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With the ECL '23 Winter Elite season moving into the last full week of competition in the Regular season, some of the predicted top teams are in excellent form. We've also got some surprising appearances around the top of the standings, and things are starting to look dire towards the bottom. Join us for this overview into the action over the past week! There's no doubt about hREDS being one the hottest teams in the league at the moment, with losses only to main rivals Frölunda HC and Tunnel Vision along their campaign thus far. In their last few matchups, JANO was seemingly able to mount some opposition against the reigning Champions, but in their usual way, hREDS were able to clear the minor obstacle with an overtime win. It's looking like Tunnel Vision is the only team to compare in terms of form at the moment, with a similar record in their latest matches, but their offense seems to be clicking slightly better and they've been able to clear opponents with relative ease.  Roots Gaming had an absolute disaster of a week after previously managing to climb the ranks, the four losses against JYP and ISO, who can be considered their main competition in the fight for the last playoff spots this season, will definitely leave a mark moving forward. Next in line for Roots should be Växjö, ZSC and Luleå, which should be a great opportunity for this squad to get back on track and pick up some much needed points. Unlucky Boys haven't had the best start top the new year, with only one regulation win in their three full matchups. JANO and JYP Jyväskylä are fighting for similar positioning with them, so those lost points will definitely sting in that tight mid-table race. The burger boys will be going up against Reality Check HC in our featured broadcast matches tonight with massive points up for grabs. Reality Check are currently sitting in a surprising second place in the standings, but with 24 games already played. The team is easily slotting into the Playoffs based on point average in their first Elite season, though. V-V @vvlampela Lampela (cTunkeilija) is in great form for the black and yellow with a 25 goals and 48 points, earning him second position in the scoring race at the moment. Reality Check HC have also been helped greatly by goaltender Sebastian @FINSeRe Remes, who is second to only Frölunda's Casper @ICappeI Lundgren with an impressive 85.99 SV% on a much bigger sample size. The experienced goaltender is also topping the tables in terms of shutouts with three of those to his name thus far.  Things are looking dire for several established Swedish teams that have fallen towards the bottom of the pack. Falun especially, who have only 10 games remaining in their regular season, suffered recent tough losses against GOONS, who they are in direct competition with. They've now got big games against Luleå and Växjö coming up, and this experienced roster will definitely be throwing all they've got at these matchups. Adding Tim @Timasy Hess before the new year has helped them slightly and eight points collected in their five latest matchups is a step forward for the Coal Miners, clinging to their Elite spot at this point.    Standings - Week 4 1.  Frölunda HC (-) 15-2-3 2.  Reality Check (+4) 13-7-4 3.  hREDS (-1) 14-1-1 4.  Tunnel Vision (-1) 12-0-2 5.  JANO (+5) 9-6-5 6.  JYP Jyvaskyla (+3) 11-5-0 7.  ZSC Esports (+4) 11-9-0 8.  Nordic Stars (+3) 9-5-2 9.  ISO Esports (-1) 7-7-6 10.  Unlucky Boys HC (-3) 8-7-3 11.  Roots Gaming (-7) 7-6-3 12.  GOONS (-) 7-8-3 13.  Falun Coal Miners (+2) 5-11-4 14.  Luleå Hockey (-1) 4-5-3 15.  Växjö Lakers (-1) 4-9-3 16.  Färjestad BK (-3) 4-7-3 Tonight, ECL '23 Winter Elite returns for some important matchups with big points on the line. Reality Check HC takes on Unlucky Boys, whereas GOONS are taken on by the league leading Frölunda HC in the later matchup. Join us for all the action at 19:45 CET as usual. See you at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG!

At the completion of this report approaching the halfway point of the season, the number of games played by each team was still very unequal. However, we were already able to distinguish a trend at the top of the table. At the bottom also even if it remained to qualify. We've made the decision to divide this retail review into three groups: contenders, challengers and chasers. Given that this ranking will certainly still change a lot teams involved in this report will still have a chance to right their course. Please note that the statistics quoted here were recorded on December 30, 2022. Thank you to the teams who took care to answer our questions. Contenders: 1.4pts per game and more Group 1 HC Korobka : 1.72pts/g North Sawo Lions : 1.5 EHC Olten eSports : 1.5 Hannover Indians eSports : 1.5 Warheads : 1.4 Group 2 Cheeky Grinders : 1.79pts/g Predators : 1.44 Black Hurricanes : 1.43 It is reasonable to estimate that the future ECL 23 champion Winter Core is among one of these eight teams. It took fourteen games for Korobka to be beaten after a perfect start. The same goes for Cheeky Grinders who had only lost twice, including one in overtime. As we often say, matches are won in attack but championships are won in defense, the Swiss formation of Olten eSports was then the one who in this register came out best with a defensive coefficient of 1.5 goals conceded per game. Let's have a look at what players from those can release so far. @Steve SteVeKoeck (EHC Olten eSports) "It is an interesting group, with great players. All games are tough and we need a big fight every time to win or lose. We have to remain focused during every game." @Yaredhagos (Cheeky Grinders) "So far the games have been good even if playing on another server that the northern one is bad. For now not many teams have been really impressive except maybe Black Hurricanes who plays in unorthodox style." @Narkkitehti (North Sawo Lions) "Everything is working flawlessly! SportsGamer website is always working and if we face a problem, help arrives super fast. Keep up the great work! HC Korobka and Hannover Indians Esports from our group have been great and the biggest surprise so far. Honourable mention goes to our team, we are playing our first season in ECL and points are coming in from doors and windows." @Mestar93 (Black Hurricanes) "We have tried to play according to the match schedule, but it was found to be impossible. Few teams have had a game day/time according to the match schedule. In any case, we have been able to agree on