NHLGamer has received a number of codes for the NHL 22 Technical Test to give away to our community and now you have the chance to get your hands on one if you didn't sign up or receive one yet! Simply enter the giveaways by following the instructions on our Twitter and Instagram.

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NHL 22 - New gameplay trailer

EA Sports just released a new NHL 22 gameplay trailer, showcasing some of the new features of the highly anticipated next iteration. As announced, the move from Ignite to the new Frostbite engine will greatly improve the game visually, but there will also be some other areas where the transition might have helped. 

Stick physics is going to be one of the improved areas in NHL 22, meaning that movement along the boards and penalty calls will be more accurate, and puck battles will be more skill-based. Also, a multitude of new animations and skill moves will look and feel better than ever thanks to Frostbite. 

An interesting detail that has been added is the use of Augmented Reality visuals in the game broadcast. This means integration of stats directly to the game through overlays and graphics on game surfaces, leading to players getting more out of the action and the game having a better flow in between whistles. 

Of particular note to EASHL players I’m sure are the new X-factor superstar abilities. From this deep dive we can learn that these abilities are split into six categories: Shooting, Skating, Passing, Hockey IQ, Defence, and Goaltending. They span all positions, and game-modes, as well as give rise to what EA is calling “class-based strategy”. Does this mean that they are locking certain abilities behind player types? It’s possible. Indeed, it would be a little game breaking if say a grinder with barely anything in passing could suddenly start flinging auto saucers because they had an ability like Tape-to-Tape or Third Eye. This is further compounded when considering that we are going back to the class / attribute system of NHL 09-15 again, where the lines could be blurred a little when comparing two different builds of varying class.

Additionally, on the topic of the ‘systems’ of EASHL. From what it seems, X-factor superstar abilities could be split into two distinct types; zone abilities are the current specialities (i.e., only one can be active at a time), whereas superstar abilities are the current traits (i.e., more than one can be active). It remains to be seen whether this means that it will be a straight one-for-one where the current system is simply renamed. That said however, I personally would not say it’s a wild guess to make that the zone abilities are simply superstar abilities, but elevated. In other words, making a specific ability a “zone” one would boost the, well… boost it has on your player – although this is purely speculation at this stage as I’m sure that EA will release information directly pertaining to EASHL shortly, perhaps even when they announce when the closed beta will be playable.

What is refreshing to see is the way that stick-on-body contact seems to be handled now. Instead of your stick being akin to a lightsabre, passing through whatever you want it to, regardless of speed or power behind the swing, instead it will now have a much more ‘solid’ feeling behind it. Sticks seemingly can get caught on things and even blocked on purpose. This could mean for instance, that it is harder to get tripped if you are in proper body position, and in turn harder for pokes to connect with your stick / the puck. They even go as far to make mention of the fact that protect the puck is supposed to be working as intended now, offering a weapon for forwards to use when trying to counter any potential poke spam they may receive en route to the net.  

In terms of pure gameplay and the speed of it, it does admittedly seem quite similar to NHL 21, although this is sort of to be expected given the shift to a new console, and a new engine, whilst trying to maintain playability on the old one(s).

As for the UI mid-game, it does seem to be quite intrusive. We will have to see just how much of an impact this has on game durations, as whilst UI packages like the one in the video are nice as a novel addition, players will inevitably start mashing A / X to skip past them once they’ve seen them a few times. On this front, EA does not have a great track record with bloat like this, for instance if anyone can remember when they added the end of period highlight reel it took ages for games to end due to them not being skippable at first.

All abilities mentioned 

Wheels

Make It Snappy (Exceptional power and accuracy when taking snap shots while skating)

Shock And Awe (Elite shooting out of dekes)

Crease Crasher

Yoink

Send It

Quick Pick (Defensive interceptions)

Beauty Backhand

It’s Tricky

Contortionist (Goaltending)

Third Eye (Increased pass assist with advanced ability to auto saucer pass out of a player’s field of vision)

Shnipe (Outstanding skill to settle pucks with advanced wrist shot accuracy off settled pucks)

One Tee (Advanced power and accuracy on one timer. Increased ability to one timers from less than ideal passes)

Seeing Eye (Great shot through screens)

Tape to Tape (Great passing with vision)

Puck on a string (Great stick handling)

Shutdown (Defensive skill increase?)

NHL 22 will be available on Oct. 15th, 2021 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For more information on EA Sports NHL, visit www.easports.com/NHL.

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In NHL 22, it’s all about the players that make our game so special, the superstars if you will. The dev team has wanted to reflect that on the game itself as well and with that, this year hockey is getting superstar treatment.

NHL 22 cover athlete Auston Matthews has since his debut in the bright lights made it clear that he is no ordinary kid, but a true prodigy leading the wave for a new generation of players. Combining stache with style, size with skill and showcasing elite scoring unlike any other, AM34 is a true superstar of the game. 

From Ignite to Frostbite

One of the most anticipated additions to the NHL Franchise over the past couple of years has been the introduction of a new game engine, which is suitably taking place now at the transition towards the 5th generation gaming consoles. Next gen will be the premium place to play NHL 22, but do not worry - both gen 4 & 5 will be on Frostbite and fully featured. For the most part, the new engine will mean an impressive improvement to the environments and atmosphere of the game with better VFX, post FX, particle FX, ice improvements and an overall more detailed outlook. One of the greatest benefits of the Frostbite engine is deferred lighting, which allows for a more immersive experience and will be most visible in the centerpiece of the game - the ice sheet.

X-Factor Abilities

The superstars of the game will truly stand out from the others in NHL 22, and they’ll be doing this with their X-Factor abilities. At release, around 150 players will be assigned X-Factor abilities that are divided into two categories, Zone and Superstar abilities. These abilities will change the game and add an entirely new level of strategy and meta to playing, all new to NHL gaming. 

Auston Matthews, for example, is an exceptional goal scorer with a release that is as deceptive as ever seen in the NHL. He is sporting the Shock & Awe Zone ability, which gives him exceptional power and accuracy when shooting out of, or shortly after a deke. Auston is also equipped with a total of five Superstar abilities, which are Make It Snappy - great snap shot from stride, Seeing Eye - Great shot through screens, Third Eye - Great peripheral passer, Tape To Tape - Great passing within vision and Puck On A String - Great stick handling.

Another superstar of the game, Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers will be rocking the Tape To Tape Zone ability, providing him with exceptional power and accuracy on all passes within vision. Passes will also auto saucer when necessary when this Zone ability is active. Finally, the X-Factor abilities also extend to goaltenders, for example Andrei Vasilevsky of the Tampa Bay Lightning will be rocking the Contortionist Zone ability. This will give him an exceptional save range, recovery and save ability while in spread V with or against momentum.

Social connection and customization in World of Chel

This year, there was an objective to further improve on the social aspects of the World of Chel and with that, EA Sports NHL now introduces an always on dressing room. The new dressing room system makes it easier and faster to connect with friends and jump into games. The World of Chel will also feature tons of new customization options for you to get your personality out there while having fun with your friends.

Pre-order versions of NHL 22 - double entitlement

NHL 22 features two versions of the game available for Pre-order starting today. Players will be able to opt for the standard version or the X-Factor version on any console. When opting which version to go for, keep in mind that NHL 22 does not feature cross-play between consoles or console generations. If you are planning on upgrading to a next generation console over the course of the NHL 22 life cycle, we can confirm that HUT progress will be transferable to some extent, meaning that the top 20 players and coach can be locked, whereas the rest of your collection will be converted into pack value towards your HUT team in the next gen version of NHL 22. 

Standard Edition
- Up to 2 HUT Diamond player choice packs
- 5 World of Chel X-Factor Zone ability unlocks
- 1 Unlocked hockey bag
- Be a Pro X-Factor slot unlocks (2), XP boost and bonus trait points

X-Factor Edition
- Double entitlement (Unlocks the game for both Gen 4 & Gen 5 consoles)
- 3-Days early access
- Up to 10 HUT Diamond player choice packs
- HUT X-Factor Player choice pack
- HUT X-Factor Power-up starter pack
- Up to 4 HUT X-Factor Power-up packs
- 5 World of Chel X-Factor Zone ability unlocks
- 5 Unlocked hockey bag
- Be a Pro X-Factor slot unlocks (2), XP boost and bonus trait points

Technical test and release date

There will be a technical test going live towards the end of the month of August, but no date or duration has been confirmed at the time of writing. As it is a technical test, the community will be asked to report feedback to the dev team and also all streaming and recording of the work in progress is prohibited. Signups for the technical test have closed by now.

NHL 22 will be available on October 15th, 2021 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For more information visit www.easports.com/NHL.

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NHLGamer had an opportunity to chat with EA Sports NHL 22 Lead Producer Clement Kwong prior to today's reveal of the central features of the game. Some topics that were discussed were the transition to Frostbite, Cross-generation gameplay and of course, spectator mode. Check out our video interview to find out!

NHL 22 will be available on October 15th, 2021 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For more information visit www.easports.com/NHL.

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Well everyone, the wait is finally over! EA SPORTS have officially announced that NHL 22 will be with us later this year and that we will be able to participate in a technical test sometime in the coming few weeks.

Going off technical tests that EA have released for NHLs past, it would be best to temper everyone’s expectations going into it as it may very well be an ‘alpha’ build fraught with glitches. 

Furthermore, there is a split in versions that you can sign-up for. PlayStation and Xbox will each receive two builds of the game, one made for PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X, and one for PlayStation 4/Xbox One. Given the distinction made by EA it would be a fair bet to imagine that players will not be able to play on one version, and then play against players on another version. As such, it may be worth signing up with two different EA accounts, so that you can maximise your experience on the technical test, regardless of console.

You can find the link to register your account and which console / region you would wish to play on here. Please note that EA SPORTS have indicated that there is a limited number of spots available for the technical test, so don't take any extra time signing up, as it may be closed by the time you get to it next time.

Given this restriction however, let us know in the comments below what you are thinking would be best going into this technical test? Should we try to push towards getting as many players as possible on the Playstation 5/Xbox Series X version; or maximise the amount of total players we can have playing together by focussing on the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version?

NHLGamers,

As another ECL season enters it’s late stages, it’s time for our most extensive regional league to come into play for a second season.

Teams from France, Latvia and Spain among others find their home in the Western European Championship League, with Latvian Silver Sword Griffins being the current champions after their sublime display over arguably favorites Grenoble BDL.

Our goal is that the WECL keeps welcoming new countries and clubs in and we expect to ease the entry of new teams by offering a promotion and relegation system for Season 2, meaning new teams in won’t have to face the recent champions so quickly and can work their way up just like in the ECL.

We’re missing our friends from UK, Italy, Portugal and more teams from not so well represented countries, so it’s our wish to encourage these great teams to come and compete in a league with a wide range of skill level like the WECL.

Remember that your team shouldn’t compete in the WECL if it’s German, Russian, Czech, Slovakian, Finnish or Swedish as these leagues already exist within NHLGamer, but WECL teams can add up to 3 players from these countries, while the skill cap allows for 1 ECL 12 – Elite player to be signed on the top division, but no ECL 12 Pro or Elite foreign players in Division 2. Local players are exempt from any skill cap limitation.

