ECL 11 Elite: Season Recap

NHLGamers,

The ECL 11 Elite season was an exceptional run of virtual hockey in more ways than one. Not only are we living in a time of the world where many of us are confined to staying home in an attempt to keep ourselves and the ones around us safe, but we might also me finding new interests or time to put into our existing ones. Despite COVID-19 torturing the world for an extended period of time already, it has alongside the challenges posed, opened up a great amount of opportunities for our scene and has potentially served as a growth catalyst.

Not only the times are exceptional, but so are the individuals at the ECL Elite level too. ECL 11 Elite was a record-breaking parade for eventual champion FILADELPHIA, who set a new regular season wins & point total record while also setting a new regular season shutout record (@ICappeI) in the process. There's no denying how supreme the black and orange currently reign and with this season recap, as customary, we'll be taking a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of the ECL 11 Elite season.

In order to serve as a baseline, here is how the teams ranked to end the season, with our season preview ranking for reference:
1.  FILADELPHIA (2nd)
2.  hREDS (1st)
3.  HAVU Gaming (3rd)
4.  JYP Jyvaskyla (5th)
5.  Farjestad BK (8th)
6.  Northern Ascendancy (9th)
7.  Vesa Pompa (11th)
8.  Roots (4th)
9.   SJ Gaming (13th)
10.  KOVA Esports (7th)
11. SAWO Esports (14th)
12.  YMCA Esports (6th)
13.  Gotham Knights (10th)
14.  Team Leisure (12th)
15.  Conquer Gaming (16th)
16.  Dark Horse (15th)

*Final ECL 11 Elite position, playoff teams ranked by playoff wins

Some quite bold predictions were made, but except for a few major anomalies, the general outlook of the predictions are quite close in comparison to the final results. Now when assessing a teams performance, obviously the bottom line is the finishing position, but we need to remember that in a division like ECL 11 Elite with the 16 top teams of Europe, if not the world, the margins are incredibly slim from time to time.

The topics that were discussed when it comes to the cream of the crop - namely HAVU Gaming and hREDS - prior to the season were mainly whether HAVU could keep their level of performance after making a roster change for the first time since ECL 8 and if hREDS would finally fulfill their full potential. What goes for FILADELPHIA, we knew that we'd be getting their usual solid and stable effort that seems to have reached an all time high this season. Then, when it comes to the rest of the playoff teams, there are a lot of opinions but I suppose most people have a general idea of the few "segments" in the Elite division and while we'd be beating a dead horse by continuing the discussion on that note, we'll be focusing on the trends over the course of the season.
POWER RANKINGS - SEASON TRENDS


The above graph describing how teams have fared in the power rankings over the course of the season gives a decent idea of the form each team managed to keep up from week to week. Keep in mind that each week is evaluated as a completely individual entity, not only amount of collected points matter, but also perceived difficulty of schedule. 

Regular season

The first week of the regular season served as a great taste of what was to come throughout the season and it was surely good to see an unprecedented amount of talent in the booth with all of Cody @Tougie24 Tougas, Paul @Cyn Anderson, Nick @f5penguin DiMeo, Drew Golfdarb, Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen and Julius Sorjonen stepping up to provide their insight along with highlight reel calls throughout the season. 

Our very first featured matchup of the season unbeknownst to anyone at that point served as a preview for the finals with FILADELPHIA and hREDS going head-to-head and eventually splitting victories to kick it all off. On top of that, JYP Jyvaskyla and Farjestad BK showcased a long awaited rematch of last seasons upset rivalry, also splitting the wins, showing just how tough the battle ahead would be for all sixteen teams involved. Later on in the week, Joona @jm98II Muona scored a goal-of-the-season candidate against hREDS and Oskari @SibeIius Grönroos got his first goal of the season simultaneously being the first 6th skater goal of the campaign. FILADELPHIA, hREDS and HAVU Gaming started their seasons strong with YMCA Esports and SJ Gaming trailing close behind after an equally successful first week. All in all, a first week full of surprises led to SJ Gaming and Vesa Pompa somewhat surprisingly topping the tables.

As we've seen over and over again in this division - nothing lasts forever, because HAVU Gaming or FILADELPHIA will take it away, which is exactly what happened causing the celebration of SJ Gaming and Vesa Pompa to be rather short-lived. Some highlights at this point of the season were definitely the clash between Swedish rivals Vesa Pompa and Farjestad BK that ended up being a split in a low-scoring matchup. At the top of the table, HAVU had managed to stay undefeated for eight games straight, whereas FILADELPHIA duo Erik @Eki Tammenpää and Paul @PleeMaker Arontie hovered at an impressive pace of 3 points per games and topping the stats after their first ten outings of the season. Notably, FILADELPHIA suffered their only regulation loss of the season at the hands of SJ Gaming at this point, in their fourth matchup of the campaign.

Heading into the third week of the regular season, we knew that the midway point was nearing and with that also a holiday break that could do some good for some struggling teams. It was the week of goaltenders and former ones, as we broadcasted the third matchup of the season for Roots rookie netminder Kasper @Kaz_zu Ramstedt when his team went up against YMCA Esports and the youngster did not disappoint, securing a double shutout and some crucial points for his squad. Elsewhere, it was also becoming apparent that another rookie, Vesa Pompa signing Filip @Faze91- Azri had shown up to play and stay at the top, punching his ticket for the goalie of the season race. Remember that notion about former goalies? Well, Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen topped the scoring tables - take that, doubters.

