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NHLGamers, It's been a long road and at the end of it, one team stands supreme, having conquered all challenges they've faced throughout the season. The ECL 11 Lite Finals were an emotional rollercoaster for both players and fans, as we witnessed Bjorkloven Esport fight back from a 3-1 deficit to clinch the championship and eventually hoist the trophy! Bjorkloven Esports' road to the championship: Group stage: 22-2-2 Round 1: Baby Goons 4-1 Round 2: Taavetin Starat 4-1 Round 3: Golden Nights 4-1 Quarterfinals: Oton Letkutemppu 4-0 Semifinals: Hotbox 4-3 Finals: Exerceo 4-3 The winning roster: GOALTENDERS #32 @Kallmanius #59 @Mrantonn DEFENSEMEN #4 @MaciPapi #57 @LegendenKurtz_(AG_Jarl) FORWARDS #14 @BlizzakDevine #16 @Tacterz #93 @olgaaa71 #96 @Kumbik Playoff MVP: #93 @olgaaa71 - Bjorkloven Esport (33 GP, 41+27=68) Congratulations to the champions on behalf of the entire community, and a warm thank you to all participants! If you missed the broadcast, you can rewatch it here:

NHLGamers, Two months ago we started the ECL 11 Pro season with 32 teams and over 260 players. Along the way we saw great games, beautiful goals and some surprises. In the end it’s fair to say that the favorites didn’t disappoint us this season. GOONS and Enigma are the best two teams of the season and they’ve deserved the spotlight of the ECL 11 Pro finals. One of these teams will win the cup and earn the direct promotion to the ECL Elite. Without further ado let’s take a look at our finalists. The ECL 11 Pro Finals will be played tonight, on Monday, 8th of February at 20:00 CET and on Wednesday, 10th of February at 19:45 CET. (1) GOONS Road to finals Regular season: 1st in Group 1 (25-4-1) Playoffs round 1: 4-0 vs Sack Brothers Quarterfinals: 4-0 vs RCTIC Semifinals: 4-2 vs ZSC Esports Predicted starting roster and playoffs stats LW: @pikkuroger: 14GP (23+34=57p) C: @xKeskitalo: 14GP (17+26=43p) RW: @kriketski17: 14GP (21+26=47p) LD: @viba2008: 14GP (3+8=11p) RD: @Miika: 14GP (1+14=15p) G: @SanteriAK47: 14GP (80,56%, 2 GAA, 1SO) Backup players: @McSEPPO @yolonaattori69 (profiilipakki) @Aitis GOONS have had an almost perfect run to the finals. They were the best team in the regular season and in the playoffs the team have crushed their opponents game after game. The team was still without a loss in the playoffs before the semifinal series against ZSC Esports, but the Swiss Lions fought bravely and managed to beat GOONS twice. Despite GOONS being clear winners of the series, ZSC Esports exposed the mortality of their opponents and proved there are some vulnerabilities in GOONS' playing as well. This sends an encouraging message to their final opponents but also helps GOONS to keep their feet grounded. (6) Enigma Road to finals Regular season: 3rd in Group 1 (20-9-1) Playoffs round 1: 4-0 vs Company of Geeks Quarterfinals: 4-1 vs Vaxjo Lakers Semifinals: 4-2 vs Tunnel Vision Predicted starting roster and playoffs stats LW: @Nieppii: 15GP (10+24=34p) C: @laitineen64: 15GP (14+20=34p) RW: @sannteri : 15GP (17+8=25p) LD: @Makeaxl: 15GP (2+11=13p) RD: @zNico: 15GP (1+9=10p) G: @Pirtsa89 : 15GP (79,28%, 1,53 GAA, 1SO) Backup players: @Tappu @Torpantienkovalchuk (JumalanTuhnu) @Jaakkomusta Enigma had a rough start for the season but they managed to improve the further the competition progressed. Especially the last two series wins against Vaxjo Lakers and Tunnel Vision proved that the team has left all their worries behind and are playing with their full potential. The team has been able to turn really close games to their favor and I like to believe they want to continue the same trend in the finals as well. This is the second time in a row that Enigma is playing in the Pro finals so the experience is on their side. However their opponent won’t get any easier than last time against Black Horse. NHLGamer decided to contact the captains of both teams for a short interview. Both teams answered the same questions and they haven’t seen their opponents answers: 1. Your team managed to secure the Pro finals spot in an impressive way. What do you think is the key factor behind the success? Were you convinced already at the start of the season that the finals and possible championship are realistic goals for your team? Before the season started, when I decided to establish GOONS, our aim was to become one of the top teams in the league and to make it even close to the realistic target we needed to sign top players. I introduced the project to @kriketski17 who became excited