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NHLGamers, Right before the start of the 12th iteration of the European Championship League, Swiss hockey club EHC Biel-Bienne signed the roster of former The Black Jacks! The 3-time Swiss champions from the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne are after ZSC Esports, HC Lugano, EHC Basel and SC Bern already the fifth professional club from Switzerland who enters the EA Sports NHL 6s scene. After being founded in 1939 and reaching their three titles in 1978, 1981 and 1983, EHCB had to gain promotion back to NLA (the Swiss top tier) in 2008. In their red and yellow, EHC Biel-Bienne is on their hunt for the playoffs – in real life as well as on the virtual ice! Team captain Bryan @CuteTerminator7 Bolliger looks optimistically to the future: "We want to represent the club in its best light and with that we also hope that other clubs from Switzerland will enter the esports scene. Maybe we will see even more teams from the NLA on NHLGamer? We want to develop as a team and improve our style of play. Making the Playoffs this ECL will be the next step as well as finishing as good as possible in the next German Championship League!" Captain CuteTerminator7, Oliver @Red09Dragon08 Knapp and Dean @Sm0kez13_Bachmann played together since GCL 6, where they managed to win the Division 2 Championship with the Redlight Jokers. After that season, former Zürich defenseman Mario @Cami_7 Camenzind rebranded the former The Black Jacks as a partner team of ZSC Esports and added the mentioned trio as well as goalie veteran Peter @wobfighter Stein and big EHCB supporter Kyle @KG12PK88 Grossen to the team. In their first ECL 11 campaign in Lite the team managed to secure a strong 6th place in Group 1 but eventually got swept by TTK in the first round of the playoffs. Before the start of GCL 7, Sebastian @Sebwies2139 Wieser joined the "Eidgenossen“ to complete the goalie duo and later on received the Rookie of the Season-trophy for his efforts. Kevin @Gregson91 Householder and Janick @Janick_97 (ovechkin97) Hauser also joined the club to strengthen their offensive force. The Black Jacks managed to gain promotion in the qualification tournament and underlined their ambition by making the playoffs on a solid 4th seed but eventually found an early exit against PENTA in Round 1. Before the start of ECL 12 Lite The Black Jacks started the cooperation with EHC Biel-Bienne and is currently in a tight battle for a spot in the playoffs in group 2! We welcome EHC Biel-Bienne eSports to NHLGamer and wish them good luck in their first season in red and yellow!

An exciting ECL 12 Lite regular season is about to reach the midway point. It is an appropriate time to review the season so far with all it's phenomenon and highlights. (The report was written on Sunday, May 23rd and reflects the situation at that point) Group 1 The favorite teams of this group were definitely Royal HT and TuTo Esports have not been directly dominant but have played more or less as expected. Royal HT hasn't lost any games in regular time and is looking to continue on that hot streak. However, some teams could be expected to be higher on in the standings, such as TIKI TALK, Murohoki and Ducktales BK. These squads are all at the moment below the playoff line looking up. There are plenty of matches left and TIKI TALK have fewer games played than most teams at the moment so anything still can happen. TTK is leading the group at this point but with lower PPG than some of their rivals which indicates that teams like TuTo and Royal HT will pass them at some point. A notable feature in terms of performances is TIKI TALK - the team used to play in Elite back in the ECL 9 season but they've been sent in a downwards spiral in the past few seasons. There is quite a simple explanation to that  since although there are still quality players in TIKI TALK, they've seen major roster changes since the ECL 9 season and their prime. They've ended up in a vicious cycle of changing things and not having time to find chemistry, leading to poor performance and yet more changes. TIKI TALK is likely to improve but the question is will it happen in this season or in future seasons. There is a tight playoff battle between several teams in positions 6-10. One interesting match in that battle is Ducktales BK vs DEG esports scheduled on May 30th. There is likely to be a lot on the line on this game, keep your eyes peeled! Group 2 Södertälje SK has quite unexpectedly stuck below the playoff line and need to improve moving forward. Reality Check HC is high in the standings as they should and are battling for the top spots in the group and the entire division. IK Oskarsham is a minor surprise alike TTK in Group 1, but due to their quality acquisitions they have managed to improve drastically. On June 1st, Södertälje SK and EHC Biel Bienne Esports are scheduled to take on each other, which might be one of the crucial games in the fight for the last playoff spots. TuTo Esports vs TTK scheduled on Tue, May 25th is an important match for the race of the group title.   Group 3 FILADELPHIA Academy as new exciting team is on pace for playoff but as for their potential, they have definitely underachieved so far - could have performed better. Project X and UNI Gaming are currently leading the group, which might come to some as a bit of a surprise.  Wednesday, June 2nd features a big match between these teams that could most likely lead to be decisive in the race for the group title if both teams are performing at their current level as they are both seeing great play from their skaters and goaltenders. GIFU Hockey is another success story, who are looking to keep their streak of being unbeaten in regular time alive. Group 4 Tic Tac Toes and noRex Gaming are at the top positions in this group as expected - both have seen great play with few blunders to talk about. RoKi Esports and Barys Esports are also currently in playoff positions but you might have expected Barys Esports a bit higher than their current position 8 in the group - look for them to improve moving forward. One of the interesting games among others in the last rounds is Tic Tac Toes vs RoKi Esports on May 30th. In that match the group title could be on the line for Tic Tac Toes and also in for RoKi Esports the race for the final playoff spot could be in full swing.   Players to watch There are dozens of players who have already made impressive contributions to their teams and it's impossible for us to highlight everyone. Here are just few of those players:  Royal HT @keranee with 11 GP and 26+23=49 is the current leader in scoring across the league. Another Royal HT player in @Ikavalko has also managed to climb into the top 10. There are two IK Oskarsham and TTK players in the same top 10 - @Gson996 (16 GP, 22+27=49) and @norre1337 (16 GP 21+18=39) from IKO @Valtter1111 (18 GP, 21+17=38) and @Unrealhave (18 GP, 14+24=38) from TTK have all performed outstandingly and all of them have been massive reasons for their teams performing at the level they currently are. As for goalies, Reality Check HC goalie @Kauppias4 has maintained an impressive 90,16 for SV% and other stats  9 W, 1,2 GAA in 16 GP, which are telling of both the skill of the team in front of him and the level of his own play. UNI Gaming goalie @Vamoux boasts with stats 10W, 86,3 SV% and an 1,67 GAA that are just about equally as impressive. Project X goalie @Easygame20 (Torvelajr__) is the winningest goalie in the division so far, with 14 wins to his name. As for defenders, you should mention the likes of @Tumpp1A from Royal HT, who has a +36 in +/- stats and 4+13=17 in his 12 games played. The top scoring defenseman is currently @juusoskari from TTK with 15+15=30 in 18 games played and @Taunomaister1 from Project X trailing with 1+20=21 in 16 games played.   Some interesting upcoming matchups The original scheduled date in in brackets, please note that teams have the option of rescheduling. TuTo Esports vs TTK (Tue 25th May) Barys Esports vs Armada Hockey (Tue 25th May) Ducktales BK vs DEG Esports (Sun 30th May) Royal HT vs AiKnown (Tue 25th May) IK Oskarsham vs Reality Check HC (Sun 30th May) IK Oskarsham vs Afrodunk (Sun 6th June) Södertälje SK vs EHC Biel Bienne Esports (Tue 1st June) Project X vs UNI Gaming (Wed 2nd June) Tic Tac Toes vs RoKi Esports (Sun 30th May)  

