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Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we will be releasing a recurring segment that will look to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will be 'missed', although if the results are significant enough they will be mentioned in the following next week's article. The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in, therefore I will do my best to elucidate the reasoning behind why 'X team' deserves to be ranked at 'Y'. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. Previous rankings: Week 0 (16in16) Week 1 ‘Wild West’ Yes, that is a pun about Red Dead Redemption 2 being released recently, and yes, it is the last pun I will ever make. Nevertheless, I feel it’s a fitting description given how some teams have played 8 games whilst some have only played 2, consequently making the ranking of any team quite onerous. *Rankings accurate as of 27/10/18 1. Butterfly Effect (6-1-1) [+11] Playing the most games in Elite thus far FLY have certainly sent a statement out that they’re here to play; despite being the last call up from Pro due to the folding of Monarchs. They’re ranked 1st over the similarly impressive Sjukstugan due to them playing more games against 'better opponents', most notably one of them being the highly touted Dynasty. 2. Sjukstugan (6-0-0) [+5] Despite what the ranking may suggest, being placed 2nd here is not a case of playing second fiddle in any way. In fact, it’s tough to really differentiate the two teams so treat this pick as 1b rather than 2, especially when you consider the fact that four of 112’s wins came against the previous regular season ‘president’s’ winner in Written in the Stars, as well as a playoff hopeful and stalwart defensive team in Rusty Blades. 3. Gotham Knights (3-1-0) [+11] Having the most points out of any other team on such a hard-opening schedule Gotham Knights have shown that they are here to play and don't need any games to get up to speed, dismantling Radical in regulation as well as OT, on top of defeating NOS in OT before falling to them in regulation. 4. FILADELPHIA (3-1-0) [-2] Wins over a previously predicted playoff bound team in Northern Stars, as well as going toe to toe with FLY and coming out with 2pts mark a pretty good showing thus far by FILA. Their stock is carried quite heavily by their rinsing of NOS 7-1 however, so much so that without it they perhaps wouldn't find themselves so highly ranked here. 5. Symphony (4-0-0) [-1] Are Symphony's wins against a pair of opponents who aren't the 'best'? Sure. Nevertheless, they've exhibited the ability to win and at any level that's something that simply cannot be understated. (Plus, they sort of dominated all games bar one so there's that too.) 6. Northern Ascendancy (2-0-0) [=] What is there really to be said so far? Northern Ascendancy have played only two games, winning both of them in overtime as they "only did what they had to do" against Rusty Blades. A little birdie told me that Rusty had more to give in those games and that they perhaps should have earned more than just two points from NOR. I must say that when a veteran team like NOR takes home four points and you hear these "ifs" and "buts" after the games - it just doesn't surprise me anymore. Next up they are facing SKY, BAT and FILA so it's easier to get back to this team when they have dealt with more opponents. (Courtesy of @vSilenttio) 7. Written in the Stars (2-0-2) [-6] Visible struggles against Sjukstugan mar an otherwise solid showing thus far, although one could argue that said struggles were overcome in a 8-0 victory versus the defensively orientated Unlucky Boys. Therefore, with such a varied level of play it's tough to place them anywhere other than 'mediocre'. 8. Rusty Blades (0-1-3) [+1] It's at this point we make our way into the 'no man's land' of mediocracy, don't take this as a diss by any means but that's kind of the way these rankings tend to go. That is not to say that Rusty have been bad per se, for instance their defence seems to be in form yet again sporting a 2 GA/GP which is historically a pretty decent level. With that said however, it's not like everything is rosy for Rusty as their offence has all but completely dried up (1 GF/GP) which could spell danger if it continues, although it should be mentioned that they've played two 'defensive' teams in NOR & 112 which can explain their apparent lack of goal scoring ability to some degree. 9. Unlucky Boys (3-3-0) [+1] I can see it already... "why are UB 9th with 6pts but Rusty at 8th with 3pts?". Well, as I alluded to before in the introduction, points aren't everything. Sure, UB have 6pts but those came via a series of unconvincing one goal wins vs. pretty subpar opponents in Team Frosty & Sika, then they got smacked down by a resurgent Written. Still though, running at a pt/g average in elite is nothing to scoff at, especially as that is historically close to the playoff cut-off point (avg. 1.17 P/GP). 10. Northern Stars (1-1-2) [-2] As we slip further and further down this list any issues plaguing these teams becomes less and less of a niggling problem and more of a systemic issue that poses a severe risk to derailing their chances of clinching a playoff spot. Of course this does not mean that NOS are in danger territory yet, especially as the point made about UB and maintaining a pt/g average applies here as well, just that there are some issues that perhaps could become larger problems unless tackled at some point, one of these perhaps being the fact that Chimera is currently averaging over double the amount of turnovers as his forward line mates whilst performing below their level points wise. Despite this they've played two very solid teams and come out of as a .500 team, so the panic button doesn't need to pressed just at this moment but if they want to solidify their playoff ambitions then Chimera is going to have to pull his play together. 11. Almost Famous (3-3-0) [=] If UB were rated at 9th because of their unconvincing wins and blow out losses, then Almost Famous are ranked even lower despite identical records due to a series of even more unstable and ever-changing performances by the newly promoted team. Opening up the season losing two straight to FLY stings, but it happens, winning the next two (albeit in close fashion) against FCM certainly atoned for their opening display, however splitting their games against TF (with one being a 4-1 loss) certainly puts a dampner on things and AF may rue these early missed points come later in the season. 