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The newest traditional hockey organization to sign their own NHL esports roster is EHC Kloten from the Swiss National League NLA. The club, hailing from Kloten in northern Switzerland in the canton of Zürich now joins the group of several other Swiss clubs that have entered the NHL esports scene looking for glory, with ZSC Esports leading the way in the European top 16. Formerly known as Gleumes Hockey Krefeld, the roster led by captain Manuel @ManU287 Engels is excited about their new opportunity and the development he's seen in the team over the past few seasons: "Two years ago I started the project Gleumes Hockey Krefeld with friends. In the last few months, I thought more and more about joining an ice hockey club as an eSports team. Through Kiwi @kiwison Meier, we then came to EHC Kloten and were able to take this important step. I am very happy about this cooperation and what can come out of it. We will establish ourselves in the ECL Lite division and then see what will be possible for us from there. The club has a great tradition and we will wear the colours and logo with pride". Kiwi Meier, the assistant captain and driving force in the talks with EHC Kloten is feeling good about their new organization and is excited about expanding the community to fans of EHC Kloten, and also potentially discovering a few undiscovered talents along the way. Their participation in the eNationalleague was EHC Kloten's first venture into esports and their representative Guido Wanger, who was selected through club qualifiers has fared well and slotted in the top 100 consistently on the worldwide leaderboards. A 6v6 team will be the next step for the club, building on the momentum established on the 1v1 side of things. The traditional sports club wants to attract a younger audience and capitalise on the growing popularity of eSports. The goal is to foster a sense of community and engagement among the club's members and fans, creating a more vibrant and supportive environment for all the club's activities. "For EHC Kloten, esports is a big project with a lot of potential that we want to use. We are happy that we were able to sign motivated and experienced players who represent the club and its values in the world of competitive gaming. We have been able to define initial goals and are looking forward to embarking on this mission together", Yanis Schälchli, Head of esports at EHC Kloten summarizes. You can catch EHC Kloten eSports in action already tonight in a Swiss league rivalry matchup against HC Lugano eSports. The games will be streamed live at www.twitch.tv/ehc_kloten_esports with puckdrop at 22:00 CET!

SportsGamers, The ECL '23 Winter Elite season returns from its Christmas break and with that, also the second week of action in the regular season is in the books. While some teams are quickly closing in on the halfway mark of their campaigns, JANO, who didn't start their journey until Thursday last week, will have some catching up to do. Among the teams we mentioned would have to really prove themselves in the past week were ZSC Esports and Falun Coal Miners. Now it's time to take a look at how those teams have fared in the past week, as well as look at some other trends that might have started appearing.  Since last time we checked in on the Elite division, the predicted contenders hREDS and Frölunda HC have started pulling the pack, as expected. The two title favorites even clashed this week, with points eventually being shared between the two of them. In both of those bouts, hREDS evidently put on more pressure and managed to gain an advantage in chances created and puck possession, but Frölunda were incredibly opportunistic and strongly benefitted from the scoring touch that Ilmari @Buantso Lehkonen has managed to find for the red and green.  One of the more surprising outcomes of the early season is Roots Gaming and Unlucky Boys HC battling up there with the big boys in the standings. Both clubs underwent some offseason changes and were expected to at least have an adjustment period early on, but at this point, they are hanging in there with the best of them. Roots managed to sneak a point in their matchup against hREDS, whereas Unlucky Boys won one of their games in the matchup against Frölunda HC. The Unlucky Boys HC captain Antti @Anhel_Kuru Kuru, who dropped back to defense this season, has started very well, helping his team on the rush too with great production (2+12=14) early on.  ZSC Esports and Falun Coal Miners, who we were wishing to pick up their game a bit, haven't really shown what we know they can do yet. Both teams are seemingly struggling to keep the puck out of their own net, and Falun aren't helping their case by being one of the most penalized teams in the league on average. There's still plenty of time for both of these squads to turn things around, and we'll be rooting for them to find a way in the coming weeks! Another interesting phenomenon has been the lows that GOONS, Färjestad BK and Växjö Lakers have started their seasons on. All three teams are now past the first third of the season and are below a .500 record. While GOONS and FBK have been around for quite some time already in the Elite division, Växjö were expected to be the new kids on the block with the skill to challenge some of the better teams in the league. That has certainly not yet happened, and with their upcoming matchups being Nordic Stars and Unlucky Boys, now is a better time than ever for Växjö to pull theirselves together. GOONS, on the other hand, have been doing just that, as they seem to have rotated all of their deep roster in an attempt to find the constellation that ultimately will be able to get them wins. Top scorer Roope @pikkuroger Bergström will be entering military service in a week, so they'll need to find a way to click without him in the future.  The top plays of last week featured some Laitinen action in the Tunnel Vision vs Frölunda HC matchup, as Valtteri @Vattuyy Virtanen managed to steal the puck in the neutral zone, setting up an attacking chance for his team. Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen managed to find Arttu @laitineen64 Laitinen open on the right flank for a clapper that hit the back of the net.    In another beautiful play this past week, JANO's Waltteri @Wpaanane Paananen threw some extra, extra sauce on the table when finding his teammate Eemil @Eeemill_ Törnvall for an easy tap in at the back post in their matchup against Färjestad BK. Standings - Week 1 1.  hREDS (-) 10-1-1 2.  Frölunda HC (+1) 9-2-1 3.  Unlucky Boys HC (+2) 7-3-2 4.  Roots Gaming (+6) 6-1-3 5.  ISO Esports (-1) 5-4-5 6.  JYP Jyvaskyla (+2) 7-3-0 7.  Tunnel Vision (-1) 6-0-2 8.  Nordic Stars (-6) 6-3-1 9.  ZSC Esports (-) 6-8-0 10.  Reality Check (-3) 5-3-2 11.  Färjestad BK (+1) 3-4-3 12.  GOONS (-1) 3-6-2 13.  Växjö Lakers (+1) 2-6-2 14.  Falun Coal Miners (-1) 2-6-2 15.  Luleå Hockey (+1) 2-3-1 16.  JANO (-1) 2-2-0 ECL '23 Winter Pro is on the table today with two great broadcast matchups! Tune in to watch IK Oskarshamn take on Bastu and Frölunda HC Academy take on Synergy Hockey. See you at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG at 19:45CET as usual!