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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.

Around two and a half weeks of competition have passed. Now it has come time for us to take a look at the teams exceeding expectations, and on the other hand the ones who have been underperforming. This time for the Pro mid-season report I have decided to mainly highlight teams that have either played better or worse than they were expected to prior to the season. To see how even the as-expected teams have done, along with a few milder surprises like Geekz Energy eSports, please take a look at the standings. On the league page behind that link you can also find out all the individual statistics you would possibly want to. Now without any further delay, let’s take a look at who has been flaming hot and who, in turn, icy cold during this ongoing regular season. NOTE: This article was written based on the standings and statistics after the games played on Monday 17 January, and further updated after Tuesday 18 January with honorable mentions and up to date info. Any further results are not reflected. Group 1 HOT Hokurit This is a team that definitely took their time to reach the Pro division, having played in Lite for five seasons prior to finally gaining the promotion through the qualifier. Even though their lineup has obviously changed over the years, all that chemistry building seems to have led to an instant adjustment to the higher level. Based on points per game Hokurit currently sit tied at first place with Dynastia, JYP Jyväskylä, Tohtorit and HanaaHC. Elite-experienced @MCH_98 in his second Hokurit-season is having an otherworldly one for a defenseman, 7+24=31 points in 16 games and leading his team in scoring by a clear margin. We will see if the team can keep up on a similar pace during the second half, as thus far they have not really faced any of the fellow top-table teams. They even lost one game against each of the teams currently in the bottom three. Sinister With a 1.44 ppg (points per game), just below that of the top5's 1.5, Sinister is another team that were expected to be in the playoff battle but perhaps not by such a margin, the next highest ppgs being 1.14 by AfroDunk and 1.13 by Björklöven. ECL rookie @JerePaloranta (Harlowi-) (14 GP, 16+8=22) has been firing goals at around a 1.14 per game pace and is leading the team in scoring, meanwhile our season preview’s player to watch @PuukAesi (rransu) has been backstopping the team with decent enough stats as well: 14 GP, 79.34 SV%, 1.79 GAA, 5 SO. Whether or not Sinister will cool off during the remainder of the regular season remains to be seen, though it seems likely with most of their opponents being below the playoff line, similarly to Hokurit. A cooling of some sorts has already started happening with them losing their last four games. To change that trajectory they will have to try to feed off of the strong start, as well as the upset of narrowly missing the playoffs last season. It should also be noted that two of their wins were walkovers from SPARTIATES X MCES. Tohtorit Tohtorit sit firmly at a playoff spot amongst the five-way tie for first place, which in itself is a surprise. Although they only got one point against JYP Jyväskylä, they have not dropped more than two to anyone else while taking down some strong names. Granted, both VISU Gaming and Deadly Phantoms have had rough starts, but getting full points against projected top teams is not a small feat for an inexperienced team that only has one Core season under their belt. After making the team miss the first week of play due to his beach vacation, @Wpaanane (14 GP, 17+15=32) has more than made up for it with his scoring. The break of a couple weeks does not seem to have done any harm to Tohtorit, and it will be exciting to see how their second half will fare. Dynastia Top of the table, Dynastia went on a solid nine game winning streak soon after the season started. Most of their opponents have been around the mid-table, but they also showed up against top competition by stomping JYP Jyväskylä with a convincing 6-2 result, even if they lost the first game 1-4. In their last two matchups they lost one game against both RCTIC and PENTA, which is a trend they need to stop on its tracks immediately if they want to stay in the tight battle for the top seed. @Pikkardz (Pikkarii) (16 GP, 17+21=38) has been truly on fire, scoring 1.46 times the points his fellow forwards @xHatsi and @Majuri20 (Diktaattori62) have. Honorable mention: AfroDunk took another three points on Tuesday and have thus clawed their way to seventh place in points per game. Initially predicted to only have an outside shot at the playoffs, it will be interesting to find out if they can keep this up. COLD VISU Gaming Widely seen as a title contender prior to the season, the Finns have performed nowhere near to the expected level. After losing their