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Hey NHL Gamers, What a great start to the season it has been! Almost all the registered teams are active and playing and we’ve had well over 300 games reported already. This is without a doubt our biggest, most intense tournament yet. Sadly, no tournament is perfect and we’ve already had a few disciplinary cases. In the interest of transparency, here are our rulings on the matters we’ve dealt with so far. On the matter of the only team yet to participate in the tournament, Ice K1ngs - As the staff has not received any form of communication from the Ice K1ngs team and they have not played any games or responded to requests for games – they are hereby to be considered disqualified from ECL 3. This means the tournament now have 58 teams – 29 for each group. On the matter of incorrect arena configuration for Warriors of Kongo vs. HC Checkmate (Scheduled for October 13th) The staff was made aware by representatives of HC Checkmate that they experienced visual impairment during their away game vs. Warriors of Kongo. Kongo had not removed their home arena ”intro gate” which is currently something that is causing difficulties seeing part of the defensive zone for the opposing team from certain visual settings, like ”Classic” for example. Rule #7 of the NHLGamer rulebook stats that: ”The home team is responsible for making sure that no intro ceremony gates or other unlockable rooftop elements are blocking the away team's camera view. We recommend to turn off any of these items completely. If the away team can prove blocked sight in form of screenshots or video, the home team will receive an automatic walkover loss for said game.” Warriors of Kongo did not comply with this rule, as it was written in the rulebook. HC Checkmate made the decision to quit the game at the score of 2-2, as soon as they noticed the visual impairment. After collecting information from HC Checkmate (in the form of pictures of the intro gate) the staff have come to the following conclusions: - - The amount of visual impairment in this case is minor, less so then expected by the staff when writing this rule. Therefore, it will be modified. It is important to note however, that these intro gates and other ”start of the game”-presentations that are then hung from the rafters has no place in the ECL and we remind all teams yet again to REMOVE all of these arena settings. - - Warriors of Kongo showed negligence in not being aware of this new addition to the rulebook. - - HC Checkmate made the right decision to quit the game. The staff rules that Warriors of Kongo are to be considered warned. Any further indication of an intro gate being used by Kongo will result in more severe punishment (walkover losses) and repeated offenses are grounds for a tournament ban. Furthermore, the ruling is that the game in question will have to be played again, from scratch, starting at a score of 0-0. The staff applauds HC Checkmate for following the staff suggestion of replaying the game instead of demanding a WO. As mentioned above, the rule will be modified to reflect the actual effect the intro gate has on the game. It does impair the vision and is a distraction for the opposing team, but not neccessarily to the degree that immediate walkover losses are a reasonable consequence. Therefore, the modified rule will most likely feature some form of wording that gives the exposed team (the team that experiences the visual impairment) a right to replay the game from scratch if communicated immediately when the obstruction is noticed. On the matter of incorrect roster for Falun Coal Miners in the games vs. Elämäm Kiekko (Scheduled for October 13th) It was brought to the staffs attention by the captain of Elämäm Kiekko that, when trying to report the teams completed games against Falun Coal Miners, some of that teams players who participated in the game were missing from the official website roster. Therefore, Elämäm were unable to report the games. Rule #5 of the NHLGamer rulebook states that ”Teams are only allowed to use players listed in their roster on NHLGamer.com”. Falun did not comply with this rule, as it was intended in the rulebook. When asked about the situation, the Coal Miner captain stated that it was his belief that the rule in question was referring to the roster listed in the ECL Roster Registration thread and that, since both players missing from the intended game report was indeed listed on the registration roster since September, the team was in full compliance with the rules. The players in question were both on the official website roster within 24 hours of the games. After collecting information from both teams (the images provided by Elämäm combined with statements from Falun representatives) the staff have come to the following conclusions: - - The rule was always intended to refer to the Official website roster (wherein the players accept invites to their teams from the captains) and not the registration roster. The rule isn’t as clearly worded as it could be and does invite a certain confusion about which roster is referred to. This is something that will be corrected on our side moving forward, with this case serving as the catalyst for the change. - - It is the judgement of the staff that the captain of the Coal Miners acted without ill intent and did not seek to gain any advantages to his team by not having the players on the official website roster on time. Nevertheless, he is to be considered neglient for not applying ”common sense” and having his teams players on the reportable roster on time. - - The situation that occured did not have any effect on the outcome of the teams actual games Therefore, the staff rules that the results of both games will stand (the teams are now free to upload their stats) but the captain of the Falun Coal Miners – The_Alpha_Furyan – will receive an individual punishment for neglient behaviour in regards to rule #5. This punishment will consist of a 1-game suspension wherein the captain is forced to miss his teams next game during the regular season. Furthermore, the rule in question will be re-written to more emphatically state that the roster intended in Rule #5 is indeed the official website roster to avoid any confusion. On the matter of Ice Bros not showing up for the games vs. Nordic Nosebleed (Scheduled for October 19th) The staff was contacted by the captain of Nordic Nosebleed who reported that Ice Bros had not shown up at all for their scheduled games. These games had been scheduled and confirmed by both teams. Rule #6 of the NHLGamer rulebook states that: ”If