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The first half of the regular season in ECL 12 Pro is done and with that it is a good time to take a closer look at what happened in the first weeks of virtual hockey action. Which teams are performing well? Which players are making the difference and who are the new kids on the block? Only a few points will make the difference and things begin to heat up in the race for the playoffs as well as in the battle of escaping relegation. We can look forward to an exciting race to the finish line in the 12th season of the second highest tier in the European Championship League. Written by @Keuschemisch Djurgarden Hockey and VISU Gaming are leading Group 1 with 31 points each while the freshly promoted group of former Exerceo still has two games in hand on the yellow, red and blue. The Swedish side built around captain @Jungledonk seem keen on repeating their strong performances from last season when they finished at a solid rank 2 behind the eventual Pro-finalists GOONS in the group stage. With 47 points in 22 games, @Strumpan87 is Group 1's top scorer and underlines the offensive standards of Djurgarden. Goalie @Sorsa103 already has 5 shutouts and is performing on a high level to strengthen their defense. VISU Gaming's @Sagee95 is on his way to become one of this seasons most dangerous forwards and already contributed to 21 goals and 23 assists to help his team gain a good spot in the playoffs. Especially his performance in the 7-2 win over RCTIC, where he scored 7 points, stresses his offensive abilities. Both teams look very strong and on the road to home ice advantage in the postseason if they are able to continue in their winning ways. With only 16 games played so far, BoxinElite is one of the special teams to keep an eye out for in the second half of the regular season. Scoring more than 3 goals per game and and rocking an outstanding record of 12-4-0, the Finnish side is trying to gain one of the top spots in group 1. If they manage to set up yet another winning streak and maintain their focus, BoxinElite can surely secure home ice advantage in the playoffs. Right behind we find yet another two Swedish squads: HV71 and ECL 11 Lite Champions Bjorkloven Esport are on their way to playoff qualification. Led by their captain @Demski13, the esports team of the 5-time SHL champion HV71 has seemed to take their next step in their development after missing the playoffs by only three points in ECL 11. Bjorkloven's captain @Kallmanius made the right decisions and brought in @rakkauspakkaus- from Ringette HC as well as ECL Season 1 veteran @Janzuh. After starting their Pro campaign with 8 wins in their first 10 games, Bjorkloven Esport immediately made an impact in the league and showed that they can compete on that higher level. Both Swedish squads need to continue gaining as much points as possible, especially with Kiekko-Espoo Esports and Blackdawgs breathing down their necks. The Finnish and Russian warhorses started rather well and are on a decent run with room to improve still. Blackdawgs' @Valluxet is performing at a high level once again, contributing with 20 goals and 15 assists and is one of the main reasons for the success of his team. It will be interesting to see which sides are able to repeat their strong first half in ECL 12 Pro and manage to gain a spot in the playoffs. In the middle of the pack we find Sinister, Hawaii Hockey, Golden Nights and Rögle BK. All four teams are quite new to the league after managing to gain promotion following ECL 11 Lite or find their way in through the Pro Qualifiers. While Sinister and Hawaii Hockey both started with a negative record, they seem to have acclimated themselves to the Pro level and were able to start winning streaks and find themselves in a tight battle for a playoff spot as we speak. @Kumbik was one of Bjorkloven's top scorers last season before changing colors and joining Hawaii Hockey in the Pro Wildcard Battle. The Czech forward and his center @theMaddias crucial pieces in the offense of their team and are surely some of the most exciting players to watch on the last stretch of the regular season. Will they be able to lead Hawaii Hockey into the postseason? A bit surprisingly, we find Herlev Eagles in 10th place in the standings of group 1. The Eagles who finished on a solid third place last season have failed to live up to their expectations. Especially with Danish superstar @vibholm10, who found himself among the leagues top scorers the past few seasons. Starting with five losses in a row, Herlev is still lacking in offensive efficiency. In the last eight games the team around captain @oSandello needs to turn course in order to keep their dream of making the playoffs alive. At the bottom of the table we find freshly promoted Russian team Nearbird Fighters, who have only managed to win two out of 16 games so far. Just ahead of them, Finnish outfit RCTIC find themselves in 15th place and are currently suffering from a six game losing streak against Rogle BK, Herlev Eagles and VISU Gaming respectively. @Janikka's Finnish Roosters continue to lag behind compared to last seasons performances also. After a negative start, the Roosters got back on track with five wins in their last six games. A qualification for the playoffs seems to be very unlikely but after splitting points with the very strong HV71 and Bjorkloven Esport, the Finnish side can be optimistic to avoid relegation if they continue to play like their most recent games. Another surprising face in the bottom of group 1 is the 5-time GCL Champion Team LEISURE. After getting beaten by Tunnel Vision in six games in the Elite relegation, the former Deadly Phantoms HC were keen on proving themselves and paving their way back into Elite, but after starting with three wins including two shutouts on the first matchday, LEISURE's ambitions turned around. Nine losses in a row followed by three matchdays with split points are not what they want to see in terms of results. Defender @xXPsykoSkillsXx finds himself among the best defensemen of the league while the offense is lacking in efficiency - LEISURE needs to find a way to decide tight matchups in their favour