some modifications, so be sure to check those out as well. "I did not know" is not going to get you off the hook. Rather than doing a preview of just a few top teams, we decided to go trough each and every one of the Elite teams. There's no "players to watch" this time, as I think this extensive preview gives you most of the answers. With the bigger staff we have been able to do more and @chavelski has done small interviews with all of the captains for our reading pleasure. @nylanderi,@ICappeI, @SepiDN, @Crisu_rottis, @The_Alpha_Furyan and @pnordetun have made us previews of all of the Elite teams. So without further ado, here are the captains' thoughts and previews. Let's start with our prediction of the standings after the regular season: Carlsberg HC Without a doubt the best team at the moment. After they got rid of their captain @Joonas Paatiala and star winger @Joukki, they acquired one of the best centers in the game, two time ECL champion @Penatski. Is this the season they can hoist the cup? For sure they have all the right players to do it. After reigning champion Aapon Taikasauva disbanded, they only have a couple capable contenders in their way. Taking a closer look at their team, no team should be able to match their offense. The best playmaker in the game (when he wants to) @Penatski, one of the most dangerous snipers in the game @Vilupoika, and the two-way workhorse @Tuukka.R. Also, the best players in their positions, defensive duo @Janzuh and @vatalisti who can provide depth in the goal-scoring if the other teams defense can stop their forwards. If we take a look at Carlsberg's potential weaknesses, could it be a problem that both of their defenseman are so offensive-minded? What about their goalie duo? @Zande95 and @FinKonna are known for not shining the brightest in tight situations. Can the older players of the team calm down the younger players if the things get tough? vatalisti What are your expectations going into ECL 6? To have a tight season and my personal expectation is to make it into playoffs with Car. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? We got lucky to add a 2x champion Penatski to our roster, who brings a lot of skill and hunger. which hopefully helps us go far in ECL 6. Top 3 teams this season? Written In The Stars, Northern Ascendancy Dynasty Guess who's back? Well, @Buantso is. Because of that, we're pretty sure Dynasty is as well. In ECL 4, Puantso and TehhAhola formed a deadly duo causing all sorts of problems for everyone. If Dynasty wants to make it back to the finals and possibly even lift the cup, what do they need to do? They somehow need to get Puantso motivated, because he truly is the best left winger in the game. If they cant do it, they can't make it too far. Dynasty also added @DieCutterMC, who is a solid addition to their defense. He and @Snapster might not be the flashiest partnership in the back, but they surely can handle their own in the defensive zone. DieCutterMC does not contribute with offense, but we all know that Snapu48 does have some tricks in his sleeve, mainly Kyle Turris dekes. They also don't need to worry about the goalie situation, since @Sandr0hh is one of the better goalies in the game. Snapster What are your expectations going into ECL 6? Championship What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? We had a couple players leaving but also a couple players who returned from ECL 4. So to answer your question, we have pretty much the same team as we had in ECL 4 and we did pretty good that season. Top 3 teams this season? I'm assuming you don't want us to name our own teams so here's my top3: Carlsberg HC, Written In The Stars, SJK eSports Evolution This team was labeled as the black horse in ECL Pro last season and that's what they were. They ended up winning Pro in ECL 5 and their offense includes @Jageksi and @topikeranen just like last season, however they lost @Erkki which is a huge loss for Evolution. He was one of the main reasons why they won Pro in the tight final games. With the addition of @SadaPoika to the roster, Evolution is going to be really interesting to watch. SadaPoika knows how to produce points. In addition to him, @Pair4You and @Juizki joined the team as well to keep their roster at a healthy size. This team can surprise many this season and if they get everything together it would not surprise us to see them in the playoffs. Crisu_rottis What are your expectations going into ECL 6? We are gonna push hard for playoff spot, and of course you can always dream about winning the title, but we're taking it one step at a time. Holding the Elite spot is an okay season while getting a playoff spot being a great one. We need to be awake in every single game from the start to the end if we want to succeed. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? Eki leaving and SadaPoika coming in, this kid has got some talent I tell you. He's the best bet for the player that is going to be the most important for us. Top 3 teams this season? SJK eSports, Carlsberg HC and Dynasty Falun Coal Miners Promoted to Elite following a great campaign in ECL 5, Falun Coal Miners are no strangers to getting their hands dirty at work. It’s in the Coal Miners DNA to dig deep and go where not many a man wants to go in order to get the job done, surely one of traits they are going to take advantage of this season. On the ice FCM is showing off their grit and hard work mixed with the soft hands you only get after years of cold, dark weekends digging deep in the mines. Falun can put the perfect defense on display with all 6 guys working as a unit covering up for each other to shut down their opponents. On the other end of the rink they can hurt any team if their creative offense is clicking. Now in Elite they need to prove themselves against the best of the best. Led by the Band of Brothers they are as lethal as Easy Company with @The_Alpha_Furyan setting up and pacing the plays and our favourite rockstar idol @LastMandalorian uses his Mike Richards-like center abilities reading the game and creating something beautiful. This first Elite experience for Falun is amazing considering they have had almost the same roster since the very first ECL. These guys really prove consistency and hard work can in fact pay off. Entering ECL 6 they have added a few new faces to strengthen the team, chief among them @IsakTuvesson in net from Lavetten, but also free agent Berger-I88I. @minokin is now in his second season with Falun and has been building some amazing chemistry with @The_Alpha_Furyan at defense. The new season will be really interesting to see if Falun can dig deep enough in order to find that extra boost that will push them to a fight for the playoffs. Either way, they are looking forward to this season to prove that they really belong at the Elite level. The_Alpha_Furyan What are your expectations going into ECL 6? Our expectations with the Falun Coal Miners are primarily that our team quickly adapts to the level of play in Elite. As a newcomer, you don't want to set the bar too high, but at the same time - its not like we're just tourists who are happy to be here. We might not contend for the title, at least not this season, but we do expect to be able to establish ourselves in Elite. If so, we might finally find ourselves on the super secret list of "Elite-level players" that some of the big stars in the community seem to have collected. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? There really isn't a difference. We believe in continuity, chemistry and developing our players to enhance their skills. You'll never find us in contention for the big names in Free Agency, but thats fine with us. In the Mines of Falun, we like that homegrown feel to our game. We've added Berger88 for depth and also a terrific goaltender in IFKPEKING2k15 who'll be a nice complement to our long-time G @Onecorner95. Otherwise, its all the same. Four forwards (@PatzyDrake @pentsaa, @iscojr94 & Mando), three defenders (@Meeertz, me & Mino) and the two goalies. Top 3 teams this season? With the amount of transfers this season, this becomes a hard question to answer. If I had to guess, I'd say Written In The Stars, SJK eSports and Northern Stars. All three look really, really strong. Kattiautomaati Experienced Kattiautomaatti will be looking to deliver this time after being left out of the playoffs last season. Their roster is almost unchanged with only @sumppi90 returning to Kattiautomaatti, and @eyebiz leaving to Northern Ascendancy. These guys will have a word to say when talking about real games, don't underestimate these guys, they hold a lot of experience & skill in their hands and definitely are not afraid to use it in ECL. Their tight roster with a long history will help them thrive towards the playoff spot, but will it be enough this season? The battle for a playoff spot is going to be so tight that only time will tell, but the worst thing you can do is think that these guys are on the way to the Pro division, because these guys are hungry for glory and happy to prove you wrong. Slaivone What are your expectations going into ECL 6? In ECL 4 Kattiautomaatti got promoted to the Elite division. In ECL 5 we finished 10th in Elite. In ECL 6 our goal is to get into the Elite playoffs. We improved our game a lot during the last season. I believe we have good chances to reach our goal and hopefully get as far in the playoffs as possible. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? We have just one player-change in our roster compared to ECL 5. eyebiz wanted to join NOR for next season and we got Isumppi90I back from Sjukstugan. Both defenders are really good so not a big change in the roster. We believe that we can improve our game by playing with the same guys as long as possible and minimizing roster changes. Most of the guys have played together for years. janbonator is our 'new guy' entering his second season with us and I think we are still improving chemistry with janbo all the time. I feel like we are well prepared for next season. Top 3 teams this season? Car, SKY and DYN. Northern Ascendancy: It's gonna be really interesting to see how NOR plays this season, since they've acquired two really good players in Haldeem and MukiMaisteri. Northern Ascendancy is known for their offense, especially their deadly counter-attacks. What was their biggest weakness? Defense for sure, so thats why @Haldeem is such a great player to have. You can rely on him in the defensive zone and he's really good at breakout passes as well. MukiMaisteri on the other hand is a great add to any offense. His playing style might not be perfect match NOR's style of quick passes in the offensive zone, but he can score. Also if NOR wants to make it far, their goalie @poliskontroll needs to step up his game. For sure these guys can score, but the big question mark is whether or not their defense and goalie hold in the tight games? MartindalexC What are your expectations going into ECL 6? Semi finals appearance What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? A better LW and D core Top 3 teams this season? SJK eSports, Carlsberg, NOS Northern Stars: Last season Northern Stars suprised almost everyone, after eliminating Carlsberg HC and going to game 7 with Aapon Taikasauva. NOS lead the series 3-1 against Aapon, and even had a one-timer hit the post in game 5 OT. So when Aapo came back and won the series, im sure @cHIIMEERa and his squad felt like the season ended in disappointment. But now it is time for a new season and new chance to hoist the cup for one of the more legendary teams in this league. One of the biggest question marks is how much @plee999 can play since we've heard that he has less time for NHL these days. He has formed one of the deadliest duos for many tournaments with @tbnantti, and it worked perfect last season, since rest of NOS is more defensive minded. tbnantti is really important to this team since he is one of the best to break down the opponent's neutral zone trap, and also setup PleeMaker for a deadly one-timer in the offensive zone. They have an experienced duo on the blue line with @Rullstolskalas and @ma0niii. They don't contribute much in the offense, but especially Maonii is one of the best defensive defenders. They also have a great replacement for Plee in @Floor17, who is a beast in every zone of the ice. Watch out for NOS this season, as they are capable of going far and doing great things! cHIIMEERa What are your expectations going into ECL 6? It will be tough of course, but we're well prepared and have the tools we need to go far. You need to have luck on your side in the playoffs and we're hoping to reach further than last tournament of course, but expect to reach the semis at least. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? No difference at all really, same lineup. Top 3 teams this season? Written In The Stars, Carlsberg HC, Northern Ascendancy, SJK eSports Pata Hellalla I think everyone agrees, when we say this team 'blew the bank' last season. Who would have thought that a team that is unknown to many and has imago like a newly started Lite team would have made it into Elite? Eliminating teams like Lavetten and Gotham Knights and finally losing to Pro winner Evolution. In order to secure their Elite spot, Pata Hellalla managed to beat TIKI TALK in an incredibly even relegation series that was decided in the second overtime period of game 7. We saw how good their defense was in the playoffs but can their offense get to a next level and keep scoring like they did in Pro? The opponents just get tougher so @kungenkurwa needs to get his team to produce 110% in every game if they want to survive in Elite. kungenkurwa What are your expectations going into ECL 6? I expect a tough season, there are so many good teams and our pre-season was "farssi saatana" (=a farce) cause one guy disappeared after Christmas and came back online maybe 50 days later. Some other guys spent every night in Lonely Lodge and the rest spent a well deserved holiday. But we are confident we can manage to come back and fight for spots where we don't have to play relegation games with Pro teams. Pata is ready like always and fight for the win every game! What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? This is an easy one. One name: Sebusakari. We're so happy that there is some team which wants him. We're so lucky! Of course this is joke and whole Pata wishes him good luck in this season! Second difference is that we know who is our goalie number one, last season it took almost the whole regular season and three goalies which all failed until we found our number one goalie closer than we thought. It is unbelievable how first timer goalie is better than Sebusakari who had played maybe 500 games in goalie! The third difference is that at the very beginning of last season we knew we are going to get promoted, but now I am sure that almost everybody "knows" we are not going to be champions. Fourth and maybe the funniest thing is that our left defender Carlos "Laraque" Havanna, who never made any mistakes, is now lost all of his limitless confidence even then he is so good in his defensive plays and calm with the puck in every zone on the ice, maybe sometimes too calm. Player to watch out for in Elite: I would not like to name just one guy, there is so many good players in Elite. But if i have to name one I would say an easy one so it's @Dominointi. Top 3 teams this season? Car, SJK, PTH Rusty Blades A team that always seems pretty harmless but still gets those wins one after another. @Supreex is one of the best, if not the best goalie in the whole scene. This guy has been keeping the goal horn from buzzing more than one could wish for. Rusty has always been about simple hockey, has never had the guys with the most elastic hands and this season is no exception to that. Running with pretty much the same roster as last season but with even tighter team play, we will likely see them rise above the playoff line again. @Tanski87 leading the defense with his hard hits and RB's offense doing the hard and tireless work to score those goals. Don't forget @koojiikoojii who's one of the main reasons why their defense works as well as it does. Great defense needs a great center and that is what Koojii is. Rusty is a true representation of the fact that you don’t need the best hands to rise to the top - you just need good teamwork and training! Tanski87 What are your expectations going into ECL 6? Our goal is to be even better as a team than in ECL 5. Position does not matter as long as we are able to give the best possible from us. Championship would be a nice bonus. I do expect a tight battle for playoff spots. There's been a lot of changes in Elite for this season. Many new teams, hungry teams. And some losses in form of well seasoned and highly rated teams. No more last years champion Aapon Taikasauva. No more Mukimiehet, no more Nordic Nightmare. These are saddening losses for ECL. I do expect us to keep our spirit and teamplay as high level as it has been for over two years now. We might not be the most skilled danglers out there, but damn we enjoy being on the ice, playing together, doing our all and chatting while doing it. This is what EASHL is supposed to be. Oh yeah, you guys will see us in the playoffs again. No getting rid of us. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? We have not had lot of changes, Epelis being only new recruit. I'd have to say that I believe us to be even harder to score against. And our offensive tools are sharpened. Top 3 teams this season? This is a hard question. I have strong faith in Dynasty this season. Last season was a dissappointment for them, but they will come hard for ECL 6. Carlsberg has been in beast-mode lately, and probably will continue to be. SKY offense is as good as we are used to, but their team defense has seen an improvement. Even thought Dynasty got a special mention I would have to say top three to be Carlsberg HC, Written in the Stars and SJK eSports SJK eSports Last season's runner-up has made bunch of interesting signings in the offseason. They acquired @indi969, @ICappeIand @Ilmari_30from last seasons winner Aapon Taikasauva. Indi969 and Ilmari30 will add needed skill and passing ability to SJK's game. Compared to last season, SJK has bunch of new weapons to break opponents down. Their neutral-zone trap is also one of the best, and they are really good at defending in their zone aswell. Addition of Ilmari30 is huge for SJK since breakout passes are one of his strengths. In the previous seasons, SJKs defenders have a hard time sometimes breaking the puck out, so it will be easier for Dominointi to play as well when he does not have to take care of breakouts himself that much. Indi969 is also a great two-way forward who has a high hockey IQ and he finds open space in the ice. Goaltending was in no way SJK's problem last season, but now there's even less reason to worry since they have ICappeI between the pipes. SJK is a team who is really good in every zone of the ice, so expect them to be Carlsberg's number one challenger this season. If their offense can create good chemistry, they will be really good, as they can't just rely on low shots from the point and throwing passes in front of the net. Against these top-level teams they need to create good quality chances and quickly adapt their game if their normal game plan is not working. Dominointi What are your expectations going into ECL 6? Playoff spot as always What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? It is the same team with different type of players. OUT: @hooneli& @esajorma IN: @Lauri, @ICappeI, @Ilmari_30 and @indi969 Top 3 teams this season? Dynasty, Written In The Stars, Carlsberg HC Silver Sword Griffins Remember Nordic Lighting last season? The team that had many players from different teams and it barely had a team assembled before the start of the season? Well that seems similar to SSG this season. They have some veteran players but it feels like a mix of everything. They will struggle at the start of the season but if @xLVxRitchey can keep his guys motivated and if they keep training and building that synergy they might be able to keep the team in Elite but it definitely won't be an easy season for SSG, as they have lost a chunk of their players in the off-season. xLVxRitchey What are your expectations going into ECL 6? Plan is try to stay in Elite but if we get spot in playoffs it will be good bonus main thing is to have fun What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? Lot of new players maybe thats good or maybe bad will see. Top 3 teams this season? Written In The Stars, SJK eSports, Dynasty Sjukstugan As per usual, 112 Sjukstugan has experienced a bit of a roster turnover in between ECL seasons. The foundation of @pnordetun, @Bjono and @Gustafsson7 remains though and as long as that core trio remains intact - you can be sure Sjukstugan will remain competitive. Key additions to the roster feature highly skilled, former Synergy leading scorer @Norpee and up-and-coming goaltender @Hullued, who looks poised to evolve into a premiere Elite goaltender. What makes Sjukstugan stand out is their unreal chemistry. The "112 Bros" Pato and Bjono know each other on the ice so well, it is almost like they know what the other one is thinking. One of the more skilled Swedish teams at cycling the puck around the offensive zone, they can strike at the net from anywhere, at any time. Long known for their motto of "grind and score", this classic Swedish franchise will be sure to fight tooth and nail for every single point! Bjono What are your expectations going into ECL 6? We want to play in the playoff and during the road towards that get our game to the level we want, because we know it has been struggling lately. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? Well, we have made some big changes both after ECL 5 and before ECL 6. We are only 3 guys on the team from last season: @Pippo, Patovic & Bjono. Top 3 teams this season? 1) Written In The Stars 2) SJK eSports 3) Carlsberg HC Unlucky Boys HC They are skilled young guys with a hunger for more. They finished 2nd in Pro last season and they lost only by inches to Evolution. I would label them as the black horse of Elite - not for the win, but for a playoff spot. @Anhel is the heart of this team and this guy needs to keep the strings in his hands. They lost @sweatyfathoe99 but they still got their core roster pretty much the same as last season. @Jugeh_ is their LD who is a very skilled offensive-minded defender that nets some points and has the potential to surprise in the offensive zone, and that's what they need if they want to advance to the top 8. @Danielcadabra is a great addition to their goaltending and he should be, as they lost @eissi83 to Written In The Stars. Anhel_Kuru What are your expectations going into ECL 6? I think we are a an underdog team. Our goal is to fight for the last playoff spots. Also we want to grow as a team. I think that we are capable of making our goals. I do anticipate that the season will contain ups and downs. Either way, I have faith in our team. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? We got Danielcadabra and @RamboViking88 to fill the void made by Eissi and @Petihino1 in the goalie department and we lost @Ilmari_30 and Sweatyfathoe99 as well. We gained @Frilander in return. Top 3 teams this season? Written In The Stars, Carlsberg HC, Northern Ascendancy Written In The Stars A team that is in the top 3 in almost every team's prediction. They have one of the best defenders in Elite with @jtorro1233 on the blue line. You can pair him up with either @Totalii or @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN. One of the question marks with SKY is their other defensemen. Totalii can sometimes have a hard time dealing with high pressure, which can occasionally lead to dangerous turnovers. We will see if they let Johtajavirtanen have a go at proving his place amongst the Elite defenders. Their offense is good with @Joukki, @ADETIKKI and @FlyerKungen but it can be a little too predictable at times. Their biggest question mark is their goaltending situation. Can Januri98 and @eissi83 step up when it matters the most? Jtorro1233 can take their game to another level, but we will see how he handles the pressure. We know that the entire SKY team is really hungry, and they are for sure one of the top challengers for the title. FlyerKungen What are your expectations going into ECL 6? Good question, maybe I'm expecting the toughest battle ever between the last playoff spots in Elite. The season is going to be as tight as usually, so many teams with solid rosters and it's really hard to say who's gonna make it and who's not. Our goal is to reach the finals and win the last game. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? Less Ulla, less penalties, haha. We were forced to make changes after "retirements" and other stuff. Two new goalies, eissi83 & JANURI98, new D-man, jtorro1234 and also LW joukki13 came to SKY. In my opinion, we have the chance to be even better as a team than last season. We have top guys in every position, now we just need to have some fun and play hockey! Top 3 teams this season? This is also hard one. I can't say SKY, it would be too boring. I need to bet here a little bit. Top 3 "toughest opponents": Carlsberg HC is one, very strong team, nuff said. Other two teams are not so easy though, but I need to say SJK eSports - it's never easy to win them. Third one is Dynasty, using runner-up lineup from ECL 4. Their rock solid defence is not a joke... Not sure about Ulla though... Gotham Knights After last seasons disappointing loss in the quarterfinals in the hands of Pata Hellalla, Gotham will be looking to establish themselves as an Elite team after gaining a promotion due to disbanding teams. They have a new goaltender @Serg1vratar for this season, who played in Nordic Lightning last season in Elite. He is pairing up with @Kefleri between the pipes. Gotham lost @Frilander to Unlucky boys, but acquired @Janikka, oh boy that's a good signing to your blue line. They also acquired @sweatyfathoe99from UB - that's two good players from UB for Gotham - so they do have offensive firepower with the power trio of @Nakkertoni, @ReDMisTi and @Hanssonni staying in the offense. While holding on to @jyrkkisand @MKivinen95 they managed to keep the core of the team intact whilst acquiring some new players. Expect these guys to give their all and fight for a playoff spot in the tight midtable in Elite. ReDMisTi What are your expectations going into ECL 6? We don't have much expectations, we just try our best and play a balanced season. Of course the playoff spot would be really nice and it's our goal for season 6 What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? We are stronger, we play same kind of hockey as last ECL, but after our "main" guys stayed and we got couple really good players more, I'd say we are better for sure Top 3 teams this season? CAR, SKY, NOS Nordic Stars Being up 3-0 thinking you are in the semifinals in pro, but getting defeated 3-4 in the hands of Falun Coal Miners can be disappointing. Not because of the opposing team being Falun, but getting so close must be heartbreaking. Either way, these guys are up and at it again - this time in the Elite division after disbanding teams making way for Nordic Stars. They lost key players such as @FakiiR1, @Devilfish14, @TackleControl, @vilperi90 and Finbarkov after the season, but acquired @Jauho, @entii112, @taemtaem, @Kookasi and @Amigo. Seems like they're on the way to Pro? While there is basicly no bottom teams this season, this team belongs in the lower part in our prediction. The big question here is, can these guys find the synergy that they need to fight in Elite? Expect them to get better round after round, and give their all to keep their spot in the division. Lead by experienced defender @Seahyena they will hold their own in the defensive zone, but can they produce enough in the offense? Excellent goalie @RaNtA will give them a fighting chance game after game to take the points. Seahyena What are your expectations going into ECL 6? We try to make it to the playoffs and i think after re-signing our top goalie Ranta83 we now have all the tools for that. What is the difference in your team this season compared to ECL 5? Big difference. I knew we have a chance to head into Elite and we prepared this team for that. Almost the whole crew have changed and we try now to play more "Elite type" skill hockey than in the Pro div. Much work to find the perfect chemistry with an almost new crew, but i think we're gonna grow closer and closer to that during the season. Top 3 teams this season? Written, SJK and CAR Personally, I have to say that this is the most exciting ECL season yet. The Elite playoff fight will be so intense and there is so many amazing things happening in our community, such as getting new long waited features thanks to @Lurkins, @Hennisch and @Kenu. Best of luck to all of you and see you out on the ice! Let the games begin! ECL Elite lead, @SepiDN
  3. Hello people! Now as there is discussion topic already about league system and then other one about divisions, I decided to throw another one out here 'cause I couldn't find any other good topic for this. I was just wondering the length of this season as it appeared be the theme of our conversation in PS4 party. During respectful Consolehockey's Xbox era there used to be always one longer tournament where we played against lots of teams (50% or 100% of opponents) with no matter of how many teams we had in the league, and then we had tournaments with same amount of teams shared into many groups. Everyone knows this, right? Two seasons per one game (NHL 13 etc). So far it have worked well but why not to add one, and make them little bit different? And reason why I'm writing about this is that we play this game a lot from September to May so that makes like 8-9 months per game. I'll get to the point. I've had couple things/questions on my mind about this so I'm going to do this by the old classy way. So, about the seasons! What is NHLGamers plan/word on this? Have there been discussion about this? I'm pretty sure that yes, but it would be fun to hear some of it as an NHL-gamer myself! Let us know. People's opinion which is big part of the conversation overall - what you guys think? Should there be two seasons on NHL game just like before, or maybe one or even two more? Personally I would add one more season because it would make those 8-9 months really matter, instead of having longer breaks from the league gaming which is the biggest reason we play this game! Would (lets say) three seasons per one NHL game make winning the championship way more meaningless? After all, it would always be Elite championship even though there would be three seasons for example. Instead of two champions on one game, how about three as there's time for it. If not, does people enjoy these league gaming breaks? Sometimes you wait couple weeks for the next season, and then sometimes it's a month and especially during Autumn it can be 2-3 months without single tournament game! So, here are my thoughts on this in case people wants more league gaming during nine months. From now on, I'm talking about well-known 30-team Elite league. If you're already pissed off or there's already something wrong very badly, please stop reading and let me know! Well, after all this is all my imagination, so no need to get mad... IMO, there should be three seasons. These should be all smaller seasons where you play against 50% of the Elite teams, so two conferences -> 8 teams per conference continue their road after regular season. Simple. So shorter regular season would last about 5 weeks, add the playoffs and you have 9 weeks combined which is little bit over 2 months with the shorter season. Playful demonstration where we know the exact level of our Elite teams, so it might sound funny. First season starts on 15th/October/2016. That gives about 30 days to play next game before ECL starts so about four weeks before anything serious starts. Players/teams might be little bit shaken after long summer etc. but shorter time to play around with your team and so on, could bring little bit stability and seriousness into this community through the year. Atleast that's what I want, and perhaps the Staff too? Okay so lets add those two months and we have new champions on 1st/January/2017, christmas break counted in. Little break here, lets say couple weeks. 16th/January/2017 is a new season opener time, new elite teams risen and some of the former Elite's bottom teams fallen. And lets add 9 weeks again -> we have new champions on 19th/March/2017. I know, it sounds very tight but thats why your team has +8 players, right?! Get it all going on again on 3rd/April/2017 and add those 9 weeks again -> we have this year's third champions on 4th/June/2017. Wow, let the offseason begin finally as we would have three wanted Elite Trophies shared on one year! Or then just make smaller Elite league (like 16/24 teams, 8 makes the playoffs) and so on, this way it wouldn't be that tight. Ugh, I dont know. Any opinions about anything I wrote? And damn this might be very crazy topic opening after all but I hope this wakes up people to discuss this "how many seasons per year" thing. Well, I dont know if it's a thing or not but surely something when you think the future of ECL. I know that playing three +2 month seasons might be crazy between Autumn and beginning of the Summer. With smaller Elite leagues, you could do many, many seasons during one year. So everything here is pure speculation, no need to get mad! Again all this is just creation of midnight talking and I'm sure that NHLGamer has their plans already (about the divisions etc etc etc) but still, it's forum so... Comments? Anyone?
  4. Hey NHLGamers, The ECL 5 Elite Finals have been played and it turned out Aapon Taikasauva were absolutely unstoppable this season and they secured their championship with a 2-1 win in game 5 against SJK eSports. NHLGamer would hereby like to congratulate Aapon Taikasauva for being the new ECL Elite Champions! If you wish, you can watch all five of the finals here: https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch/videos/all These are the series results: Game 1: SJK eSports @ Aapon Taikasauva | 0-4 Game 2: Aapon Taikasauva @ SJK eSports | 4-0 Game 3: SJK eSports @ Aapon Taikasauva | 2-1 OT Game 4: Aapon Taikasauva @ SJK eSports | 3-2 Game 5: SJK eSports @ Aapon Taikasauva | 1-2 Aapon Taikasauva Championship roster: G: #33 E. Larmi (aka swagx88) G: #49 F. Hardy (aka ICappeI) D: #27 S. Voynov (aka xDoumi) D: #29 W. Nylander (A) (aka nylanderi) D: #40 T. Torro (A) (aka jtorro1234) F: #9 S. Tuuba (C) (aka indi969) F: #55 L. Snapster (aka Puantso) F: #91 T. Domi (aka ShaneC27) F: #96 G. St-Pierre (aka Penatski) Aapon Taikasauva's road to the cup: 24 wins, 2 losses & 4 OT-losses during the regular season, ranked 1st Quarterfinals: 4-2 victory against Rusty Blades Semifinals: 4-3 victory against Northern Stars Finals: 4-1 victory against SJK eSports ECL 5 is not over yet though, as Pro and Lite Divisions are still fighting for their championships and promotions, with some really intense match-ups ahead. Make sure to keep an eye on further coverage! A more detailed ECL Elite season recap including award winners will be released in due time - stay tuned.
  5. The European Championship League Elite season is reaching its peak tonight, as we head into game #5 between Aapon Taikasauva and SJK eSports. Aapon is one win away from the championship, but SJK was the dominant team yesterday despite the wins being 1-1 last night. Look forward to two hungry teams and at the end of the night we will celebrate the ECL 5 Elite champion! We will be broadcasting tonights battle on our Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/NHLGamerTwitch and you can watch the games there or below this news story. Tonight's games are commentated by: @janbonator, @Kenu and @OxtreeLAT The stream will be live from 20:45 CET and will take you through the rest of the ECL Elite Finals. Watch live video from NHLGamerTwitch on www.twitch.tv Without further ado, we hope you enjoy the stream and join us in the chat with some questions and comments.
  6. The ECL 5 Elite season is at it's high point as Aapon Taikasauva (#1) is facing SJK eSports (#3) in the Best-of-7 Finals. Aapon Taikasauva was able to win the first two games 4-0 despite some good pressure by SJK eSports and it is possible that we will see a new champion tonight, unless SJK eSports is able to bounce back and challenge Aapo. You don't want to miss the pinnacle of 6vs6 eSports hockey! In case you missed the first two games and you want to watch those, you can do it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/207570643 We will be broadcasting tonights games (#3 & #4) on our Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/NHLGamerTwitch and you can watch the games there or below the news story. Tonight's games are commentated by: Jānis "@OxtreeLAT" Eglītis Jani "@janbonator" Keskinen The stream will be live from 21:45 CET and will take you through games #3 and #4 of the ECL Elite Finals. If needed, the info on the later rounds will be announced as the times are confirmed. Watch live video from NHLGamerTwitch on www.twitch.tv Without further ado, we hope you enjoy the stream and join us in the chat with some questions and comments.