The entire WECL Season 2 rulebook can be found in the league forum here! - Please scroll down for the most recent version.

Division 1 tickets earned based on play in season 1, which can be redeemed in either season 2 or 3 of the WECL: Spartiates X MCES, Latvian Warriors, Silver Sword Griffins, Hoko Gang, Dynamo Dragons, Remparts de Tours, Latvian Esports, Remparts de Tours 2, Epinal HC Esport, Granada Grizzlies, Sesku Patversme, Vipers Montpellier. Depending on the number of spots that come free, the following teams in order will be placed in the top division despite not having earned a ticket: Pirates Esports, Boxers Bordeaux, Annecy Hockey eSport, French Rookies, MVP Players, Occitania HC, Polish Patriots. 

SIGN UP FOR THE WECL HERE!

Season schedule

The tournament will start on August 2nd and the finals are expected to end on September 26th just in time for NHL 22 to hit the shelves.

Teams from the following countries are eligible for the WECL and their players don’t count against the foreign player cap:

Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
France
Georgia
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Spain
Turkey
Ukraine
UK
Vatican City
 

Teams from the following countries are already eligible for another regional league and cannot sign teams up, players will also count against the foreign player cap:

Czech Republic
Slovakia
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Russia
Finland
Sweden

Players from these countries are counted against a limit of 3 foreign players on the roster.

English is considered the only official language of the WECL and all communications sent out regarding the Championship, or exchanged with the LA will be in this language. Users are free, however, to use English, French or Spanish in the league’s own sub-forum.

Skill cap

Division 1 of the Season 2 WECL allows for a total of three (3) foreign players on a teams roster, but only one (1) player with ECL Elite experience in ECL 12 due to the skill cap limitation. 

Division 2 of the Season 2 WECL allows for a total of three (3) foreign players on a teams roster, but no players with ECL Elite or ECL Pro experience from ECL 12 due  to the skill cap limitation.

All local players are exempt from the skill cap limitation.

Exceptions

Teams can be granted an exceptional status for example if half of their roster is from a foreign country by nature and it is clear that the team has competed in the same formation for an extended period of time. For example a team that is half French and half Swiss could apply for such an exception if they can prove that they have stuck with the formation in question for a longer time. An exception can be handed out in such situation if explained properly to the LA beforehand. Additionally, teams from regions not covered can also contact the LA for an exception (IE, teams from North Africa). We will not be shy about granting exceptions to teams unable to compete in other regional leagues, so please reach out to our support if you might have any questions. As stated in the beginning, please familiarize yourself with our rulebook as the above fragments are only a tiny part of the entire ruleset. Hoping for an enjoyable tournament for everyone involved, I invite you to participate in the inaugural season of the WECL! 

Many thanks and see you on the ice!

The NHL Gaming World Championship for 2021 featured separate European and North American championships. In mid-June, the European finals were completed and a familiar name prevailed. The tournament featured several very talented players. Here are the European Finalists:

Adam @dzouvi Mensik 🇨🇿
Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund 🇸🇪
Erik @Eki Tammenpää 🇫🇮
Jani @J-_-Jamaltheman Raappanen 🇫🇮
Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann 🇸🇪
Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen 🇫🇮
Josef @pepcastachurcik Stachura 🇨🇿
Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen 🇫🇮

In the end, Finland's absolute superstar @Eki and the rising star of the future @NikkeDangles finally made their way to the European grand final of the tournament. However, @Eki was relatively superior and won his third European championship. At the same time, he claimed himself a hefty $12,000 prize reward, which he plans to save for the future or invest. 

In the past, on several occasions, he has said that Europe has a higher skill level when compared ton North America. We asked him if he still thought so, as global tournaments have been largely hampered by the prevailing conditions.

''It's always different to play online compared to when you're live. Connections are not the same in every game + I feel that the skill gap is bigger on LAN events. I believe that there is wider talent pool and a better general level in Europe, but there is no denying that much progress has been made in North America based on what I have seen. The next time the World Cup is played it's definitely going to be tight games in the EU vs NA rivalry. There are a few players in North America in particular who have bettered their own game exceptionally well.''

The star player, who has won practically everything possible on his career this fas, notes that more players have taken big steps forward in development. 

''@NikkeDangles seems to bring something new to the table every time he takes to the ice. @Eken45jr has been the smoothest tournament performer in recent years. These two especially deserve props.''

COVID-19 has had an impact on many events worldwide, an unfortunately the GWC hasn't been spared. Most notably, no LAN events have been hosted for the past 1,5 years. Eki thinks that it has also had an impact on the level of play in the tournament.

''There's fewer potential winners. Some people play this game in the hope of trips, big money prizes more than for the titles. It's reflected in the training volumes. Of course, in general, players do more work when it would be possible to win a 60k + world championship and trips to Vegas, Copenhagen, etc.''

UPCOMING GWC SCHEDULE

Saturday, July 3rd – GWC Scotia NHL North Division Club Championship
Saturday, July 10th – GWC Discover NHL Central Division Club Championship
Saturday, July 17th – GWC Honda NHL West Division Club Championship
Saturday, July 24th – Club Championship Final

Photo credit: Jussi Jääskeläinen

NHLGamers,

Over the past few months, Telia Esports has been running a historical NHL esports league for the Finnish audience together with Liiga - the Finnish ice hockey elite league. The league included all fifteen Liiga organzations, represented by two gamers each in a tournament consisting of a 28-game regular season followed by best-of-three playoffs and a best-of-five final series. 

With a prize pool of 10 000€ on the line, all teams surely looked to give their all and over the course of the season, everyone got their fifteen seconds of fame as all teams were featured in live broadcasts from the Telia Esports studio. 

Here's a list of all eLiiga players for the inaugural season:

HIFK: Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen, Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen
HPK: Perttu @Regulinho Salo, Jim @SadaPoika Leskinen
Ilves: Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen, Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen
Jukurit: Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha, Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen
JYP: Antti @tbnantti Kuittinen, Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos
KalPa: Saku @Mehukatti10 Serttilä, Roni @MrNipsuli Kaján
Kärpät: Paul @PleeMaker Arontie, Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola
KooKoo: Nico @zNico Tuoreniemi, Janne @Nieppii Niemelä
Lukko: Juuso @Kemppane_ Kemppainen, Tuomas @Tumpp1A Aaltonen
Pelicans: Niklas "Koivisto81" Koivisto, Niklas "TheNikez37" Karlsson
SaiPa: Kristian @Krisutus Räsänen, Joona @Hullued Saarinen
Sport: Eemil @Sokkelo__ Soikkeli, Jani @layout Laakkonen
Tappara: Erik @Eki Tammenpää, Arttu @Artuzio Mustila
TPS: Valtteri @Vattu__ Virtanen, Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen
Ässät: Teemu @Xteemuz Polttila, Tapani @Tappu Anttila

The past weekend featured the semifinals on Saturday, whereafter Sunday was the day for our bronze matchup and the grand finals. Eventually the top 4 teams that came to play this weekend were Tappara, Jukurit, KalPa and Kärpät and Sunday's matches featured the 3rd seed KalPa versus 7th seed Kärpät in the bronze matchup whereas 1st seed Tappara went up against 5th seed Jukurit in the grand final for the historical inaugural season championship title.

The excitement over the weekend was unreal and especially Sunday's decisive games were something else. Having the dynamic of two players representing each team made for some interesting strategic choices, but the eventual final series between Tappara and Jukurit extending to a full five games ensured that each representative got to face each other. The #1 seed Tappara represented by @Artuzio and @Eki naturally held all the pressure as expectations were high from the beginning, whereas the Jukurit duo was extremely strong but paved their way to the finals as somewhat of a surprise and had the luxury of coming in as slight underdogs. 

Results of the final games
Tappara - Jukurit
Game 1: 11-6 (Eki - Hansulinho)
Game 2: 6-8 (Artuzio - FlyerKungen)
Game 3: 4-3 (Eki - FlyerKungen)
Game 4: 4-5 OT (Artuzio - Hansulinho)
Game 5: 7-3 (Eki - FlyerKungen)

At the end of a full five game series, Tappara's @Artuzio and @Eki hoisted the first ever eLiiga trophy. Congrats guys!

All eLiiga players and fans are surely pleased to hear that Niklas Segercrantz from the Telia Esports team has stated to Jatkoaika.com, that the team is satisfied with the success that the series has seen and that there are plans on developing the product even further in the future. 

Hey NHLGamers, 

It would be safe to say that the 1.1 patch released just over two weeks ago was heavily expedited due to the broken defensive skill stick, which allowed people to poke / knock the puck loose without tripping the puck carrier. As such, we are now in the general time-frame in which EA would drop their first 'major' patch of the year and, right on cue, we have just that - releasing sometime today on the 5th of November 2020.  

Making up the bulk of the changes in the 1.2 patch are fixes / improvements that look to strengthen the gameplay, reducing the likelihood of weird events occurring. One such example of this would be 'fixing' cases where a player would drop the puck when blending in and out of animations. Additionally, for all the goalies out there, EA is also supposed to have packaged an improvement in human goalie save selection within this patch. 

Generally speaking though, most of the changes contained within this patch look to fix niggling issues more than anything so one would wager that the gameplay should remain largely similar to how it was pre-patch.

The full changelog can be viewed below (press expand to view the full list):

Quote

NHL 21 Patch 1.2 Notes:

Gameplay

General

• Updated shot quality impact for shots that are taken from non-ideal shot locations (reaching and shots in tight to the body)
• Fixed a specific case where a penalty shot was called despite the player not having a clean break
• Fixes for pickup consistency while the puck is around the net and goaltenders
• Fixed a few specific pickups where tall players were having trouble picking up the puck 
• Fixed some cases where reviewed goals were overriding goalie interference situations
• Fixed a case where players were unable to get back on the ice after taking coincidental roughing penalties

Physics

• Fixed a case where stick on stick contact wasn't being recognized
• Various post whistle and scrum player alignment fixes
• Fixed various cases where players would lose the puck unintentionally when blending between animations
• Fixed some cases where collisions along the boards were leading to either no hit reaction or a smaller reaction than expected
• Fixes to pass blocks where the puck was able to get under/through the stick

Goalies

• Animation improvements to various goalie stances 
• Added glove down butterfly proximity for old school goalie stances
• Various goalie save animation improvements
• Tuned Goalie redirects to avoid some rare collisions where they could redirect the puck off themself
• Improvements to save selection for Human goalies
• Reduced the chance of the AI goalie triggering a preemptive desperation save when they still have time to get back into position
• General tuning for how the ai goalie tracks the puck
• Various puck cover improvements 
• Fixed an issue where the goalie would sometimes spin when attempting an on ice cover

AI

• Improved some Defensive AI gap control cases while defending against the rush 
• Fixed a case where puck carriers could split the defensemen while the defenders switched their coverage on the rush
• Improved weak side defender coverage in front of the net
• Fixed an issue where a player would sometimes choose to start a net battle after starting to intercept which would unintentionally allow pucks through

Training Camp

• Added videos to training camp for the new dekes introduced this year

Presentation

• Fixes for screen tearing with certain camera angles in various arenas
• Various camera tuning
• Added replays in the Pause Menu
• Added the ability to skip NISes for rounds 1 and 2 of Eliminator Threes
• Update to the bench camera within Be a Pro to give a better view of the action

