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Battle Royale After what can only be described as a thriller of a tournament, Laser HT has been crowned the champion of the 4th European Championship League in a plot that would have left even Stephen King hanging on the edge of his seat, while desperately holding onto his MUKI. The start of the season was Written in the Stars, but the scripture had too much TIKI TALK in it, and was thus shattered around with a banhammer, also known as Kenu's Taikasauva, with other teams picking up the fragments for points as the season progressed - eventually turning it into a Nordic Nightmare for them, on the first round of the playoffs. How we saw nightmares on Round 2 is anyone’s guess, as on Round 1 they had triumphed against an Unknown team. In an extremely competitive regular season the Northern Stars were fading and only two Swedish team made it to the playoffs, but unfortunately lacked the Synergy to shut down the beam team of to-be-champions. One team seemed to regard the playoff-line non-existent, and in their nearly Limitless limitlessness almost eliminated themselves out of the limited-for-eight playoffs. No Dynasty was made this season, either, as they continued an impressive record of 3 Game 7 losses in the past four tournaments, reportedly leading to a violent burst of Nordic Lightning in the vicinity of Kouvola. All the while, at the bottom of the standings, there was a team that Refused to Lose only four times during the tournament. Other relegations were the Animalia of Elite; Finnish Roosters and SIKA (pig) will be seen in the Pro division next season, together with Rynnäkköviikset. Promoted teams The teams that were promoted from Pro to Elite for ECL 5 are: Carlsberg HC, Kattiautomaatti, Silver Sword Griffins and Sjukstugan. We will inform of any changes to the divisions and teams after ECL 5 registration, if need be. Awards A big thank you to @The_Alpha_Furyan for compiling the statistics for all three divisions. Here's a list of the best performers in Elite during ECL4. Forwards Most points: Dominointi [39+55 = 94p in 28 games - 3.35 Points/GP], Laser HT Most goals: PleeMaker [49g in 30 games - 1.63 Goals/GP], Limitless Most assists: Dominointi [55a in 28 games - 1.96 Assists/GP], Laser HT Most hits: PleeMaker [145 hits in 30 games - 4.83 Hits/GP], Limitless Best +/-: Haldeem, Penatski, tbnantti, PleeMaker & nylanderi [+43 in 30 games], Limitless Defensemen Most points by a Defenseman: nylanderi [12+22 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Limitless Snapu48 [4+30 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Dynasty Haldeem [6+28 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Limitless Most goals by a Defenseman: nylanderi [12g in 30 games - 0.40 Goals/GP], Limitless Most assists by a Defenseman: Snapu48 [30a in 30 games - 1.00 Assists/GP], Dynasty Most hits by a Defenseman: friilander [140 Hits in 30 games - 4.66 Hits/GP], SIKA Goalies Best Save% (min. 50% of games played): Ranta83 [80.58% in 30/30 games], Unknown Best GAA (min. 50% of games played): Sandr0hh [1.93 GAA in 16/30 games], Dynasty Most Wins (W+OTW) by a Goalie: Ranta83 [19 Ws in 30 games], Unknown Most Shutouts: Danielcadabra [4 shutouts in 12 games], Written in the Stars DUNZA [4 shutouts in 14 games], Synergy VilberttoCarlos [4 shutouts in 18 games], Nordic Nightmare FinKonna [4 shutouts in 30 games], Limitless Playoff MVP Dominointi, Laser HT Words of a Champion Now, let’s hand over the pen to Risto “Dominointi” Järvi, the captain of Laser HT and the MVP of the tournament: “For the regular season our objective was only to make the playoffs. It got very tight in the end, but we managed to battle ourselves to 7th. A couple of players left the team at the end of last season and we got the replacements for them from Nordic Blizzard. I think it made each players’ role in the team much more clear. We played the regular season quite a bit differently than what people perhaps expected or had seen from us before. I played quite a lot up the ice, looking for stretch passes while the wings gave close support on the breakouts. I feel like it helped a lot, at least against certain teams. The team probably wasn’t on equal level skill-wise compared to last autumn, but this season we played strong as a team from the get-go, which I think was the primary reason for our success. Nowadays in this game you have to play as a team if you want to succeed, the level of competition is simply so tough. In the playoffs we were just trying to keep our own end clear of goals, with the front of the net being the keywords. We knew that if we kept our defence tight, we had a chance to win every game, as we pretty much always manage to score at least a few goals. We couldn’t go into a goal-scoring competition - something that would not have ended up well against every team. On the first round of the playoffs we faced Synergy, a team we’re very familiar with. For the most part we knew how they’d be playing and where we would need to strike at. The first games were tight, but we managed to clinch them and eventually won the series. On the second round we were up against Nordic Nightmare, a team that eliminated us last year when playing for Nordic Blizzard, so we were looking for a