ECL '23 Spring Elite Weekly 1: Contenders clashing early on

SportsGamers,

The first week of ECL '23 Spring Elite action is in the books and at the moment, most teams have got their first three matchups in the books. Tohtorit, ZSC Esports and Roots Gaming are the few exceptions, with only one matchup in their rearview, so they'll surely be looking to pick up the pace and play more intensively in the coming weeks. We had several very interesting clashes early on in the season already, as we got to enjoy matchups between four of the contender favorites already in the season opener! 

Nordic Stars were one of the most exciting teams to watch out for heading into the season, and interestingly enough they had a very tough start to their season, facing off against all of the preview's top three teams in the first week. While the Stars managed to challenge the top contenders in every game, they didn't quite come away with as many points as they would have wanted, and the result was only one win against hREDS and no points gathered against Tunnel Vision or Frölunda HC. It's clear as day that it is the Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen (KingOfApes) show in Nordic Stars now, as the right defenseman leads the team in both possession time and points after the first eight games of the season. The team also made an interesting acquisition at the end of the first week, when they picked up Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen from GOONS to shuffle their offensive arsenal a bit. 

Heimo is the team topping the tables after the first week of action, and deservedly so. The outfit seems to have picked up right where they left off in the Winter season and are intent on making another great Playoff push. Their first three matchups have been against teams that they should definitely be able to compete against, and with five wins out of those three games, they'll be happy to move on in good form. At the moment, Heimo is statistically the most solid squad in the division. Wade @Wpaanane Paananen seems to be on a hot streak and slots in at third in scoring throughout the league. 

Now, a team we can't ignore are the rookies in Leksands IF. Their forward core of Robert @Robban kaudern Kaudern (I-Kaudo-I), Linus @Bror1326 Nidalen (I-Bror-I) and Philip @Philip Deemus Deemus (PHDeemus) have been picking their opponents apart early on in the season and as a result of scoring explosions against both Örebro Hockey and Reality Check HC, they've been able to push their way into #1, #2 and #4 in the scoring standings at the moment. This team scores a lot and have been able to win games as a result, but they'll certainly be looking to tighten up their defense moving forward. It is doubtful they'll keep up the pace of four goals for per game, but they'll do their best!

The Swedish outfit Färjestad BK had a difficult Winter season and made some changes to their roster in the offseason due to long-time center Christoffer @I-Maise-I Berntsson retiring and while they do look good on paper, their changes haven't yielded results on the ice yet. Tough losses against both hREDS and Heimo will definitely spur the team to push even harder in week two. Wingers Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander and Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund have been cold to start the season.

Transfers
It's a somewhat rare occasion to see some movement at the Elite level after the start of the season, but some transfers have come to knowledge in the past week or so, we'll also be recapping possible movement in these reports. Here are the transfers that have come to light since last week:

Teemu @tkantola Kantola -  Otukset (ECL Pro) -->  GOONS

Tuomas @Tumpp1A Aaltonen -  Otukset (ECL Pro) -->  GOONS

Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen -  GOONS -->  Nordic Stars

Joel @jtorro-_- Tourunen - Free Agent -->  Mayhems

Standings - Week 1

1.		Heimo	+7
2.		hREDS	-
3.		Leksands IF	+12
4.		Frölunda HC	-1
5.		Redhawks Esport	+8
6.		Reality Check HC	-
7.		JYP Jyväskylä	-2
8.		Tunnel Vision	-7
9.		Mayhems	+3
10.		Nordic Stars	-6
11.		Örebro Hockey	+3
12.		ZSC Esports	-2
13.		Tohtorit	+3
14.		GOONS	-7
15.		Roots Gaming	-4
16.		Färjestad BK	-7