The Rulebook for the ECL has been updated with several important points. Please always refer to the rulebook for the full ruleset - this news story is intended to highlight some of the additions and/or amendments to the rulebook.
Without further ado, let's jump into the new rules.
Betting
While the ECL isn't officially associated with any betting company, some companies have started offering bets on ECL Elite games. This is an honor for us, as it means our games are appreciated at the same level of seriousness as we play and organize them with. In addition to the raised importance of reporting the games and potential reschedules in a precise and timely manner, the introduction of betting poses some potential risks involving integrity.
In order to ensure the integrity, members of ECL Elite teams are hereby prohibited from betting on ECL Elite games or other ECL Elite related bets.
Quote13.1.5 Betting
In short: In order to ensure integrity, members of ECL Elite teams are hereby prohibited from betting on ECL Elite games, or ECL Elite related bets.
If a person (be that player, or manager, or anyone directly affiliated with a team) is found to have placed a bet on a match concerning their own team, or another, regardless of the bet placement, the respective match(es) will be overturned where applicable, and the person in question who placed the bet will be banned for a calendar year (365 days from starting ban date). This penalty is extended towards those placing bets through the use of a secondary, or third-party account.
In addition to this, we strongly advise that players discourage both friends and family from betting in order to reduce the risk of said players receiving a false positive ban.
Finally, we encourage anyone to come forward if they feel they have indisputable evidence that a certain person, or persons, have been placing bets - whether that be directly or via a third party. As always, all disputes will be handled by League Administration and we reserve full autonomy regarding possible punishment on a case-by-case basis.
ECL Elite Playoff Schedule
Below you'll find the ECL Elite Playoff Schedule and the dates for the broadcasts (starting time 20:00 CEST). The goal is to cover two of the quarterfinals, both semifinals, and the finals.
Quote
10.5.1 ECL Elite Playoff Schedule
- Quarterfinals: 17.5 - 24.5
- Monday 18th: Series 1 & Series 2 - Games 1 & 2
- Wednesday 20th: Series 1 & Series 2 - Games 3 & 4
- Thursday 21st: Games 5-7 (Where available)
- Sunday 24th: Games 5-7 (Where available)
- Semifinals: 25.5 - 31.5
- Monday 25th: Both series - Games 1 & 2
- Wednesday 26th: Both series - Games 3 & 4
- Thursday 27th: Games 5-7 (Where available)
- Sunday 31st: Games 5-7 (Where available)
- Finals: 5.6 - 6.6
- Friday 5th: Games 1-3
- Saturday 6th: Games 4-7 (Where available)
ECL Pro, Lite & Neo Playoff Schedule
Below you'll find the playoff schedule for the rest of the divisions. Due to the overlap of the different division's playoffs, our goal is to cover all of the divisions' finals on our broadcasts.
Quote10.5.2 ECL Pro Playoff Schedule
- Playoffs Round 1: 10.5 - 16.5
- Quarterfinals: 17.5 - 23.5
- Semifinals: 24.5 - 30.5
- Finals: 31.5 - 6.6
10.5.3 ECL Lite Playoff Schedule
- Playoffs Round 1: 12.5 - 18.5
- Playoffs Round 2: 19.5 - 25.5
- Quarterfinals: 26.5 - 1.6
- Semifinals: 2.6 - 8.6
- Finals: 9.6 - 15.6
10.5.4 ECL Neo Playoff Schedule
- Playoffs Round 1: 10.5 - 16.5
- Playoffs Round 2: 17.5 - 23.5
- Playoffs 3: 24.5 - 30.5 • Quarterfinals: 31.5 - 6.6
- Semifinals: 7.6 - 13.6
- Finals: 14.6 - 20.6
Rescheduling games into the future
This is not a new rule, but something we ask teams to pay attention to. Games should never remain unplayed and unreported on a past date. If the games can't be played on the default date, discuss the new date with the opposing team's captains and use the rescheduling tool to update to the new date. This also applies to games played ahead of time - please reschedule them for the earlier date and time before playing and reporting.
This is important for e.g.:
- Betting
- Fans following your games
-
League staff making sure everything is running as planned
Quote10.6 Rescheduling Tool
After teams have agreed to postpone or play a game ahead of schedule in written form, they must make use of the rescheduling tool available inside the league/tournament schedule to reflect this change on NHLGamer. To use the tool, find the affected matchup in the schedule and click the "Reschedule" button below puck drop time. Afterwards, the opponent's captains must confirm this action by visiting the main page, where they are alerted by a popup notification.
End of the regular season
Here you'll find the information on the last day to play your games. Any games left unplayed can end up being decided by the League Administration.
Quote10.4 End of Regular Season
All regular season games in ECL Elite must be finished by the 14th of May 2020. All regular season games in ECL Pro must be finished by the 7th of May 2020. All regular season games in ECL Lite must be finished by the 10th of May 2020. Finally, all regular season games in ECL Neo must be finished by the 6th of May 2020.