season opener against Deadly Phantoms they went on to win the next four, losing the next five before snapping the streak with an overtime win against Hokurit on Monday. With their routine and amount of time logged practicing, it seems only a matter of time when they will return to what they can be. On the other hand, Rookie Mistakes showed last season how those title dreams can evaporate in no time unless they start executing on a proper level. They lost their last game 7-1 against RCTIC on the NHLGamer broadcast on Tuesday night. Deadly Phantoms Another team that was expected to be surefire playoff caliber, this former Elite side has not had a dream start either. Even though there have been way too many losses, some of their wins have been quite convincing. There is another beacon of hope for the Germans though: their current record after 14 games is 6-6-2, meanwhile last season they went all the way to the finals after only having managed 4-7-3 at the same point. Repeating that feat may be quite a task to ask, but they have only lost one player from their starting six since then. PENTA PENTA is currently sitting at third last, which is not an ideal position to be at near the midway point for a team that was predicted to be battling for the playoffs. They have some extremely experienced names on their roster, so perhaps that is the way they will have to look at to help turn the ship around. They only have two wins if the walk overs against SPARTIATES X MCES are left out of the equation, though those came against top table teams Hokurit and Dynastia. Maybe there is something to be implemented from those wins, or otherwise the Germans will be looking at another trip to the qualifier for the second consecutive season. SPARTIATES X MCES The third Central European side on our list of underperformers, the French outfit has been in big trouble thus far. Having to give out four walk over losses is not doing them any favors either. The ten game losing streak (including the WOs) needs to be snapped as soon as possible if they want to even avoid immediate relegation, meanwhile a playoff spot is looking practically impossible at this point. Even if they were not expected to repeat their playoff berth from last season, this kind of start has been a sizable letdown. Trailing the second-to-last place Company of Geeks by only 0.07 points per game, they both need to do something if they want to keep on playing in Pro next season. Honorable mention: Company of Geeks. While somewhat expected, with a 3-10-1 record and 15th place there is not much that needs to be said here. Group 2 HOT Hawaii Hockey For a team that did not even have a forward trio locked up just days before the season begun, Hawaii Hockey has been doing extremely well. They have played a bit more games than most of the others, so their position in the standings drops from third to seventh when sorting by points per game. That is still above the playoff line though, and if they can continue at a pace around their 1.25 ppg they will make the playoffs quite comfortably. Fiasko is the only team Hawaii Hockey managed to win in both games, but they have still been able to get at least one win against everyone except GHETTO FIREBIRDS. Not many full point nights are needed if they can keep on getting 2-3 points steadily from every team they face. Herlev Eagles After finishing 3rd in their group in ECL 11 Pro, the Eagles missed the playoffs last season. That led to some changes, and now with a revamped roster led by the whole division's top two scorers, @Mr Steffmeister (Suth98_) (16 GP, 21+22=43) and @keranee (16 GP, 13+29=42), they are second in their group by ppg. Backed up with @TeikDaun's unreal 12 GP, 90.65%, 0.83 GAA, 6 SO statline, a playoff spot seems inevitable at this point. That should lead to their focus being shifted towards making it past the first round this time, something they failed to do in ECL 11. GHETTO FIREBIRDS We predicted GHETTO to be a contender, though with the uncertainty regarding their roster this kind of a start has been a slight surprise. Their first try for a new RW in @Chevikov (Hikoilija__) did not work out, but bringing in @Jerax13 just before the transfer deadline will be a tremendous addition, if he can play often enough. Aside from Reality Check they have not really faced any top table opponents, so it remains to be seen if they cool down as the challenge ramps up. @Jeresti (12 GP, 85.71%, 1.42 GAA, 5 SO) has been great as usual, sitting in second place among starting goalies' SV% in the league. Reality Check The Finns' return to Pro level after a few seasons' absence has been quite successful thus far, with them sitting firmly at the top of the table. @kim_johan (18 GP, 3+21=24) and @vvlampela (cTunkeilija) (18 GP, 17+20=37) have been able to fit in to the ECL 12 Lite Champion right away, along with netminder @FINSeRe (18 GP, 85.35%, 1.28 GAA, 2 SO). Reality Check has been able