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Another week of ECL Elite has been played and I don’t think the action thus far has left anyone hanging. We are getting closer to the mid-season point as every team has now played against five or six opponents. This week, the last teams got their first wins of the season but we still got one team without any losses as hREDS won all of their six games this week, continuing undefeated. When we are talking about hot teams there is no denying that SAWO ESPORTS is one of those. Right now, they are at 2nd place in the standings and have won eight games in a row. They have three losses under their belt but two of those were against hREDS and one against IQUE, equally hot teams. All of those games were one goal games. Goal scoring hasn't been a problem for these young guys as both of their wingers Jere @jxrska Laukka and Valtteri @Vattuyy Virtanen have snuck into the top 5 of goal scorers within the league. Especially @Vattuyy was on fire last week with 13 goals in eight games. Another team that has just kept improving their game is IQUE. They started the week with full points against Conquer Gaming which isn't that surprising as they are right now manning the last place in the league. After that IQUE had their toughest challenge so far this season against Frölunda HC. A win against them in the other game was already a surprise but IQUE didn't stop there as they managed to get four points against another favorite GOONS. A huge week for IQUE and this week definitely gave them keys to the future. Captain Janne @Nieppii Niemelä showed his leadership for the team by scoring three of five goals against GOONS including the game winning goal in both games. On the other hand, those games against IQUE were not what GOONS wanted. Those two losses increased their losing streak to four games, as earlier in the week they lost both games to Färjestad BK. The Swedish team is right now in 5th place but their week ended in a loss against YMCA Esports. At the same time Färjestad BK said goodbye to their winning streak which ended up being seven games long. One important factor for them being in good form is definitely their goalie Johan @McSavid Rundqvist who gave them a chance to win in the last game of the week allowing only one goal. Speaking of YMCA Esports, they still have a lot of improvement to make in their game even though they managed to get four points out of another Swedish group, Granit Gaming. After a bit of a slow start, multiple champion HAVU Gaming is seeming to get back into form. We have to remember that this week their opponents weren't top tier but still, you have to get points from all possible games and that's what HAVU Gaming did as they got their six game winning streak going. An important thing for the future was that Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha got much needed success on the goal scoring front with eight goals last week, including two hat-tricks against Northern Ascendancy. The last four teams in the league right now are Northern Ascendancy, Djurgården Hockey, HV71 and Conquer Gaming. Djurgården Hockey have troubles scoring, only averaging a goal each game. The other three have to find a way to shut their doors as they are getting scored on at a rate of 3.0 goals per game or higher. Out of these team's, we have to mention Daniel @Demski_ Gadd and his performance last week for HV71 as against Roots Gaming. In the first game he scored the overtime winning goal and after that had a hat-trick in the second match. A big reason for hREDS keeping their winning streak alive this week was Vili @Vilupoika Häkkinen, who scored a total of 11+7=18 points this week and had a 4 goal night against Örebro Hockey. We've also seen two new scoring duos sneak into the top 10. HAVU's Risto @Dominointi Järvi had a good week with together with @FlyerKungen, while SAWO dynamic duo @Vattuyy and @jxrska scored 27 goals combined out of SAWO's 31 in the past week. Our top 3 is the exact same as last week in terms of defender scoring. Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta is still in search of twine in 1st place with 14 assists. Niko @vVoDee Vottonen from Roots Gaming has found a way to put the puck in the net, leading all defensemen with four goals. In 7th place, we can find Fredrik @maharajah2014(sparkaronnberg) Mickelsson-Holm who, besides scoring points also blocked 28 shots which is the most among defensemen by a clear margin. Wille @willekunq Juntunen had a crazy six-point night against Northern Ascendancy, which boosted him a bit, let's see if he can repeat that later on. Transfers Granit Gaming IN Reittu @Roisto999 Hynynen, Goaltender The first transfer has been seen as Reittu @Roisto999Hynynen went to Granit Gaming. Last season he played in SAWO ESPORTS and has been on the free market until now. The goalie, who has been playing since ECL 4 will bring them a lot of experience and a culture of winning. We will see if he gets games for the Swedish team but one thing is sure that he will be good motivator for Edvin @Thunborg5Thunborg to stop pucks at an even better rate than before.