Instigating a fight
While we haven't been presented with any actual evidence about instigating a fight prior to a faceoff, we've been contacted by numerous teams worried about players instigating a fight before faceoffs. In order to save us all from the trouble of speculating about the topic - especially as instigating fights prior to faceoffs is generally speaking pointless - we have decided to ban this behavior.
That being said, if you can properly prove that this actually gives you a boost, please send us the evidence, as we're sure EA Sports would appreciate it.
Quote9.2.2 Instigating a fight in a faceoff situation
Players are strictly forbidden from instigating a fight prior to puck drop across all divisions. This is to eliminate the currently unproven, but speculated, speed boost from doing such an action.
Accidental fights
Accidental fights rarely get started - in fact, not even once per season. However, it can happen, so we decided to add it to the rulebook to describe what to do under these circumstances and what the outcome could be if the League Administration deems the "accident" intentional.
Quote11.8 Fighting
Players are not allowed to fight in ECL Elite & Pro. As for ECL Lite and Neo, you can fight under certain circumstances. For instance, you are not allowed to challenge a player in possession of the puck, or one that is about to pick up a loose puck. On the other hand, if a player delivers a big hit, gets the puck and the fight challenge comes up, the opposing team can take the fight, because the player delivering the hit is regarded as initiating the fight challenge. Initiating a fight with a player that is not in possession of the puck or in proximity of the puck is allowed.
In the event that a fight occurs in Elite or Pro, teams are asked to treat the game as though a player was disconnected as dictated by rule 11.11. Once the game has been completed, teams must make sure to flag the incident to LA via the support tool. If the fight is deemed to have been accidental in nature by LA, then no disciplinary action will be taken. If however, it is deemed that the fight was on purpose, then the game where the incident took place will be forfeited by the offending player’s team. In addition to this, the player in question will be suspended at minimum for 2 games.
Reporting game immediately after game
As mentioned earlier in this article, there are more eyes on the ECL and more teams in the ECL than ever before. This is why it's crucial that games are reported at the very latest within 24 hours of the game. It is good practice to report the games by the end of the evening, though.
ECL Elite games must be reported directly after the game. This improves the experience for betting and allows our articles and broadcasts to always work with the most up to date information. Our broadcasts actually get the up to date numbers immediately after reporting now.
Quote12.2 Submission Deadline
All match reports must be submitted within 24 hours of the game being completed, but in general teams are expected to submit the stats immediately. In case of any issues please contact the support team as soon as possible.
Elite teams must they submit the game report immediately upon the game finishing
Winning team reports games
This is not a new rule, but something many seem to have a misconception of due to memories of ECL seasons in the past. The winning team is responsible for reporting the games. The losing team is, however, also responsible for documenting the necessary data as a backup.
ECL Neo Playoffs
Due to the expansion of ECL Neo from 32 teams to 84 teams, we added more groups and more teams make the playoffs. Here's how it works:
Quote5.7 ECL Neo Playoffs
In ECL Neo, 64 teams will make the playoffs. These 64 teams will be made up of the top 7 from each of the 9 groups, with the final playoff spot being allocated to the highest team remaining ranked on PPG. As is the case with the ECL Lite, the teams will be seeded based on finishing position within their group, as well as the tiebreakers mentioned in 11.3.
Transfer Deadlines
We allow transfers in ECL. Transfers are like trades, but there isn't a requirement for teams to get anyone in return.
Note: The transfer deadline is just around the corner. In order to leave a team or transfer, a player has to request that the captain drops them from the roster. This is to make sure the communication is there when leaving teams - in order to not leave the old team in trouble.
Quote
14.1 Transfer Deadline
The deadline for transfers is set to 23:59 CE(S)T, on the following days:
- ECL Elite: 28th of April 2020
- ECL Pro: 22nd of April 2020
- ECL Lite: 23rd of April 2020
- ECL Neo: 23rd of April 2020
Note: A player cannot leave a team after the deadline has passed (e.g. Pro and the 22nd of April), and then join a team in another league where the deadline has not (e.g. Elite and the 28th of April).
How to get help
I get messages (PM, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, PSN, email, etc) daily asking for help with a lot of ECL related questions. This applies to many other members of our staff as well. While we love to help you, when you get spammed with 30-50 messages on random platforms each day, it becomes an unmanageable task.
In order to be able to help you in a structured way, we offer our support section. Support can be accessed through the Team Tools (for captains) and through the community. Consider bookmarking this link: https://nhlgamer.com/community/support/.
Please keep in mind that while we try to reply as soon as we can, sometimes it will take a while for us to get back to you. The important part is that you report the issue and we'll help you out as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience.
We hope you found these updated rules logical and reasonable. Please let us know if there are any questions and suggestions on how you would make the rulebook even better.
UPDATE:
21.04.2020 Updated Lite playoff specifics (5.6)
22.04.2020 Tweaked Pro transfer deadline to be in line with Lite and Neo (14.1)
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