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ECL 5 - Elite Playoffs A week after the ECL 5 Lite playoffs kicked off, Pro and Elite are now heading into the most exciting time of the season too! The Pro playoffs will be covered in a seperate post, so if you are a Pro team be sure to check that out. Time to cover Elite! FRAMEWORK Each pairing, championship or promotion/relegation faceoffs, must be finished within 7 days of the series' start date. Don't expect any extensions! All pairings are to be played in a best-of-7 series (teams on the left side below play home first) ELITE PLAYOFFS The very best 8 teams are about to enter the final stages of the most exciting 6 vs. 6 competition NHLGamer has to offer! It's where everlasting stories are written (no pun intended) and true heroes are born. The ECL Elite playoffs starts off with these 4 pairings: Aapon Taikasauva vs. Rusty Blades Carlsberg HC vs. Northern Stars SJK eSports vs. Northern Ascendancy Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty ELITE RELEGATION FACEOFFS The teams that finished 13th and 14th in the standings will pause for a bit until two ECL Pro semi-final losers are determined. Thus, while two Elite teams are relegated instantly (see below), a strong ECL Pro representation could potentially open up two more Elite spots: Nordic Nightmare vs. ECL Pro semi-final loser 1 (series starts when ECL Pro semi-finals are finished) TIKI TALK vs. ECL Pro semi-final loser 2 (series starts when ECL Pro semi-finals are finished) ECL RELEGATIONS Synergy Hockey and Nordic Lightning weren't able to get it done in Elite this season and are relegated to ECL Pro for ECL 6. However, there's no time for frustration - charge the batteries and come back strong in ECL 6! THE (UN)LUCKY FEW? MUKIMIEHET, Kattiautomaatti, Sjukstugan and Silver Sword Griffins finished the season ranked 9 to 12 and will remain in ECL Elite for ECL 6. While MUKIMIEHET came very close to making the playoffs, the other teams were in danger of being relegated but managed to evade it. With new Pro teams entering the ring, things are only going to get tougher in the future, so stay focused and keep building those rosters to not share the fates of Synergy Hockey's and Nordic Lightning's next season. Best of luck to everyone and see you on the ice! @The_Alpha_Furyan & @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, a week after the ECL 5 Lite playoffs kicked off, Pro and Elite are now heading into the most exciting time of the season too! The Elite playoffs will be covered in a seperate post, so keep an eye out for that. FRAMEWORK Each pairing, championship or promotion/relegation faceoffs, must be finished within 7 days until November 28 - starting today. Don't expect any extensions! All pairings are to be played in a best-of-7 series (teams on the left side below play home first) PRO PLAYOFFS As usual, the two ECL Pro groups are cross-seeded in the first round, which means #1 from Group 1 will play #8 from Group 2 and so on. This leads us to these 8 pairings: Gotham Knights vs. J P T J SIKA vs. THE UNITED KNIGHTS Inter Iceland vs. EN HUND Lavetten vs. Pata Hellalla Unlucky Boys HC vs. Alliance HT Shameful Knights vs. Falun Coal Miners Nordic Stars vs. White Trash Baltic Sea Eagles vs. Evolution PRO RELEGATION FACEOFFS Teams ranked 13th to 16th in both conferences are cross-seeded as well. While all winners will remain in ECL Pro for ECL 6, the losers are moved down to ECL Lite and will be replaced by the ECL Lite semi-finalists. Here are the pairings: AK 47 vs. Bellizzi Squirt Hockey vs. GHETTO FIREBIRDS Sypperstaars vs. Bare Knuckles Hockey Banterfield Battalion vs. Nemesis THE (UN)LUCKY FEW? Murohoki, Black Panther Party, God Tier, Hawks Hockey Club, DEAD END KINGS, Clowns on Ice, Speedy Bros Hockey and Free From Rodents have secured their spot in ECL Pro for next season. Some might be unhappy about not making the playoffs, others might be happy about avoiding the fierce relegation battles - whatever it is, make sure to recover during Christmas and come back strong for ECL 6. It's not going to be easier! That's it! Good luck to everyone and let the games begin. @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

Floor17- Northern Stars (NOS) ECL Hidden Gems is a concept that was created by @The_Alpha_Furyan and @pnordetun (patovic). The idea evolved out of discussions concerning what type of content patovic himself would like to see more of at NHLGamer.com and what kind of texts he'd be most interested in writing. Hidden Gems, for the purposes of this feature, means players that the author feels haven't quite gotten their time to shine at NHLGamer or players that aren't getting full credit for the skill they bring to the table. This is the first edition in a six-part series that patovic has written so do enjoy the witty writing of "pato" and leave a comment with your thoughts on the piece. I might find myself out on thin ice over some pretty deep waters right about now, but the fact is that Northern Stars veteran Daniel Anderzon aka @Floor17 doesn't quite get the recognition he deserves in the ECL community. This is a player who is a 5-time ECL veteran (and lord knows how many 6v6 tournaments before that!) that routinely manages to control all aspects off the game, in all zones off the ice. Not only that, he is a beast at the Versus portion of the game as well, having won one Swedish championship and making it far in various other tournaments. As the great coach Marc Crawford once said: "If you want him to shut down the opponents best player, he will get it done. You want him to score goals? He will get it done. You want him to be a playmaker? He'll get it done. You need him to be physical? He'll get it done. He is so gifted and the list just goes on and on". You can trace the origins of the so-called "floorbandyking" back to the old Xbox team "Swedish Tigers" that featured such legends as ivve83 and unbroken-anders (man, where did those guys go?). Floor17 was truly a dominating force in those early Xbox years and have continued to build his legacy in EASHL ever since. At the beginning of his virtual career, he was considered by many to be more of a pure offensive weapon. This went on for years and especially once he found himself playing with @cHIIMEERa on the Swedish powerhouse Northern Stars. The last few seasons, Floor17 has managed to enhance his repertoire to include an ability to play both wing and defenseman at a very high level, as well as the occasional stint at goaltender. Flash forward to today where NOS had Finnish superstars @tbnantti and @plee999 join the team for ECL 5, it has been quite interesting to see how the old "curveshot master" has adapted to the situation and found an integral two-way role on the roster where he has been a big contributor to the teams' success. To summarize: Floor is awesome at videogame hockey and wins stuff, that is just what he does. It ain't easy winning all the time - if it were, everyone would be doing it! PS. Mean rumours back in the day said that the King of Floorbandy used the "99 overall glitch" in EASHL... and that it was possibly @eyebiz (the old rascal!) who had the hackset to hook him up - but if you ask me? Nah, Floor17 didn't need it then and he doesn't need it now - this man is nothing but skill and determination Floor17 Fact Box [Player profile] Daniel Anderzon, Sweden ECL All-Time Stats: 86GP, 60G, 92A, 152P, +85 Participated in all 5 ECL tournaments at NHLGamer: all five for Northern Stars Favors the RW position in EASHL Swedish Champion of NHL 11 Versus Runner-up (Finalist vs. NHLGamer member @Kribba) in NHL 12 & NHL 13 Versus Text by: @pnordetun Intro and editing by: @The_Alpha_Furyan Art by: @OxtreeLAT