Leaderboard

Hello, all members of the ECL Community! We have had a long ongoing discussion about the X-Factors and Abilities and whether they should be allowed in a competitive environment or not. It has been enlightening to see and hear all the different opinions on this matter on the public forums, party chats, and private messages. We thank you all for taking part in this discussion! Looking closely at the situation, all the abilities have a way to make or break the game - in one way or another - and those effects can go both ways, whether you are or aren't allowed to use them. Abilities allow you to do things that you wouldn't or perhaps even shouldn't be able to do in certain situations, but they also reward you for making good plays, good passes, and timing your actions correctly. Playing without abilities can take away a lot of those rewards and may leave you frustrated because of that. One of the big concerns about banning all the abilities is that it could lead to a much more passive playstyle on defense. Of course, you are still able to score in many different ways, but it is a fact that some things in this game are built around the abilities and the animations they allow you to trigger. Abilities at their best can create these "wow!" moments for both the players and the viewers. It's worth mentioning that the discussion has mostly been around the gameplay experience, but we also want to take the viewers into account, even though currently most of them are you, the players. It is also to be stated that we want to keep the same ruleset for all the ECL divisions. While we see that the opinions are heavily divided between the players from different skill levels, the structure has always aimed to make it possible for teams to climb the division ladder all the way from the bottom to the top. Different rulesets could create a huge barrier between the divisions, which would be against our core values. We don't think either end of the extremes would necessarily result in a bad gameplay experience, but there are a lot of players on each side of the conversation and a compromise between the main two parties feels like the best way to go forward. Based on the community feedback and after an internal discussion we have decided on the following ability restrictions for the ECL '25: Spring season: All Gold X-Factors will be banned for both skaters and goaltenders Activating the Gold X-Factors doesn't require you to spend any XP points for certain traits and it allows you to have the abilities of a superstar even if your actual ability stats e.g. on a shooting skill would say otherwise. This change also brings the number of usable abilities down from 3 to 2. When you need the skill points to use the Superstar abilities, it will require you to carefully think about where to place those scarcely available skill points, and whether you want to focus on offense, defense, or somewhere between. With the removal of the Gold X-Factors, the balance between offense, defense, and goaltending should also stay similar to what we're already used to. The following X-Factors and Superstar abilities will be completely banned The following X-Factors are deemed too powerful even in their silver state and will be banned completely. Big Tipper This ability helps players in front of the net to deflect pucks with ultimate precision. This is the one ability almost everyone seems to agree doesn't belong in a competitive environment, due to the usage requiring little to no skill and being so efficient. Truculence This ability gives you exceptional stability and assists on shoulder checks and greatly increases the chance of knocking over the opponent and sapping their energy. Truculence breaks the game in a few different ways. It slows down the game due to the energy loss and long animations to get back up. It enables you to hit from too far away and from impossible angles, no matter which size player build is being used. You can still hit without truculence but without it, a better understanding of when a hit should be made will be required. Stick 'em up This ability gives you phenomenal defensive stick speed and exceptional accuracy when poke-checking against momentum or at speed while also lowering the chance of a penalty. The game already has a very strong auto-aim built into poke-checking whether you use this ability or not. The ability allows you to spam the stick check without much worry of getting penalized for it. It also allows you to reach the puck from too far away and from impossible angles. Why are the Regional Leagues played without abilities? There was a large group of players who made their voices heard with the so-called "#BanThemAll" messages that were going around after the announcement of the ability bans for the ECL '25: Winter season. As there was no conversation indicating a change in opinion around this subject, we wanted to give the players a chance to try it out in a competitive environment the regional tournaments that were next on the schedule felt like the be the best place to do that. We understand that the timing of this "test period" was far from ideal, especially with the biggest league FCL starting later than we were originally aiming for. We decided to have the same ruleset for