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Hey NHLGamers, A new NHL 19 Tuner carrying the version number 1.0.2 has been released. Before we jump into the tuner notes, let's have a little talk. If you are active on social media and the NHL community, you know that there has been a lot of harsh feedback about NHL 19 and there's been claims such as: They ruined the game - it was already perfect during the beta! The patch/tuner turned the game back into NHL 18! The skating was perfect, but now I feel like a tank again! Let's take a moment to think about this. Could some of this backlash also be a community overreaction? I mean, we're having the same discussions annually. People that are familiar with marketing surely know that word of mouth works in a snowball effect, maybe that's a part of what's happening here? Understandably everyone can't like the changes but have they actually been as dramatic as the community has made it seem? I myself usually love playing the game in the first weeks it comes out - sure, it feels the same in many ways, but it's still fresh and people don't know how to play exactly and how to score in the most efficient ways. Fast-forward a few weeks: The game isn't as easy as it was on the week of the release. Your competition has also got in some game hours and has learned a trick or two. The bliss of having a new, amazing product has faded and you've become familiarized with the grind it takes to stay at a competitive level in the game. So a new patch or tuner comes out and someone tells you "this and that is completely ruined". You start focusing on it more. You notice new things that perhaps aren't actually new things, just things you didn't pay attention to before. But surely it's real - everybody is talking about it! Do I think the game is perfect? Far from it. I have spent countless hours giving constructive feedback about it this year alone. But constructive is the key word. If you want something to be actually improved, you can't expect it to improve if your feedback is at the level of "This is trash! Fix your game!". I know there are many members in our community that actually put in the time and effort to provide valuable and well constructed feedback. I believe we could all benefit from taking a look at our approach to feedback, whether it is at a Burger King or a web forum. Honestly, I have been too busy with working on the website and broadcasts to get in as many game hours as I would like to and because of that, I know that many of you are better qualified to actually discuss the pokechecks, stick lifts and skating. So please do discuss it in the comments, using words, videos and graphs or whatever you need. Let's just drill into the specifics of the issues and look at why things work or don't work the way we expect them to. It's also worth keeping in mind that if you release a patch that aims to fix everything in one go, it's could to be really hard to say what change caused an unexpected change to the game balance. NHL 19 Tuner 1.0.2 - Change log Ok, so on to the important stuff of what's new in this tuner. The tuner is now available, but I haven't had a chance to test it out yet. There are several parts that at least on paper sound like they issue many of my main complaints so far: You should not be able to smash that stick lift irresponsibly without getting called for penatlies. It should be easier to pull off some dekes with any player type now (I've felt it's too hard to get successful dekes even when the player isn't pressured) It's felt like it's been a bit too easy to knock the puck lose just by the opponent trying to hit you, but in the process their stick has touched the puck, often through your body. This should be improved now. I've often been confused with whether or not I've been able to pick up the puck or not and I don't know if I should leave the situation or not. Hopefully now the outcome will be more obvious and make reading the game a bit easier. Earlier broken sticks were removed (from competitive play) and now the dropped sticks. While I liked it as a thing that happens in real hockey, let's face it - it was very random and thus unfair. I've actually been quite happy with the goalies this year, but I imagine these tweaks are to hinder some glitch. What do you think about the new tuner? What is your main gripe with NHL 19? Let us know in the comments.

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Salute, gamers! Riddle me this: I am partly Scandinavian, Nordic and Western European while not actually being any of them entirely. I'm old but young, well respected but not the most liked one, very successful but still slightly underrated. What I am? The lads in Northern Ascendancy got to stamp another finale performance on their resume as they fought their way to the ECL 6 finals last spring. After a strong regular season (19-5-6) NOR showed why they've been at the top for so many seasons now. On the first round of the playoffs they faced the hungry Elite debutants in Unlucky Boys. UB led the series a few times as they won the first two games, and after couple more games they were so close beating NOR as UB had the matchball in Game 6. However, "Because it's the Cup" - MukiMaisteri scored the game winning goal 38 seconds before overtime and the game ended 1-0 for NOR. He didn't stop there as the veteran winger scored four goals in Game 7 and NOR went ahead to the second round to face the big bad regular season champions, Written in the Stars. Four one goal games, three overtimes, 37,5 minutes time on attack for the losing side and 25,5 minutes for the winning team. NOR surprised most of the community by beating "Written" 4-1 in games. There's some Ascendance for you. In the ECL 6 finals NOR faced Carlsberg HC and couldn't repeat their trick, as CAR dominated the finals with a game result of 4-1. We saw three tight one goal games and only 14 goals combined in the whole series so hats off for both teams - it wasn't walk in the park to win the championship even though the numbers might tell a different story. IN s_a_k_i_s95 <-- Break from NHL OUT MukiMaisteri --> Dynasty Current roster: Forwards Anrh17 @anrh17 MartindalexC (C) @MartindalexC Foppatofflan (A) @Foppatofflan s_a_k_i_s95 @jeppiz18 x27ScottieN27x @ScottieN27 Defensemen eyebiz @eyebiz Haldeem @Haldeem Goaltenders Poliskontroll @poliskontroll The one and only British captain of our NHL gaming scene continues in his role as he leads his ship