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Gamers! Another week has come to an end and it is time that we reveal the third ECL 8 Lite Player Of The Week. This past week has been great for many players but we have decided that @Jassoonsunlasso has earned the award. PSN-ID: Jassoonsunlasso Team: Me Carvoset Position: Center Games played this week: 6 (SKA from Neva, Campo De Juego, Western Express) Goals: 17 Assists: 16 Points: 40 +/-: 25 We gave the main man a call and asked him a few questions. Congratulations on being named POTW this week! What are your feelings about that? - Surprised and happy because we have secured a playoff spot! You have played 6 games this Week and scored 33 points (17+16). What is the key for you to score goals consistently? - About the goals.. i don't know? Every pass is a missed goal opportunity? Being in the right spot at the right time? Good passes from forwards and defensemen make it happen. You guys have been playing good so far this season. Why? - We've been having fun in chat during games, that's why I guess! Cap @Juanzaar switched me from RD to C in the middle of the season and after that I think our teamplay has gone to another level! Last but not least our Angry goalie Tepazor who has been sick for the last 3 weeks (IRL sick lol) is the right man between the posts! If you have to name one player in Lite that you would want to have in your team, who would it be and why? - This question is hard! Maybe @Pagemz because his shooting is 7.5% as F! We could help him to get it up! But i have to choose @Bantubox from Saucer Hockey. He's almost as good of a trash talker as me! We have so much fun when we are in the same party! All day every day! Once again we would like to congratulate Jassoonsunlasso on this award and we wish him good luck in the future. Until next time! @Willander97

Art by Efraim Larsson. Photos courtesy of Tölzer Löwen. You might think the life of a pro hockey player (any pro athlete for that matter) is awesome and all glamour. The reality can be quite different. Ben says he’s just a regular guy who happens to have some talent in hockey. It hasn’t always been that way though. There’s been a massive change in mentality and thought process to get to the point he is at today. Most of you have probably never heard of Ben Meisner and frankly it’s no surprise. The now 28-year old German-Canadian goaltender spent most of his junior career in smaller minor teams in his home province of Nova Scotia before moving away from home as a teenager to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a professional hockey player. The first years of his professional career was spent around the ECHL after which he headed over to Europe for a change of scenery. Name: Ben Meisner Date of birth: June 20th, 1990 Place of birth: Halifax, NS, CAN Nationality: Canada/Germany When talking to Ben he seems like a really down-to-earth guy who is really outspoken and passionate about what he has to say. A first impression wouldn’t give away his troubled past and deep scars. In an article Ben wrote for The Players Tribune, he states that his story is “about a kid who loved hockey so much that he forgot to love himself”. Those might be some confusing words to hear for an average Joe, but it was a gruesome reality for Ben and what ultimately almost led to the end of his life. Let us backtrack a little bit to get you guys up to speed. To kick off the interview with Ben, the very first question I asked was about his gaming habits and to my surprise I learned that he had never even touched a video game. That’s refreshing, right? Ben grew up on a farm in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada spending most if not all of his free time as a kid shooting pucks alone in their driveway or out fishing. His main aspiration in life was to be a pro hockey player. Quite early on, Ben was signed up for a local hockey team and he progressed rather quickly - he was obsessed with becoming the best player he could possibly be. Ben’s words really paint the picture of a generic happy Canadian upbringing: “Growing up, I had both my parents at all my games pretty much always so that was awesome.” It isn’t all that unusual for young players in Canada and the US to move around looking for development opportunities in their junior careers, and Ben was no different. Before kicking off his college career he played at two different boarding schools in Ontario, Canada and just outside of Boston, Massachusetts in the US. It’s a competitive environment where thousands of kids chase the best opportunities and try to make their dreams come true. “It’s definitely a tough choice to make and you’ve got to be ready for it and go into it with your eyes open.”