to rack up wins left and right no matter who they have played against, even going on a nine game winning streak. The playoff spot is practically clinched at this point with only a few more wins needed, so there is only one question: can they become back to back champions? Honorable mention: GIFU Hockey fought their way through the qualifier and are currently in the last playoff spot with an 8-6-2 record. COLD noRex Gaming With one more Central European team entering the cold category, one has to start thinking how much of an effect the current matchmaking system has on these teams' seasons. Last season we saw most of the Central teams starting to heat up towards the end, so maybe noRex is another team that just needs some high level games to get used to the competition again. Sitting near the bottom in both points and points per game at the midway mark is definitely not what they wanted, nor what was expected. There is still time to turn the course though, with the German organization still having 16 games left to play. Getting RD @Paddyy1903 back from an absence and immediately beating top team Renascor twice in regulation could corral them on that path. Pata Hellalla Pata's lack of practice seems to finally have an effect on them now that the game changed so much compared to the last version. This friend group is near the bottom of the table, so a quick u-turn is needed to keep the race on. They have been scoring at a decent enough rate, but a GA/GP of 3.5, the worst in Group 2, is dragging them down. After only winning two of their first six, they were on a better path with three wins out of the last four games before losing twice to top table Stargazing. Avoiding relegation should be the priority at this point. Hotbox Another ECL 12 Pro playoff team, Hotbox was not predicted to repeat that feat either. Currently tied with Fiasko for last in their group by points per game, they better start getting some wins on the board to avoid instant relegation and hopefully the qualifier as well. Defense should be their main focus for improvement with them having the group's second highest goals allowed per game (3.31), though a 1.69 GF/GP, worst in the group, is not looking great either. A huge step up all over the ice is needed right away. Fiasko A team with an unfortunate name, Fiasko has already played almost all of their games without much success. Avoiding instant relegation is not going to be easy, with all of their remaining opponents being near or clearly above the playoff line. Many of their players were part of ECL 12 Core Champion Resurrection, and the huge difference in competition level between the divisions has been thrown to their face quite hard. Honorable mention: WannaCry. After the addition of @Crisu_rottis they seemed to have picked up the pace a little, but they fell further under the playoff line again after having to throw in defenseman @Nikiiz_89 as an emergency backup LW against Reality Check, resulting in two losses on our Tuesday broadcast. There are still a lot of points left up for grabs as the ECL ‘22: Winter Pro season is set to end on 3 February, so good luck and have fun as you look to clinch that coveted playoff berth. We will be right back at you come playoff time with the Round 1 preview, see you then! And as always, feel free to comment with any interesting tidbits you might have PS: We would love for you to follow our social channels, as they are an integral part of the ECL season. Discord Instagram Facebook Twitch Twitter

NHLGamers, Many - including our writing crew in our Finals Preview - doubted FILADEPHIA’s chances tonight after witnessing hREDS’s dominating performance in the ECL 12 Elite Finals a couple months ago. But FILADELPHIA would not budge, and successfully defended their Finnish Championship title with an overwhelming performance.    Despite the finals ending in a sweep, the games were very even with game 1 being decided in overtime and the decisive game 3 seeing a game winning goal in the dying minutes of the game.  Game 1: hREDS - FILADELPHIA 1-2 OT Game 2: FILADELPHIA - hREDS 4-1 Game 3: hREDS - FILADELPHIA 1-2 FILADELPHIA's s road to the championship: Invited straight to the Playoffs as the reigning champion Round 1: vs Bruise Brothers (64) 3-0 Round 2: vs Shameful Knights (47) 3-0 Round 3: vs Conquer Gaming (23) 3-1 Quarterfinals: vs Otukset eSports (16) 3-0 Semifinals: vs KOVA Esports (10) 3-0 Finals: vs hREDS (2) 3-0 The winning roster: GOALTENDERS #72 Casper @ICappeI Lundgren DEFENSEMEN #3 Teemu @Xteemuz Polttila #27 Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta FORWARDS #25 Erik @EkiTammenpää #44 Paul @PleeMaker Arontie #86 Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala   Photo credit: Topias Uusiheimo / SEUL The top 3 teams of FCL 6v6 are: 🥇 FILADELPHIA 🥈 hREDS 🥉 GOONS   Congratulations to the champions on behalf of the entire community, and a warm thank you to all participants!