ECL 7 Pro Playoffs: Round 1

Hi NHLGamers,

the regular season of the Pro division is over and without further ado we start the first round of the ECL Pro Playoffs tomorrow, Monday 19th of November 2018. The first eight teams of both groups qualified for the playoffs with the goal of winning ECL Pro and having the shot of getting promoted to our highest tier division - ECL Elite! The teams will be cross-seeded so that e.g. the 1st placed team of group 1 will be playing against the 8th placed team in group 2 and so on. Starting from the second round, all teams will be seeded based on PPG and the other tie-breakers, where necessary. Every series will be played best-of-7, i.e. a team has to take four wins to advance to the next round. Teams have 7 days to finish the series, so the first round will take place starting Monday and ending Sunday, 25th of November 2018 23:59 CET.

As there were no teams which got disqualified or folded, we will continue with four relegation battles with places 13 to 16 of both groups fighting for their right to play again in the Pro division next season. The relegation battles will also be cross-seeded between the groups and it takes 4 wins to close the series. The relegation battles will also take place from Monday, 19th November 2018 until Sunday, 25th November 2018 23:59 CET.

These are the pairings for the first round of the playoffs:

• Pata Hellalla (G2 #8) vs Cowabunga Hockey (G1 #1) 
•  Born With It (G2 #7) vs 2. Synergy Hockey (G1 #2) 
• Belizzi (G2 #6) vs Wasps Gaming (G1 #3) 
•  Raging Monkeys (G2 #5) vs Speedy Bros Hockey (G1 #4) 
• EN HUND (G1 #5) vs Bucketeers (G2 #4) 
•  TIKI TALK (G1 #6) vs Resurrection (G2 #3) 
•  CLUB ONE (G1 #7) vs Checkmate (G2 #2) 
• Saints (G1 #8) vs Deadly Phantoms HC (G2 #1) 

These are the pairings for the relegation battles:

•  Nordic Nosebleed (G2 #16) vs Murohoki (G1 #13) 
•  Sektion K (G2 #15) vs 14. EV Duisburg (G1 #14) 
•  Free From Rodents (G1 #16) vs Nordic Stars (G2 #13) 
•  Unity (G1 #15)  vs Bone Breakers (G2 #14) 

Teams that ended their season in no-mans-land (Places 9-12) will stay in Pro for the next season. The teams are:

 Racoon Rampage
 GHETTO FIREBIRDS
Baltic Sea Eagles
 Style
 The Visionaries
 Pohjoista Voimaa
 Silver Sword Griffins
 Le Coq Sportif

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all teams for participation, it was fun to watch and follow your games. Good luck for all teams with the further rounds and battles, good luck and most important - have fun!