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NHLGamers, The RCL 7 season ended not so far ago, which pleased us not only with a prize pool of 100,000 rubles, but also an excellent finals battle where the reigning champions Nova battled the newcomer Show Time, who unexpectedly were able to get to the finals in their first ever season. The series turned out to be quite predictable, Nova showed who the champions are and for the second time in a row took the title and the heftiest chunk of prize money. Although it is worth noting that throughout the entire season Show Time showed promising results and gave hope to their fans. Naturally the league is developing, in small steps. First of all, the progress in teams is encouraging. The level over the past two seasons has become increasingly competitive, both within the RCL Pro division, where the players' skills have grown in understanding of team play, and on the European ice, where many Russian teams have shown a good battle, and most importantly, beautiful and spectacular hockey with many dangerous combinations and cunning attacks. However, we know there is still room to grow even more. RCL 8 Schedule Regular season 29.03-1.5 Playoffs 10.5-6.6 The RCL 8 season starts with qualifiers for four open spots in the Pro division already played out. Besides serving as qualifiers, these games also were opportunities for many teams to show what they are truly capable of, and many of them surprised us. Here is the list of qualifier participants, the four strongest teams got a promotion. The qualifiers showed some really tough games and teams battled to get into the RCL Pro division and will now try themselves in the strongest Russian Championship League division - of course also trying to win that prize pool money. The teams that did qualify for the RCL Pro division are: Blackdawgs Seventy Sixers Barys eSports HC KOROBKA Teams to watch NOVA -> METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK RCL 6 and RCL 7 Champions! Despite their new lineup, there is no doubting this squads skill. Under the leadership of Captain Maksim @Haiissey Trukhanov, Nova will reach an even higher level. Adding to their motivation is also their freshly inked deal with KHL club Metallurg Magnitogorsk. In the off-season, the team underwent minor changes, and with great confidence the team will continue preforming up to their impressive standards. The core of the team has been preserved, and the captain knows how to motivate his guys to achieve the best result. In my opinion, METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK has few weaknesses on the ice starting with the goalie between the pipes and ending with the offense, they are very strong players with excellent vision of the ice and great experience on the thumbsticks. Their main challenger this season is Blackdawgs, as several players moved from METALLURG to Blackdawgs in the offseason. That certainly adds another layer to watching the battle between these two teams. Placement after regular season: 1st-2nd Player to watch: Evgeniy @mons3223 Mons is a former Alliance HT player and has some valuable ECL Pro experience, with the first Russian club to compete at that level. Definitely a player of this calibre strengthens the team a lot and he will definitely demonstrate his class during the upcoming season. Rusty Bulls -> Barys eSports Barys eSports - the former Rusty Bulls squad, finished 8th in RCL 7, which was painful for the club. In the playoffs in the first round, suffered a defeat to the eventual champs Nova. Over the past couple of years, the team found themselves in a difficult position, it is obviously hard to draw conclusions from the outside and we can only see the result of this struggle. However, every year the league is getting stronger, and the competition is getting tougher. The ambitions of the two-time RCL champions do not allow the bar to be lowered and require new changes. What did the new captain @-Tarr- do, then? To begin with, a new path was chosen. One you can say to be in the trend of events - this is the signing of a contract with the KHL club Barys Nur-Sultan. Where it will lead only time will tell, but this is definitely a positive for Russian virtual hockey and for NHLGamer as a whole. The team has successfully qualified and is ready to take the ice. Let the performances speak for themselves. Placement after regular season: 4th-7th Player to watch: Kristers @PSchibra Bauers, the former ECL Pro player for Finnish Roosters. He was one of the best playmakers in his