The young and aspiring esports organization IQUE from Tampere, Finland is expanding to succeed among Europes virtual hockey Elite. ECL 11 Pro Winner Enigma signs with IQUE who are already competing in other titles like DOTA2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and PUBG. The talented and succesful roster around team captain Janne @Nieppii Niemelä will take the next step to professionalize and establish themselves in ECL Elite in a new and fresh colorway. Does black and green suit as well as black and red already did? The euphoria certainly is huge. Just before the start of ECL 12 Elite on Monday, IQUE is joining the World of CHEL. After being one of the top contenders in ECL Pro for the last few seasons, Enigma managed to pave their way to Europes Top 16. Since losing in the Finals of ECL 10 to superior Black Horse, Enigma bounced back in big fashion in the 11th version of the European Championship League. Finishing on Rank 3 in Group 2, the squad around captain trio Nieppii , Aleksanteri @sannteri Niemi and Tapani @Tappu Anttila beat Växjo Lakers, Tunnel Vision and finally GOONS in seven games to gain promotion. IQUE's roster looks stronger than ever. With a good mix of experienced horsemen and young talented players, the Finns are keen on establishing their team on the highest level of European 6v6 hockey. Captain Nieppii has a clear vision in his mind: "Our goals in this organization are to prove ourselves as a team who belongs in ECL Elite and are also able to succeed on the highest level. We have a good mix of veterans and young talented faces. We need to adjust our game style to play against the best of the best. Of course we are aiming to go to the playoffs – but first things first, we have to establish IQUE and stay in the league“. After adding former YMCA Esports and Butterfly Effect Goalie Rami @ramseyy2 (Ramsiil) Rissanen, who brings experience of 24 Elite games to the roster, the team is set to compete against the big guns. Defenseman Markus @Makeaxl Lahti will build the defensive core together with Nico @zNico Tuoreniemi. Center Arttu @laitineen64 Laitinen completes IQUE's cadre and aims to continue his strong scoring streak from last season (29+26=55 in 24GP). We welcome IQUE to the NHL esports scene and wish them good luck in their starting ECL 12 Elite season!

NHLGamers, We're here to officially kick off the ECL 12 regular season with the start of our Neo division, which will be happening as announced on Sunday, the 25th of April. Our Neo division is the entry level of competitive virtual hockey and with that holds a vast amount of undiscovered and unpolished talent, in fact 90 registered teams worth of that. Now due to preserving the original intention of having ECL Neo be the true entry level, we have decided to place a total of 25 teams that originally applied for ECL 12 Neo into the ECL 12 Core division - please see a full list of those teams below: After placing those teams up a level, we end up with a total of 65 teams in the Neo division. These teams have been seeded and divided into six groups, holding 10-11 teams each. The five best teams out of each group will reach the playoffs along with the two best 6th placing teams across the division (based on PPG). All groups and league info can be found on the league page. The default gamedays for ECL 12 Neo will be Sunday & Wednesday at 20:00 CEST and teams are required to contact each other prior to the scheduled date as per ECL rules. The full rulebook will be available for access through the league page and will be released on Sunday, 25th of April. Notable dates for the ECL 12 Neo season: Regular season: 25.4-26.5 Transfer deadline: 13.5. 23:59 CEST Playoffs Round 1: 30.5-2.6 (BO5) Playoffs Round 2: 6.6-9.6 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 13.6-16.6 Semifinals: 20.6-23.6 Finals: 4.7 The remaining ECL 12 divisions will be starting as announced in the ECL 12 Season Information-article back in mid-March. With that, we wish all participating ECL 12 Neo teams good luck and hope to see as much of your action as possible through your own streaming and social media channels. Remember to use the hashtags #NHLGamer, #ECL12 and #NHL21 for other community members to find your posts!