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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