and started working on gathering a competitive team for the season. I already knew the potential of @pikkuroger and @viba2008, and Kriketski signed the rest of the players to the team. The last piece in the puzzle was when Kriketsi and his team at that time JYP Jyvaskyla made an agreement of the player himself moving to our team. After adding Kriketsi I personally became certain that it would require a really great team to beat GOONS in a seven game series and since then our only goal has been winning the Pro championship. - @Aitis I would say the reasons are the same as in the previous season - individual talent, experience and trusting your own doing. Our team spirit is really good and we are constantly looking for ways to improve our game and willing to hear new advice from each other. As last seasons finalists we were hungry for winning the championship this time but we started the season really poorly. However after we decided to sign young prodigy @laitineen64 to our team, things started to work out and we have had a strong belief in our team again. The main goal was to reach the Elite relegation series but of course we are working towards championship and hopefully we will be able to win it. - @Nieppii 2. What do you think are your biggest strengths in the finals compared to your opponents? We will just play our own game and enjoy. It should be enough to win the cup. - @viba2008 Our strength is in teamplay. We have a great chemistry and everything new we plan to do seems to work out. For example in the Tunnel Vision series we managed to win one of the games following a faceoff set play that we were working on in practice mode. Above all we also have strength between the pipes. @Pirtsa89 has been playing very well and he has saved many almost certain goals. - @sannteri 3. How will the final series end? The final series will end 4-1 in GOONS' favor. Enigma has been able to improve their game during the season and the games will be really tight, but GOONS will bring the cup home. - @Aitis The final series will certainly be tight and small things will make a difference. I would say our sauna is ready for the cup after a 4-2 series win. - @Nieppii As you can see from the answers, both teams are very confident to see the cup in their own sauna after the finals. Especially GOONS are very certain that they don’t need to change a thing in their playing and that’s something we all can really agree on. Enigma has found the winning patterns during the season which they believe will lead them to become the champions. There is also a little mind games in the answers as Enigma would like to pile the pressure on GOONS side. However they are not settling for underdogs status and have a lot of faith in their changes. Interesting points to follow: Former JYP Jyvaskyla teammates right winger @kriketski17 and left defender @Makeaxl will go head to head in opposite teams. There are two players from last seasons champions Black Horse. Enigma center @laitineen64 and GOONS defender @Miika. Which of the players will be able to secure the back to back Pro championship? GOONS and Enigma played against each other in the regular season. GOONS was able to win both games (3-2 and 2-5) but this happened before Enigma signed their key player @laitineen64. Both centermen have pretty similar numbers in faceoff stats (49,7% vs 50,4%) so every faceoff will be decisive. GOONS forwards have over 40% average shooting percentage and they all have scored over 40 points each in the playoffs. Enigma needs to keep these numbers in check if they want to win. Prediction: It’s really hard to pick the favorites for the finals especially after Enigma’s great display against Tunnel Vision who plays with quite similar strengths as compared to GOONS. As captain Nieppi said in the interview, the playoff experience is on Enigma’s side but on the other hand inexperience on the GOONS side hasn't shown in any way this season. The series will be extremely tight and the games will end with minimal goal margins. I believe Enigma will benefit from their excellent form and previous seasons experience ultimately lifting the trophy after a game seven win. Enigma will win the series 4-3. What does the community think? Even though Enigma is now predicted to win the cup, I would still keep the sauna warm in the GOONS camp as well. GOONS has been absolutely outstanding this season but Enigma has once again plowed through adversity to the finals. As always we wish you enjoy the series and cheer for your favorite team. You don’t want to miss this!

