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Good afternoon NHLGamers, Me - The_Alpha_Furyan - and the rest of the NHLGamer staff bid you welcome to another installment of our ECL Season Preview. To get an idea of what we will be doing in these previews, you can check out our previous one for Season 3. While that preview focused more on listing all the participating teams and simply predicting which ones would come out on top from the regular season, this one will try to dig a little deeper and supply a more in-depth look at each and every division - something the community has been vocal about in their feedback to our writing staff. Text, scouting and predictions by The_Alpha_Furyan Art by OxtreeLAT We kick off our 3-part installment by looking at the Lite division, where we find a total 32 teams (one more team was allowed late entry to even out the amount of Lite teams) - lots of them new to the community and to myself personally. This preview might be a bit biased towards the teams I know and have seen before but that should also provide some great motivation for all other teams to prove me wrong and fight for those top seeds. Prediction for the Regular Season Top- 5. 1. HC Ancient Warriors This team is on par with most Pro teams out there and should without a doubt be a contender to win the Lite title. If not the champions, they are likely to gain a top seed in the regular season and make their way through the playoffs to secure one of the promotion spots. 2. Bone Breakers I will admit to not knowing the full story of this team outside of their appearance in ECL 3 where their participation didn't extend all the way through the season. From what I've been told by multiple sources though, they were quite the force to be reckoned with back in the Consolehockey days and could be one of the top contenders for the ECL 4 Lite title. 3. DEAD END KINGS Featuring quite a few former players from Elite division team Synergy, DEAD END KINGS will be looking to establish their own legacy with this new team. Keep an eye out for this team right from the start as I predict they will come out of the gates hungry to prove that they belong in the Pro divison. 4. iNF4M0US Any team that is good enough to beat Laser HT under any conditions has my respect and that is just what this team did. No idea what the circumstances were for that game but like I said, beating LHT certainly establishes some credibility. 5. EN HUND Able to keep most of their roster together after a disappointing end to the ECL 3 season, EN HUND should be rejuvenated playing in the Lite division. Featuring many former members of Elite division team SIKA, EN HUND has both the experience and chemistry neccessary for both a strong regular season and a long playoff run. Championship favorite Going with my top pick for the regular season here as I predict HC Ancient Warriors to win the Lite championship. They're one of the best Lite teams I have personally played against and have been practicing hard ever since ECL 3, trying to get themselves ready for ECL 4. Getting past some of the other more experienced teams won't be a walk in the park though and who knows - we might see a complete upset coming out of Lite. Players to watch 1. esdor15, Lavetten, Forward One of the very best HUT players NHL 17 has to offer makes his ECL debut for team Lavetten and it should be an interesting one. With the right mindset, willingness to improve and translation of his Versus/HUT skill to EASHL - esdor15 could easily be one of the breakout players from ECL 4 Lite. At this point I am not sure what position he will occupy in the lineup but my guess is forward to maximize his offensive skill. 2. Stylez-Hadez, HC Ancient Warriors, C/RW/LW The captain and leader of my predicted ECL Lite championship team, HC Ancient Warriors, deserves a mention here. Stylez is originally from the Versus side of NHL 17 where he has been a Top-100 player for quite a while while only getting his first taste of ECL last season with Sjukstugan. When playing against Ancient Warriors in EASHL lately they've been very competitive and I have to believe that is largely due to their captain. 3. Nephenzy, DEAD END KINGS, C/LW Another captain on this list, Nephenzy is an experienced ECLer with two seasons in Synergy and one season in Northern Ascendancy under his belt. While capable of playing everywhere (as evidenced from last season where he played every position in the lineup for NOR), we will most likely see Nephenzy lead his team to a top seed in Lite from the center position. 4. PatzyDrake, Falun Coal Miners, LW One of the more experienced ECLers in the entire ECL Lite division, PatzyDrake has amassed exactly 60 goals and over 100 points through 3 ECL seasons thus far. A constant presence on the FCM left wing, this sniping powerforward is just as effective ripping a one-timer as he is dangling his way to the net. Will try to juggle his IRL career as a semi-professional handball player with his responsibilites as the go-to guy for FCM - remains to be seen how many games he will be able to play for ECL 4. 