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NHLGamers, ECL 8 was certainly surprise season in our Lite division! Even more so than usually this time around. It's only fitting to have the 14th seed team Oton Letkutemppu take the trophy in a final series agains the 20th seed Vesa Pompa HC - congrats to both these teams on outstanding seasons. This season the playoff format involved some bye rounds and these certainly didn't favour the higher seeded teams that got a week of rest while the lower seeded teams fought it out in order to make it through and keep their dream alive. It's been yet another long but joyful road which we're very happy to have shared with all of you guys participating. NHLGamer extends a humble thank you to all of the players(you!), who are making this experience possible. Without further ado, let's move on to a review of this season: Group 1: Perttilan Kommandot The winners of a tight Group 1 were disappointed in the second round of the playoffs where LammasLauma swept the series in four games. This is the second season in a row where they have experienced a fast exit, when in ECL 7 they lost in the second round to Dubnation Gaming. Elamam Kiekko The consistently competitive EMK took the second place from their tight Group 1 but had struggles to find the right fit to their left wing as in total five players tried to play there. In the second round of the playoffs they lost in six games to FarmiNaattori who finished third in Group 1 and whom Elamam Kiekko had beaten twice in the regular season. Group 2: Old Farts The Oldies were the second strongest team in the regular season but they surprisingly lost to Poston Fruits in six games in the second round of the playoffs and only scored three goals in these games. @Valmuri played center in the first three losses against Poston Fruits, but after that @Ankkalasvegas joined the action and Old Farts were able to win two games before losing the game six where from Fruits advanced to the third round. Last Period Last Period was only the sixth team in scoring in their group. Outstanding defensive efforts and great goaltending from @buzee_ won them the second place on their group. In the playoffs they lost in the second round to Western Express in five games and scored only seven goals in those games. Group 3: Blackdawgs Group 3 featured seven out of ten top scorers in regular season from four different teams. One of them is fifth highest scorer and Blackdawgs captain @Mistertyppo95. Blackdawgs were the only team that won Dynamic who dominated almost every game they played and that secured their spot as winners of their group. Blackdawgs lost in the fourth round to the eventual ECL 8 Lite winners Oton Letkutemppu and they were the only team that won Letkutemppu two times in the playoffs. After four games, the series was tied 2-2 but Letkutemppu won both the fifth and sixth game in the overtime. If the puck had bounced differently - Blackdawgs could have won the title. Dynamic Most dominant regular season team as three of their forwards had more than 100 points when fourth place player @Stefan_397 from EV Fuessen eSports had 88 points. Something happened in the locker room and Dynamic gave walkovers from two of their last regular season games to Saucer Hockey and they didn’t play at all in the playoffs. Had they put their differences aside - could they have won the title? Group 4: Dystopia The team finished the regular season 21-2-1 and with @Jerax13 carrying the team on his shoulders they were on top of the table. Dystopia managed to reach round 4 of the ECL 8 Lite playoffs where they got beaten by group 4’s second placing team Cheers Hockey. Cheers Hockey 15-5-4 was enough to reach second place in group 4 and with some good chemistry in the team with @Borjendahlen leading the team in points, they were one of four teams that got the right to play in the Pro division next ECL season. Group 5: Prowlers The team finished the regular season losing only two games. @Toobbiiee(Vesterberg89) and @RullAthor1991 combined with solid goaltending from @David McSavid(Rundqviist) gave these guys a good chance for a Pro push but they found themselves beaten 4-0 in round 4 by Vesa Pompa. Puck Panthers @Giinis lead the team in scoring with 29 goals and 23 assists. The team didn't