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This article was co-written by @Pekedipeks & @Pensasmies: As we have reached the second round of the ECL ‘24 Spring in Core it's time to take a look at the matchups we have coming up! Prowlers (1) vs Huskies eSports (29) Prowlers showed us why they deserved that #1 seed with a convincing 4-0 Round 1 series win with a goal differential of 12-4. It is worth noting though that it wasn't a continuous blast of fireworks all series long for them since they had to take two of those wins after playing overtime. Prowlers did a solid job defensively in all 4 games, but big credit also has to be given to @Tizjeflen who has currently best save percentage of playoffs with an insane 91.18%. There is definitely no debate about who made the biggest upset of Round 1. After a series that was full of drama and controversy, the Huskies managed to win one of the biggest favorites in game 6. They lost the first two games kind of clearly, but then they made their Cinderella story happen or at least the first chapter towards that by winning four 1 goal games in a row, three of them being overtime wins. Grit from this experience could serve the Huskies' favor if this series goes too far from what Prowlers are hoping. Prediction: @Pensasmies: Prowlers 4-1 @Pekedipeks: Prowlers 4-1 Armeijan Kuri (2) vs Taskubilis (24) I pointed out in Round 1 previews that Armeijan Kuri had the best faceoff win% of the regular season and the same trend is still going on. Both of their centers have been top dogs on the dot. @SemiWasted has been cooking as Taskubilis' top-scorer with 6GP 10G+4A=14P but the safe pick for this series MVP is definitely @hefezuk85 with 6G+3A=9P in the first three games (series currently 3-0). If Taskubilis can't stop hefezuk and the rest of their ice forces, i can't see how this series would take many more games. Prediction: @Pensasmies Armeijan Kuri 4-2 @Pekedipeks: Armeijan Kuri 4-0 Capetown Kings (3) vs EV Duisburg (21) Capetown Kings got tested out hard by their Round 1 opponent after an intense series with 7 tight games. Their powerplay was the best of Core regular season, but so far after many tries they have only 1 powerplay goal in playoffs. EV Duisburg had 30 penalty minutes in their Round 1 matchup, so that needs to be changed if they don't want to give the Kings' special teams a chance to be reborn. Duisburg also had to struggle in the previous matchup when they had to take 3 out of 4 wins in overtime. I expect a tight series where the winner might be decided by penalties and simple things like puck possession. Players to watch: @GreatOne139 6GP 8G+8A=16P and @sambleri 7GP 6G+8A=14P Prediction: @Pensasmies: Capetown Kings 4-3 @Pekedipeks: Capetown Kings 4-3 (5) Darra Stars VS Moscow Capitals (18) This series will be a really interesting one as both teams have shown that they are very much a playoff team with both sweeping their opponents in the first round. Darra Stars is starting the series as a slight favorite to win it, but Moscow Capitals have also shown many promising performances. Darra Stars scored a ton in the first round, with especially @MrRelw and @isoraitti10 scoring almost 20 points each in only 4 games! Moscow Capitals had a less scoring sweep, but I am expecting their scoring to be even amongst all players. I recommend paying attention to @MycTau with the puck as he is the highest-scoring player in Moscow Capitals with also the least amount of time with the puck. Player to watch: @MrRelw Predictions: @Pensasmies 4-3 Darra Stars @Pekedipeks 3-4 Moscow Capitals Wida (6) vs HC Lugano Academy (16) Score at the time of writing: 2-1 Wida When taking a look at playoff player stats, this series stands out from the crowd with interesting facts: 4 players from the current top 5 scorers and top-scoring defensemen are playing in this series. Even though Wida won one game 0-6, every game has been relatively even stat-wise so I believe this will be decided by the firepower ability of these teams biggest names so far: @Palawatsch 9GP 15G+18A=33P and @nikitikitin 8GP 7G+22A=29P Prediction: @Pensasmies: Wida 4-2 @Pekedipeks: Wida 4-3 (7) Lutunilkat VS KohKae Esports (14) This is a matchup between two teams with a lot of experience, which was apparent already in the first round with both teams sweeping their opponents. I'm