- Ben about moving away from home to pursue a hockey career at a young age. Playing team sports in a competitive environment is tough as it is, but being a teenager trying to figure yourself out far away from home surely adds its own spice to the mix. While the experience can be a valuable life lesson, it is also extremely scary and a difficult situation to be in as the youngins are pretty much left to their own devices. It was at a rather young age that Ben realised he might have some issues. He struggled fitting in with the team, having a hard time communicating and finding friends in a new environment. At first, the issues were chalked up to “goalie weirdness”, but as years went by and Ben moved around to different teams, the severity of the problem started coming to light. Social awkwardness led to bullying, which in turn led to anxiety, depression and OCD, the effects were many. Being anxious, tired, depressed and scared all at the same time while being a pro hockey goaltender in a league like the ECHL, in which teams can pretty much release a player at a moments notice is certainly leading down a destructive path. Especially when all you’ve done for your whole life was play hockey and nothing else. “I grew up playing hockey outside. Every day I was out shooting pucks, I was skating…I lived and breathed hockey. It’s all I ever knew and all I ever wanted to do. There was a fear of losing that. If one day hockey wasn’t there, I wouldn’t know who I was. I didn’t think I had any other skills and I didn’t think I brought anything to the table as a person.” The OCD kicked in and the anxiety levels skyrocketed, Ben as quoted from The Players Tribune: “I knew that there were 98 professional teams in North America … so there were exactly 196 jobs for goalies. I’d always come back to the fact that in North America alone there are usually around 320 free agent goalies from D-I, D-III, Canadian colleges, SPHL, AHL, ECHL and the NHL, fighting for what amounts to only a few open spots at any one time. I had nothing against any of those guys, but in my mind they became my enemies. And lots of times it seemed like I could actually feel them breathing down my neck. All 320 of them.” Ultimately, things got very bad. Ben was stuck in a vicious cycle where he couldn’t speak up of the fear of being released from his contract and not receiving proper help due to constantly relocating and being occupied by doing the thing that he loved - playing hockey. Doing so in a severely compromised mental state made his numbers drop, while also inflicting even more damage on his already bad psyche. All of this culminated in Ben almost taking his own life. (For this story, please ready Bens article at The Players Tribune.) Step by step, things got better. Ben reached out for help and found out it wasn’t the end of his career, but in fact the start of something new and better - a healthier life and a new found passion for helping others. The extremely important factor with mental issues is time. These issues have to be handled with urgency and professional sports organisations are now also starting to realise that. For example, several NHL teams have hired personnel to help their players deal with potential issues. With the stigma around mental health in sports slowly being lifted, more athletes have also come forth about some issues they have had or are still having, among some of those former NHL players Daniel Carcillo and Nick Boynton. Taking off with the release of his Players Tribune article, Ben has also started advocating for mental health awareness and is actively pursuing that opportunity to give back and get the word out there. Now Ben is working together with a whole bunch of different people (for example the aforementioned Carcillo) and organisations in order to further mental health awareness. Mental health issues are a widespread, although a not widely talked about problem worldwide. Just about anyone can find themselves in a tough situation where they will have to handle some type of mental problems, it could be just one traumatic life event or concussion away. Preemptive care is one of the best tools to tackle mental issues and Ben together with a whole company of other people strongly advocate for it. For young athletes out there that feel something might be wrong, Ben has an important pointer that cannot be stressed enough: “The number one thing is don’t wait. If you’re having an issue at a young age and parents or you yourself recognise it, please reach out. I knew I had these issues early on and I let it go until I was in my twenties so we’re talking over a decade. That really put me in a big hole and made my issues harder to handle and harder to hide - when you dig yourself a hole that deep, it takes a long time to fill back in.” Esports are no different from traditional sports in the sense that the environment is high-pressure. The straight-up physical requirements of the athletes might not meet the traditional standards but what is often talked about is the mental aspects of players. Quite often a player or a team is analysed based on their mental strength - "they don't have the winning