 

World of CHEL

General

• EASHL Club Finals history screen was added to showcase the top teams from each WoC Season
• Added additional content into WoC for upcoming Chel Challenges. Check back often to collect the latest cool new content

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes softlock if an opponent suddenly quit after starting a match 
• Fixed a rare hang that occurs during the intro NIS of an EASHL game
• Fixed an issue where the user would sometimes crash on the Post Game Screen
• Fixed a rare crash that would sometimes occur when trying to back out of a post-matchup Dressing room
• Fixed a rare issue where users would sometimes hang in a Threes Eliminator Club Dressing room
• Fixed an issue where the title sometimes hangs during a 3v3 Drop-in game intro 
• Fixed an issue where the dressing room host gets removed from the dressing room if an opponent team backs out at the matchup screen 
• Fixed an issue where any user skater on the same EASHL Drop-In team can pull the user goalie at any point during a game
• Fixed an issue where the Club Pants & Socks were not showing the correct club colors in the post matchup dressing room
• Fixed an issue where the Player stamina and traits/specialties overlaps the goal scorer overlay
• Fixed an issue where the Team overlay was overlapping the Round overlay in Threes Eliminator
• Fixed the Player model overlapping the Player Name during the End of Game, Player of the Game Screen
• Fixed an issue where the championship jerseys had a 20 instead of 21 for the jersey number
• Fixed an issue where changing your gloves for a second time in Creation Zone was not equipping them 
• Fixed an issue where custom logos and center ice lines were not showing up during games in users arena
• Fixed an issue where the Club custom ice line was showing up in the Club Finals Arena
• Fixed Club default search settings not carrying over to the Dressing room matchmaking settings 
• Fixed an issue where players EASHL goal total during the game intro NIS would show as the combination of goals and assists 
• Fixed an issue where the Opponents have their name cut off in the Pro-Am Dressing Room
• Fixed an alignment issue for the Ones Eliminator player list in the abuse reporting 
• Fixed an issue where the player progression screen referred to XP received from Chel Challenge cards as Rank Rewards 
• To more easily read the Player Rank a thousand comma separator was added in the Player Summary Screen
• To more easily read the Experience Points a thousand comma separator was added in the End of game screen when a user gains over 1,000 XP

 

Franchise

• Fix for an issue where defenders were not showing the correct line chemistry values.
• Fix for an issue where Auto Scouting would not rope in early round prospects.
• Fix for an issue where you were unable to see the goalie filter when assigning a scout.
• Fix for an issue where LD and C are mislabeled in the edit lines screen.

 

Be A Pro

• Suspected Fix for an issue where the users BAP player's stamina would not decrease when on the ice.
• Added in Neutral States to certain promises. For example, the user promises to be the 1 star of the game, the user will now receive lesser punishment for still performing well but not reaching the goal. Previously you would fail and get the full punishment.
• Added in a Trade Request Conversation that can be accessed in the Main Hub in the user initiated conversation tab.
• Added in new conversations to renew a re-occurring salary perk when it expires.
• Added the ability to edit shot style and skating style post BAP creation.
• Updated the user experience of the training screen.
• Various miscellaneous fixes to conversations.

 

HUT

General

• Removed the automatic pop-up when entering Edit Lines before advancing to a game
• Press the Menu / Options Button to advance to game from Edit Lines
• Made various bug fixes and visual tweaks to Base Items and Primetime Items

 

HUT Rush

• Fixed an issue where Players would see the result of the previous game played after their opponent disconnected
• Fixed an issue where the the Goal banner would display at the end of a game in HUT Rush Threes
• Fixed an issue where the Goal banner for a Game Winning Goal would not display at the end of a game in HUT Rush Threes
• Fixed an issue where one of two actions displayed in the points ticker at the same time had the incorrect display name
• Fixed an issue where the game could continue without selecting a side after a controller disconnect
• Fixed an issue where the camera would sometimes be zoomed in too much during the intro/outro in a 5v5 game

HUT Rivals 

• Fixed an issue where only 1 Pack Reward per Rank was displayed

HUT Challenges 

• Fixed an issue where Objectives visually appeared to unlock (while already being unlocked)

Play a Friend

• Fixed an issue where a Player would get an error message trying to join a Play a Friend Game as the 3rd Player

Auctions 

• Fixed an issue where the option to Filter Auction by Buy Now Price was missing

Collection 

• Fixed an issue where the duplicate icon was not present on duplicate players

Edit Player

• Fixed Edit Player where the overalls are consistently shown between Creation zone and Menus.

 

Art

Center Ice Changes

• Updated the following Center Ice layouts:
• NHL
• Arizona Coyotes
• Calgary Flames
• Ottawa Senators

 

Uniforms

The following uniforms have been added or updated in NHL 21

• NHL
• Arizona Coyotes Home
• Calgary Flames Home, Away and Alternate
• Ottawa Senators Home and Away
• Vegas Golden Knights Alternate

ECHL

• Greenville Swamp Rabbits Home, Away and Alternate
• Maine Mariners Alternate

SHL

• Djurgarden Hockey Home and Away
• Farjestads BK Home and Away
• Orebro Hockey Home, Away and Alternate
• Rogle BK Home and Away
• Skelleftea AIK Home and Away

Liiga

• KalPa Kuopio Home and Away
• Mikkelin Jukurit Home and Away
• SaiPa Home and Away
• TPS Turku Home and Away

ICE

• Dornbirn Bulldogs Home and Away
• EC-KAC Home and Away
• EC VSV Home and Away
• EC Red Bull Salzburg Home and Away
• EHC Linz Home and Away
• Hydro Fehervar AV19 Home and Away
• HC TWK Innsbruck Home and Away
• Graz 99ers Home and Away
• SPUSU Vienna Capitals Home and Away
• HCB Sudtirol Alperia Home and Away
• HockeyAllsvenskan
• Almstuna IS Home and Away
• BIK Karlskoga Home and Away
• HC Vita Hasten Home and Away
• IF Bjorkloven Home and Away
• Kristianstads IK Home and Away
• MODO Hockey Home and Away
• Mora IK Home and Away
• Sodertalje SK Home and Away
• Timra IK Home and Away
• Tingsryds AIF Home and Away
• Vasteras IK Home and Away

Nationalliga

• EHC Biel Home and Away
• EV Zug Home and Away
• HC Ambri-Piotta Home and Away
• HC Davos Home and Away
• HC Fribourg-Gotteron Home and Away
• HC Lugano Home and Away
• Geneve-Servette HC Home and Away
• Lausanne HC Home and Away
• SC Bern Home and Away
• SCL Tigers Home and Away
• Rapperswil-Jona Lakers Home and Away
• ZSC Lions Home and Away

International

• Hockey Canada Alternate

Improvements

• Fixed an issue where the 2016-17 Detroit Red Wings Home Jersey had stretched Numbers and Letters
• Updated the Florida Panthers Scoreboard and Power Ring Video Art
• Updated the All-Star team’s arena to be the Enterprise Center in St. Louis
• Fixed the All-Stars Home Arena where it was showing an international goal crease and missing trapezoid

 

Source: EA

 

What does everyone think of these changes? Anything that stands out to you? 

Hey NHLGamers, 

In what can only be described as the fastest patch on record for an NHL iteration, EA are going to release the 1.1 patch in just over one hour from now (19cet) on the 20th of October, 2020. To the surprise of no-one who has had the fortune of playing the game recently, the hallmark change in this patch is the improvement in the logic dicatating whether a defensive skill stick poke would trip someone or not. As this patch appears to be expedited due to complaints from the aforementioned issue, there are little to no other changes that are of major note. Of course, there are still some 'miscellaneous' changes, ranging from skating preview animations being fixed to general UI stability improvements.

Quote

NHL 21 Patch 1.1 Notes:

General

• Fixed an issue where HUT and Creation Zone Icones would be missing on the PS4 System when going into game prior to the full game installing

 

Gameplay

General

• Fixed issues where the skating style preview animations weren't displaying the slider adjustments properly

Stick Checking

• Fixed a case where sometimes pokechecks would not go the direction intended
• Fixed an issue with defensive skill stick tripping logic

 

HUT

Auction House

• Fixed an issue where a user would sometimes crash when purchasing an item in the auction house

 

World of Chel

General

• Fixed stability issues found in post game UI

 

Source: TheClapperton

 

What's your experience with the game so far? Was this an anticipated patch? Anything else you'd like fixed? Let us know in the comments below.

Hey NHLGamers, 

NHL 21 is finally upon us, albeit with the caveat that you'll need an EA Play subscription*, but nevertheless, it is here and so let's get straight down to business looking at what has changed!

As you may remember EA was rather tight-lipped about gameplay details regarding NHL 21 from the technical test a while back and asked for people to submit their opinions of the game in order to gain an understanding of what needed to be changed or tweaked. Well, they have seemingly read through a lot of responses and one of the bigger change-logs seen for a while in the NHL series.

Below you will find a general rundown of the 'main' changes (subjective of course) impacting 6v6. After that, the full change-log will be presented. Enjoy.
 

Firstly, it appears that goalies are the ones to receive the most changes which is probably to be expected, thanks to goalies facing one of the biggest overhauls for NHL 21. In this, we see that animation tweaks and fixes make up the lion's share of entries, with there even being new save animations included. 

Outside of goalie changes however there are not that many 'major' changes, instead most entries look to make small-scale tweaks to existing systems. For instance, EA has apparently stopped players randomly launching the puck after picking it up and attempting a pass or shot, indeed the collision system as a whole will supposedly have fewer "phantom" collisions. 

*In order to attain an EA Play subscription, you will need to install the "EA Play Hub" app through the PSN store, from there NHL 21 should be visible as the banner screen. Once you've have clicked on "view game" for NHL 21, you should be prompted to download it assuming you already have a subscription, or asked to subscribe. EA Play is a monthly renewing subscription and as such, if you do not plan on making use of it beyond playing NHL 21, then please remember to cancel this subscription. In addition to the early access, EA Play will also grant you an automatically applied discount of 10% on any preorder of an EA game in the PSN store. 

Quote

 

EA SPORTS NHL Players,

When we invited you to participate in a Closed Technical Test for NHL 21, it was to hear directly from players about the things that they would like to see updated, optimized and tweaked around gameplay. We’ve listened to your feedback and have made improvements from the Technical Test to key areas of gameplay. Please continue to share your feedback with us as we head into launch!