club and will definitely be the leading player in Barys eSport, expecting a lot of big assists and game winning goals. Virtuoso With the arrival of the "musicians" in the ranks of RCL, many people fussed and began to worry. What kind of club is this, champions from the Xbox platform? A dark horse or perhaps a Trojan horse even? Well, yes - Virtuoso have become a problem for many clubs in the tournament. The skilled ensemble did not let anyone off the hook easy and is now feared as one of the most dangerous and unpredictable opponents. Last RCL season was not the most successful for the club but we must pay tribute to the team captain Alexander @DeLuRe_09 Mytnik, he never rested on his laurels and was not going to hang up the skates. Every season he assembles a line-up that is ready to make sparks on the ice like only Virtuoso can do and this season is no exception. Placement after regular season: 5th-8th Player to watch: @The Great Dany returned to the team. Being a dangerous and cunning player, he will always find surprising solutions in the attacking zone and no goalkeeper will rest easy facing this guy. So be sure to follow him in the statistics and of course watch the Virtuoso matches. HC CORSAIR The team that lost their spot in RCL Pro after finishing last in the RCL 7 regular season will now try to reclaim their pride in the Lite division. Through restructuring and strengthening, the oldest club in the league is ready to go to battle with any of the teams of the Lite division, hopefully achieving their end goal of promotion. Mega The new unusual club for RCL Lite, consists entirely of Russian players living in Germany, earning the right to play in the GCL championship in the 3rd division simultaneously. The team is very successful in their GCL division, which bodes well for Mega going forward. I think this preseason training will give a lot of advantages over other RCL Lite teams. The new season will be even more competitive and more interesting than before, a lot of intrigue, a lot of emotions are involved as we go into the toughest season yet. Share your thoughts and predictions on who will be the new champion and who your favourite RCL Pro or Lite team is in the comments. Love hockey, live hockey! See you on the virtual ice and on the website. Thank you for staying with us throughout the years and for following the development of the league! This is a translation of the RCL 8 Season Preview, to read in Russian, click here. Translated with the help of @CMB-wf-.

NHLGamers, Не успел закончится сезон RCL 7, который нас порадовал не только призовым фондом в 100.000 тыс.руб. но и отличным финалом, где действующие чемпионы «Nova» сразились с новичком «Show time», который неожиданно для всех смог выйти в финал в своём первом в истории сезоне. Серия оказалась довольно предсказуемой, «Nova» показали кто тут чемпионы и второй раз кряду забрали титул и хороший призовой. Хотя стоит отметить что на протяжении всего сезона «Show time» показывали многообещающий результат, и давали надежду своим новоиспечённым фанатам. Лига развивается, хоть и небольшими шагами. Прежде всего радует прогресс в командах. Уровень за последние два сезона стал конкурентным, как внутри RCL Pro дивизиона, где мастерство игроков выросло в понимании командной игры, так и на европейской площадке, где многие русские клубы оказывают успешное сопротивление, а главное красивый и зрелищный хоккей с множеством опасных комбинаций и хитрых атак. Но всё равно есть куда стремится. RCL 8 Расписание Регулярный сезон: 29.03-1.05 Плей-офф: 10.05-6.06 На старте нового сезона RCL 8, будет ряд изменений в регламенте которые помогут улучшить конкурентоспособность команд, и наведут порядок в некоторых пунктах. В RCL 8 состоялась предсезонная квалификация в Pro дивизион. Появилось много команд которые способны о себе заявить, и думаю, приготовили для нас сюрпризы. Вот список участников квалификации, четыре сильнейших отправились на повышение. Отборочные показали действительно сложные игры, где команды дрались за попадание в дивизион RCL Pro и будут испытывать себя в сильнейшем дивизионе Russian Championship League. Новые участники вступают в борьбу за призовой фонд и постараются его получить. В дивизион RCL Pro прошли следующие команды: Blackdawgs. Seventy Sixers. Barys eSports. HC KOROBKA. NOVA -> METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK Чемпионы RCL 6 и RCL 7! В мастерстве обновлённого состава даже нет смысла сомневаться. Под руководством капитана Максима @Haiissey Труханова «Nova» выходит на более высокий