towards the ECL Elite finals once again. What does the Englishman @MartindalexC think about his team & their future? With another season and long a playoff run behind - how does life and the new game taste for Northern Ascendancy? To me it looks like you guys have continued with your usual strategy - being annoyingly good in two way hockey. Hmm, where should I start? I suppose the game is probably a good one to tackle first. Especially since, well, truth be told we think the game is pretty much complete and utter garbage, although that hasn’t exactly been a secret of ours. Just the way that games can easily be decided on random drops that evade a bunch of people really rubs us the wrong way. Regarding strategy though we’re still rolling with old faithful so to speak, although compared to years past we are seeing more time on attack which is something we’re not exactly accustomed to shall we say? So, we’ll just have to see how that dynamic plays out. As a veteran member of our NHL gaming scene, how do you see "the new era" after playing tons of games in the old gen era? Licenses are being paid, new teams and players are becoming more familiar to the scene - you know, lots of stuff has changed and evolved - what do you think about all this? Honestly, I’m mostly ambivalent to it all. I suppose the idea of making money off of playing this game is exceptionally enticing to some people but for the most part I play this game because I like it, despite all of its faults, plus lord knows I’ve got nothing else to do :joy:. In addition to this, you could say I have a pretty pessimistic view of this game ever becoming an ‘esport’ (see here for evidence #204505317: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVRZxEhBJFg) and that kind of feeds into my ambivalence, or even vice versa. Nevertheless, I’ll do my best to support Kenu and the site as best I can but I’m not gonna push the boat out so to speak. By the way, where did Martindale's career start from? It's been a joyfyl ride for sure! I'm a little fuzzy on the precise date but I think it was the very start of NHL 13 when NOR was 'founded' officially under that banner. Before that me, Poliskontroll, Juizki and Tacklecontrol played mostly 4s in NHL 12 under a different team name, and prior to that it was just me and Polis in NHL 11 under, yet again, a different name. In terms of tournaments I've played in 8 across both NHLGamer and Consolehockey under NOR, with 1 season where the team was named Unknown (but the franchise underneath remained the same I guess). What kind of checklist did you set for this summer? Is there any new fresh blood in NOR, or was there any lazy employees so to speak to get rid of in order to make your team an even scarier cup contender for ECL7? Is it corny to say that we wanted to get better (who doesn’t after all)? As for acquisitions, the team is practically the same except for -Mukimaisteri, although hopefully there’s a decent chance we’ll be adding someone to the roster, perhaps before this article even comes out. Regarding making the team an “even scarier cup contender” I believe that self-reflection is more important than blind faith, and I personally feel that we went to the finals last year because a couple key players amped up their game at critical times, for instance Poliskontroll really exhibited how good of a goalie he is when we played Written and Carlsberg, meanwhile Eyebiz played nigh on flawlessly when he came in mid-way through the Unlucky Boys series. Having players that can elevate their game is perhaps a consistent element that all winning teams have in their repertoire, however getting hot at the right time does not mean you can replicate it without fail, so we’ve been trying to get back to our basics and strengthen them, so that we don’t have to rely on players getting ‘hot’ to win. What Elite teams have been the most fun to face so far - and the word "fun" here can mean anything between easy to hard - you decide! I suppose Dynasty have been involved in some of the more entertaining games that we’ve played but apart from that I’m not sure. Our games against Written have been a tad underwhelming but it’s ‘fun’ playing a team with an abundance of skill since you know you’ll truly be tested, I know for instance that Flyerkungen has completely decimated me in faceoffs every time I’ve gone against him. I'd like to ask the same question that NOS was asked in their 16 in 16 - How much do you guys have left in the tank? For example, one of the best players of all time, Foppatofflan, is surely not getting any younger! I think, like most things, it’s a matter of perception and how you approach things. It’s easy to dismiss others skill as luck, or their emergence as your downfall. Me personally? I feel I can be better and perhaps that I should be since if we (NOR) want to win we’ll need a full team playing well, as I don’t think it’s possible nowadays for a player to ‘hard carry’ a team like you could on old gen. Besides, at the end of the day it’s not like I’m 50 years old, I’m maybe not going to pick things up as quickly or as easily as I could 7 years ago but as far as I’m concerned it should barely be a discernible difference since your brain doesn’t just start degrading once you’re past 20, 30, or even 40 years of age. In summary though, if we keep putting in hours each and every game and learn from any mistakes, then I feel (barring anything major) that there’s no real reason to expect a rapid decrease in skill. Huge thanks for your extensive answers, MartindalexC! See you on the ice and good luck on another long playoff push to NOR! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. Northern Ascendancy 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty We've got only five teams left to pick from for the next article.. Who would you think is going to finish 5th?