- The EA SPORTS NHL Team

 

General

• Penalty shot logic improvements
• Tuned human controlled offensive zone dump ins to keep the puck in more consistently
• Decreased difficulty of Lacrosse move in all offline modes.  (This tuning lives under tuner 1.01. Players that want to use the unchanged online tuner in offline modes can still roll back and select tuner 1.00)

 

Physics

• Fixed various cases where hugs and pairups were not exiting properly
• Stick height tuning for various player heights for the lacrosse move
• Lacrosse move tuning for small rink variants
• Fixed a few phantom collision cases
• Fixed cases where physics was interrupting faceoffs from actually being won back to their teammates
• Tuned puck velocity after incidental puck on blade collision to help prevent pucks being launched down the ice at unrealistic speeds
• Fixed an issue that caused one-timer shots to be affected by stick on leg contact prior to the shot animation starting

 

Goalies

• Additional save animations for set, butterfly and spread V
• Animation improvements to the old school stand up goalie stances
• Various upper body puck tracking improvements
• Improvements to spread V locomotion and save selection
• Improved responsiveness to attempt new covers when a puck is deflected or has already hit the goalie
• Various other user goalie cover improvements
• Improved AI goalie behavior to fake and lacrosse dekes
• Various user goalie right stick responsiveness and consistency improvements
• Fixed a case where goalies would get stuck in a sweep animation when hit by another player
• AI goalie tuning around 5 hole shots
• Improved AI goalie ability on long unscreened shots that were scoring too often
• Fixed cases where goalies were unable to abort out of long covers if the puck gets deflected or picked up leaving them vulnerable
• Improvements to AI post play behavior to defend against wraparounds
• AI goalie pokecheck tuning
• Goalie poke check tracking improvements
• AI goalie improvements on wraparounds
• Fixed a case where the user goalie could get stuck not taking a new right stick direction if they were shuffling in set
• Various goalie blending improvements from in and out of Spread V
• Controlled save tuning on reaching shots

 

Skating

• Various stick blending improvements when transitioning between skating styles
• Various offplay skating improvements
• Fixed cases where players were pivoting the wrong direction while coming out of a pickup
• Fixed some situations where auto back skate doesn't trigger early enough

 

Shooting

• Fixed a case where one-timers would aim at the ice if a pickup was requested at the same time as a shot
• Fixed a case where spin shots were playing in unintended situations
• Fixed cases where the puck would frequently collide with the players skate while performing a between the legs one-timers
• Improved cases where one-timers were not triggering when intended 
• Various shot release point fixes

 

Pickups

• Various pickup animation improvements
• Various pickup improvements for picking up pucks around the crease, goalie and goal line
  • Logic on the offensive side is intended to prevent pickups that pull the puck back from the goal line when a tap in is all that is wanted
  • Logic on the defensive side is to help the defensive player pick up pucks on/around the goal line to avoid weak own goals
• Reduced the distance for successful skate pickups around the net to reduce kicked in goals offensively and defensively
• Fixed cases when picking up pucks while backskating would sometimes pivot players unintentionally
• Various glove pickup fixes
• Fixed some pickup animations where taller players would unintentionally miss the puck
• Improved bat-down collisions that were missing pucks that should have been knocked down
• Fixed an issue where players could solve pickups while in shot block
• Fixed various cases where pickups would fail when the stick goes through a teammate player
• Fixed an issue where stick on stick collisions during skate pick ups would cause the pickup to fail

 

Passing

• Animation improvements when passing out of a backhand toe drag
• Fixed some cases where passes out of boardplay were not respecting the requested direction
• Pass lead and location tuning

 

Stick Checking

• Fixed a case where players were getting unintended trips while blending out of a poke check or DSS
• Fixed a case where stick on stick collisions were not forcing the puck carrier to drop the puck
• Fixed some cases where players were getting tripped unintentionally from the front
• Various poke check accuracy improvements
• Fixed an issue where players were able to be tripped at the very first frame of the poke check

 

AI

• Improved teammate support when in boardplay
• Fixed cases in  3 on 3 breakouts and rush plays where the defender was too aggressive on more conservative strategies (Standard and Passive)
• Improved cases where strong side wingers during breakouts either left too early or did not support the puck carrier
• Improvements to AI defenders that were getting stuck in gap control for too long
• Improved various cases where AI defenders were getting caught flat footed on the rush
• Various additional rush defense AI and gap control improvements
• Improved F1 logic where they would overcommit to the weak side in the 1-2-2 neutral zone strategies
• Fixed some cases where AI puck carriers would back track with the puck into their own zone
• Fixed some cases where players stopping near the blueline were getting pushed offside by AI players
• Improvements to AI dump retrieval logic
• Improved some cases where weak side defenders would abandon positioning goal side to pressure the puck carrier
• Fixed a case to the 1-3-1 where the AI would break down when the offense transitioned from one side of the ice to the other
• AI tuning in setup and powerplay to be more aggressive at getting the puck to the net
• Tuning for AI pass lane and pass attempt logic
• Tuning for AI shot lane and shot attempt logic

 

Source: EA

 

What does everyone think about these changes? Are there any changes you think that have run under the radar? Let us know below! 

Last spring the Finnish Hockey League, as many other sports leagues around the world, was canceled. As a response to the feedback from the hockey community, the season was finished unofficially online through the NHL 20 console game. The ePlayoffs finals gathered over 165 000 unique viewers in total. The fan reception was overwhelmingly positive throughout the execution. 

“It is safe to say that ePlayoffs exceeded our wildest expectations. We received tons of positive feedback from both the teams and the hockey community. The positive feedback is what inspired us to move forward with an official esports league. We are thrilled to launch the first-ever season of eLiiga,” says Aija Saha, Marketing Manager of Finnish Hockey League. 
 

eLiiga will be played using the NHL 21game and every team in the league will be represented by Finland’s top 1v1 players. Games are broadcasted by Telia and MTV, the biggest commercial TV-channel in Finland. NHLGamer is involved in this project as part of the production.

“We are very thrilled to continue our cooperation with the Finnish Hockey League after our first successful outing with the ePlayoffs. The new series aims to reach fans of traditional hockey as well as esports. We see eLiiga as an important part of bringing new fans to the whole esports scene,” says Niklas Segercrantz from Telia Esports Series.

In 2019 Telia launched Telia Esports Series and ever since its foundation the series has steadily grown and this year alone they have successfully expanded from Finland to Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. This summer Telia Esports Series also announced an official eFootball league together with Veikkausliiga, the premier division of Finnish Football. 

“Launching eLiiga means that Finland’s two largest sports series now have their esports counterparts. Finland is embracing esports on a truly impressive level and we are proud to be a part of it. We aim to help esports players of all levels to rise to the top,” concludes Segercrantz.  

eLiiga will begin on the 1st of November and the premium partner for the league is PlayStation.

“PlayStation is excited to be a partner of eLiiga as the +500k strong Finnish PlayStation community loves sports games. Ice hockey is clearly close to the heart of our players with EA SPORTS NHL being the most popular sports game in Finland,” says Suman Rath, General Manager of PlayStation in the Nordics.

How to participate

Aside from being involved in the league production, NHLGamer will be organizing the official eLiiga Näytön Paikka (=showcase) tournament, which allows players a platform to show their skills in hopes of impressing the Liiga clubs. Each club will be represented by two players.

To participate in the qualifying tournament, sign up here. Please fill in the form carefully, as it allows both our staff and the clubs participating in the eLiiga to contact you if necessary.

NOTE! Participation in the Screen Place tournament is NOT a guarantee that you will represent clubs. Each club conducts its own player selection and contract negotiations.

Other relevant information:

• Telia Esports Series website
• Tournament Rules: eLiiga Näytön Paikka tournament rules
• Please join NHLGamer's Discord server to make it easier to communicate with the other players and our staff: 

NHLGamers,

Since last night at approximately 21 CEST, the NHL 21 closed technical test is live. If you signed up for the test, you might want to check your email including spam folder for a possible code. Keep in mind not everyone was guaranteed one.

The NHL 21 technical test is held for the purpose of collecting data and feedback on the available features in gameplay, the new dekes, improved AI, and the goalie controls and positioning. The technical test does not include all new features coming to the final product and does not represent the final product in any way. Remember that as per the terms and conditions of the closed technical test, you are not permitted to capture or share any video or screenshots of the test build of the game.

No information about the duration of the technical test is currently available. We will update this article when we learn more. 

We will be sending EA our collective thoughts, so please discuss the test build of the game in the comments section below, in our allocated thread or send your feedback directly to the EA Forums.

NHLGamers,

As the summer turns to fall we’re accustomed to be getting news about the next iteration in the EA Sports NHL-series that we’ve all grown to love. This year with the pandemic and speculation about the PS5 launch, the news have been pushed back a bit, but we’re getting closer to a closed beta and the final release of NHL 21. The new game will be released on PS4 and Xbox One, but the new consoles will as announced be backwards compatible. 

The cover athlete of NHL 21 will be Alexander Ovechkin - The Great Eight. Ovechkin came into the league in a time shortly after the “dead puck era”, where scoring was at an all time low and grindy, physical teams prevailed. The Russian superstar was a welcome splash of personality into an NHL that was at a dull moment in time. Ovechkin made an immediate impact and hasn’t stopped baffling us since his first strides on the NHL ice. We all remember that tinted visor, the yellow laces and the incredible highlight reel performances that has inspired a whole new generation of hockey players - and also the creative team of NHL 21. This years iteration of the game series has drawn inspiration from the eccentric personality of Ovie and the astounding skill that he possesses. From tons of individual customization to all new creative ways of beating your opponent, this is the year for skill hockey to shine.

What’s new in NHL 21?

The new game brings a few new or overhauled features out of which the largest are an all new casual mode called HUT Rush and the massively improved Be A Pro.

HUT Rush is all about skill and showing off those sweet moves in combinations to earn the biggest possible rewards. It is a fast-paced mode that lets you hop into action through either a quick draft or with you HUT team and go up against others in either 5v5, 3v3 or arcade 3’s games. More skill - more points!

Be A Pro has seen a massive overhaul and now gives you more control than ever over what kind of career you want to shape. Start either in Europe, the Canadian Junior Leagues or go directly into the NHL and start creating your own puck personality. Complete challenges during games to earn more XP, engage with media, players and coaches at key moments throughout your career and finally hoist the cup. Be A Pro also features an all new player hub that lets you see all information on one screen and navigate way faster and easier.

The skill moves!

You’ve probably heard about these already. Some of you are scared, myself included. NHL 21 will feature a bunch of new big and small skill moves such as the michigan, behind the net bank and the Kucherov no-move. Added to your arsenal in small space are slip dekes and standing dekes together with chips off the boards and into empty space. Moves such as the michigan and behind the net bank are of course highlight reel stuff and shouldn’t be all too easy to pull off, which will be fine-tuned based on player feedback over the course of the closed beta. However based on our experiences with a build not final - the michigan is REALLY hard to pull off.

Improved goaltender controls

Goaltender controls have seen minor changes and improvements.Save animations and reactions combined with positioning have been in focus this year. Goaltending controls have been very coarse earlier, but now it should be way easier to make minute movements very smoothly. 

EASHL practice mode

You’ve been heard! NHL 21 brings back one of the most requested features for the competitive community. There are now a free skate and team practice mode in EASHL, where you can either test out your builds on an open sheet of ice or play together with you teammates against an AI opponent to sort out various strategies and set plays. In an open practice, teammates can shoot against either a CPU or human goalie.

Server select in private EASHL matches

Another great addition for the competitive community that allows a more even playing field when going up against opponents from various geographical locations.

In addition to all of these concrete changes in the game, the team has continued to develop the AI in the game. This year, organic play flow has been a big theme in driving the development and bringing the AI to the next level. The AI is now challenging but realistic, your teammates are more predictable and puck carriers are driving the play more than before. Support positioning on defense is greatly improved in order to reward players that put pressure on the opposition.

What’s still missing?