to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Germans have 12 matchdays left to prove everyone wrong and find themselves a spot in the Top 8 of group 1! Written by @Mikka In the second group, Conquer Gaming seems to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack by only losing once in regulation and once in overtime, backed by a strong start from their goalie @Jeresti and the entire division’s leading scorer, centerman @Jertsicc. Pata Hellalla has also been able to immediately reach a high level, fueled by their top scoring defensemen @kungenkurwa and @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN alongside the last minute addition of current internal top scorer @apettaja. There are two teams at the middle of the table that have not broken from their tradition of relying strongly on their captains: Inter Iceland and Sulkavan Sudet, led by @PLA77NER (Hasek-39--) and @Oxdoggi respectively. Their squads have been up and down, struggling to get into consistent winning streaks but on the other hand have also avoided losing too many times in a row. A bit below them the two Swedish teams with more or less Finnish reinforcements, Sjukstugan and Lekstugan HC, have fallen to gruelling losing streaks after starting out okay. They need to quickly gain their focus back and start turning the streaks into positive ones, or else they will have to battle to retain their divisional spots instead of eyeing for the last potential playoff spots. At the bottom end of the standings we find SPARTIATES X MCES in a somewhat similar, yet more challenging situation as the aforementioned teams ending in -stugan. The French outfit have seemed to have some trouble adjusting to the Pro level of play, only winning two of the first 13 games. Could they now be on the up though, having won their last three against top teams Pata Hellalla and Rookie Mistakes? The later mentioned squad has not had as strong of a start as maybe expected, but led by captain @Niskalaukaus and his assistant @xColeslaww (Koleslaav_) they have still managed to claw their way to pose a challenge at the top. Along with SPARTIATES X MCES towards the bottom is another team with a freshly signed esports contract, METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK. After winning four of their first seven games, the Russians have had losing streaks of five and four, with only a win in between. Any playoff hopes are probably over for the French and the Russians, leaving them to fight for their lives to at a minimum avoid instant relegation and even the qualifiers if all goes well. Company of Geeks had quite a decent beginning but have only won one of their last nine, with only the two most recent losses coming in overtime. The young rookie @xLeikku has taken his first strides on the ECL ice quite effectively, leading the team and at one point the whole division in scoring alongside with his captain @Jesus (eJezuz). The story of the German organization PENTA has been different, starting the season with an eight game losing streak before they began to pick up steam. Despite the tough adjustment period at the new level, their current form has them right at the brink of a playoff spot with Dynastia trailing them closely behind. The Finns started the season playing a lot of games with up and down results, ending up with a 8-7-1 record after the first seven days. As they have continued on a similar path since, captain @Majuri20 (Diktaattori62) definitely needs to lead his team towards more consistent results if they want to solidify their spot in the playoffs. They have had some trouble scoring relative to the rest of the group, so that should be a big area of focus for the remainder of the season. Despite never being a team expected to be seen in the relegation battle, the quite recently formed Patience has still managed to exceed expectations by mounting a challenge at the top of the table. Contrary to the best inexperienced newcomer teams we have grown accustomed to seeing in seasons past, it has not come with crazy offensive fireworks, but instead with the second fewest goals against per game in the group after Conquer Gaming. Their most experienced skater and former ECL 3 champion @Karkkyjaa has proved valuable, leading them in a fight for a top seed with an A on his chest. If Patience has been overachieving relative to pre-season expectations, bottom of the pack Sack Brothers have done exactly the opposite of that. Heading into their sophomore campaign after a first round exit last season, they looked like one of the group's better teams on paper with some added strength on the back end. That wasn’t necessarily reflected in their on-ice performance, with them only managing to cough up three points in the first 10 games alongside a couple of big margin losses. Perhaps they have finally started to gel together after the roster changes and are now back on their way up though, with four wins in their last six games. Finally, there is the squad that managed to upset team after team as a lower seed in the ECL 11 Lite Playoffs: Hotbox. Their rookie season in Pro began as anticipated in the season preview, with only three points amassed in the first eight games. After the rough start their lord and saviour emerged though, in the form of forward @James (Jamechkin), who joined them from Lite’s Reality Check HC after his qualifier related roster lock ended. Before the season got underway it looked like he was slated to be acquired as a defenseman by Rookie Mistakes, but fortunately for Hotbox that did not end up happening. Things have seemed to click for Hotbox and Jamechkin from the get go, with the Finns going on an eight game winning streak as soon as the move happened and only dropping three points overall during that period. If they can keep on going with the same flow, Hotbox now looks like a lock for the playoffs. Some of the pre-season predictions have been accurate and others have not, meanwhile some have been in the correct range but still not quite. That is the nature of the game though, and we will excitedly await to see how the rest of the season shapes up. Still a lot of points left up for grabs as the ECL 12 Pro regular season is to end on June 23rd, so fight hard and have fun doing so - see you on the ice!

