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The third week of ECL Elite has now been played and the battle starts to get tougher and tougher all the time. Teams have now played 1between 10 and 16 games and we can start to see who is hot this season and who still needs to get their bearings straight for the final push. Like you could expect before the season, it's no surprise that the two teams we find at the top of the standings after about half of the games have been played are hREDS and Frölunda HC. hREDS' week included matchups against SAWO ESPORTS and HAVU Gaming and they showed once again their great teamplay by collecting all 8 possible points and letting opponents score only one goal per game in those matchups. Frölunda HC also played against two teams this week but weren't able to secure all the points as JYP Jyväskylä were able to beat the Indians once in overtime. Thursday night was good for Frölunda HC as they managed to get back to the 4/4 points rhythm against Stargazing. Paul @PleeMaker Arontie showed once again how good of a goal scorer he is by notching 6 goals in 4 games this week. In third place if you look at points per game you can find Örebro Hockey, who have had a great start to their season, quite surprisingly. Winning hREDS in week two clearly gave them some positive energy as they were able to win five out of six games this week, continuing their great run. Especially their start to the week was absolutely incredible as Örebro won both ZSC Esports and Falun Coal Miners without allowing a single goal. Elie @eliekamel87(Eliekamel_) Kamel in net was a brick wall, and secured four consecutive shutouts to his name. They ended their week against SAWO ESPORTS by splitting wins and both walking away with two points. Speaking of SAWO, they had a heavy workload this week with eight games to play on total. This weeks disappointment for them was a loss against YMCA Esports, but on the other hand they were able to make comeback against Färjestad BK in the first game as they were down 2-0 when there was only 30 seconds left in the game. Eventually, SAWO won in overtime. They have managed to grab 18 points in 14 games which means that they are in 4th place in the standings tied with Färjestad BK when you look at the points per game. After a little break from the games also IQUE made their comeback this week by playing against three opponents. The week definitely wasn't what they were looking for because they ended up winning only one of those six games. Now IQUE is sitting at last place in the standings and has only got seven points in their 12 games played. If GOONS had gotten ahead of the pack a bit early, they've now slowed down their pace a bit to allow other teams to catch up in terms of games played. However, it still seems like Arttu @laitineen64 (Laiitinen) Laitinens production pace is unmatched at the moment. The young winger is scoring at a pace of over two points per game and had a great seven point double-header against Conquer Gaming last week, putting him ahead of the competition. Also worth noting is ZSC's rookie Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg, who sits in 5th place with 9+14=23 points - not bad for a rookie! Someone who is struggling a bit along with his team is IQUE captain Janne @Nieppii Niemelä, who only has eight points through his first twelve games, and sits at a -6 as we speak. There's still time to turn things around, however, and something he still does very well is stay on the puck and draw penalties, now IQUE only needs to find a way to turn up the production. Defensively, the last week was a show of excellence by Örebro Hockey as a unit. We already touched on the topic, but the feat of four consecutive shutouts truly is incredible at this level of competition. Örebro isn't known for such things, and we're used to seeing them play a fast counter-attack hockey, and not really being one of the best teams at completely shutting down opposition. Anyway, a great effort by the entire team and especially goaltender @eliekamel87. In terms of production down low, the most efficient defenseman thus far has been ZSC's Max @Toneee9 Tonitz, who have managed to keep up a very consistent pace, almost getting his name on the scoresheet in every game played. If the Swiss are looking to find playoff pace this season, he'll need to continue his great play.

SportsGamers, The ECL '22 Spring Core Playoffs are here and we have got some very strong teams that are ready to go to war in the postseason. 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 first round of the playoffs will start on Sunday the 1st of May 2022 and end on Thursday the 5th 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 1 of the ECL '22 Spring Core Playoffs   Good luck for everyone!