guessing this series will be a battle of goalies since both goalies have put up performances that have got both goalies almost a 90% save percentage. As Lutunilkat has had their point production spread evenly, KohKae Esports is completely different from this as @Joona41 has scored double the number of points from anyone else in the team in these playoffs. If Lutunilkat wants to win this series, they need to find a way to shut @Joona41 down. Player to watch: @Joona41 Predictions: @Pensasmies 3-4 KohKae Esports @Pekedipeks 1-4 KohKae Esports (8) Saucer Hockey VS Koskenlaskijat (13) Both teams had a good first round and are evenly seeded. I'm expecting this series to be a really tight one. Koskenlaskijat scored a ton in the first round, and I am expecting them to bring the same in this series, Saucer Hockey needs to keep their defensive zone clean and adapt to the attack of Koskenlaskijat. Both teams have had great goaltending throughout the playoffs and this series can also turn into a goalie battle. Player to watch: @Miggohell Predictions: @Pensasmies 2-4 Koskenlaskijat @Pekedipeks 4-3 Saucer Hockey (10) Silver Sword Griffins VS NAM3LESS (11) The most interesting series’ often are the ones that are between teams who are seeded close to each other, and this matchup is going to be a tight one that can definitely swing both ways. Silver Sword Griffins showed the ability to turn the really close games in their direction and that is something im expecting to be the key to winning this series. I'm also expecting to Silver Sword Griffins to fire with their whole lineup as their point production has been spread out through the whole team. Player to watch: @SchoolBoyz Predictions: @Pensasmies 4-2 Silver Sword Griffins @Pekedipeks 3-4 Nameless Follow the Playoff streams: Please post dates, times and links for streams in the comments of this news story and social media, to help everyone find your team streams. Who do you think will win each series? Let us know in the comments!

It's time to take a look at the second round in Lite of the ECL ‘24 Spring season, and oh boy do we have some juicy matchups! Disclaimer, all of the predictions were made before any games played. (1) Nordic Stars vs Refuse Too Lose (25) With Nordic Stars absolutely destroying their round 1 opponent Hirvikolari, there was no doubt who is the current favorite to win the championship, with 32 goals scored in 4 games we do not need to debate that any further. On the other hand, Refuse Too Lose had a tighter battle with better-seeded Vitosvitja, closing out the series in a thrilling game 6 overtime win. Nordic Stars are heavy favorites as one can imagine, like all teams they have their weaknesses and it’s for this Refuse Too Lose team to figure it out, one could point out that Nordic Stars did have trouble keeping the puck out of their net in their round 1 win, with goalie @SakkeTheEngineer boasting a 2.5 GAA in 4 games, the question here is can Refuse Too Lose stop @Vire30 and @Jerax13 from stacking the points even further, with both players raking in 21 points each so far. Whilst scoring 21 goals in 6 games is not bad, Refuse To Lose needs to keep this up versus a much better team defensively than their last opponents, if @Loghi89 can keep this scoring touch throughout the series, they might have a chance. Player to watch this series: @Jerax13 Predictions: @hifk_FANI: 4-0 Nordic Stars @Pensasmies: 4-1 Nordic Stars @Juhaniz-: 4-0 Nordic Stars @Pekedipeks: 4-0 Nordic Stars (2) The Oldtimers vs Hopfensmoothie HC (24) This series will be an interesting one to follow since both teams had very interesting first rounds. The Oldtimers had a tight game 7 series win in the first round and SSK Academy really put up a fight. Hopfensmoothie HC was an underdog coming into the first round at least seeding-wise, but they managed to do a reverse sweep of Nelos Kenttä. A reverse sweep is something that always helps a team perform in future rounds as it shows mental strength and also gives hope to the team even if they find themselves in a tight spot in future rounds. If Hopfensmoothie HC wants to win this series, their offense needs to step up and I am especially expecting @Original-SnuS to carry the team on his back. Player to watch: @Original-SnuS Predictions: @Pensasmies: 2-4 Hopfensmoothie HC @hifk_FANI: 4-2 The Oldtimers @Juhaniz-: 