The Marseille Spartiates and MCES (Mon Club Esport) have joined forces to launch their first official NHL esports team: the Spartiates x MCES. You can see the team in action in the Pro division this upcoming ECL season and with that, the Spartiates x MCES become the first French squad to play at that level. Having established themselves as the most prestigious French team in NHL esports under the banner of Grenoble BDL Esports, it is only natural for the team to develop and with that move on to new things. Today we're announcing that the roster led by captain Maximilien @Tromi13 Tromeur have signed with the Marseille Spartiates and MCES, who will combine for a new virtual hockey club called the Spartiates x MCES. At this point, festivities have already been held in Marseille, where captain @Tromi13 has attended the Spartiates offices for a contract signing and press event. A ceremonial puck drop and a full team bootcamp was planned but due to recent increased travel regulations in France, only the captain attended the press event. "This is an accomplishment for our team and by extension for the French or French-speaking European gaming community. It is important to understand that we can't be compared to a scene like FIFA where the pool of players is huge. On the NHL side of things, we are lesser in numbers and about a year ago before the first French league, we were 40. Today we are 200 (in the French community)! Knowing that we can now interest an organization like MCES makes us proud! I feel like gaming organizations partnering with French hockey clubs will only feed the phenomenon and more and more players will arrive. When it comes to the ground level, the partnership between MCES and the Marseille Spartans allows us to anchor down as the team of a city and a club, it gives meaning to our work." - @Tromi13 on the meaningfulness of their partnership with Spartiates x MCES. The mostly French ensemble has experienced a lot together on the virtual ice and after a successful season in ECL 11 Lite and the WECL, they have now gained the opportunity to prove themselves at the next level as the first French team in ECL history. With a roster that has only seen minor changes, the squad is now confidently facing that challenge. NHLGamer founder Kenneth @Kenu Lehtinen on having the Spartiates x MCES join NHLGamer leagues: "We at NHLGamer are excited to have the Spartiates x MCES squad join our league. The scene has seen a tremendous amount of growth over the past few years and while we do our best to lay the groundwork as effectively as possible, teams and individuals have impressed us with their hard work and dedication in working towards the common goal of becoming a mainstream esport and involving various parties at the very cutting edge of esports. The Spartiates x MCES seem to be a partnership of utmost potential and we can't wait for what they will bring to the table on their NHL esports journey. Welcome!” About the Marseille Spartiates The hockey club of southern French port city Marseille wasn't founded until 2012, but despite their short history the Spartiates have established themselves as an extremely ambitious force in the field of French hockey. After gaining promotion to the national division 1 (2nd tier) back in 2019, the club now has their sights set on advancing to the Ligue Magnus. The Palais Omnisports is the arena that the Spartiates are privileged to call their home, seating 5600 fans and with that achieving the status of the biggest ice rink in France. About MCES MCES (Mon Club Esport) is a Marseille-based major player in French esports with subsidiaries in Italy and Morocco. The objective of MCES is to develop both the professional and amateur practices in all of esports. With representation currently in League of Legends, Fortnite, FIFA, Clash of Clans, Virtual Regatta, Rocket League and Valorant, the organization has gained lots of success across several of these games. The MCES method is to provide their players with all the necessary tools to succeed, such as sports practice, diet monitoring, neurocognitive performance testing, stress management and more. The method is defined and applied by MCES Sports Director and double Olympic swimming gold medalist Yannick Agnel.