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Hi Gamers, As communicated previously, the League Administration has come to the decision that once the current ECL season has finished (end of day Thursday), any subsequent tournaments will be played with all X-factors banned. We have come to this decision based on community feedback, as well as examining the current trend of EA Sports themselves, with the battle pass becoming more and more pay-to-win - an idea that we at SportsGamer vehemently disagree with. Furthermore, a key aspect that we weighed up was the potential pros and cons of instituting a variable ban list depending on community feedback, and which traits they viewed as overpowered and which ones they viewed as underpowered. While in a perfect world we would of course like to allow players to play with minimal restrictions and be more in line with what EA envisioned for the game, we felt that considering the murkiness of some traits, and the general lack of information provided by EA as to how each trait fundamentally works (as well as interaction with others), that any discussions down the line would become prone to misinformation and negativity towards other players. As we head into the upcoming tournaments, we’d like to share a quick reminder of the current passwords to use when applying for daily competitive training games: ECLPro – for Elite / Pro and Pro / Elite Qualifying teams ECLLite – for Lite / Core teams ECLNeo – for Neo teams While we understand the desire to challenge yourself and want to play tougher teams, please respect the divisions as mentioned above for use with each password. The whole point of the password system is diminished if, for example, Core teams use the Pro password, and so on. Please also remember to avoid using abilities and special builds when playing these training games. This helps ensure fair and consistent gameplay across all divisions. Information about the upcoming ECL '26: Spring season will be available soon, so now is a good time to start thinking about your updated line-ups, if you haven't already. Thank you for your cooperation — and have fun out there! Thanks, League Administration

In an effort to boost our editorial coverage outside the realm of division-specific ECL content, we've enlisted NHL.com/sv writer, and long-time ECL player, Hampus Duvefelt (l-Furyan-l) to provide a series of special columns for SportsGamer.GG throughout the NHL 26 cycle. This is the second edition. THE BUSINESS OF WINNING Winning has been on my mind lately. I don't say that to make it out like I am some kind of mentality monster; that my sole nourishment is winning and that I wake up every day ready to feast on the flesh of my enemies. Sure, I like winning. In fact, I love it. It's the reason I compete here at SportsGamer. But it is not the be-all and end-all of everything. At least not outside of this game that we all play and love (or hate?). Even so, winning has been on my mind. Or rather, the stories we tell ourselves (and others) about what constitutes a winner. The narratives we create. Being involved in hockey media – and consuming an unhealthy amount of it even when off the clock – I see it every day. "Oh, you just can't win with this guy" or "This guy is a born winner, this is the type of player you acquire if you want to go for it". It's everywhere. Everyone has their own narrative around a specific player, more often than not shaped by the opinion of others. It came into focus for me recently when watching the Olympics and following the aftermath of the final between USA and Canada. I saw Connor Hellebuyck, a player the majority of media and fans had decided couldn't get it done when it mattered, play out of his mind during the finals in one of the best goaltending performances I'd ever seen. I saw Auston Matthews, a player many had written off due to his failings in the playoffs in the NHL, captain a squad to a gold medal on the biggest stage in the world. And I saw Connor McDavid, possibly the greatest hockey player of all time when all is said and done, come up short. Again. The short reprieve McDavid received when he led Canada to the 4 Nations title last year was suddenly gone and again the narrative was "this guy can't get it done when it matters the most". Matthew Tkachuk is another interesting example. Titles just seem to follow him everywhere he goes, winning two Stanley Cups recently and now an Olympic gold medal. Yet it can be argued he, like Matthews, had less of an impact on his team in the tournament than McDavid did. Who is a winner and who is not? Well, before I derail my train of thought here and lose hold of your interest, dear reader, I'd like to posit my argument and my inspiration for writing all this. See, my take is that winners aren't born. They're made. They are made when (really) good players do everything they humanly can to put themselves in a position to succeed again and again, until they do. For some, that is right away. For others, it takes time. Hell, even Sidney Crosby lost a Stanley Cup final before he won it all. It won't happen for everyone. But I would argue that you can't know for sure who "has it" or who "will never have it" until everything is said and done. Case in point; Hellebuyck. His narrative blew up the moment he had a gold medal hung around his neck. Some might say this epiphany of mine is an obvious conclusion, but not everyone will agree. Some will look at a player like Tkachuk and say: "Ah, that guy is a born winner". Was he, though? Did he not first spend six years with the Calgary Flames, never making it past the 2nd round of the playoffs? Did he not lose in his first ever appearance in the Stanley Cup finals and in the 4 Nations finals (albeit