  7. ECL 5 - Elite Playoffs A week after the ECL 5 Lite playoffs kicked off, Pro and Elite are now heading into the most exciting time of the season too! The Pro playoffs will be covered in a seperate post, so if you are a Pro team be sure to check that out. Time to cover Elite! FRAMEWORK Each pairing, championship or promotion/relegation faceoffs, must be finished within 7 days of the series' start date. Don't expect any extensions! All pairings are to be played in a best-of-7 series (teams on the left side below play home first) ELITE PLAYOFFS The very best 8 teams are about to enter the final stages of the most exciting 6 vs. 6 competition NHLGamer has to offer! It's where everlasting stories are written (no pun intended) and true heroes are born. The ECL Elite playoffs starts off with these 4 pairings: Aapon Taikasauva vs. Rusty Blades Carlsberg HC vs. Northern Stars SJK eSports vs. Northern Ascendancy Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty ELITE RELEGATION FACEOFFS The teams that finished 13th and 14th in the standings will pause for a bit until two ECL Pro semi-final losers are determined. Thus, while two Elite teams are relegated instantly (see below), a strong ECL Pro representation could potentially open up two more Elite spots: Nordic Nightmare vs. ECL Pro semi-final loser 1 (series starts when ECL Pro semi-finals are finished) TIKI TALK vs. ECL Pro semi-final loser 2 (series starts when ECL Pro semi-finals are finished) ECL RELEGATIONS Synergy Hockey and Nordic Lightning weren't able to get it done in Elite this season and are relegated to ECL Pro for ECL 6. However, there's no time for frustration - charge the batteries and come back strong in ECL 6! THE (UN)LUCKY FEW? MUKIMIEHET, Kattiautomaatti, Sjukstugan and Silver Sword Griffins finished the season ranked 9 to 12 and will remain in ECL Elite for ECL 6. While MUKIMIEHET came very close to making the playoffs, the other teams were in danger of being relegated but managed to evade it. With new Pro teams entering the ring, things are only going to get tougher in the future, so stay focused and keep building those rosters to not share the fates of Synergy Hockey's and Nordic Lightning's next season. Best of luck to everyone and see you on the ice! @The_Alpha_Furyan & @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com
  8. Greetings, gamers! After a well-deserved breather following last season’s Game 7 thriller, it’s time to rust off your blades, as ECL 5 Elite is set to start with a bang. Twelve teams from ECL 4 Elite, four teams from ECL 4 Pro and only 8 playoff spots to compete for – we are looking at another season of action-packed excitement. The offseason was very busy with major roster shuffle in several teams. However, the balance of power has not seemed to shift that much. As an introduction to the new season, here’s a prediction of how the teams stand, mostly based on personal observations and EASHL performance during the pre-season. The teams are listed alphabetically within their respective categories. The Contenders The reigning champions Laser HT are now known as SJK eSports. Team captain Dominointi, who represents the eSports organization personally as well, is expected to be on full form early on, having continued his successful season with a victorious Summer Cup. SJK goes into the season with no major changes in the lineup – and with a champion status, nothing points out they would not be contenders for the new season. Written In The Stars has been one of the strongest teams in the pre-season. DieCutterMC from Dynasty is a great fit to the team. They will look to repeat their start from last year and only a few have doubts they will succeed at that. A blend of slick moves and unorthodox plays; at times, juggling on the fine line between effective and entertaining. Carlsberg HC is back in the Elite division, to which it undoubtedly belongs. There were two very interesting additions to Carlsberg HC in the form of Vilupoika and KingofApes. With one of the best offensive rosters in the league, this team intends to win the last game of the season and light the lamp on the way through. MUKIMIEHET introduced Pair4You back into the lineup. The core of the team has stuck around together for a while already, and with a well-balanced offensive and defensive style of play, the cup is within the reach of these guys. The Challengers Aapon Taikasauva saw a lot of changes over the summer. In came Nylanderi, Penatski, Puantso, Cappe and ShaneC27. They have all the tools to make it a championship team, but the tournament is short and with so many changes, time is not on their side. With arguably the highest potential of improving their game throughout the season, they probably don’t top the Challenger list only alphabetically. Dynasty was as close as it gets to winning last year, but a lot of roster changes happened over the summer and it will probably take a while to get back the routine level to where it was. To highlight the changes made, the starting roster is expected to feature only 2 skaters who finished the season with the team in ECL 4. Nevertheless, Dynasty is still one of the best defensive teams out there – come playoffs, anything is possible. Northern Ascendancy drained the swamp, being no more known as Unknown. Instead, the team is known for their fast, creative and lethal counter-attacks. One of the best teams in neutral zone transitions, and often catch opponents out of formation. Very strong when given the chance to play with their strengths. Nordic Lightning is one of the teams with most roster changes during the offseason. From the brink of folding the club, Terrorsenko|91| managed to get a squad together. The hard work has only just begun though; most teams in the Elite division have a solid head-start in preparation and Nordic Lightning faces a tough task should they try to clinch a playoff spot. Likely to rely on defensive play and quick rushes up the ice. Nordic Nightmare come into the tournament as a bit of a mystery. The team has been a rare sight during the pre-season, but reports say they’ve been building chemistry over the summer in a whole different genre of games. However, the changes to the lineup weren’t big during the offseason, and they should be on form quickly. Northern Stars was another team to make a big double-signing, when PleeMaker and tbnantti inked their names on a contract. Last season they were a very productive duo, and will be interesting to see how they adapt to the new environment. If they can get everything clicking, Northern Stars has the potential to win the tournament; but as I see it, they are not there yet. Synergy, another long-standing franchise from Sweden, finds themselves in a rather similar spot to past tournaments; ready to challenge any team on the ice, and beat them on a good day. Known for strong cycle plays and utilizing all 5 skaters in all phases of the game, the experience level emanates from the blue-and-yellow uniforms. Missing out on the playoffs would be a disappointment. TIKI TALK starts another season with an under-dog status. Patient defense and success with their stingy counter-attacks, and TIKI TALK is right on their game. Team captain itspardytime has been around for a long time and knows how to rob the points from bigger teams. Nevertheless, a playoff spot is probably out of reach. The Arrivals Kattiautomaatti N/A, author's team. How will Katti do in Elite? Share your thoughts in the comments section! Rusty Blades was eventually rewarded for their strong season in Pro with a last-minute Elite spot for ECL 5. These Finns start the season with a virtually unchanged lineup. They are a strong defensive team with good goaltending, often able to catch out match favorites. Silver Sword Griffins is one of the four new teams in Elite this season, and they’ll be looking to cement their place at the highest tier. SSG has a very balanced lineup, including three winners from the previous Summer Cup. The structure and organization of their game is more developed and rigid than with most other teams. Contending for a playoff spot. Sjukstugan makes their entry into the Elite tier in an uncomfortable position after losing their n. 1 goalie right on the doorstep of the new season. With some additional roster shuffling in the offseason, Sjukstugan could be facing a rocky start with their new campaign. Stories to Follow In a big picture, there are always interesting finer details. There are several new teams ready to leave their mark in Elite, Carlsberg HC even looking at setting a standard on what can be achieved straight after promotion. On an individual player level, there is so much to follow. Here are a few stories that I will be following with interest: 3+2=?: Can tbnantti and PleeMaker continue to be the offensive powerhouse we saw in the past, will the new roster start clicking, and will it make NOS great again? Rusty on both ends: Can Lamsa keep up his goal scoring numbers for the Rusty Blades, now at the highest tier? Can Supreex do the same goaltending-wise in the other end of the ice? The League Sheriff: SadaPoika was an interesting addition by Sjukstugan; not least because he is the only forward in the Elite league to regularly play with an enforcer build. What are looking forward to this season? Do you have a team or a player you will keep an eye on? Who wins, who relegates? Tell us your thoughts! Keep those streams running, and as always, good luck & have fun!
  9. Hey NHL Gamers, the ECL 5 sign-up period ended yesterday, and we are very proud of the fact that a total of 98 teams will be participating in the first season taking place on NHL 18! This is up 24% from the 79 teams that signed up for ECL 4 - a truly amazing growth. Without further ado, let's look at the final division structure. ECL 5 Elite - All teams 15 teams confirmed their participation for ECL 5: Written In The Stars Northern Ascendancy (previously Unknown) Kattiautomaatti Sjukstugan SJK eSports (previously Laser HT) Silver Sword Griffins Carlsberg HC Aapon Taikasauva Dynasty Northern Stars Nordic Nightmare MUKIMIEHET Synergy Nordic Lightning TIKI TALK Due to the fact that Limitless were folding, one spot in the Elite division had to be filled. To make this decision, League Administration was looking for the most successful ECL 4 Pro team that wasn't promoted to the Elite division by regular means. Round 2 of the ECL 4 Pro playoffs featured 4 possible contenders: White Trash (4 PO wins / 1.18 reg. season PPG) Shameful Knights (5 PO wins / 1.43 reg. season PPG) Unlucky Boys HC (6 PO wins / 1.5 reg. season PPG) Rusty Blades (7 PO wins / 1.54 reg. season PPG) Based on these numbers, League Administration offered the 16th ECL 5 Elite spot to Rusty Blades. The invitation was accepted by the team's captains. ECL 5 Pro - All teams 23 teams (excluding Rusty Blades, which were moved to ECL Elite) confirmed their participation for ECL 5: Alliance HT Baltic Sea Eagles DEAD END KINGS SIKA Inter Iceland J P T J Bellizzi Nordic Stars Shameful Knights Lavetten Gotham Knights (previously Refuse To Lose) Pata Hellalla Hawks Hockey Club White Trash Speedy Bros Hockey (previously Finnish Roosters) Evolution (previously Nocturnal Hunters) Bare Knuckles Hockey Sypperstaars (previously Rynnäkköviikset) Free From Rodents Unlucky Boys HC AK 47 Nemesis Murohoki This means a total of 9 spots had to be filled with ECL Lite sign-ups. As ECL 4 Lite quarter-finalists, these three teams were prioritized and moved to ECL 5 Pro: EN HUND Banterfield Battalion Black Panther Party (previously HC Ancient Warriors) For the 6 remaining spots, we were looking at all the remaining ECL Pro applications from these 14 teams: Red Machine The Beagle Boys Soldiers of Odens God Tier Clowns on Ice GHETTO FIREBIRDS THE UNITED KNIGHTS Dirty Animals Slapshot Club Germany Squirt Hockey Face Wash Hockey Falun Coal Miners Phantoms HC Company of Geeks To ensure a competitive and sustainable Pro division, League Administration not only looked at in-game leaderboards and records, but also considered EASHL history as well as notable achievements, recent games and ECL experience (games played, points, wins etc.). At the end of our evaluation, these 6 teams were considered suitable and are moved to ECL 5 Pro: God Tier Clowns on Ice GHETTO FIREBIRDS THE UNITED KNIGHTS Squirt Hockey Falun Coal Miners ECL 5 Pro - Final groups ECL Pro will be played in 2 groups with 16 teams each. With 2 games against each opponent, this results in a 30 game regular season in which the top 8 teams out of each group will go to the playoffs (16 teams total). To determine the final groups, 10 pre-seeded teams were randomly assigned to the 2 groups. Afterwards, the remaining 22 teams were assigned to the groups. Here is the result: Group 1 AK 47 Alliance HT Bare Knuckles Hockey Black Panther Party Evolution Falun Coal Miners God Tier Gotham Knights Hawks Hockey Club Inter Iceland Lavetten Murohoki Nemesis SIKA Squirt Hockey White Trash Group 2 Baltic Sea Eagles Banterfield Battalion Bellizzi Clowns on Ice DEAD END KINGS EN HUND Free From Rodents GHETTO FIREBIRDS J P T J Nordic Stars Pata Hellalla Shameful Knights Speedy Bros Hockey Sypperstaars THE UNITED KNIGHTS Unlucky Boys HC ECL 5 Lite - All teams The remaining 50 teams will be participating in ECL 5 Lite: Elämäm Kiekko The Beagle Boys iNF4M0US Pohjoista Voimaa Terrific Tigers HC Aurinko Ice Phoenix