Afternoon Gamers,

In the last few months NHLGamer.com has seen an incredible growth. Not only when it comes to our membership totals on the webpage (about to hit 2500 at the time of writing this) but also when it comes to the ways in which you, our members, choose to interact with us. Our social media channels has grown exponentially and the level of overall commentary and discussion across all platforms is the highest its ever been.

As we stand on the verge of new and exciting projects that could potentially propel the NHLGamer brand even higher, it is important to remember where we came from. That, coupled with our desire to introduce our many new members to what it is we actually do around here, led to the creation of an article titled:

What is the ECL?

Well, the ECL (or European Championship League) is, quite simply, the biggest and most competitive EASHL championship on the European continent. It has long been the "flagship" project for NHLGamer.com and continues to be one of its highest priorities as the project moves forward.

All games in the ECL are always played 6v6 (= 6 human-controlled skaters on both sides, including the goaltender) in the EASHL game mode on EA SPORTS' latest iteration of the NHL franchise. 

When the ECL first saw the light of day almost two years ago (2015) it did so with a healthy amount of hype. The European EASHL community, having previously been divided between Xbox and Playstation, had all decided to come together on one platform (it ended up being the PS4) in anticipation of the championship. Thus it came to be that the ECL, right from the very start, hosted the most competitive enviroment anyone had ever seen... and from there it grew.

While the number of teams who competed in ECL's 1, 2 & 3 stayed relatively even, around 50, and the summer tournament hosted on NHLGamer (Summer Cup; previously a part of the ECL but now edited to be its own franchise) was a success - we still felt like there were more European teams and players out there who either hadn't discovered us yet or hadn't gotten around to signing up. With a game-changing innovation introduced ahead of ECL 4, we were about to be proven right...

Divisions

The idea behind creating separate, skill-based divisions had been rattling around the NHLGamer community ever since before the first ECL, but it wasn't until after ECL 3 that a formal concept was announced. The community was then given a chance to present their feedback and suggestions for improvements before the Staff announced the final version. 

When faced with the opportunity to play an entire season against teams of an even skill level, the number of sign-ups soared. The ECL went from having about 60 sign-ups with 45-50 teams finishing the season, to having 80 sign-ups with 78 finishing the season - a 97.5% completion rate. 

We attribute this success partly to the divisions evening out the competition amongst teams, but also to the enhanced structure a system like this offers.

ECL Elite always houses 16 teams, meaning the regular season is always 30 games long.
ECL Pro always houses 32 teams, meaning two "conferences" of 16 teams and a regular season 30 games long.
ECL Lite is flexible so that we can always accommodate however many new teams choose to sign up.

ECL 5

Our next ECL season starts in the middle of October while sign-ups will start as early as September. We expect to once again beat our sign-up records to host the biggest championship yet. Can you afford to miss out on the experience? 

Keep an eye out for more information, news and hype concerning ECL 5 (including when sign-ups open) in our social media channels;

Facebook (NHLGamer)
Twitter (NHLGamerCOM)
YouTube (NHLGamer Official) 
Instagram (NHLGamerOfficial) 
Twitch (NHLGamerTwitch)


See you on the ice!

@The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com 

Good evening, Gamers

The long-awaited third episode of ECL Talk is here! Exciting times lie ahead as we try our hand at recording the podcast through a Skype call instead of the PS4 party platform. The title of the episode is Dominating the Beta, something that is reflected in the episodes' content as we review the NHL 18 Beta leaderboards and find the NHLGamer community well represented...

Here's a more detailed rundown of whats happening in Episode #3 of ECL Talk (synopsis from YouTube page):

"In the third episode of ECL Talk, hosts vSilenttio and The_Alpha_Furyan take a look at the final NHL 18 Beta Leaderboards (team rankings as well as player rankings) and find quite a few familiar names. The bulk of the episode is made up of this "review", with every skater position from Goalie to Center getting their time in the spotlight. Once past the Beta leaderboards, the discussion turns towards how the vacant divisional spots should be filled for ECL 5. Finally, we hint at what is coming up in the future for NHLGamer.com"

Bonus material

While recording the podcast, we had a "cheat sheet" of sorts in the form of screenshots taken on the last day of the Beta (midnight to be specific). As we mention in the podcast, we decided to share this material with the community as a form of "bonus content". To make the screenshots more visually appealing and show how dominant the NHLGamer community actually was in the Beta, @Kenu enhanced the images with some ECL art. Enjoy!

Teams

All Skaters

Centers (featuring @ADETIKKI, @Joonas Paatiala, @Erkki, @xDoumi, @otto aaltonen, @Tzon93, @Norpee and @Migo_boo)

Left Wingers (featuring @SadaPoika, @xMaick82x, @Bugimir, @plee999, @Rimpe, @pajenc, @mir02k1 and @hpkfani)

Right Wingers (featuring @FlyerKungen, @imosi, @jumalpeku, @vatalisti, @Pelle3000 and @epelis)

Defensemen (featuring @vSilenttio, @Slaivone, @Janikka, @The_Alpha_Furyan, @Ilmari_30, @Rullstolskalas, @kikiukko and @Gustafsson7)

Goaltenders (featuring @FinKonna, @Casper, @Tauri, @s_w1ld_rus, @Jiihooo86, @Hullued, @Zande95, @jaakko katiska, @Ylijumala and @MajLeN-Gaming)

As always, stay tuned for more ECL Talk and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and like the video if you want to see more content like this in the future.

See you then!

@vSilenttio and @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Good afternoon, Gamers

The second episode of ECL Talk is here and so are our sound problems! Yes, we know what you're thinking: good job @vSilenttio and @The_Alpha_Furyan - and we thank you for that. So, to poke some fun at ourselves and to honor the late Chester Bennington, we've named the episode after a Linkin Park song; Lost In The Echo.

Be sure to note how confident we sound in the beginning of the episode that we did indeed fix our issue...

Anyway, here's whats going down today (synopsis from YouTube page):

"In this second episode of ECL Talk, our hosts The_Alpha_Furyan and vSilenttio turn their attention to reviewing the NHL 18 Beta. The episodes main focus is on our hosts providing their own impressions of the game, while also discussing which ECL franchises seems to have figured out the game and done well for themselves in this short span of time. Furthermore, ECL Talk #2 touches down in the Free Agents thread – looking at some of the remaining “big dogs” out there. Lastly, the Summer Cup is discussed briefly with the champions being crowned no more than a week ago."

Stay tuned for more ECL Talk and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and like the video if you want to see more content like this in the future.

PS: A final apology for the once again poor audio quality – for Episode 3 we will be recording in a different manner to make sure the quality is crisp.

See you then!

@vSilenttio and @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Howdy, Gamers!

We told you earlier this week that there was going to be one more cool thing released before the NHL 18 Beta kicks off next Tuesday and here it is! Well, at least we think it's cool. NHLGamer Presents: ECL Talk is our brand new podcast program for the official ECL news, trades and other things that are associated with NHL gaming. 

How does it work then, you might ask. Basically, it's about two passionate NHL gamers talking about what is going on around NHLGamer - and sometimes outside of it. We have two hosts: @The_Alpha_Furyan and I, @vSilenttio, and we might have some guests with us talking about stuff in the future. As we tell the latest news and other things that are going on, we're also giving our personal opinions on things. We would like to emphasize that the things we say are not official words of NHLGamer - we just tell our opinions as individual gamers. Anyways, give us a listen and find out yourself if it's your thing or not! If you enjoy it, be sure to subscribe to our channel and give the video a thumbs up!

PS: We're working on improving the technical quality of the series in the future.

Until next time, have a nice day!

Hello NHLGamers,

As the saying goes, better late than never. After janbonators first article as a returning member of the NHLGamer staff, the exquisite ECL Elite Season Report, we are back to tie a final bow on our ECL 4-season with the ECL Pro and Lite Season Reports. While they won't be as extensive as janbos in-depth chronicle of the Elite season - there are awards to be handed out and individual performances to celebrate.

ECL 4 - PRO

The Pro division featured a total of 32 teams competing where 16 made the playoffs and 8 faced relegation. The Top 4 teams of the Pro playoffs all secured a spot in Elite for next season, truly displaying what a competitive hornets nest the Pro division was in its first ever season.

The ECL 4 Pro Champion was Carlsberg HC, who achieved this honor by beating Sjukstugan 4-1 in the Best of-7 Finals.

Let's get to some of the other individual and team performances.

Promotions & Relegations

The teams that were promoted from Lite to Pro for ECL 5 were: Lavetten, DEAD END KINGS, Hawks Hockey Club and Lite champions J P T J. Congratulations to all these teams on well executed seasons!

The teams that were relegated from Pro to Lite for ECL 5 were: Company of Geeks, Thunder Tigers, The Lights Out and The Beagle Boys. We hope to see you back next season, hungrier than ever. Stay strong!

Should there be any changes to the divisions and teams after ECL 5 registration, we will inform you of these events.

Awards

Here's a list of the best performers in the Pro division during ECL4.

Forwards
	Most points: Tapparafan- [52+48 = 100p in 30 games - 3.33 Points/GP], Nordic Stars
	Most goals: BiggestEight [61g in 30 games - 2.03 Goals/GP], HC Checkmate
	Most assists: TackleControl [55a in 28 games - 1.96 Assists/GP], HC Checkmate
	Most hits: jnmxx [171 hits in 30 games - 6.57 Hits/GP], Kattiautomaatti
	Best +/-: Janzuh [+85 in 28 games], Carlsberg HC
Defensemen
	Most points by a Defenseman: Janzuh [11+31 = 42p in 28 games - 1.50 Points/GP], Carlsberg HC
	Most goals by a Defenseman: Janzuh [11g in 28 games - 0.39 Goals/GP], Carlsberg HC
	Most assists by a Defenseman: Janzuh [31a in 28 games - 1.10 Assists/GP], Carlsberg HC
	Most hits by a Defenseman: Tanski87 [164 Hits in 28 games - 5.85 Hits/GP], Rusty Blades
Goalies
	Best Save% (min. 50% of games played): Hullued [83.62% in 24/28 games], Shameful Knights
	Best GAA (min. 50% of games played): Zande95 [1.52 GAA in 17/28 games], Carlsberg HC
	Most Wins (W+OTW) by a Goalie: hoiggaa [25 Ws in 30 games], Kattiautomaatti
	Most Shutouts: LastMandalorian [5 shutouts in 26 games], Sjukstugan
Playoff MVP
	joukki13, Carlsberg HC

ECL 4 - LITE

The Lite division featured a total of 32 teams competing, including two different conferences with 16 teams each. All Lite teams made the playoffs where they had the opportunity to both win the title and secure promotion to Pro.

The ECL 4 Lite Champion was J P T J, who won the championship after a grueling series versus Hawks Hockey Club that lasted all 7 games. 