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Sjukstugan, Carlsberg (now Radical), Kattiautomaatti, Silver Sword Griffins, Unlucky Boys, Evolution, Falun Coal Miners, Pata Hellalla, Monarchs, Filadelphia, Almost Famous, White Trash (now Team Frosty), Rusty Blades, Nordic Stars, & Gotham Knights. What do all of these teams have in common? The more astute of those reading will undoubtedly already know, but for those not always keeping up to date with the to-and-fros of Elite, the list details each and every team that has been promoted to the highest division over the past three seasons. Of said teams only five have remained in Elite after their initial inclusion, four have made the playoffs at least once, and only one has progressed past the first round and won the division title. What this shows is the true difference in skill between Pro and Elite, and that getting promoted does not mean that you can rest on your laurels or that your job as a captain or as a team is done, as in order to stay up and be competitive every game you need to constantly improve and identify areas that need practice. Sjukstugan is a team that perfectly embodies this concept due to their consistent results. As such, to hopefully key us in on how Sjukstugan are approaching their third season in Elite we would like to introduce 112s captain @Bjono who has answered some questions for us at the end of this article, enjoy! IN I-Maise-I <-- Break from NHL Tacterz <-- Monarchs Edhoolm97 <-- Monarchs PajenC32 <-- Monarchs juniorzalaz <-- Monarchs IFKPEKING2k15 <-- Monarchs OUT Patovic_ --> Stories will be told, banners will be raised - a legend retires JaikenK --> N/A Nampa77 --> Almost Famous Current Roster: Forwards IbjonoI @Bjono PajenC32 @pajenc Tacterz @Tacterz juniorzalaz @Zalaz Edhoolm97 @Edhoolm97 Norpee @Norpee Defensemen Klingen45 @Klingen45 Gustafsson7 @Gustafsson7 I-Maise-I Goaltenders I-Pippo-I @Pippo IFKPEKING2k15 @IsakTuvesson Hullued @Hullued Since joining Elite two seasons ago Sjukstugan has been on a slow, but nevertheless upward trend, moving up from 11th in ECL 5 to a very respectable 6th place finish in ECL 6. Do you feel like your team can reach loftier heights for the upcoming ECL 7 and if so, how have you gone about trying to achieve it? We can absolutely do it better but we need to be patience and give this new game some time. And also give time to play all New players in to the team. But the team is more motivated than we have been for a long time. We are also delighted that we have l-Maise-l back and motivated for this game. Also it warms my heart that JAIKEN is back at home. *Jaiken has since left the team. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? If you are indeed finalised, what will your starting line-up look like? Time will show, but as you know we've made quite a few acquisitions and I believe all of our players are capable of handling responsibilities at the Elite level. There will be some rotation for sure. Make a guess With all of this in mind, what are your expectations for the upcoming season? And who do you think are the current favourites to win it all? Our expectations this season is to get to know the game and make it to the semi finals, from there on we just hope for the best :) Really hard to say anything at the moment because it's still such a new and different game than the previous one. We haven't even played half of the teams yet so it's hard to say anything about who would be favourites, but The SKY People in Written In The Stars have looked really dangerous. Thanks Bjono and have a nice one! Good luck for the upcoming season! 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. _______________ 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Starting tomorrow, we'll be getting into the real top teams, votes were very tight among the top contenders and come the season, anyone could take the title. Can you guess who's next? (HINT: They're not Finnish)

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. What's up my NHL gaming friends and foes? This time in our 16 in 16, we're talking about Swedes - those beautiful, blonde haired people who seem to be talented at everything they do. You know, they're almost like Finns but instead of being grumpy, anti-social, pale and generally weird - Swedes are happy, social and tanned people who are mostly easy to like. Does that sound even close to Northern Stars - perhaps the most victorious Swedish EASHL club in history? At least for me they have always been easy to like - and even though I haven't heard anyone else than their captain talk out loud during the last eight years, they surely seem like happy bunch of good guys! Their ECL 6 was solid once again as they fought their way to the playoffs after an intense battle between them (8th with 35pts) and Evolution (9th with 30pts). While NOS ended their regular season with the record of 5-3-2 (12pts), Evolution failed to challenge NOS for the 8th spot as they ended their ECL 6 with the record of 3-5-2 (8pts). The problem is, when you enter the Elite playoffs from the last possible place, you will more likely than not meet the best team of the regular season and that's what Written In The Stars undisputedly were after losing only three games in a 30-game regular season. Written knocked out NOS from the playoffs after beating them 4-1 in a series where every game except the fifth were one goal games. However, another NHL game is here once again and ECL Elite seems to get tougher season after season. This entails more work for the "old guys" in a team alike the Northern Stars. IN KattenJansson <-- Quality MZK-Trophyhunter <-- Quality ma0niii <-- "retirement" mullweiser <-- Break from NHL OUT Tbnantti --> Symphony MajLeN-Gaming --> N/A Kibenibe --> N/A Current roster: Forwards cHIIMEERa (C) @cHIIMEERa Floor17 (A) @Floor17 KattenJansson97 @KattenJansson97 mullweiser @Mullweiser Defensemen ma0niii (A) @ma0niii Rullstolskalas_ @Rullstolskalas Goaltenders MZK-Trophyhunter @Mike Zigan I_BUM3R_I @BUM3R *Correct PSN of #92 at right defenseman is ma0niii. I had the pleasure of interviewing captain & founder @cHIIMEERa: As one of the oldest ECL teams out there, how have the Northern Stars prepared for the upcoming ECL7? With the amount of games under your belt you must be taking it a bit easier than most guys out there - have you been playing at all during the last months? At least I've seen some shiny logos being made by you! You are right, we took the summer off. I think it has to do with for how long we have been playing together. Back in the days, like in NHL 09-11, I'm pretty sure we were still going strong well into the summer months, but the motivation to grind games in the off season is not there anymore. As long as we are putting in the hours when the new game drops I don't think we'll put ourselves at a disadvantage by being inactive during the summer. I'd say your roster has remained very close to unchanged, right? Is that the secret behind the everlasting success of the Northern Stars? I believe it's a long lost skill to gel with guys and keep grinding