12. Dynasty (1-1-0) [-7] Two points against a seemingly strong opponent in FLY yet here we are at 12th, what gives? I suppose it's a little bit like a 'chicken and the egg' situation, did Dynasty get two points because they played well? Or did FLY get three points (reg. W and OT W) because Dynasty played badly? Usually all that these 'hypotheticals' teach us is that context is key and in order to get context you need a certain amount of background information to make an informed decision, as Dynasty have only played FLY thus far I'm going to err on the side caution and simply say that they just weren't playing up to their usual standard and that's that. 13. Team Frosty (2-4-0) [+3] This season is looking like it may be a bit of a rough one for Team Frosty. Opening up with two losses to Symphony surely wasn't part of the plan although I doubt many could have expected a different result. Going on to split games against AF & UB is again, nothing to scoff at of course, yet outside of their wins their offence has struggling exceptionally with them only potting 3 goals in 4 games. One could say that these type of stats are inherently cherry picked and to some degree I agree, since it seems intuitive that when you win you're going to perform better than when you loss, however if you're relying on random games where your offence 'explodes' then games down the stretch are going to get very frustrating very quickly when you desperately need to close out or get within reaching distance of an opponent, only to 'hope' that something happens eventually. Nevertheless, despite such a depressing outlook this type of play may be all that Team Frosty needs to stay afloat in Elite as long as their 'average-ish' defence holds steady. 14. Radical (0-1-1) [-12] Similar to Dynasty it's especially tough to gauge exactly how good a team is when they've only played two games and had mixed results. In addition to this, it doesn't exactly leave much to be discerned from the 'noise' so to speak so... yea. 15. Falun Coal Miners (1-4-1) [=] Has Kopparberget began to run dry? With a frankly pitiful 1.17 GF/GP (good for joint 5th worst) the Miners from Falun are looking up once again as underdogs after a series of poor results vs. teams that were predicted to finish quite close to them in the standings (Sika, Almost Famous & Butterfly Effect). On the one hand if you take away their losses from FLY (who look to be an early dark horse candidate this season) FCM's results don't seem too bad, however even with that in mind giving up points to teams that you are looking to displace in order to get into the playoffs is never a great strategy. 16. SIKA (1-6-1) [-3] Worst GF/GP, 4th worst GA/GP and three points out of a potential 16 makes for a start that the Finnish Swine were not exactly looking for. There's always time to work their way up the standings but even this early it may be a case of damage control and securing safety as opposed to lofty playoff aspirations. That's it for this weeks Power Ranking, we'll be getting back to you in a weeks time and take a look at which teams have made a climb and who possibly hasn't. Until next time, gamers! Do you agree with our ranking? You can create your own in the comments below!

Hey NHLGamers, here we are again, taking a look at last week of the Pro division as we'll try to highlight some special performances of teams and players. Please note that the stats include games played and reported during week 2 (22.10.-28.10.2018) only. Group 1 - Team of the Week - 2 Cowabunga Hockey Cowabunga Hockey only played one matchup in the first week but they got things running in this second week. They won 5 of their 8 matches and two losses came in overtime. Their defense was a key factor in clinching most of the points as they were able to get wins out of some tight games. Forwards @Tinkesakara, @Sokkelo__ and @Rapsu got their job done in both ends of the ice. Cowabunga is now placed 6th in their group but they'll try to rise in the upcoming week. Group 2 - Team of the Week - 2 Deadly Phantoms HC Deadly Phantoms HC had a tight schedule this week with 5 matchups and some double matchup nights in there too. They got 18 out of 20 points while their puck possession game was key to their offense clicking around @Playmaker. Their extraordinary offensive efforts lead to a current average of 3,88 goals for per game. @RPH_31 had an amazing run this week, allowing only 5 goals in 10 games and was able to record 4 shutouts during this timespan. Currently the Phantoms are leading group 2 and wouldn't want to lose that spot during next week. Pro division - Players of the Week - 2 @Buffy - @Playmaker - @ProMinx24 @SolenX86 - @xLVxRitchey @RPH_31 @Buffy (Raging Monkeys) had a solid run of form in ECL terms this week! Scoring a goal per game (6 goals in 6 games) but more impressively, 17 points in said amount of games. @Playmaker (Deadly Phantoms) was very strong in the first week and continued his dominant performance in the second week. 22 points in 9 games with an incredible +/- rating of +20! These stats show us that he can put up the points needed for his team, but most importantly keep the opposing teams shots out of his own teams net. @ProMinx24 (Silver Sword Griffins) set up some goals in this time period. With 17 assists (and 26 points) in 8 games he showed that he is a playmaking beast. Should he look into changing names with the guy above? Maybe so. @SolenX86 (Bucketeers) is an offensive minded defensemen that can pick out great passes all around the ice. That's exactly what he showed us this week. He is already 3rd in points for defensemen and don't be surprised if he continues his good form. @xLVxRitchey (Silver Sword Griffins) showed us what a cornerstone he can be in the defensive zone. With 7 points in 8 games and a +/- of 21 he comes off as a solid defensive defenseman that can provide offense when needed. He plays with a defense first mindset. Also worth mentioning he amassed 27 takeaways in last weeks games. @RPH_31 (Deadly Phantoms), man, what a run of form! Over 90% in saving percentage and 4 shutouts in 10 games. He's done everything his team can ask for. Even though his team has been playing great all around, he is one of the keys to their success so far. If you come up on a breakaway beware of his flashing glove! That's all for now, ladies and gentlemen. If you want to be featured next week here's the recipe: work hard, play hard and do your best to make it happen! Be sure to tune in next week to see if you, your team or one of your teammates made it into our "Team of the Week". Credits to @Panarinz who co-wrote this article with me!