Awards

Here's a list of the best performers in the Lite division during ECL4.

Forwards
	Most points: makeee76 [71+56 = 127p in 28 games - 4.53 Points/GP], J P T J
	Most goals: makeee76 [71g in 28 games - 2.53 Goals/GP], J P T J
	Most assists: moilanenC & mikihoo [60a in 28 games - 2.14 Assists/GP], J P T J
	Most hits: Albaz90 [162 hits in 30 games - 5.40 hits/GP], Vemppaosasto
	Best +/-: makeee76, moilanenC, mikihoo & jonezki26 [+85 in 28 games], J P T J
Defensemen
	Most points by a Defenseman: Rankaisija_ [8+50 = 58p in 30 games - 1.93 Points/GP], Old Farts
	Most goals by a Defenseman: Anenthran [11g in 25 games - 0.44 Goals/GP], Dynamo Danglers
	Most assists by a Defenseman: Rankaisija_ [50a in 30 games - 1.66 Assists/GP], Old Farts
	Most hits by a Defenseman: TEAMSEILA [228 hits in 28 games - 8.14 hits/GP], EN HUND
Goalies
	Best Save% (min. 50% of games played): Gunde021 [86.69% in 19/28 games], DEAD END KINGS
	Best GAA (min. 50% of games played): Gunde021 [1.52 GAA in 19/28 games], DEAD END KINGS
	Most Wins (W+OTW) by a Goalie: Tonza-_-89 [21 Ws in 27 games] & Nebelparder55555 [21 Ws in 26 games]
	Most Shutouts: IFKPEKlNG2k15 [5 shutouts in 26 games], Lavetten
Playoff MVP
	moilanenC, J P T J

Thank You

As janbonator took the opportunity to thank us Staff members for organizing the ECL 4 season in his Elite Season Report, I would in return like to thank everyone in the community for your participation and continued support. The ECL franchise is something we are immensly proud of and truly the flagship in our journey towards the ultimate NHL gaming experience. With the introduction of Versus (and possibly other types of tournaments...) NHLGamer.com is taking the next step in its development, but make no mistake: ECL is at our core.

Again, thank you.

Later skaters,

Battle Royale

After what can only be described as a thriller of a tournament, Laser HT has been crowned the champion of the 4^th European Championship League in a plot that would have left even Stephen King hanging on the edge of his seat, while desperately holding onto his MUKI. The start of the season was Written in the Stars, but the scripture had too much TIKI TALK in it, and was thus shattered around with a banhammer, also known as Kenu's Taikasauva, with other teams picking up the fragments for points as the season progressed - eventually turning it into a Nordic Nightmare for them, on the first round of the playoffs. How we saw nightmares on Round 2 is anyone’s guess, as on Round 1 they had triumphed against an Unknown team. In an extremely competitive regular season the Northern Stars were fading and only two Swedish team made it to the playoffs, but unfortunately lacked the Synergy to shut down the beam team of to-be-champions. One team seemed to regard the playoff-line non-existent, and in their nearly Limitless limitlessness almost eliminated themselves out of the limited-for-eight playoffs. No Dynasty was made this season, either, as they continued an impressive record of 3 Game 7 losses in the past four tournaments, reportedly leading to a violent burst of Nordic Lightning in the vicinity of Kouvola. All the while, at the bottom of the standings, there was a team that Refused to Lose only four times during the tournament. Other relegations were the Animalia of Elite; Finnish Roosters and SIKA (pig) will be seen in the Pro division next season, together with Rynnäkköviikset.

Promoted teams

The teams that were promoted from Pro to Elite for ECL 5 are: Carlsberg HC, Kattiautomaatti, Silver Sword Griffins and Sjukstugan. We will inform of any changes to the divisions and teams after ECL 5 registration, if need be.

Awards

A big thank you to @The_Alpha_Furyan for compiling the statistics for all three divisions. Here's a list of the best performers in Elite during ECL4.

Forwards
	Most points: Dominointi [39+55 = 94p in 28 games - 3.35 Points/GP], Laser HT
	Most goals: PleeMaker [49g in 30 games - 1.63 Goals/GP], Limitless
	Most assists: Dominointi [55a in 28 games - 1.96 Assists/GP], Laser HT
	Most hits: PleeMaker [145 hits in 30 games - 4.83 Hits/GP], Limitless
	Best +/-: Haldeem, Penatski, tbnantti, PleeMaker & nylanderi [+43 in 30 games], Limitless
Defensemen
	Most points by a Defenseman: nylanderi [12+22 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Limitless Snapu48 [4+30 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Dynasty Haldeem [6+28 = 34p in 30 games - 1.13 Points/GP], Limitless
	Most goals by a Defenseman: nylanderi [12g in 30 games - 0.40 Goals/GP], Limitless
	Most assists by a Defenseman: Snapu48 [30a in 30 games - 1.00 Assists/GP], Dynasty
	Most hits by a Defenseman: friilander [140 Hits in 30 games - 4.66 Hits/GP], SIKA
Goalies
	Best Save% (min. 50% of games played): Ranta83 [80.58% in 30/30 games], Unknown
	Best GAA (min. 50% of games played): Sandr0hh [1.93 GAA in 16/30 games], Dynasty
	Most Wins (W+OTW) by a Goalie: Ranta83 [19 Ws in 30 games], Unknown
	Most Shutouts: Danielcadabra [4 shutouts in 12 games], Written in the Stars DUNZA [4 shutouts in 14 games], Synergy VilberttoCarlos [4 shutouts in 18 games], Nordic Nightmare FinKonna [4 shutouts in 30 games], Limitless
Playoff MVP
	Dominointi, Laser HT

Words of a Champion

Now, let’s hand over the pen to Risto “Dominointi” Järvi, the captain of Laser HT and the MVP of the tournament:

“For the regular season our objective was only to make the playoffs. It got very tight in the end, but we managed to battle ourselves to 7th. A couple of players left the team at the end of last season and we got the replacements for them from Nordic Blizzard. I think it made each players’ role in the team much more clear. We played the regular season quite a bit differently than what people perhaps expected or had seen from us before. I played quite a lot up the ice, looking for stretch passes while the wings gave close support on the breakouts. I feel like it helped a lot, at least against certain teams.

The team probably wasn’t on equal level skill-wise compared to last autumn, but this season we played strong as a team from the get-go, which I think was the primary reason for our success. Nowadays in this game you have to play as a team if you want to succeed, the level of competition is simply so tough.

In the playoffs we were just trying to keep our own end clear of goals, with the front of the net being the keywords. We knew that if we kept our defence tight, we had a chance to win every game, as we pretty much always manage to score at least a few goals. We couldn’t go into a goal-scoring competition -  something that would not have ended up well against every team.

On the first round of the playoffs we faced Synergy, a team we’re very familiar with. For the most part we knew how they’d be playing and where we would need to strike at. The first games were tight, but we managed to clinch them and eventually won the series.

On the second round we were up against Nordic Nightmare, a team that eliminated us last year when playing for Nordic Blizzard, so we were looking for a revenge. We thought of our approach carefully because Nordic Nightmare has a unique style of play for Elite. Our game-plan was to strike them on the breakout and try to prevent their quick counter-attacks. We knew they’d be playing very straightforward hockey and blocking shots would be important. Of course, we supposed our opponent would also know how we’d be playing, so we tried to mix that up a little as well by getting more pucks to the defencemen and more shots from the blueline.

We played well and deserved to progress on to the finals.

In the finals we were up against a very familiar team, Dynasty. We knew them to be a great defensive team and to add to that they have a lot of skill on every position. Their goalies were top of the league, too.

We set out to play brave hockey and apply strong pressure to the defencemen, always shooting the puck and crashing the net when there’s an opening. The first four games of the series were tight, but somehow it felt we had that slight edge, even though the stats were very even in every game. The weekend break started with us leading the series 3-1. After the break we had games 5 & 6, and quite frankly, we had no chance. The opponent had changed their approach and our tactic was not working at all. Deserved wins for Dynasty and off we went for a game seven. For the deciding game, we agreed to just play our regular game, not try anything too complicated and just park the bus in the neutral zone. After some thrilling events and a lot of screams and shouts, we clinched it 2-1 and won the title. The series could not have been tighter – that’s just how it ended this time.

Overall, I think Leksa played a fantastic tournament. Counting both the regular season and the playoffs, I don’t think he had a single off-game. I will tip my hat to the performance of our goalies in the playoffs, especially Hansu in the finals. The defence was rock solid throughout the playoffs, too. Vesa and Wille were excellent in the finals and Selarit played as well as he always does.

As for the future of the team, I can’t tell. We agreed that we’ll look at it again before the beta, but most likely we’ll be continuing with the same lineup.”

The Decider

Scored by who else than Risto "Dominointi" Järvi in the closing seconds of the 3rd period of Game 7.

Broomsticks and Magnets

Every year the game franchise makes small but significant changes to online gameplay. One year it's short-side one-timers, the other it's far-side one-timers. One year poke-checks are overpowered, the other it's stick-lifts. I'm yet to witness a year, however, in which the rock-paper-scissor of the meta game would've have found, say, rock unbeatable.

This year there were some tricks to be found in terms of puck control, the kind of tricks your user manual doesn't tell. Some individuals and teams started picking up on these towards the latter parts of ECL 3, one of the masters of such arts winning the MVP award of the tournament. These type of players and their rather spectacular-looking play-style I call Magnets. Some teams spent their off-season between ECL 3 & 4 figuring out how to deal with Magnets, and one of the answers was a Broomstick.

By now, the Broomstick technique has spread wide and has arisen some heated debates, and I know there are teams that refuse to play against each other because of this. The Broomstick is of course the crouch block position you can go to by pressing L1. The most obvious advantage is that you can't get penalized; you can't trip, slash or interfere with a player while doing so. While I think anyone would agree using the function in the game as intended should be allowed, many would say spamming it the way it is possible to spam, is effectively abusing a glitch.

Personally, I'm inclined to disagree that it should be forbidden or whatnot. The Broomstick is much more effective along the boards than it is anywhere else as a means to strip the puck. Now, if we look at board play and puck control in general, is it balanced, or does the offensive or defensive player have an advantage? I think definitely the player with the puck has the advantage; with the puck your player is much more agile, you can actually move your stick through the boards while controlling the puck etc. So, effectively, I find the Broomstick a balancing, not a breaking factor of gameplay. Furthermore, I find the gray area on the defensive side to be larger than on the offensive side. In real hockey, too, you're effectively allowed to do things on the defensive side of the puck that you're not allowed to do when attacking. Also, you can still be a great player in this game even if you never used the whole function.