4-2 Hopfensmoothie HC @Pekedipeks: 4-3 Hopfensmoothie (3) Zenegeim vs Schrute Farmerz (23) Another series in which the better team swept their first-round opponent, Zenegeim taking down Hockeyholics in 4 games, was not as lopsided with 3 out of 4 games ending in a one-goal game. Schrute Farmerz need to capitalize on their chances in this series, because in these 4 games Zenegeim only conceded 4 goals, this shows that the defense of @Juhaniz- and @Saviinainen is no easy task for forwards, even if you do beat them they have an outstanding and experienced goalie in @Esko-etikka guarding the net. With Schrute Farmerz coming in as a clear underdog, they really need to study the game of Zenegeim to have a chance, they have a new team, and surely a lot of excitement to be here and have a chance to play in the playoffs. Defense might be the way to go here, if their defense holds up and the games are tight, they can steal a few games but their goal scorer @I-Jeppe-I needs to have a golden touch to put in those few chances they will be able to create. I had a chance to talk to the captain of Zenegeim @Juhaniz-, let's see what he had to say. Have you prepared for the next round in any way? "We talked after the first round, what went well and if something needs to be changed " What do you know about your opponent? "Not much new team but we do recognize some of the players." What will be the difference maker in this series? "This is always a hard question… It'll depend on who can read the game better and react to the opponent's playbook better. " Player to watch this series: @rakkauspakkaus- Predictions: @hifk_FANI: 4-0 Zenegeim @Pensasmies: 4-0 Zenegeim @Pekedipeks: 4-0 Zenegeim (4) Mights vs Ruuti (21) This series is one that can go both ways despite the seeding, with Ruuti a great series win over Carpe Diem and Mights barely getting through the first round it has surely woke the team up and reminded them of not underestimating these lower-seeded teams. Ruuti plays a really high-paced game and Mights plays a very patient playstyle that always includes that one extra pass to trick the defense. At the end of the day this series will come down to which team is more adaptable in their play. I'm expecting @Saloust77 to make some noise in the offensive zone from Mights and from Ruuti I'm expecting more balanced point production which can also be one of the deal breakers in this series. Player to watch: @Saloust77 Predictions @hifk_FANI: 4-1 Mights @Juhaniz-: 4-3 Mights @Pensasmies: 4-3 Ruuti @Pekedipeks: 4-3 Mights (5) BushWhackers vs Seinäjoki Noms (20) Firstly, let's have a look at these teams in round 1: While BushWhackers got a confident win with a gentlemanly sweep after only a game 1 loss, Seinäjoki Noms had to battle until the last moment with a sweaty game 7 overtime win. So far in playoffs BushWhackers goalie @HiBaZiBa- has been as awesome as previously in the regular season. He has an enormous 6-0-1 record with 90.91 SV%, 0.86 goals against average (#1 in playoffs) and 4 shutouts (Tied-#1 in playoffs). I would say this guy would not be far from it if we had a Goalie of Season award in lower divisions too! Assistant captain @hifk_FANI is the most experienced player of the lineup and you can definitely see that on purely scoring sheet with 7G+10A=17P but also watching their games noticing often him being the brains of offensive plays. But the other guy with an A on his chest @LeiskaViis7 has stepped up significantly and is currently #1 in defensemen playoffs points with 2G+10A=12P. All regular season long and in playoffs so far @Simbee434 has been the top-scorer of Seinäjoki Noms. Besides him, the big point in their gameplay is that their powerplay has been good and creative so far. If BushWhackers stay disciplined and Seinäjoki Noms can't build more weapons than their powerplay, this series will be a sweep. Predictions: @Pekedipeks: 4-0 BushWhackers @Juhaniz-: 4-1 BushWhackers (6) Sawolanche vs xBOTS (19) This matchup will be a very interesting one to follow as the xBOTS roster holds many big names from the HUT community. In my books, this series comes down to how well xBOTS manages to transfer individual talent into team play. Their attack at best can have most teams in Lite on their knees. Both teams have the nerves to win tight games as they both won a game 7 in the first