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Hi NHLGamers, Finally, the time has come for NHL 18 and we have begun the preparations for a new fascinating season of gaming. The first games have been played, the first goals have been scored and the first goalkeeper saves have been made. Hundreds of pages on gamer forums around the whole world are already filled with discussions on how good or bad this new part of the hockey franchise from EA Sports is. But for us, just having the game in our hands wasn’t enough. We had something else in our sights! We’ve worked hard on it and have spent many sleepless nights full of discussions and work. For a long time we thought about how to unite hundreds of people who are thousands of kilometers away with several hours of time difference between them. After we were done thinking, we started working. We started a project to make sure that a geographically very large nation to the east could fully be a part of our big NHLGamer community. We have overcome many difficulties along the way. Not everyone we asked were ready to join the new project, but the general response we received from the majority of people has made it clear that we are on the right track. People need this project and people follow us. The RCL In Russia many of us can’t play in the ECL, for a number of reasons. For example, when most of the ECL teams are warming up before the games, many of us have already woken up and gone to work, university or school. Furthermore, a lot of us have certain problems with the quality of connection in EASHL games due to the closest EA SPORTS servers being a few thousand kilometers away. Some also experience difficulties with language communication. But are these reasons worth thinking that these people can’t be part of our community? We say: of course not! Today is a big day for those of us who have been involved with this project. Today we declare that the Russian Championship League (RCL) is opened: the new official league of Russian teams on the PS4 console. We’d like to describe it as the beginning of a new journey for the Russian NHL community. This news story is our way of saying: “Hi, NHLGamer Community!”. The registration starts today, the 26th of September, and ends on the 15th of October. The RCL season will kick off on the 23rd of October. Details We have gathered over 15 Russian EASHL teams from our old platform and we are working constantly on getting even more teams to join. We have also been working with NHLGamer leader @Kenu on making the website NHLGamer.com more comfortable for Russian users, so the players who have never been on this great website before didn’t experience any difficulties, language or otherwise. There is still some work to be done, but the first phase has been adding the Russian language to the community forums. There is a new section for the purposes of the RCL, and you can find it here: https://nhlgamer.com/community/forum/38-russian-championship-league/ Finally, we would like to express our huge gratitude to the administration of NHLGamer for the immense help which they have provided us and will continue to provide in the future. We hope that all players of our NHLGamer community will also accept us, even though we might not be as strong English speakers as you. We understand what a heavy responsibility we have undertaken. But we are full of energy, we are full of ideas and we say “Hi” to the world of NHLGamer and competitive gaming. Let’s play hockey. Yours faithfully, Russian Championship League Administration @MAYZIIX, @Denisovl17l, @Khemnos, @s_w1ld_rus. (Article editor: @The_Alpha_Furyan) Facebook (NHLGamer)Twitter (NHLGamerCOM)YouTube (NHLGamer Official) Instagram (NHLGamerOfficial) Twitch (NHLGamerTwitch)

Good day NHLGamers, Hope you enjoyed our ECL 5 trailer - it has been in the works for quite some time. Be sure to share it and spread the word if you liked it. We can tell you that a lot of effort went into making it and while a great many people have been involved in its execution from start to finish (including of course our featured talent @Bjono, @pnordetun, @cHIIMEERa, @Hansulinho & @Dominointi who couldn't have been more professional during the shoots), no one more so than @LastMandalorian. From developing the concept months ago, to setting up the film shoots, to traveling around Sweden and Finland to actually film it - all the way through editing the material and picking the right music. Hats off to you, sir - a job well done. Hockey returns 133. That is the exact amount of days since the European Championship League was last in action. 133 days (or more than 3000+ hours) of waiting for this next shot at virtual ice hockey glory. It is true that while this years Summer Cup did satiate some of the community need for competitive gaming, there is nothing quite like ECL hockey. The fourth ECL season was a season of change for many reasons. A new system featuring divisions was implemented. Instead of one lone winner, three champions were to be crowned. As a result more teams than ever before chose to sign up; a trend we hope (and expect) to continue as the ECL continues to expand its reach. When the dust settled and the smoke had cleared after ECL 4, the NHLGamer "Hall of Champions" that already featured Nordic Blizzard (ECL 1), MUKIMIEHET (ECL 2) and X Factor (ECL 3) had been expanded to include Laser HT, Carlsberg HC and J P T J who managed to bring home the titles for Elite, Pro and Lite respectively. Furthermore, we got to see the first ever Xbox ECL with OHO SORI winning the title in 5 games against The Black Jacks. We think it was a good start and would like to support this community initiative of bringing more competitive tournaments to the NHL landscape on Microsoft's console. That is why we will also give you the opportunity to sign up for Xbox ECL 2! ECL 5 - PS4 While ECL 5 will be bigger and hopefully more competitive than ECL 4 it will not feature the same amount of change to our structure, something we hope will offer a welcome sense of continuity with regards to how much things changed last season. In short, this means the rulebook, the divisions and most of the things that worked really well in ECL 4 will continue to be implemented in ECL 5 as well. This also means that, while we did find the ongoing discussion and community vote concerning the ECL point system - mostly a debate between the merits of employing a 3-point system versus a 2-point system - interesting and balanced, we will not change from the current 2-point format at this time. We welcome continuous discussion on this topic as the ECL continues to evolve. Furthermore, we are sure that one of the biggest questions for some teams and members at this stage is "where will we play this season?" as the poll concerning if you should be able to apply for Pro or not turned out to be quite divisive. This has perhaps been the biggest question faced by the staff ahead of this season. The baseline we are working from is this: if you earned your place in either the Pro or Elite divisions last season, you still have the right to it. We will not be employing any type of forced demotion in either of these two divisions. In a vacuum, this means we already have our 16 Elite teams and 32 Pro teams ready to go. Outside of this "vacuum", the truth is that many of these Elite and Pro teams have experienced significant changes during the off-season between ECL 4 and 5. Therefore, if you are either a Pro or Elite team (based on how ECL 4 ended) - you need to confirm your participation in the division you ended up in last season. If you do not confirm your spot before the last sign-up date, that spot will need to be filled by the Staff. Read on to find out how to sign up for ECL 5 and how to apply for these open spots. Framework Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian 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. This also applies to 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. 