Thank You

I had absolutely no stake in organizing ECL 4 and thus would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to those that did – Kenneth, Samuli, Max, Väinö, Hampus, Jānis and Teemu, it was yet another great tournament to take part of, thank you very much for your effort on behalf of all of us players, and let’s try to build on this as a community going forward. From now on I’ll be back on-board with the staff as well. Have a great summer everyone, hope to see many of you in the SC - you still have a day left to register have you not done so already, but if not, see you in the autumn with ECL 5!

Good evening NHL Gamers,

ECL 4 has come to a close with J P T J beating Hawks Hockey Club in 7 games during the ECL 4 Lite Finals and picking up the ECL 4 Lite Championship!

J P T J vs. Hawks Hockey Club series results:

• Game 1: J P T J @ Hawks Hockey Club | 2-3
• Game 2: Hawks Hockey Club @ J P T J | 3-1
• Game 3: J P T J @ Hawks Hockey Club | 5-1
• Game 4: Hawks Hockey Club @ J P T J | 1-4
• Game 5: J P T J @ Hawks Hockey Club | 10-0
• Game 6: Hawks Hockey Club @ J P T J | 5-3
• Game 7: J P T J @ Hawks Hockey Club | 5-3

J P T J Championship roster:

• G: #8 F. SeRe (aka FINSeRe)
• G: #82 J. Kuha (aka jjuhao)
• D: #14 H. Junnu (aka paajane)
• D: #15 F. Castro (aka Fillaa)
• D: #33 I. Amin (aka RUUTTTI)
• D: #62 M. Surma (aka jonezki26)
• F: #11 N. Mandela (aka moilanenC)
• F: #24 K. Sheikkilä (aka mikihoo)
• F: #88 M. Gandhi (aka makeee76)

J P T J's road to the ECL 4 Lite Championship:

• 22 wins and 6 losses during the regular season, ranked 4th of Group 2
• Round 1: 4-0 victory against A Dream Valhalla
• Round 2: 4-0 victory against HC Palosaari
• Round 3: 4-2 victory against Dynamo Danglers
• Round 4: 4-2 victory against DEAD END KINGS
• ECL 4 Lite finals: 4-3 victory against Hawks Hockey Club

NHL Gamer congratulates J P T J on a flawless journey through the Lite division, securing the ECL 4 Lite title and making their way to the Pro division for ECL 5! Furthermore we also welcome Hawks Hockey Club to the Pro division after delivering a tight 7-game final series, as well as Lavetten and DEAD END KINGS who managed to make their way to the ECL 4 Lite semi-finals. These teams will replace Company of Geeks, Thunder Tigers, The Lights Out and The Beagle Boys who lost their Pro relegation battles earlier in the season.

What's next?

First of all we will have a few season recaps of ECL 4 during the next few days, and we are also curious to hear about your thoughts on this season. From a Staff perspective, the switch to the thoroughly discussed Divisions format was a real success - but we are always striving for more.

On the tournament side, we just launched registrations for the first ever Xbox ECL which will kick off on May 22nd. Make sure to spread the word on that, as we are very confident there is also another community to be conquered by us!

On top, we are in preparations for the next iteration of our Summer Cup on PS4, which will once again be the relaxed conclusion to this year's plans with NHL 17. Definitely stay tuned for this!

@gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

NHL Gamers on Xbox One - now is your turn!

With great pleasure, NHLGamer is introducing its first ever Xbox One 6 vs. 6 league: ECL on Xbox!

During the past few weeks, a dedicated group of Xbox gamers signed up on the website and spread the word of our well-known and challenging ECL series, which has been taking place on PS4 exclusively so far. As a result, 9 teams already committed to kicking off professional NHL gaming on Xbox One as well. But we want more!

"About time folks! What is required for participation?"

• Regional restrictions: Just like ECL on PS4, the Xbox ECL is a European league format, however we do not necessarily exclude other regions. We ask Russian and North American players to first evaluate their previous connection experience against other participating teams in this league before signing up. While we disallow players from North America to host matches / be captain in the dressing room, Russian players are allowed to do so if they connect to European servers.
   
• The Xbox ECL is a 6 vs. 6 tournament building upon the EASHL mode in the latest EA SPORTS NHL iteration, NHL 17.
   
• Each player needs to sign up with NHLGamer.com and create his personal Player Card. You can find a tutorial video right here in case you experience issues.
   
• Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. 
   
• Default game days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
   
• Registrations are open until 23:59 CEST on May 17th / 00:59 EEST on May 18th. The tournament is set to start on May 22nd.

"Will we play a format similar to ECL Divisions on PS4?"

Due to the fact that this is the first ever Xbox tournament, we are unfamiliar with teams on the platform, and teams are unfamiliar with NHL Gamer so far. This is why the Xbox ECL will be played as a regular league - just like ECL 1-3 on PS4. As the community grows, the goal is to transition to an official ECL Divisions format on Xbox One as well!

"Got it! Where do I sign up my team?"

Simply go to this thread, copy the template from the opening post, and create a new post with the template adjusted to your team:

That's it! In case some of your questions remained unanswered, please tell us in the comments below.

Make sure to connect with all your dedicated Xbox Live friends and invite them and their teams to participate - we can't wait to see you joining the greatest NHL 6 vs. 6 platform and be part of unparalleled on-the-ice action. Let's do this!

@gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

Summer is almost here but before that - good evening once again NHL Gamers!

It was Carlsberg HC who managed to be the best out of 32 Pro teams as they beat Sjukstugan in the ECL 4 Pro finals.

CAR-112 series results:

• Game 1: Carlsberg HC @ Sjukstugan | 2-1
• Game 2: Sjukstugan @ Carlsberg HC | 3-2 OT
• Game 3: Carlsberg HC @ Sjukstugan | 3-0
• Game 4: Sjukstugan @ Carlsberg HC | 1-5
• Game 5: Carlsberg HC @ Sjukstugan | 3-1

Final Carlsberg HC Championship roster:

• G: #88 J. Sibelius (aka Zande95)
• D: #82 M. Nyqi (aka Janzuh)
• D: #7 J. Jate (aka vatalisti)
• F: #9 R. Grimes (aka joukki13)
• F: #10 P. Lehtera (aka mikaasi)
• F: #28 M. Scofield (aka alexbvb28)
• F: #30 W. Shakespeare (aka F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_)
• F: #86 J. Paatiala (aka Patzlaf)

Carlsberg HC's road to the ECL 4 Pro Championship:

• 24 wins, 3 losses and 1 OT-loss during the regular season, ranked 1st of Group 1, the best PPG in the ECL 4 Pro (1,75)
• Round 1: 4-0 victory against Huppati HC
• Round 2: 4-0 victory against White Trash
• Round 3: 4-0 victory against Silver Sword Griffins
• ECL 4 Pro finals: 4-1 victory against Sjukstugan

The whole NHLGamer staff congratulates Carlsberg HC for winning the first ever Pro championship - and also for taking the big step into ECL Elite next season! Same goes for Sjukstugan as they secured their ECL Elite spot by beating Kattiautomaatti in the Round 3. Kattiautomaatti also stepped into Elite as they won SIKA in the Relegation faceoff. A big congratulations to these new Elite teams! Finnish Roosters and Silver Sword Griffins are still battling for the 16th Elite spot next week. In ECL Lite, Hawks Hockey Club and J P T J are playing for the Lite championship in the upcoming week as well so there's two big match-ups remaining in the ECL 4.

See you guys soon & have a nice weekend! Oh and hey - we're not done yet so just like before, stay tuned!

@vSilenttio for NHLGamer.com

End of ECL 4 is nigh, NHLGamers!

Couple more weeks and we're done - for a while. It's time again to look up what has happened in our community during past week. Like we announced couple days ago - Laser HT finally won the ECL Elite championship as they won Dynasty in Game 7 thriller. One more time on my behalf - well deserved guys, hats off!

Carlsberg HC did what pretty much everyone expected and walked to the Pro division finals as Silver Sword Griffins simply didn't have enough what it needs to beat down CAR. In the finals, CAR will be facing good old Sjukstugan which was also predicted to be one of the most biggest dogs in the Pro and here they are - going to Elite division with Carlsberg! Sjukstugan won Kattiautomaatti in the semi's and they'll face SIKA in the relegation battle for the spot in the ECL 5. SSG will face Finnish Roosters.

In the Lite, there's four teams remaining in the battle for the spots in the Pro division: DEAD END KINGS, J P T J, Hawks Hockey Club and Lavetten. It's time for last big push, guys!

Once again, best of luck to every team!

ELITE: Relegation faceoffs

PRO

Carlsberg HC vs Sjukstugan, PRO division final, by @nylanderi

So the Pro Division’s grand final is here! It's a rivalry matchup: Sweden vs. Finland, Filariou vs. Joukki13 & LastMandalorian vs. Zande95. The best of the best from the Pro Division come together for one final clash this season. This is also a matchup that has some history as these two teams played each other deep in the playoffs in ECL 1, where Car managed to escape with a 4-3 series win.

Sjukstugan projected lineup:
Filariou - patovic_ - lBjonol
The_Alpha_Furyan - Gustafsson7
LastMandalorian

Sjukstugan is known for its tight defense and really fast paced and straightforward offense. It all comes down to how well 112's defense manage to play against Carlsberg offense. Sjukstugan is probably not going to have the puck as much as they want so their forwards need to capitalize on their chances. LastMandalorian is also gonna have bunch of work ahead of him from Cars shooters.

Carlsberg HC projected lineup:
joukki13 - Mikaasi - Vatalisti
janzuh - fbi andy
zande95

I actually heard some rumours that Carlsbers captain and leader Patzlaf wont be playing in the finals. Regardless, Car have a very strong team that is known for their lightning quick passing game. They need to handle the puck with care in the offensive zone, so 112 wont get those dangerous counter attacks.

My prediction for this series is 4-2 to Carlsberg HC.

LITE

Good evening NHL Gamers!

In a tremendous finale tonight, and with a last minute game winning goal in game 7, Laser HT beat Dynasty and secured a 4-3 series victory to be crowned ECL 4 Elite Champions!

These are the series results:

• Game 1: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 2-1
• Game 2: Dynasty @ Laser HT | 2-5
• Game 3: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 1-2 OT
• Game 4: Dynasty @ Laser HT | 1-2
• Game 5: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 0-2
• Game 6: Dynasty @ Laser HT | 3-2
• Game 7: Laser HT @ Dynasty | 2-1

Laser HT Championship roster:

• G: #33 P. Roy (aka Hiiirulainen)
• G: #88 D. Hansek (aka Hansulinho)
• D: #16 K. V (aka VesKuLiNe)
• D: #43 Y. Wilhelm (aka willekunq)
• D: #87 I. Junub (aka Selarit)
• F: #11 L. Lekker (aka Leksa94)
• F: #13 I. SK (aka Dominointi)
• F: #67 I. Dishmaster (aka hooneli)
• F: #68 J. Jagr (aka Hermurderer)

Laser HT's road to the cup:

• 18 wins, 10 losses & 2 OT-losses during the regular season, ranked 7th
• Quarterfinals: 4-1 victory against Synergy
• Semifinals: 4-1 victory against Nordic Nightmare
• Finals: 4-3 victory against Dynasty

NHLGamer staff congratulates the whole team for winning the most prestigious 6 vs. 6 tournament in NHL 17! Even in truly outstanding and merciless Elite competition, Laser HT were consistently showing great playoff performances for a deserved championship victory. A big shoutout to Dynasty as well: Carrying the series to game 7 after being behind 1-3 deserves special mention and huge respect!