уровень. Было заключено соглашение с хоккейным клубом KHL «METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK», игроки будут представлять их на кибер-арене. В межсезонье в команде произошли незначительные изменения, появились новые имена, с большой уверенностью команда покажет такой же впечатляющий результат. Основа команды сохранилась, а капитан умеет настроить своих парней на победу. На мой взгляд у «METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK» нет слабых сторон, все линии начиная воротами и заканчивая нападением очень сильны, игроки с прекрасным видением площадки и огромным опытом за плечами. Главный конкурент в сезоне RCL 8 «Blackdawgs», несколько игроков «METALLURG» теперь будут представлять этот клуб. От этого ещё интереснее наблюдать за ледовым сражением этих двух коллективов. Положение в турнирной таблице: 1-2 Игрок за которым стоит следить: Евгений @mons3223 Монс, бывший участник Alliance HT. Клуб ранее выступал в ECL Pro, был первым русским клубом который поднялся так высоко и успешно выступал на европейской профессиональной площадке. Определенно хоккеист такого калибра очень усилит команду и обязательно продемонстрирует свой класс в новом сезоне. Rusty Bulls -> Barys eSports Barys eSports, бывший коллектив команды Rusty Bulls в сезоне RCL 7 заняли 8-ю строчку, что стало для клуба болезненным. В плей-офф в первом раунде потерпели поражение всё от того же клуба «Nova» нынешний «METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK». За последнии пару лет команда оказалась в таком нелицеприятном положении. Конечно сложно делать вывод со стороны, мы лишь можем видеть результат этого. С каждым годом лига становилась всё сильнее, а конкуренция всё выше. Амбиции двукратных чемпионов RCL 2 и RCL 3 не дают понизить планку, и требуют изменений. Чем и займётся новый капитан команды Casterly @-Tarr-. Для начала был выбран путь, можно сказать быть в тренде событий - это подписание контракта с клубом KHL «Barys». Сейчас всё больше и больше клубов RCL делают такой шаг. Куда он привёд покажет только время, но это безусловно плюс для русского киберхоккея и для NHLGamer в целом. Barys успешно прошли квалификацию и готовы плавить лёд. Пожелаем лишь удачи, в этом нелегком деле. Положение в турнирной таблице: 4-7 Игрок за которым стоит следить: @PSchibra бывший участник ECL Pro «Finnish Roosters» был одним из лучших разыгрывающих в своём клубе. Будет ведущим игроком в «Barys eSport», ждём большое количество передач и решающие шайбы. Virtuoso С появлением «музыкантов» в рядах RCL многие засуетились и начали переживать. «Что же это за клуб такой, чемпионы с платформы Xbox!?» «Тёмная лошадка или всё же Троянский конь!?» И да, «Virtuoso» стали проблемой для многих клубов в чемпионате. «Троянский конь» не давал спокойно дышать на льду и всегда был в рядах опасных и непредсказуемых соперников. Прошлый сезон RCL 7 был не самым успешным для клуба. Но надо отдать должное капитану команды Александру @DeLuRe_09Мытнику, он никогда не поднимал клюшку на плечо и не собирался вешать коньки на гвоздь. Каждый сезон он формирует состав который готов дать огня на льду под звуки виртуозных щелчков клюшек. Этот сезон не исключение. Положение в турнирной таблице: 5-8 Игрок за которым стоит следить: В состав команды вернулся zGrtDanny @The Great Danyопасный и хитрый игрок, он всегда найдёт нестандартное решение в атаке и ни один вратарь не уйдёт со льда с сухарём. Так что обязательно следите за статистикой и конечно смотрите матчи «Virtuoso». HC CORSAIR Команда потеряла место в RCL Pro заняв последнюю строчку в регулярном сезоне RCL 7 и вылетела в дивизион Lite. Путём перестройки и усилений, старейший клуб лиги готов в полной мере дать бой любой из команд дивизиона Lite, и постараются вернуться в высшую лигу. Mega Новый необычный клуб RCL Lite, состоит полностью из русских игроков проживающих в Германии, чем и заслужили право выступать в чемпионата GCL в дивизионе 3. Команда очень успешно себя показывает в GCL, первый раунд плей-офф прошли 4-1. Думаю такая предсезонная подготовка даст преимущество перед другими участниками RCL Lite. Желаем удачи данному коллективу, и честной борьбы на льду. Новый сезон будет ещё сильнее, интереснее. Много интриг много эмоций, и переживаний за любимые команды. Следите за новостями, делитесь мыслями и предположениями кто будет новый чемпион. Кто ваш фаворит гонки RCL Pro или Lite, пишите в комментариях. Любите хоккей, живите хоккеем! Увидимся на виртуальном льду и на сайте! Спасибо что остаётесь с нами на протяжении долгих лет и следите за развитием лиги.