all the Regional Leagues, because we wanted all teams and regions to have an equal chance to experience the gameplay without abilities and prepare for the upcoming ECL Season. Our communication of this should have been clearer, but ultimately it was a timing issue with the leagues running at different times. Why was there no community vote? While we understand that there is a big argument to have a vote for this decision, we believe in practice it would not be the best way to go. If we look at some of the unofficial polling results that have been circulating, they show that most people voting were against any kind of change compared to the ECL '25: Winter season. In one specific poll around 130-140 players out of around 650 people on the server voted, even though the server could be considered to consist of some of the most active members in the community. The ongoing public discussions have been very "top-heavy" regarding what division the players play in and this was also reflected in the polling. The higher up you go in divisions, the players tend to be more active and we expect that would also be reflected in a community vote. To actually reach the whole community would be a huge task on its own, and there would still be a big majority of players that the possible vote would not reach, especially given the often narrow time frame. The flip side of the coin is, that even if we would reach all players and have them vote anonymously, we have no way to verify if they have actually looked into all the intricacies of the matter or if they're just casting their vote based on what someone else told them to vote for. This is why we prefer to have an open and constructive dialogue where we collaboratively try to get into the details and thoughts behind the opinions and experiences within our community. What to expect from future decisions? We understand from the feedback that we've been lacking in communication regarding this issue. Communication is our main goal to improve along with reacting quicker to possible changes and make the process smoother overall. Whether it is at the start of the game cycle when something has radically changed, or in the middle of the year when some issue has been raised, we want to react quicker and give the players enough time to adjust for the tournaments. We're very thankful for all the feedback we've received and we warmly welcome any future feedback or suggestions! Best regards, League Administration

SportsGamers, It's time to take a look at how we have fared in the ECL '23 Spring Pro division as the season has passed it's alfway mark. Some teams have already played a majority of their games and will have to wait for others to catch up, so it makes for an interesting rest of the season for them to say the least. Please note that this article reflects the situation of the league prior to games played on Monday, May 15th. Group 1 Written by @OGjahajaha In group 1 it's looking like Luleå Hockey will run away with the top seed, while surprising newcomers Purification are in good position to at least shock the writer! Also, perhaps this finally is Valco's season!? HOT 🔥 Purification Personally, I counted Purification out of the Playoff race before the season, but they've shown that they can definitely compete at the Pro season and do what quite few newly promoted teams can do. @eBasstian has elevated the team with the experience he's bringing on board and @LaxenHD is taking big steps forward in his development. Luleå Hockey Having had a chance at Elite Qualification before the season, Luleå Hockey were one of the teams we knew to keep a look out for in Pro. This outfit has played together for quite some time already, switching between various organizations and their very familiar POGGERS brand. As a matter of fact, all of their players hold Elite experience from past seasons too, so it is definitely no surprise to see these guys fighting for the top spots in their group. At this level, Luleå is an offensive powerhouse that will be very hard to stop, and they've claimed the place of highest scoring team to show for it. @Janski (Jansku23) is by far their most productive player and is on pace to win the league scoring race by a wide margin. Project X Another newly promoted team that has managed to establish their game early on at the next level. Project X are a very well balanced team that are now looking to keep pushing with a solid core of individually talented players. Their number one star at the moment is definitely recent IIHF eWorld Champion @JesseL2002, who is also the teams most productive player on the left flank. Project X is in position to take a top 3 seed in their group, but several strong units are chasing them! NOT ❄️ Red Bull Munich eSports We didn't give Red Bull Munich much of a chance to begin with, and unfortunately their campaign in the Pro division has been a disastrous one. Despite finding ways to score and keeping up with mid-level teams in that regard, their defensive game hasn't been even close to on par for what they would need to display. I would have expected forwards @Pathen-21- and @Flo_goes_grazy to be able to help the team more and instill confidence into their team throughout, but that has not been the case this season. Neptune