Coming back from a well deserved holiday break, it was apparent that Farjestad BK were going hard for the playoffs, a big week for the Swedes skyrocketed their position in the standings and despite matching up against some lower ranked teams, they surely did their due diligence by securing the points up for grabs. At this stage, Gotham Knights also had their little rays of light in an otherwise rather forgettable season, coming off an already good third week, they managed to steal a point from FILADELPHIA and got to see their defenseman Timi @Rimpe Rimpeläinen top the points by defensemen-table for a while, however with Roots' Väinö @vSilenttio Pietilä in hot pursuit.

Rolling into the last two weeks of the season, we had a general idea of a few teams being ready for the playoffs, whereas some others were struggling mightily and were perhaps already preparing for eventual relegation battles. One of the struggling teams were SAWO ESPORTS, who hadn't been able to find their game throughout the season, but got some wind under their wings with big performances by long-time goaltender Juuso @Juizki Nikkinen, who managed to keep up a 249 minute and 17 second shutout streak, which might me an ECL Elite record. The battle for those last playoff spots was raging hard as ever and going into the last week, it was looking like Northern Ascendancy and Roots would manage to edge out the competition, being mainly SJ Gaming and KOVA Esports. As it all was said and done, no major changes in the standings occurred over the last few gamedays and we finished the season with as usual - the eight best teams going into the playoffs.

Playoffs

The ECL 11 Elite quarterfinals kicked off hot with a few very interesting matchups, with the one stealing most of the spotlight being the rematch between JYP Jyvaskyla (4th) and Farjestad BK (5th). The ECL 10 upset, where FBK rocked the division by eliminating #1 seed JYP was truly fresh in our memories and we were anxious to find out how the story would continue. Make no mistake - some tension was evident at the start of the series, but it was quickly made clear that this time, the story would be different and to no surprise, JYP Jyvaskyla managed to redeem themselves advancing to a semifinal matchup against none other than FILADELPHIA, who had made easy work of Northern Ascendancy (as they should have) in their quarterfinal bout. After a worrying colder run to finish off the last week of the regular season, HAVU Gaming was seen going up against Roots in the quarterfinals in the black and green battle, making quick work of the for now weaker Roots squad. The fourth and final quarterfinal matchup was also a rather one-sided show, between hREDS and Vesa Pompa, who really managed to prove us wrong this season by clawing their way into the playoffs.

The semifinals were exciting all around, but the thunder was surely stolen by HAVU Gaming - hREDS, which ended up being the headline matchup. Despite their struggles, HAVU didn't look out of place at this stage of the season and had all the tools even to hoist the cup eventually, but hREDS were even better with their overpowering offensive strength and stellar play in net by experienced Mika @FinKonna Paasikontu. JYP Jyvaskyla were in over their heads trying to challenge the record-breaking FILADELPHIA squad but were after all able to keep every game close, coming just short in each battle. 

Eventually, two strong contenders entered the finals and if the season had been exceptional up to this point, this matchup stayed on that path. We're so used to seeing the two juggernauts FILADELPHIA and HAVU battle it out that hREDS were a very welcome breath of fresh air. The games were entertaining as they tend to be when the two most skilled teams clash, but unfortunately for the audience, the series was short lived. Whereas hREDS had been named the most skilled team in the league, FILADELPHIA is the strongest unit and there's no denying that. The time spent together with that group has gelled them into a true ECL dynasty, which is what pushed them to a clear ECL 11 Elite Championship.

If you missed the finals, here's the broadcast of game 4 and all the celebration that ensued:

AWARDS 🏆

Top 6 of ECL 11 Elite

Joakim @Joukki Nyholm  - Joonas @Patzlaf Paatiala  - Erik @Eki Tammenpää 

Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen  - Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta 

Casper @ICappeI Lundgren 

Most Points: Joakim @Joukki Nyholm, hREDS, 46 Goals, 55 Assists, 101 Points in 44 games

Most Goals: Joakim @Joukki Nyholm, hREDS, 46 Goals, 55 Assists, 101 Points in 44 games

Most Assists: Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen, hREDS, 27 Goals, 70 Assists, 97 Points in 44 games

Most Hits by a Forward: Christoffer @I-Maise-I Berntsson, Farjestad BK, 183 Hits in 36 games

Best +/-: Aleksi @loimmu Loimuvirta, FILADELPHIA, +64 in 43 games


Most Points by a Defenseman: Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen, hREDS, 18 Goals, 30 Assists, 48 Points in 44 games

Most Goals by a Defenseman: Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen, hREDS, 18 Goals, 30 Assists, 48 Points in 44 games


Most Assists by a Defenseman: Teemu @Xteemuz Polttila, hREDS, 8 Goals, 33 Assists, 41 Points in 44 games

Most Hits by a Defenseman: Ari @FakiiR1 Palviainen, KOVA Esports, 200 Hits in 30 games


Best goaltender (SV%): Johan @McSavid Rundqvist, Farjestad BK, 326 saves on 397 shots, SV% 82,12 in 36 games