Leaderboard

Hello NHLGamers, It's 'final-ly' time for the Pro Finals! After yet another exciting season full of interesting events and lots of surprises, the time to crown a winner is nigh. The playoffs have certainly left us gasping for air at times, with surprises like ECL 6 Lite silver-medalist Cowabunga winning their group, seeding in second place into the playoffs only to be eliminated in the first round by 16th seed Pata Hellalla. Bucketeers, another newly promoted team also seemed to find their stride this season, pushing far into the playoffs and reaching the semifinals for a shot to make Elite through a relegation battle. Our final two isn't maybe the most predictable matchup, but certainly two well-rounded teams that have been strong performers all season long. Here's how our final matchup stacks up: (1) Deadly Phantoms HC vs Synergy Hockey (4) In this iteration of the ECL Pro Finals, we'll have a somewhat rare sighting as neither finalist is Finnish. I even believe neither team has any Finnish colour in their roster. Refreshing, to say the least! After a great semi-final round against Bucketeers in a thrilling and even series, the deadliest of Phantoms have yet again stated their claim for an Elite spot and are looking to get that big trophy as well. They've been one of the great storylines this postseason, as they've had to overcome adversity not many teams in the community has faced. From having their play style under scrutiny in the first round to switching up the lineup throughout the playoffs, they have prevailed every time. Synergy Hockey has really gone back to their roots and found the strong play we're so used to seeing from the veteran Swedes. They're a strong defensive unit that doesn't put on a show on the ice, but is tremendously effective at everything they do. The team has had everything go their way this season, starting all the way from the back end, where the marvelled @DUNZA has been taunting forwards on a nightly basis. Synergy has had a rather convincing playoff run so far, as they've dropped only two games in the three series played so far. Prediction: Deadly Phantoms HC in 7. Head-to-head: TOP SCORER The_Rayman80 (17GP, 17+11=28) vs Isindar (14GP, 9+13=22) GOALTENDERS RPH_31 (17GP, 12W, 83.81 SV%, 1.64 GAA) vs DUNZA (14GP, 12W, 91.00 SV%, 0.64 GAA) Schedule for the finals: Game 1: Monday, 10th of December 21:00 CET Deadly Phantoms HC vs Synergy Hockey (1-2 OT) Game 2: Monday, 10th of December 21:30 CET Synergy Hockey vs Deadly Phantoms HC (2-3 OT) Game 3: Thursday, 13th of December TBA Deadly Phantoms HC vs Synergy Hockey Game 4: Thursday, 13th of December TBA Synergy Hockey vs Deadly Phantoms HC Game 5: Thursday, 13th of December TBA Deadly Phantoms HC vs Synergy Hockey Game 6: Thursday, 13th of December TBA Synergy Hockey vs Deadly Phantoms HC Game 7: Thursday, 13th of December TBA Deadly Phantoms HC vs Synergy Hockey That's all for now gamers and as always, be sure to check out our twitch channel for streams on these games and from our other leagues, that's got some exciting playoff action for yall. PS: Stay on the lookout for our ECL 7 Pro Season Recap article, it might be posted sooner than you think... Pro Writing Team @jahajaha93 & @Panarinz

After some external difficulties and other issues, we've been able to compete the ECL7 Elite Quarter Finals with four extremely skilled teams advancing. Interestingly enough, we're also 4/4 for IS Cup 3: 6vs6 finalists in the Semi's of ECL 7. It'll be interesting to see how these games turn out this time around, as matchups are slightly different and some minor changes might have happened within the teams. As usual, the series are played with a best-of-7 system, meaning the first team to reach four wins advances to the next round. The Semifinal round has to be finished by Thursday December 13th, 2018. These are the matchups for the second round of our ECL 7 Elite Playoffs: (1) FILADELPHIA vs. Dynasty (4) Courtesy of @jahajaha93 Neither of these teams had a straight path to the semi-finals. FILADELPHIA in the sense that they had to battle through some server issues and a scheduling debacle, which again heated up things on the community side a bit. Dynasty in the sense that they clashed with Sjukstugan, the early Swedish sensation, who were now making their second Elite playoff showing, hungry to prove they could go far. This matchup wouldn't seem all too interesting if the teams we would take it back a month to the IS Cup, as Dynasty had a tough time competing at the Final event whereas FILADELPHIA went on to take it all home. Tables have turned, however. It's amazing how a little bit of time can work magic on the play of any said team. Dynasty has improved tremendously with the season progressing and are now looking to really challenge the IS Cup champions. One notable change Dynasty has made as of late is keeping @Leksa94 at center instead of @Tehh, as we're used to seeing. It would seem as if their decision is paying dividends as Leksa is a more offensive-minded player, with a slightly higher faceoff skill too - if we are to trust the stats. FILADELPHIA, on the other hand has been firing on all cylinders all season long. The team seems to have a relentless drive for success. Their first round opponent Northern Ascendancy didn't give up easy although the series ended 4-1, all but the last game were one goal games. FILA will surely look to play @Zande95 in net as he is yet to let in a goal during the playoffs. Possible Elite top-6 goaltender this season? Personally, I'm expecting FILADELPHIA to take the lead and never look back in this series. Although Dynasty is more than a capable team, they are simply up against a stronger force right now. I'll be more than happy to admit I'm wrong as that would set up an amazing success story for DYN, however, my prediction is FILA in 5. (2) Symphony vs. Written In The Stars (3) Courtesy of @MartindalexC Both competitors are coming off of similarly impressive routs of their previous opponents in Northern Stars & Butterfly Effect respectively. Symphony holds a slight edge given that they beat their opponent by over two goals in all but one of their wins, whereas Written only managed to do that very same feat two times. On the face of it then one would imagine that this series should be a close affair, with that said however some cracks have started to appear for the Written side. They may have beaten Butterfly Effect extremely convincingly to start the series (4-1 & 5-0 wins), yet their play degraded quite heavily as the series went on, as shown by them whimpering through to the second round off the back of two 1-0 wins, as well as being bested 3-1 by FLY. Such a drop off of goals as the series progressed is certainly a large red flag, especially as Butterfly Effect almost punished them for it. If FLY were almost able to make them look foolish then Written are in for one hell of a rude awakening as Symphony are assuredly better than Butterfly Effect, both defensively and offensively. The latter point is of great importance as we will now truly see what impact @Totalii's absence will have on the somewhat ‘untested’ Written back end. Regarding the actual prediction however I feel that this series has real potential to be an absolute bloodbath, on the other hand I can conceivably see Written getting ‘manhandled’ by Symphony in a bunch of 3-1-ish affairs if Written does not manage to restart their offence in time. Therefore, I’m going to play it somewhat safe and go with Symphony in 6 games, although as I’ve said before I feel as though this series, more than any other, has the potential to go absolutely ‘hay-wire’ at any second. So, what do you guys think? Agree with our predictions? Give us your thoughts below! Also, remember to stay tuned for upcoming playoffs broadcasts on our Twitch-channel! See you on the ice, ECL Elite Writing Team