During the live stream on Twitch, almost 150 people were watching the game winning goal in the end of game 7, which is an outstanding number. It confirms the growing relevance of the ECL championships and NHLGamer.com, people are more hungry for top tier virtual ice hockey than ever before.

ECL 4 is not over yet though, as Pro and Lite Divisions are still fighting for their championships and promotions, with some really intense match-ups ahead. Make sure to keep an eye on further coverage!

A more detailed ECL Elite season recap including award winners will be released in due time - stay tuned.

@gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers,

We are entering the third week of the ECL 4 playoffs and temperatures are without a doubt rising. Not only outside - where the rapidly approaching spring weather threatens to completely overtake the last remnants of winter - but also inside our many virtual hockey rinks. We are finally reaching the final stages of competition and the stakes couldn't be higher.

For Elite, the ECL finals are already here. Our finalists Laser HT and Dynasty fought well and hard for an entire 30-game regular season, in what can most accurately be described as an all-out war against the 14 other Elite teams. After narrowly making the playoffs (the separation between teams #1 to #8 were only a few points), both teams continued to grind their way through challenging playoff series versus Synergy/Nordic Nightmare and Written In The Stars/Limitless. Now that they've finally arrived at their ultimate test, both of these classic ECL franchises will be looking to bring the trophy home for the first time.

In Pro, we've arrived at the Semifinals where Carlsberg, Kattiautomatti, Sjukstugan and Silver Sword Griffins are the final four standing. It might not come as a surprise to long-time members of the community to see these teams among the potential finalists, even if all of them have had to be at their absolute best to advance for as long as they have. The two winners of these series will not only advance to the Pro finals, they will also have a guaranteed spot in Elite for next season. For the semifinal losers, a promotion/relegation series Versus either SIKA or Finnish Rooster awaits.

For Lite, we are down to 8 teams which effectively means we've arrived at the quarterfinals. The teams that are fighting for a guaranteed spot in Pro next season (and the Lite title) are Hawks Hockey Club, HC Ancient Warriors, DEAD END KINGS, Banterfield Battalion, EN HUND, Lavetten, J P T J and Dynamo Danglers. Best of luck to all teams and remember - all 4 winners of these series will play in Pro next season. Do or die!

I'd like to sidetrack this story for a bit here by giving myself a tiny pat on the back as I correctly predicted the results of 11 out of 13 series last week, even getting the series' scores right on a few of them (!). I know, I know - I'm being "that guy". Hey, all I am saying is that I would like to see some more predictions come out of the community! I know for sure there are far more knowledgeable NHLGamers out there than me - make yourselves heard. Show Alpha who the real prediction master is, so to speak.

Anyway, let us get to it y'all. As always, be sure to share your comment on the news story or in the forums with your own predictions.

(Predicted series winners will be marked in Bold text)

ELITE
Dynasty vs. Laser HT - Two teams I know quite well and also two teams I'd really like to see do well. So much for being impartial, right? I've said it repeatedly in these predictions, the time has come for Dynasty to make a run. They are going up against possibly the best offensive team in the world right now with Leksa94 and Dominointi leading the charge. Lasers quick-pass system around the net is better than it ever has been... and yet, for the duration of these playoffs I haven't been able to shake the feeling that Dynastys time is now. Therefore, I will continue to predict success for them. They win this one 4-3. 

Make sure to check this one out though folks, we are talking playoff hockey at its finest. Look for both team to broadcast!

PRO
Carlsberg HC vs. Silver Sword Griffins - The all-out Pro favorites versus a team on a mission of revenge from last seasons dissapointing exit. This should be a playoff series for the ages... which is a big reason I am inclined to pick SSG as the winners. Watching them power through one of the most intense series' I have seen in years, courtesy of "Most improved team"-candidate Rusty Blades, was nothing short of spectacular. Alas, I predict Carlsbergs desire for Elite will prove to be too strong for SSG here. I predict 4-2 Carlsberg with SSG re-loading for a hard battle against SIKA/Roosters.

Sjukstugan vs. Kattiautomaatti - [Long prediction courtesy of Mr. @Ranksu - thank you for chipping in, sir!] 
Sjukstugan, who ended their regular season in the 2nd position for Group 1 are here faced with Group 2 winner Kattiautomaatti. Two teams who rely heavily on puck possession and also two teams that have came through this stage pretty easily (both have played just 10 games in two series). 112s all-important breakout will be depending on how well their defenders The_Alpha_Furyan and Gustafsson7 can handle pressure as puck carriers and get the puck up to forwards Ibjonol, patovic_ & 112 leading goal scorer Filariou. On the other hand, Kattiautomaatti has overall more scoring depth than Sjukstugan, in my opinion. Especially CATs Slaivone has been producing heavily from the blueline so far in the playoffs. A short word here also needs to be said about the goaltending battle, featuring two of the absolute best goalies this community has to offer right now (including Elite): LastMandalorian and hoigga. Whoever can reach their peak level in this series could potentially steal it.

This series is indeed going to be hard to predict. A closer look at PP stats reveals Kattiautomaatti really has an advantage here, scoring 5 powerplay goals spread out through the roster while Sjukstugan only has two (!) goals which both came from defenders... did I reveal too much here? The faceoff dot is pretty even 50-50, but I think advantage there goes to Sjukstugan center patovic_. These are of course just small details, but in a tight series it could be a difference maker. I was almost ready to give this series for Kattiautomaatti, but seeing how much Sjustugan has developed their game throughout the season I will give them this one in game 7. Kattiautomaatti 3 – Sjukstugan 4.

Projected lineup for Kattiautomaatti: 
xMaick82x - BiiAiDii - jnmxx
Isumppi90I - Slaivone
hoiggaa

Projected lineup for Sjukstugan: 
Filariou - Patovic_ - Ibjonol
The_Alpha_Furyan - Gustafsson7
LastMandalorian

LITE
Hawks Hockey Club vs. HC Ancient Warriors - HC Ancient Warriors surprised me by dispatching Old Farts by a score of 4-1 in games. By all accounts, their game has reached a level that most would consider truly worthy of the playoffs. Meanwhile, favorites Hawks Hockey Club might not be fully warmed up yet, with them having only one series under their belts thus far. I predict a tough battle as always but a 4-2 win for HC Ancient Warriors.

DEAD END KINGS vs. Banterfield Battalion - Should be a fun series to watch with two smart, tight-checking teams facing off. DEAD END KINGS have yet to face a true test while Banterfield are a scarred and battle-hardened Battalion by now. Not to mention the inspiring effect the creative GIFs and video shorts Banterfield player @Stu has been uploading, must have on his teammates! Then again, DEK could use those same videos as inspiration to shut up their opponents... I say 4-2 BB.

EN HUND vs. Lavetten - Two teams from opposite ends of the spectrum. Lavetten likes to rush and score goals while EN HUND likes to hit and shut down the opposition. If Lavetten can overcome being truly challenged by a tough defense, then this series is theirs. Meanwhile, if EN HUND can maintain their poise and calm against the most dangerous offensive squad they have faced in the playoffs, they will stand victorious. I say Game 7 and I say Lavetten wins.

J P T J vs. Dynamo Danglers - Offensive beasts J P T J might finally have met their match skill-wise in Dynamo Danglers. Then again, at this point, can anyone really stand in the way of J P T Js goal-scoring machine? They have smashed their way through both the regular season and the playoffs (by scores of 12-0, 8-1 & 9-2) so far and look like a potential top Pro team for next season. I am going with a 4-1 J P T J win here.

The third round of the ECL 4 Playoffs is to be played 19.04 to 25.04.

Good luck in the playoffs to all remaining teams! Later skaters,

@The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers,

As the second round of the playoffs has been completed, it's time to look at the match-ups for the upcoming round. Elite finals, Pro semifinals and Lite quarterfinals - it's crunch time.

Here are the match-ups:

ECL Elite finals

Dynasty vs. Laser HT

ECL Pro semifinals

Carlsberg HC vs. Silver Sword Griffins
Kattiautomaatti vs. Sjukstugan
 

ECL Lite quarterfinals

Hawks Hockey Club vs. HC Ancient Warriors
DEAD END KINGS vs. Banterfield Battalion
EN HUND vs. Lavetten 
J P T J vs. Dynamo Danglers
 

The third round of ECL 4 Playoffs is to be played 19.04 to 25.04.

Good luck!

NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers,

We're in the middle of it now. That great time of the year when the true essence of hockey shines through. The lengthy overtime battles, the primal shouts of frustration and joy, the overpowering urge to defeat your opponent no matter what... but also, the humble "digital handshakes" after a completed series. The cordial well-wishes and genuine appreciation for a great series. The sincere respect for your opponent. 

All these factors is what has come to define playoff hockey in any competitive league in the world and it is no surprise to us here at NHLGamer.com that the same values hold true as we move that same playoff competition over to a digital hockey landscape.

The first week of the ECL 4 Playoffs is over and what a week it was! We had some tremendous upsets (who could've guessed that all the "lower seeds" would advance in the Elite playoffs?) and some dominating performances from predicted favorites (Carlsberg HC of Pro and J P T J of Lite come to mind).

Currently the Elite playoffs are at the Semifinals stage, the Pro playoffs will start their quarterfinals and the Lite playoffs kick off their Round-of 16. This means a total of 14 playoff series will begin today, with an additional 2 series (the Pro/Elite Promotion/Relegation series) waiting in the wings.

Also a big round of applause and appreciation to the teams who fought hard but didn't reach their final goal these playoffs - we hope to see you all come back strong next season!

But now, let us get to the teams still remaining and see if we can predict what will transpire! As always, be sure to share a comment on the news story or in the forums with your own predictions.

(Predicted series winners will be marked in Bold text)

ELITE
Nordic Nightmare vs. Laser HT - After both teams put together impressive series wins over Unknown and Synergy respectively, these two veteran squads will face off in a what should be a memorable battle. Laser has truly found their offensive groove this season and has continued their goal-scoring prowess into the postseason. Look for them to attack Nordic Nightmares well-oiled team machine with all they've got. I predict a 4-2 series win for LHT.