Rising Phantoms HC EV Duisburg Papat Nordic Nosebleed Company of Geeks Red Machine Soldiers of Odens Lucky Strike Freddie Mercury Institute Puck Panthers Nottingham Chiefs Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat Nordic Eagles Try Another Hole SGWEER United Rusty Bulls Finnish Hockey Legends Raging Monkeys Nearbird Fighters Mentula SKA Dirty Animals Slapshot Club Germany Squad Vilttiketju Deadly Phantoms HC Almost Famous Bucketeers DarrasStars Cold Turkeys Rasend Krokodil Face Wash Hockey Kouvola Screaming Eagles NuggetZ South Sweden Panthers Roistot Hc Nappiaivot KulmalaHengaus Donec Reges Phantoms HC Penalty Box Burns Beardy Bastards RAKETTIPUTKET Breakers Of The Bone PUNANEN REHTORI ECL 5 Lite - Final groups ECL Lite will be played in 5 groups with 10 teams each. With 2 games against each opponent, this results in an 18 game regular season in which the top 6 teams out of each group, as well as the two best 7th ranked teams out of all groups will go to the playoffs (32 teams total). To determine the final groups, 15 pre-seeded teams were randomly assigned to the 5 groups. Afterwards, the remaining 35 teams were assigned to the groups. Here is the result: Group 1 Face Wash Hockey Finnish Hockey Legends Freddie Mercury Institute Lucky Strike NuggetZ PUNANEN REHTORI Puck Panthers Raging Monkeys Roistot Terrific Tigers Group 2 Cold Turkeys EV Duisburg Ice Phoenix Kouvola Screaming Eagles Nottingham Chiefs Penalty Box Phantoms HC Rasend Krokodil Red Machine Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat Group 3 Company of Geeks Deadly Phantoms HC Donec Reges HC Aurinko iNF4M0US KulmalaHengaus Pohjoista Voimaa Rising Phantoms HC Soldiers of Odens Try Another Hole Group 4 Almost Famous Breakers Of The Bone DarrasStars Elämäm Kiekko Mentula SKA Nearbird Fighters Nordic Nosebleed Papat South Sweden Panthers The Beagle Boys Group 5 Bucketeers Burns Beardy Bastards Dirty Animals HC Nappiaivot Nordic Eagles RAKETTIPUTKET Rusty Bulls SGWEER United Slapshot Club Germany Squad Vilttiketju ECL 5 Rules The rules for ECL 5 can be found here: All players, whether they are captains or not, are obligated to be aware of all the rules. Make sure to memorize all rules outlined in "8. Game rules" due to the 30 second limit for stoppages in-game. Throughout the tournament, the rules may be updated. Any updates will be conveniently listed at the very top of the ruleset. Make sure to check out if anything changed once in a while. League Administration members All league related decisions will be made by League Administration. To open up a case, create a new question in the "Contact League Administration" helpdesk: https://nhlgamer.com/community/forum/27-contact-league-administration/ Please note: Teams are expected to solve issues on their own before contacting League Administration - the rules include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always the last resort to solve any disagreements. Team management tools All teams have been created, and the captains will shortly be unlocked for the team management tools on the main page (go to https://nhlgamer.com and click on your username in the top right corner to access them). All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of your first game. Please note that all invited players need to accept the invitation (there will be a popup alert on https://nhlgamer.com) before they show up on the team roster and can start playing! In case you have any questions, please use the comment section below this news story. Good luck to all teams and have fun! @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com
  10. Good evening, Gamers The long-awaited third episode of ECL Talk is here! Exciting times lie ahead as we try our hand at recording the podcast through a Skype call instead of the PS4 party platform. The title of the episode is Dominating the Beta, something that is reflected in the episodes' content as we review the NHL 18 Beta leaderboards and find the NHLGamer community well represented... Here's a more detailed rundown of whats happening in Episode #3 of ECL Talk (synopsis from YouTube page): "In the third episode of ECL Talk, hosts vSilenttio and The_Alpha_Furyan take a look at the final NHL 18 Beta Leaderboards (team rankings as well as player rankings) and find quite a few familiar names. The bulk of the episode is made up of this "review", with every skater position from Goalie to Center getting their time in the spotlight. Once past the Beta leaderboards, the discussion turns towards how the vacant divisional spots should be filled for ECL 5. Finally, we hint at what is coming up in the future for NHLGamer.com" Bonus material While recording the podcast, we had a "cheat sheet" of sorts in the form of screenshots taken on the last day of the Beta (midnight to be specific). As we mention in the podcast, we decided to share this material with the community as a form of "bonus content". To make the screenshots more visually appealing and show how dominant the NHLGamer community actually was in the Beta, @Kenu enhanced the images with some ECL art. Enjoy! Teams All Skaters Centers (featuring @ADETIKKI, @Joonas Paatiala, @Erkki, @xDoumi, @otto aaltonen, @Tzon93, @Norpee and @Migo_boo) Left Wingers (featuring @SadaPoika, @xMaick82x, @Bugimir, @plee999, @Rimpe, @pajenc, @mir02k1 and @hpkfani) Right Wingers (featuring @FlyerKungen, @imosi, @jumalpeku, @vatalisti, @Pelle3000 and @epelis) Defensemen (featuring @vSilenttio, @Slaivone, @Janikka, @The_Alpha_Furyan, @Ilmari_30, @Rullstolskalas, @kikiukko and @Gustafsson7) Goaltenders (featuring @FinKonna, @Casper, @Tauri, @s_w1ld_rus, @Jiihooo86, @Hullued, @Zande95, @jaakko katiska, @Ylijumala and @MajLeN-Gaming) As always, stay tuned for more ECL Talk and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and like the video if you want to see more content like this in the future. See you then! @vSilenttio and @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com
  11. Good afternoon, Gamers The second episode of ECL Talk is here and so are our sound problems! Yes, we know what you're thinking: good job @vSilenttio and @The_Alpha_Furyan - and we thank you for that. So, to poke some fun at ourselves and to honor the late Chester Bennington, we've named the episode after a Linkin Park song; Lost In The Echo. Be sure to note how confident we sound in the beginning of the episode that we did indeed fix our issue... Anyway, here's whats going down today (synopsis from YouTube page): "In this second episode of ECL Talk, our hosts The_Alpha_Furyan and vSilenttio turn their attention to reviewing the NHL 18 Beta. The episodes main focus is on our hosts providing their own impressions of the game, while also discussing which ECL franchises seems to have figured out the game and done well for themselves in this short span of time. Furthermore, ECL Talk #2 touches down in the Free Agents thread – looking at some of the remaining “big dogs” out there. Lastly, the Summer Cup is discussed briefly with the champions being crowned no more than a week ago." Stay tuned for more ECL Talk and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and like the video if you want to see more content like this in the future. PS: A final apology for the once again poor audio quality – for Episode 3 we will be recording in a different manner to make sure the quality is crisp. See you then! @vSilenttio and @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com
  12. Howdy, Gamers! We told you earlier this week that there was going to be one more cool thing released before the NHL 18 Beta kicks off next Tuesday and here it is! Well, at least we think it's cool. NHLGamer Presents: ECL Talk is our brand new podcast program for the official ECL news, trades and other things that are associated with NHL gaming. How does it work then, you might ask. Basically, it's about two passionate NHL gamers talking about what is going on around NHLGamer - and sometimes outside of it. We have two hosts: @The_Alpha_Furyan and I, @vSilenttio, and we might have some guests with us talking about stuff in the future. As we tell the latest news and other things that are going on, we're also giving our personal opinions on things. We would like to emphasize that the things we say are not official words of NHLGamer - we just tell our opinions as individual gamers. Anyways, give us a listen and find out yourself if it's your thing or not! If you enjoy it, be sure to subscribe to our channel and give the video a thumbs up! PS: We're working on improving the technical quality of the series in the future. Until next time, have a nice day!
  13. Battle Royale After what can only be described as a thriller of a tournament, Laser HT has been crowned the champion of the 4th European Championship League in a plot that would have left even Stephen King hanging on the edge of his seat, while desperately holding onto his MUKI. The start of the season was Written in the Stars, but the scripture had too much TIKI TALK in it, and was thus shattered around with a banhammer, also known as Kenu's Taikasauva, with other teams picking up the fragments for points as the season progressed - eventually turning it into a Nordic Nightmare for them, on the first round of the playoffs. How we saw nightmares on Round 2 is anyone’s guess, as on Round 1 they had triumphed against an Unknown team. In an extremely competitive regular season the Northern Stars were fading and only two Swedish team made it to the playoffs, but unfortunately lacked the Synergy to shut down the beam team of to-be-champions. One team seemed to regard the playoff-line non-existent, and in their nearly Limitless limitlessness almost eliminated themselves out of the limited-for-eight playoffs. No Dynasty was made this season, either, as they continued an impressive record of 3 Game 7 losses in the past four tournaments, reportedly leading to a violent burst of Nordic Lightning in the vicinity of Kouvola. All the while, at the bottom of the standings, there was a team that Refused to Lose only four times during the tournament. Other relegations were the Animalia of Elite; Finnish Roosters and SIKA (pig) will be seen in the Pro division next season, together with Rynnäkköviikset. Promoted teams The teams that were promoted from Pro to Elite for ECL 5 are: Carlsberg HC, Kattiautomaatti, Silver Sword Griffins and Sjukstugan. We will inform of any changes to the divisions and teams after ECL 5 registration, if need be. Awards A big thank you to @The_Alpha_Furyan for compiling the statistics for all three divisions. Here's a list of the best performers in Elite during ECL4. Forwards Most points: Dominointi [39+55 = 94p in 28 games - 3.35 Points/GP], Laser HT Most goals: PleeMaker [49g in 30 games - 1.63 Goals/GP], Limitless Most assists: Dominointi [55a in 28 games - 1.96 Assists/GP], Laser HT Most hits: PleeMaker [145 hits in 30 games - 4.83 Hits/GP], Limitless Best +/-: Haldeem, Penatski, tbnantti, PleeMaker & nylanderi [+43 in 30 games], Limitless Defensemen Most points by a Defenseman: nylanderi [12+22 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Limitless Snapu48 [4+30 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Dynasty Haldeem [6+28 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Limitless Most goals by a Defenseman: nylanderi [12g in 30 games - 0.40 Goals/GP], Limitless Most assists by a Defenseman: Snapu48 [30a in 30 games - 1.00 Assists/GP], Dynasty Most hits by a Defenseman: friilander [140 Hits in 30 games - 4.66 Hits/GP], SIKA Goalies Best Save% (min. 50% of games played): Ranta83 [80.58% in 30/30 games], Unknown Best GAA (min. 50% of games played): Sandr0hh [1.93 GAA in 16/30 games], Dynasty Most Wins (W+OTW) by a Goalie: Ranta83 [19 Ws in 30 games], Unknown Most Shutouts: Danielcadabra [4 shutouts in 12 games], Written in the Stars DUNZA [4 shutouts in 14 games], Synergy VilberttoCarlos [4 shutouts in 18 games], Nordic Nightmare FinKonna [4 shutouts in 30 games], Limitless Playoff MVP Dominointi, Laser HT Words of a Champion Now, let’s hand over the pen to Risto “Dominointi” Järvi, the captain of Laser HT and the MVP of the tournament: “For the regular season our objective was only to make the playoffs. It got very tight in the end, but we managed to battle ourselves to 7th. A couple of players left the team at the end of last season and we got the replacements for them from Nordic Blizzard. I think it made each players’ role in the team much more clear. We played the regular season quite a bit differently than what people perhaps expected or had seen from us before. I played quite a lot up the ice, looking for stretch passes while the wings gave close support on the breakouts. I feel like it helped a lot, at least against certain teams. The team probably wasn’t on equal level skill-wise compared to last autumn, but this season we played strong as a team from the get-go, which I think was the primary reason for our success. Nowadays in this game you have to play as a team if you want to succeed, the level of competition is simply so tough. In the playoffs we were just trying to keep our own end clear of goals, with the front of the net being the keywords. We knew that if we kept our defence tight, we had a chance to win every game, as we pretty much always manage to score at least a few goals. We couldn’t go into a goal-scoring competition - something that