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NHLGamers, Almost two weeks ago, we announced our venture into the North American NHL gaming scene and we received a warm welcome! Registrations have come along nicely, but there's still some space both in our Elite and Pro divisions. The Elite division is aimed at teams who are looking to play at a highly competitive level and fight for the prize pool of $3000*. The Pro division on the other hand is aimed for teams that are looking to introduce themselves into more competitive play and enter the world of 6vs6 leagues. An excerpt from our NACL announcement: We're really excited to have two as experienced guys as @Scheckel29 and @TheCreasePolice running our league. They will provide lots of knowledge and will work together with existing pieces in the NHLGamer staff in order to bring our new NA players an excellent first season to build upon and strive for bigger things. In order to kickstart the NACL 1 season, I got in touch with @Scheckel29 for a short interview: Please introduce yourself to the community My name is Scheckel29, most commonly known by my last name Scheckel or Scheck. I am one of the original players of EASHL. I fell in love with the game mode in NHL 09 and haven't looked back. I have been around the competitive community since then and mostly play goalie, although my secret that I can actually play forward decently well was let out of the bag recently in another league. I am the current goalie for Entourage, a new team, but filled with players that have been around the scene for a few years and have won some money leagues in the past. I was born and raised in Wisconsin and proud to be a cheesehead! Currently getting my masters, my full time job has me working lots of weekends and starting up NACL is really all I have time to do besides playing video games in my free time. What do you expect from the first season of NACL? I hope we have a good amount of familiar top NA teams that can put on a competitive season. I hope we can have some great broadcasts to show NHLGamer and the world, that 6s can be very entertaining. Also would like to see a successful PSN league as there really isn't much out there for PS players on the competitive side in North America. A successful season is one with few forfeits and lots of great games! Any team/players to look out for especially? I may be biased but I think our team (Entourage) is definitely one to look out for. In another league we have been playing well and should make the playoffs. If we keep riding this streak we are on, I think we will do very well in the NACL. We definitely have our eyes set on being crowned NACL champs in season 1. I see some newer teams sign up as well (Next Question and Natty Light Knightz) and this should be a real test to see how they compete in more traditional season format. It is exciting to see new teams try to compete against the best. Anyway, I think we have some of the best teams signed up right now and some more should be signing up soon. Any greetings for new fans of the league or players coming across a stream or the site for the first time? Welcome to NHLGamer! They have been doing amazing things for the 6s scene in Europe and I am extremely excited to be working with them on NACL. If everything goes to plan, we should have some fantastic broadcasts and some really great games of NHL being played. I look forward to continuing to help 6s esports grow in North America with NHLGamer! Keep your eyes wide open, as we'll be bringing you some prime NACL action on our Twitch channel very soon! Yet again, welcome to NHLGamer, North America. Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93 * The $3000 (USD) prize pool is confirmed when NACL Elite has 16+ participating teams.

Hello Gamers, We're glad to share with you what the NHL has prepared for their biggest gaming event so far - Season 2 of the NHL Gaming World Championship! Registrations kick off March 6th and closes on March 31st. However, online qualifiers will be starting already on March 13th. Ahead of the announcement, NHL Vice President of Business Development Chris Golier stated: “We’ve listened to the players and measured how the live events and content were received and are making changes this year that we think will make for a more competitive tournament and more engaged community.” So, what are the changes? First off, the NHL GWC Season 2 will be played in Hockey Ultimate Team. This will allow for players to create unique teams that are tailored according to their own style of play. It is definitely an interesting switch over from versus and it's refreshing to potentially see something else than the same two teams matching up against each other for the entire tournament. Right from the get-go, the switch to HUT received heavy criticism from some of the best gamers out there, and it hasn't been toning down. What do you think? The second new thing was the qualifier system, which was renewed as a natural continuation of switching to the HUT game mode. In order to qualify for the tournament, a player needs to register at Battlefy.com/NHL, whereafter one is eligible to play Online Open Play in order to qualify for the Online Play-in Bracket, where the top 23 players per console and region for each weekly period will compete for a spot at the Live Regional Finals. Online Play-in Brackets are hosted twice for each region (EU 13th & 20th of April, CAN 20th & 27th of April, US 27th of April & 4th of May). In the Online Play-in Bracket, the top 128 players from each console and region will battle it out for four spots at the Live Regional Finals. The third new thing is also related to the switch over to HUT and this is an interesting one. From the Live Regional finals onwards, players will be drafting their teams from a preselected player pool and no duplicate players will be allowed - meaning every team will be completely unique! This adds another layer of strategy to the competition and will definitely be some fun to speculate on. Players will draft their team for the Regional Live finals and redraft again for the NHL GWC Final. Andrew "Nasher" Telfer, who will be returning as analyst for season 2 of the NHL GWC commented on the draft as follows: “Players will be forced to step out of their comfort zone, some players stick to versus (with actual NHL teams), others focus on HUT, but for the first time, players won't know exactly what their team will look like going into the tournament. Tough decisions will have to be made during the draft, I'm sure we'll see some pretty crazy lineups come the live events. The good news is players will be able to build a team to fit their play style.” Prize pool: $100,000 1. $50,000 2. $15,000 3. $10,000 4. $5,000 5/6. $2,500 You can see the full schedule for the tournament below: EU US CAN March 6th Registration opens at Battlefy.com/NHL March 13th Online open play begins March 31 Registrations close April 7th Online open play ends April 13th European Online Play-In Bracket Day 1 April 20th European Online Play-In Bracket Day 2 April 20th Canadian Online Play-In Bracket Day 1 April 27th Canadian Online Play-In Bracket Day 2 April 27th US Online Play-In Bracket Day 1 April 27th European Regional Draft May 4th US Online Play-In Bracket Day 2 May 4th Canadian Regional Draft May 11th US Regional Draft May 18th European Regional Finals (Stockholm, Sweden) May 25th Canadian Regional Finals (Toronto, Ontario) May 30th US Regional Finals (Stamford, Connecticut) June 3rd NHL GWC Final Draft June 18th NHL GWC World Finals (Las Vegas, Nevada) Also check what your reigning champion @Eki has to say: Will we see you on the ice in season 2 of the NHL GWC? Who do you think will win? What are your thoughts on the GWC moving over to HUT? Let us know in the comments! NHLGamer Writers @jahajaha93 & @Serg1vratar