Red Jackets GCL Registration & Member Ban The team Red Jackets - registered by member @schlundleo15 - will not be allowed to participate in the GCL3. This decision was made after reviewing the accounts of all captains who registered teams. During this check it was discovered that the captain schlundleo15 had registered the team Western Dynasty as user man-at-work-74 before, after which he removed the registration without notifying the assistant captains. This lead to further account investigations during which we discovered that the user holds up an overall of so far six known accounts on NHLGamer, each associated with different PSN ID's/Gamertags. Western Dynasty's registration has been recovered and the team will be allowed to start the GCL3 season. The discovered accounts so far are the following: sebbo xtreeem42 Luroalel sabre2411 man-at-work-74 schlundleo15 This is a not acceptable behaviour and also not in line with the rules for competing in tournaments on NHLGamer.com. Therefore all accounts except one (chosen by the member within 24 hours) will be removed. The user is required to unveil any other possible account belonging to him. If an existing account that NHLGamer was not notified of within 24 hours is detected, this will also affect the ban period. As a result of the current findings, the user will be banned from all NHLGamer leagues and tournaments until December 31st 2019. If during this timeframe any new infractions or new registrations with a different ID are detected, the ban will be prolonged and can be changed to a lifetime ban. - League Administration

Hello, gamers! Let's skip the storytelling part because nobody cares about ancient history, right? ECL Talk rises from the ashes! Last time we tried the whole 'ECL Talk' thing we described it like this: "NHLGamer Presents: ECL Talk is our brand new broadcast program for the official ECL news, trades and other things that are associated with NHL gaming." This time, we're reintroducing the concept with more people working on it. Now we have a bunch of NHL gamers mostly from the ECL Staff doing the program for our very passionate NHL gamers out there in the community - you guys. Obviously it's a new chapter in NHLGamer's journalism production so we'll take this as a learning process. The more we can get community members to share their very own "NHL: On the Fly" kind of thing with us, the better content we can produce for you guys. Keep reading, the best parts are yet to come. How, when, where?! Each episode will first be streamed live on NHLGamer's Twitch channel and will be best experienced live, as you can comment and ask questions throughout. If you can't make it to the live broadcast, you'll be happy to know that each episode will be found later on Twitch and Spotify! We will also post a recap article from every episode, so you won't miss the most important things even if you don't have time to listen to the whole thing. To keep everything in order, easy and simple - we're going to have the same base structure for every single ECL Talk episode. Let's take a peak at that: Every episode will be split into five different sections. This way we can keep each episode easy and fun to listen to during live broadcast and especially when you're listening to one afterwards. As ECL Talk will work as a sort of an ECL recap from each division, our aim is to talk about everything that is happening in all of our three divisions, but as you probably know already - we have over 120 teams to cover in each episode, so some details might get forgotten. We'll try our best, that is guaranteed! The sections for each episode will be something like this: "Intro" Each episode will start with introducing our panelists and the main subjects of the broadcast - you know, the basics: how everyone is doing, how the ECL standings are looking right now and what we're going to talk about. Who knows - maybe there'll be some cat videos too? "Marketplace" Confirmed transfers or free agent messages on the forums will be mentioned. We'll also have to discuss the most notable transfers; why did "player A" leave "team X" and what will their role be in their new team. "Hot & Cold" Hot & Cold is a team of the week kind of thing where the panelists will discuss the best players and teams of the past weeks, without forgetting the worst ones! Hot & Cold will also feature the coolest highlights from the recent ECL weeks. Use #ECLHighlights on Twitter to get your shiny plays onto ECL Talk's highlight reel. And just to be clear, we're talking about dazzling goals, big game-savers, glitches or something like that so please try to keep your highlights shorter than 30 seconds. The highlights might not be as enjoyable on Spotify. "Watchlist" Each panelist will have their own watch list that they will talk about during an episode. Things like "how team X is doing", interesting match-ups, what will happen in the future and things like that. "This & that" General discussion on the latest subjects in our community: standings, stats, forums, social media, interviews, live Q&A and maybe some giveaways? Our first episode will be airing on Sunday, 28th of October at 17 CET and is expected to end by 19 CET.