make it through round 2 of the ECL lite playoffs though as Me Carvoset were a bit too much of a challenge the Panthers. Group 6: We Kings We kings is one of four teams that made it to the semi finals where they lost 4-1. The regular season was very good especially for @Hbnzo who lead the team in points and @Maggre in the crease had a solid record of 13-4-1. We are very curious about what will happen next season for these guys. Oton Letkutemppu The ECL 8 Lite champions finished the regular season 17-6-1 in a group that looked very though. @Thounimeister scored more points in the playoffs than he did in the regular season and their goalkeepers were extraordinary, especially @Theoikeakarim who finished the playoffs with a save percentage of 95%(!) after playing defense for most of the season. Under the radar: Vesa Pompa HC Vesa Pompa HC had an ok regular season where they finished with 16-6-4 record. At the playoffs this heavily offensive team only lost one game before the finals where they were swept in four games by Oton Letkutemppu. eken45jr (60 points) and affelj96 (57 points) were the two top scorers in the playoffs. AWARDS Playoff MVP: @Theoikeakarim Most Points: @Basstian23, Dynamic, 47 Goals, 79 Assists, 126 Points in 24 games Most Goals: @Lakevalley, Dynamic, 76 Goals, 33 Assists, 109 Points in 24 games Most Assists: @Basstian23, Dynamic, 47 Goals, 79 Assists, 126 Points in 24 games Most Hits by a Forward: @XelsFIN, We Kings, 101 Hits in 24 games Best +/-: @Basstian23, Dynamic, +89 in 24 games Most Points by a Defenseman: @Halinalle69, NOCANDO, 8 Goals, 30 Assists, 38 Points in 19 games Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Klassikko_, Perttilan Kommandot, 10 Goals, 22 Assists, 32 Points in 24 games Most Assists by a Defenseman: @Halinalle69, NOCANDO, 8 Goals, 30 Assists, 38 Points in 19 games Most Hits by a Defenseman: @Theoikeakarim, Oton Letkutemppu, 216 Hits in 20 games TOP 3'S OF ECL 8 LITE Top 3 Forwards Regular Season: 1. @Basstian23, Dynamic, 47 Goals, 79 Assists, 126 Points in 24 games 2. @Lakevalley, Dynamic, 76 Goals, 33 Assists, 109 Points in 24 games 3. @Tiipponenii, Dynamic, 32 Goals, 77 Assists, 109 Points in 24 games Top 3 Defenders Regular Season: 1. @Halinalle69, NOCANDO, 8 Goals, 30 Assists, 38 Points in 19 games 2. @Klassikko_, Perttilan Kommandot, 10 Goals, 22 Assists, 32 Points in 24 games 3. @Theoikeakarim, Oton Letkutemppu, 7 goals, 24 Assists, 31 Points in 20 games Top 3 Goaltenders Regular Season: 1. @timpelo303, Dystopia, 20 Wins, 87.20 SV%, 1.65 GAA, 2 SO in 23 games 2. @Reaper-80, Perttilan Kommandot, 19 Wins, 85.20 SV%, 1.31 GAA, 6 SO in 22 games 3. @buzee_, Last Period, 18 Wins, 86.47 SV%, 1.27 GAA, 6 SO in 22 games Top 3 Forwards Playoffs: 1. @Eken45jr, Vesa Pompa HC, 26 Goals, 34 Assists, 60 Points in 23 games 2. @affelj96, Vesa Pompa HC, 39 Goals, 18 Assists, 57 Points in 23 games 3. @Hbnzo, We Kings, 28 Goals, 24 Assists, 52 Points Top 3 Defenders Playoffs: 1. @Latexiii, We Kings, 3 Goals, 20 Assists, 23 Points in 22 games 2. @Taunomaister1, Chatbox, 3 Goals, 17 Assists, 19 Points in 14 games 3. @Juanzaar, Me Carvoset, 3 Goals, 15 Assists, 18 Points in 14 games Top 3 Goaltenders Playoffs: 1. @KerttulanKarlsson, Cheers Hockey, 12 Wins, 88.42 SV%, 1.29 GAA, 7 SO in 17 games 2. @peppeztvshow, Vesa Pompa HC, 12 Wins, 76.92 SV%, 2.60 GAA, 0 SO in 15 games 3. @Mazu_Pizu, Saucer Hockey, 11 Wins, 82.35 SV%, 2.40 GAA, 2 SO in 20 games The controversial 'Top 6' of the season is making a comeback! What this means is a selection of six players in a starting lineup, that have showed exceptional skill and played a good season. Please note that all selections are subjective and they are made by community members who have been keeping an eye on ECL 8 Lite. Without further ado, here's the top 6 of our Lite division in ECL 8: @Mistertyppo95 (Blackdawgs) - @Basstian23 (Dynamic) - @Eken45jr (Vesa Pompa HC) @Halinalle69 (NOCANDO) - @Theoikeakarim (Oton Letkutemppu) @timpelo303 (Dystopia) On top of an outstanding season in general, we also saw some ECL Lite records being broken! The following records have been set this season: Most assists in one season(Lite): @Basstian23 (79 assists) Most penalty minutes in one season(Lite): @Bull_Bensson (62 minutes) Most powerplay goals in one season(Lite): @Lakevalley (12 goals) We're happy to conclude the season with this review. Once again, thank you all for your participation and congrats to the promoted teams. See you next season! ECL Writing Team, @Tonimo92 & @Willander97