round and personally, I really hope this series goes into 7 games so we can see which team has the nerves of iron. I had the chance to interview the captain of xBOTS so let's hear him out. What do you expect from the upcoming matchup? “I am expecting a broadly similar series to what we had in round 1 against Belissimo. As a team Sawolanche is not too familiar for us, so adapting to their play style will be key. In round 1 we made a drastic tactical decision after going down 2-0 in the series - we don't want to be in the same situation again, so we will try our best to counter whatever it is that Sawolanche is going for offensively.” What did you learn from the first round? “The first round was of course important for us gameplay-wise. But more importantly, this was absolutely MASSIVE for our team to relieve the pressure of making it through the first round. xBots in its history has played in 3 post-seasons, without making it past the first round - until now. This should help us to loosen up our grip on the controller - improving our gameplay. “ How will you prepare for the upcoming matchup? “To prepare ourselves for the upcoming battle, we have mostly tried to focus on our own way of playing. We have the capability to adapt our defense to match the offense of our opponents. We have a lot of discussions about how we want to play the game, how we want each other to move on the ice, and things of that nature. Being on the same page about the way we play is super important to us, and we are constantly improving on that.” Predictions: @Pensasmies : 4-3 xBOTS @hifk_FANI: 4-0 xBOTS @Juhaniz-: 4-2 xBOTS @Pekedipeks: 4-3 xBOTS (7) Modo Hockey vs Pata Hellalla (18) After many nights, and many days, MoDo finally played their last games of the first round, and it was a close one going to game 6 where MoDo drew the longer straw. This will for sure be a tight series with Pata Hellalla having the edge in experience, at least @Patadevils has a game or two under his belt, and maybe even the edge when it comes to offense. It's always nice to have forwards with the same amount of points and that's what we got here, can anybody stand out? Or will they rely on a solid team game to take out MoDo? MoDo plays tight defense which can cause trouble for their opponents, with 3 of their 4 wins being shutouts, this will surely be the story of this series. With a team defense like this comes great defenders, with their lineup not being the same so far, we will see who they scratch for the first games. Maybe @Sebbanejad or @I-Sjogren-I who both went without a point in three straight playoff games. Player to watch this series: @tilsuu Predictions: Hifk_fani: 4-2 Pata Hellalla Pensasmies: 4-2 Modo Juhaniz: 4-2 Pata Hellalla Pekedipeks 4-0 Modo (11) DEG eSports vs Technical Disaster (16) With interesting playoffs this year, these two teams are currently the closest two seeds in these Lite playoffs, with both teams overcoming their opponents in the first round they both have a difficult obstacle. Since both teams are quite even, this series will be decided by the team with more creativity, goaltending, and nerves. DEG eSports is not a new team by any means with 672 games played across all SportsGamer tournaments, their biggest weapon will definitely be their defense, conceding a mere 6 goals in 5 games, and their goalie @Meazza1704 rocking an 89,47% save percentage is no joke, with the recent connection issues arising these past weeks, will we see a significant change in either team's playbook? Technical Disaster's first-round series can be seen as a tight one, with all games being close, this will be a big test for this team to see if they can get past the 2nd round. With offense not quite being at the level they can be, this will be a difficult one, good defense vs a shaky offense? @Tecena needs to take his game to the next level once again, with only 5p (2+3) and a disappointing 39,2% faceoff percentage. Player to watch this series: @daaiim0n Predictions: @hifk_FANI: 4-2 DEG eSports @Pensasmies: 4-3 DEG eSports @Juhaniz-: 4-2 Technical Disaster @Pekedipeks: 4-3 DEG eSports Follow the Playoff streams: Please post dates, times and links for streams in the comments of this news story and social media, to help everyone find your team streams. Who do you think will win each series? Let us know in the comments!