together for more than just a couple of months. I think there are many different reasons why the team has mostly remained the same all these years. The two strongest reasons have to be our prior success on the Xbox 360 and our Swedish nationality. As some people know, Northern Stars won a bunch of EHL titles on the 360. As we haven't been able to win anything on the PS4 yet, I guess we're still hoping to win one more title with this team. Also with the community having an abundance of Finnish teams I would say it's easier for the Finns make roster changes and create new teams left and right. We are doing some changes to our roster compared to the previous ECL. Antti (@tbnantti) left the team and @KattenJansson97 replaces him. With Antti being as skilled as he his, it's obviously hard to replace him with a player with same skill set, but Katten is offensively talented and we are happy that he wanted to join the team. With the release of NHL 19 we have been working hard to find set plays in the offensive zone so we can repeatedly and continuously get to the dangerous areas. At this moment it's looking promising and we are optimistically looking forward to ECL 7. On the defensive side of things, @kibenibe decided that he wanted to go back to being a forward in a new team, which resulted in the RD-spot being open and @ma0niii making a comeback. No real explanation needed here. People that have been in the scene for a while definitely know who ma0niii is. Goalie-wise we are seeing some changes. Törna aka @MajLeN-Gaming/Mr Magic (who the F knows what his PSN is, honestly) has moved overseas and we brought back Mike aka MZK-Trophyhunter (@Mike Zigan). We have experimented with @Floor17 on center and @cHIIMEERa on the right flank in EASHL. That doesn't mean that we are planning on doing that in ECL, but don't be surprised if that is the outcome. Whatever works best in EASHL the upcoming weeks will determine our starting roster. It's also worth noting is that thanks to EA we haven't been able to use @BUM3R at all due to the dressing room errors, but we plan on using both Bumer and Mike in ECL. It's been a few years since you guys won the European championship the last time. I'm gonna be blunt and ask how much do you think there's left in you? Is it already time for those "one more year" chants inside your team or do you still see yourself as one of the best contenders for the championship now and for years to come? I slightly touched on the subject above, but to dive a bit deeper I think that if we were to win ECL 7 I wouldn't be surprised to see us call it quits, once and for all. That is sort of keeping us going. The motivation to win another European championship. It has been a great run, but at this moment we are taking it a tournament at a time. We don't have any long term goals so it's hard to predict the future of our team. Who knows, maybe Northern Stars don't play in ECL 8? Maybe we are still chasing that title two years from now? Lastly - who do you see as the biggest threats for you this season due to their style of play - are those the same teams that could be the biggest championship contenders this season as well? What advice would you give to teams that might struggle this season? Because of the dressing room errors we haven't been able play many of the ECL Elite teams yet so it's hard to say who will be competing for the ECL 7 title. All we can do is look at the rosters and their past accomplishments. A safe assumption is that the best teams from NHL 18 will be just as good this year. All we can say is that ECL Elite is only getting tougher for each iteration. There are no bad teams and that is going to make the standings real interesting. As for any team that might be running into a slump mid-season, I would say that at least give yourself the chance to win the game. Play tight defense and put the puck on net. It may sound cliché, but it works to some extent - even in Elite. It's been a pleasure and huge thanks to cHIIMEERa for the extensive answers and insight of a veteran player. Good luck for the upcoming season to the team! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. _______________ 7. _______________ 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Tomorrow we'll take a look at another Swedish team, who made a lot of changes during the offseason. We're excited to share it with you, can you guess who's up?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Perhaps one of the more non-descript teams in Elite, Unlucky Boys HC are rare in that they do not seem to do anything fancy or step on anyone’s toes, instead they just go about and do their thing without making much of a racket so to speak. Do not dismiss their quiet nature as weakness however, as they harbour a team that perhaps works together more efficiently than any other team in Elite. This is exhibited quite nicely by their results in Pro and Elite over the years that they have been active. In ECL 4 (Pro) they finished mid table in a strong group which Carlsberg, Sjukstugan & Rusty Blades all called home before they moved up to Elite. In ECL 5 (Pro) UB upped their play after not clinching promotion to Elite in the previous season and stamped their ticket to the playoffs with a very strong 52pts in 30 games; ultimately achieving automatic promotion to Elite for the next season. Finally, in a rare feat for newly promoted team, they made the playoffs in Elite (ECL 6) and even went to a game 7 before ultimately falling to Northern Ascendancy. Throughout all of these seasons their captain @anhel_kuru was in and around the top point scorer for his team. With no signs of slowing down being seen throughout their roster one can only imagine what the ceiling is for Unlucky Boys HC, so with that in mind then we’ll switch over to the interview part of this report and see what thoughts their captain has about their run to elite, as well as what the future holds for them. IN Crimson_XX <-- TIKI TALK Sweaty__99 <-- Gotham Knights Viltzup <-- Club de Caballeros OUT Will_yo7 --> Butterfly Effect Ramboviking88 --> Monarchs/Free Agent Current roster: Forwards Anhel_Kuru (C) @Anhel Crimson_xX @Crimson re_Wenger (A) @Wenger Sweaty__99 @Sweaty__99 jm__98__ @JimBoo Defensemen Jugeh_ (A) @Jugeh_ Friilander @Frilander Goaltenders Danielcadabra @Danielcadabra Viltzup @Viltzup I had a short discussion with team captain @Anhel about the upcoming season for Unlucky Boys: As one of the new additions to Elite last year you captained the team towards a very successful debut season, not only making the playoffs but pushing the eventual ECL 6 runner up to 7 games. With that in mind, how did you approach this off-season, namely how were you looking to improve the roster to push your team further in the upcoming season’s playoffs? (For simplicity sake could you list all transactions for the team this past off-season?) Firstly we believe that playing with the same roster gives a better chance to be succesful. So keeping that in mind, we tried to make as few transactions as possible. Obviously there were going to be some new faces on our roster and I'm happy about our off-season. Overall we tried to get more depth on our squad and I'm confident that we made the right moves. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? If you are indeed finalised, what will your starting line-up look like? We are still looking for a backup goalie and a all-rounder but our first lineup is quite clear currently. With all of this in mind, what are your expectations for the upcoming season? And who do you think are the current favourites to win it all? Our only goal is to qualify for playoffs and I'm confident in reaching it. Imo Elite is now much tighter and the mid-table placements are impossible to predict. We believe Filadelphia is the strongest team and are going to win it all. Thanks for your answers Anhel, see you on the ice and good luck to UB for the upcoming season. ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. _______________ 7. _______________ 8. _______________ 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Join us again tomorrow, as we take a look at a very prestigious and traditional club from up north. Who do you think was predicted in place #8?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. In the third part of our 16 in 16 series we are going to take a look at a team that's been along for quite a while already. During the three seasons of ECL divisions, this team has already suffered one relegation and had the joy of one promotion. You could say it's been a rollercoaster. The team under our close investigative eye is Gotham Knights. Gotham Knights hasn't always been around as it is currently. The team started off as Refuse To Lose when EASHL made the transition to the new gen consoles in NHL 16. Refuse To Lose competed without any mentionable accomplishments until the summer of 2017, when @ReDMisTi, and @Kefleri decided to join forces and create Gotham Knights as we know it. ReDMisTi brought @Hanssonni and @MKivinen95 with him from RTL and the team recruited some new faces to bolster their ranks. Since the beginning, Gotham has wanted to prove that they can compete at the Elite level. It's something that will be even more of a theme now in NHL 19, as the team goes into their first consecutive season at the top tier. IN Nieppii <-- Sypperstaars erholtzi <-- Red Machine swagx88 <-- FILADELPHIA OUT PleeMaker --> FILADELPHIA Serg1vratar --> Free Agent ktewjh --> Rusty Blades jyrkkis_ --> Team Frosty EemilK02 --> Raccoon Rampage Sweaty__99 --> Unlucky Boys Current roster: Forwards ReDMisTi (C) @ReDMisTi Kefleri @Kefleri Hanssonni (A) @Hanssonni Puteli88 @puteli88 Defensemen Mkivinen95 @MKivinen95 Nieppii @Nieppii Goaltenders swagx88 @swagx88 erholtzi @Erholtzi After this introduction of the team, I'd like to get into some questions to team captain and former teammate of mine, @ReDMisTi: What are your expectations going into the 7th season of ECL competition? Our expectations are that we can play a good season. We're trying to keep the playing level high and minimizing the amount of bad days. Staying in Elite is an absolute minimum, but reaching the playoffs is our goal. Do you guys have one player you'd like to showcase as a potential difference maker? I can’t name just one key player, we will play as a team and therefore every player is a big part of our success. Would you like to share your thoughts on the ECL Elite License? I guess the idea is good for sure. Remains to be seen who will pay up and who won't. Can you talk a little bit about the moves Gotham made during the summer? We had a few players leave, and a few players joined so it’s going to be interesting to see what kind of impact the transfers have on our game and the league. I guess we still play the same kind of hockey we did last season. Who would you say are the favorites to take home ECL 7 Elite? FILADELPHIA has easily been our toughest opponent for now, I’m surprised if they are not in finals. Do you have a "Hidden Gem" in your team? Yes, @Nieppii is one of the best versus players in Europe and now he wants to be one of the best 6vs6 defensemen too. We're talking about a really skilled player and he can easily become one of the best D's after a bunch of training and facing the worlds best players in ECL Elite. Are you going to play offensive or defensive hockey? Hard question, a good defense is the key for sure, so we want to defend hard but at the same time keep the puck as much as possible. We don't want to be just a counter attack team. We're staying versatile, so I'd say we're 50/50. Thank you for your interview and good luck with the new season! Ranked to finish 13th by our ECL Elite captains and making a comeback to the Elite level, we'll have an exciting one for you guys tomorrow. You'll be given the pleasure of seeing two long-time NHLGamers having a chat about the upcoming season and the return of a dearly missed writer. Check back tomorrow evening for more of the goodness we've called ECL Elite 16 in 16!