revenge. We thought of our approach carefully because Nordic Nightmare has a unique style of play for Elite. Our game-plan was to strike them on the breakout and try to prevent their quick counter-attacks. We knew they’d be playing very straightforward hockey and blocking shots would be important. Of course, we supposed our opponent would also know how we’d be playing, so we tried to mix that up a little as well by getting more pucks to the defencemen and more shots from the blueline. We played well and deserved to progress on to the finals. In the finals we were up against a very familiar team, Dynasty. We knew them to be a great defensive team and to add to that they have a lot of skill on every position. Their goalies were top of the league, too. We set out to play brave hockey and apply strong pressure to the defencemen, always shooting the puck and crashing the net when there’s an opening. The first four games of the series were tight, but somehow it felt we had that slight edge, even though the stats were very even in every game. The weekend break started with us leading the series 3-1. After the break we had games 5 & 6, and quite frankly, we had no chance. The opponent had changed their approach and our tactic was not working at all. Deserved wins for Dynasty and off we went for a game seven. For the deciding game, we agreed to just play our regular game, not try anything too complicated and just park the bus in the neutral zone. After some thrilling events and a lot of screams and shouts, we clinched it 2-1 and won the title. The series could not have been tighter – that’s just how it ended this time. Overall, I think Leksa played a fantastic tournament. Counting both the regular season and the playoffs, I don’t think he had a single off-game. I will tip my hat to the performance of our goalies in the playoffs, especially Hansu in the finals. The defence was rock solid throughout the playoffs, too. Vesa and Wille were excellent in the finals and Selarit played as well as he always does. As for the future of the team, I can’t tell. We agreed that we’ll look at it again before the beta, but most likely we’ll be continuing with the same lineup.” The Decider Scored by who else than Risto "Dominointi" Järvi in the closing seconds of the 3rd period of Game 7. Broomsticks and Magnets Every year the game franchise makes small but significant changes to online gameplay. One year it's short-side one-timers, the other it's far-side one-timers. One year poke-checks are overpowered, the other it's stick-lifts. I'm yet to witness a year, however, in which the rock-paper-scissor of the meta game would've have found, say, rock unbeatable. This year there were some tricks to be found in terms of puck control, the kind of tricks your user manual doesn't tell. Some individuals and teams started picking up on these towards the latter parts of ECL 3, one of the masters of such arts winning the MVP award of the tournament. These type of players and their rather spectacular-looking play-style I call Magnets. Some teams spent their off-season between ECL 3 & 4 figuring out how to deal with Magnets, and one of the answers was a Broomstick. By now, the Broomstick technique has spread wide and has arisen some heated debates, and I know there are teams that refuse to play against each other because of this. The Broomstick is of course the crouch block position you can go to by pressing L1. The most obvious advantage is that you can't get penalized; you can't trip, slash or interfere with a player while doing so. While I think anyone would agree using the function in the game as intended should be allowed, many would say spamming it the way it is possible to spam, is effectively abusing a glitch. Personally, I'm inclined to disagree that it should be forbidden or whatnot. The Broomstick is much more effective along the boards than it is anywhere else as a means to strip the puck. Now, if we look at board play and puck control in general, is it balanced, or does the offensive or defensive player have an advantage? I think definitely the player with the puck has the advantage; with the puck your player is much more agile, you can actually move your stick through the boards while controlling the puck etc. So, effectively, I find the Broomstick a balancing, not a breaking factor of gameplay. Furthermore, I find the gray area on the defensive side to be larger than on the offensive side. In real hockey, too, you're effectively allowed to do things on the defensive side of the puck that you're not allowed to do when attacking. Also, you can still be a great player in this game even if you never used the whole function. Thank You I had absolutely no stake in organizing ECL 4 and thus would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to those that did – Kenneth, Samuli, Max, Väinö, Hampus, Jānis and Teemu, it was yet another great tournament to take part of, thank you very much for your effort on behalf of all of us players, and let’s try to build on this as a community going forward. From now on I’ll be back on-board with the staff as well. Have a great summer everyone, hope to see many of you in the SC - you still have a day left to register have you not done so already, but if not, see you in the autumn with ECL 5!

