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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

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