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Hey NHLGamers, Round 2 of the ECL Lite Playoffs is done! Now we are approaching the Quarter-Finals, and "the stakes are getting higher, you can feel it in your heart". While these lyrics fit perfectly, they not actually represent the author's or other staff members' taste in music. I'm more of a rock guy, and I hope all of the remaining 8 teams will rock the ice and take their chance to make it into ECL Pro for ECL 6. Remember: All ECL semi-finalists will be promoted to ECL Pro for next season! You guys are only 4 wins away from this accomplishment. Here are the pairings for the quarter-finals: Deadly Phantoms HC vs. Nordic Nosebleed Almost Famous vs. Squad Vilttiketju Raging Monkeys vs. EV Duisburg Red Machine vs. Face Wash Hockey Framework Teams mentioned on the left side have their home game first The quarter-finals are played in a best-of-7 series, meaning the first team to rack up 4 wins proceeds to the semi-finals The round starts today, and all games must be completed before December 6, 23:59 CET / December 7, 00:59 EET Good luck to everyone! @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

Lamsa - Rusty Blades (RB) 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 second 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. After the first edition of Hidden Gems, which was more of a "old school" type gem, we return with this second installment that is focused on a player that manages to be a veteran and a new addition to the community both at the same time. I am of course talking about good ol' @Lamsafrom Rusty Blades - a man so good on the offensive side of the puck that all of your team better be prepared to focus 110% when going up against Rusty Blades. The franchise itself has only participated in ECLs 3, 4 & 5 but wow (!) have they been taking some major steps in the right direction. After making their debut in ECL 3 to mixed reviews (IMDB rating: 6,1), they went back to the drawing board and decided to grind out some serious practice. And by "some", I mean a lot. I am not sure if any team played more EASHL games than Rusty between ECL 3 and 4 but they managed to do exactly what they set out to do - build a foundation for their style of play and learn how to play against (and defeat) the very best ECL teams. Under captain @Tanski87, Rusty have perfected the art of "brunk and dump hockey" mixed with some tic tac toe and have managed to make it the key to their success. In all this, Lamsa is the true catalyst: leading the way with all the different types of goals, assists and dirtyness only a true Kantor can bring. While being underrated on the defensive side of things - he describes himself as a defensive playmaker - Lamsa is most comfortable scoring points using his straight-forward style (the anti-skill hockey?) that has resulted in 155 goals and 101 assist in 112 games played. The fact that Lamsa is Rustys go-to guy in the scoring department get quite obvious when you consider the fact that in ECL 3 (Legacy) he scored 20 points more than anyone else on the RB squad. For next season, ECL 4 (Pro), he finished a full 33 points ahead of #2 and finally, in ECL 5 (Elite) he managed to repeat the feat once more by scoring 14 points more than his closest teammate. Now, Rusty has managed to build what many call the ultimate teamplay-focused team where every skater is a key cog in the machinery and they have certainly become one of the best at what they do, but when the chips are down and they need that one key play - Lamsa is most likely smack in the middle of it. Before ECL 5 I am sure many were curious how RB and Lamsa would hold up against Elite competition, but both of them certainly managed to put a sock in the mouth of their detractors. Rusty Blades by finishing 8th overall, making the playoffs and pushing Aapon Taikasauva to six games in their playoff series and Lamsa by scoring 25 goals and finishing tied for 9th in Goals amongst all Elite skaters. I think we can safely establish once and for all that, unlike the Dent Act and Roberts Rebellion, Lamsa is not built on a lie. Lamsa Fact Box [Player profile] Lauri Lämsä, Finland ECL All-Time Stats: 112GP, 155G, 101A, 256P, +33 Participated in ECL 3, 4 & 5 at NHLGamer: all three for Rusty Blades Favors the RW position in EASHL Part of Rusty Blades squad that got promoted from ECL Pro - ECL Elite after ECL 4 Runner-up and silver medalist for the 50 Shades of Blades in Summer Cup 2 Text by: @pnordetun Intro and editing by: @The_Alpha_Furyan Art by: @OxtreeLAT

NHLGamers, Here are the playoff pairings and framework for Round 2 of the ECL 5 playoffs for Pro & Elite: FRAMEWORK Each pairing, Elite or Pro, must be finished within 7 days from today, meaning last evening to play games is December 5th. 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 After the cross-seeding of the first round between Group 1 and Group 2, we now return to our usual points per game seeding for the rest of the playoffs. Here is how last round ended: Gotham Knights vs. J P T J [2-1, final two games WO from J P T J due to no players available in the alloted time] SIKA vs. THE UNITED KNIGHTS [3-4] Inter Iceland vs. EN HUND [4-2] Lavetten vs. Pata Hellalla [2-4] Unlucky Boys HC vs. Alliance HT [4-2] Shameful Knights vs. Falun Coal Miners [1-4] Nordic Stars vs. White Trash [4-2] Baltic Sea Eagles vs. Evolution [3-4] This gives us the following pairings for Round 2 (new seeds based on points per game relative to each other in regular season): #1 Unlucky Boys HC vs. #8 THE UNITED KNIGHTS #2 Nordic Stars vs. #7 Falun Coal Miners #3 Gotham Knights vs. #6 Pata Hellalla #4 Inter Iceland vs. #5 Evolution ELITE PLAYOFFS For Elite, these were the results of Round 1. Aapon Taikasauva vs. Rusty Blades [4-2] Carlsberg HC vs. Northern Stars [3-4] SJK eSports vs. Northern Ascendancy [4-2] Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty [4-0] This gives us the following pairings for Round 2 (seeds remain unchanged = sorted by points per game in regular season): #1 Aapon Taikasauva vs. #7 Northern Stars #3 SJK eSports vs. #4 Written In The Stars Good luck to all teams and see you for Round 3! ECL Lite announcement regarding Round 3 will be out tomorrow. @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com