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Hello, gamers! As October is now here, I think it's time for all of us to shake the rust off and get prepared for ECL7. Get it? Rust? Rusty Blades? No? I'll get my coat. Rusty Blades are known as one of the grittiest teams of ECL Elite. Atleast that's how they stepped into the Elite division a few seasons ago in ECL5 when they surprised pretty much everybody by ending the season with a good record of 15-11-4, leaving teams like MUKIMIEHET, Kattiautomaatti, Sjukstugan, Silver Sword Griffins and Nordic Nightmare behind them. The Blades scored only 2.00 goals per game during that season, but still they found their way to the playoffs. Not bad for a debut Elite season. What happened for them in ECL6, though? Were the few overtime losses the difference? The Blades scored a few goals more than they scored in ECL5 and even conceded fewer goals but still, the separation to 8th placed Northern Stars, was seven points. Harsh. Once again, a fact which proves that ECL Elite really is an elite level virtual hockey league. IN ktewjh <--Gotham Knights Migo_boo99 <-- Shameful Knights OUT Kikiukko --> Almost Famous Epelis --> Club One Wuorio --> Tiki Talk Current roster: Forwards Lamsa @Lamsa koojiikoojii (A) @koojiikoojii Migo_boo99 @Migo_boo Defensemen Tanski87 (C) @Tanski87 kinnune @kinnun3 ktewjh @Janikka Goaltenders Supreex (A) @Supreex I managed to snag an interview with team captain & founder @Tanski87 for this piece, let's get to it: Last time Rusty Blades played competitive hockey on NHLGamer was on the 2nd of April, so that's about five months ago. Still from what I've seen and heard it seems like you guys managed to keep practicing all summer long. What has Rusty Blades been doing all this time - any new signings or losses perhaps? Is there any rust left for ECL7 after a long, hard working offseason? We just love to play this video game together. We have a nice group who are fun to play with. That is why we play so much and often. There was a couple of changes during the long offseason. First we lost @Fuhrer Vuorio to Tiki Talk. @epelis kinda took original member Wuorios LW spot during the season and Wuorio thought it was his time to find some new wind. Good luck to Tiki Talk and thanks for your time with us. We later lost the well seasoned Epelis while we tried @imosi on our roster. That didn't work out sadly, but we acquired a talented youngster in @Migo_boo to fill the empty spot. @kikiukko went to Almost Famous to get some more ice time at his main position RD. I'd say NHL19 will probably be the best game in the history for NHL gaming, as the game itself seems a little bit better once again and money will be involved on the highest level as well. How does all this new stuff feel for you guys - NHL19's gameplay and the ECL license? It's really nice that the game is going forward and this community is growing. We've seen a lot of growth with this as some esports organisations have already backed up a few teams and a few individual players have signed legit contracts. Rusty Blades has been known as a hard competing, never waivering team that plays a simple and some might say ugly game. What is your direction from now on - any new game plans? Will the Rusty Blades compete in the upcoming ECL7 playoffs and if so, with what teams? A simple and ugly game does not keep you in Elite. I think we have something more. As a team we are hard as nails and we do not do drama, no matter how hard it gets. We keep it together. This season I believe we will be better than ever. I have high faith in these guys. Thanks for your time Tanski! Hope you can shake off the rust and compete hard this year! Stay tuned for more ECL Elite 16 in 16 later today, as we take a look at a fringe playoff team, who has been fighting it out in Elite for some time now. Can you guess who was predicted to finish next in line?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Hi there, NHLGamers! Almost Famous is next in line for our 16 in 16 series as the team was voted to finish 11th by the captains in the division. It is their inaugural season in Elite, but despite that, the roster doesn't consist of complete rookies at this level. They have a few players who possess some experience of playing in Elite. One of these is captain @Aze, who I'll have a short discussion with at the end of this article. Almost Famous is quite a young team, as the team only has two seasons under their belt. Despite this, they have already accomplished a great feat, being the first ever ECL team to gain promotion in consecutive seasons, progressing through the divisions framework from Lite to Elite. The team was played it's first season in ECL 4, but didn't start to reach it's form as we know it until ECL 5, when the project aF really took off. MUKIMIEHET (RIP) disbanded and captain Aze took control of the team, which had originally been his brainchild already in the early spring of 2017. Unofficially, the team has maintained their core throughout their short history, as captain @Aze, although seeing things through in MUKIMIEHET still ran things in a background role during their first season in Lite. IN SepiDN <-- Evolution kikiukko <-- Rusty Blades SadaPoika <-- Evolution Chafak <-- Free Agent Nampa77 <-- Sjukstugan OUT DevilFish14 --> Break from NHL Realpulunen --> Etelan Vetelat Rimpe37 --> Gotham Knights Current Roster: Forwards Ikavalko (A) @Ikavalko SadaPoika @SadaPoika Chafak @Chafak Nampa77 @Nampa77 Defensemen AzeStiNE (C) @Aze jahajaha93 (A) @jahajaha93 kikiukko @kikiukko Goaltenders Vaporik @Vaporik SepiDN @SepiDN taiguri9 @kasper.kampe What do you expect from ECL 7? I'm hoping for a lot of tight games during the season. If the preseason is anything to judge from, that is what we'll see too. There's been a number of transfers and several new teams in the division, so it'll be exciting to see who will make the biggest impact. Who would you name as a key player from your team? Well, goalies are never too overrated so I could say our goalie trio @SepiDN, @Vaporik and @kasper.kampe will be the ones we either live by or die by this season. There will be tough games for sure, so you will need a good goalie in order to give you a chance to win everyday. What are your thoughts on the ECL Elite license? I think it's a step in the right direction, so yes, it's brilliant. I don't think it's a sustainable solution as it is but a fine middle-ground for now. Talk a bit about the moves Almost Famous made during the summer and recently. We ended up having quite a lot of turnover as SadaPoika and Nampa77 joined our offense, kikiukko joined our defense and we brought in Elite proven goaltender SepiDN. We needed additions to our offense, depth for defense and a goalie who adds more activity in net and has shown ability to play at the Elite level. They have fit in very well, great players and great guys. Who would you say is a favorite to win it all in ECL 7? FILADELPHIA and Written. Both teams have top versus players in their teams, so it'll be interesting to see which mode they will invest in more, 1v1 or 6v6. I believe FILA made some amazing acquisitions in the offseason and is arguably the strongest team on paper. Written also made some moves and will undoubtedly perform at the top-level as expected. Who'd you say is the "Hidden Gem" in Almost Famous? @Ikavalko is one of the most entertaining players in the scene and has a lot of potential. It'll be nice to see how he will utilise it all and perform in Elite. Thanks Aze for your time and good luck to Almost Famous for the next season! Our second Sunday article will be taking a look at a team that's trying to shake off the rust accumulated over the summer, can you guess who we're talking about?