Hockey Neptune Hockey have put themselves in a tough situation. The team has played almost all of their games already and at the moment it looks like they'll have to wait for other teams to catch up before we can tell how it's all going to end up for them. However, the prospects of avoiding relegation is looking slim. The Neptunes have struggled mightily with scoring and they can't seem to buy a goal for the life of them at times. They'll need all they can get in their remaining few games. Bastu A team that probably were looking to compete for a Playoff spot in their second season at the Pro level, but have been tremendously disappointing. Bastu added lots of experience in the form of @Iltapeli (apetttaja) before the season, but he hasn't seemed to help them succeed in the way they wanted to. While Bastu have been able to stay effective on offense, they've struggled to tighten things up in their own end, which will be their downfall this season. They're in a pickle with 26 games already played and at this pace they could end up being relegated without help from others. Group 2 Written by @ripKeisari In the second group of Pro, everything is still wide open. Polski Boys, Golden Nights and Sika are currently fighting for the first seed, but Renascor or Gunners HC can still challenge for top spots. Below I have included the teams that are hot and cold in my books. HOT 🔥 Golden Nights Golden Nights has started the season strongly and, in my eyes, even a bit surprisingly, is leading the group at the moment. Golden Nights’ new acquisitions @jm98II, @Sagee95 and @Mikka have clearly found a common chemistry. Another positive side is @kkostiiii's good save percentage. I'm already putting some pressure on the team for the upcoming playoff summer and I say that with these showings they should do well in the playoffs and if the season doesn't end with a top 4 ranking, it's disappointment. SIKA SIKA has also started the season well and the acquisitions @jezbaru and @Jondeezz have scored a good amount of points. There is room for improvement, as their power play is only at 15%. Let's see how @vSilenttio gets the most out of his team, maybe he should pass the puck more? Since his time with puck is way above that of the next guy on the team. Polski Boys Polski Boys had some banter going on Twitter before the start of the season about how the team will win Pro. Perhaps this tactic has worked, as at the time of writing this article, the team is third in the group. We feel like the move of @Brockela22 going to center has made great impact for them. When you follow the team's points and puck losses, you get the impression that Polski likes to attack from the left side of the ice. Indicators that suggest this are @kungenkurwa's points compared to @vote_10's and @punt1la98's time with puck + shocking numbers of puck losses. These puck losses can be decisive in tight playoff games, so there might be something to improve. NOT ❄️ Arkham Asylum Arkham is such a likeable team that it pains me to trash them like this. But we must be truthful and say that although @ReDMisTi and @Juigelson have a lot of elite experience, it just doesn't seem enough at the pro level anymore. And if the team doesn't start winning, you can say goodbye to pro and drop back to Lite. As an interesting statistic fact, Juigelsson's passing percentage is 56%, so about half of his passes will go to his teammates. (Shoutout also to @Kaikkien Janoisten Sankari (Goodtobeatonttu) and @Zupancic_King424 (Zuppe_23) for similar passing percentage) Otukset @juhkis96 and his downfall can be seen in Otukset’s performance this season. He played in the Elite division for a few seasons, but always got dropped out. Maybe for a reason? Otukset could be described as a sinking ship that no one is coming to save and people are watching from the coast to see when the ship will be seen for the last time before it sinks completely. NOVA Nobody expected anything from this team, and they really didn’t deliver anything, but I guess they must be brought up here as a cold team. Anyways, they have good penalty kill numbers, so that’s something. It's looking like NOVA will need to find a new direction for their story in the Lite division next season. RANDOM FACTS, PREDICTIONS AND OPINIONS Otukset has had 8 players on the lineup and now 3 of them are gone. What went wrong? Djurgården have an average record although on paper they should be a good team. The new acquisition @sannteri can bring a boost to the team's game. Gunners HC has played surprisingly well and can challenge Pro's top teams. However, power play and penalty kill need something new, because the percentages are horrendously bad. Shoutout for @LaxenHD and @eBasstian for being 2nd and 3rd in points, a bit surprising. What happened to Dehliiin? Last season he came second in points and now just little bit over point per game. Otukset and Vizio are the only teams in the division who still haven't been able to score on the powerplay. Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming has had _10_ different players on the ice during 20 games. @Burtsi980H has the most penalties drawn in the league with 11. @Tappu still playing goalie part-time? He has the most blocked shots in the league, 39 in 18 games.