mentality" is a cliché we're all familiar with. De-stressing activities or taking time off are often overlooked in pro sports, perhaps even more so in esports. The pace and player turnover is at such a high level that even a short vacation could set a top player back, and believe me - there are kids out there trying to take that spot! The result of this equation is players spending very close to all of their waking time at their screens - the very same screens that are the portal to Reddit and various other forums where their every single move, play and game is being scrutinised. Having an outlet and de-stressing is tremendously important, the physical capabilities of an athlete are also tremendously important in esports. Healthy bodies often promote healthy minds and the other way around, so remember to take care of yourselves out there! If you happen to find yourself out and about, here are some events that Ben will be attending as a speaker: The Global Goaltending Retreat - May 27th - 31st, Breckenridge, Colorado, US The Worth Living Conference - May 31st, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Make sure to follow Ben on Twitter for more info about upcoming events he will be attending. “My legacy may not be left hanging in the rafters or written on trophies, but I want to people to recognize me as a guy who tried to make the game we all love more enjoyable for the people playing it.” If you or someone you know are going through a tough time, please don't hesitate to reach out for help. Here's some contact info to get you started: Finland: Suomen Mielenterveysseura - Kriisipuhelin 010 195 202 Sweden: 1177 Vårdguiden - Hjälplinjen 0771-22 00 60 Germany: Telefonseelsorge 0800 111 0 111 UK: Samaritans 116 123 France: Suicide Écoute 01 45 39 40 00 Russia: sravni.ru 8 (800) 333-44-34 Take care and keep on playing! Your NHLGamer Editor, Janne @jahajaha93 Tarvonen

Hi NHLGamers, We are back with a small look into the third week of the Pro division. This season we are doing a player of the week segment, to highlight an individual and his team because of their success during said week. We will also do a small interview with our nominee and try to get to know the person better and get some insights of the team and the league in question. Without further ado we would like to present you our third Player Of The Week: PSN-ID: Hassu85 Team: POGGERS Position: Goaltender Games played this week: 6 (vs God Tier, Silver Sword Griffins, Clowns On Ice) Shots faced: 56 Goals against: 5 Save percentage: 91,07% Shutouts: 3 Our writer @Panarinz was sent out to get a few comments from this weeks main man: A good week for your team and especially for yourself, with 3 shutouts in 6 games! What do you think was the reason for your success this week? - Hard to tell. Our roster had a lot of changes from the past season. We also didn’t train almost at all before the season, but now the game has started to fall into it’s place. We have rock solid defense, and what can you expect if you have @JaKurrii as a mastermind of the offense and @Chafak and @Yoloberg as wingers? What is your aim for this season? as a team and you personally. - If I can help the team even a little bit, we will win the whole thing. How did you come up with your PSN ID? - In my hometown everyone calls me Hassu, even my parents. What is the best player build in this version of the game for goaltenders? - When NHL 19 came out, I chose one build right away and I have sticked with it. It’s a secret. What is your strengths as a goalie? - I think I can read the game pretty well. I usually know what the next happen now. Which team will win ECL 8 Pro? - Poggers or Checkmate. If you want to be featured next week, remember to work hard and help your team to success! Signing off for now, ECL Pro writing team @Panarinz & @Mannheimer1938 Additional art by @CzE Toni

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are tweaking the recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. There will be more of an emphasis towards the quantitative approach, so expect more graphs and fewer walls of text. 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 generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. 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. 