new days/times relatively easily, with the exception of Turku. Block two Cheeky Grinders stood out from the crowd, and played a good game." Challengers: 1.3 to 1pts per game Group 1 MoDo Hockey : 1.29 pts/g KohKae Esports : 1.25 Fenris Wolves : 1.14 Eliel Kings : 1.07 Group 2 Pirates eSports : 1.25pts/g Deggendorfer SC Esports : 1.2 Mighty Stixxx / Force Majeure : 1 We have previously seen the teams that will undoubtedly play the outposts during the final stages, now here are the ones that could come to play the role of underdog. Honestly, two of them, MoDo Hockey and Mighty Stixxx, could even climb into the top group by the end of the season. There is a surprise in this list and it comes from France. Pirates eSports, which is the first appearance in Core, had a rather advantageous start to the season. We will have to see if this team can maintain its pace during the rest of the championship. Another honorable mention, it is credited to KohKae Esports, which had until then been the only team to have beaten Korobka twice. Let's go to the interview area to get the feelings of the players in this group of underdogs. @khallekha (Fenris Wolves) "It’s a sad thing that we have to pay to join Core. Everyone is ok with paying the license but it’s a bit too much to take more money than that. Another thing that's not good is teams like Korobka in our group. They are playing with 5 ex-pro players and 1 ex-lite player. We think that this team should play at least in Lite, but we understand that they want to play in Core to receive the prize money. Also a very sad thing about so many team drops from core. We should have around 90 teams participating instes of 26. We think you know why so many teams dropped! We are pretty happy with ourselves so far. We are playing with 5 players that have never ever played ECL. And we have a circulating schedule for all players so everyone will play equally. That’s for the future progress skills of the new players! I don't think that many captains resonate the way we do!" @Sebban Chilidoodle (MoDo Hockey) "We had to face a tough schedule but a decent run to begin. We can be dangerous in the playoffs with a tighter defence. We have a tight group that has been playing together for some seasons. Impressed that we have such a good run so far." @Mickebdl (Pirates eSports) "The start of the championship is well beyond our expectations. We are coming out of a satisfactory first block with five wins in eight games and while we were in Neo again last season without ever having been able to go very far in the playoffs. However we have several players who evolved in Core and that helps us a lot. We are now expected and we will have to face teams very well grouped in defense, we are preparing for it. We haven't set ourselves any goals but we will fight to reach the playoffs, which would be a very good performance for our first season in Core." @Fisk33n (Mighty Stixxx) "It has been a fun tournament so far, one of the best tournaments in our team's history. Both when it comes to our own playstyle and results in the games. And the communication with our opponents. Great talk and the few times we needed help from admins, they have been quick and helpful! This might seem egoistic, but our team has impressed me the most so far. Looking at our history it has been an impressive tournament so far from Mighty Stixxx. But if not us, then I have to say that when we played against Cheeky Grinders, we got impressed by their play. They were stronger in every position and had a great tactic. We had no chance at all, and I won't be surprised if they play in the final this season!" Chasers: 0.99pts per game and less Group 1 Remparts de Tours Esport : 0.8pt/g Old Dirty Primates : 0.57 Vasteras IK : 0.4 EHC Basel eSports 0.07 Group 2 Turkunummi : 0.92pt/g HC Pustertal eSports : 0.9 Karhukissat : 0.83 Iserlohn Roosters eSports : 0.7 Ambri eSports 0.6 For each of the teams mentioned in this last group, anything can still happen. Particularly on the side of the Remparts de Tours, whose experience should lead the French team to experience a better continuation of the season. Turkunummi too are undoubtedly a team capable of more accomplished results and January should help them get back on track. The same goes for Iserlohn who knew how to beat Black Hurricanes, thus proving that his current ranking is probably biased. Ditto for the Primates who knew how to beat MoDo, Olten and KohKae, these are encouraging results. As before, let's see what comes out of it on the players' side. @Geoffrey2point0 (Remparts de Tours Esports) "After a nice placement during the previous ECL we really hoped for better from this start to the season. We have not yet been able to raise our level of individual and collective play. There is still a long way to go! We will see what effect the winter break had. We have to give the best of ourselves, especially since the IRL Remparts de Tours team is having a very good season. We must take an example and rise to the occasion!" @Jay Hunter jAY-HUNTER87 (Iserlohn Roosters eSports) "The first games were very close. The league is very balanced and we're slowly getting points. It's going to be an exciting season. As always, the Finnish teams are very strong, so it's even nicer that we've often been able to annoy them on the North server. MoDo Hockey is of course a strong team to keep an eye on." @JPBROO (Ambri eSports) "In the first games we didn't play well enough in the 60 minutes, we had problems both defending and scoring. In the next matches we managed to take a few points with a defensively solid performance. What we miss to get more points is being able to keep the level high in both games against the same opponent. We are trying to increase our level game after game and we will try to reach the goal of the playoffs till the end. In general, I find our group balanced, I saw all well organised teams ready to fight until the end to win. No one gave us points for free. Merit should be given to those who are at the head of the group right now." @hcpfan (HC Pustertal eSports) "From our point of view our group is really strong. Every team can beat any other opponent, so it will be a tight race for the playoffs. We as a team expected some more points from the start for us, but we'll push hard to bounce back and we'll fight for our spot in the playoffs! If we have to name one we'd say Black Hurricanes, but overall most of them were about as strong as expected. We haven't faced every team yet and we're looking forward to impressing some opponents as well!"