Hello Gamers, We're glad to share with you what the NHL has prepared for their biggest gaming event so far - Season 2 of the NHL Gaming World Championship! Registrations kick off March 6th and closes on March 31st. However, online qualifiers will be starting already on March 13th. Ahead of the announcement, NHL Vice President of Business Development Chris Golier stated: “We’ve listened to the players and measured how the live events and content were received and are making changes this year that we think will make for a more competitive tournament and more engaged community.” So, what are the changes? First off, the NHL GWC Season 2 will be played in Hockey Ultimate Team. This will allow for players to create unique teams that are tailored according to their own style of play. It is definitely an interesting switch over from versus and it's refreshing to potentially see something else than the same two teams matching up against each other for the entire tournament. Right from the get-go, the switch to HUT received heavy criticism from some of the best gamers out there, and it hasn't been toning down. What do you think? The second new thing was the qualifier system, which was renewed as a natural continuation of switching to the HUT game mode. In order to qualify for the tournament, a player needs to register at Battlefy.com/NHL, whereafter one is eligible to play Online Open Play in order to qualify for the Online Play-in Bracket, where the top 23 players per console and region for each weekly period will compete for a spot at the Live Regional Finals. Online Play-in Brackets are hosted twice for each region (EU 13th & 20th of April, CAN 20th & 27th of April, US 27th of April & 4th of May). In the Online Play-in Bracket, the top 128 players from each console and region will battle it out for four spots at the Live Regional Finals. The third new thing is also related to the switch over to HUT and this is an interesting one. From the Live Regional finals onwards, players will be drafting their teams from a preselected player pool and no duplicate players will be allowed - meaning every team will be completely unique! This adds another layer of strategy to the competition and will definitely be some fun to speculate on. Players will draft their team for the Regional Live finals and redraft again for the NHL GWC Final. Andrew "Nasher" Telfer, who will be returning as analyst for season 2 of the NHL GWC commented on the draft as follows: “Players will be forced to step out of their comfort zone, some players stick to versus (with actual NHL teams), others focus on HUT, but for the first time, players won't know exactly what their team will look like going into the tournament. Tough decisions will have to be made during the draft, I'm sure we'll see some pretty crazy lineups come the live events. The good news is players will be able to build a team to fit their play style.” Prize pool: $100,000 1. $50,000 2. $15,000 3. $10,000 4. $5,000 5/6. $2,500 You can see the full schedule for the tournament below: EU US CAN March 6th Registration opens at Battlefy.com/NHL March 13th Online open play begins March 31 Registrations close April 7th Online open play ends April 13th European Online Play-In Bracket Day 1 April 20th European Online Play-In Bracket Day 2 April 20th Canadian Online Play-In Bracket Day 1 April 27th Canadian Online Play-In Bracket Day 2 April 27th US Online Play-In Bracket Day 1 April 27th European Regional Draft May 4th US Online Play-In Bracket Day 2 May 4th Canadian Regional Draft May 11th US Regional Draft May 18th European Regional Finals (Stockholm, Sweden) May 25th Canadian Regional Finals (Toronto, Ontario) May 30th US Regional Finals (Stamford, Connecticut) June 3rd NHL GWC Final Draft June 18th NHL GWC World Finals (Las Vegas, Nevada) Also check what your reigning champion @Eki has to say: Will we see you on the ice in season 2 of the NHL GWC? Who do you think will win? What are your thoughts on the GWC moving over to HUT? Let us know in the comments! NHLGamer Writers @jahajaha93 & @Serg1vratar