The third week of ECL Elite has now been played and the battle starts to get tougher and tougher all the time. Teams have now played 1between 10 and 16 games and we can start to see who is hot this season and who still needs to get their bearings straight for the final push.
Like you could expect before the season, it's no surprise that the two teams we find at the top of the standings after about half of the games have been played are hREDS and Frölunda HC. hREDS' week included matchups against SAWO ESPORTS and HAVU Gaming and they showed once again their great teamplay by collecting all 8 possible points and letting opponents score only one goal per game in those matchups. Frölunda HC also played against two teams this week but weren't able to secure all the points as JYP Jyväskylä were able to beat the Indians once in overtime. Thursday night was good for Frölunda HC as they managed to get back to the 4/4 points rhythm against Stargazing. Paul @PleeMaker Arontie showed once again how good of a goal scorer he is by notching 6 goals in 4 games this week.
In third place if you look at points per game you can find Örebro Hockey, who have had a great start to their season, quite surprisingly. Winning hREDS in week two clearly gave them some positive energy as they were able to win five out of six games this week, continuing their great run. Especially their start to the week was absolutely incredible as Örebro won both ZSC Esports and Falun Coal Miners without allowing a single goal. Elie @eliekamel87(Eliekamel_) Kamel in net was a brick wall, and secured four consecutive shutouts to his name. They ended their week against SAWO ESPORTS by splitting wins and both walking away with two points.
Speaking of SAWO, they had a heavy workload this week with eight games to play on total. This weeks disappointment for them was a loss against YMCA Esports, but on the other hand they were able to make comeback against Färjestad BK in the first game as they were down 2-0 when there was only 30 seconds left in the game. Eventually, SAWO won in overtime. They have managed to grab 18 points in 14 games which means that they are in 4th place in the standings tied with Färjestad BK when you look at the points per game.
After a little break from the games also IQUE made their comeback this week by playing against three opponents. The week definitely wasn't what they were looking for because they ended up winning only one of those six games. Now IQUE is sitting at last place in the standings and has only got seven points in their 12 games played.
If GOONS had gotten ahead of the pack a bit early, they've now slowed down their pace a bit to allow other teams to catch up in terms of games played. However, it still seems like Arttu @laitineen64 (Laiitinen) Laitinens production pace is unmatched at the moment. The young winger is scoring at a pace of over two points per game and had a great seven point double-header against Conquer Gaming last week, putting him ahead of the competition. Also worth noting is ZSC's rookie Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg, who sits in 5th place with 9+14=23 points - not bad for a rookie! Someone who is struggling a bit along with his team is IQUE captain Janne @Nieppii Niemelä, who only has eight points through his first twelve games, and sits at a -6 as we speak. There's still time to turn things around, however, and something he still does very well is stay on the puck and draw penalties, now IQUE only needs to find a way to turn up the production.
Defensively, the last week was a show of excellence by Örebro Hockey as a unit. We already touched on the topic, but the feat of four consecutive shutouts truly is incredible at this level of competition. Örebro isn't known for such things, and we're used to seeing them play a fast counter-attack hockey, and not really being one of the best teams at completely shutting down opposition. Anyway, a great effort by the entire team and especially goaltender @eliekamel87.
In terms of production down low, the most efficient defenseman thus far has been ZSC's Max @Toneee9 Tonitz, who have managed to keep up a very consistent pace, almost getting his name on the scoresheet in every game played. If the Swiss are looking to find playoff pace this season, he'll need to continue his great play.
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