NHLGamers, As per the recent PlayStation blog release, Sony has decided to remove the Community feature on the PlayStation 4 in April 2021. Therefore our beloved PS4 community, where you could instantly find players or teams for the evening, will be gone. It will be missed and remembered, like a good childhood memory. However, PlayStation will continue to allow messaging and connecting just as before on your PS4, PS5 and the PS app. Ever since the release of the PS5, which was released with no community feature, NHLGamer staff has been hard at work and improved our Discord server services for you! By working together as a community we can bring the people from the disappearing PS Community to the NHLGamer Discord, migrating our communications hub to that platform. This way we don't lose the chance to effectively find free players for the evening and for clubs to offer that free spot for you! That being said we would really appreciate your help with sharing our Discord server using the link - nhlgamer.com/discord and helping us reunite here at the NHLGamer Discord server. We will continue to improve our server to make your stay here pleasant! TL;DR: Share our discord link nhlgamer.com/discord in order to keep an efficient communications hub for all NHLGamers.

NHLGamers, The ECL 11 Elite season was an exceptional run of virtual hockey in more ways than one. Not only are we living in a time of the world where many of us are confined to staying home in an attempt to keep ourselves and the ones around us safe, but we might also me finding new interests or time to put into our existing ones. Despite COVID-19 torturing the world for an extended period of time already, it has alongside the challenges posed, opened up a great amount of opportunities for our scene and has potentially served as a growth catalyst. Not only the times are exceptional, but so are the individuals at the ECL Elite level too. ECL 11 Elite was a record-breaking parade for eventual champion FILADELPHIA, who set a new regular season wins & point total record while also setting a new regular season shutout record (@ICappeI) in the process. There's no denying how supreme the black and orange currently reign and with this season recap, as customary, we'll be taking a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of the ECL 11 Elite season. In order to serve as a baseline, here is how the teams ranked to end the season, with our season preview ranking for reference: 1. FILADELPHIA (2nd) 2. hREDS (1st) 3. HAVU Gaming (3rd) 4. JYP Jyvaskyla (5th) 5. Farjestad BK (8th) 6. Northern Ascendancy (9th) 7. Vesa Pompa (11th) 8. Roots (4th) 9. SJ Gaming (13th) 10. KOVA Esports (7th) 11. SAWO Esports (14th) 12. YMCA Esports (6th) 13. Gotham Knights (10th) 14. Team Leisure (12th) 15. Conquer Gaming (16th) 16. Dark Horse (15th) *Final ECL 11 Elite position, playoff teams ranked by playoff wins Some quite bold predictions were made, but except for a few major anomalies, the general outlook of the predictions are quite close in comparison to the final results. Now when assessing a teams performance, obviously the bottom line is the finishing position, but we need to remember that in a division like ECL 11 Elite with the 16 top teams of Europe, if not the world, the margins are incredibly slim from time to time. The topics that were discussed when it comes to the cream of the crop - namely HAVU Gaming and hREDS - prior to the season were mainly whether HAVU could keep their level of performance after making a roster change for the first time since ECL 8 and if hREDS would finally fulfill their full potential. What goes for FILADELPHIA, we knew that we'd be getting their usual solid and stable effort that seems to have reached an all time high this season. Then, when it comes to the rest of the playoff teams, there are a lot of opinions but I suppose most people have a general idea of the few "segments" in the Elite division and while we'd be beating a dead horse by continuing the discussion on that note, we'll be focusing on the trends over the course of the season. POWER RANKINGS - SEASON TRENDS The above graph describing how teams have fared in the power rankings over the course of the season gives a decent idea of the form each team managed to keep up from week to week. Keep in mind that each week is evaluated as