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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, For the second week in a row we bring you a very special kind of news story here on NHLGamer.com. It is a deal that has been in the works for quite some time but we can finally say - with great pride - that we have confirmation that another one of our fellow NHLGamer members has signed a deal to play NHL professionally. We are of course referring to previous ECL championship winner, champion of the last NHL 17 10k$ Worldgaming Faceoff tournament and captain of Laser HT... Risto "Dominointi" Järvi! What team was lucky enough to snag this top-ranked player? Look no further than the eSports section of professional Finnish football club SJK (SJK eSports), currently playing in the top Finnish division. Just like with Hansulinho, The_Alpha_Furyan managed to get a hold of Dominointi for a few minutes to pick his brain on this recent development NHLG: Congratulations Dominointi - I'm sure you must be thrilled to sign this deal! Dominointi: Haha, thanks. Yes, of course I am! To be honest, I actually had a couple really good options to consider... but for me this was the best offer. I was truly happy that a team like SJK would like me to play in their eSports section. I feel like this team has enormous potential overall and I hope - and also believe - we are going to do some great stuff together in the near future. Tell us a bit more about SJK - I am sure a lot of people (especially non-Finns) aren't entirely familiar with them SJK is actually a finnish football club from Seinäjoki! They play in what is known as the "Veikkausliiga" - which is the highest football league in Finland. SJK eSports is their video game team... I really can't explain it any better, haha. At the moment I am their NHL eSports player and "Koppinen" is their FIFA eSports player - meaning they have a total of two players in their eSports team at the moment, but they are expanding. For example, they actually have another connection to this website (NHLGamer.com) because they also have Rynnäkköviikset as their "minor" team. What do you mostly hope to achieve while playing for SJK eSports? Of course I want to continue playing good and win some tournaments as a SJK member. Personally, I also hope that these kind of contracts help our NHL community here to grow even bigger so that maybe in the future we might see some 6v6 team contracts too! I feel like most people know "Dominointi the NHL player" - people certainly know after they have played you in Versus, HUT or EASHL - but when did this whole journey start for you? When did you realize you were actually really good and one of the top players to play the game? Well, I have been playing the NHL Series since I think... NHL 07 and a few years after that (NHL 09) started playing online games and competing for real. I guess it was in that same game - NHL 09 - when I first started experiencing success with my NHL playing. If I remember correctly, I think I was ranked 4th Overall for Versus at the end of that game. I didn't lose that many games and eventually a lot of players were wondering who I was - that is when I would say I started to realize I was pretty good at this. "Pretty good"... I'd say that is being humble. What would you consider are some of your biggest achievements and greatest memories playing this game? Haha, thanks. Ah, that is a tough question. Well, I won the Finnish Moneyleague once in NHL 16 and also a 2v2 Finnish Championship with Hansulinho in NHL 14. My most recent win at the Worldgaming $10K Faceoff Tournament in NHL 17 is of course special. I am very proud over having been in Top 5 in Versus rankings ever since NHL 09. I would consider winning ECL 1 with Nordic Blizzard a great memory. Playing NHL professionally - will your view of the game change? Is it now more of a job than a hobby? It hasn't really changed that much, atleast not yet. I mean, after I won the Worldgaming tournament the support has been insane. Of course, there has been a lot of "roasting" too... but I like it. I think it is great because I love reading those messages. Honestly, in my opinion this is still a hobby even though I will now get paid So - with these news in mind - where do you see yourself in 5 years? Ah, man... that question is so damn hard. It is really tough to say but I of course hope I am able to keep playing NHL professionally. I mean, then again I could be doing so many different things. To be honest with you, things happen so fast nowadays that it is sometimes unreal - almost hard to keep up. Just take a look at whats going on with eSports - so many people streaming, many teams have social media accounts. But it is great - I love it - and again, I hope that with these kind of contracts we give a lot of hope for others to achieve similar things. Certainly. So, when you think of the future of NHL eSports - what do you see? The future of NHL eSports is bright in my opinion, I believe that. We just need more of these kind of contracts and we will continue to be noticed more and more. On a more personal note, what are your hopes for NHLGamer.com and this community moving forward? NHLGamer and the entire NHL community in general are really important for me. I see a lot of potential in NHLGamer. The site already features the best 1v1 players and 6v6 teams in Europe, for example. In the future, I hope we could play against NA teams/players more in the future. Also, some form of a live 6v6 tournament would be really cool. Got any tips for players who want to improve their NHL gaming? I will actually be streaming in SJK eSports twitch channel in future. So, if you want to challenge me and get some tips you are free to join! As a tip if you want to get better in game you have to play against the best players and teams, that is truly how you improve your skills. I might take you up on that! Lastly, what is the secret to beating our very own NHLGamer co-owner, @Kenu, in Versus? You should! Tough question again. How do I beat Kenu? Well, he is a really good player.... but I guess I know a few secret tactics that could give him a hard time if we would matchup, hehe. Dominointi Fact Box [Player profile] Winner of Worldgaming.com NHL 17 $10k Tournament Finished Top 5 at the Versus rankings in all iterations of NHL since 09 Participated in all 3 ECL tournaments, twice for Nordic Blizzard (champions of ECL 1) and now Laser HT 185 ECL regular season points in 58 games and 121 playoff points in 45 games Favors the C position in EASHL Read the full announcement article at: http://www.sjk2007.fi/w/sjk-esports-kiinnitti-risto--dominointi--jarven On behalf of the NHLGamer staff, The_Alpha_Furyan