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Evening NHLGamers, After a tremendous season and an even better playoff run it gives us here at NHLGamer.com great joy to present our new reigning champions: X FACTOR. Congratulations on winning the ultimate prize that competitive EASHL gaming in Europe has to offer! Well deserved. It feels like a lifetime ago when ECL 3 kicked off in mid-October but really it has only been 3 months. That being said, it has been our longest season yet and a learning experience to be sure. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teams and players that participated - we know there are things to work on for future tournaments and we are excited to do so in combination with you, the community. Thanks once again! Now, without further ado, I will leave the floor to X Factor captain and leader, @nylanderi, who was gracious enough to take time out of his teams' celebrations to write a season recap. Take it away, sir. "OUR STORY When I created X Factor 3-4 days before ECL3 registrations closed, I never ever expected that this would happen. We played pretty good in EASHL before ECL start, but my biggest concern was our experience in big games. We had a team who could challenge every team, but I still was not sure about our chances to go far. I did not know - would we have what it takes to win best of 7 series against top teams? Regular Season Regular season started with big games against former champs Nordic Blizzard. I felt like we could have won both games, but they played really good and won one of the games. Northern Stars also gave us big problems, with their defensive playstyle and offensively just going for rebounds/deflections. We had most of our best opponents in the start of the season, and since we lost many games i dont think anyone believed in our chances. After Rynnäkköviikset games, something changed. We won 23 ECL games in a row, and I got excited. Maybe we could go far, and challenge for the title. Closer to end of season, something happened. We signed a player. F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_. And this signing was the point in the season, when I knew that we are gonna win the title. End of the season, big games against SKY and Dynasty. My personal least favourite opponent SKY. We won 1, lost 1 but still managed to put good performance. Playoffs Kattiautomaatti: Great defensive team, with top D-man pairing. We did not really expect too much, but they played really good. I felt like they just did not have goal scorers, that could challenge our defense. Well played and good luck to the future. Dynasty: First gameday (games 1-3), i felt like we are gonna sweep these guys. We played so good, and Dynasty struggled to create offense. Series was 2-1 after 3 games, although i felt like it should have been 3-0. Second gameday, they bring in Jageksi. I still felt confident, until i found out Penatski's alarm didnt go off and he slept during game 4. Series 2-2. I gotta say, i have never seen a team develop so much in couple of days. Gameday 2s Dynasty was of course so good defensively, but now super dangerous offensively aswell. But, then Mr. Danielcadabra stepped up. I never have seen such a dominant goalie, he was the reason we got trough Dynasty. (and of course my overtime shorthanded rebound goal ) We won Game 7, and Snapu was the first member of X Factor bandwagon. Lets go! Sika: Good defensive team, who are always dangerous in offensive zone. We did not play our best hockey this series, but Danielcadabra continued his great form. Series could have been lot closer, they got some good chances and were quite unlucky at times. 4-1 Factor, Lets go! Aapon Taikasauva: Super offense. Best offensive in the game, hands down. I knew that this is the time for me and Andy to step up. I think this series, was the time when people found out that maybe we are not all offense. During this we defended as a team, and i was really happy with our performance although it took us 7 games to go through. We did not score so many, but i felt like our defense was rock solid and they could not really get any good chances. Game 7 OT goal by yours truly, Lets go! Finnish Roosters: Well, team who swept Written and Laser. (Holy shit!). Team with 2 amazing players in offense PleeMaker and Tbnantti, and great team defense. I were still really confident, since i always felt we play really good vs. Roosters. Series were really tight, both teams played really good. Our team defense was on point, they did not really get any good chances, and we were really clinical. This series showed me that we had the best team defense in the whole tournament. Throughout the series one player stepped up the most, Penatski. He created almost our every offensive chance, and scored big goals (and for once defended ). 3 games went to overtime, but we somehow managed to score big goals, thanks to our offense Vilu, Ape and Pena. Amazing series by us, 4-0 X Factor. VICTORY! Playoff lineup: Vilupoika: One of the best defensive forwards in this game, who scored lots of important goals. He always listened and learned. Truly a great team player, and i hope he finds a good team for ECL4. Penatski: Young boy, who does not really care about anything. But hey, he can play NHL! Our offensive leader, who is certainly my pick for our season MVP. Lots of good goals, assists and penalties. Kingofapes_: I have never argued with someone as much as i did with Ape. Ape scored lots of big goals, and defended like a beast in the finals. Ape listened to Nylanderi Hockey Philosophy, and instantly turned in to best RW in the game. Otahan siitä. Well done Fbiandy: Best RD in the game, no doubt. I felt really comfortable playing alongside him, we always had good chemistry. He was solid in defense, and great passer. Nylanderi [TEXT BY @vSilenttio]: X Factor's ultimate leader. Captain with big C for sure. The guy who some people were laughing at during the XF's streams when he told his players what to do and how to do. From my view it was Nylanderi who kept this insanely talented team moving forward, come hell or high water. And that's just how I see him off the ice. What he did on the ice, defensively and offensively, was that he kept his calmness and skill-set of his just like that in the most tightest games of the season. Amazing player, even better captain. Can't wait to see this guy to play with @plee999 as they will be the LW/LD combo in new Elite team, Limitless. Danielcadabra: Player who stepped up the most, during playoffs, Dynasty and Sika series MVP. Made all this possible. Amazing goalie. Huge thanks to staff for organizing this tournament. -nylanderi" Thank you nylanderi! X Factor has truly made a mark on the community on its way to becoming our third ECL champion, beating some terrific teams along the way to their first ever championship. Once again, congratulations! But now, let us look to the future. To all the teams that are eager to get back on the ice and follow in the footsteps of our champions Nordic Blizzard, Mukimiehet and X Factor - ECL 4 is just a couple of weeks away. Be sure to check out our news story concerning the next step in competitive EASHL gaming; divisions and once you are done reading that - go check out the registration news story here. The ECL Elite, Pro and Lite divisions await - let's play some hockey. See you soon, NHLGamer.com

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