5. TEAMSEILA, EN HUND, D TEAMSEILA, the hardest hitting defender in ECL, barely missed out on winning the "Most Hits" trophy for ECL 3. While his strenghts lie in his physical game and defensive awareness, this ex-SIKA defender is also a capable leader with the ability to chip in offensively when needed. Will try to lead his team EN HUND to ECL Lite glory this season. But seriously, what is with the capital letters - both username and team name?! Teams to watch 1. Lavetten This team will feature many experienced Versus and HUT players with parts of the squad getting their EASHL feet wet in ECL 3 for team HC Solhem. While that adventure didn't turn out the way the team had hoped, look for the members of that squad to want revenge while playing this time for Lavetten. With the signings of esdor and dallinhoo, Captain (and winner of the Swedish Versus championships) juniorzalaz has put together a strong team. 2. Falun Coal Miners Got to give a shoutout to my old team here as well. With brothers and FCM owners/captains The_Alpha_Furyan & LastMandalorian both leaving for Sjukstugan - this team of real-life friends will be looking to prove themselves in ECL 4 Lite. Led by ECL veterans Meeertz (D), onecorner95 (G), PatzyDrake (LW) and iscojr94 (C), Falun will first be looking to establish a new team identity without the ever-constant crack of the whip from their previous captains. Look for this team to take a while to gel before taking off in the back half of the season. 3. Elämäm Kiekko The sweetheart team of ECL 3, these happy-go-lucky Finns certainly displayed a tremendous attitude during their first season. Despite losing more games than they won, they kept their spirits high and made sure to entertain the community as much as they could. Lets see what their sophomore season brings in terms of success on the ice! That is all for Lite. Look for our second part of the ECL 4 Season preview, Pro Division, tomorrow. For that installment (and for the Elite preview on Sunday) I will be enlisting the help of a new mystery Staff member-in-training... Keep an eye out! Later skaters, The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Update: Due to the fact that one ECL Lite group was having an empty slot, we decided to accept a late registation by J P T J. Furthermore we decided to merge two ECL Lite groups into one (per lottery), so we end up with the same conferences as ECL Pro. All changes are reflected below. Hey NHL Gamers, First of all, some of you have been asking for an ECL 4 kick-off date already, and we can confirm we will be starting on Monday, the 20th of February. Secondly, all of us here in the NHLGamer Staff are overwhelmed by the amount of registrations for the new division format: 79 teams in total! Back when we were discussing the framework for divisions, the following quote was dropped in the Staff chat: "Expecting 80 or more teams is likely ridiculous". Turns out we were quite wrong about it. The community has never been more alive, and we are incredibly happy about this. Having said that, the Staff had to make a couple of decisions. Unfortunately, Fat Cats, which were nominated for the Elite division, decided to withdraw from ECL 4. According to the announced tie-breakers (most playoff wins -> best regular season PPG average), Rynnäkköviikset will join ECL Elite and fill up spot #16. This is the final ECL Elite lineup: Unknown (previously Northern Ascendancy) Dynasty Synergy (previously Synergy Hockey) Written in the Stars Northern Stars Laser HT SIKA Limitless (previously X Factor) MUKIMIEHET TIKI TALK Aapon Taikasauva Nordic Lightning Refuse To Lose Nordic Nightmare Finnish Roosters Rynnäkköviikset For ECL Pro, we received a total of 44 registrations for 32 spots, which means we needed to move 12 teams to ECL Lite. Some choices were more obvious than others, but in the end, we believe we made the right decisions. As announced earlier, we have taken ECL and EASHL records, as well as team/player reputation and consistency into account, and ran a lottery with 10 pre-seeded teams (Nordic Stars, Carlsberg HC, Germany's Finest, HC Checkmate, Kattiautomaatti, murohoki, Rusty Blades, Silver Sword Griffins, Sjukstugan, White Trash) - followed up by another lottery with the 22 remaining teams. Here are both ECL Pro conferences for ECL 4: ECL Pro A Sjukstugan White Trash Carlsberg HC Rusty Blades murohoki Nocturnal Hunters The Beagle Boys Ace Holes HC HC Magic Zone The Lights Out (previously Lunatic Lions) Shameful Knights Bare Knuckles Hockey Origins Free From Rodents Unlucky Boys HC Baltic Sea Eagles ECL Pro B Silver Sword Griffins Germany's Finest (previously UKnighted HC) Nordic Stars Kattiautomaatti HC Checkmate Company of Geeks Bellizzi Pata Hellalla Inter Iceland Showtime Royal Club Nemesis (previously Voodoo People) Huppati HC Thunder Tigers Alliance HT AK 47 All remaining 32 teams will join ECL Lite and compete in two conferences with 16 teams each. These are the ECL Lite conferences: ECL Lite A Ice Phoenix Pohjoista Voimaa HC Scorpions Vemppaosasto Lavetten Banterfield Battallion HC Palosaari Clowns On Ice Anonymous HC Elämäm Kiekko Die TwitchProleten Dynamo Danglers GHETTO FIREBIRDS Papat Bone Breakers A Dream Valhalla ECL Lite B Wolfsrudel EV Duisburg Prometheus HC Ancient Warriors Pungbrock HC Falun Coal Miners Teletapit DEAD END KINGS EN HUND PSHL Roadrunners The Youngsters Last Kings Hawks Hockey Club iNF4M0US Blues HC J P T J What do you think about the conferences? Let us know in the comments below! NHLGamer.com