6 vs. 6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL challenge game mode in NHL 18. Individual requirements: Each player needs to create an account at NHLGamer.com and create his personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. Sign-up period: Teams can register until October 13, 23:59 CEST. ECL 5 Kick-off: ECL 5 is set to start on October 16. Rules: TBA Sign-up procedures There will be different ways of signing up to ECL 5 this time - the procedures are explained in detail in the section below. Generally speaking: New teams that did not participate in ECL 4 at all or teams that were relegated from ECL 4 Pro: Please read the "ECL Lite" paragraph below. Teams that were able to stay in ECL Pro, were relegated from ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Lite during ECL 4: Please read the "ECL Pro" paragraph below. Teams that were able to stay in ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Pro during ECL 4: Please read the "ECL Elite" paragraph below. ECL Lite ECL Lite welcomes any and all teams that did not participate in ECL 4 as well as the teams that were relegated from ECL Pro during ECL 4. As last season, there will be no limit to the amount of registrations! We will flexibly adjust group sizes to accomodate all teams that are looking to participate. To sign up your team for ECL Lite, we ask the main captain (C) only to go to the ECL Lite registration thread: ECL 5 Lite Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. Due to the fact that only 31 teams are ECL Pro qualified at this time - and other teams may be folding - we also offer teams the opportunity to apply for ECL Pro during the sign up process. However, ECL Lite quarter-finalists from ECL 4 will take first priority when filling up spots in the Pro division, which means only a few or no spots at all might be available for completely new teams. When looking at Pro applications, we will choose applicants depending on their player strength and other factors such as in-game 6 vs. 6 leaderboard results. Below is the list of prioritized teams: ECL Pro ECL Pro is our 2nd division and will consist of all the teams that were able to stay in ECL Pro, were relegated from ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Lite during ECL 4. ECL Pro has a fixed size of 32 teams, divided into two groups. All the qualified teams are listed below: To sign up your team for ECL Pro, we ask the team's ECL 4 main captain (C) only to go to the ECL Pro registration thread: ECL 5 Pro Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. In case ECL Elite teams are folding, we will automatically ask the best ECL Pro qualifiers from ECL 4 to fill these spots, according to their playoffs progress (criteria #1) and regular season PPG average (criteria #2). You are not required to apply for these spots. However, you are required to confirm your attendance for ECL Pro to be considered for selection. ECL Elite ECL Elite is our 1st division, housing the very best 16 European teams in a single group. It will consist of all the teams that were able to stay in ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Pro during ECL 4. All the qualified teams are listed below: To sign up your team for ECL Elite, we ask the team's ECL 4 main captain (C) only to go to the ECL Elite registration thread: ECL 5 Elite Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. Xbox ECL 2 To help in building a larger competitive Xbox community, we will host the second edition of Xbox ECL. The first season was based on a community initiative that started off with few individuals asking for a NHLGamer branded tournament taking place on Xbox One. Thanks to these members who contacted other teams on their platform of choice to spread the word, interest was starting to pick up, and the first season ended with a total of 5 teams. While this is undoubtedly a small number compared to the amount of teams on PS4, we know that plenty of players joined NHLGamer during recent months. And thanks to the dedicated players that were doing their best to set up the first season, we expect participation to grow in the long run. Xbox ECL 2 won't be based on the divisions format that is taking place on PS4, and instead will instead offer a league format used in Xbox ECL and ECL 1-3 on PS4 - however, our long term goal is having divisions on Xbox One as well. Framework Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian 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. This also applies to 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. 6 vs. 6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL challenge game mode in NHL 18. Individual requirements: Each player needs to create an account at NHLGamer.com and create his personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. Sign-up period: Registrations will be open indefinitely until 8 teams have agreed to participate. Afterwards, sign-ups will be open for another two weeks to make for a larger competition. Rules: TBA Sign-up procedure To sign up your team for Xbox ECL 2, we ask the main captain (C) only to go to the Xbox ECL 2 registration thread: XBOX ECL 2 Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. Final notes ECL and its divisions format is in a process of continuous evolvement. When NHLGamer.com first announced the switch to setting up three skill-based divisions, our main goal was to transform the diverse EASHL landscape to encourage the development of true franchises. Thanks to all the dedicated players out there, this is already bearing fruit: Established teams are building a core roster while also paying attention to the plenty of ambitious newcomers in the NHL community. We see social media channels popping up on a weekly, if not daily basis. We see lots of new streamers on Twitch and other platforms, showing off ECL to all the NHL fans out there. We see allies supporting our project more frequently than ever before. We see how the community is evolving and shaping up to be a professional and organized force in the gaming landscape. This is something we will continue to support in the future. We believe that, even though we might see a few teams folding this or even next season, which potentially requires us to restructure some of the divisions, in the long run we will see a healthy and fluid framework for the greatest 6 vs. 6 experience that's out there. It's not our achievement. It's your achievement. We welcome everyone to continue this road of success. We welcome everyone to play with the best. @The_Alpha_Furyan & @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com Facebook (NHLGamer)Twitter (NHLGamerCOM)YouTube (NHLGamer Official) Instagram (NHLGamerOfficial) Twitch (NHLGamerTwitch)