injured in both)? If you ask me, Tkachuk wasn't born a winner. He has always appeared to have a winner's mentality, sure, but he had to both fight and stay patient to get across that finish line. Until he made himself a winner. You look at players like McDavid, like Nathan MacKinnon. The way they dedicate every fibre of their being to winning; the nutrition, the practice habits, the mentality. Their grim faces on the bench and in the media, even after winning games. If something doesn't get them closer to a title, they are not interested. And yet, MacKinnon – who famously said "I'm in my 10th year in the league and I haven't won shit" – has "just" the one Stanley Cup win. McDavid has none. They are the best players in the world right now and they eat, live and breathe winning, but they simply cannot do it alone. In hockey, no one can. The same goes for virtual hockey. Because even though we have just six active players for each game, not 20, and we play the full "60" minutes of a game instead of 20 – meaning each individual player is afforded the opportunity to have a bigger impact on the game than in actual hockey – we still cannot do it on our own. Circumstances matter. Teammates matter. Opponents matter. Timing matters. I look at players like Patzlaf and FlyerKungen, who just weeks ago won their first Elite titles since 2021. Or a player like Eki, who last year finished out his ECL career by winning his first Elite title in quite a few years. I've never looked at these players as anything but winners, even though they hadn't been on the winning side of a final for some time. Sure, it helped that they had gotten it done before so the pedigree was there, but to me they are prime examples of (really) good players who did everything they could to put themselves in positions to succeed, again and again. And under the right circumstances and with the right teammates, they finally did. Again. I look at a player like Antoniomannen, who has won everything there is to win on the Swedish side of things, but who – like most Swedish players on the scene – hadn't experienced that same success in the playoffs at the Elite level. But this past season, he and his team put themselves in a position to succeed and I have no doubt that if they continue to do so, they'll eventually be at the top of the mountain. I look at a player like Sokkelo, who just couldn't seem to get into the playoffs at the Elite level. Then, suddenly, he became a bonafide Finnish champion and nearly led his team to an Elite title (!) in his first ever playoff appearance there. In the span of just two playoff runs, he ended up making those who wrote him off early look quite foolish. I look at a player like KingOfApes_, who has won multiple ECL Elite titles in his career but hasn't been back in the thick of things for a while now. I have no doubt he can get back there again, under the right circumstances. At the same time, I understand the narratives aren't going away. People love telling each other stories. If you listen, I mean really listen, to any conversation between two people, it often has a tendency to evolve into each individual telling the other stories from their perspective. Most of the time, that's how we relate to each other as human beings. The story of McDavid "unable to come up big when it matters" will live on until the day he does. The story of Tkachuk being a "born winner" is strong enough to survive the Panthers missing the playoffs this year – and probably a few more years after that, should it happen. But stories and narratives are just that, stories and narratives. They can change. A playoff run, a series, a game, a single moment even, is sometimes enough to change it. Like Hellebuyck changed his. Like Sokkelo changed his. So, if you are a player who has found yourself involved in a story or narrative you didn't chose to be involved in, remember that it is never too late to change it. Because winners aren't born, they're made.

After a seven-game Finals series that had overtime drama, a stunning blowout, and a Game 7 for the ages, Tohtorit have been crowned Elite division champions for the ECL '26: Winter season, defeating vNexs I 4-3 in the Finals. But to understand just how much this title means, you have to start with the team they had to go through to get there.   The Elephant in the Room: vNexs I and the FINSeRe Story HAVU Gaming entered this season as the heavy favourites. Formed from the merger of Parasite and Last Dance — two of the most decorated clubs in ECL history — they were widely considered a superteam, and their regular season backed that up: first place in the Elite division with 67 points. Standing in their way in the Semifinals was a 6-seeded vNexs I side that, on paper, had no business being there — but whose playoff numbers told a very different story. @dippen04 and @AntonLxnd would finish the postseason as the two highest-scoring players in the entire division, while @pappeen- led all defencemen in points. This was not a team that got lucky. And adding a deeply personal dimension to the matchup was their goaltender @FINSeRe — a man who had spent the previous four seasons with the very club he was now trying to eliminate, winning two ECL Elite titles and a Finnish Championship along the way. This was the club he helped win in the past. And in a 4-3 Semifinal series, he and his new teammates sent them home. It was one of the great individual storylines of the ECL season, and it set the stage for a Finals run that captured the imagination of the whole community.   