The missing components are for the most part the usual suspects. This years iteration has addressed some issues like the practice mode and server select, but things like spectator mode are still absent. Some hardcore fans of GM connected have been advocating for bringing that mode back for years, but their voices are still left unheard. Maybe next year!
 

Release date & editions

The NHL 21 Closed Beta will be out on the 28th of August. NHL 21 will release on the 16th of October, with the preorder versions of the Deluxe and Ultimate editions granting three days of early access.

The available editions are:

NHL 21 Standard Edition 69,95€
Preorder bonus:
- Up to 2 HUT Diamond Player Choice Packs (1 per month for 2 months)
- Be A Pro XP Boost and Bonus Trait and Specialization Points
- 1 Unlocked World of Chel Hockey Bag

NHL 21 Deluxe Edition 89,95€
Preorder bonus:
- Up to 5 HUT Diamond Player Choice Packs (1 per month for 5 months)
- HUT Synergy Veteran Choice Pack (Choice 1 of 10; +1 OVR per month until August 2021)
- HUT Cover Athlete Choice Pack (Choice of: Ovechkin, Matthews, McDavid, Pettersson, Laine, Subban)
- 3 Days Early Access
- Be A Pro XP Boost and Bonus Trait and Specialization Points
- 2 Unlocked World of Chel Hockey Bags

NHL 21 Great Eight Edition 99,95€
Preorder bonus:
- Up to 10 HUT Diamond Player Choice Packs (2 per month for 5 months)
- HUT Synergy Veteran Choice Pack (Choice 1 of 10; +1 OVR per month until August 2021)
- HUT Cover Athlete Choice Pack (Choice of: Ovechkin, Matthews, McDavid, Pettersson, Laine, Subban)
- 3 Days Early Access
- Be A Pro XP Boost and Bonus Trait and Specialization Points
- 5 Unlocked World of Chel Hockey Bags

What are your thoughts on the information we’ve got? What did you with they would have added? What are you expecting from the beta? Let us know in the comments!

NHLGamers,

It's the day of the FCL kickoff and what better time than to announce a new traditional sports club joining our ranks with an NHL roster. This time, we're glad to welcome TuTo, hailing from the historical city of Turku in southern Finland. TuTo as an organization is involved in a number of various sports including ice hockey, wrestling, football and many more. Esports rounds out that selection into an even ten for the prestigious club founded already in 1929. The club has partnered with graphic design agency Midström in order to produce top-notch media content. Midström will also act as the main sponsor of the esports team.

"Lately we've been putting a lot of thought into the development of our kids and youth, and trying to find out role as a club in the change that's happening which brought esports to the forefront for us last year. We saw the possibilities and felt that it could be a successful concept for us alike so many other traditional sports clubs, with a goal to expand but also to learn about the expanding world of sports. As soon as Sami (@Samzoni) contacted me, we found a mutual understanding. We're happy to secure TuTo representation in esports and will continue developing that side of operations once we gain experience." - TuTo ry Operations Manager Sini Paakkinen

The roster formerly known as DIKTATUURI will from now on bear the logo and name of TuTo Esports. The team took their first strides on the competitive ice in ECL 10 Lite, making a playoff push that unfortunately ended in the first round at the hands of 2nd seeded EBR eSports Official. Despite being a young club, the roster has some solid experience in their ranks. Assistant captains Sami @Samzoni Lehtonen and Tuomas @Tumpp1A Aaltonen combine for over 300 games throughout the NHLGamer era of NHL esports, whereas defenseman Janne @K31jj0 Matilainen is another player on the team who has been around since the inception of the ECL. 

"We've discussed a possible affiliation in our club for quite some time already and feel that our game has taken some steps in a good direction lately, which pushed us into discussions with TuTo. I've personally been a supporter of TuTo for quite some time already and our goaltender Henry @Fobba71 Kivilä has represented TuTo back in his hockey playing days, which made them a natural selection to partner with. We're extremely happy to make our deal official and being able to get to work!" - Assistant captain Sami @Samzoni Lehtonen explains some background behind the deal.

TuTo ry

TuTo Ry is a sports club operating in a total of ten various sports including ice hockey, football, wrestling and esports to name a few. The club was founded in 1929 and has since dabbled in a multitude of sports out of which some have been dropped due to various reasons. Their hockey club competes at the second tier (Mestis) in Finland, and hereby the club becomes the second Mestis club to sign an esports roster.

NHLGamers,

During this past week the NHLGWC regional finals and in that also the final events of the GWC season were completed. Due to the worldwide pandemic situation, all live events were cancelled and with that also the grand finals will be absent this year. Instead, fans around the world got to enjoy the play of our regional finalists in what would be some incredibly high stakes regional finals that we would cap off by crowning three regional champions - one in Canada, one in Europe, one in the US. Each of the regional champions took home a total of $10,000 USD and runner-ups earned a hefty slice of prize money with $2,500 USD.

Here are your 2020 NHLGWC regional champions:

🇨🇦 Canada: Justin @Regs84 Reguly

🇺🇸 US: Josh @OFs Fuss

 
🇪🇺 Europe: Arttu @Artuzio Mustila

Artuzio had a massive comeback year after a somewhat disappointing showing in the 2018 NHLGWC finals and came back determined to show his doubters this time around. The long time gamer based in Tampere, Finland did so in style and ended up beating Roni @MrNipsuli Kajan in the finals and claiming the EU regional championship. In the US regionals, OFs_HK showed up big and was something of a surprising winner as he managed to overcome the reigning world champion Matthew @TSCCookie Gutkoski in a thrilling final series! Our Canadian gamers brought on a show this year, but it was eventually two very familiar guys who fought for the title at the end, Regs and Matthew @YungGren Grenier went head-to-head in the final series, with Regs eventually walking away as the victor. 

We got a hold of the European champion Artuzio for a short interview:

In 2018 you made a run all the way to the Grand Finals in Vegas. Did you utilize the experience and how have you developed in the last two years?
"In Vegas i wasn't a consistent player. My offense was good back then but the defensive side needed improvements. After the 2018 GWC I reviewed my game and found some points on which to improve and since then, I've layed more focus on strategic defense and the hitting game, which i feel has been a great improvement for me."

Which opponent do you think was the hardest this year?
"Without a doubt @PleeMaker. I know his style very well, but he's always so dangerous, you really need to pay attention on defense in order to win.

In both semifinal games, it looked like Plee was close to making a comeback, how did you stay calm during those moments?
"I've tried to play a lot of wager games and smaller tourneys this year in order to improve my work under pressure and I feel like it's really paid off, just check the scoreboards!"

Finally, what are you going to do with the prize money?
"Haven't decided yet, so it'll be put into savings for starters."

Congratulations to all participants! We're hoping to see you back next year, hopefully at live events! 🏆

Art: Chris @RyanDesigns Ryan

NHLGamers,

SAWO ESPORTS is an organisation fresh out of the box and is the brainchild of community favorite caster Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen with help from the likes of Savo Volley and Finnish national team hitter Olli-Pekka Ojansivu, Iiro Naamanka from VR & AR specialists 3D-Talo and Mika Hyvärinen from hockey club Iisalmen Peli-Karhut. The organization prides itself in its heritage in the Savo-area in eastern Finland and has brought together four major clubs that are staples in sports across different sports in the area. Behind SAWO ESPORTS we find hockey clubs KalPa and Iisalmen Peli-Karhut together with football club KuPS. Their heritage is largely visible in the teams branding with the rooster logo that's become synonymous with Kuopio hockey and the black and yellow color scheme that is also repped by all three backing clubs. 

The objective of SAWO ESPORTS together with its partners is to create an organization with a widespread representation at the very top in various games. Two rosters will be announced this weekend and both are expected to make an immediate impact in their own games. In addition to focusing on the professional side of things, the organization wants to lay heavy focus on their youth operations, which will be run in cooperation with Juniori-KalPa ry.

"We're launching an exceptional cooperation in the Finnish esports scene by having three major Savo-based sports clubs invested. Esports is definitely here to stay and will only continue the growing trend. There's also several development opportunities for us with KalPa", states Kalpa-Hockey Oy CEO Toni Saksman to Ilta-Sanomat.

"A massive part of running a successful club is being able to productize and being an interesting and above all beneficial partner to our stakeholders. The beauty of these partnerships is the fact that we offer our traditional sports clubs a gateway to reach an audience unique to esports." - General Manager Hämäläinen on creating successful partnerships

Today SAVO ESPORTS also announce their first roster, which will be competing at the highest level of NHL esports. The organisation has signed the roster of Checkmate, who has solidified their position as a fierce competitor in ECL Elite after working their way up from the Pro-division at the end of their ECL 8 campaign. The team has now completed two full seasons at the highest tier, having back-to-back heartbreak seasons where they barely missed the playoffs by not even a points margin. The Nikkinen brothers Jonne @TackleControl and Juuso @Juizki are the dynamic duo running the show at center and in net whereas the pieces around them have been shuffled a bit. After ECL 10 the main change will be seen in defense, as mainstay supporting cast Vesa @VesKuLiNe Voutilainen will step up in a bigger role and young stud Roni @MrNipsuli Kaján will move down the wing. The team has also acquired talented but unproven Atte @Akunkku Kuningas to boost their offense.

When talking to captain @TackleControl, the man ensures that the team hasn't been in any rush to find a suitable organisation despite having been one of the few Elite teams with no affiliation: "The topic has come up on several occasions but the prevailing sentiment has always been that an affiliation isn't something we actively need, and that the organisation would have to seem interesting and professional for us to consider it. SAWO ESPORTS seems to be just that, we found our ambitions to line up nicely and wanted to see this opportunity through." 

"FCL is a challenge we take on with high, but realistic expectations, we've analyzed our game and made some roster changes out of necessity but also to simply improve our squad. We're confident in our defense, @Jooonasaurus adds some firepower up front and goaltender Saku @Mehukatti10 Serttilä impressed us during the offseason", Nikkinen continues when speaking about their roster.

GM Hämäläinen is familiar to the NHL scene and therefore signing an NHL roster seemed natural: "Getting into NHL esports seemed like a natural choice also because we've partnered with two great hockey clubs KalPa and IPK. After a longer period of negotiations we finally managed to secure an ambitious roster that we believe can do great things for our team. We're hoping to start stocking our trophy shelves within our first year and the upcoming FCL is a great place to start."

SAWO Esports start their NHL journey on Monday, 24th of August when the FCL season commences. Expect some tight battles in the fierce competition for the Finnish Championship title.

Pictures courtesy of ENCE.

NHLGamers,

We've all heard about ENCE on the CS:GO ans Starcraft II-side of things, but what about NHL? The powerhouse organization that has solidified their position as the pinnacle of Finnish esports currently actually ventured into NHL esports quite some time ago as Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen signed to ENCE back in early 2017 when the Brent Burns lookalike was at the top of his 1v1 game. The contract only lasted for eight months and came to a surprising stop, likely due to a lack of action in the community at that time and the organization wanting to move in another direction - which has seemed to work wonders for them. 

Now the time is right for the successful organization to dive back into NHL esports and what better way to do that than by signing recent free agent and former multi-champion Erik @Eki Tammenpää. 

