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NHLGamers, NOTE: This log was written on Friday, 11th of December and opinions/statements reflect the situation of the past. I thought I’d post some recent thoughts on my team and ECL 11. First things first: we haven’t had the easiest season so far. This is both because our game wasn’t ready from the beginning and because ECL Pro is a tough division these days. It’s so tough, in fact, that perhaps I should have tempered my expectations for our brand new roster. So far, though, I feel like we are learning as we go. That’s obviously not the optimal way to go about it, considering you tend to miss all-important points in the process, but we need to accept that reality and move along. As the captain, there’s been a lot to learn. One thing is the important role of the assistant captains. It gets difficult trying to manage everything by yourself, and the utility of having a variety of perspectives cannot be overstated. Having the C and A’s play off each other is imperative in the successful management of the team. A dictatorship actually worked for us for a really long time, but it was a unique situation where we benefited from the unwavering leadership of one Johtaja the Great (@J0HTAJA). Another big aspect of team management has been player dynamics and figuring out the lineup for games. I’ve never had to think about that before unless I really wanted to, so mostly I’ve just focused on playing my own game in the past. It’s such an intricate thing to balance, isn’t it? There’s a lot to consider—how do you find the specific 6-man unit that works together the best, and how do you keep everyone happy and committed enough in the process? It’s also crucial to find that optimal lineup as quickly as possible so as to ensure continuity in the team’s game. I am fortunate in that my team has been very good about this as there has been zero drama about who gets to play and who doesn’t. I am very grateful to everyone on the roster because such distractions are sure to detract from the team’s main objective in some way. On a more personal level, I find myself returning to something that was first pointed out to me by Roots defenseman @vSilenttio a long time ago. During games, it is vital to focus on the current moment instead of things external to it. All too often, a player starts thinking about a situation in the game that should have gone differently or begins to form various scenarios in the mind of how the momentum is shifting, how much time there is left to tie the game, and so on and so forth. Barring the obvious requirement for someone to assume a leader’s role in reacting in the party as needed, none of that really matters. The way to help your team is to focus on one very simple thing: performing the next situation to the best of your abilities. Shift after shift, moment after moment. And that’s why, going back to the beginning, where we’re at in the standings right now doesn’t really make a difference. You always know what to do next because nothing could be simpler. Get in the moment and stay there until you hear the sound of the final buzzer. A huge thanks to @Janikka for sharing his thoughts in this article! Are you interested in also sharing some inside from your teams perspective? Contact @jahajaha93 for more information.

Photo credit: Jussi Jääskeläinen NHLGamers, Over the past few months, Telia Esports has been running a historical NHL esports league for the Finnish audience together with Liiga - the Finnish ice hockey elite league. The league included all fifteen Liiga organzations, represented by two gamers each in a tournament consisting of a 28-game regular season followed by best-of-three playoffs and a best-of-five final series. With a prize pool of 10 000€ on the line, all teams surely looked to give their all and over the course of the season, everyone got their fifteen seconds of fame as all teams were featured in live broadcasts from the Telia Esports studio. Here's a list of all eLiiga players for the inaugural season: HIFK: Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen, Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen HPK: Perttu @Regulinho Salo, Jim @SadaPoika Leskinen Ilves: Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen, Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen Jukurit: Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha, Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen JYP: Antti @tbnantti Kuittinen, Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos KalPa: Saku @Mehukatti10 Serttilä, Roni @MrNipsuli Kaján Kärpät: Paul @PleeMaker Arontie, Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola KooKoo: Nico @zNico Tuoreniemi, Janne @Nieppii Niemelä Lukko: Juuso @Kemppane_ Kemppainen, Tuomas @Tumpp1A Aaltonen Pelicans: Niklas "Koivisto81" Koivisto, Niklas "TheNikez37" Karlsson SaiPa: Kristian @Krisutus Räsänen, Joona @Hullued Saarinen Sport: Eemil @Sokkelo__ Soikkeli, Jani @layout Laakkonen Tappara: Erik @Eki Tammenpää, Arttu @Artuzio Mustila TPS: Valtteri @Vattu__ Virtanen, Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen Ässät: Teemu @Xteemuz Polttila, Tapani @Tappu Anttila The past weekend featured the semifinals on Saturday, whereafter Sunday was the day for our bronze matchup and the grand finals. Eventually the top 4 teams that came to play this weekend were Tappara, Jukurit, KalPa and Kärpät and Sunday's matches featured the 3rd seed KalPa versus 7th seed Kärpät in the bronze matchup whereas 1st seed Tappara went up against 5th seed Jukurit in the grand final for the historical inaugural season championship title. The excitement over the weekend was unreal and especially Sunday's decisive games were something else. Having the dynamic of two players representing each team made for some interesting strategic choices, but the eventual final series between Tappara and Jukurit extending to a full five games ensured that each representative got to face each other. The #1 seed Tappara represented by @Artuzio and @Eki naturally held all the pressure as expectations were high from the beginning, whereas the Jukurit duo was extremely strong but paved their way to the finals as somewhat of a surprise and had the luxury of coming in as slight underdogs. Results of the final games Tappara - Jukurit Game 1: 11-6 (Eki - Hansulinho) Game 2: 6-8 (Artuzio - FlyerKungen) Game 3: 4-3 (Eki - FlyerKungen) Game 4: 4-5 OT (Artuzio - Hansulinho) Game 5: 7-3 (Eki - FlyerKungen) At the end of a full five game series, Tappara's @Artuzio and @Eki hoisted the first ever eLiiga trophy. Congrats guys! All eLiiga players and fans are surely pleased to hear that Niklas Segercrantz from the Telia Esports team has stated to Jatkoaika.com, that the team is satisfied with the success that the series has seen and that there are plans on developing the product even further in the future.