NHLGamers, It is with great joy that we announce today the latest addition to our variety of regional leagues, the Western European Championship League. Besides being our official league for the countries of France, Spain and the UK, the WECL is for us the opportunity to cover a lot more countries under the NHLGamer umbrella and allow them to compete on the excellent standards of our leagues. In the WECL, we also invite a multitude of other smaller European virtual hockey markets and allow them to grow in our league framework. Without further delay, we will start going over a few important details on when and how the inaugural season will happen, and we encourage all the players that want to take part to review our specific rulebook. SIGN UP FOR THE WECL HERE! Season start At the moment of this announcement, our newly-created sub-forum has also gone live, you can find this on the community page where all the leagues are already represented. This also opens the sign-ups period, that will be open until the 17th of February at 23:59 CET. After this, the teams will be grouped and posted for a regular season scheduled to start on Monday, February 22nd. As a league that hopefully sees new teams that have not competed in the ECL before, we wanted to make sure not to overwhelm anyone with the pace of gamedays, and maintained a similar pace to the one in ECL Neo - two matchups per week for each team. The league will be concluding mid-April, naturally depending on how far your team progresses. Top Team status For competitive reasons, Grenoble BDL Esport and Remparts de Tours Esport have been granted top team status as the highest ranked teams in the ECL structure eligible for participation, and they will be drawn into separate groups to start the season if the number of teams allows for a two group format. This of course, should they choose to sign up. Regional scope of the WECL As a regional league, the WECL has three officially recognized countries (ES, FR and UK). However, teams based in countries that are not already represented in the current (ongoing or not) NHLGamer regional leagues (CSCL, GCL, RCL, FCL and SCL) are also eligible to take part. Teams from the following countries are eligible for the WECL and their players don’t count against the foreign player cap: Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia France Georgia Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Turkey Ukraine UK Vatican City Teams from the following countries are already eligible for another regional league and cannot sign teams up, players will also count against the foreign player cap: Czech Republic Slovakia Germany Austria Switzerland Russia Finland Sweden Players from these countries are counted against a limit of 2 foreign players on the roster. English is considered the only official language of the WECL and all communications sent out regarding the Championship, or exchanged with the LA will be in this language. Users are free, however, to use English, French or Spanish in the league’s own sub-forum. Skill cap As stated, teams are allowed 2 foreign players in the roster. This is to help teams that are possibly struggling to find enough players to complete their roster otherwise. In addition to that, we will also add a skill cap for the foreign players, meaning that any player counting against the foreign player cap cannot have played in either ECL Elite or Pro within the past two competitive seasons. (Ex. A player that has played in ECL Pro in season 10, but in Lite in season 11 is not eligible, whereas if they would have player in Pro in season 9 and in Lite in season 10 and 11, they would be eligible for participation.) To make it short: up to two foreign players having played in Neo, Lite or no divisions of the ECL over the past two seasons are eligible to be registered. Exceptions Teams can be granted an exceptional status for example if half of their roster is from a foreign country by nature and it is clear that the team has competed in the same formation for an extended period of time. For example a team that is half French and half Swiss could apply for such an exception if they can prove that they have stuck with the formation in question for a longer time. An exception can be handed out in such situation if explained properly to the LA beforehand. Additionally, teams from regions not covered can also contact the LA for an exception (IE, teams from North Africa). We will not be shy about granting exceptions to teams unable to compete in other regional leagues, so please reach out to our support if you might have any questions. As stated in the beginning, please familiarize yourself with our rulebook as the above fragments are only a tiny part of the entire ruleset. Hoping for an enjoyable tournament for everyone involved, I invite you to participate in the inaugural season of the WECL! Many thanks and see you on the ice!

NHLGamers, We have received the devastating news that a beloved member of the community - Sami @Ampuhaukka Luoma passed away at the young age of 41 this past Friday. Sami was a family man and a long-time community member, who enjoyed spending his pastime playing the NHL series in good company. Over the years several of us had the privilege to play alongside this man and he touched many of our lives in one way or another. To honor Sami's memory, some of his past teammates and friends have shared some of their memories below: - @Tzon93 - @l-Furyan-l - @Lamsa A word from @Kenu on behalf of NHLGamer: I would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family, friends and teammates of Sami in this tragic loss. I was in touch with Sami in early January and he spoke about his plans to build a team together with @pelimies80 and he had some questions around the upcoming season. It's hard to accept that that discussion was the last chance I got to talk to him. I didn't know Sami well, but I did talk a lot of ECL with him throughout the years and also remember trying out for his team back in the day. He was always polite, positive and fun to talk to and I he will be missed. During his career of 227 games as a right defenseman in the ECL Sami racked up 26 goals and 125 assists, totalling 151 points. Aside from the the ECL, he was also active in a lot of our other leagues. You can see his full career stats below. The staff at NHLGamer extends our heartfelt condolences to everyone touched by Sami during his lifetime. Please also share your memory in the comment section if you wish to do so.