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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. New name, new roster, new style, new captain… you get the picture. After winning ECL 4 there were perhaps mumblings about how likely Laser HT would be able to repeat such a feat, especially considering the quite frankly preposterous numbers that @Dominointi was able to put up (94pts in the regular season and 39pts in 17 for the playoffs). Obviously, there was some truth to the speculation as they made the finals for a second straight season but could only manage to win one game against a very dominant Aapon Taikasauva. They then went on to whimper out in 5 games to Dynasty in the first round of ECL 6. These lacklustre results paved the way for an exodus of players from SJK over the summer, leaving but 5 players behind. After the dust had settled, @indi969, @ICappeI, @Ilmari_30, @Selarit and @Lauri were faced with the daunting task of putting together a team that, at the very least, could compete in Elite. As such, unlike a lot of teams in Elite this season, Symphony has a quite uncommonly high player turnover, so with that in mind to help us gain an understanding of who has joined and left the team, we have contacted their captain indi969 and new addition @vSilenttio to give us a snapshot of how they are coming along in their preparation for ECL 7. IN ADETIKKI <-- Written In The Stars Puantso <-- Dynasty Tbnantti <-- Northern Stars Entii112 <-- Nordic Stars nylanderi <-- Break from NHL vsilenttio <-- SIKA OUT Dominointi --> Written In The Stars Hansulinho --> Written In The Stars VesKuLiNe --> Written In The Stars OriginalPumaz --> Dynasty Leksa94 --> Dynasty Current roster: Forwards ADETIKKI @ADETIKKI indi969 (C) @indi969 Puantso (A) @Buantso tbnantti @tbnantti Defensemen vSilenttio @vSilenttio nylanderi @nylanderi Ilmari_30 @Ilmari_30 Entii112 @entii112 Selarit @Selarit Goaltenders ICappeI (A) @ICappeI Laurilion @Lauri As the “old but new” team in elite (with plenty of top tier elite talent to boot) how are you approaching your debut season and what was the logic behind your offseason moves? @indi969: I think we have a really good team at the moment, consisting of lots of old SJK players and lots of new guys also. I think we can go really far in this next tournament. 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? @indi969: At the moment, I'm not 100% sure are we done yet and i don't know about the starting lineup. It'll remain to be seen! 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? @indi969: There are many good teams in Elite this year, i think its gonna be harder than ever to win this next tournament. We are of course trying to do it. For favourites it's too lame to say your own team so I'm gonna go with Written In The Stars Symphony had probably the largest player turnover in Elite this offseason, surely many players knew each other from before, but how have the guys started gelling and building chemistry? As a new guy, how easy was it to join the team? @vSilenttio: I joined the team in April, so there's been some time to get to know the guys. We've been working on our chemistry hard all summer, you know, defensive positioning and all that stuff. I'll be blunt and say that it was a bit tough coming into a totally new team where the game speed and overall expected level of play was at a totally new level. However now as things have started rolling, I'd say I haven't had this much fun with this game since maybe NHL 14 and ECL 3. I'd like to extend a massive thanks to the team captains for making it so easy for the new guys to join the team! You're making your first strides on the Elite ice after quite a while this season, for the first time in a team with somewhat high expectations. What kind of thoughts does that bring to mind and how do you expect Symphony to handle this season? @vSilenttio: That's something I've thought about myself too. What kind of impact am I going to be able to make after a few seasons spent in Pro, and I didn't really play as much as I've wanted during NHL 18. At least the expectations are very different than ever before, and the IS Cup has started very well, so mine are high too. In the ECL, our only goal is the championship. Every guy is zoned in and gives a 100% every night, the work ethic and the morale within the team is what I've always wanted, so I'm sensing good things. Thanks indi & Sile for your answers and good luck with the upcoming season! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. Symphony 5. Dynasty 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 What do you guys think the top 3 will look like?