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It's been a wild first week of Elite action in the ECL and we've seen quite a few surprising outcomes. Still, the defending champions hREDS remain the sole undefeated squad and we'll be left to follow how long that streak will extend. On the other end of the spectrum, HV71 and Northern Ascendancy are still in pursuit of their first wins of the season. Some exciting matchups were on display right from the get-go as the season opener broadcast featured four team expected to make the playoffs. The new Swedish superteam Granit Gaming met with Färjestad BK in their newly formed rivalry and shared wins in their low-scoring bouts, after which HAVU Gaming and GOONS did just the same in their games. The dynamic between HAVU and GOONS is also interesting, as HAVU is that long time contender on the decline, whereas GOONS is emerging to take their place at the top in contention with the likes of Frölunda HC and hREDS. Speaking of Frölunda HC, the former FILADELPHIA had a great start to the season, but didn't quite find their scoring form early on. Despite overwhelming Northern Ascendancy with attack throughout 120 minutes of play, a combined 43 shots including more than a few high-danger chances yielded only five goals for their first night of play. The same dominant offensive pressure continued against the notoriously good defensive team HV71 and the total opposite in Örebro Hockey, who tend to play a fast paced counter-attacking style. Although not converting on chances to the best of their abilities yet, Frölunda HC are still the second highest scoring team in the league at this point - one goal behind GOONS. On top of that, Erik @Eki Tammenpää, who's been involved in nearly every goal they've scored sits at #2 in scoring with 18 points in total. A bit of an unexpected outcome of the first week is the fact that IQUE has seemingly managed to patch some of the defensive gaps that they struggled with last season. They currently sit at #7 in the league with an impressive GAA of 1.17. However, they've not yet been that productive on offense either, which should pick up if they'll want to stay in their current playoff position in the standings. In that department, especially experienced winger Jere @jergelii Jortama will need to up his game, as he has currently only amassed 1+2=3 points in the first six games. One of the most exciting stories early on could be that of Roots Gaming, who managed to sneak into the European top 16 at the expense of the former SAWO ESPORTS roster that ended up disbanding in the preseason. Roots have a tremendously skilled ensemble that plays a fast passing style of play that can dismantle any defense in the league when given the opportunity. These young guns currently sit at #8 with only four games played. Tonight's matchup against hREDS will be a big test for them, and especially captain Santeri @xleksa35 Levänen holds a big role in anchoring his team ahead of their first big games in the bright lights. The ECL 12 Pro Champions Djurgarden Hockey were also expecting a type of learning curve with their first Elite experience, but it has perhaps been a bit steeper than predicted. Like so many other squads in the bottom half of the standings, they've struggled mightily with scoring, which is looking like it might be a theme for the season if the same trend continues. Djurgarden have, however, managed to grab their first win of the season at the expense of established Elite squad YMCA Esports, who haven't started out on the right foot. Undeniably, YMCA's schedule wasn't too favourable as they met both GOONS and hREDS in their first few bouts, so they are expecting a bounce back as the season moves on. At the bottom of the standings, we find HV71 for now. The newly promoted club hailing from Jönköping didn't quite find their stride in the first week of competition, but we'll admit their schedule wasn't too favorable either. Having kept the games close against Örebro and Frölunda is already a good start, and getting a point out of their matchup against GOONS will send them on their way towards a hopefully bigger catch in the second week. Individually, GOONS youngster Roope @pikkuroger Bergström has been at the top of his game early on this season. The left winger leads the league in scoring after six games at a total of 13+6=19 points and a contribution to almost all of the goals scored by his team. As mentioned previously, also @Eki has started off hot and is in second place. The man is used to topping the scoring tables, but has now taken on the role as the main finisher for Frölunda, a position usually occupied by teammate Paul @PleeMaker Arontie, who we're expecting to heat up later on. Among defensemen, the most productive players have been Frölunda RD Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta at 0+9=9 and hREDS' Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen at 1+7=8 points. However, as defensive individuals perhaps surprisingly Timi @Rimpe Rimpeläinen from YMCA Esports and Putte @Putteekiing Unasin from HV71 stand out as the most effective at separating offensive players from the puck. Rimpe leads all defenseman at 25 takeaways, while Putte leads the league in hits at 45. Both of these guys represent teams who have struggled early on and will benefit from these guys keeping their form going. Transfers It's a somewhat rare occasion to see some movement at the Elite level after the start of the season, and to this point nothing ground-breaking has happened during the first week of action. The rumor mill is also running on fumes, so this one will be up to you guys - post your transfer rumors in the comments section! Remember to tune in for tonight's ECL Elite broadcast at 19:45 CET! Tonight we'll get to enjoy Conquer Gaming vs IQUE and hREDS vs Roots Gaming. Join us at www.twitch.tv/NHLGamer.