As we're at the midway point of the ECL '22 Spring Lite season, it's time to take a look at where some teams stand at the moment, some top performers of the season and how we're expecting things to turn out in the last few weeks. Join us for the ride! About half of the season is in the rearview when almost all teams have played more than 14 games in the regular season. A couple of new teams have risen and some “old faces” have shown that they still can hold the controller. When looking at groups now it is hard to quickly see the true leader of the group due to the fact that teams have played at different pace. Of course when looking at group 1 you can see that Destiny has been very solid throughout the season and none other than then should be topping the group. However, my point is that at this point you shouldn't blindly stare at the points in the standings, since teams have played at different pace and are facing different opponents at different stages of the season. When looking at groups now and comparing it to the Winter season there are a couple similarities. Last season it was FILADELPHIA ACADEMY who were almost unstoppable during the regular season. This season it has been Destiny. However, one big difference sticks out in the comparison of these two teams. Destiny already has outscored all of FILADELPHIA ACADEMY from last season, but they've also allowed almost a goal per game more, so you'd expect them to address that defensive slack at some point in a way or another. Of course you have to remember that FILA was playing their second season together, so they had the chemistry advantage already going into their campaign. Even though Lite isn't the highest level, the characteristic of the league is very highly skilled individuals scattered across several teams. Players who score those big goals in important games, and those who will find that fifth hole in the blink of an eye when given the chance. Players to watch: @xSagwa from Destiny The top point scorer in Lite. Most goals, most assists, flawless on a few faceoffs. Perhaps this guy is playing in the wrong division? The most complete player in Lite at the moment. @juusoskari from TTK A true puck hog in the division and the fifth best defenseman in terms of scoring. Playmaker behind the lines that has an offensive upside. Solid down low with great hands and playmaking ability. @PCJP (Pelkonen-I92I) from Arkham Asylum An experienced and really skilled fast moving goalie. Reads the game like an open book and is really hard to score against. With a goalie like this, Arkham Asylum doesn’t need to worry about easy goals going in. Sometimes, these reports can be quite tricky to write. If all the teams played at exactly the same pace it could be easier to draw comparisons and judge form, but we're working with what we've got right now. Now, we know how much you guys love some good tongue-in-cheek predictions, so that's exactly what we've gone for. Let's create some controversy between writer and reader. So - Here are my predictions and assumptions for the rest of the season, unfortunately not including every team, but some out of every group. Group 1 Destiny will top their group. Lemmenvelhot will drop to the eight seed. Bellizi will claim the second spot. Rusty Bulls will drop outside the playoffs. Tequila Sunrise will sneak into the playoffs. IK Oskarshamn will be the third. Linköping HC will battle to the end to make the playoffs. Stone Age battles for the eighth seed if @Ma26one can continue being an accurate passing machine. Group 2 Arkham Asylum will top their group. Sawolanche will be a playoff team. RoKi Esports will fight to gain a playoff spot. Pirati Chomutov Esports will drop from the playoff line. Bastu will be int he top 4. Free From Rodents will not make the playoffs. United Front will fight their way into the playoffs with @Kuolio10's clapper and body checking power. Including Me has an enforcer defenceman - good or bad, you decide! Group 3 Spirit will top the group. Tadpole will be second. Södertälje SK will lose out on the playoffs. Valco will not make the playoffs. Synergy Hockey is battling for top 4 position. Luleå Hockey Is in the playoff battle. Oulunsalo HT still has a chance. Group 4 Hunters will top the group if the writer can catch some pucks. Technical Disaster will battle for that top seed. HC SHH will drop from the top four. Neptune Hockey will drop from the top four. Resurrection doesn’t make it to the playoffs. Project X will finish eighth. Lutunilkat will miss out on the playoffs. Tic Tac Toes battles for top four if @Artuzio gets the puck in front of the opponents net. Argue, discuss, and prove me wrong, show why every prediction is false. Maybe even I can admit I was wrong - someday. We're wishing all teams good luck in their final push for the season. Get out there, play hard and most importantly have fun! Socials Here's an update to the social media instructions. Our sponsors this season are Kouvolan Lakritsi, St Hockey & Wilhelm. Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Note: It is very helpful and critical for us to succeed in getting our partners tagged, so they get the necessary mentions and interaction to validate their participation in the future. That being said, it is understandable that there may be circumstances due to your other partners where you are unable to tag competition etc. Your support is appreciated. 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.