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. In the second edition of our 16 in 16 it's time to take a look at a team that's been around from the very start of ECL as we know it. This team is a close-knit group of friends and and even brothers. They are the ones who dug coal together. I'm talking about your favorite Swedish pickaxe wielding warriors - Falun Coal Miners. When it comes to ECL, Falun has pretty much seen it all. The team has battled through hard times in Lite, grinded it out in Pro and proven their skill in Elite. They're still missing one thing, though - a playoff run at the highest level. Now as they're starting their second season in Elite, the Miners are sure hungry for more success. The team has made some promising acquisitions during the offseason, but as we know, the players brought in won't be the strength of Falun - their strength lies in the chemistry built over time. IN BiggestEight <-- Arctic Aschebas4hor <-- EV Duisburg Panserhagen <-- Bucketeers OUT iscojr94 --> Break from NHL IFKPEKING2k15 --> Monarchs minokin --> Sektion K Current roster: Forwards PatzyDrake BiggestEight Pentsaa (A) Berger-I88I Panserhagen Defensemen The_Alpha_Furyan (C) LastMandalorian (A) Meeertz Goaltenders Onecorner95 Aschebas4hor For the interview part, I managed to get a hold of assistant captain and founding member @LastMandalorian. Enjoy the extensive answers and great insight provided by him: Let's start off light. How did the summer treat you guys? You played some NHL with the boys, did you come up with anything else? Summer was good! Personally I was able to enjoy my first paid vacation, so I could really lean back and charge my batteries. As far as team activities goes, FCM actually ended up winning the OEHL tournament early in the summer - our first 6v6 title so far! We also put a lot of hours into FIFA 18 Pro Clubs after the game went on sale during the World Cup. Joining forces with some boys from Synergy Hockey on our created squad "FC Miners", we were able to get some good 11v11 sessions together. Also, some guys from our team that hang out regularly outside of gaming went to Spain together for vacation. I know Falun has a nice background to it and there have been a bunch of brotherly ties and close friendships within the team. Can you give me a condensed version of how the team has grown and what the road has been like to come this far? Well, the Coal Miners were originally founded by me, my brother and a bunch of his classmates from University. We were all studying in Falun - a former mining city - at the time... hence the name. In the early days, only me and my brother had any experience at all from 6v6 league play, but through the years we've all grown to become experienced "veterans". As the level of play, commitment and seriousness has increased, some of the founding members have retired from their lineup spots (which is okay, we all have our own level of dedication) but we've picked up some really good signings along the way to fill out those spots, most of whom we met during the different Summer Cups. But the major part of the team still consists of IRL friends. @PatzyDrake, me, @Meeertz, @iscojr94 and @The_Alpha_Furyan were all there right from the very start, @Onecorner95 - a former bandmate of mine - joined just a few weeks into the first season and last seasons signing, @Berger l88l, is a childhood friend of mine. As we made the transition to the divisions system after ECL 3, Falun started off in ECL Lite, with a less successful season. You weren't a part of the team then, but as a founding member, did you have any concerns that it might be the end of your beloved club? After a tough ECL 3, both me and my brother felt we wanted a new challenge. I remember that specific season was an extra long one and it really took a toll on those of us who handled the captaining - keeping everyone motivated and getting people to every game. Right then and there, I think we were all kind of exhausted and it felt like different levels of dedication amongst the guys had begun to appear - it seemed like we wanted different things out of the game. So, joining Sjukstugan (112) for ECL 4 Pro was a mixture of relieving ourselves of the responsibilities of the captaincy and stepping up to a higher level of competition. Everyone on FCM were very understanding. Me and Alpha were both really, really happy when the guys decided to carry on without us in Lite though, and I know my brother followed most - if not all - of their games through Twitch, filling in as an "assistant coach" of sorts during that season. What was the thought process like when you rejoined FCM after a short stint in Sjukstugan? It was a mixture of me wanting to switch back to the skater position (I spent ECL's 3 and 4 playing goalie) and us finding that passion/energy for doing our own thing again. Reaching the Pro finals with Sjukstugan really energized us to try and do the same thing on our own terms. It also helped motivate us that Falun was, at the time, actually set to fold and not continue for ECL 5 - we had a streak to keep alive! Most of the FCM player group had already signed with other teams closing in on the start of ECL 5, but they didn't need much convincing to come back. It was a genuine feeling of "getting the old band back together". It created a really strong spirit in the team that season in Pro, and I think it is what has helped us get this far. You guys had a difficult start to you first Elite season, as you went on a bit of a losing streak. Did some frustration set in or did you guys know you were going to turn it around? What will you change going into your second season at the top tier? I think the biggest reason for the 1-9-0 losing streak at the start of ECL 6 was the tough schedule: our five first opponents were considered top teams. But I would be lying if I said it didn't affect us. After a solid pre-season (probably our best one so far) I think we considered ourselves to be better than our results ended up showing. So we decided to make changes. Major changes. Core players switched