The Road to the Final Tohtorit, seeded second after an 18-win regular season, had their own business to take care of. They swept KUUSAMO.gg 4-0 in the Quarterfinals and then dispatched GOONS 4-1 in the Semifinals — efficient, clinical, and giving away very little. While vNexs I were making headlines with their upset run, Tohtorit were quietly doing what they do. The two teams met in the Finals as, arguably, the most deserving pairing left standing.   A Finals Series to Remember The series opened with back-to-back overtime games. @Ojala16 won Game 1 in extra time for Tohtorit after Dippen04 had put vNexs I ahead, and Pappen and Dippen04 combined to take Game 2 back for vNexs I. Two nights in, one game each, and the series already felt like it could go anywhere. Tohtorit then took control with back-to-back wins. Game 3 ended with @Kkarkass burying a gut-punch winner with one second left on the clock, and Game 4 saw @Harlowi- score twice as Tohtorit pushed to a commanding 3-1 series lead. Then vNexs I did what good teams do. Game 5 was a statement: Dippen04 completed a hat trick, AntonLxnd had a four-point night, and Pappen added four assists in a 6-3 demolition that made it clear this series wasn't over. Game 6 was another overtime classic — AntonLxnd scored a powerplay equaliser with under a minute left in regulation and then won it in overtime to force a Game 7.   Game 7: Ojala's Night When the dust settled, it came down to one man. Ojala16 scored all four of Tohtorit's goals in Game 7. He opened at 2:38 of the first, made it 2-0 in the second, and added two more in the third to close it out 4-1. @Stammer70 was immovable in net with a 94.12% save percentage. When the final buzzer went, Tohtorit were Elite champions for the first time in the club's history. Over the full seven-game series, Ojala16 was the best player on either side. Across the entire playoffs he finished among the top scorers in the division with 30 points in 16 games at a remarkable +16. As the captain and one of the founders of Tohtorit, his overtime winner in Game 1 set the tone. His Game 7 wrote the final chapter. ECL '26: Winter – Elite Champions Roster 🇫🇮 #10 Timi @Kkarkass Kärkäs 🇫🇮 #16 Tuomas @Ojala16 Ojala (C) 🇫🇮 #70 Stan @Stammer70 Adamus 🇫🇮 #86 Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala 🇫🇮 #88 Jere @Harlowi- Paloranta (A) 🇫🇮 #91 Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha 🇫🇮 #96 Juuso @TheSpeedo Sirkola   Winner Interviews Tuomas @Ojala16 Ojala, Captain, Left-Wing Q: Four goals in Game 7 of a Finals — take us inside that game. Were you feeling it early, or did it just happen? A: I enjoy high-pressure situations and I know I can handle them. So I just went into the game relaxed and confident. I wasn't thinking about scoring four goals. I was only thinking about winning. I believe a captain has to be able to help his team in tough moments. But I have to admit that when I scored my second goal, I started to feel like this was just the beginning. From that moment on I just wanted the puck.   Q: vNexs I pushed you to 3-3 after you were up 3-1. How did the team respond mentally going into that deciding game? A: We were still very confident even after they tied the series. We knew it's pretty hard to beat us three times in a row. Our team had experience that the opponent didn't have, and players who have proven before that they perform well in big moments even outside the NHL.   Q: You've been with Tohtorit for almost your entire career, working your way up through the divisions together. What does it mean to finally lift the Elite title with this club? A: When we started, hardly anyone would have believed we'd make it this far. A few seasons ago we decided that instead of forcing ourselves to chase a championship, we'd rather focus on having fun. Now we had fun and we won the championship. We didn't practice that much during the season, so I think our great team spirit was one of the key factors behind the title. And I have to admit, it feels pretty good to win it with your own club.   Stan @Stammer70 Adamus, Goalie Q: Two overtime games, a 6-3 blowout against you, and then a Game 7 — that's a lot of emotional swings for a goalie. How do you stay locked in through a series like that? A: Staying locked in doesn't require anything special. When you play as a goalie, the most important thing is always the next situation and the next opportunity. Even though I faced one difficult game, I knew the whole time that I'm the best goalie at the moment, which gave me calmness and confidence between the pipes.   Q: Game 7, 94% save percentage, 4-1 win. What was going through your mind when that final buzzer went? A: When the final buzzer went, my head was full of different emotions. The strongest feelings, however, were pride in our team and the six-year journey of Tohtorit to reach this point. In Game 7 I made a few good saves, but an even greater performance was shown by the five players in front of me. Especially Ojala — absolutely mental game from him.   Q: Both you and FINSeRe put up near-identical numbers across the playoffs. What was it like going up against him in the Finals, and how do you reflect on the goaltending battle in this series? A: For me this was maybe the most fun goalie matchup I have ever played. In my opinion, the Finals delivered a goalie battle worthy of them. Both of us were required to make big saves at crucial moments, and I think both goalkeepers managed to do that. I truly think that without FINSeRe, vNexs I wouldn't have been anywhere close to the Finals, so they should be really pleased with how things went.   We would like to congratulate Tohtorit — Elite champions for the first time in the club's history, built from the ground up by the people who believed in it from the start. And to vNexs I, what a run. A 6-seed that toppled the division's superteam before pushing the champions all the way to Game 7. See you next season.