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You've played NHL 18, but never like this. This spring, the National Hockey League is organising the biggest EA Sports NHL-based tournament yet with the 2018 NHL Gaming World Championship. The tournament is a versus competition, where the very top players of the world are going head-to-head first in regional qualifiers and finals, ending up with the top 6 players in the world battling it out at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada for the title of 2018 NHL Gaming World Champion. To make it even more exciting, the stakes of this tournament will be significantly greater than ever before in NHL gaming as the top 6 competitors will be fighting over a $100,000 prize pool. This is surely a massive announcement for all us NHLGamers as the tournament has so many major players involved. Some of the games will be broadcast on Viasat, Sportsnet and NBC digital channels as well as the NHL's official Twitch-channel. Details are still to be announced regarding the broadcasts, but a major boost in visibility for the NHL gaming community is expected. To qualify, you have to enter an online regional tournament for your console. Qualifiers are held each Saturday from March 24th thru April 14th. Each regional qualifier will determine two top players who will advance to the regional finals. The eight European finalists will compete at the Viasat Studios in Stockholm, Sweden; the eight Canadian Regional finalists will compete at Sportsnet Studios in Toronto, Ontario; and the eight US Regional finalists will compete at NBC Studios in Stamford, Connecticut. Check out the official video here, brought to you by NHL.com: You can see the full schedule for the tournament below: March 9th Registration opens at Faceit.com March 24th-25th Online qualifiers (Xbox One) March 31st-April 1st Online qualifiers (PS4) April 7th-8th Online qualifiers (Xbox One) April 14th-15th Online qualifiers (PS4) May 6th European Regional Finals (Stockholm, Sweden) May 11th Canadian Regional Finals (Toronto, Ontario) May 20th US Regional Finals (Stamford, Connecticut) June 19th World Finals (Las Vegas, Nevada) June 20th NHL Awards (Las Vegas, Nevada) In order to be eligible for the tournament you need to be a legal resident of the US, Canada or EU. You also need to be 16 years of age or older. So, what do you guys think? Will you be signing up? The thing that's for sure is that history is in the making and this is a tremendously positive thing for our community. Keep your heads up for more amazing news alike! Source: NHL.com

Fathers and sons tend to have a certain amount of resemblance. A father or mother is often a personality that the offspring looks up to and wants to mimic in a way. Then again, there might be some characteristics the younger generation is trying to stay clear of. Where am I going with this? Well, I have gotten word that we will be experiencing a very special 'first' today at NHLGamer as ECL Lite division team Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat will feature father @Aitis and his 10 year-old son @viba2008 in their lineup in their games against Burns Beardy Bastards. This will be the first ever father-son duo playing ECL games and is certainly something we at NHLGamer respect greatly. The three founders of Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat - Aitis, @Matti Parviainen and @ninnanunna share godfather responsibilities for each others children and now are also equally responsible for this newest family member, their ECL team. After being established in early 2016, interest in 6v6 games grew quickly. Aitis recruited his cousin @samppa1995 and some other players joined. The club's first ECL tournament was ECL 5, which ended in a second round playoff exit against Raging Monkeys. This season the squad hopes to prove they can compete in the playoffs too and have fared well so far, holding a 4th place spot in their group with 7 wins in 10 games. Aitis describes the team as follows: "Hinkkaajat is a team where most players lack soft hands and hockey sense, but we are a group of guys who believe in the strengths of team play." "The kid has been begging for ice-time since last season" Aitis is your average 37 year-old Finnish guy. His son Viljo, who is 27 years younger, has recently started showing interest towards gaming and a natural step to take is obviously following his father into the ECL scene. What better than joining the team his father is leading in their second ECL season in Lite. "Viljo started playing the NHL-series in NHL14, but first played with our team in NHL17, when Beaverskin asked him to step in for one of our players. Viljo quickly impressed skill-wise and has been in a tough hockey school ever since.", Aitis comments about his son playing for the team. "The kid has been begging for ice-time since last season and thinks it's no wonder we aren't doing better as he isn't playing yet.", he adds. The games tend to start late at night, so that's the main reason Viljo hasn't been in the lineup yet. Come puck drop we will be witnessing dad Aitis81 playing left defender, feeding his son Viljo on the left wing with quick and smart breakouts you only see from a blood-related duo. When asking the youngster about tonights games, he replied that a regular spot in the opening lineup will be obvious after these two clashes. We'll see how it turns out in the evening. We will be watching with excitement and most definitely rooting for the 10 year-old in black and green. You can also join in at the Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat stream at 21 CET.