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NHLGamers, The third tier of ECL competition - ECL 11 Lite - is about to launch its new season and we're excited as ever! Let's kick off this season preview by revealing the groups, whereafter we'll continue with highlighting a few teams to keep an eye on this season. Here are the groups for ECL 11 Lite: Teams to watch in ECL 11 Lite Season 10 ended with Sack Brothers winning the title and gaining promotion to the Pro division. Ducktales BK played a tremendous season but ultimately faltered 4-1 to the eventual champions. In the regular season teams like HV71 and ECDC Memmingen Esports both played a great season and might be extremely dangerous opponents in starting season (HV71 promoted to Pro based on previous performance). In fact HV71 lost to Ducktales - the finalists - in a quarter-final series and ECDC Memmingen played a huge second round series against Ducktales losing in Game 7 so both teams have showcased potential going into ECL 11. Two interesting teams that made huge contributions last season are missing from ECL 11 Lite and those are GENESIS and HUIPPUPASSI. GENESIS reached the quarterfinals after finishing 18th in the regular season whereas HUIPPUPASSI went even further to the semifinals from 10th place in the regular season. In the quarterfinals, HUIPPUPASSI beat EBR Esports Official and in the semifinals gave an admirable opposition to the eventual champions Sack Brothers. Both GENESIS and HUIPPUPASSI are playing Pro in this season under new names and colors - GENESIS as RCTIC and HUIPPUPASSI as GOONS. However, the fact that last seasons top performers are out opens up exciting opportunities for newcomers and other contender teams in Lite. HOKURIT is one of the teams expected to really shine in season 11. They finished 6th in the regular season and reached the quarterfinals in ECL 10, where HOKURIT eventually lost to Angry Cats who unfortunately doesn't make a return but would have been one of the teams to follow. As stated, notably many of last seasons top performers are missing. There might be numerous of reasons and most probable reason is that enough players that stood for those success stories last season either moved on to other teams or were unable to participate in ECL 11. That leaves a wide open space for many other teams to fill the gap like. Potential prospects are definitely Old Farts and Tic Tac Toes, who have some experience mixed with great talent on their rosters. Tic Tac Toes had a difficult regular season of ECL 10 but played well in the postseason and was eliminated by the eventual champions, whereas Old Farts had a similar season and saw a second round exit against EBR Esports Official. Powerhouse HC is also one of the candidates to see success this season in Lite as they finished 4th in the regular season of ECL 10 and reached round 2 in the playoffs. An exciting new ensemble for the Lite division is also Exerceo with several skilled players that have been seen at higher levels before. The club saw fair success in the FCL but suffered a first round playoff exit. Last but not least, MUKIMIEHET is an interesting team with several former Elite players in their roster. Players such as defenseman Janne @Janzuh Nyqvist or scoring machine and captain Ville @hpkfani Luukkonen who has been a top scorer at the Elite level for a long time are surely still in their own class at the Lite level. The team has also added Arttu @laitineen64 Laitinen who represented Reality Check in the FCL and Black Horse last season in ECL while Petri-Christian @PCJP Pelkonen takes the reigns in net. MUKIMIEHET is reborn and while they have a long way to go, they will for sure be a contender in the Lite division this season. Players to watch in ECL 11 Lite Due to so many teams and players moving on to new challenges, the stage is also set for new stars to shine individually. We'll do our best to pick out some interesting prospects to fill those gaps. As stated before, we're expected ECDC Memmingen Esports to have a big season, which will be helped by players such as @Wowa_1995 stepping up. He is of the most prominent players from last season that can still be seen in the Lite division as he scored 30+46 in the regular season and added 12+11 in the playoffs. Also the very experienced @Bjono from Sjukstugan should be expected to thrive at the Lite level after a good performance last season, where the Swede put up 16+66 in the regular season and added 7+21 in the playoffs. On the topic of skilled Swedes, Bjorkloven Esport recently announced the acquisition of former Farjestad BK winger @Tacterz who should be a force at the Lite level depending on how much ice time he will see. To pick out a player with the potential to surprise is hard out of the massive pack, but @kim_johan dominated Neo last season by putting up 112 points and is looking to continue on that same path at the Lite level, it'll be interesting to see if he can keep it up. It's safe to say that the 112 teams in Lite will have their work cut out for them this season! Despite there being some strong teams to look out for, the title is up for grabs for anyone. With that being said, we wish all teams good luck with the upcoming seasons and remember to keep your eyes peeled for updates about upcoming matchups on social media, teams are getting active and will keep you updated.

