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NHLGamers, Just under a month, and 18 games later, and we are ready to preview the ECL 11 Neo Playoffs. Those of you who have read the mid-season reports are aware that we had a lot of tight battles at the top of the groups, and some of them really did come down to the wire, with tie breakers necessary in several groups. With this being said, this playoff review will cover the 10 playoff games involving the group winners. A note regarding League Administration actions taken in order to finish the ECL 11 Neo season: We have removed teams that were unable to finish the season with more than 4 WO's. We understand that both removing the teams and keeping the teams with WO's have their caveats. The system isn't perfect and we will be looking at ways to improve it and - most importantly - make it a more clear and transparent process for the coming seasons. Please share any thoughts on how you think it should work below or by contacting Support. For those unfamiliar with the format of the playoffs, 64 teams will enter; The top 6 from each group, alongside the 4 highest placed teams that did not make the cut. In the first round, the best of 5 series must take place between 14.12 – 20.12, with the winners progressing to the round of 32 after Christmas. Here is a full list of the playoff matchups in round 1. Now that the technicalities are out the way, let’s delve into the top playoff games: Rahinakaukalo vs Taskubilis One of the few predictions that turned out to be correct in the mid-season report was that Rahinakaukalo would go unbeaten. The number 1 seeds enter the playoffs with 18 wins from 18, and with the best defence having conceded the lowest number of goals in Neo. Despite their imperious record, they don’t have a single representative in Neo’s top 20 point scorers, which suggests that their team first attitude is not limited solely to their cohesion on defence. Taskubilis are the number 64 seeds this year. Despite missing out through the top 6, Taskubilis have the highest number of goals scored out of the 4 additional teams and won 3 of their last 4 games to secure the final playoff spot. It is a very difficult ask for Taskubilis, and it will prove difficult for them to spend a lot of time in the opposition offensive zone against a team that like to keep the puck, anything good they can do will come from their Talisman forward @Jalitmane10. Up against the lowest rank seed, expect Rahinakaukalo to continue their impressive form. Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/rahinakaukalo/ Uknighted HC vs Kiekkonorpat From the best defence in Neo, to the best offence in Neo. Another team that held out from the mid-season report, Uknighted HC top their group, averaging 6.72 goals per game on their way to the top. Four blowout games where the knights put up more than 12 goals on the opposition shows they don’t take their foot off the gas even when the game is won. The Knights also sport the number 7 best skater by points in @Flo_Lomp and the number 3 defensemen in @Nr-0847, who holds the highest assists in Neo for defencemen. Kiekkonorpat left it very late to mount their playoff push, 4 wins in their last 6 games, and a point in their penultimate game by taking Norrland to OT proved to be enough to take them to the promised land. It’s a tough draw for the 63 seeds, they haven’t been blown out since early in the season, and while they do score goals, their trouble has still been keeping the goals out. With the best offence and the best playmaking D-man in the league, it’s difficult to bet against the Knights firing their way into the next round. Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ukn_tv Rostedtin Jetit vs HC Poteropojat In a tightly contested Group 1 win. Rostedtin Jetit had to watch as closest rivals Reign attempted to overhaul a 30-goal differential against bottom of the table Polish Patriots to win the group. Reign fell short however, and the Jets held out. The Jets are led by experience captain @rGinnu who is no stranger to the ECL scene. Previous appearances in Elite and eSHL have served him well as he holds a comfortable lead at the top of the Neo stats table (63+35=98). It might be top opposition that they are facing but HC Poteropojat had a nasty habit of taking their group games to OT. They don’t score many goals, but for a team that qualified from outside the top 6, they don’t concede too many either. They have a very reliable goalie in @Mikse94 and Poteropojat lost every game where he was absent in net. With that said, it is difficult to see where how they are going to trouble Rostedtin Jetit offensively. Expect one way traffic toward Poteropojat’s goal. Deggendorfer SC Esports vs Remparts Tours eSports 2 Talking of good goalies, Deggendorfer will have Neo’s number 1 ranked goalie on the ice for their game against Remparts in @Zefix. To continue with this stat led preview, they also will be icing the number 4 Skater in @blechi12 and two defensemen from the top 10 in @Johannes.Helmbrecht and @Jules. The German side go into this game as hot favourites, having lost just 1 game in their last ten. With the 1 loss being a dead rubber encounter in their final group game. For Remparts, it will be a big ask. After some close encounters early in the season, the French side made it their mission to either win by a big margin or lose by a big margin. They are a physical side and are one of Neo’s top teams in hits. Getting physical and hoping to disrupt Deggendorfer’s offence might be their best bet if they want to get out of the first round. Vemppaosasto vs HC Northmen Despite losing 3 of their first 4 games of the season. Vemppaosasto went on an excellent 12 game winning streak to win Group 9. In a battle between the Finnish sides silky brand of hockey vs Dynamo Dragons more direct approach of throwing the puck on net at every opportunity, Vemppaosasto took the group by a single point. HC Northmen are the lowest of the Top 6 Group qualifiers with the 60th seed. The key to their success has been Powerplay goals, with a 46% conversion rate, impressive for a team lower down in the group table. Unfortunately for them, Vemppaosasto boast one of Neo’s best PK units. With a 94% success rate during box play, and they don’t give up many penalties either. Vemppaosasto are on the lower end of the goals scored table for Group winners, so there is always some hope for the underdogs, but not too much. Pinaattikone vs Million Plus Pinaattikone won Group 2 by winning their final two group games in OT, so the winning mindset is certainly there to match their ability. In a group with many other contenders for the top, Pinaattikone ground out win after win in the race for a top seeding spot in the playoffs. Furthermore, having iced just 6 players all season, they have one of the most cohesive units in Neo. Million Plus go into the playoffs in terrible form. They have lost their last 4 games, 2 of which were against the bottom team in the Group. They do tend to save their better performances for games against better teams and picked up wins early in the season against some of their groups top sides. They need to shore up on defence in this tie after averaging 4 goals conceded a game in the last 6 matches. They go up against a Pinaattikone side who will relish the chance to show their scoring prowess. Finnish Finishers vs Enkopings SK HK eSPORT The Finishers have the Top Scoring Defensemen in Neo in @MoisionMessier and he will look to continue his scoring record into the playoffs against Enkopings. The Finishers took the Group despite losing in their final fixture after challengers EHC TATNEFT AK BARS collapsed in their final game against X6tence Hockey. Another strength of the Finnish Finishers is in Net, a strong Group stage showing was rounded up by a standout performance by @ollihmollih in the penultimate game of the group. A game which ultimately gave the Finishers the group win. Enkopings enter the playoffs after an inconsistent performance in Group 9, unable to string more than 3 wins in a row all season, a 2nd period rally took them to OT against the aforementioned Vemppaosasto, and that was enough to take them to playoffs at the expense of EASHL Russia. Defensive struggles have been the problem for Enkopings, they have chopped and changed goalies in an effort to fix their GA, but to little avail. Not great news when you play the league’s top scoring Dman… SCB eSports vs EHC Traktor Chelyabinsk SCB eSports appeared to take it personally when I suggested in the mid-season report that they were happy to be a mid-table playoff side and responded by firing themselves into a three-way tie breaker at the top of Group 4 with Hannover and Ultimatum. The Swiss side were big scorers in their group and will take the same high-octane offence into this playoff encounter. Chelyabinsk enters the playoffs from Group 6 in one of the closest playoff races, with their 2 wins over HC Poteropojat, and a surprise win over Latvian Warriors in the run in, being enough to guarantee them Playoff hockey. For a playoff side, they took a lot of penalties, with more than a third of their total PIM’s coming from a single player. With an average PK unit, and with a dangerous opposition in SCB, the Russians need to keep everyone on the ice to have any chance of victory in this one. Latvian Warriors vs 3TUNA le Sport A very interesting playoff fixture here, Latvian Warriors enter the playoffs as the least in form Group leader. Two losses in their final two group games didn’t give them the best of endings to the regular season. Also, going to OT was the theme of their season and they won just 3 of their 6 OT games. With this said, they are still group winners and have some excellent defence to thank for this. They have conceded just 28 goals all season and the Warriors played in 13 games separated by just one goal. They have a top 10 goalie and the ability to wear teams down by taking them all the way. 3Tuna also enter the playoffs in poor form. A good start to the season was soon forgotten as they crashed to two defeats, one in OT, against playoff hunting rivals Kiekkonorpat, they followed this up with two losses against the number 1 seed Rihinakaukalo which almost saw them slide out the playoffs. Strangely however, they still enter the playoffs having scored more goals than the Latvian Warriors, I don’t understand it either but there we have it. This will be a really interesting one, one of the league’s best defence vs a leaky defence, the leagues poorest group winning offence vs a mid-table offence. Keep an eye on this matchup for sure. Goosebumps vs Ettan IK Goosebumps won Group 3 in a four-way tie breaker, after one of the closest fought groups in Neo history. They boast a top 5 offence in neo after putting up 103 goals in the regular season and despite this only had one skater in the top 20 points scorers, @Nagneigel. Goosebumps have points coming from all over the ice with three other skaters also putting up over 40 points for the regular season. They don’t seem too bothered about defending, and why would you when you spend so much time in the oppositions zone. Ettan are not a bad side either though. They took 20 points in group 10, a tally that would have seen them much higher placed in a few other Neo groups. They gave group winners Deggendorfer a scare early in the season and seem to have only gotten better since their early season defeats. They lost only narrowly to the other challengers in Group 10 so do not rule Ettan out of this one. If they can frustrate Goosebumps on offense then this tie is up for grabs, with that said, I am not sure if you can bet against a team that managed to win Group 3. Congratulations on qualification and best of luck to all Neo teams! See you in round 2!