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Hey NHLGamers, we hope you are excited as we are to get the playoffs started. As we mentioned in our post about the playoff-pairings, it’s now time to step up or step aside. Can an underdog step face-to-face against a goliath, or are there going to be dreams crushed by the recent favorites? In this article we give you our predictions about every match-up and mention possible factors for every team. VS Bare Knuckles Hockey (17-1-0 / L10: 9-1-0) vs EaLogic (9-7-2 / L10: 3-6-1) David vs Goliath or EaLogic vs Bare Knuckles Hockey. Is it even fair? Bare Knuckles Hockey finished with the best record in the regular season, coming up short of a perfect regular season with a loss in the last game. EaLogic had an upside down season: they failed to compete against the top guns of their group and were the last team to jump on the playoff train via a nail-biting tie-breaker. We don't mean to be harsh, but this sounds like a pretty obvious outcome. The cornerstone of this high scoring offense (78 goals) is right winger Teroe94 with 60 points, finished #2 among skaters. Their man in the crease Geqee also had a strong regular season, gaining 15 wins with only 1,81 GAA by 4 shutouts. On the other side of the field center Chaostive has to lead his team offensively and get their defensive tight to reduce scoring chances. Prediction: 4:0 Bare Knuckles Hockey VS Cowabunga Hockey (15-2-1 / L10: 8-1-1) vs Slapshot Club Germany (9-6-3 / L10: 5-4-1) Cowabunga Hockey can tear apart opponents with their high-scoring offense (84 goals), which is lead by #1 top scorer Fin_torsp90 (63 points). As if that wouldn’t be enough, they have the best goaltender so far in this season. Jonitski managed a 1,44 GAA average with an outstanding save percentage of 88%. Cowabunga Hockey's whole defensive game plan worked so far, with only 26 goals against in 18 games. Slapshot Club Germany had a bad start, strong mid-season and an even worse finish. Despite managing to get the necessary wins to make it to the playoffs, the team struggled to find their game all season long. Their defensive core has to step up and needs to keep clear shots for their netminder NHLDennis86. As they won’t get that many scoring chances, they have to be very effective in the offensive zone. Prediction: 4:1 Cowabunga Hockey VS SGWEER United (15-2-1 / L10: 7-2-1) vs Kaksikymmentaseitseman (8-7-3 / L10: 6-4-0) SGWEER United had the top scoring offense (86 goals) of this past regular season, but their defense is one of the weakest among the top teams. The top offensive duo Gregson91 and riNBF3 (both over 55 Points) needs to keep scoring to keep their hopes of moving on to the next round alive. The Germans also have the best defensive pairing measured in points, but they need to step up in the defensive zone. Their lack of effectiveness could bother them as you can see in the first two results (7:3 win, 2:1 loss). Kaksikymmentaseitseman had a sloppy start, but gaining 6 out of their 8 wins in their last 10 games. They need to keep their net clean and score on the chances they will get. Prediction: 4:2 SGWEER United VS Hippo Rangers (15-2-1 / L10: 10-0-0) vs KulmalaHengaus (8-7-3 / L10: 4-4-2) Hippo Rangers had the best possible record in the last 10 games, finishing strong with 10 wins. Their strong defensive core around their goaltender Perkkari - who managed a 1,50 goals against average with a save percentage of 84% - needs to play as they're used to. They are strong in faceoffs (57%), which could be the factor in tight match-ups. Their wingers lilchippah and Jii84-- (nearly 100 points in 18 games combined) need to keep their path going and hype their team up. Kulmala Hengaus struggled all season long, but won all important matchups against their evenly skilled opponents. They need to power up their offense to score against their opponents really good defense. Prediction: 4:0 Hippo Rangers VS Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat (14-3-1 / L10: 8-2-0) vs Rusty Bulls (10-7-1 / L10: 7-3-0) Rusty Bulls is a experienced team with a lot of tournaments under their belt. Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat had one of the best goal differences in the regular season. Rukoilevat have a well merited LW/C in Samzoni and he knows how to play the tough games and get out with a win. Prediction: 4:1 Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat VS Suomen Sonnit (14-3-1- / L10: 8-2-0) vs Cancun Pirates (10-7-1 / L10: 5-4-1) Suomen Sonnit has a lot of really experienced former ECL Pro players. Cancun Pirates is a sponsored French team in their first season. In this series the Bauer sponsorship will not matter. Sonnit would want to make an early statement and sweep Cancun. Prediction: 4:0 Suomen Sonnit VS Ghetto Firebirds (14-3-1 / L10: 7-2-1) vs ICEBREAKERS EAGLES (10-6-2 / L10: 6-3-1) Ghetto Firebirds have been pendling up and down between Pro and Lite. This time they will try their hardest to get up to Pro and stay there. With a faceoff percentage of over 58% they can build a little momentum in tight matchups. ICEBREAKERS EAGLES is a fusion of three old OEHL teams. Eagles can surprise quite a few people. They have a good mix of players and it's worth keeping an eye on Willander97, if he gets playtime in this series, as I'm sure he will score some goals. Prediction: 4:1 Ghetto Firebirds VS EV Duisburg (14-4-0 / L10: 8-2-0) vs Soldiers of Odens (11-7-0 / L10: 7-3-0) EV Duisburg has a lot of experience in ECL Lite, having played 3 seasons in Lite. However, this time their roster looks strong and deep, so they will look to get promoted. Their decent power play (30%) could take them a little step further into the next round. Soldiers of Odens have a couple Lite seasons under their belt, but they barely made it through to the playoffs with a negative goal difference. Odens improved their game towards the end of the regular season, are they able to continue? Prediction: 4:2 EV Duisburg VS Etelan Vetelat (14-4-0 / L10: 8-2-0) vs 5th Line Heroes (11-7-0 / L10: 6-4-0) Etelan Vetelat had a good regular season throughout, from a good beginning to a strong finish with 8 wins in their last 10 games. Their decent defense, backed up by their goaltender AcED719 with a 84% save-percentage, has to prevent the scoring chances of the stacked up offense of 5th Line Heroes. Their key to success will be to build up from their offensive outcome and reduce their turnovers. 5th Line Heroes key player will be Ale_012 with an incredible shot percentage of 56,4% by 22 goals in the regular season. Prediction: 4:2 Etelan Vetelat VS Korpens Finest (13-3-2 / L10: 9-0-1) vs The Black Jacks (11-6-1 / L10: 4-5-1) Korpens Finest topped a very tough ECL Lite group - some would say the toughest this season - and played very evenly throughout the season. The Black Jacks played in the same group and could have finished top of the group if two or three results had gone their way. Expect this one to be a tough fight until the very end, maybe with a small advantage for Korpens Finest, as they won both games in the regular season, but it could go either way. Prediction: 4:2 Korpens Finest VS Style (13-4-1 / L10: 9-1-0) vs Roistot (10-4-4 / L10: 8-1-1) Style struggled at the beginning of their season, but got their things together trough mid-season. Their positive trend shows up in their last 10 games, where they won 9 out of 10 games. Roistot's key to success will be to shut down Styles' top scorer Panarinz with 48 points in 18 games. Roistot has a nearly similar path to the playoffs. Their dynamic duo of altsu123 and taikuri8_0, with over 100 combined points, can easily outscore every opponent when they are on fire. They might be the best 5th seed of this season. Prediction: 4:3 Style VS Freddie Mercury Institute (13-4-1 / L10: 6-3-1) vs Elämäm Kiekko (11-5-2 / L10: 6-4-0) In this match-up pair between Freddie Mercury Institute and Elämän Kiekko we find two well experienced teams with several ECL seasons in the bag, both as a team and as individuals. This is a hard matchup to predict. The key duel could be the FMI defense with only 1,5 GA per game versus EMK's right wing Markogirl87, who is ranked #9 in the division with 53 points (23G, 30A). Prediction: 4:3 Freddie Mercury Institute VS Pohjoista Voimaa (13-4-1 / L10: 7-2-1) vs DELIRIUM (12-6-0 / L10: 8-2-0) Pohjoista Voimaa's games may not be spectacular to watch (38 Goals, 25 Goals against), but they are highly effective. Their key to success is to build from their very decent defense around their netminder Meiha (88% save-percentage). DELIRUIM had a strong push towards the end of the regular season and have to be very effective on the few scoring chances they will get, in order to move forward. Prediction: 2:4 DELIRIUM VS Club de Caballeros (12-3-3 / L10: 7-1-2) vs Motherpuckers (12-5-1 / L10: 6-3-1) Also a big matchup with teams from a really tough group. Motherpuckers is an old top team and consists of multiple old Elite players and also a few old EHL winners. Their special teams with a 35% power play could be the key factor in this series. Club de Caballeros have a good mix of new talent