a completely individual entity, not only amount of collected points matter, but also perceived difficulty of schedule. Regular season The first week of the regular season served as a great taste of what was to come throughout the season and it was surely good to see an unprecedented amount of talent in the booth with all of Cody @Tougie24 Tougas, Paul @Cyn Anderson, Nick @f5penguin DiMeo, Drew Golfdarb, Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Julius Sorjonen stepping up to provide their insight along with highlight reel calls throughout the season. Our very first featured matchup of the season unbeknownst to anyone at that point served as a preview for the finals with FILADELPHIA and hREDS going head-to-head and eventually splitting victories to kick it all off. On top of that, JYP Jyvaskyla and Farjestad BK showcased a long awaited rematch of last seasons upset rivalry, also splitting the wins, showing just how tough the battle ahead would be for all sixteen teams involved. Later on in the week, Joona @jm98II Muona scored a goal-of-the-season candidate against hREDS and Oskari @SibeIius Grönroos got his first goal of the season simultaneously being the first 6th skater goal of the campaign. FILADELPHIA, hREDS and HAVU Gaming started their seasons strong with YMCA Esports and SJ Gaming trailing close behind after an equally successful first week. All in all, a first week full of surprises led to SJ Gaming and Vesa Pompa somewhat surprisingly topping the tables. As we've seen over and over again in this division - nothing lasts forever, because HAVU Gaming or FILADELPHIA will take it away, which is exactly what happened causing the celebration of SJ Gaming and Vesa Pompa to be rather short-lived. Some highlights at this point of the season were definitely the clash between Swedish rivals Vesa Pompa and Farjestad BK that ended up being a split in a low-scoring matchup. At the top of the table, HAVU had managed to stay undefeated for eight games straight, whereas FILADELPHIA duo Erik @Eki Tammenpää and Paul @PleeMaker Arontie hovered at an impressive pace of 3 points per games and topping the stats after their first ten outings of the season. Notably, FILADELPHIA suffered their only regulation loss of the season at the hands of SJ Gaming at this point, in their fourth matchup of the campaign. Heading into the third week of the regular season, we knew that the midway point was nearing and with that also a holiday break that could do some good for some struggling teams. It was the week of goaltenders and former ones, as we broadcasted the third matchup of the season for Roots rookie netminder Kasper @Kaz_zu Ramstedt when his team went up against YMCA Esports and the youngster did not disappoint, securing a double shutout and some crucial points for his squad. Elsewhere, it was also becoming apparent that another rookie, Vesa Pompa signing Filip @Faze91- Azri had shown up to play and stay at the top, punching his ticket for the goalie of the season race. Remember that notion about former goalies? Well, Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen topped the scoring tables - take that, doubters. Coming back from a well deserved holiday break, it was apparent that Farjestad BK were going hard for the playoffs, a big week for the Swedes skyrocketed their position in the standings and despite matching up against some lower ranked teams, they surely did their due diligence by securing the points up for grabs. At this stage, Gotham Knights also had their little rays of light in an otherwise rather forgettable season, coming off an already good third week, they managed to steal a point from FILADELPHIA and got to see their defenseman Timi @Rimpe Rimpeläinen top the points by defensemen-table for a while, however with Roots' Väinö @vSilenttio Pietilä in hot pursuit. Rolling into the last two weeks of the season, we had a general idea of a few teams being ready for the playoffs, whereas some others were struggling mightily and were perhaps already preparing for eventual relegation battles. One of the struggling teams were SAWO ESPORTS, who hadn't been able to find their game throughout the season, but got some wind under their wings with big performances by long-time goaltender Juuso @Juizki Nikkinen, who managed to keep up a 249 minute and 17 second shutout