Dynasty vs. Limitless - It might be foolish to continue betting against last seasons winners, but I just have this feeling that the time has come for Dynasty to truly go on a run and bring home the ECL Elite trophy (on a side note, does anyone have suggestions for an official trophy name? We need something iconic! The Ramjagsingh Trophy perhaps?). Also, look for Limitless to continue surpassing the somewhat lower expectations created by their regular season. This one will most likely go 7. I say Dynasty 4-3 series win with the final game going to OT.

PRO
Carlsberg HC vs. White Trash - WT delivered a serious upset when they upended regular season juggernaut Nordic Stars in the first round. Their gameplan to shut down high-scoring Tapparafan- in that series will certainly come to play in this series as well with joukki13 and Patzlaf coming to town. Despite WTs early playoff heroics, I predict Carlsbergs scoring depth will be too much for them here. 4-2 Carlsberg series win.

Kattiautomaatti vs. Shameful Knights - Shameful are coming off a tougher first series while Katti were able to breeze by their first round opponent. This shouldn't have an impact on this series though, as there will be no rest needed or underestimation going on - from either team. This will be a close series and Katti will be forced to face their biggest test of the season. I predict they will rise to the challenge and win this one 4-2.

Sjukstugan vs. Unlucky Boys HC - [No prediction due to me playing in the series, feel free to post your predictions in the comment section! That goes for all the series in this prediction by the way - always fun to read what the community thinks.]

Rusty Blades vs. Silver Sword Griffins -  These two teams were built for the playoffs and this should certainly be a "series to watch" - perhaps the most even one ECL Pro has to offer. Both defensively strong teams, both lethal on the counterattack and in front of the oppositions net. Expect this one to go 7 and for most of those games to go to OT. My gut says SSG though, 4-3.

Finally, congratulations are in order to Pro teams Bare Knuckles Hockey, murohoki, Nemesis and Showtime who all staved off relegation by winning their respective series. These teams, together with the teams that finished in "no mans land" and all Pro playoff teams who don't qualify for Elite, will have guaranteed spots in the Pro division next season.

LITE
Hawks Hockey Club vs. Ice Phoenix - The Lite overall top seed HHC enters the playoffs after sitting out Round 1. They should be hungry and eager to play against an Ice Phoenix team that impressed in the first round. Don't expect a sweep, but HHC should still win this one 4-1.

DEAD END KINGS vs. EV Duisburg - Swedish "Synergy Lite" DEK will also be eager to prove their mettle and show that they belong higher up in the divisional system. Their quest to do just that begins here against German surprise team Duisburg. I predict Nephenzy and his boys to come out firing and end up with a 4-0 series win.

EN HUND vs. INF4MOUS - Two strong teams with high ambitions clash in this matchup. Should be a tight battle with the physical play of ENH clashing with the defensive structure of iNF. I do predict a 4-2 series win for EN HUND here but as I said, good matchup.

J P T J vs. HC Palosaari - Offensive beasts J P T J take on a Palosaari team that fought hard in their series with the Coal Miners. Anything other than a 4-0 sweep from star team J P T J here would be a surprise to me.

Old Farts vs. HC Ancient Warriors - The veterans of Old Farts take on the Warriors in a matchup that I wish could be saved for further down the line in the Lite playoffs, due to the skill of both teams. However, it is what it is and I do have to predict a winner so I will go with Old Farts, 4-2

Dynamo Danglers vs. Bone Breakers - Two teams I saw as contenders to win the Lite trophy that didn't fully deliver the types of seasons I am sure they would have wanted. I predicted Bone Breakers to do well in my season preview and I am sticking with it. 4-3 BB. 

GHETTO FIREBIRDS vs. Banterfield Battalion - Community sweethearts and video makers GHETTOBIRDS (new official nickname) take on the Banter squad in another tight matchup. GHETTOBIRDS had their difficulties getting going in the first round but should be warmed up enough to give the Banter squad a tough time. 4-3 BB here as well.

Clowns On Ice vs. Lavetten - This is THE series to watch in Lite Round 2. Lots of skill, lots of energy, lots of passion. If you have the time, check it out because this one could go 7. I predict a 4-3 series win for Lavetten in Game 7 OT.

In addition we've extended this round by two days since it overlaps with Easter - the second round of ECL 4 Playoffs is to be played 10.04 to 18.04.

Good luck in the playoffs to all remaining teams! Later skaters,

The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers,

It is that time of the year again, isn't it? You wake up one morning and the cold weather outside doesn't seem to bother you as much, the morning traffic you encounter when driving to work is suddenly not a nuisance but instead a reason to silently reflect on what is to come and that little knot of anticipation you know so well is back in your stomach. It is time for some ECL playoff hockey!

For ECL 4 we had more teams participating than ever seen before in the European competitive hockey gaming scene, something that we here at NHLGamer.com are immensly proud of. Thank you to all 80 teams that signed up and a special thank you to the 78 teams who finished the season (a 97.5% completion rate) - continue spreading the word so we can try and grow this tournament even further together!

Can we create a league with 100+ teams? Is the Xbox One side of the community ready for its first tournament? Only time will tell but us Staff members certainly hope so.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to once again highlight the legacy of our previous ECL winners in order to inspire all participating teams to follow in their footsteps. Here they are;

ECL 1 - Nordic Blizzard
ECL 2 - MUKIMIEHET
ECL SC - Team pelimies80
ECL 3 - X Factor 

Moving on to the business at hand, the ECL 4 playoffs and our traditional predictions. A total of 30 series kicks off today (26 playoff series and 4 relegation series) so I will keep the predicting to a solid one line of text for each series in order to preserve my sanity. I apologize in advance if I am not completely familiar with all participating teams. Also, expect slightly longer predictions the longer these playoffs proceed!

(Predicted series winners will be marked in Bold text)

ELITE
MUKIMIEHET vs. Limitless - A tough series between two former ECL winners but I predict a 4-3 MUKI win here. MUKI has played a flawless season while Limitless has struggled to find the magic of their previous team version, X Factor.

Synergy vs. Laser HT - Another tough one featuring two teams with a lot of history and rivalry. Going with 4-3 Synergy here as I believe they have moved past ghosts of playoffs past.

Unknown vs. Nordic Nightmare - Never bet against Unknown in the playoffs. NN is a terrific squad but Unknown has some history on the line that they'd be eager to defend. 4-2 WHO.

Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty - Probably the most lethal offensive squad versus the most structured defensive squad. I'll give the edge to Dynasty here as they are due for a deep playoff run, 4-3 DYN.

PRO
Carlsberg HC vs. Huppati HC - The #1 overall seed and predicted top team takes on an inexperienced #8. Going with 4-0 Car here.

Sjukstugan vs. HC Checkmate - [No prediction due to me playing in the series, feel free to post your predictions in the comment section! That goes for all the series in this prediction by the way - always fun to read what the community thinks.]

Rusty Blades vs. Royal Club - Two strong defensive squads but Rusty has grown from a playoff bubble team last season to a top ECL team. It will be a series of OT games but I think the Blades will come out on top, 4-2.

Unlucky Boys HC vs. Germany's Finest - Unlucky Boys is another team who has grown stronger as the tournament progressed while GER has had some tough games towards the end. I predict an even series with a 4-2 win for UHC.

Alliance HT vs. Shameful Knights - The Russian two-way machine has impressed me during the season, as have the Shameful Knights. I will go with a 4-3 win here for AHT.

Silver Sword Griffins vs. Nocturnal Hunters - SSG is due for a deep playoff run. They will encounter tough opposition from NH but will most likely advance if they get their machine rolling. 4-1 SSG.

Nordic Stars vs. White Trash - NS will take full advantage of the #1 overall scorer in Pro and get through a tough series with WT by a score of 4-2.

Kattiautomaatti vs. ORIGINS - Another regular season giant in CAT entering the playoffs versus a bubble team. Granted, ORIGINS has ECL experience but I do not think it will be enough here. 4-1 CAT.

(PRO Relegation Faceoff)
Bare Knuckles Hockey vs. Company of Geeks - CoG has had a tough season but will deliver when it matters the most. 4-3 CoG.

murohoki vs. Thunder Tigers - If murohoki gets their two-way game going they could run through this series. TT are no slouches however so I think this one will go to 6 games, 4-2 mur.

Nemesis vs. The Beagle Boys - The Swedish dogs also went through a challenging season but could surprise here and defeat offensively skilled team Nemesis to stay in Pro. 4-3 TBB.

Showtime vs. The Lights Out - Showtime had their ups and downs, struggling versus teams around them in the standings while performing great against some of the top dogs. Expect them to come in motivated to this series. 4-1 SHO.

LITE
(Hawks Hockey Club and DEAD END KINGS - both automatically advance to the second round)

EN HUND vs. Blues HC - Time for the The Finnish dogs to create their own legacy apart from SIKA. They start in this series, 4-0 EN HUND.

J P T J vs. A Dream Valhalla - Offensive powerhouse with multiple top scorers enter the playoffs with a series win, 4-0 J P T J.

Old Farts vs. Pohjoista Voimaa - Experienced old bastard versus a newer team, experience wins out in the playoffs: 4-0 OLD.

Dynamo Danglers vs. Vemppaosasto - Tougher to predict but the Danglers, led by lycki10, has had an impressive season. 4-2 DyD.

GHETTO FIREBIRDS vs. The Youngsters - Not as well educated when it comes to these teams but the FIREBIRDS playoff hype video has me convinced, 4-2 BIRDS

Clowns On Ice vs. Prometheus - Have not played against either team but Prometheus strikes me as the stronger squad here, 4-3 XKP.

Lavetten vs. Die TwitchProleten - Swedish Versus/HUT giants in Lavetten grew stronger as the season progressed, just as predicted. If they can keep their momentum going, this is a 4-1 Lav win.

Banterfield Battalion vs. PSHL Roadrunners - The most banter-filled squad in ECL start a solid playoff run here with a 4-2 series win.

Teletapit vs. Ice Phoenix - Have only seen Ice Phoenix play (which they did well), therefore going with a 4-2 series win here.

HC Ancient Warriors vs. Papat - I predicted a strong season for the Warriors and I am sticking by it. 4-2 Warriors.

Bone Breakers vs. HC Scorpions - The Bone Breakers had a season worthy of Pro, I predict they start their journey there in this series with a 4-1 series win.

HC Palosaari vs. Falun Coal Miners - Two teams with the same logo (the one with the factory and 3 pucks) who are both looking to improve on their regular season. The FCM boys has playoff experience though, which should weigh heavy here. 4-3 FCM.

Last Kings vs. EV Duisburg - Not familiar enough with either team to accurately predict this one but my crystal ball says 4-2 Kings.

Elämäm Kiekko vs. INF4MOUS - First taste of the playoffs for both teams so this should be a tight series. I predict INF coming out on top in Game 7, 4-3 INF.