ENCE General Manager Niklas "Willkey" Ojalainen talks about their recent signing as follows: "We are very happy to have another World Champion join our ranks. When the opportunity to sign Eki became a possibility and after we sat down a few times, he felt like a natural fit not only as a player but as a great ambassador in the console gaming community. This also marks ENCE's return to sports games after quite a few years and we are excited to see what the future holds."

Eki had a world class year in 2018 when he really put his name on the map by in fact winning everything he set out to do in the NHL scene. Within a span of a few months, the young star then conquered championships in both IS Cup 1v1 and 6v6, the NHLGWC and in the ECL. He would then go on to win the inaugural SCL title with Vesa Pompa HC in the spring of 2019, after which Eki has consistently competed at a high level. 

"It feels amazing to be a part of ENCE. I've followed them grow for a long time and I can't wait to get started. I'm eager to see what we can accomplish together. The bar is now set very high." - Eki on signing with ENCE.

Eki will represent ENCE in all upcoming 1v1 competitions in the NHL series.

NHLGamers,

Almtuna IS, hailing from Uppsala in Eastern Sweden becomes the next Swedish traditional hockey team to start their esports journey. The club reached an agreement with long time fans and NHL gamers Dennis @PillenUpp Johansson and Daniel @dgsson Gustafsson, who will be acting as captain and assistant in the esports club. 

"Daniel and me wanted to launch an esports team for Almtuna IS. It's great that our beloved club wanted to go along with it and representing them is an inspiration going forward. We'll proudly be sporting Almtunas colors in upcoming events" - Captain Dennis Johansson on signing with Almtuna. 

We got in touch with goaltender and assistant captain Daniel Gustafsson for some understanding into the mindset of the team and background:

Hi Daniel! First off, tell us a bit about your group of guys - what kind of players have you recruited and what are your strengths?
- We've had a focus on recruiting players we are familiar with from before. Guys we know we can trust. Our squad is a bit older and possesses a lot of experience, several of our players have captained rosters in the past. Since the beginning, one of our main focuses has been taking everyone into account and making this a mutual project, which is something I feel we've done very well. We've still got our eyes open for a right-handed player capable of moving up and down the left flank.

I've heard that both you and Dennis are Almtuna fans, how about the rest of your team? How does it feel to represent "your club"?
- Me and Dennis both have grown up in Uppsala and as said - are passionate fans of Almtuna IS, naturally it's beyond exciting to be able to represent them. The rest of our team is divided across Sweden, but I guess this project has slowly converted them and they are now eager to follow Almtuna in HockeyAllsvenskan.

After a summer break, the next league is just around the corner. How have you been preparing and what are your expectations moving forward?
- Over the summer we've been playing around and participated in some practice tourneys. I feel our game has evolved for the better step by step. We're excited about the ECL and are hopeful about the SCL happening. We're expecting to join the Lite division in ECL 11 and are aiming for a playoff run. Above all though, we're looking to get Almtuna established in esports.

Almtuna IS

Almtuna IS competes at the second highest level in Sweden, HockeyAllsvenskan. The club itself was founded in 1932, but hockey wasn't added to the program until 1947. HockeyAllsvenskan has been the clubs level since 2003 and Almtuna IS has most notably produced players like Magnus Hellberg and Robin Press to name a few. 

Anyone keeping tabs on NHL 21 news recently will no doubt have spotted a link to the “Technical Test” that has circulated around a little recently. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can find the link here. While not being referred to by EA as a Beta (open or closed), as well as not being posted on any of their official social media accounts, we nevertheless believe that this will be the beta for NHL 21. As such, we recommend that everyone sign up to it as soon as they can due to the potential that there may be a limited number of codes available.

The above is a screenshot, click here to sign up for the NHL 21 Beta
 

As for what we know (or more accurately, what we don’t know). We do not currently know what game mode(s) will be included in the supposed beta, but if previous iterations are anything to go off then expect to see a slimmed down EASHL and HUT. Of course, given the cloak-and-dagger approach that EA are taking I personally would not be surprised if this coming beta is extremely lacking in content. Additionally, we also do not know who the cover athlete will be - something that was typically revealed alongside the ‘main reveal’ of the game that took place at the NHL draft.

What we do know however are the release dates. As usual there will be a Standard, Deluxe, and an Ultimate edition on both consoles, with the Deluxe and Ultimate editions letting players download and play the game 3 days prior to the Standard release date. Furthermore, just like years past, EA Access will allow members to play NHL 21 a week before the Standard release date. Of course, this comes with the caveat that you will only be able to play the game for 10hrs over that time period.

Therefore, NHL 21s release schedule will look something like this:

• EA Early Access - 9^th of October 2020 (TBC)
• Deluxe & Ultimate Editions - 13^th of October 2020
• Standard - 16^th of October 2020

As always EA are offering unique pre-order bonuses for each of the three editions on offer:

• Standard - 1 Hockey Bag
• Deluxe - HUT Cover Athlete Choice Pack (Choice 1 of 6); 2 Hockey Bags
• Ultimate -  HUT Cover Athlete Choice Pack (Choice 1 of 6); 5 Hockey Bags

What are your hopes for the beta - which mode(s) would you like to see included? And who do you think will be named as the cover athlete? Let us know in the comments.

 NHLGamers,

With the NHL's return to play programme seemingly working great, we're getting closer by the minute to having hockey back in our lives. Besides the Stanley Cup Playoffs a spring tradition that's been dear to our gamer hearts has been the NHL GWC, which the NHL broke silence on today by announcing a continuation of the tournament. The 2020 NHL Gaming World Championship will resume and conclude with remotely produced regional final events. The Grand final has been cancelled in order to comply with social gathering and travel restrictions. However, this frees up a whole lot of prize pool money, which has been allocated towards the regional finals, where Regional Champions will now earn $10,000 USD whereas Runner-Ups will earn $2,500 USD. Other prizes have also been increased in amount.

Lainaa

“We want to thank our players, partners (Great Clips, Honda, Navy Federal Credit Union and Scotiabank) and global gaming audience for their patience and understanding during this unprecedented time,” said Chris Golier, NHL Vice President of Business Development and Innovation. “Our Regional Finalists have looked forward to putting their skills to the test in the next round and we are committed to completing the Regional Finals and crowning three Regional Champions as among the top EA SPORTS NHL® 20 players in the World. We have learned through this pause that gaming has become central to hockey fans’ lives and we look forward to concluding a very competitive tournament and entertaining our fans.”

The regional finals will feature a total of twenty-four players - the top four players from each region on both PS4 and Xbox. The remaining competitors include 2019 World Champion Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkoski, 2018 & 2019 GWC finalists John "Johnwaynee90" Casagranda and Matthew @YungGren Grenier to name a few.

A schedule for the regional finals will be released in the coming days. All of the events will be broadcast on the NHL's Twitch-channel, NBCSN (US), Sportsnet (CAN) and Viasat (EU) as well as various social platforms of the NHL and its global broadcast partners. Fan favorite, Emmy-nominated sports and esports commentator Arda Ocal returns together with YouTube sensation Andrew @Nasher Telfer to provide play-by-play and game analysis. NBC Sports reporter Corey Robinson is a newcomer in the team, he will help viewers get an inside look on things and get to know the competitors. Another returning aspect is The GWC Lobby, which is a pregame show dedicated to profiling competitors, reviewing team selections and breaking down player strategy. This show is hosted by gaming experts Cole "TacTix" Mogg and Cam "NoSleeves" Halbert.

 
Cole "TacTix" Mogg and Cam "NoSleeves" Halbert will host The GWC Lobby prior to regional final broadcasts.

Here are the remaining competitors in the NHL GWC:

🇪🇺  EU Regional Final (Xbox)
Paul @PleeMaker Arontie
Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund
Samuli @ssampee37 Mäntylä
Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta

🇪🇺  EU Regional Final (PS4)
Roni @MrNipsuli Kajan
Arttu @Artuzio Mustila
Juuso @Kemppane_ Kemppainen
Samu @Suppe19 Salmela

🇺🇸  US Regional Final (Xbox)
Eric "PureFishin" Fisher
Matthew "TSCCookie" Gutkoski
Josh @OFs Fuss
Josh "LAK1NGS23" Gonzalez

🇺🇸  US Regional Final (PS4)
David "JrPens91" Roebuck
Gage "Mekilu" Baker
Jonah "dirtyduster1" Pollack
John "Johnwaynee90" Casagranda

🇨🇦  CAN Regional Final (Xbox)
Carson "CoreyPerry1" Bellaire
Jonathan @Mxtayer Metayer
Harley "Sitful" Sitko
Chris @Odie O'Donnell

🇨🇦  CAN Regional Final (PS4)
Justin @Regs84 Reguly
Matthew @YungGren Grenier
Brett @desyd19 Deschene
Luke "Drewy_12" Drewitt

NHLGamers,

As the world slowly starts to work itself out of the various COVID-19 measures that were put in place, EA have now announced what was unofficially stated in an economic report / forecast released a month or two ago, namely that the next NHL (21) is indeed coming - albeit with the caveat that it will be an October-based release.

In the press release that will be provided below, EA note how whilst the impact of COVID-19 has been far reaching, in turn prompting the application of "major adjustments", the end-result has been remarkably similar to what they set out to achieve originally. Regarding information that is specifically pertinent for prospective players, the game will not be coming to next-gen consoles as a dedicated entry, instead it will be playable on the Xbox Series X and PS5 through forwards compatibility. Surely a disappointment to anyone that has been keeping up with the news (or lack thereof) as of late, as well as equally speculating, especially considering NHL 15 was a year late to next-gen consoles and was wholly feature devoid. Nevertheless, EA states that they will be releasing additional information regarding NHL 21 later this year ~ late August. Whether this takes on the form of a 'deep dive' that they have released in the run-up to previous iterations or as an online beta remains to be seen. 

Furthermore, players signing into the game should now find some complementary HUT packs waiting for them in the shop, additionally, EASHL players should look forward to finding some WOC bags too!

EA: NHL 21 Update

How do people feel about this news? Were you expecting more of a push towards the next-gen consoles for example? 

NHLGamers,

Some weeks ago, the IIHF announced their Esports Fan Championship, that is meant to be a replica of this years cancelled IIHF worlds, but taking place online on EA Sports NHL 20. At this point, the qualifiers for each nation have been held and a participant on both PS4 and Xbox have been chosen for each nation. The teams have been placed into a bracket and will play from a round of 16 onwards, starting May 29th. 

Here's a link to the tournament schedule & bracket.

At NHLGamer, we're incredibly happy to see a strong community representation in the tournament as 13 (that we know of) out of the total 32 participants have earned their stripes in leagues organised by us. We're especially sending our good luck wishes to the following gamers representing their countries in the tournament:

🇱🇻 @PSchibra
🇱🇻@JLopatko

🇸🇪 @SebbeLarsen86
🇸🇪 @Eken45jr

🇮🇹 @Tron1x90

🇨🇿 pepcastachurcik

🇷🇺 @Serg1vratar

🇨🇭 @Original-SnuS

🇳🇴 @Larsto50

🇫🇮 @rottadee
🇫🇮 @Eki

🇬🇧 @MartindalexC

🇩🇪 @Timasy

🇩🇰 @vibholm10

Some exciting clashes in the round of 16 will obviously be the headline matchup between Canada and USA, but also some of the more non-traditional hockey markets have solid representation. The battle between Germany and Denmark will feature NHLGamers Tim  @Timasy Hess and Martin @vibholm10 Vibholm in a heated battle on the PS4 side, whereas Swiss native Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi will go head-to-head with Norwegian Lars Petter @Larsto50 Stø. 