NHLGamers, After the second full week of ECL 11 Elite action, we have somewhat restored order in the kingdom and the usual suspects FILADELPHIA and HAVU Gaming top the tables. One of the looming questions before the season was speculation about how Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen would slot into the LW spot in that HAVU roster and now a few weeks later with his team going 8-0-0 and the man himself snagging some personal success in eLiiga along the way, I think we can at least put some of that speculation to rest. Order has also been restored in the scoring leaders department, where FILADELPHIA duo Erik @Eki Tammenpää and Paul @PleeMaker Arontie are topping the tables at the modest pace of around 3 points per game after their first ten outings. A look at the overall picture of the division shows that all teams have now managed to snag their first win of the season and only one remains undefeated - HAVU Gaming to no surprise. Despite not yet having to face any of their fiercest rivals, staying undefeated is a strong feat and shows just how formidable of a contender HAVU is yet again this season. While the broadcasted games this week didn't provide the caliber of highlights we saw in the first week of the season, we surely had some interesting turns of events and some discussion surfacing. Some eyebrows were raised during Wednesday's matchup between SAWO ESPORTS and Gotham Knights when a seemingly unenthusiastic SAWO took a beating in their first game of the night while a team member had more screen time in the Twitch chat than in the actual game. While this undeniably creates some comedic value in the chat, one must wonder how it impacts the focus on the game and perhaps more importantly, how it is valued within the team. Luckily, SAWO managed to gather themselves and bounce back nicely in the second bout but it's a tough look for the team regardless. From the lows to the highs of last week, despite suffering two consecutive losses without a goal scored against HAVU Gaming, German Team LEISURE can draw some consolation from this insane save made by goaltender Patrick @RPH_31 Braun: Transfers It's a somewhat rare occasion to see some movement at the Elite level after the start of the season, but some transfers have come to knowledge in the past week or so, we'll also be recapping possible movement in these reports. The past week was unusually exciting at the transfer market as several teams shuffled some players around and we also ended up seeing some always controversial player poaches: hREDS OUT Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen, Tunnel Vision Having proven his level at the Elite level but taking a step back from the starter duties due to attending military service at the start of 2021, @uhNikke decided to take his talents to Tunnel Vision in Pro on a loan deal. Most likely this move will not affect hREDS competitiveness as they still have @FinKonna who is a very competitive goaltender who is capable of winning games for his team. Dark Horse IN Janne @JanneK. Komsa, Tunnel Vision The newest team in the Elite division decided to strengthen their ranks in net with an experienced goaltender as a result of @Magizam having a tough first week at the Elite level and with one matchup behind, @JanneK. seems to have improved the netminding department to some extent at least. OUT Kristian @Krisutus Räsänen, SAWO ESPORTS Dark Horse had a tough start to the season as expected and no points will be coming easy for them in their first Elite campaign. The loss of a starting forward in @Krisutus will sting despite having a quality player in @Ollizhki backing him up. It remains to be seen if Dark Horse will look to strengthen their ranks but due to transfer deadlines having passed in other divisions, they will need to poach a player from another Elite team if looking to do so. KOVA Esports IN Igor @xMotzz Motov, Nordic Stars KOVA made an acquisition that is somewhat of a headscratcher when getting another defenseman into their roster. The team already has two starters who are unlikely to be moved so it is probable that @xMotzz will not be seeing competitive ice time with his new team. SAWO Esports IN Kristian @Krisutus Räsänen, Dark Horse Finding yourself at the bottom of the standings meant that there would be a need for changes for SAWO. Whether acquiring @Krisutus was done as a result of @SUPERVIRTA leaving or not, it'll be interesting how it will affect the dynamic in the team. OUT Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta, FA The recently acquired defenseman suddenly left the squad due to time constraints. Team captain @TackleControl has been seen at the LD position since. Power Rankings Making a return this season will be the Elite: Power Rankings, provided by @MartindalexC. As always, the rankings are generated by weighting a team's results with the level of opposition that was faced, i.e. a team that went 4-0-0 against teams at the very bottom of Elite may very well be ranked below a team that went 0-4-0 against Elite's very finest. Without further ado though, let's have a look at how teams fared over the second week of ECL Elite: 1. HAVU Gaming (4-0-0) [+2] 2. FILADELPHIA (5-1-0) [=] 3. JYP Jyvaskyla (4-2-0) [+4] 4. YMCA Esports (4-1-1) [+2] 5. hREDS (3-1-2) [-2] 6. Northern Ascendancy (2-1-1) [+6] 7. Färjestad BK (2-3-1) [+2] 8. Roots Gaming (3-1-0) [+7] 9. Gotham Knights (3-3-0) [+1] 10. KOVA Esports (3-3-0) [-2] 11. Conquer Gaming (1-5-0) [+3] 12. SJ Gaming (1-3-0) [-7] 13. Team Leisure (2-3-1) [=] 14. Vesa Pompa (1-1-0) [-8] 15. SAWO Esports (1-2-1) [-4] 16. Dark Horse (1-2-1) [=]