a team is more than 15 minutes late to a game, the opposing team has the right to request a walk-over win. These requests will be looked at by the NHL Gamer staff.” After being provided with screenshots of the conversation between the two teams, the staff has come to the following conclusions: - - Ice Bros did not provide any explanation for not showing up at all. If a teammate has some form of real life situation to deal with, the team is expected to have a back-up ready to step in. This is part of the reason all teams are required to have atleast 8 members. - - Ice Bros did not communicate that they would not be able to participate until less than an hour before the scheduled puck drop. Therefore, the staff rules that Nordic Nosebleed are to be given two automatic walkover wins for the games scheduled, just as Ice Bros will receive two walkover losses. On the matter of X Factor showing up late for the games vs. Origins (Scheduled for October 19th) The staff was made aware by both teams that an issue arose between X Factor and Origins when they were scheduled to play their games at 21.00 on October 19th. One player from X Factor was late and arrived at around 21.14 – 21.17 (timestamps vary in the respective teams versions of the events). Origins at this point decided to only play the second game of the two games planned and request a walkover win for the first. Rule #6 of the NHLGamer rulebook (as mentioned earlier) states that: ”If a team is more than 15 minutes late to a game, the opposing team has the right to request a walk-over win. These requests will be looked at by the NHL Gamer staff.” After several in-depth conversations with both teams and a myriad of screenshots and video evidence from both teams, the staff has come to the following conclusions. - - X Factor were late. Just because the rulebook states that there is a 15 minute grace period, does not means that teams should routinely use this to be 1-15 minutes late and not apologize to the other team. The appointed game time is the start time, anything after that is late. - - Origins were within their rights to request a walkover win, per the rules. - - X Factor did provide a reasonable explanation for their late player and did contact Origins to ask them for an additional 5 minutes to the 15 minute grace period as they knew their player could make that time. The player did show up in that 5-minute window. - - The second game scheduled was played on that same night, meaning both teams were available for a period of time that evening. The staff rules as follows: X Factor are given a warning and are to be considered on probabtion. If the team shows up late again during the tournament, the opposing team (if requested) will be given a walkover win, without exceptions. We will re-iterate what was said in the case of Ice Bros vs. Nordic Noseblees; ”if a teammate has some form of real life situation to deal with, the team is expected to have a back-up ready to step in. This is part of the reason all teams are required to have atleast 8 members.”. X Factor should have had additional players ready. That said, the game will not be ruled a walkover loss to X Factor as this was an extremely marginal case where both sides made their case through video and images that both differed by mere minutes. The first game between Origins and X Factor will be played and is to be scheduled as soon as possible between the teams respective captains. To summarize, X Factor showed poor sportsmanship by being late and Origins could have shown better sportsmanship by allowing the X Factor player the additional 5 minute grace. They were however, as stated, within their rights to request a walkover win. This will not be the case this time but as mentioned: a punishment for X Factor is doled out for being late. Summary If there is a common thread running through these rulings it is that we want the games to be decided on the ice as much as possible. The rules are extensive and do provide the backbone and structure for this entire tournament but they are not perfect or infallible. Therefore, the staff reviews each case individually – taking several long hours out of us that we would like to focus on improving the site for you guys. An additional individual warning is handed out to pulverapa, captain of HC Solhem. By continuously, and deliberately, misreporting the ”3 stars” function – you are creating a situation where these games arent being ”saved” correctly in the NHLGamer database. Refrain from doing this in the future or further discipline will be considered. Additional Info - Game Reports Finally, the following games need to be reported immediately as they are well outside of the 24-hour reporting rule. Continued neglience will result in warnings and/or possible bans. (Alliance HT) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1632 (October 19th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1633 (October 19th) (Bone Breakers) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1622 (October 19th) (HC Marilyn) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1389 (October 10th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1646 (October 19th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1647 (October 19th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1675 (October 20th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1676 (October 20th) (HC Soittorasia) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1409 (October 10th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1524 (October 13th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1528 (October 13th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1667 (October 20th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1668 (October 20th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1678 (October 20th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1680 (October 20th) (HC Checkmate) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1491 (October 12th) (Infinity) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1670 (October 20th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1672 (October 20th) (Los Bombers) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1534 (October 14th) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1535 (October 14th) (Rising Phantoms HC) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1594 (October 18th) (Vodoo People) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1667 (October 20th) (VC Hockey) http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1598 (October 18th) Thank you for your time. Sincerely, The NHLGamer Staff