NHLGamers, We're just a few days away from puck drop in the ECL 11 season! With the record-breaking amount of 264 teams signed up, we continue to raise the bar and can be considered the biggest NHL esports league in the world. Due to the amazing quantity of teams this season, our staff has been hard at work over the weekend and will be finalizing group divisions by the evening of Monday, November 16th. However, we decided it was best to confirm the full list of teams in each division accompanied by some crucial scheduling information. Without further ado, here are your ECL 11 divisions: ECL 11 Neo - Starts Wednesday, 18.11. Default game days and times are: Wednesday 20:00 CET Sunday 20:00 CET Schedule for ECL 11 Neo: Group stage: 18.11 - 13.12 Playoffs Round 1: 14. - 20.12 (BO5) Playoffs Round 2: 28.12 - 3.1(BO5) Playoffs Round 3: 4. - 10.1 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 11. - 17.1 (BO5) Semifinals: 18. - 24.1 (BO5) Finals: 25. - 27.1 (BO5) Brief season description of ECL 11 Neo: The regular season consists of 104 teams split into 10 groups. The regular season lasts 4 weeks and the playoffs will feature 64 teams. The playoffs will be played in best-of-five manner. ECL 11 Lite - Start Tuesday, 17.11. Default game days and times are: Tuesday 20:00 CET Wednesday 20:00 CET Sunday 20:00 CET Schedule for ECL 11 Lite: Group stage: 17.11 - 20.12 Playoffs Round 1: 28.12 - 3.1 (BO7) Playoffs Round 2: 4. - 10.1 (BO7) Playoffs Round 3: 11. - 17.1 (BO7) Quarterfinals: 18. - 24.1 (BO7) Semifinals: 25. - 31.1 (BO7) Finals: 4. - 7.2 (BO7) Brief season description of ECL 11 Lite: Due to popular demand the division size has been expanded to 112 teams. The group size remains at 16 teams per group. The regular season lasts 5 weeks and 64 teams will be making the playoffs that are played in best-of-seven manner. ECL 11 Pro - Starts Monday, 23.11. Default game days and times are: Monday 20:00 CET Tuesday 20:00 CET Thursday 20:00 CET Schedule for ECL 11 Pro: Group stage: 23.11 - 10.1 Playoffs Round 1: 11. - 17.1 (BO7) Quarterfinals: 18. - 24.1 (BO7) Semifinals: 25. - 31.1 (BO7) Finals: 8. - 10.2 (BO7) Brief season description of ECL 11 Pro: ECL Pro consists of 32 teams. The regular season lasts 5 weeks. The top eight teams from each group (16 in total) will make playoffs, where they will be cross-seeded and play best-of-seven series. ECL 11 Elite - Start Monday, 30.11. Default game days and times are: Monday 20:00 CET Wednesday 20:00 CET Thursday 20:00 CET Schedule for ECL 11 Elite: Group stage: 30.11 - 21.1 Quarterfinals: 24. - 27.1 (BO7) Semifinals: 1. - 4.2 (BO7) Finals: 12. - 13.2 (BO7) Brief season description of ECL 11 Elite: ECL Elite is the highest tier of the ECL, consisting of the best 16 teams in Europe. The top eight teams in the six week regular season will advance to the playoffs that are played in a best-of-seven manner, while the bottom four will be in for relegation. The ECL Elite season will be closely followed on our broadcasts. Prize pool will be announced closer to the Elite season start. *Note: The divisions are still a work-in-progress and NHLGamer reserves the right to adjust the divisions as necessary. More information about the ECL and the groups will follow tomorrow (Monday November 16th). On behalf of NHLGamer, I want to thank the community for positively surprising us season after season and the constant big growth of ECL continuing steadily! As we are blessed with a lot of new members and teams, let's be helpful towards each other and help everyone find their place in our community.

NHLGamers, EHC Amur is one of the newer clubs to be put on the esports map and they're doing so with a bang in representing the famous KHL club Amur Khabarovsk. Located in the city of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East, the team takes their name from the Amur River. The logo of Amur is a Siberian tiger, sometimes also referred to as the Amur tiger. Due to their geographic isolation from competitors in the KHL, it's been hard for Amur to get proper rivalries going, but that's going to change, since they are together with EHC Tatneft Ak Bars now the two new KHL clubs joining esports competition. The two Russian powerhouses will now be able to fight for the throne of best KHL club on the virtual ice, hopefully with lots of other competition following close behind. The esports roster of EHC Amur has in fact already participated in a few leagues under the KHL clubs name, but their entry to the european ice will be when they really look to come into their own. Captain Taras @Taras Nosulko informs NHLGamer that their roster has been heavily overhauled, with the possibility to still recruit some additional strength if required: "We have quite heavily renewed our team. Several guys were unhappy with their role in the team and we wished them well in future endeavors. Me, Stepan @SteBastian Belyakov and Semyon @Sokollito Sokol are the remaining original members of the club. In net this season I think we have one of the most underestimated and talented goalkeepers in Russia - Vadim @Vadim87 Losev. We're still on the lookout for a strong defenseman to help our journey in the Neo division and in the RCL. Of course I would like to sign one of the talented Finnish or Swedish defenders on the market and we'll be trying our best to accomplish that." "We have to understand that representing HC Amur in the ECL is a privilege and we simply cannot afford to perform poorly. We've already established ourselves in the Russian scene over the summer by conceding minimally to a top team like Exen and imposing a fight on Nova. We always prefer training against high level opponents from the Lite and Pro divisions in order to ready up for the ECL season." Nosulko believes that their cooperation with the KHL club allows their team to up their level on social media and increase visibility also on other channels. The objective is translating this into recruiting better players for the team.