And so there were four. The ECL 8 Lite season has progressed al the way to the Semifinals in which we're seeing two very even matchups. We've certainly been treated to some surprises this season, as a majority of the teams that were higher ranked in their respective matchups so far have been eliminated. We're left with four very capable teams that all are deserving of promotions to ECL Pro for next season. Now it remains to determine the final marching order and crowning a champion. Without further ado, let's get into the details of our semi's: The ECL 8 Lite Semifinals are to be played between Thursday, 7th of March and Wednesday, 13th of March. (11.) We Kings vs. Vesa Pompa HC (20.) We Kings were disappointed when they lost in the second round to K A R H U T in ECL 7 Lite but now they have fought their way to the semifinals. Surprisingly, We Kings had a bit of a struggle against EV Fuessen eSports, Beast Hockey and Saucer Hockey even though they were one of the more impressive teams in the regular season. Vesa Pompa HC has stormed through the playoffs by only losing two games. They have the most firepower in their offense where one of the top versus players right now @Eken45jr plays right wing. Vesa Pompa HC is a team that relies to their offense to score a ton of goals and this is going to be a series where we are going to see a lot of those. Goaltending might be the difference maker. The team that has the better goalie is going to win the series. (14.) Oton Letkutemppu vs. Cheers Hockey (16.) There are two big similarities that can be found from these teams. Both are playing their first ECL season and both have defenders that like to hit a lot @Theoikeakarim for Letkutemppu and @Margoes - Maqruusi for Cheers). Oton Letkutemppu has lost only three games in the playoffs and they seem to be on a roll. On the other hand Cheers Hockey that consists of many former Squad Vilttiketju players let in only five goals in six games against the third best regular season team Dystopia. This serie is going to be a close one and we predict that the games will be defensive battles where either one can win in seven games. Who are you rooting for to win it all? Leave a comment down below! ECL Lite Writer, @Tonimo92

NHLGamers, We've reached the final bout of the ECL 8 Pro season! After being treated to yet another eventful season, the eventual crowning of a champion is at our hands. Yet again, the playoffs have left us in awe from time to time. This season, 1st overall seed The Next Gen had a convincing group stage and pushed through the first two rounds with ease, after which they hit a brick wall and got eliminated in 4 games by Black Horse. A less surprising feat is seeing 2nd seed TIKI TALK paving their way to the finals. TIKI seems to have found their winning way and look to retrieve a spot at the highest level of ECL hockey by overcoming their opponent POGGERS in the finals. On top of these two, Black Horse and Checkmate also fought their way to the Semi-finals, which allows them a chance to battle for promotion to ECL 9 Elite. This season, it's worth noting that only the Pro champion gains direct promotion, as the 2nd place team will face Synergy Hockey in a relegation matchup. These are your ECL 8 Pro finalists: (2) TIKI TALK vs. POGGERS (9) Going into the ECL 8 Pro finals with a slight hint of favourite status we have TIKI TALK, who have managed to build an astonishing legacy for themselves by powering on for what seems to be an eternity through thick and thin. Before and even during the season, they've made some changes in hopes of pushing their team onto the right tracks and it seems as if they've managed to pull it off as of late. As stated, the team is one of the most long lived ECL franchises, having been there ever since the start of the new era of NHL gaming here at NHLGamer. It's a familiar sight seeing captain @itspardytime leading the team in scoring, which he has done ever so dominantly this season again. Another notable steady performer is goaltender @PCJP, who now in his second season with the team has got in the groove of stopping pucks quite efficiently, arguably being one of the most underrated netminders in the league. TIKI TALK is never an easy team to face, they play a fast paced style of hockey, which sometimes can be regarded as a bit chaotic. Stay alert at all times, TIKI is looking for the cup. POGGERS on the other hand is a new acquaintance. Although they are formed around the shell of last seasons Wasps Gaming and consist out of several very experienced players, they are the youngins by far in this matchup. My instinct would be to say what they lack in experience as a team, they more than make up for in skill. Offensive trio @Yoloberg-@JaKurrii-@Chafak are no strangers to tough matchups and all of them possess that x-factor that could make the players beside them so much better. The newly founded team struggled a bit to start the regular season, but once they have solidified their starting six, there has been very little stopping them as they have taken down strong teams such as Raccoon Rampage, Gotham Knights and most recently Checkmate in the playoffs. POGGERS has also been getting some decent goaltending for all of the ongoing season, as @Janne Hietala(Hassu85) has played an outstanding season and is surely looking to push his name into brighter lights. Prediction: POGGERS win 4-3. Schedule for the finals: Game 1: Wednesday, 6th of March 20:30 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Game 2: Wednesday, 6th of March 21:00 CET POGGERS vs TIKI TALK Game 3: Wednesday, 6th of March 21:30 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Game 4: Thursday, 7th of March 20:30 CET POGGERS vs TIKI TALK Game 5: Thursday, 7th of March 21:00 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Game 6: Thursday, 7th of March 21:30 CET POGGERS vs TIKI TALK Game 7: Thursday, 7th of March 22:00 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Tune in for broadcasts of the games at our Twitch channel! Tonight, yours truly and @Kenu in the booth! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93