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In Round 2 of the ECL '22 Spring Lite Playoffs, it's time for new success stories to be made and for old start to polish up and shine again! We've got several exciting matchups on tap, and here are some comments about them to follow. Structure & Prize Pool Schedule Well, my first round predictions were kind of hit and miss. Let’s discuss those a little bit later. First congratulations to all teams who managed to advance to the second round. Some first round games were tight, whereas other not so much. Especially all matchups that went to game seven. Those nervous moments end with great celebrations or big disappointments. Eventually always the best team continues. So let’s talk about my predictions. My first round predictions were a bit short, and let's see how they went: Arkham Asylum - Frölunda HC Academy Prediction: 4-1 to Arkham Asylum Result: 4-3 to Arkham Asylum Knowing Arkham pretty well I was convinced that they had recovered from last season’s disappointing first round exit and would come back stronger, but Frölunda showed that seed doesn’t matter and put up one hell of a fight. When the seventh game had 10 minutes of play time left, Frölunda were up 3-1 and this writer had cold and sweaty hands. Arkham’s experienced squad still showed why they are the top squad. They tied the game in regulation and an overtime winner from @Hj_projekti (Jorgeniii) sealed the deal. Tadpole - Pata Hellalla Prediction: 4-0 to Tadpole Result: 4-2 to Tadpole What a series Pata Hellalla managed to turn this into. Even though Tadpole controlled the games @L1ttle_Pony93 (Supermaaario) with the great defence from Pata made the series tighter. Despite the experienced squad the former Pro team still couldn’t find the path to the next round. @Janne Hietala (Hiatala_) held his ground and @ROUHEEE scored those big goals to put them through to the next round. Destiny - Timrå IK Prediction: 4-2 to Destiny Result: 4-1 to Destiny Almost. Tight games between two good teams. Destiny was in the drivers seat for the entire series. Timrå IK defended well and was able to shut down Destiny’s scoring chances. It seems biased that I always praise goalies but @Mesimaki really played well and gave every chance for his team to win. Destiny calmed their game in game five and that calmness gave them more time to look for opportunities to score. They also held their defensive ground well and minimized Timrå's chances. Spirit - Resurrection Prediction: 4-1 to Spirit Result: 4-0 to Spirit Almost got this, but no. Spirit showed no mercy. Well the first game ended in overtime and in terms of the result, was the closest. When looking at the stats though Spirit had the control. @Jiihooo86 almost could handle the little pressure I gave him on the first preview but you cannot win alone. Spirit, on the other hand, looked like a really solid team throughout the series. Only allowing three goals shows good team defence and a solid goalie. And @Toivonen_ continued his regular season Spirit into the playoffs. Synergy Hockey - Neptune Hockey Prediction: 4-0 to Synergy Hockey Result: 4-0 to Synergy Hockey I’m never wrong. More than once. Okay let’s take a look at the only series I predicted right. Synergy Hockey is full of old Pro and Elite players so this wasn’t really a surprise. Standard to expectations, and that's not to sayNeptune Hockey isn't also a great team. It's your first season in the Lite division and getting eliminated in the first round is no shame, ask the Arkham Asylum guys how that feels. Synergy Hockey’s experienced squad walked off to the next round as expected. Round 2 Now, let’s discuss about the next round. Some very interesting teams managed to move on. Teams like the Carolus Icemen are one of them. A Swedish based team with some British reinforcements, and at the same time the British National team is on a visit in Finland to play in the Ice Hockey World Championship. But now to the part that everyone has been waiting for. Round 2 predictions. I will go through every pair this time and add some comments if I feel it's needed. Remember to discuss, argue and prove me wrong. Arkham Asylum - Valco Prediction: 4-1 to Arkham Asylum Comment: Even though Valco came through in the first round, Arkham is an opponent on an entirely different level. Tadpole - Team NGU Prediction: 4-3 to Tadpole Comment: Server advantage, but NGU could still challenge Tadpole like Pata Helalla did in the past round. Destiny - Södertälje SK Prediction: 4-2 to Södertälje SK Comment: Destiny played very well against Timrå but Södertälje is definitely a step up in the level of opponent. This is going to be an interesting watch. Fast-paced hockey against tough defense first mentality. Project X - HC SHH Prediction: 4-1 to Project X Comment: Golden close quarters may not be enough in round two. Bastu - Linköping HC Prediction: 4-3 to ? Comment: This can go either way, but I'll predict it's in a game seven. Spirit - Hyperion Prediction: 4-1 to Spirit Comment: Do your magic @Toivonen_. IK Oskarshamn - Carolus Icemen Prediction: 4-0 to IK Oskarshamn Comment: Sorry Carolus, I kinda fancy you, but I don’t see you going through this stage. Free From Rodents - Synergy Hockey Prediction: 4-1 to Synergy Hockey Comment: No comment read above Bold assumptions. Go play. Socials Here's an update to the social media instructions. Our sponsors this season are Kouvolan Lakritsi, St Hockey & Wilhelm. 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As there are quite a few hashtags by now, especially from a Twitter perspective with limited characters, we recommend using at least #ECL22Spring in the text part of the tweet and leave the sponsor tags for the end. If you need to cut out tags, remove #esports and #NHL22. For Instagram this shouldn't be an issue.

SportsGamers, We're one step closer to glory! The Core division playoffs have been running for quite some time already and now we're down to the top 16. In Core, the playoffs consist of the top 8 teams from each group being seeded against other teams who finished in the same position (e.g. group winners are seeded #1-4, group runners-up are seeded #5-8 and so on.). The second round of the playoffs will start on Sunday the 15th of May 2022 and end on Wednesday the 25th of May 2022. Here is a full schedule of the ECL '22 Spring Core playoffs: Round-of-64: 01.05 – 05.05 (BO7) Round-of-32: 08.05 – 12.05 (BO7) Round-of-16: 15.05 – 25.05 (BO7) Quarterfinals: 30.05 – 02.06 (BO7) Semifinals: 05.06 – 09.06 (BO7) Finals: 13.06 – 14.06 (BO7) [Provisional date] For the relevant rules regarding these playoffs, please find extracts from the ECL Rulebook below. Essentially, each series will be a best-of-seven and the higher seeded team will play 'at home' first, then alternate back and forth with the lower seeded team.  Click here to view the matchups for round 3 of the ECL '22 Spring Core Playoffs   Good luck for everyone!

SportsGamers, Out of the 24 qualified teams, we're now left with only 16 in the Neo playoffs. Now also the top 8 will start their postseason runs and we'll see if they've used their bye week in a smart way on the practice ice. Let the action begin and may the best teams win! The first round of the playoffs will start on Sunday the 15th of May 2022 and end on Wednesday the 25th of May 2022. Here is a full schedule of the ECL '22 Spring Neo playoffs: Round-of-32: 08.05 – 12.05 (BO5) Round-of-16: 15.05 – 25.05 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 30.05 – 02.06 (BO5) Semifinals: 05.06 – 08.06 (BO5) Finals: 12.06 (BO5) For the relevant rules regarding these playoffs, please find extracts from the ECL Rulebook below. Essentially, each series will be a best-of-five and the higher seeded team will play 'at home' first, then alternate back and forth with the lower seeded team.  Click here to view the matchups for round 2 of the ECL '22 Spring Neo Playoffs   Good luck for everyone!