and former Pro players. It's also worth mentioning that they have MovaaN, a big name in the community who played for both several Pro seasons and one in Elite. This will be the toughest matchup in this round. Both their mutual regular season games went to OT and you might see these teams needing some extra time a few times this series as well. Prediction: 3:4 Motherpuckers VS Sektion K (12-4-2 / L10: 6-2-2) vs Finnish Hockey Legends (12-5-1 / L10: 6-3-1) Sektion K has players with Pro experience that know what it takes to win against top teams. Honorable mention goes to Edhoolm97, a former Lavetten (ECL Pro) player that knows how to score goals. Finnish Hockey Legends has played well throughout this season but Sektion K have the edge in this series due to their experience. Prediction: 4:1 Sektion K VS HokiDogit (11-3-4 / L10: 6-1-3) vs Bucketeers (12-5-1 / L10: 7-3-0) The regular season records don't not tell you much in this matchup. Even though HokiDogit finished in a higher position in their group and with more points than Bucketeers, Bucketeers is a strong team that played in a tough group. They shouldn't be underestimated here. Bucketeers may not be very well-known in the ECL community, but when you face them in EASHL games that would not be noticeable. With a high paced attack and a strong defence, they will give HokiDogit some tough games. Prediction: 1:4 Bucketeers We are sure that there will be tons of highlights in this years Lite playoffs and they will be very fun to watch, so be sure to save them and send them our way! Credits to @Panarinz and @iRSPe for their help with this article Best of luck to all the teams, play fair, respect your opponent and have fun!

Hey NHLGamers, finally it’s here, our most loved time of the season – playoff hockey! While all real hockey leagues around Europe are about to kick off their playoffs as well, the ECL Lite Division will start things off for NHLGamer and it will be pleasant to watch. Many skilled teams will be working hard to make their way to the ECL Pro Division. Are they able fulfil their own expectations? Will there be any upsets in the first rounds? Or are the favorites gonna have a cakewalk? Furthermore, we would like to thank all teams that were participating in ECL 6! If your season is already over, try to learn from it and become even stronger next time when we call for ECL 7. That being said, if there are still some regular season games with missing stats, be sure to take care of your duties before heading off to the off-season. For the remaining teams, it's time to get things straight. Put all your heart, will and skill together and prove yourselves to be the ones who have to be beaten down the road! The regular season in ECL 6 Lite had 6 groups with 10 teams each. The first 5 teams out of every group as well as the two best teams ranked 6th in their group are qualified for the playoffs. These two additional spots are decided by our usual tie-breakers, which were also used to seed all of the 16 playoff pairs in a "best-against-worst" procedure. These factors are listed below: 1. PPG (points per game average) 2. Wins (regulation and overtime wins) 3. H2H (head-to-head results) 4. Goal differential 5. Goals scored This leads us to the following playoff matchups: (1) Bare Knuckles Hockey vs EaLogic (32) (2) Cowabunga Hockey vs Slapshot Club Germany (31) (3) SGWEER United vs Kaksikymmentaseitseman (30) (4) Hippo Rangers vs KulmalaHengaus (29) (5) Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat vs Rusty Bulls (28) (6) Suomen Sonnit vs Cancun Pirates (27) (7) Ghetto Firebirds vs ICEBREAKERS EAGLES (26) (8) EV Duisburg vs Soldiers of Odens (25) (9) Etelan Vetelat vs 5th Line Heroes (24) (10) Korpens Finest vs The Black Jacks (23) (11) Style vs Roistot (22) (12) Freddie Mercury Institute vs Elämäm Kiekko (21) (13) Pohjoista Voimaa vs DELIRIUM (20) (14) Club de Caballeros vs Motherpuckers (19) (15) Sektion K vs Finnish Hockey Legends (18) (16) HokiDogit vs Bucketers (17) All matchups will be played in a best-of-seven series and the higher ranked seed gets home ice advantage. Due to the schedule becoming available quite late (due to late game reports), we have decided to not count the 15th as one of the Playoff days. Thus, every series has to be finished and reported by March 22nd, 2018. Here is the complete list of Playoff dates for ECL Lite: First round 15.3.-22.3. Second round 23.3.-29.3. Quarter-Finals 30.3.- 7.4. Semi-Finals 8.4.- 14.4. Finals 15.4-21.4. No extra time will be given - be active! Grow a beard, take a beer and let’s get started!

