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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

Hey NHL Gamers, First of all, congratulations to X Factor on winning ECL Season 3 in an amazing final effort against the Finnish Roosters! Tomorrow we will post a full season recap, so keep an eye on the news section. Many of you have been asking for ECL Season 4 registrations to open already, and today is the day! We are opening the floodgates for our first ECL Season in the new Divisions format. Not only do we think this is the start of the most exciting chapter in NHL gaming history, we also believe it points towards a very bright future for this community. During the last few days we have received many interesting comments from long time community members, suggesting ECL is undoubtedly heading into the right direction. At the same time, ECL is still as newcomer-friendly as ever - which will always be a top priority for us. Don't hesitate and spread the word on your own team channels, so we can mark another significant growth in participation with ECL Season 4. Many thanks for your continued support! ----- 'Divisions? Dude, what are you talking about?' In case you were hibernating during the last few weeks (it's freaking cold outside, we understand!), please read the latest update on ECL Divisions. ----- 'I see! What else do I need to know?' First of all, there are a few general rules that apply to our ECL branded tournaments: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American players. North American players are not allowed to host matches / be captain in the lineup, which means all games need to take place on European servers. The same rule applies for Russian players: Please evaluate your previous connection experience against some of the teams participating in the ECL, especially if you live in eastern parts of your country (which likely connects you to US West servers). In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. ECL is a 6 vs. 6 tournament building upon the EASHL mode in the latest EA SPORTS NHL iteration, NHL 17. Each player needs to sign up with NHLGamer.com and create his personal Player Card. You can find a tutorial video right here in case you experience issues. Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. Default game days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Registrations are open until 23:59 CET on February 10th / 00:59 EET on February 11th. The tournament will start approximately one week after registrations are closed. ----- 'What about the other tournament & gameplay rules?' The final ruleset will be released shortly ahead of the tournament start. ----- 'How do I register my team?' (PS4 ONLY, see below for Xbox One) If you qualified for ECL Elite during Season 3, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Elite' paragraph below. If you are a new team or did not qualify for ECL Elite during Season 3, you need to decide whether you would like to join ECL Pro or ECL Lite. ECL Pro will accomodate 2x16 teams, while ECL Lite does not have a limit. In case we exceed ECL Pro capacities, we will look at each individual ECL Pro registration and determine, whether you qualify according to several criteria (Players on the team, team history, stats from previous seasons if available, EASHL 6vs6 ranking and stats) compared to the other teams. By signing up for ECL Pro you accept to be moved to ECL Lite in case it is required according to our decision. You are also allowed to sign up for ECL Lite right away. If you wish to participate in ECL Pro, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Pro' paragraph below. If you wish to participate in ECL Lite, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Lite' paragraph below. ----- Signing up for ECL Elite Applies to the following teams only: Aapon Taikasauva, Dynasty, Fat Cats, Finnish Roosters, Laser HT, MUKIMIEHET, Nordic Lightning, Nordic Nightmare, Northern Ascedancy, Northern Stars, Refuse To Lose (to replace Nordic Blizzard), SIKA, Synergy Hockey, TIKI TALK, Written In The Stars, X FACTOR Go to the ECL Elite registration thread and use the registration template below to confirm your participation or withdrawal! Withdrawal posts are final - you immediately give us the permission to nominate another team from Season 3 to fill your spot. Signing up for ECL Pro Go to the ECL Pro registration thread and use the registration template below to sign up. Signing up for ECL Lite Go to the ECL Lite registration thread and use the registration template below to sign up. ----- Registration template Team name: Team Abbreviation: Team Captains (PSN IDs): Captain 1, Assistant Captain 1, Assistant Captain 2 Team Roster (PSN IDs): Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Player 6 Player 7 Player 8 ... (Optional: Add a team logo if this is the first time your team participates in a tournament on NHLGamer.com, or if you simply wish to change it.) ----- 'How do I participate with my Xbox One team?' At this time, there will be no division format on Xbox for ECL Season 4. However, Xbox players are very welcome to start their NHLGamer career in a regular tournament, and you can sign up in this thread. Please use the registration template above and add your Xbox Live IDs instead of PSN IDs. ----- For now, that's all you need to know. Get those sign-ups in, and in case of any questions, please use the comments below! NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, The last post on our transition to having divisions in our popular ECL tournament certainly created a buzz in the community. It is our most commented news story in the history of the website (108 comments!) and our second-most read story ever regarding ECL (second only to the ECL Summer Cup Draft review). We'd like to start off by thanking the community for contributing such a wealth of knowledge and well thought-out suggestions in the comment section - we encourage you to keep doing that. The staff reads all the comments and consider the input we receive to be invaluable. Based on the community feedback and lenghty (which is an understatement) internal Staff discussions, we have decided to tweak a few aspects of ECL Divisions. Read on to see how it works: ----- Q: How many divisions will there be? During ECL 4, there will be up to 3 divisions. Division 1 is called "ECL Elite" and will consist of the following 16 teams: Based on ECL Season 3 regular season: Northern Stars Written In The Stars X Factor Finnish Roosters Laser HT Aapon Taikasauva Synergy Hockey SIKA Based on ECL Season 3 playoff wins: MUKIMIEHET TIKI TALK Dynasty Northern Ascedancy Nordic Nightmare Nordic Blizzard Fat Cats Nordic Lightning In case one or more ECL Elite teams won't be