 

Good luck in the playoffs to all teams! Later skaters,

The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers,

With the regular season behind us, we now shift our focus on the playoffs. This time around in addition to fighting for the championship, teams will also try to avoid relegation and secure promotions to higher divisions for ECL5.

Before announcing the playoff parings for the first round, we need to note that some teams weren't able to play all of their regular season games, forcing us to issue walkover wins/losses.

In each respective case the League Administration took into consideration the availability, communication and attempts to reschedule the games from both sides.

Here are the final rulings:

• Unplayed games between "Clowns On Ice" and "Ice Phoenix" - two WO losses for both teams.
• Unplayed games between "Origins" and "The Lights Out" - two WO wins for Origins.
• Unplayed games between "Huppati HC" and "Company Of Geeks" - two WO wins for Huppati HC.
• Unplayed games between "Inter Iceland" and "Thunder Tigers" - two WO wins for Inter Iceland.
• Unplayed games between "Written In The Stars" and "Aapon Taikasauva" - two WO losses for both teams.

After applying all the WO rulings, here's the summary for each division:

Playoffs

MUKIMIEHET vs. Limitless
Synergy vs. Laser HT
Unknown vs. Nordic Nightmare
Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty

Relegation Faceoff

Finnish Roosters vs. #4 of Pro playoffs
SIKA vs. #3 of Pro playoffs

Relegation

Rynnäkköviikset
Refuse To Lose

Playoffs

Carlsberg HC vs. Huppati HC
Sjukstugan vs. HC Checkmate
Rusty Blades vs. Royal Club
Unlucky Boys HC vs. Germany's Finest
Alliance HT vs. Shameful Knights
Silver Sword Griffins vs. Nocturnal Hunters
Nordic Stars vs. White Trash
Kattiautomaatti vs. ORIGINS

Relegation Faceoff

Bare Knuckles Hockey vs. Company of Geeks
murohoki vs. Thunder Tigers
Nemesis vs. The Beagle Boys
Showtime vs. The Lights Out

Sadly some teams have abandoned the tournament. Due to this there are 16 teams in one group and 14 in the other. In order to make the current playoffs format work, we've decided to merge both Lite groups, sort teams by PPG and automatically advance the two teams with the highest PPG to the second round.

Playoffs

Hawks Hockey Club and DEAD END KINGS - both automatically advance to the second round.

EN HUND vs. Blues HC
J P T J vs. A Dream Valhalla
Old Farts vs. Pohjoista Voimaa
Dynamo Danglers vs. Vemppaosasto
GHETTO FIREBIRDS vs. The Youngsters
Clowns On Ice vs. Prometheus
Lavetten vs. Die TwitchProleten
Banterfield Battalion vs. PSHL Roadrunners
Teletapit vs. Ice Phoenix
HC Ancient Warriors vs. Papat
Bone Breakers vs. HC Scorpions
HC Palosaari vs. Falun Coal Miners
Last Kings vs. EV Duisburg
Elämäm Kiekko vs. INF4MOUS

Sharpen your skates as the playoffs will start on the 3rd of April and the first round of the playoffs is to be played 03.04 - 09.04., best of seven. 

Good luck!

NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers,

Welcome to another edition of "Who's Hot and Who's Not". A format first introduced last summer during the ECL Summer Cup, the "Hot or Not"-column was a source of much emotion and debate during its first tour of duty... so naturally we decided to bring it back! This time around the lists will be a bit shorter (we have atleast five times more teams and three different divisions to cover) but hopefully just as accurate and prone to create debates. As always, we have the great @OxtreeLAT providing some terrific art for both the cover and the different sections within the article - but when it comes to the text, I will handle all the list-making myself this time.

Let's get to it!

WHO’S HOT - ELITE

Forward: 
Dominointi, LHT - Laser HTs captain is usually a team-first, positionally solid two-way center who always makes sure to cover the correct passing lanes - a Selke Trophy candidate, if you will. However this season, facing the toughest competition in ECL tournament history, he's been doing all that while having a career season offensively with 66 points in 22 games.

Defender: 
liSvampl, WHO - Unknown has certainly backed up their pre-season talk that they should be in Elite with a terrific season in the ECL top division thus far. A big part of their success has been the #1 defensive pairing of iSvamp & Terasniska. Playing in most of WHOs games thus far, both skaters are currently in the Top-10 for defensive scoring but iSvamp gets the nod due to having more goals, assists and points with his 23 points in 21 games.

Goalie: 
Ranta83, WHO - Another component to Unknowns success has been their constant goaltender Ranta83 who, besides from having the most goaltending Wins in Elite by a mile, sports some very respectable numbers with 80.42%, 2.20 GAA and 2 shutouts to his name.

WHO'S NOT - ELITE

Forward: 
Mullweiser, NOS - A big part of Northern Stars #1 line, Mullweiser is by no means having a bad season... it just probably hasn't been all he hoped for thus far, something that goes for the entire NOS team. Relying on team defense to win games isn't a bad strategy (especially not in the playoffs) but it puts an awful lot of pressure on the teams attackers to perform using limited opportunities. With 9 goals, 24 points and a -11 in 24 games, Mullweiser gets the nod here this time.

Defender: 
Maqruusi, RTL - Refuse To Lose gets a spot on the Not-list for the second straight edition as their season really hasn't improved that much since last time. This time they are represented by defender Maqruusi who sports a challenging -29 while managing just 1 goal and 8 points in 16 games.

Goalie:
octobussy, ESA - TIKI TALK is having a decent surge in the second part of their season, but octobussy still gets a nod here due to some tough personal stats. Outside of personal stats, 'Wins' is the most important metric there is for ECL goaltenders and while octobussy doesn't have the least wins per game, 5 wins in 14 games isn't quite good enough. 

WHO’S HOT - PRO

Forward: 
Tapparafan-, NS - The ECL 2 point scoring champion is back in the same team enviroment that made him a star and his production has followed suit. Nordic Stars' offensive catalyst has lit the lamp an astounding 44 times in 26 games thus far and looks poised to add some more scoring trophies to his name.

Defender: 
Janzuh, Car - Carlsberg HC has dominated Pro Group 1 the last couple of weeks, something that has led to Car top defender Janzuh running away with the defender scoring title. This sturdy blueliner isn't just a product of his team though, he is as much part of Carlsbergs success as any of their forwards or goaltenders and if you'd poll the Car players themselves - Janzuh would be a safe bet for MVP of the team. 

Goalie: 
hoiggaa, CAT - Being a runner-up on this list last time seemed to motivate Kattiautomattis #1 goalie who has continued his torrid pace ever since. Currently the leader for goaltending Wins, hoiggaa probably has his eyes set on quite a few of the Pro goaltending trophies - he just needs to stick the landing with CAT's final 6 games.

WHO'S NOT - PRO

Forward: 
XelsFIN, NEM - A league-worst -42 is enough to get XelsFIN on this list this time. His 25 points in 21 games is respectable but the plus/minus, combined with the 23 PIMs, is the anchor for one of Nemesis' most important players this season.

Defender: 
ac_tiska, T T - Just like in the Forward-section, it's a combination of factors that gets ac_tiska on the Not-list for defenders this time. His -25, 0 goals and 16 PIMs in 15 games leaves room for improvement.

Goalie:
Popensans, KNS - No wins in 10 games played is a tough pill to swallow for anyone and you got to believe nobody wants that first win more than Popensans himself or his teammates. Once Pop gets that out of the way, he'll be able to move out of this spot.

WHO’S HOT - LITE

Forward: 
KattenJansson97, Lav - In the interest of having some diversity on this list, JPT will not be featured this time, even though their personal achievements remain impressive. Instead we have the 3rd ranked Lite scorer from surprise team Lavetten, KattenJansson97, getting a shoutout. The whole team has been rising steadily in the standings since the start and a big factor has been their #1 center and his 76 points.

Defender: 
Rankaisija_, OLD - Going from Elite to Lite should mean a dominating performance and Ranksu has not dissapointed. With 50 points in 25 games, this hard-hitting defender has been just as good as expected - just like the rest of the Old Farts team.

Goalie: 
Nebelparder55555, HHC - Being 2nd in Wins and with 82% and a GAA under 2, Nebelparder has led Hawks Hockey Club to one of the top seeds in Lite just ahead of the playoffs. That's really all you can ask for when it comes to your goaltender.

WHO'S NOT - LITE

Forward: 
rjounila, POH - A -56 and 11 points in 20 games played mostly as a forward will get you on the Not-list, sadly. Up to jounila and his teammates to bounce back in the final stretch.

Defender: 
moitzi, 666 - Another player with a low plus/minus rating and low point totals, moitzi gets the nod here. A Dream Valhalla has a lot of work to do before the playoffs and moitzi needs to be a part of the teams' turnaround.

Goalie:
Vanish71, IPH - 2 wins in 14 games will get you on this list. Vanish71 needs to make sure the pucks start vanishing into his catching glove a bit more in the future.

See you in the playoffs - later skaters/

The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Good afternoon, NHL Gamers!

League Administration finalized it's ruling on 3 cases which happened during the last week.

1)Valta15: Irresponsible behavior

Player valta15 decided to leave his old team and join Dynamo Danglers, where he played one game and partially finished a second one(the game was quit midway through by both parties after several connection issues).

Afterwards, he wanted to go back to his old team, which is not allowed according to ECL rules:

------------------

10. Recruitment and transfers 

 "Players are not allowed to transfer to a team they had previously left during a league/tournament."

------------------

In a desperate journey of sending messages to League Administration, he suggested several options to circumvent this rule, which is also prohibited:

------------------

3. Code of conduct

"Members are not allowed to try circumventing the rules."

------------------

On top of that, valta15 now refuses to finish the second game for his team and also announced he was not going to play any more games for Dynamo Danglers.

This is considered a breach of the Fair Play rule.

Taking all the issues into account, League Administration is going to ban valta15 for the remainder of ECL 4 as well as the first 10 games of ECL 5. Furthermore, valta15 won't be allowed to act as a Captain or Assistant Captain during ECL 5.

Because of this, the second game between Dynamo Danglers and Bone Breakers will need to be replayed.

2)Totalii: Personal attack against another NHLGamer member

Community member Totalii made a shameless and very personal attack against another NHLGamer member in the forums. This is a violation of the following rule:

------------------

3. Code of conduct

"Registered members are required to treat each other with respect and not divert to overly abusive language. This applies to all league/tournament related conversations conducted on NHLGamer.com"

------------------

League Administration has decided that player Totalii will be banned for the remainder of the ECL 4 regular season (a total of 10 games, including today's games).

3)NYTSAKENEE: Second account

It has come to our attention that player NYTSAKENEE(Huppati HC - Pro) is using two accounts, second account Ei_Baas(Teletapit - Lite). This is a clear violation of the ECL rule:

------------------

1. Member registration

"No player may have more than one account on NHLGamer.com."