Hello NHLGamers, It has been a pleasure for all to see the pace of expansion in the NHLGamer community. There’s well over 4000 of us here today. With the number of players, teams, leagues and tournaments and the organization thereof, NHLGamer – to us at least, fully qualifies as an esports organizer. Fortunately, that is also the perception outside of NHLGamer. To illustrate that point, NHLGamer was invited to organize two major NHL/FIFA events in Finland last year, broadcasted on TV, with responsibilities ranging from online qualifications to live commentary in said broadcasts. The events themselves were a great success, including the experience and the lessons learned from all the inevitable small bumps on the road. One of the goals of NHLGamer has been to bring together on one platform as much of the competitive EASHL userbase as possible, whether competitiveness meant having fun in the Summer Cup, or pursuing the toughest objective – winning the ECL Elite. The growth we have seen in just a few years is a delight to many, but it does not come without new challenges. The community had a fantastic response to the pronounced need for additional staff. Nothing but a heartful thank you will do service for that. It signals that you, the players, share our vision and goal. Though to avoid the pitfalls of complacency, we must recognize there is still a long road ahead. If you would also like to see NHL-gaming mature to its full potential as a legitimate and well-recognized esports, but don’t feel like a staff responsibility is really your thing, don’t worry. There are issues that must be confronted on a team-level if the objective in horizon is a (semi)professional esports league. It has been wonderful to see many teams starting up their social-media channels and beginning to create an identity, be it through writing, logos or just pure memery. It is an extremely important task, branding many would call it, because sponsorship is not charity. Companies do not hand out sponsorship to various places from their marketing budget based on whatever individual preferences. This is an important point; sponsorship deals come from the marketing budget. They always expect a return on investment, or ROI in short, for all marketing. Otherwise it is just a waste of money. In the case of sports teams and especially esports, the value of a team is mostly made of its visibility. There are various tools and methods for companies of numerating the visibility or the value of it, but those details are outside the scope of this article. What this means is that if you would like to see your team grow in status, or just help the community grow and be recognized, as a whole (preferably both!), you must create value. Big and medium-sized companies always have some kind of a brand identity, an image of the company that it tries to reinforce through various methods. Astronomical sums can be used for this purpose, for sometimes the brand is the only thing the company is valued of. Let’s take an example from a brand very known in sports: Nike. Unlike many would think, Nike does not produce a single shoe. It licenses the production to subcontractors and instead spends almost a billion dollars a year for marketing and reinforcing its brand, including the careful selection of athletes, teams and organizations it sponsors, those that are seen fitting for its brand image. Perhaps a plural should be used, because there can simultaneously be different images being portrayed to different audiences. Some avid readers might be worried of this corporate talk, reflecting on the dull-and-boring interviews of athletes we see nowadays. While those without a doubt stem from the wishes and requirements of financial backers, it is to be remembered that on the quest for the end of the rainbow, the road is painted in many colors. Last year the amount of Twitch users surpassed that of Netflix or any other on-demand streaming service. As of February 2018, Twitch had over 2 million monthly broadcasters and 15 million active daily users. The typical characteristics of a Twitch user is a male between 18 and 34 years of age. What it means for the esports community, NHLGamer included, is that a company is far more likely to see marketing value in an esports team, if it is trying to target a similar demographic for its products. That’s why an energy drink company is far more likely to sponsor an esports team than a spring water company would be. This of course reflects to the desired or sought-after images that potential sponsorship targets portray; Ninjas in Pyjamas works much better in esports than it would in horse polo. NHL-gaming has large untapped potential as an esports. While hockey is not a major global sport it still gives an enormous base of audience, who do not play the virtual game themselves, but are already completely familiar with the rules and various nuances of the game. Therefore, were the community to grow in quantity and professionality, it does not take a long leap of imagination to one day see ECL Finals on live television. One discussed topic around the community lately has been the concept of buy-in tournaments, where the teams pay a certain amount to enter a tournament in hopes to get their hands on a bigger prize pool. We will be talking a lot more about this in the near future, but for the time being, let us at least confirm to you today, that this concept is definitely on our road map and you will be able to participate in these kinds of tournaments right here at NHLGamer. “Why so serious?” – the big question of our generation. You don’t have to be serious to be successful. Sports is an entertainment business and it is very hard to entertain if you are not having fun. An image of a group of laid-back guys having a blast and left-handedly crushing their opposition is not a bad sales pitch at all. Keep developing your own brand of hockey. Do not hesitate in finding ways to increase the visibility of your brand and contacting potential sponsors or partners. There is simply nothing to lose. NHLGamer is an expanding canvas and everyone has been given a brush. You have the power to define the outlines of the picture that forms; every drop of paint is a step closer to our goal. Good luck and have fun! Yours truly, NHLGamer