SportsGamers,
It's time to take a look at how we have fared in the ECL '23 Spring Pro division as the season has passed it's alfway mark. Some teams have already played a majority of their games and will have to wait for others to catch up, so it makes for an interesting rest of the season for them to say the least.
Please note that this article reflects the situation of the league prior to games played on Monday, May 15th.
Group 1 Written by @OGjahajaha
In group 1 it's looking like Luleå Hockey will run away with the top seed, while surprising newcomers Purification are in good position to at least shock the writer! Also, perhaps this finally is Valco's season!?
HOT 🔥
Purification
Personally, I counted Purification out of the Playoff race before the season, but they've shown that they can definitely compete at the Pro season and do what quite few newly promoted teams can do. @eBasstian has elevated the team with the experience he's bringing on board and @LaxenHD is taking big steps forward in his development.
Luleå Hockey
Having had a chance at Elite Qualification before the season, Luleå Hockey were one of the teams we knew to keep a look out for in Pro. This outfit has played together for quite some time already, switching between various organizations and their very familiar POGGERS brand. As a matter of fact, all of their players hold Elite experience from past seasons too, so it is definitely no surprise to see these guys fighting for the top spots in their group. At this level, Luleå is an offensive powerhouse that will be very hard to stop, and they've claimed the place of highest scoring team to show for it. @Janski (Jansku23) is by far their most productive player and is on pace to win the league scoring race by a wide margin.
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Project X
Another newly promoted team that has managed to establish their game early on at the next level. Project X are a very well balanced team that are now looking to keep pushing with a solid core of individually talented players. Their number one star at the moment is definitely recent IIHF eWorld Champion @JesseL2002, who is also the teams most productive player on the left flank. Project X is in position to take a top 3 seed in their group, but several strong units are chasing them!
NOT ❄️
Red Bull Munich eSports
We didn't give Red Bull Munich much of a chance to begin with, and unfortunately their campaign in the Pro division has been a disastrous one. Despite finding ways to score and keeping up with mid-level teams in that regard, their defensive game hasn't been even close to on par for what they would need to display. I would have expected forwards @Pathen-21- and @Flo_goes_grazy to be able to help the team more and instill confidence into their team throughout, but that has not been the case this season.
Neptune Hockey
Neptune Hockey have put themselves in a tough situation. The team has played almost all of their games already and at the moment it looks like they'll have to wait for other teams to catch up before we can tell how it's all going to end up for them. However, the prospects of avoiding relegation is looking slim. The Neptunes have struggled mightily with scoring and they can't seem to buy a goal for the life of them at times. They'll need all they can get in their remaining few games.
Bastu
A team that probably were looking to compete for a Playoff spot in their second season at the Pro level, but have been tremendously disappointing. Bastu added lots of experience in the form of @Iltapeli (apetttaja) before the season, but he hasn't seemed to help them succeed in the way they wanted to. While Bastu have been able to stay effective on offense, they've struggled to tighten things up in their own end, which will be their downfall this season. They're in a pickle with 26 games already played and at this pace they could end up being relegated without help from others.
Group 2 Written by @ripKeisari
In the second group of Pro, everything is still wide open. Polski Boys, Golden Nights and Sika are currently fighting for the first seed, but Renascor or Gunners HC can still challenge for top spots. Below I have included the teams that are hot and cold in my books.
HOT 🔥
Golden Nights has started the season strongly and, in my eyes, even a bit surprisingly, is leading the group at the moment. Golden Nights’ new acquisitions @jm98II, @Sagee95 and @Mikka have clearly found a common chemistry. Another positive side is @kkostiiii's good save percentage. I'm already putting some pressure on the team for the upcoming playoff summer and I say that with these showings they should do well in the playoffs and if the season doesn't end with a top 4 ranking, it's disappointment.
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SIKA has also started the season well and the acquisitions @jezbaru and @Jondeezz have scored a good amount of points. There is room for improvement, as their power play is only at 15%. Let's see how @vSilenttio gets the most out of his team, maybe he should pass the puck more? Since his time with puck is way above that of the next guy on the team.
Polski Boys had some banter going on Twitter before the start of the season about how the team will win Pro. Perhaps this tactic has worked, as at the time of writing this article, the team is third in the group. We feel like the move of @Brockela22 going to center has made great impact for them. When you follow the team's points and puck losses, you get the impression that Polski likes to attack from the left side of the ice. Indicators that suggest this are @kungenkurwa's points compared to @vote_10's and @punt1la98's time with puck + shocking numbers of puck losses. These puck losses can be decisive in tight playoff games, so there might be something to improve.
NOT ❄️
Arkham is such a likeable team that it pains me to trash them like this. But we must be truthful and say that although @ReDMisTi and @Juigelson have a lot of elite experience, it just doesn't seem enough at the pro level anymore. And if the team doesn't start winning, you can say goodbye to pro and drop back to Lite.
As an interesting statistic fact, Juigelsson's passing percentage is 56%, so about half of his passes will go to his teammates. (Shoutout also to @Kaikkien Janoisten Sankari (Goodtobeatonttu) and @Zupancic_King424 (Zuppe_23) for similar passing percentage)
@juhkis96 and his downfall can be seen in Otukset’s performance this season. He played in the Elite division for a few seasons, but always got dropped out. Maybe for a reason? Otukset could be described as a sinking ship that no one is coming to save and people are watching from the coast to see when the ship will be seen for the last time before it sinks completely.
Nobody expected anything from this team, and they really didn’t deliver anything, but I guess they must be brought up here as a cold team. Anyways, they have good penalty kill numbers, so that’s something. It's looking like NOVA will need to find a new direction for their story in the Lite division next season.
RANDOM FACTS, PREDICTIONS AND OPINIONS
- Otukset has had 8 players on the lineup and now 3 of them are gone. What went wrong?
- Djurgården have an average record although on paper they should be a good team. The new acquisition @sannteri can bring a boost to the team's game.
- Gunners HC has played surprisingly well and can challenge Pro's top teams. However, power play and penalty kill need something new, because the percentages are horrendously bad.
- Shoutout for @LaxenHD and @eBasstian for being 2nd and 3rd in points, a bit surprising.
- What happened to Dehliiin? Last season he came second in points and now just little bit over point per game.
- Otukset and Vizio are the only teams in the division who still haven't been able to score on the powerplay.
- Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming has had _10_ different players on the ice during 20 games.
- @Burtsi980H has the most penalties drawn in the league with 11.
- @Tappu still playing goalie part-time? He has the most blocked shots in the league, 39 in 18 games.
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