able to participate in ECL 4, other teams will be nominated according to these tiebreakers: 1) Playoff wins 2) Regular season PPG average More tiebreakers from the ECL ruleset can be used if necessary. Division 2 is called "ECL Pro" and will be split up into two conferences to accommodate 16 teams each (to match the schedule of ECL Elite), meaning a total of 32 teams in the Pro division. ECL Pro will be open to new teams (teams which did not participate in ECL 3) as well as all ECL 3 participants which did not make the cut to ECL Elite. If there are significantly more than 48 registrations for ECL Season 4, we will introduce "ECL Lite" (read more below). ----- Q: How many games will teams play during the regular 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 and ECL Pro, which consists of two 16 team conferences. Regular season will be done in approximately 5 weeks, by playing 3 opponents (6 games) per week. ----- Q: How will promotion/relegation and playoffs work? First off, we will have promotions and relegations. Having closed divisions is not something we are considering at the moment and 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 Elite 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 each play one ECL Pro semi-final loser in a direct competition to determine which teams will play in ECL Elite during the next season 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 12 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 relegation For ECL Pro: Out of each conference of 16 teams, the first 8 teams will make the ECL Pro Playoffs, where both conferences will be cross-seeded like in ECL 3 according to our tiebreakers. In the ECL Pro Finals, the ECL Pro Champion will be crowned, and both finalists will also be promoted to ECL Elite The two semi-final losers will each face one ECL Elite team in a direct competition to determine, which teams will play in ECL Elite during the next season The teams that finish #13 - #16 in both ECL Pro conferences will play a cross-seeded pre-playoffs style series, where all losers (4 teams total) will be relegated to ECL Lite for the next season Teams that finish in places 9-12 will not play in the playoffs nor be subject to relegation In summary, this means 4 teams are relegated each season. It also means 24 out of 32 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 relegation ----- Q: How is ECL Lite going to work? ECL Lite will be the entry point for less experienced teams and provides a great platform for new players to get accustomed to the ECL in a slightly less competitive environment. The exact shape and size of ECL Lite will depend on the amount of teams signing up for ECL Season 4, but the plan is to have conferences of smaller sizes (2x8 example below, will always be adjusted so all registrations can participate) than ECL Elite and ECL Pro. Each ECL Lite team will be able to make the ECL Lite Playoffs and have the chance to go to ECL Pro. For ECL Lite: After the regular season, all teams will participate in cross-seeded ECL Lite Playoffs. While all semi-finalists will immediately be promoted to ECL Pro, the two finalists will also face each other for the ECL Lite Champions title The exact ECL Lite Playoffs format will be slightly different every season, depending on the amount of teams, and will be disclosed once final registration numbers are available ----- Q: Can an ECL Elite or ECL Pro team pause/be inactive for a season? Inactive teams will be relegated. Example: An ECL Elite team decides to skip a season. This means they will play in ECL Pro for their next season. ----- Q: What if teams split up? Who keeps the divisional 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 the captain has lost the faith of his teammates, he will have to explain this case to the staff. If both assistant captains and at least 3 other members, who played for the team the season before, apply ownership of the team, they will have a strong case to claim the team with all of it's history and current divisional spot - aside of the team name, which remains the captain's property (unless agreed otherwise). If a team is completely dismantled so the requirement described above cannot be fulfilled (e.g. the Captain and both Assistant Captains each decide to leave for different teams), nobody will be able to claim ownership. In that case, the team will be removed from ECL Divisions. ----- Q: What about newly created teams that consist of established ECL players from several different teams? Where do they start? Upon signing up for ECL Season 4, teams are expected to express their wishes for their placement. If your team wants to start in the Lite division, simply state so in your registration. It is not possible to register for ECL Elite. While we will do our best to honour the wishes, whether a new team participates in Pro or Lite will be determined by the NHLGamer Staff based on the following criteria (in no particular order): Players on the team Team history Stats from previous seasons (if available) EASHL 6vs6 ranking and stats We admit there is always a risk for subjectivity, but feel like this is the best approach. Obviously this is only necessary when exceeding 48 registrations, but based on the amount of new teams we're hearing about, we expect this to be the case. Remember, ECL Divisions is all about longevity and building Franchises - consistency and good roster management are key to qualifying as one of the best professional teams on the planet. ----- Q: Is this concept final? Yes and no. For ECL 4, this post outlines the final structure: ECL Elite with 16 teams, and ECL Pro with 32 teams divided into two conferences. This structure includes promotions and relegations in both of the divisions. ECL Lite will be introduced if there is a demand for it in the form of amount of teams and will also be connected to the other divisions via promotions. ----- Q: Will there be an ECL Season 5? Will it be played during NHL 17? When will the leagues start for NHL 18? NHL 17: ECL Season 3 ends by 31.1.2017 ECL Season 4 preliminarily starts 20.2.2017 and ends 16.4.2017 Summer Cup specifics to be determined, but season start jotted in around the start of May. (This is a draft-type league) NHL 18: Releases 14.9.2017 (estimate) ECL Season 5 starts 16.10.2017 and ends 17.12.2017 ECL Season 6 starts 8.1.2018 and ends 11.3.2018 ECL Season 7 starts 2.4.2018 and ends 3.6.2018 Summer Cup specifics to be determined. (This is a draft-type league) ----- Q: I got you! When will registrations open up? This week. Stay tuned for another update! ----- For questions or any other kind of valuable input, please refer to the comments below! NHLGamer.com

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,