positions, Berger-I88I (a former point-scoring dynamo from the EHL days) was brought in and our upcoming schedule showed teams projected to be more on our level. It worked out! Berger-I88I ended up playing most of the remainder of the season: scoring 13 goals in 14 games. PatzyDrake found another level in his game stepping up as our new #1 centerman and me and my brother could make the most of our chemistry playing together on the main defensive pairing. This year I think we are just overall more prepared for the level of competition. First season was about learning and surviving, this season is about taking the next step. We have high ambitions going in. Lastly, did you guys have any transfers happen in the offseason? In that case, who left and who joined? This offseason has seen quite some movement, especially for us. @minokin left to go back to his old team of IRL friends (Sektion K), backup goalie @IsakTuvesson(IFKPEKING2k15) went back to Monarchs and co-founding member @iscojr94 decided to hang up the skates (at least for now). But we're really excited for the pickups we've made. BiggestEight (@selänne8), a guy me and my brother played with during the EHL, is one of the purest goal scorers in this scene, IMO. He's been in the top tier of goal scoring for the Pro division multiple times and I'm really excited about what he could do at the Elite level - especially since we already built some chemistry together this summer in the OEHL. Other than "Bigi", we've recently brought in a reliable Norwegian all-round player in @Panserhagen from our OEHL finals opponent Bucketeers and an experienced German goaltender in Aschebas4hor (@Asche) - both of whom has fit in nicely with the team. Thanks to the duo @LastMandalorian and @The_Alpha_Furyan for taking the time to answer my questions! Good luck to FCM in the upcoming season, see you out on the ice! Tomorrow we'll be taking a look at another team going into their second consecutive Elite season. It's a team that had a large player turnover this summer, so we'll be in for something exciting and fresh to watch this upcoming ECL season. Can you guess which team is up next?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. We're starting off our 16 in 16 with a team that is new to competing at the highest tier. The team has been battling and establishing themselves in the Pro division for a few seasons now, and after a successful campaign in ECL 6, they managed to gain promotion. I'm of course talking about the former White Trash, now turned Team Frosty as the NHL team signed a deal with an esports organization bearing the same name (We'll address this in a later article, no worries!). This is a squad that has been grinding it out for several seasons now under the lead of captain @Zip player. Some of the men alongside him have changed, but the strive for success has remained relentless. The team didn't get a lot of confidence from the captains, being predicted to place last in Elite at the end of ECL 7. They surely have a steep hill to climb, but if the form they have shown in some of their preseason games continue, I believe these guys could surprise. IN KenuFHR <-- Monte Carlo Obagol <-- Arctic Chaostive <-- Ea Logic xXSinCosTanXx <-- Nordic Stars IiSvampI <-- Monarchs Jyrkkis_ <-- Gotham Knights OUT Kaltsone --> N/A rGinnu --> N/A plymalkin --> N/A pro-m99 --> Military Service Current roster: Forwards ZipPlayer (C) Kaneyh KenuFHR Chaostive Toukoo01 Defensemen TheFakiiR1 (A) jyrkkis_ IiSvampI xXSinCosTanXx Goalies Mehiiss (A) Jahuuu88 Obagol Interview with captain @Zip player: The team experienced something of a makeover during the summer, what are the underlying reasons and how would you describe the Team Frosty we'll see on the opening night of ECL 7? I suppose that statement is true. In my opinion, the main reason is that we advanced to the very highest level in the ECL. When doing so, a team needs to comply with the level of play in the highest tier. Some of our older players are less active nowadays so we decided to take action immediately. The goal was to renew the team while maintaining the old foundation. On the opening night of ECL 7, you'll see a Team Frosty that trusts their process and we hope to bring our very best to the ice each and every night! Talk a bit about the aggressive recruiting process you guys had going during the summer. Was it a conscious decision to try out so many players? We wanted to be vocal and catch the attention of players. We saw a lot of players along the course of the summer and at some point even our own players were confused about the situation as we were constantly bringing in new guys. I'd say it was our conscious decision to try players who were interested and now I think we have a good group of guys put together. How do you expect your starting lineup to look? I'd like to emphasize that we play as a team. I wouldn't want to speculate on the starting lineup yet, but we're going by the principle that the players who can help the team will play and of course activity will be rewarded. Each of our players have different strengths and one of our main objectives were to build a versatile team that can adapt to any situation. ECL 7 will be the first season with an actual prize pool. What are your thoughts on this? I'm really excited about the growth of the community, both in-game and back office developments have been very positive lately. It would certainly be something, if we one day could have anything even close to a professional league. I believe that money will increase the competitiveness, but currently we aren't talking big numbers so no one will be getting rich yet! It is good for the community regardless. For my final question, I'd like to ask you for a prediction of ECL 7 in the eyes of Team Frosty. What do you think? I'm notoriously bad at predictions, but I'll set some objectives for us. Our first and most important objective is surely to maintain our spot in the Elite division. We'll do everything we can to prove that we belong. Our dream is to make the playoffs on our first season. The road will most likely be long and difficult, but we're up for the challenge! Big thanks to ZipPlayer for his short interview and the best of luck to Team Frosty in their first Elite season! Stay tuned for our next article in the series, in which we showcase a team coming from a very different situation, but according to our Elite captains, are fighting for the same positions as Team Frosty!