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 1 Week 2 Week 3 - 1. Written in the Stars (6-1-1) [=] 2. Rusty Blades (5-0-1) [+5] 3. FILADELPHIA (6-2-0) [+1] 4. Team Frosty (3-3-0) [+4] 5. Dynasty (5-2-1) [=] 6. Deadly Phantoms HC (4-4-0) [-3] 7. Unlucky Boys (6-2-0) [+5] 8. Symphony (2-2-2) [+1] 9. Butterfly Effect (4-5-1) [-3] 10. Northern Stars (2-1-1) [+3] 11. Bucketeers (3-2-1) [+3] 12. Resurrection (4-4-0) [+3] 13. Almost Famous (1-3-0) [-11] 14. AIK Hockey (2-6-2) [-4] 15. HC Wildcard (0-3-1) [+1] 16. Synergy Hockey (1-4-1) [-5] Standings Timeline *The "playoff cut-off point", as well as the "relegation zone" lines are rough estimations of where the respective areas of Elite will fall once the regular season has been wrapped up. So, in other words, if a team is able to get over the green line, they 'should' stand a very good chance of making the playoffs, whilst if a team cannot make it past the red line, then there is a good chance that they will have to fight a relegation battle in order to assure their Elite spot for next season. Analysis Whilst Northern Stars and Unlucky Boys were able to stave off a full-blown cardiac arrest, HC Wildcard have not been as fortunate and as such are requiring a strong finish to not end up being the team propping up the rest of the standings once all things are said and done in little over two weeks time. Written had a momentary wobble thanks to Symphony and Northern Stars, nevertheless their challenge for the number one spot is almost as solitary as it comes. That said, it is technically possible of course that they don't end up rolling into the playoffs with the number one seed in tow, although at this late stage of the season it would require something akin to a biblical miracle. One trend of note is that it appears as though we are beginning to see a few 'divisions' within Elite. Outside of Written, who may as well have set up their own space program at this point, we have the next best 'top 3' involving FILADELPHIA, Dynasty and Rusty Blades. These teams harbour the best chance of anyone catching Written, on top of this they are the only teams who have a points per game average substantially above the playoff 'guaranteeing' level of 1.07. Moving on to the next 'block' we have the teams who currently round out the remaining playoff positions. Namely, Symphony, Deadly Phantoms HC, Team Frosty and Almost Famous. Unlike the block that precedes it, this fringe playoff group have not been afforded the same level of security as the 'top 4' simply based on the fact that if they slip up, even momentarily, they can very easily fall into the group hot on their heels. A group that, quite frankly, can only be described as an all-out brawl, as we have all the remaining teams in Elite (minus HC Wildcard) all within spitting distance of 8th place, even Synergy (who currently sit at a measly 12pts through 16 games) if they happen to go on a run and win ~4 in a row. Finally, of course, we come to the lowly HC Wildcard who, admittedly, started out very well, but have since appeared to sputter out and become almost comatose. Unlike Synergy, who still remain in contention mathematically, if HCW were able to win every remaining game on their schedule (a tough ask at that with their opponents being SYM, TF, DPH, RB & DYN) they would only finish with 29 pts, which would result in an exceptionally low likelihood of them making the playoffs, so while it is not impossible per se, for all intents and purposes it may as well be. Projection The section looks to, well, project where a team will finish based off of all the games they have played thus far. -- And with that, we can now conclude the third edition of ECL 8 Elite's power rankings. Hopefully next week we will see the stratification continue so that we can pick out any further trends with ease. ECL Elite Writer @MartindalexC

Hi NHLGamers, We are back with a small look into the second week into the Pro division. This season we are doing a player of the week segment, to highlight an individual and his team because of their success during said week. We will also do a small interview with our nominee and try to get to know the person better and get some insights of the team and the league in question. Without further ado we would like to present you our second Player Of The Week: PSN-ID: NikkeDangles Team: The Next Gen Position: Right Wing Games played this week: 6 (vs Style, Bone Breakers and Pata Hellalla) Goals: 8 (18 total, ranked 1st) Assists: 9 (15 total, ranked 5th) Points: 17 (33 total, ranked 1st) +/-: 8 (26 total, ranked 1st) Our writer @Panarinz met with Nikke and after a good conversation this was the result: Another great week for your team, your form has been outstanding as of late. What do you think is the reason for your success this season? - I think we have a great team and it’s very easy to play with them. What is your aim for this season? As a team and you personally. - As a team we are aiming for a deep playoff run and I’m going to do my best to play as well as I can. How did you come up with your PSN ID? - My friends call me Nikke and I like to do dirty dangles so that is why my PSN is NikkeDangles.  What is the best player build in this version of the game, in your opinion? - I like to use the two-way forward, because it’s really fast, has decent balance and good deking. What is your strengths as a player? - My strengths as a player are controlling the puck and making surprising, hard-to-read passes. Finally, which team will win ECL 8 Pro?  - The Next Gen. Signing off for now, ECL Pro writing team @Panarinz & @Mannheimer1938