1) Server Selection Issues Recently there has been discussion regarding LA and server selection between central European teams, EU North East based teams, and the idea of ‘home-ice / server advantage’.To be concise, we have been aware for a while now that sometimes central European teams (specifically German-based ones) have issues connecting to the EU North East server, resulting in higher than expected pings and packet loss. This came to a head a few days ago where multiple series had to be played with the EU North East team treating the EU North server (located in Stockholm, Sweden) as their ‘home’ server, as opposed to the EU North East one. We decided at the time to go with this compromise as we felt it unfair to force German teams to play with legitimately unplayable connections. Additionally, we also felt that the idea of swapping players out from the affected team so that no-one had the ping issue was a wholly unfair proposal. Ultimately in our eyes, this comes down to a couple of important points. One, while we understand the advantage of playing on a server that is located closer to the majority of your team, vs the other team. Teams also have to realise that there is a difference between server advantage based on geographical location, and server advantage by way of the server itself not working as intended. German players getting 60ms+ with 20% packet loss is so incredibly obvious that the server not working as intended, and any players that even attempt to say otherwise are in our eyes being unsportsmanlike, because I think we all know for a fact that if the roles were reversed and these EU North East teams had the same issue connecting to the German server, they would balk at the thought of ‘just playing’, or being told to ‘just swap out players’ – so please, can these players in question get some much-needed perspective and think ahead for just a slight amount. Two, in this case, the difference in ping between the EU North, and EU North East server is functionally minimal. We appreciate that it is frustrating having to move away from your preferred server but can we please be frank here. If you have a good to great connection ping-wise to the EU North East server, chances are you’re going to have a good connection to the EU North server, Stockholm and Helsinki are not ‘that’ far away from each other. Furthermore, please consider the fact that a central European team’s ping is not going to differ wildly between the two servers either, so it’s not like they are gaining a meaningful upside in connection quality by having the server switch from EU North East to EU North. Furthermore, LA has not decided on a whim to tell teams to play on the EU North server. Again, we’ve been made aware about the issue that central Europeans have in connecting to the EU North East server a while back, and we verified that the players in question were having legitimate issues that lined up with what we have previously seen – in other words, we can confidently say that these cases were not manufactured in an attempt by the central European teams to ever so slightly gain back some ‘server advantage’. Finally, to set the record straight. LA did not come to this decision because another LA member was involved. We arrived at this conclusion and suggested the process well before an LA member’s team happened to be impacted by the server issue – as can be evidenced if need be. To be clear, the LA member in question was not a participant in the LA discussion about what should happen in the series where they were involved. Additionally, we will not tolerate lies being spread by individuals on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) or other social media simply because they are upset that they lost and want to blame someone else instead of their on-ice performance. Hopefully, this post makes it abundantly clear that all we are trying to accomplish is to make it so that teams aren’t punished for clear and obvious server-related issues that are far from simply being explained as server advantage. To end this portion of the text, please find below the procedure to follow in the event that this or other connection issues presents themselves: Start on ‘home’ server Check in-game connection (note: not the lobby screen before the game begins, as that can sometimes give unreliable ping that turns out to be fine in game) If substantially higher than expected ping or packet loss is present, the player impacted should record evidence of this Please record video clearly showing the problem is in the game you are supposed to play to remove any doubt of tampering The player should then restart their router and console in an attempt to see if the issue is their own connection, or the server itself Both teams should change lobby host / captain Attempt to restart the game, taking video evidence of the ping and / or packet loss If the issue is still present, then the team affected should start a support ticket detailing the issue and attach the aforementioned video clips as evidence At which point LA will decide whether the server switch should go ahead or not Edit: Please use this form to provide information to League Administration about all the server issues you or your team are experiencing: https://forms.gle/iVbP4tak6aDysqAR7 The information provided through the form will be shared with EA SPORTS in an effort to assist them to tackle the issue(s). 2) Player likenesses and use of all-white sticks On a second note, we are also reminding teams and players in ECL Elite & Pro alike of rule 11.8.1, wherein we ask players to at least make an attempt at making their player resemble some of their likenesses. It has come to our attention that recently there has been an uptick in players using faces in game that could be interpreted as racist and derogatory. As such take this as an advance warning that if you are still using faces of this nature in the next ECL, you could be suspended. The suspension will start at 2 games, rising to 4 if caught using the face again, then 8, then a rest-of-season suspension. In addition to a reminder about rule 11.8.1, we would like to remind all players in the ECL about rule 11.8.2, in which players are not allowed to equip ‘all-white’ sticks that look to blend in with the ice. 3) Suspensions related to lying about game result Recently player @RojuppiGG was knocked out in the ongoing 1v1 tournament qualifiers. However, after losing their game Rojuppi attempted to cheat their way into the next round by lying about the result and claiming that they had won. To strengthen this attempt, Rojuppi recruited the help of two friends (@Bipes_bip0rus & @NikooqG) who were used to support Rojuppi’s claim. Allegedly Rojuppi told them that his opponent was lying and he needed their support to not get cheated against. These actions are wholly against the values and competitive integrity that SportsGamer wishes to foster, as such Rojuppi has been banned from all SportsGamer hosted tournaments for 365 days (from the publication of this article). Additionally, for their role in assisting Rojuppi, the two friends have been suspended for 10 games starting from the beginning of the ECL ’25: Winter season. While the actions of the two friends shouldn’t be overlooked, we feel that this can be a teaching moment for them to hopefully understand that blind faith in anyone – even friends – is not something to give lightly and that they will possess a better sense of integrity going forward. Thank you, LA