We reached out to some of the gamers for comments about the tournament:

Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi, Swiss player on PS4, captain of ZSC Esports

First of all, what does it mean for you personally to represent your country in a historic tournament like this?
- It's an awesome feeling. I went into this tournament without any ambitions whatsoever. Having a versus record of 2-0-0 going in, I definitely wasn't expecting to go all the way in the qualifiers. Now I'm training hard to represent Switzerland to the best of my abilities in the tournament.

A lot of new names are getting a shot at the big stage in this tournament. Do you know the players well and would you like to highlight any underdogs?
- I know a few players from seeing them on the ECL ice. I think a great underdog would be Mirco @Tron1x90 Salvi, who is playing for Italy - Sweden better watch out in the first round! Also I think @PSchibra had a great qualification run for Latvia. 

What do you think about the tournament format and did you know your teammate from before?
- I Think it's a great format and highlights the teamwork aspect in hockey. Reto @Haldeem Haldemann was playing on Xbox and the goal was to have two ZSC players represent our country, but Marco came out of the blue and won the finals against Reto on that side. I didn't know him from before but I'm confident in his talents. 

Sergei @Serg1vratar Filippov, Russian player on PS4, Captain of Blackdawgs

What are your thoughts on the tournament format and did you know your teammate from before?
- I really enjoy the format and it's cool that the IIHF was bold enough to bring something new to the competitive community. The thing i dislike a bit is that several top players from PS4 are switching over to Xbox just for the sake of these kinds of tournaments, making the contest less balanced. I didn't know my teammate from before, but from a short discussion we had I understood that he's a quite casual player.

As there's a lot of new exciting names in the tournament, who would you want to highlight with the potential to cause an upset?
- I have to say Czech Republic looks promising and I think they could have a real chance to compete. Also Switzerland has one of the strongest squads in the tournament. If we're looking at exciting players, I'd keep an eye on Sebastian @SebbeLarsen86 Larsen representing Sweden. He's already put his name on the map from performances in Linkoping and Vesa Pompa though. @rottadee for Finland is an exciting name too, he's overcome the likes of @Artuzio and @Hansulinho, which shows that there is a high level of talent there. Finally, I'd point out that the Czech pepcastachurcik is a talented guy with extremely good puck skills that have impressed me. 

We're excited about the tournament moving forward and will be following the progress of our community members. More info about the tournament can be found on the IIHF Esports Fan Championship website.

 NHLGamers,

With the cancellation of the beloved hockey carnival that is the IIHF World Championships, we received news last week that an Esports Fan Championship will be hosted. It's an exciting way of involving fans around the world and putting the tournament in your hands - EA Sports NHL players from each country will represent their nation in an effort to take home the championship, in addition, IIHF have put some amazing prizes such as game tickets and pucks on the line for the competitors. 

What?

The IIHF Esports Fan Championship is a virtual counterpart to the world championships. The tournament is played with a 1v1-format in the online versus game mode. Each of the participating nations will host open qualifiers to determine a player on PS4 and Xbox that will represent their respective nations. These qualifiers will kick off starting May 15th.

After the online qualifiers are done and each nation has their participant on each console, the playoffs will commence on May 29th. The playoffs are played in a classic knock-out format, where one matchup is decided based on the result in four individual games (two on each console), out of which the aggregate score will serve as a final result in that respective matchup.

For the playoffs, the IIHF have applied a special rule in order to ensure competitive integrity. The rule is a rotation rule, where players are only allowed to use each national team once over the course of the playoffs. This ensures diversity in the matchups and allows for some more strategy on this front too. 

When?

The open national qualifiers start May 15th, but signups are open right now! Head over to https://esports.iihf.com/ in order to sign up for the qualifiers of your nation. 

Here's a full schedule for online qualifiers:
Kazakhstan - PS4 & Xbox One - 15/5/2020
Belarus - PS4 & Xbox One - 15/5/2020
Denmark - PS4 & Xbox One - 16/5/2020
Latvia - PS4 & Xbox One - 16/5/2020
Czech Republic - PS4 & Xbox One - 17/5/2020
Italy - PS4 & Xbox One - 17/5/2020
Switzerland - PS4 & Xbox One - 18/5/2020
Slovakia - PS4 & Xbox One - 18/5/2020
Norway - PS4 & Xbox One - 19/5/2020
Finland - PS4 & Xbox One - 19/5/2020
Great Britain - PS4 & Xbox One - 20/5/2020
USA - PS4 & Xbox One - 21/5/2020
Germany - PS4 &  Xbox One - 21/5/2020
Canada - PS4 & Xbox One - 22/5/2020
Sweden - PS4 & Xbox One - 22/5/2020
Russia - PS4 & Xbox One - 22/5/2020
 

How?

The IIHF has released a short info video on what it's all about, also, check this page for all additional instructions.

NHLGamers,

While our recent articles gear towards the teams and more importantly, the players, it’s time we heard from the voices behind the mic, our very own broadcast crew. I asked Cody @Tougie24 Tougas, Paul @Cyn Anderson, and Nick @f5penguin DiMeo their thoughts on the recent growth of NHLGamer, the production level, and the 6v6 community in general. All 3 of these gentlemen can be found across our streams and broadcasts, and have made appearances in all levels of play, whether it be ECL, NACL, or the eSHL. 

<< I think they're one of the leaders of innovation when it comes to bringing forth a level of quality in the content and in the gamesmanship, and you see that especially with the ECL and now the NACL breaking through. I only see big things in the future for them. >>

Question: We’re entering the 10th season of the ECL, and the second season (of hopefully many) of the NACL. Just recently it was announced that there were a total of 196 teams signed up, a record-setting 15 000€ prize pool for ECL season 10, and new esports organizations such as JYP Jyvaskyla, SJ Gaming, hREDS, and KOVA Esports signing rosters for the upcoming campaign. What’s it been like to watch the site grow at such a rapid pace?

@f5penguin: It's interesting to see the site grow at this pace that you mentioned. It's fun to watch the surge happen, especially with everything going on in the world currently. People are looking for an outlet and they're looking for a place to play and do something that is closest to sports while they are confined. I'm of the opinion that esports IS a sport and I've said that for a while, being a new sports and new media advocate. However, seeing a record 15,000€ prize pool, seeing actual hockey teams take on an esports team, and signing a roster for the partnership with the Swedish SHL (eSHL). These are huge, monumental things and I couldn't be more thrilled that NHLGamer is the one responsible for doing some of these things. I think they're one of the leaders of innovation when it comes to bringing forth a level of quality in the content and in the gamesmanship, and you see that especially with the ECL and now the NACL breaking through. I only see big things in the future for them.

@Tougie24: It's been amazing. Nearly a year ago I was able to have a conversation with @Kenu (owner and founder of NHLGamer.com) while we were both in Vancouver over potentially doing commentary for NHLGamer. It's something I wanted to get into, seeing as Youtube and Twitch isn't exactly the end goal I have in mind. I'd also been having conversations with Cyn around the same time over our mutual interest in trying to branch out into commentary. He's been someone I've considered a friend for nearly as long as anyone in the Youtube community, and we'd decided pretty early on into those conversations that we were going to be a package deal. 

After talking with Kenu, I knew that NHLGamer was who I wanted to be affiliated with. The ambition, the vision, of where the competitive NHL scene could be lined up directly with myself and Cyn's. And just in the past year alone, the thought of "backing a winning horse" has come to mind. I already view that decision as a successful one. In the time since, we had our trial NACL run, which has turned into what this series has been, which I'd argue has been successful in turning heads in terms of what type of platform this league is looking to provide. Overseas, the ability to call games not just for the NACL but the eSHL was an honor. 

I get to see the same drive and ambition that won me over in the first place on display. The team we have all want the same thing. To help improve the footing of NHL esports. And just over this past year alone? No doubt in my mind that's been accomplished. And I can't wait to continue to see where it goes.

<< While myself and Tougie may be the ones on screen being the proverbial “faces” of each broadcast, what goes on behind the curtains during and days before is just as if not more important than what we bring. It’s really great to see others appreciating the hard work that goes into that side of production because we know first hand just how vital it is to our success. >>

Question:  A common comment when talking about NHLGamer, has been the level of production in the broadcasting during the featured games. While the ECL has been acclimated to this for a few seasons, the introduction of the NACL has brought in numerous positive comments about the level of detail to make the broadcast the best it can be. These things are also mentioned talking about the casting crew and the level of professionalism yourself and others bring to the table. How do these comments contribute to your current and future broadcasts?
 

@Cyn: That sort of positive reinforcement is quite inspiring to hear. I think we feed off of viewer feedback as a collective group. We all hold ourselves to the highest of standards and anything less than greatness leaves us feeling unfulfilled. It is one of the best rewards of this job to hear that your effort and passion is being appreciated, and that goes for internal feedback as well. We appreciate and value all those involved so much and it’s clear to us that everyone plays a huge part in making each broadcast a success. It all needs to click to look as good as it can. And while myself and Tougie may be the ones on screen being the proverbial “faces” of each broadcast, what goes on behind the curtains during and days before is just as if not more important than what we bring. It’s really great to see others appreciating the hard work that goes into that side of production because we know first hand just how vital it is to our success.

@f5penguin: These comments to me I love. You may not know, but I have been broadcasting for 10 years in new media, so strictly online streaming, podcasting, etc. I've been a tech journalist for a long time, and I've been calling esports games for three or four years for other leagues as well. So when I see everybody love what we do, part of me is elated here that definitely without question. I love that people are enjoying the product that we're giving them, but also, part of me knows that this is what we could do. This is what happens when you bring talented people together and give them the ability to create. When you find the talent, you should work insanely hard to grow it, keep it maintained, do everything you can to give them a chance to shine. And I think NHLGamer does a fantastic job that I'm able to have free reign. I'm not told what to say, I feel like I'm not given a very finite script, and I'm able to create freely. Working alongside Drew Goldfarb has been a blessing, I'm learning so much from him and that's amazing.
 

If you haven't seen an ECL broadcast before, here's the latest one from tonight:

Question: With the cancelling of numerous sporting events across the world, we’ve seen professional sports teams and leagues shift towards simulating their respective sports to give their fans something to watch during this period of uncertainty. While it’s massive progress to have these organizations acknowledging the presence of esports, especially sports games like NHL 20, can you give your best sales pitch on what they are missing simulating games with the AI, rather than contributing to the 6v6 EASHL community?

@Cyn: They are missing perhaps the most important element of entering an online market; timing. I believe they are still sort of trivializing esports, especially NHL which is just beginning to blossom, and haven't done a whole lot of market research on esports and their growth patterns. Otherwise, every single professional team would be scrambling to create their own division devoted solely to esports. The signs are everywhere. Gamers being signed to contracts with streaming platforms, countless tournaments being held both online and on LAN, and legitimate successful and thriving business models devoted to esports. I guess my pitch would be this: You have in front of you a unique opportunity to evolve with the times and cast yourself into an historical undertaking. If you don't get in on the action now, someone else will. Refusing to take the leap with the information we have on hand makes you a dinosaur. This is quite literally a can't miss investment opportunity.