Hello NHLGamers, I am hoping that what I am about to share will get the community buzzing and bring some serious excitement for what is to come. But first, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. Some of you out there I already know and some of you are new to me. My name is Kim Kallio but amongst gamers I am probably more known as “Hc”, or “Ho0Ceri”. While I have played the NHL series for almost 20 years, I first started creating leagues and tournaments for the NHL gaming community in 2011. Many in the community might know me from the Facebook page I started back in February of 2014; NHL Suomi (currently NHL 17 Suomi). My goal then was – just like it is today – to make the online NHL scene bigger and better. After running my Facebook page for several years, including both HUT and Versus tournaments, I am happy to say I have gotten to know a lot of people and players who are all dedicated to the same objective I am: Improving the NHL gaming experience for all of the community. Today, I am excited to announce I will bring my passion, knowledge, experience and dedication to NHLGamer.com where my main task will be to run 1vs1 tournaments of the same sort I have been running at NHL 17 Suomi, only on a larger scale. I look forward to combining the full power of NHL 17 Suomi and NHLGamer.com to create the biggest and most competitive 1vs1 leagues in Europe. I also look forward to interacting with all of you in the near future. Keep your eyes open for a 1vs1-tournament announcement in the near future, NHLGamers.

Hey NHL Gamers! Today marks one of those very special days in the short history of the website we have all been waiting for. In the past few weeks - alongside the ECL 4 Playoffs and our coverage of the IS Cup - interesting and highly promising connections have come together. Thanks to our Staff member Hampus (@The_Alpha_Furyan), who acted as the leading negotiator throughout this process, we are finally able to reveal the first official sponsorship for NHLGamer.com: Summer Cup Season 2, Presented by Webhallen! We could not be more proud of this partnership with one of the leading retailers for consumer electronics, hardware and software in Sweden - running a total of 26 stores scattered across the country. We believe this partner is a perfect match for a populated and innovative eSports platform like NHLGamer. Webhallen can be found here: Online Shop Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Twitch THE DEAL Webhallen will be accompanying us throughout the duration of Summer Cup Season 2, leading up to the announcement of NHL 18 during E3 in Los Angeles which takes place on June 13-15. While everyone is going to be excited about EA SPORTS NHL 18 feature announcements, trailers and other types of content; Webhallen will act as NHLGamer's recommended retail source for purchasing the game, due to release in September 2017 (estimate). Finally, to honor the best Summer Cup Season 2 teams, Webhallen will be offering the following prizes for Summer Cup Season 2: Summer Cup winners receive one physical copy of NHL 18 (PS4) per player, arriving at launch Members of the 2nd place team receive runner-up prizes, which are to be announced in due time OUTLOOK Last year around 150 players took part in this draft-type league, which was aimed at experienced players as well as community greenhorns. The stated goal of the tournament was to improve networking between our players and to open up ways for prospects to make their way into EASHL's best teams out there. This is the same promise we are going to deliver on with Season 2, only even better. Based on this, there will be a few tweaks to the following aspects of Summer Cup: Team building: No more than 2 players from a single ECL 4 team are allowed to play in the same Summer Cup team. This rule applies to the final rosters, after transfers and free agents. Team names: Due to our new API reporting tool, the Summer Cup will be played in dedicated EASHL teams which will have "NG" as a prefix - for example "NG Golden Knights". Sign-ups: To rule out unfortunate circumstances when it comes to player positioning, holidays and other aspects, the sign-ups will follow a clearer structure, allowing captains to recognize fitting players more easily. Draft procedure: We are working on improving our draft pick tool and simplifying communication towards and between team captains to reduce idling, allowing us to increase the speed in which draft picks are made. LEAGUE DETAILS Summer Cup Season 2 will take place on PS4 - if you are looking for Xbox action, we would love to see your team sign up for Xbox ECL! Last day to sign up is Wednesday, May 24th. Players instead of teams sign up using the registration tool linked at the bottom of the post. All signed up players are aimed to be seeded into teams with a size of 10 players (may vary). Out of all registrations, NHL Gamer Staff will elect an according number of team captains from the players that offered to take on a captaincy rule in their sign-up post - anyone is allowed to apply for it. Team captains will receive a draft sheet on May 26th, containing all signed up players and relevant information in a structured form. Team captains will be taking part in a live draft event on May 28th, picking their roster until all players are seeded. All games are played 6vs6 using dedicated EASHL teams. The leagues are set to start on the week of May 29th and aimed to be finished in July. Full rules will be released after registration is over. HOW TO PARTICIPATE To participate, make sure you are logged in or create an account first, visit the sign-up page and fill in all fields of the registration form like below - make sure the player positions in your Player Card are up-to-date so captains know who they are drafting! You can update your Player Card on the "Edit Player" page. Sign-up page: Click here! That's all you need to do... sounds easy eh? Let's take this opportunity - together with our new partner Webhallen - to finish NHL 17 with a bang: Sending shockwaves through the community and setting up NHLGamer.com's ambitious goals for NHL 18. @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com