------------------

After further investigation we learned that the captain of Huppati HC, Samzoni, was fully aware of this situation.

League Administration has decided that player NYTSAKENEE/Ei_Baas will be banned for remainder of ECL 4 as well as the first 50% of the ECL 5 games. Samzoni will be banned for remainder of ECL 4 and won't be allowed to act as a Captain or Assistant Captain during ECL 5.

@Samzoni @KerttulanKarlsson @Fobba71 @Totalii @SadaPoika @Tuukka.R @rotta__roteva @Lupachuk @Xx-Kane-X @lycki10 @Givystar @Anenthran @valta15 @Nytsakenee @Ei_Baas

- League Administration

Good evening NHLGamers,

What? Transfer deadline? Yes, it's that time of the season again. Some members of the community were probably caught off-guard by it due to a shorter regular season. No need to worry!

As some of you may have already noticed, the staff has decided to extend the transfer deadline for ECL4 and give teams more time to fine-tune their rosters. The new transfer deadline is - 23:59 CET on March 12, 2017. This effectively means that this Sunday is the last day when teams are allowed to make any free agent signings and player transfers.

During this most frantic time for both players and captains, lets not forget that there are still certain rules regarding transfers and player signings that need to be followed.

--------------------------------------------------------------

10. Recruitment and transfers

The rules in this section only apply during a league/tournament.

The deadline for transfers is set to 23:59 CET on March 12, 2017.

Teams are allowed to recruit free agent members of NHL Gamer up until the trade-deadline. Both the player and team must mutually agree to being picked up from the free agents.

Teams are allowed to release a player from their roster, provided this doesn’t violate the roster minimum rule. Released players cannot go back to the team that released them and their next move is considered a transfer from the team that released them to their new team.

Team captains not allowed to transfer during a league/tournament. Team assistant captains are allowed to transfer in case the team captain agrees to a transfer. In case the team captain disagrees, an assistant captain is not allowed to be transferred to another team. This paragraph also applies if a team is not able to finish the tournament for whatever reason.

Regular players are allowed to transfer once per tournament from a team to another, unless the move would put their initial team under the 8-player limit.

Players are not allowed to transfer to a team they had previously left during a league/tournament.

Teams may add up to 3 transferred players for the duration of the league/tournament.

If a team is disqualified its managers are banned from the league/tournament. The other roster players are free to transfer to another team, unless they were proven involved in the disqualification of their team, in which case they are also banned.

--------------------------------------------------------------

IN SUMMARY:

• Transfer deadline - 23:59 CET on March 12, 2017.
• Free agents and teams need to mutually agree and update their roster on NHLGamer.com accordingly.
• Team captains aren't allowed to transfer to another team.
• Assistant captains can transfer to another team, if the captain of the team agrees to the said transfer(preferably a confirmation in written form).
• Regular players are limited to 1 transfer throughout the duration of a tournament. In addition they aren't allowed to transfer to a team they have left during the current tournament.
• Teams can only add up to 3 transferred players for the duration of the league/tournament.

Good luck and don't forget to share your confirmed transfer deadline deals and player signings with the community:

// NHLGamer Staff

Good evening, NHL Gamers!

League Administration finalized it's ruling for a case involving the teams Refuse To Lose and Silver Sword Griffins and the player Kefleri. Kefleri left RTL without agreement from the captain Hanssonni, and joined SSG to immediately play 2 games with them against HC Checkmate. This violates the following rule:

---

8. Recruitment and transfers

"Team assistant captains are allowed to transfer in case the team captain agrees to a transfer. In case the team captain disagrees, an assistant captain is not allowed to be transferred to another team."

---

After discussing the case with both teams and the affected player, League Administration decided on the following outcome:

• Both games between Silver Sword Griffins and HC Checkmate will need to be replayed without Kefleri
• Kefleri will receive a 2 game ban for SSG's games against Kattiautomaatti
• pelimies80 will receive a 2 game ban for SSG's games against Kattiautomaatti due to transferring the player, even though he was aware of the above rule
• pelimies80 will of course be allowed to participate in the two rematches against HC Checkmate

At the time of this news story, Refuse to Lose agreed to the transfer, so Kefleri is allowed to join Silver Sword Griffins after all.

We would also like to include a general reminder to all captains: You are the team leader, and you have the power to decline an Assistant Captain's transfer. However if there are personal differences involved, and the captain tries to abuse this power by tying the player to the team after damage was already done (purposefully), the Fair Play rule comes into play. Benching a player in this scenario is strictly not welcome and League Administration will investigate. 

@Kefleri @pelimies80 @xLVxRitchey @ProMinx24 @OxtreeLAT @Hanssonni @ReDMisTi @TackleControl @Juizki @selänne8 

- League Administration

Hello NHLGamers,

Welcome to another edition of "Who's Hot and Who's Not". A format first introduced this summer during the ECL Summer Cup, the "Hot or Not"-column was a source of much emotion and debate during its first tour of duty... so naturally we decided to bring it back! This time around the lists will be a bit shorter (we have atleast five times more teams and three different divisions to cover) but hopefully just as accurate and prone to create debates. I have enlisted @nylanderi to help out with the list for Elite while I myself will handle Pro & Lite. As always, we have the great @OxtreeLAT providing some terrific art for both the cover and the different sections within the article. The column will be a weekly occurence just like before so look for it on Sundays during the season.

Before we begin I'd just like to direct a few short words to those of you who are struggling with our new match reporting system, the EA API. We are tracking your error reports (keep producing as detailed reports as possible) and those on the staff with technical skills are also working towards improving the systems functionality. What you can do meanwhile is this;

- Have patience. Sometimes a game will not appear in the API system for a few hours (we've had reports of delays up to 5-6 hours) so games might have to be reported the day after. If the game hasn't showed up for you the next day efter playing, please contact us to see how we can be of assistance.

- Do not report games in the old tool unless absolutely neccessary. If your games were completed without disconnects, wait for the game to show up in the API instead of reverting back to the old tool. We understand everyone wants the games reported as soon as possible (hell, we do too!) but for now we ask for your patience.

- Be careful. Before completing your game report - check your input one extra time. The system isn't working at 100% yet, but just by being extra careful when reporting you are helping us all out alot. Thank you.

- Home team reports their game so 1 report each.

Now, let us get to the lists!

 by nylanderi

WHO’S HOT - ELITE

Forward:
Vilupoika, SKY
What a start it has been for Written in The Stars. They have won 11/12 of their games, and Vilupoika has 15+15=30 in those 12 games. Written has been a really good defensive team as well, so we know that Vilu has been really important in the defensive aspect of the game also.

Runner-ups:
Kingofapes_, SKY - Just barely edged out by Vilupoika, both these forward and their teammates have been big contributors in SKYs torrid start. Ape actually has 31 points but one goal less than Vilu.

I_Eki_I, MUK - The total points leader with 32 points, however two more games played than Ape and Vilu.

Defender:
Totalii, SKY - Written has conceded the least goals in the league, so Writtens defense lead by their captain has been rock solid! Totalii has also contributed with 8 points in the 1st week, and leads dmen’s scoring race.

Runner-up:
vSilenttio, SIK - Goal scoring leader for all defenders in Elite (5), hats off to SIKAs captain and catalyst.

Goalie:
Danielcadabra and s_w1ld_RUS, SKY - These goaltenders are both in the Top-5 for Wins while maintaining Save Percentages over 80% and combining for 5 shutouts. Nuff said.

Runner-up:
Ranta83, WHO - The goalie leader for Wins in Elite.

WHO'S NOT - ELITE

Forward: 
ReDMisTi, RTL - Refuse To Lose' start to the season has been real tough. They have had lots of problems in the offense and Misti has only scored 2+8=10 in 10 games, with a massive -22. 

Defender: 
puke85, GRR - Aapon Taikasauva was ranked as one of the best defensive teams in the league by me, so it was a suprise for me to see puke85 with -4 after 8 games. Aapons defense has to step it up if they wanna succeed.

Goalie:
juha96, RV - RV has had a real rocky start. You should never blame your goalie but we all know that Juha could do a little better after his great performances in previous tournaments... (Editors Note: was written before juha96s departure from RV)

 by The_Alpha_Furyan

WHO’S HOT - PRO

Forward:
Stefan_397, ICE - This accurate sniper from Inter Iceland has certainly lived up to his title of a "Player to watch", having celebrated 30 goals in just 16 games so far. Even more impressive then that he not only leads the goal category but also the points category by a margin of 7 points with 46 points in 16 games.

Runner-ups:
jm__98___, UB - Second in goals (26) and points (39) - a no-brainer pick.

IbjonoI, 112 - Third in points (39) and with the most GWGs in Pro (4).

Defender:
entii112, SSG - 15 points in 6 games seems like an impossible feat at this level but this defender has done it so far! Warms my OFD-heart to see defenders scoring points. Well done enti!

Runner-up:
Tanski87, RB - Tied to be goal scoring leader for all defenders in Pro (5), this monstrous defender also leads the Pro division for hits by a defenseman with 81. Look out for this double threat on the blueline, pro teams.

Goalie:
LastMandalorian, 112 - The goaltending leader for Wins with 14 Ws (13 regulation, 1 OT) in 18 games played also has 4 shutouts (nobody else has more than 1) and a GAA at 1.77 with a save % close to 80. A solid foundation for 112 to build on.

Runner-up:
hoigga, CAT - This goalie has not yet lost a game (14 wins in 14 games - 10 regulation, 4 OT) while maintaining a save % over 80% and a GAA under 2. If he can keep this up, CAT looks set for a long playoff run in Pro.

WHO'S NOT - PRO

Forward: 
friskaviljor, SHO - With just 5+5=10 in 9 games as a forward, friskaviljors production is certainly OK. That -18 is a bit tougher to ignore though. 

Defender: 
Duran93-, KNS - Bare Knuckles needs a little bit more than 1+4=5 and a -11 in 10 games from one of its top defenders.

Goalie:
Siickan, TBB - Sporting an 0-6-0 record and some tough statistical numbers, The Beagle Boyz is in need of Siickan to channel his inner Hasek for the rest of the season to bounce back.

 by The_Alpha_Furyan

WHO’S HOT - LITE

Forward:
moilanenC, JPT - 31+21 for 52 points in 12 games are some completely insane numbers. The whole line for JPT has been unreal (currently sitting at 1-2-3 in the scoring race) but moilanen gets the nod for #1 due to his goal scoring prowess.

Runner-ups:
makeee76, JPT - Point scoring leader with 25+28=53 in 12 games.

mikihoo, JPT - With 16+24=40 in 12 games, one would have to imagine mikihoo is the defensive catalyst on the JPT line.

Defender:
jonezki26, JPT - The JPT dominance continues here with jonezki delivering 3+21 for 24 points in 12 games. A points per game average at 2 for a defender, combined with a +42, commands respect.