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. Today we're taking a look at a team that has the skill, has the grit and has the vision to take it all home, they just haven't had the luck so far. The team that's next in line has found the way to stay at the top and be continuously successful, but despite that they haven't managed to win anything yet. You could say they've built a Dynasty around core players like@jumalpeku, @Snapster, @Tehh and @Sandr0hh. Might have given it away already, but yeah.. we'll be checking out Dynasty. Personally, I've been in the scene for a far shorter time than many of you other guys around, but I've always found Dynasty to be an annoyingly good opponent. Be it unorthodox breakout plays by @DieCutterMC or seeing the game ten steps ahead of the opposition like the tactician Ahola - they've always been one of the toughest teams to beat. They're not only really skilled players, but also seem like a great group of guys. I managed to get a hold of captain jumalpeku for an interview, which you can read at the end of this article. IN MukiMaisteri <-- Northern Ascendancy OriginalPumaz <-- SJK eSports Leksa94 <-- SJK eSports OUT Lukkolinho --> Break from NHL Puantso --> Symphony Current Roster: Forwards jumalpeku (C) @jumalpeku MukiMaisteri @hpkfani Filariou @Filariou Leksa94 @Leksa94 TehhAhola @Tehh Defensemen DieCutterMC @DieCutterMC Snapu48 (A) @Snapster JParola @Jorma Parola Goaltenders Sandr0hhh (A) @Sandr0hh OriginalPumaz @Hiiruh Dynasty has been a difficult opponent based on some occasional games played against you guys on the offseason. How did the guys spend the summer and what kind of reception has the new game had among the Dynasty boys? Your mind must be playing tricks on you! I'd say we're possibly the worst offseason team in all of Elite. I don't think we've had a single night where we've won two or more games in a row. Most of our guys pretty much took the summer off from NHLGaming. Other teams might have kept practicing hard all summer, our guys were out chasing tail and gassing beers. The new game has taken some getting used to. Feels like we've had to adjust our game a bit after every update as things we used to do didn't work all of a sudden. I think it's quite well known that we like to spend time in the penalty box and ath least that hasn't changed for the better with the new game. However, I think we all agree that NHL19 is a better version than the previous iteration. You guys acquired notorious goal-scorer MukiMaisteri early on, did you guys make any other moves during the summer? Our youngster @Buantso made a deal with @indi969 at his confirmation camp last summer, so we decided to honor their contract and ended up letting Puantso go. MukiMaisteri was acquired to fill the gap left by Puantso and I believe we hit the jackpot on this one. Luukkonen is probably the best goal scorer in the game, he's also a very competitive and vocal teammate. Exactly what we needed. Other acquisitions we made were @Leksa94 and OriginalPumaz @Hiiruh. Leksa is an excellent all-rounder in the offensive end of the ice, he will certainly see some ECL time if he can hop off Fortnite every once in a while. @Lukkoukko(Lukkolinho) decided to take a step back so we needed another goaltender. That's where OriginalPumaz stepped in and we're happy to have such an experienced and trustworthy guy behind our defenders. I think we still have the best goalie tandem in the league. How do you guys feel about the ECL Elite license? Of course we're happy about it. To start off, we were wondering if we're going to be active enough for it to pay off for us. However, I think this might have been the incentive needed for us to start taking it more seriously and get excited again. The license fee isn't bad and the return is decent, I'd surely like to have that in my wallet. We're moving in the right direction and props to @Kenu & the rest of the staff for that. Several sources have mentioned ECL Elite being tougher than ever this season. Which teams have been your toughest opponents and who do you think has potential for a surprise? SIKA is probably the only team we haven't managed to win in the preseason so I'd call them our toughest opponent. It's no joke, the SIKA roster right now seems so much better than before. I think they could also provide one of the potential upsets this season. Finally, are there any players in the league you would like to highlight for the upcoming season? Not on our team, that's for sure. I'd say keep your eyes on @vSilenttio. Thanks jumalpeku! Good luck for Dynasty with the upcoming season. ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. Dynasty 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 The options are running out! Who do you think is number four?

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)