@Tougie24: First, from a general standpoint. It's probably somewhat cliché to say, but hockey is a team sport. The individual game is fine, it can be entertaining. From an advertising stand point, it's probably easier to focus on an individual and their personality. But it's simply mind boggling to me that we haven't seen more professional teams step up to support the team game over the individual. That's for both NHL and FIFA for that matter.

Now in terms of teams currently presenting AI gameplay? It's a bit more understandable with how unexpected of a situation we're all living in happens to be. But perhaps this look towards the video game side of things for content opens some eyes to the product that's already there, and the opportunities that are there for the taking.

<< It doesn't matter what your role is, no matter how big or how small your contribution, everyone needs to work together to push this thing forward. >>

Question:  NHL 20 has seen an explosion of new tournaments, and overall impressive progress to the esports scene, whether it be more teams stepping into 1v1 tournaments, and more relevant to the 6v6 scene; the Caps Gaming Showcase in North America, and the eSHL featured in Europe. These 2 leagues not only broke down barriers in the community, brought new sponsorship opportunities, more legitimacy to the NHL esports community, but most importantly, more viewers and demographics to the community itself. What do you think are the next steps for the NHL community as a whole, but also the 6v6 community in terms of building off the growth and success of these prestigious tournaments? 

@Cyn: I think the next step to take is to continue to increase production value on the online formats to show that this is a sustainable model for success. We have to capitalize and continue to build on the momentum we as a community have right now and that means content, content, content. I think NHLGamer in particular is doing this exceedingly well. The more interest we generate, the more professional organizations and larger sponsors will have to take notice which will lead to further legitimacy and funding. With that, we can have even more LAN events which are always seen as the coup de grace for each season or tournament. We’re also going to need to work closely with EA to program in features that cater more to 6s esports in particular. The biggest of which would be an observer client and improved servers. Basically, everyone involved needs to be ready to put more skin in the game if we want this to keep exploding and not stagnate.

@Tougie24: More important than the destination for competitive sixes is how we get there. Everyone wants more high profile LAN events, larger prize pools, etc. But we're not going to get there unless the community works together as a whole. It doesn't matter who you are, what your role is, what league you're in, etc. Do your part. Whether that's just maintaining a good public image, sharing and promoting stuff on social media, or helping with the production of the league you're in. It all adds up and pushes us forward as a group. Something as simple as sending in a picture to make the presentation look that much more appealing goes a long way. Like I said, it doesn't matter what your role is, no matter how big or how small your contribution, everyone needs to work together to push this thing forward. 

@f5penguin: First and foremost, we need more buy-in  from NHL, the game, the sport, and we need more buy-in from the sponsors. You look at leagues like NBA 2K, and there's a real life crossover happening that is not happening at the scale that it needs to happen here. I think organizations are taking the safe approach by doing 1v1 tournaments, or by bringing it one player to play with a streamer that runs the stream and that's the right move.

I think we need a spectator mode. We need the ability to not allow people to skip and press “A” We need better camera angles. We need a replay functionality. We need belief in the system and it's the chicken before the egg. There's no true proven ROI for NHL. It's the fourth major sport in the United States, so I totally understand the reason it's not there yet. Some teams are taking risks, and it's a catch 22, but somebody has to start doing it. Thankfully, we have amazing organizations like the Washington Capitals doing the Caps Gaming Showcase, which is unprecedented, and we wouldn't have seen that had it not been for some of the things that happened last year to bring it to fruition. But we need it on a bigger scale. 

We need everybody to buy in and do it, and we know we're seeing inklings of 1v1 here and there. Maybe a little bit of threes, but we need 6’s. Every NHL teams should have a 6v6 team, I stand by that. Maybe not locally, maybe they go and fetch people from around the countries. But they need something, and there has to be a reason to watch it and you can air games during intermissions and you can build hype around the teams. You can have him come to the games, there's so many ways to bring this here. Esports is gonna be a $7 billion industry by the end of next year. Why would you not want to be a part of that? 

NHLGamers,

JYP Jyvaskyla is a traditional hockey club hailing from Central Finland and with their announcement today, the club is becoming the first Finnish Liiga-club to venture into NHL esports.



“We’ve been planning our entry into esports for a long time already, it was really a matter of opportunity and Symphony struck us as a very potential team that wanted to work with us. We wanted to spice up our marketing with something new and an own esports team in the NHL scene is the perfect way to go in the current state of things. This allows us to present new opportunities in cooperation for our partners and serve our customers in a multitude of new ways.”  - Taneli Maasalo, JYP Jyvaskyla about entering the NHL esports scene.

“JYP is a prestigious club that has created a great brand. When they showed interest in us, we quickly found a similar note and decided to go ahead with the partnership. It’s also great to represent the first Liiga-team in NHL Esports.” - Team captain Santeri @indi969 Pendolin



The roster that will be representing JYP is that of former Symphony, which received a major overhaul since ECL 9, which wasn’t up to standards for the team that usually pushes far into the postseason. Most notably, the team boosted their left flank by adding left defenseman Aaro @xDoumi Ruuhinen and left wing Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola to their lineup.

“Our NHL roster has a lot of likeness to our Liiga squad, where we have a bunch of veteran expertise combined with youthful talent. Symphony has established themselves as a playoff contender in ECL Elite and we want to be there in helping them take the next step. There’s a lot of potential, which is proven by earlier performances like the 2nd place in ECL 7 for example.”, says Maasalo.

Follow JYP Jyvaskyla on social media:

Twitter / Team Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

NHLGamers,

We’re pleased to announce that Finnish esports up-and-comers SJ Gaming are taking a step into new territory by signing an NHL roster. Former POGGERS will be assuming the name and colors of SJ Gaming in order to represent the org in the upcoming ECL 10 Elite. Despite being a newcomer at the Elite level, the squad managed to come close to playoffs, being only two points out and eventually finishing 12th in an extremely tight division. The team has made some roster changes over the offseason and being backed by an organisation gives them an added boost of confidence.



“When we heard that SJ Gaming was in the search for an NHL roster we agreed that this is the right move for us. An agreement was rather quickly reached with the representatives of SJ Gaming. Negotiations flowed with ease due to quick reaction from our team and the help from Kenneth at NHLGamer.” - Team captain Tero @Terodee Dahlström

“We’ve been contemplating entering console gaming and especially the NHL-scene for a long time already and had some earlier negotiations that fell through at the last moment. We stuck with the process and eventually found a team that fit our organisation.”, says SJ Gaming manager Niklas Pehkonen

In ECL 9, POGGERS finished at an eventual 12th place in the standings, but due to an incredibly even season, the team was only two points shy of a playoff spot. The biggest challenge was the fact that the team roster was too small, an issue which according to the captain has since been addressed: “We’ve recruited a total of three new starters, which of course is a lot but in my opinion, our game looks better than ever right now. In addition we wanted a larger roster, so we’ve got a few more backups that are ready to fill in whenever needed.”

Follow SJ Gaming on social media here:
Twitter / Team Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Hey NHLGamers,

Yesterday EA SPORTS released the fifth update for NHL 20. The biggest tweak as far as 6s goes appears to be the way in which goalies react to passes on net, hopefully meaning they will no longer get locked into a save animation whenever a pass goes near them now. Most of the other fixes will be more noticeable in the 1v1 modes but are indeed very important, such as how the CPU defensemen react to the so-called self-sauce and how the CPU defenseman reacts to odd-man rushes.

For the full changelog, please see below.

Quote

General

- Fixed a case where an injured player would be unable to get off the ice
- Fixed a case where players other than Marchand would lose the puck at the start of a penalty shot
- Further improvements to AI over committing to the puck carrier in 2 on 1 situations
- Improvements to ensure the weak side defender in a 2 on 2 won’t favor the pass lane over covering their assignments path to the net
- Fixed a rare case where players weren’t able to pick up a puck when they were pending a request to line change

Goalies

- Further improvements to goalie tracking when the puck is behind the net and around the goal line
- Improved goalie reaction to passes on net
- Fixed an issue where a human goalie could get into a broken state when hugging the post and requesting a goalie pull

Skating

- Fixed an issue where despite having the correct top speed, players above 96 speed weren’t staying in the push puck hustle animation

Shooting

- Further shot angle improvements for accurate release trajectories

World of CHEL

- New content added to World of CHEL which is to be revealed through the Chel Challenge card. Tune in regularly to see what exciting new stuff you can earn

Art - Logos

- Adidas Hockey
- Belle Tire Hockey
- Ohio AAA Blue Jackets
- Shattuck-St. Marys School
- Total Package Hockey

Source: EA Forums

 

What are your thoughts on the update? Have you had the chance to test it - does it deliver? Let us know in the comments below!

NHLGamers,

Tonight we have the pleasure of welcoming Storhamar IL Esport to the ECL as the first Norwegian traditional sports club to take a stride into NHL esports. Storhamar is a Norwegian club based in Hamar, with a long tradition in sports like handball, football and hockey to name a few. Currently the clubs hockey team is competing at the nations highest level and is captained by Norwegian hockey legend Patrick Thoresen. 



We reached out to assistant captain and team co-founder Kevin @Panserhagen Hagen for some comments about their fresh roster and the contract with the club:

Talk a bit about your team and your goals for the upcoming season. 
There aren’t many Norwegians in the ECL scene and for quite some time already, I and @AndreasLeafs talked about gathering a team together. We also had to bring in some foreign players to stay competitive and fill the roster. Our goal for the season is to gain promotion to Pro. Long term, we hope to be an established Elite team and compete against the best teams in the game.

How did the contract talks begin and what ended up being the reason you're now representing Storhamar?
We reached out to Storhamar and they were very positive right away. Right from the first contact everything went very smoothly. We had some good back and forth communication with the club representatives and here we are!



Storhamar IL Esport will be participating in ECL 10 Lite, so keep your heads up and expect these guys to fight hard through that tough division. Welcome to the ECL!

Follow Storhamar IL Esport on Facebook for updates on the team!

NHLGamers,

Today we make it official that KOVA Esports is joining the NHL party by announcing their own roster, which will be assuming the spot of Miracle in ECL 10 Elite. In command of experienced captain Kimi @Zip player Nordberg, this team has represented other organisations in the past and was last seen on the ice in eSHL representing Djurgarden Hockey.



"We wanted to keep things high level after the eSHL and started looking at Finnish organisations, KOVA stuck out and turned out to be a great fit for us", says Nordberg about their new org.

KOVA Esports is a Finnish organisation that has made waves in the scene over the past year or so. They currently have representation in CS:GO, Hearthstone, Fortnite, Starcraft and most recently Rainbow Six Siege and NHL. 

"The initial push to enter the NHL scene came from our partners and their interest towards the game. We've been scouting the scene and looking for representation for a while now, so we're excited to finally get this opportunity" - KOVA Esports co-founder Aleksi Halsas

"We're aiming for a top-four finish and are in general interested to see what this first season brings. We believe that the competitive scene will take great strides forward over the next few seasons", he continues.

Follow the social media channels of KOVA Esports here:

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram