NHLGamers,
The ECL 10 Lite season started on the 7th of April, 2020 with 64 teams participating. Before the start of the season, six teams were promoted to the ECL Pro division through applications (Rookie Mistakes, Herlev Eagles, Company of Geeks, HanaaHC, Djurgarden Hockey and Team Frosty) and some of the teams that signed up for the Lite division were chosen to prove their worth in the Neo division first. Every season, NHLGamers staff have to make the hard decisions of teams that will get the promotion to the Pro division or move down to the Neo division. These decisions are always facing some criticism especially from the teams that feels they are ready to play in Lite or Pro division, but after the season it’s fair to say that the staff made the right picks.
This season turned out to be maybe the most competitive season of ECL Lite history which was actually pretty expected since the community is growing fast and the Lite division isn’t the entry level of ECL anymore. Several former E lite and Pro division players chose to play in Lite teams this season and every one of them faced a worthy challenge. Something that makes the Lite division very unique is the high variation of different nationalities in teams and players competing against each other. This season we saw many new esports organizations from Finland, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Russia and teams and players from other nationalities too. As the organizations are starting to find their way into the community, it’s clear that the level of competitiveness and value of the Lite division will only keep growing in the future.
We finished ECL 10 Lite season on the 14th of June, 2020 when Sack Brothers were crowned the division champions. Between the beginning and end there was lots of action and we wanted to do a little recap of the season and give some credit to teams and players who made an impression in this season.
Regular season
Sixteen teams in four groups and only eight teams from every group continued to the playoffs. At the beginning of the regular season, everyone had their own guess of teams that were going to fight for the top spots in every group. In the Lite division there always seems to emerge a couple of teams that aren’t expected to be as strong as they end up to be. This season those teams were definitely Powerhouse hockey, who won Group 1 and newcomers Piiraaka Osuus ja Nakki, who ended up in 2nd place of Group 3. For the first time we had the pleasure of welcoming some of the best ECL 9 Neo teams to Lite but they couldn’t enjoy success in their first season at the higher level as only runner-up TanssiiTuhtienKansa was able to get to the playoffs. The playoff race stayed tight in every group all the way to the last rounds but especially in Group 2, Poston Fruits must feel devastated as they were left out of the playoffs only by one point by HockeyProfessorn HC who made a great run in the last half of the regular season and took the last spot. It's a rough tale about the competitiveness of the division for a few prestigious clubs alike Elamam Kiekko, Murohoki and Nearbird Fighters that were left out of the playoffs. Teams that made a major improvement from ECL 9 Lite were Ducktales BK, who improved their last seasons record from (4-13-1) to (21-4-5), Powerhouse hockey from (8-10-2) to (23-3-4) and Infamous from (9-7-2) to (21-8-1). Group winners were: Powerhouse Hockey, EBR eSports Official, HV71 eSHL and Sack Brothers.
The regular season of ECL 10 Lite will also be remembered for two outstanding attacking trios that dominated the stats table and destroyed defenses night in and night out. Those trios were Sack Brothers' @snippystatue, @luosttin and @Datupeijooni together with Angry Cats' @Korkokokorko, @Lowryy and @juusto18. The trio of Angry Cats managed to score a total of 329 points in 30 games and @Korkokokorko won the scoring title with 114 points (56+58) in 30 games. Hokurit winger @Nagyttaja was the best goal scorer with 57 goals in 30 games, @viba2008 from HUIPPUPASSI had the most points from defenders with 61 (11+50) points in 30 games and Angry Cats goalkeeper @Giinis had the best saving percentage of active goalies with 89,38% (244 svs) in 24 games. A couple of players that had outstanding regular seasons despite their team not being among the top 3 teams in the group. GENESIS winger @meicci with 91 (36+55) points in 30 games, @Unrealhave of TanssiiTuhtienKansa with 89 (32+57) points in 30 games and Fysical center @Frans-Fin with 87 (29+58) points in 30 games.
It’s obvious that the personal stats don’t tell the whole story of the season since there are multiple things that will determine a teams success in the end. For example there are several players in the league like Sack Brothers defender @Persusta95, HUIPPUPASSI defender @Mikax222 and Angry Cats defender @Demoni2016 (Myrkky_Maik) who are working hard on ice by keeping their own end clean and balanced which gives confidence and freedom for attacking players to try risky plays that will often lead to goals for their teams. These three players especially played big part in their teams success in the regular season and later stages as well.
Playoffs
There weren't any major surprises in this seasons playoffs like in ECL 9 Lite where the last seeded Carolus Icemen made a sensational surprise by beating first seeded HanaaHC in the first playoff round. Teams that were strong in the regular season continued their good form in the playoffs as well. In the first round maybe the biggest upset was seen in the series between HC SKULL TOWN and SOPPAJENGI, where SOPPAJENGI who was one of the favourites at the start of the season and among the teams that were expected to get the Pro promotion through Pro applications before the season, was left out of the competition after losing the series with a score of 4-1. The second round of the playoffs will definitely be remembered for Angry Cats' and Hokurits comeback wins against their respective opponents. The third playoff round is always really special since the winners will advance to semifinals and will get the promotion to Pro division for next season. Maybe the biggest games were seen in the series EBR eSports Official vs HUIPPUPASSI and HV71 eSHL vs Ducktales BK, where the underdogs HUIPPUPASSI and Ducktales BK were able to beat their strong opponents and earn the Pro promotion for next season alongside Sack Brothers and Angry Cats. The semifinals were extremely tight as they always are. Especially the matchup between Angry Cats and Ducktales BK that finally ended 3-4 to Ducktales BK victory was joy to watch. Sack Brothers continued their convincing run and not even HUIPPUPASSI who had found an excellent form in the playoffs couldn’t stop them from advancing to the finals. It was definitely a season to remember for Sack Brothers' players who ended the season in celebrations as deserved winners of ECL 10 Lite. Runner ups Ducktales BK can be proud of their season and display in the finals. There simply wasn’t a team that could have stopped Sack Brothers this season.
The scoring leaders of the regular season continued their impressive form in the postseason too. Especially HUIPPUPASSI wingers @jjokke19 with 63 points in 22 games and @bergsti (pikkuroger) with 55 points in 22 games seemed to catch fire in the playoffs and they were both big reasons why HUIPPUPASSI ended their season in a top 4 finish. One of the players that catches the eye when scrolling the stats list is EBR eSports Official winger @Keuschemisch, who was his teams best scorer already in the regular season and managed to gather an impressive 45 points in only 16 playoff matches. There were two defenders who were in the spotlights throughout the season: Sack Brothers LD @Kucherov86 and HUIPPUPASSI RD @viba2008. They were clearly the two best attacking defenders of the regular season and the same goes for the playoffs. The closer we got to the end of the season, the more polished the play of Ducktales BK stars center @cHIIMEERa and defender @J-Foppa got and their vast experience showed. Especially the centerman was in flames in the finals where he scored 6 of a total 8 goals for his team and assisted for the rest of the goals as well.
Individual awards of ECL 10 Lite 🏆
These awards are given to players who showed exceptional individual talent through whole season and helped their team in a race for the cup.
MVP of ECL 10 Lite: @luosttin Sack Brothers
Best centers of ECL 10 Lite:
1st. @luosttin Sack Brothers
2nd. @cHIIMEERa Ducktales BK
3rd. @Lowryy Angry Cats
Best wingers of ECL 10 Lite:
1st. @snippystatue Sack Brothers
2nd. @Datupeijooni Sack Brothers
3rd. @Korkokokorko Angry Cats
Best defenders of ECL 10 Lite:
1st. @Kucherov86 Sack Brothers
2nd. @viba2008 HUIPPUPASSI
3rd. @J-Foppa Ducktales BK
Best goalkeepers of ECL 10 Lite:
1st. @mikeruud Sack Brothers
2nd. @Giinis Angry Cats
3rd. @Rymaan Ducktales BK
That’s it folks! The season is over. On behalf of NHLGamer I want to thank all 64 teams and their players for another successful ECL Lite season. We hope these articles have brought more spark to your season and you have enjoyed reading them. Now it’s time for off-season rest, practice and rebuilding. See you next season!
Recommended Comments
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.