streak, which might me an ECL Elite record. The battle for those last playoff spots was raging hard as ever and going into the last week, it was looking like Northern Ascendancy and Roots would manage to edge out the competition, being mainly SJ Gaming and KOVA Esports. As it all was said and done, no major changes in the standings occurred over the last few gamedays and we finished the season with as usual - the eight best teams going into the playoffs. Playoffs The ECL 11 Elite quarterfinals kicked off hot with a few very interesting matchups, with the one stealing most of the spotlight being the rematch between JYP Jyvaskyla (4th) and Farjestad BK (5th). The ECL 10 upset, where FBK rocked the division by eliminating #1 seed JYP was truly fresh in our memories and we were anxious to find out how the story would continue. Make no mistake - some tension was evident at the start of the series, but it was quickly made clear that this time, the story would be different and to no surprise, JYP Jyvaskyla managed to redeem themselves advancing to a semifinal matchup against none other than FILADELPHIA, who had made easy work of Northern Ascendancy (as they should have) in their quarterfinal bout. After a worrying colder run to finish off the last week of the regular season, HAVU Gaming was seen going up against Roots in the quarterfinals in the black and green battle, making quick work of the for now weaker Roots squad. The fourth and final quarterfinal matchup was also a rather one-sided show, between hREDS and Vesa Pompa, who really managed to prove us wrong this season by clawing their way into the playoffs. The semifinals were exciting all around, but the thunder was surely stolen by HAVU Gaming - hREDS, which ended up being the headline matchup. Despite their struggles, HAVU didn't look out of place at this stage of the season and had all the tools even to hoist the cup eventually, but hREDS were even better with their overpowering offensive strength and stellar play in net by experienced Mika @FinKonna Paasikontu. JYP Jyvaskyla were in over their heads trying to challenge the record-breaking FILADELPHIA squad but were after all able to keep every game close, coming just short in each battle. Eventually, two strong contenders entered the finals and if the season had been exceptional up to this point, this matchup stayed on that path. We're so used to seeing the two juggernauts FILADELPHIA and HAVU battle it out that hREDS were a very welcome breath of fresh air. The games were entertaining as they tend to be when the two most skilled teams clash, but unfortunately for the audience, the series was short lived. Whereas hREDS had been named the most skilled team in the league, FILADELPHIA is the strongest unit and there's no denying that. The time spent together with that group has gelled them into a true ECL dynasty, which is what pushed them to a clear ECL 11 Elite Championship. If you missed the finals, here's the broadcast of game 4 and all the celebration that ensued: AWARDS 🏆 Top 6 of ECL 11 Elite Joakim @Joukki Nyholm - Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala - Erik @Eki Tammenpää Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen - Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta Casper @ICappeI Lundgren Most Points: Joakim @Joukki Nyholm, hREDS, 46 Goals, 55 Assists, 101 Points in 44 games Most Goals: Joakim @Joukki Nyholm, hREDS, 46 Goals, 55 Assists, 101 Points in 44 games Most Assists: Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen, hREDS, 27 Goals, 70 Assists, 97 Points in 44 games Most Hits by a Forward: Christoffer @I-Maise-I Berntsson, Farjestad BK, 183 Hits in 36 games Best +/-: Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta, FILADELPHIA, +64 in 43 games Most Points by a Defenseman: Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen, hREDS, 18 Goals, 30 Assists, 48 Points in 44 games Most Goals by a Defenseman: Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen, hREDS, 18 Goals, 30 Assists, 48 Points in 44 games Most Assists by a Defenseman: Teemu @Xteemuz Polttila, hREDS, 8 Goals, 33 Assists, 41 Points in 44 games Most Hits by a Defenseman: Ari @FakiiR1 Palviainen, KOVA Esports, 200 Hits in 30 games Best goaltender (SV%): Johan @McSavid Rundqvist, Farjestad BK, 326 saves on 397 shots, SV% 82,12 in 36 games