would not have ended up well against every team. On the first round of the playoffs we faced Synergy, a team we’re very familiar with. For the most part we knew how they’d be playing and where we would need to strike at. The first games were tight, but we managed to clinch them and eventually won the series. On the second round we were up against Nordic Nightmare, a team that eliminated us last year when playing for Nordic Blizzard, so we were looking for a revenge. We thought of our approach carefully because Nordic Nightmare has a unique style of play for Elite. Our game-plan was to strike them on the breakout and try to prevent their quick counter-attacks. We knew they’d be playing very straightforward hockey and blocking shots would be important. Of course, we supposed our opponent would also know how we’d be playing, so we tried to mix that up a little as well by getting more pucks to the defencemen and more shots from the blueline. We played well and deserved to progress on to the finals. In the finals we were up against a very familiar team, Dynasty. We knew them to be a great defensive team and to add to that they have a lot of skill on every position. Their goalies were top of the league, too. We set out to play brave hockey and apply strong pressure to the defencemen, always shooting the puck and crashing the net when there’s an opening. The first four games of the series were tight, but somehow it felt we had that slight edge, even though the stats were very even in every game. The weekend break started with us leading the series 3-1. After the break we had games 5 & 6, and quite frankly, we had no chance. The opponent had changed their approach and our tactic was not working at all. Deserved wins for Dynasty and off we went for a game seven. For the deciding game, we agreed to just play our regular game, not try anything too complicated and just park the bus in the neutral zone. After some thrilling events and a lot of screams and shouts, we clinched it 2-1 and won the title. The series could not have been tighter – that’s just how it ended this time. Overall, I think Leksa played a fantastic tournament. Counting both the regular season and the playoffs, I don’t think he had a single off-game. I will tip my hat to the performance of our goalies in the playoffs, especially Hansu in the finals. The defence was rock solid throughout the playoffs, too. Vesa and Wille were excellent in the finals and Selarit played as well as he always does. As for the future of the team, I can’t tell. We agreed that we’ll look at it again before the beta, but most likely we’ll be continuing with the same lineup.” The Decider Scored by who else than Risto "Dominointi" Järvi in the closing seconds of the 3rd period of Game 7. Broomsticks and Magnets Every year the game franchise makes small but significant changes to online gameplay. One year it's short-side one-timers, the other it's far-side one-timers. One year poke-checks are overpowered, the other it's stick-lifts. I'm yet to witness a year, however, in which the rock-paper-scissor of the meta game would've have found, say, rock unbeatable. This year there were some tricks to be found in terms of puck control, the kind of tricks your user manual doesn't tell. Some individuals and teams started picking up on these towards the latter parts of ECL 3, one of the masters of such arts winning the MVP award of the tournament. These type of players and their rather spectacular-looking play-style I call Magnets. Some teams spent their off-season between ECL 3 & 4 figuring out how to deal with Magnets, and one of the answers was a Broomstick. By now, the Broomstick technique has spread wide and has arisen some heated debates, and I know there are teams that refuse to play against each other because of this. The Broomstick is of course the crouch block position you can go to by pressing L1. The most obvious advantage is that you can't get penalized; you can't trip, slash or interfere with a player while doing so. While I think anyone would agree using the function in the game as intended should be allowed, many would say spamming it the way it is possible to spam, is effectively abusing a glitch. Personally, I'm inclined to disagree that it should be forbidden or whatnot. The Broomstick is much more effective along the boards than it is anywhere else as a means to strip the puck. Now, if we look at board play and puck control in general, is it balanced, or does the offensive or defensive player have an advantage? I think definitely the player with the puck has the advantage; with the puck your player is much more agile, you can actually move your stick through the boards while controlling the puck etc. So, effectively, I find the Broomstick a balancing, not a breaking factor of gameplay. Furthermore, I find the gray area on the defensive side to be larger than on the offensive side. In real hockey, too, you're effectively allowed to do things on the defensive side of the puck that you're not allowed to do when attacking. Also, you can still be a great player in this game even if you never used the whole function. Thank You I had absolutely no stake in organizing ECL 4 and thus would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to those that did – Kenneth, Samuli, Max, Väinö, Hampus, Jānis and Teemu, it was yet another great tournament to take part of, thank you very much for your effort on behalf of all of us players, and let’s try to build on this as a community going forward. From now on I’ll be back on-board with the staff as well. Have a great summer everyone, hope to see many of you in the SC - you still have a day left to register have you not done so already, but if not, see you in the autumn with ECL 5!
  14. Summer is almost here but before that - good evening once again NHL Gamers! It was Carlsberg HC who managed to be the best out of 32 Pro teams as they beat Sjukstugan in the ECL 4 Pro finals. CAR-112 series results: Game 1: Carlsberg HC @ Sjukstugan | 2-1 Game 2: Sjukstugan @ Carlsberg HC | 3-2 OT Game 3: Carlsberg HC @ Sjukstugan | 3-0 Game 4: Sjukstugan @ Carlsberg HC | 1-5 Game 5: Carlsberg HC @ Sjukstugan | 3-1 Final Carlsberg HC Championship roster: G: #88 J. Sibelius (aka Zande95) D: #82 M. Nyqi (aka Janzuh) D: #7 J. Jate (aka vatalisti) F: #9 R. Grimes (aka joukki13) F: #10 P. Lehtera (aka mikaasi) F: #28 M. Scofield (aka alexbvb28) F: #30 W. Shakespeare (aka F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_) F: #86 J. Paatiala (aka Patzlaf) Carlsberg HC's road to the ECL 4 Pro Championship: 24 wins, 3 losses and 1 OT-loss during the regular season, ranked 1st of Group 1, the best PPG in the ECL 4 Pro (1,75) Round 1: 4-0 victory against Huppati HC Round 2: 4-0 victory against White Trash Round 3: 4-0 victory against Silver Sword Griffins ECL 4 Pro finals: 4-1 victory against Sjukstugan The whole NHLGamer staff congratulates Carlsberg HC for winning the first ever Pro championship - and also for taking the big step into ECL Elite next season! Same goes for Sjukstugan as they secured their ECL Elite spot by beating Kattiautomaatti in the Round 3. Kattiautomaatti also stepped into Elite as they won SIKA in the Relegation faceoff. A big congratulations to these new Elite teams! Finnish Roosters and Silver Sword Griffins are still battling for the 16th Elite spot next week. In ECL Lite, Hawks Hockey Club and J P T J are playing for the Lite championship in the upcoming week as well so there's two big match-ups remaining in the ECL 4. See you guys soon & have a nice weekend! Oh and hey - we're not done yet so just like before, stay tuned! @vSilenttio for NHLGamer.com
  15. Good evening NHL Gamers! In a tremendous finale tonight, and with a last minute game winning goal in game 7, Laser HT beat Dynasty and secured a 4-3 series victory to be crowned ECL 4 Elite Champions! These are the series results: Game 1: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 2-1 Game 2: Dynasty @ Laser HT | 2-5 Game 3: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 1-2 OT Game 4: Dynasty @ Laser HT | 1-2 Game 5: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 0-2 Game 6: Dynasty @ Laser HT | 3-2 Game 7: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 2-1 Laser HT Championship roster: G: #33 P. Roy (aka Hiiirulainen) G: #88 D. Hansek (aka Hansulinho) D: #16 K. V (aka VesKuLiNe) D: #43 Y. Wilhelm (aka willekunq) D: #87 I. Junub (aka Selarit) F: #11 L. Lekker (aka Leksa94) F: #13 I. SK (aka Dominointi) F: #67 I. Dishmaster (aka hooneli) F: #68 J. Jagr (aka Hermurderer) Laser HT's road to the cup: 18 wins, 10 losses & 2 OT-losses during the regular season, ranked 7th Quarterfinals: 4-1 victory against Synergy Semifinals: 4-1 victory against Nordic Nightmare Finals: 4-3 victory against Dynasty NHLGamer staff congratulates the whole team for winning the most prestigious 6 vs. 6 tournament in NHL 17! Even in truly outstanding and merciless Elite competition, Laser HT were consistently showing great playoff performances for a deserved championship victory. A big shoutout to Dynasty as well: Carrying the series to game 7 after being behind 1-3 deserves special mention and huge respect! During the live stream on Twitch, almost 150 people were watching the game winning goal in the end of game 7, which is an outstanding number. It confirms the growing relevance of the ECL championships and NHLGamer.com, people are more hungry for top tier virtual ice hockey than ever before. ECL 4 is not over yet though, as Pro and Lite Divisions are still fighting for their championships and promotions, with some really intense match-ups ahead. Make sure to keep an eye on further coverage! A more detailed ECL Elite season recap including award winners will be released in due time - stay tuned. @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com
  16. Hello NHLGamers, With the regular season behind us, we now shift our focus on the playoffs. This time around in addition to fighting for the championship, teams will also try to avoid relegation and secure promotions to higher divisions for ECL5. Before announcing the playoff parings for the first round, we need to note that some teams weren't able to play all of their regular season games, forcing us to issue walkover wins/losses. In each respective case the League Administration took into consideration the availability, communication and attempts to reschedule the games from both sides. Here are the final rulings: Unplayed games between "Clowns On Ice" and "Ice Phoenix" - two WO losses for both teams. Unplayed games between "Origins" and "The Lights Out" - two WO wins for Origins. Unplayed games between "Huppati HC" and "Company Of Geeks" - two WO wins for Huppati HC. Unplayed games between "Inter Iceland" and "Thunder Tigers" - two WO wins for Inter Iceland. Unplayed games between "Written In The Stars" and "Aapon Taikasauva" - two WO losses for both teams. After applying all the WO rulings, here's the summary for each division: Playoffs MUKIMIEHET vs. Limitless Synergy vs. Laser HT Unknown vs. Nordic Nightmare Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty Relegation Faceoff Finnish Roosters vs. #4 of Pro playoffs SIKA vs. #3 of Pro playoffs Relegation Rynnäkköviikset Refuse To Lose Playoffs Carlsberg HC vs. Huppati HC Sjukstugan vs. HC Checkmate Rusty Blades vs. Royal Club Unlucky Boys HC vs. Germany's Finest Alliance HT vs. Shameful Knights Silver Sword Griffins vs. Nocturnal Hunters Nordic Stars vs. White Trash Kattiautomaatti vs. ORIGINS Relegation Faceoff Bare Knuckles Hockey vs. Company of Geeks murohoki vs. Thunder Tigers Nemesis vs. The Beagle Boys Showtime vs. The Lights Out Sadly some teams have abandoned the tournament. Due to this there are 16 teams in one group and 14 in the other. In order to make the current playoffs format work, we've decided to merge both Lite groups, sort teams by PPG and automatically advance the two teams with the highest PPG to the second round. Playoffs Hawks Hockey Club and DEAD END KINGS - both automatically advance to the second round. EN HUND vs. Blues HC J P T J vs. A Dream Valhalla Old Farts vs. Pohjoista Voimaa Dynamo Danglers vs. Vemppaosasto GHETTO FIREBIRDS vs. The Youngsters Clowns On Ice vs. Prometheus Lavetten vs. Die TwitchProleten Banterfield Battalion vs. PSHL Roadrunners Teletapit vs. Ice Phoenix HC Ancient Warriors vs. Papat Bone Breakers vs. HC Scorpions HC Palosaari vs. Falun Coal Miners Last Kings vs. EV Duisburg Elämäm Kiekko vs. INF4MOUS Sharpen your skates as the playoffs will start on the 3rd of April and the first round of the playoffs is to be played 03.04 - 09.04., best of seven. Good luck! NHLGamer.com
  17. Good evening, NHL Gamers! League Administration finalized it's ruling for a case involving the teams Refuse To Lose and Silver Sword Griffins and the player Kefleri. Kefleri left RTL without agreement from the captain Hanssonni, and joined SSG to immediately play 2 games with them against HC Checkmate. This violates the following rule: --- 8. Recruitment and transfers "Team assistant captains are allowed to transfer in case the team captain agrees to a transfer. In case the team captain disagrees, an assistant captain is not allowed to be transferred to another team." --- After discussing the case with both teams and the affected player, League Administration decided on the following outcome: Both games between Silver Sword Griffins and HC Checkmate will need to be replayed without Kefleri Kefleri will receive a 2 game ban for SSG's games against Kattiautomaatti pelimies80 will receive a 2 game ban for SSG's games against Kattiautomaatti due to transferring the player, even though he was aware of the above rule pelimies80 will of course be allowed to participate in the two rematches against HC Checkmate At the time of this news story, Refuse to Lose agreed to the transfer, so Kefleri is allowed to join Silver Sword Griffins after all. We would also like to include a general reminder to all captains: You are the team leader, and you have the power to decline an Assistant Captain's transfer. However if there are personal differences involved, and the captain tries to abuse this power by tying the player to the team after damage was already done (purposefully), the Fair Play rule comes into play. Benching a player in this scenario is strictly not welcome and League Administration will investigate. @Kefleri @pelimies80 @xLVxRitchey @ProMinx24 @OxtreeLAT @Hanssonni @ReDMisTi @TackleControl @Juizki @selänne8 - League Administration
  18. Good afternoon, NHLGamers! At 14:11 of the first period in the ECL 4 game between Aapon Taikasauva and Dynasty, indi969(Sven Tuuba) initiated a challenge for a fight with Dynasty's jumalpeku(EVGENI BULJUJÄRVI). This happened right before the face-off and as such is in violation of the following rules: --- 8. Game rules "Players are not allowed to challenge for a fight before a faceoff nor against a player who is either in possession of the puck, or would be the first one reaching a loose puck. Note, however, that if a player delivers a big hit, gets the puck and the fight challenge comes up, the opposing team is allowed to take the fight, because the player delivering the hit is regarded as initiating the fight challenge." --- 6.Fair Play ""Fair Play" is the most essential rule in regards to any games carried out within a tournament on NHLGamer.com. In general, "Fair Play" describes the act of treating your opponent the way you would like to be treated. This includes communication, but also any actions which are directly or indirectly related towards on-ice action. To give you an idea of what to avoid to comply with this Fair Play rule, here are a few examples: Do not attack your opponent with abusive language Do not exploit game mechanics or bugs to put your opponent at a disadvantage (e.g. do not make use of any player stats exploits, de-sync glitches, freezes or similar) Do not distract your opponent from playing the game (e.g. do not spam messages, do not call your opponent while he is in-game or similar) Disregarding the Fair Play rule will lead to disciplainary action depending on the kind of infraction. Less severe infractions like distractions may lead to point suspensions or game bans, while actually exploiting the game can also lead to a ban for all activities carried out on NHLGamer.com, in case the user is not interested in sharing this knowledge with League Administration. If this kind of issue comes up, League Administration will share this knowledge with EA SPORTS." --- After hearing indi969's explanation, the League Administration has determined that his intentions weren't malicious and issues him a two game suspension. As a result, indi969 won't be able to represent Aapon Taikasauva in their next two scheduled ECL games against Limitless on 27th of February. The ban is valid for this match-up only, so in case Aapon Taikasauva decide to play another opponent beforehand, the ban is not valid for that game. League Administration reminds everyone that all registered members are required to carry themselves and behave in accordance to the ECL Season 4 rules found here: - League Administration
  19. Good evening NHLGamers, Me - The_Alpha_Furyan - and the rest of the NHLGamer staff bid you welcome to another installment of our ECL Season Preview. To get an idea of what we will be doing in these previews, you can check out our previous one for Season 3. While that preview focused more on listing all the participating teams and predicting which ones would come out on top from the regular season, this one will try to dig a little deeper and supply a more in-depth look at each and every division - something the community has been vocal about in their feedback to our writing staff. After looking at both the Lite and Pro divisions, we've now reached the final 16 teams of ECL 4, the Elite Division. Just like during the Pro preview I have @nylanderi, our newest content creator here at NHLGamer.com, and his excellent eye for team- and player scouting by my side for this one. Let us get to it, shall we? Main text, scouting and predictions by nylanderi Text editing and additional reporting by The_Alpha_Furyan Art by OxtreeLAT Prediction for the Regular Season Top - 5 1. Unknown WHO is a team that rely on solid team defense and counter attacking to win games. Unknowns defense, lead by isvamp, has been really good every time I have played against them in regular EASHL lately. Foppatofflan and MartindalexC on the wings have the skill to create a bunch of great scoring chances in every game. If they can play at their highest level during the entire regular season, they will definitely finish high - possibly even first in the regular season. Their goalie situation is probably their biggest weakness since they are currently still searching for a starting goalie as far as I know. I am aware that Ranta83 is really good between the pipes, but if he's not able to play that much they will need to find a reliable goalie. 2. Limitless Last seasons champions X Factor, with a new name and some new roster aquisitions from Finnish Roosters. The offense - on paper at least - is truly something to behold with all three starting forwards finishing in top 10 for scoring during ECL 3. One of the biggest transfers this offseason was Limitless' acquisition of Haldeem from Dynasty. The plan is for Haldeem to form a defender partnership with myself (nylanderi). If the defense clicks and FinKonna puts up the good performances he is capable of it should be really hard to score against Limitless in ECL 4. If this team is able to string together solid performances they will most likely be one of the powerhouses this season. 3. Aapon Taikasauva Last seasons offensive powerhouse team has changed a lot. They lost Joukki13 and Puantso, but acquired some new forwards. Bugimir, Nampa77 and Chafak are all really good additions to the team, and I believe they will go far this season as well. Bugimir and Indi are both great two-way forwards, and I believe that Aapon will be one of the best defensive teams this season because of it. 4. Laser HT After last seasons disappointing finish, Laser has changed quite a lot. They made some big moves during the offseason and you can be sure they will be one of the top teams once again. Their team might not be as good on paper as last seasons squad but if Dominointi gets his team going you can expect great things. 5. Written in The Stars Kinda like Limitless, Writtens lineup has changed a lot. They have acquired KingOfApes_ and Vilupoika from X Facto with both players expected to bring a lot to their offense. Totalii leads their defense but they also got a new LD, Defmaxou, from Alliance HT so it will really interesting how he will do for SKY. If everything works out as planned, these guys can challenge for the ECL Elite championship. Championship favorite I would say Limitless, but I dont really want to have a big target on my back from the rest of the Elite division... so I will pick Aapon Taikasauva. Aapons roster this season fits playoff hockey perfectly. They can shut it down and they have some really tricky players up front. Aapons starting goalie is still a mystery to me so that could potentially be something that messes up their season. However, if they have an active goalie who can hold his own in net you better watch out for this team. Players to watch 1. Norpee, Synergy, LW/C Talk about a player who can do it all, Norpee will continue to do wonders for SYN this season. He scored a whopping 152 points during the ECL 3 regular season but I still feel that he is actually quite underrated. Terrific two-way skills combined with top hockey-IQ, I think he will continue to cause all sorts of problems for Elite opponents. 2. Anrh17, Unknown, C/RW iSvamp let us know in the Unknown thread that Anrh17 is quite busy with his IRL hockey, but whenever he has time to play you can expect big things. Unknowns #1 center often flies under the radar because of their skilled wingers, but this guy has been excellent every time Limitless has matched up against them and should continue to be a difference maker during ECL 4. 3. Gendlik, SIKA, C SIKA truly aquired a great player from Nordic Blizzard this offseason. Gendlik is known for his silky smooth hands and he should be a great fit for SIKA. Watching them last season I felt that they really needed one more pure skill forward. Gendlik can quarterback SIKAs offensive game and take that team to another level. 4. s_w1ld_RUS, Written In The Stars, G In my opinion a Top-3 goalie in the game and he really proved it last season in Alliance and recently whenever I have matched up against him in EASHL. With this goalie, Written has a chance to be one of the better defensive teams in the ECL Elite division. 5. Puantso, Dynasty, LD/C I was quite surprised when I heard about this signing. Puantso has been a wonderful player for Aapon the past few seasons. Now he plays for Dynasty but I am not sure about which position he will occupy. I feel like he could be an offensive juggernaut for Dynasty as a C, but I have heard rumours that he might play LD. That’s not bad either since Haldeem left and I know for a fact that Puantso is really good at defense. If he does play D, he will for sure form one of the better defensive partnerships in the game with Snapu and Dynasty will most likely continue the tradition of being one of the top defensive teams. Teams to watch 1. Nordic Lightning “New” NL is a really interesting team. They are back in ECL 4 without their captain JaromirSniper68 but in EASHL games their defense has been really good and their fast counter attacks have caused all sorts of problems. Tactical_Face is a great goalie as well so I think these guys can really surprise a lot of people this season. 2. Dynasty They really impressed me last season, but I think Dynasty will be even better this season. They're a team who truly plays great in every area of the ice and will be a tough assignment for every opponent to break down. Dynasty, lead by Snapu, is looking for a long playoff run at this point and their recent EASHL performances show that they have a good chance to achieve just that. 3. Northern Stars During an off-season where it felt like everyone and their mother changed teams, NOS made the bold choice to stand pat - only mixing up their lineup internally with some possible position changes. This could prove to be a wise choice as many other Elite teams will be scrambling to find chemistry in their lineups while NOS will have many years of experience to lean on. Lets see how this decision works out. This was our full 3-part preview for ECL 4 and we hope that you enjoyed it. As always, feel free to leave to leave your thoughts in the comment section. Now, let's get back on the virtual ice and play some hockey! Later skaters, The_Alpha_Furyan & nylanderi for NHLGamer.com
  20. Hello NHLGamers, It’s been rumored, it’s been talked about… we even hinted at it earlier during the season but tonight we are finally making the official announcement: moving forward after ECL 3, the European Championship League will take on a skill and merit-based divisional format. This is your post to find out everything about this new system and the next step in Online Competitive EASHL gaming before it is launched in ECL 4. Divisions First thing’s first, the divisions. The idea behind creating these divisions will be expanded upon in the text but the short version is this: We are continually working to improve the site, the leagues and the overall NHLGamer experience for everyone. Some might say this development process is moving too slow and does not reach far enough, some might say the website is expanding in ways that it should not. The community is special in many ways, not just because parts of it has stayed together for years (including previous websites, the community is now more than half a decade old) but also because it is continually expanding. NHLGamer has almost doubled its membership in less than a year while still maintaining its core, which is all of you in the community. It creates a tough balancing act when trying to create a fun place for EASHL rookies that want to experience the thrill of playing competitively for the first time while trying to give the hardened tournament veterans what they want, which is the best tournament possible where the stakes are high and winner takes all. Still, in an attempt to achieve this, we will be creating a divisions system where the hope is that teams will be better matched against each other – something we hope will lead to tighter games, more fun for everyone involved all the while creating a stronger foundation for the tournament to stand on. Our hope is also that more teams will be inclined to stay together and build longer lasting franchises. We’ve structured this post so that we should be able to answer as many of your questions as possible by getting to them one by one – a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) if you will. This FAQ will be available for future reference when the actual division based leagues come around. Despite this, if you feel something is unclear or just plain weird, feel free to sound off in the comment section with questions like: “Well, what if this happens..?” and we will do our best and elaborate. Let’s get to it: Q: How many divisions will there be? The short answer is 3 – a total of 3 separate divisions. The longer answer is that we set off to create an environment where all the top teams face off in the prestigious ECL Elite, up and coming franchises battle with veteran teams in the competitive ECL Pro and all newly entered or learning teams start off in ECL Amateur to hone their skills. This prevents teams with years of experience and chemistry from numerous EASHL competitions, from facing off with teams new to the site who are just learning what it takes to play EASHL at the ECL level. Q: How many teams will there be in each division? We are looking at a total of 16 teams for ECL Elite, 16 teams for ECL Pro and, depending on the amount of registrations, 16-24 (or more) teams in ECL Amateur. The goal is to keep ECL Elite and ECL Pro consistently the same size (16 teams each), which means if teams completely drop out of the division system or inactive teams return (read on), there will be balancing measures - meaning increased amounts of promotions or relegations. During extraordinary circumstances, ECL Pro can deviate from its 16-team baseline but ECL Elite has a hard cap of 16 teams. This part, much like inactive teams, is specified further down in the text. In case ECL Amateur sees an extraordinary amount of registrations, the staff will then decide if the division can be split up into two “conferences” (like ECL 3) or if registrations will have to be closed for the tournament in question. As a rule of thumb, we always do our best to include all registered teams in our leagues, as long as it’s reasonable. Q: How many games will there be in a season? The amount of games will, as per usual, be 2 games against each opponent – meaning 30 games (15 opponents) each season for ECL Elite & ECL Pro and somewhere around the same for ECL Amateur depending on the amount of teams. This ensures lean, hard-fought seasons with what we hope is the perfect amount of games – you get a sense of both the regular season grind while at the same time reaching the playoff threshold in just 5 short weeks: this by playing 3 opponents per week, just like during the last few seasons. Q: How will promotion and relegation work? First off, we will have promotions and relegations. Having closed divisions is not something we are considering at the moment so we are going with the European hockey model where teams can be both promoted and relegated in the different divisions. For ECL Elite: 8 out of 16 teams will make the ECL Elite Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Finals where the league winner will be crowned. The teams that finish #15 and 16 in ECL Elite will instantly be relegated and play in ECL Pro the following season. Teams that finish #13 and 14 will not be instantly relegated, but will have to play two teams (one each) from ECL Pro in a Best of 7- ECL Relegation/Promotion Round. Teams that finish in places 9-12 will not play in the playoffs nor be subject to relegation. In summary, this means a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 teams are relegated each season. It also means 10 out of 16 teams will see some form of post-season play and ensure that every team will be fighting all season, either to make the playoffs or avoid elimination. For ECL Pro: 8 out of 16 teams will make the ECL Pro Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Pro Finals where the league winner will be crowned. The top two teams (finalists) of ECL Pro are instantly promoted and will play the season after in ECL Elite. The teams finishing in spots #3 and 4 (the losers of the semi-final round) will then move on to face teams #13 and 14 (one each) from ECL Elite in the Relegation/Promotion Round (7 games). As far as relegations go, teams that finish #15 and 16 will be instantly relegated to ECL Amateur for the following season. Teams that finish #13 and 14 will follow the same model mentioned earlier and play two teams from ECL Amateur (one each) in a best-out-of 7 battle. In summary, this means 10 out of 16 teams in ECL Pro sees some form of post-season play. For ECL Amateur: 8 out of 16 teams (depending on the size of the division) will make the ECL Amateur Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Amateur Finals where the league winner will be crowned. The top two teams (finalists) of ECL Amateur are instantly promoted and will play the next season in ECL Pro. The teams that finish in spots #3 and 4 will then move on to face teams #13 and 14 from ECL Pro in the Relegation/Promotion Round (7 games). In summary, this means a total of 4 teams in ECL Amateur will be given the chance to advance to ECL Pro, something that we hope will be a welcome addition for all our new members looking to make their way up. Q: What teams will play where when the Divisional system starts up in ECL Season 4? We said before ECL 3 that the new format (bigger conferences, more games) was mainly for two reasons; 1. To try out the format and see what the benefits and disadvantages were and 2. To make sure all teams truly got the opportunity to distinguish themselves over a long season before we introduced divisions. Therefore, the teams that finish this long, grinding regular season in the Top 4 in each of the ECL 3 conferences will have guaranteed spots in ECL Elite, locking up the first 8 spots. The next 8 spots will be decided by the ECL 3 playoffs. This gives the remaining 24 playoff-bound teams (seeds 5-16) a chance to – outside of battling for the title in our biggest tournament yet – use the playoffs to get their hands on the final 8 spots. The deciding factor will be wins. Out of the 24 teams who make the playoffs but are not directly qualified for ECL Elite, the 8 who manages to collect the most playoff wins will be the ones to claim the final spots. In a situation where two or more teams have the same amount of playoff wins, the regular season rank will act as a tie-breaker. The third tie-breaker is PPG in the playoffs and the fourth is PPG in the regular season. This naturally means the 8 teams who aren’t directly qualified to ECL Elite and make it the farthest in the playoffs are the final 8 to be added to the top division. This could theoretically mean that, if there is an upset and a #16 seed beats a #1 seed right away in the first round – they could both be playing in ECL Elite the following season. The teams that made the playoffs in ECL 3, but didn’t make the cut for ECL Elite, will start ECL Season 4 in ECL Pro. Teams that do not qualify for the ECL 3 playoffs will start in ECL Amateur next season. Q: Can a team pause/be inactive for a season? In ECL Elite and ECL Pro, teams can apply to “pause” for one season (in ECL Amateur this is not necessary). This turns them into an inactive team, and they will not participate during that season. They cannot be promoted nor relegated. An inactive team is however expected to play during the following season, otherwise they will lose their current divisional spot. A need for a longer inactivity would have to be brought up with the NHLGamer staff and will be handled on a case-by-case basis. To fulfill the inactive status, the team needs to keep at least their captain and one assistant captain, as well as 2 other players (for a total of 4) on the inactive roster – these players are not allowed to participate with another team in said season, where the team is marked as inactive. Special cases where, for example, 6-7 players outside of the captaincy squad cannot play and will stay inactive but the Captain wants to play for another team and still keep the divisional spot will be handled on an individual basis by the staff. If an inactive team is not able to keep the amount of necessary players on the inactive roster (4), they will lose their inactive status and drop to division 3 for the next season. Q: What if teams split up? Who keeps the divisional spot? On NHLGamer, just like in real life, drama is to be expected. Sometimes it even finds its way into individual teams. But if teams split up, who keeps the spot? The staff will look at each individual case but, as a rule of thumb, the captain is considered the owner of the team. If a team has disagreements where, for example, the captain has lost the faith of his teammates and kicked most of them – he will have to explain his case to the staff. If both assistant captains and at least 3 other members that played for the team the season before applies ownership of the team, they will have a strong case to claim the team (however not the name of the team, unless agreed on with the captain). If a team is completely dismantled, they will not keep their spot in the division. Q: What about newly created teams that consist of established ECL players from several different teams? Do they have to start in ECL Amateur? To have highly skilled, established, experienced EASHL players form a new team only to play in ECL Amateur and be unevenly matched with completely new teams goes against what we’re trying to accomplish with this system. That said, we are aiming to create an environment where longevity, stability and consistency are some of the key factors moving forward. What follows is an attempt to balance these mindsets. Let us use a team from this season as an example; Laser HT. Laser, for those of you who don’t know, has been an established franchise in EASHL tournaments for years. Yet, they had not played in either ECL season 1 nor 2, but the players that today form Laser had. Many of them had even been a part of teams that made the finals, even won the tournaments. Now, ECL 3 was not based on divisions but if it had been – like in the future – Laser could have applied for Exceptional Team Status. This term is drawn from the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) where certain special players (lately John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad and Connor McDavid) have been granted Exceptional Player Status where they were allowed to “skip” one year of waiting to be drafted and were approved to be drafted to the OHL at age 15 instead of age 16. Similarly, new teams can apply for Exceptional Team Status in the ECL where they will be allowed to skip ECL Amateur and start in ECL Pro. At this point, new teams cannot apply directly for ECL Elite as it would undermine the idea of working your way up the divisions and staying there based on ECL results. Anyway, back to Laser. Had Laser applied the Staff would have granted them this status due to a few factors; Longevity and reputation (Several top tournament finishes in their history, always considered a top team when participating) Quality of players (most, if not all, players on the current Laser squad have been leading members and top point producers of teams that finished in the top-4 of both previous tournaments) EASHL 6vs6 ranking (they are ranked in the Top-10 of all European teams) When deciding Exceptional status, there will always be a subjective factor involved but bullet points like the ones in the example above will form the basis of any decision made on whether to grant exceptional status or not. Finally, the term “exceptional status” is there for a reason. These applications will only be granted under very special circumstances. Q: Will there be an ECL Season 5? Will it be played during NHL 17? When will the leagues start for NHL 18? The below are subject to change, but provide an overlook of our plans and what our suggestions are for the upcoming leagues: NHL 17: ECL Season 3 ends by 29.1.2017 ECL Season 4 starts 13.2.2017 and ends 2.4.2017 ECL Season 5 starts 24.4.2017 and ends 18.6.2017 Summer Cup specifics to be determined. (This is a draft-type league) NHL 18: releases 14.9.2017 (estimate) ECL Season 6 starts 16.10.2017 and ends 10.12.2017 ECL Season 7 starts 8.1.2018 and ends 4.3.2018 ECL Season 8 starts 2.4.2018 and ends 27.5.2018 Summer Cup specifics to be determined. (This is a draft-type league) Q: Are you guys out of your minds? This concept/detail x will never work! First of all, this is a proposition that we have set up for the community and we look forward to hearing your feedback. While we have a strong belief in that the plans we propose will be a good step for the community, we don’t blindly believe our plans to be perfect (nor that there is a perfect one-solution-fits-all solution) and we are open to discuss the subject as a whole or the smaller details as long as the discussion and feedback is constructive and respectful. Please elaborate on your own ideas. Verbally attacking the staff, or other community members will not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary actions. That is all for now. Please feel free to share any and all thoughts you might have in the comment section below. On behalf of the NHLGamer.com Staff,
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