Runner-up:
Zuominen, PAP - On that notion the top defender for Papat, Zuominen, is no slouch himself with 18 points in 8 games, including 4 goals and 60 hits.

Goalie:
jjuhao, JPT - Finishing the sweep for JPT is goaltender jjuhao with his 11-1-0 record, 2 shutouts and solid personal statistics.

Runner-up:
Nebelparder55555, HHC - This goalie would probably have had a great shot at being #1 for this edition of the column (his numbers with save % almost at 90, GAA at 1 and 3 shutouts certainly raises eyebrows) but sadly misses out due to just competing in 8 games so far. Look out for Nebel on next weeks edition though!

WHO'S NOT - LITE

Forward: 
Reaper-80, 666 - Once again, the +/- is a leading statistic when putting together this column and A Dream Valhalla is another team that is struggling. Reaper-80 is putting up some numbers, 6+4=10 in 13 games as a winger, but needs to up his +/- and pot a few more points for 666 to stay afloat.

Defender: 
xsakux99, BHC - Blues HC have had a real tough season so far, hopefully saku and friends can turn it around but for now he finds himself on this list with 4 points and a -36 in 11 games.

Goalie:
Hujunake, VEM - While I have no doubt this goaltender with the great name, Pablo Escobar, is trying to smuggle out as many wins as he can, a few more than 3 in 13 is needed.

See you next week - later skaters/

The_Alpha_Furyan & nylanderi for NHLGamer.com

Good afternoon, NHLGamers!

At 14:11 of the first period in the ECL 4 game between Aapon Taikasauva and Dynasty, indi969(Sven Tuuba) initiated a challenge for a fight with Dynasty's jumalpeku(EVGENI BULJUJÄRVI). This happened right before the face-off and as such is in violation of the following rules:

---

8. Game rules

"Players are not allowed to challenge for a fight before a faceoff nor against a player who is either in possession of the puck, or would be the first one reaching a loose puck. Note, however, that if a player delivers a big hit, gets the puck and the fight challenge comes up, the opposing team is allowed to take the fight, because the player delivering the hit is regarded as initiating the fight challenge."

---

6.Fair Play

""Fair Play" is the most essential rule in regards to any games carried out within a tournament on NHLGamer.com. In general, "Fair Play" describes the act of treating your opponent the way you would like to be treated. This includes communication, but also any actions which are directly or indirectly related towards on-ice action. To give you an idea of what to avoid to comply with this Fair Play rule, here are a few examples:

• Do not attack your opponent with abusive language
• Do not exploit game mechanics or bugs to put your opponent at a disadvantage (e.g. do not make use of any player stats exploits, de-sync glitches, freezes or similar)
• Do not distract your opponent from playing the game (e.g. do not spam messages, do not call your opponent while he is in-game or similar)

Disregarding the Fair Play rule will lead to disciplainary action depending on the kind of infraction. Less severe infractions like distractions may lead to point suspensions or game bans, while actually exploiting the game can also lead to a ban for all activities carried out on NHLGamer.com, in case the user is not interested in sharing this knowledge with League Administration. If this kind of issue comes up, League Administration will share this knowledge with EA SPORTS."

---

After hearing indi969's explanation, the League Administration has determined that his intentions weren't malicious and issues him a two game suspension. As a result, indi969 won't be able to represent Aapon Taikasauva in their next two scheduled ECL games against Limitless on 27th of February. The ban is valid for this match-up only, so in case Aapon Taikasauva decide to play another opponent beforehand, the ban is not valid for that game.

League Administration reminds everyone that all registered members are required to carry themselves and behave in accordance to the ECL Season 4 rules found here:

- League Administration

Good day NHLGamers,

Here are all the particulars you need to know for ECL 4, which starts today!

Rule changes

There are some rule changes from ECL 3 to ECL 4. Most of them concern updates based on Rulings we made in ECL 3 in our three disciplinary threads. Here is a link to the rules as every player does need to read them carefully, the rules that have been updated will be marked in bold text:

Here is a quick summary of some of the changes:

• Clarified that every player needs to be on the correct teams official NHLGamer.com roster (by invite) and not just listed in the registration post before they play in any ECL games.
• Went from a 3-point system (like European hockey) to a 2-point system (like the NHL).
• Updated the scheduling rules to not limit teams as much from playing their games ahead of time.
• Trade deadline is now 2 weeks before the end of the regular season.
• Teams quitting ECL 4 before the end of the regular season will not be allowed participation in ECL 5.
• Added a new Fair Play rule.

Captains message

Every teams captaincy squad (regardless of division) will receive a message today, detailing what is expected of them, with some helpful links and information. Seeing as we have more teams than ever before, we deemed it a good idea to let all captains and assistant captains know how things work on NHLGamer and where they can turn to for help. This message also includes a clarified defintion on what the different Staff members "jobs" are and who to contact when they need help. As this is useful information for the rest of the community as well - we will also list it here:

• If you have questions regarding possible rule violations, team conflicts or disciplinary actions - you contact @vSilenttio, @OxtreeLAT, @gzell60 and @Ranksu. These staff members form the new League Administration.
• If you have any questions about the website itself, if something isn't working properly or if you are unsure about how to do something - you contact @Kenu or @Lurkins.
• If you have any questions, thoughts, ideas or comments concerning the news stories on our webpage or the content that is featured - you contact @The_Alpha_Furyan.
• For business proposals, you contact @Kenu.

League Administration

The above mentioned 4 NHLGamer staff members make up the new League Administration (LA) responsible for handling all the disciplinary matters and rule violations that occur. We of course envision a tournament without discipline needed but unfortunately we know that isn't always a realistic goal. The LA will handle each matter individually and communicate their decisions through "League Administration Rulings" news stories when the need arises. You are expected to have video, image or text proof of matters that need the LAs attention as it is near impossible to rule in a "he said/she said"-case.

NHLGamer.com

Good evening NHLGamers,

Me - The_Alpha_Furyan - and the rest of the NHLGamer staff bid you welcome to another installment of our ECL Season Preview. To get an idea of what we will be doing in these previews, you can check out our previous one for Season 3. While that preview focused more on listing all the participating teams and predicting which ones would come out on top from the regular season, this one will try to dig a little deeper and supply a more in-depth look at each and every division - something the community has been vocal about in their feedback to our writing staff.

After looking at both the Lite and Pro divisions, we've now reached the final 16 teams of ECL 4, the Elite Division. Just like during the Pro preview I have @nylanderi, our newest content creator here at NHLGamer.com, and his excellent eye for team- and player scouting by my side for this one. Let us get to it, shall we?

Main text, scouting and predictions by nylanderi
Text editing and additional reporting by The_Alpha_Furyan
Art by OxtreeLAT

Prediction for the Regular Season Top - 5

1. Unknown
WHO is a team that rely on solid team defense and counter attacking to win games. Unknowns defense, lead by isvamp, has been really good every time I have played against them in regular EASHL lately. Foppatofflan and MartindalexC on the wings have the skill to create a bunch of great scoring chances in every game. If they can play at their highest level during the entire regular season, they will definitely finish high - possibly even first in the regular season. Their goalie situation is probably their biggest weakness since they are currently still searching for a starting goalie as far as I know. I am aware that Ranta83 is really good between the pipes, but if he's not able to play that much they will need to find a reliable goalie. 

2. Limitless
Last seasons champions X Factor, with a new name and some new roster aquisitions from Finnish Roosters. The offense - on paper at least - is truly something to behold with all three starting forwards finishing in top 10 for scoring during ECL 3. One of the biggest transfers this offseason was Limitless' acquisition of Haldeem from Dynasty. The plan is for Haldeem to form a defender partnership with myself (nylanderi). If the defense clicks and FinKonna puts up the good performances he is capable of it should be really hard to score against Limitless in ECL 4. If this team is able to string together solid performances they will most likely be one of the powerhouses this season.

3. Aapon Taikasauva
Last seasons offensive powerhouse team has changed a lot. They lost Joukki13 and Puantso, but acquired some new forwards. Bugimir, Nampa77 and Chafak are all really good additions to the team, and I believe they will go far this season as well. Bugimir and Indi are both great two-way forwards, and I believe that Aapon will be one of the best defensive teams this season because of it. 

4. Laser HT
After last seasons disappointing finish, Laser has changed quite a lot. They made some big moves during the offseason and you can be sure they will be one of the top teams once again. Their team might not be as good on paper as last seasons squad but if Dominointi gets his team going you can expect great things.

5. Written in The Stars
Kinda like Limitless, Writtens lineup has changed a lot. They have acquired KingOfApes_ and Vilupoika from X Facto with both players expected to bring a lot to their offense. Totalii leads their defense but they also got a new LD, Defmaxou, from Alliance HT so it will really interesting how he will do for SKY. If everything works out as planned, these guys can challenge for the ECL Elite championship. 

Championship favorite

I would say Limitless, but I dont really want to have a big target on my back from the rest of the Elite division... so I will pick Aapon Taikasauva.

Aapons roster this season fits playoff hockey perfectly. They can shut it down and they have some really tricky players up front. Aapons starting goalie is still a mystery to me so that could potentially be something that messes up their season. However, if they have an active goalie who can hold his own in net you better watch out for this team.

Players to watch

1. Norpee, Synergy, LW/C
Talk about a player who can do it all, Norpee will continue to do wonders for SYN this season. He scored a whopping 152 points during the ECL 3 regular season but I still feel that he is actually quite underrated. Terrific two-way skills combined with top hockey-IQ, I think he will continue to cause all sorts of problems for Elite opponents. 

2. Anrh17, Unknown, C/RW
iSvamp let us know in the Unknown thread that Anrh17 is quite busy with his IRL hockey, but whenever he has time to play you can expect big things. Unknowns #1 center often flies under the radar because of their skilled wingers, but this guy has been excellent every time Limitless has matched up against them and should continue to be a difference maker during ECL 4.

3. Gendlik, SIKA, C
SIKA truly aquired a great player from Nordic Blizzard this offseason. Gendlik is known for his silky smooth hands and he should be a great fit for SIKA. Watching them last season I felt that they really needed one more pure skill forward. Gendlik can quarterback SIKAs offensive game and take that team to another level.

4. s_w1ld_RUS, Written In The Stars, G
In my opinion a Top-3 goalie in the game and he really proved it last season in Alliance and recently whenever I have matched up against him in EASHL. With this goalie, Written has a chance to be one of the better defensive teams in the ECL Elite division.

5. Puantso, Dynasty, LD/C
I was quite surprised when I heard about this signing. Puantso has been a wonderful player for Aapon the past few seasons. Now he plays for Dynasty but I am not sure about which position he will occupy. I feel like he could be an offensive juggernaut for Dynasty as a C, but I have heard rumours that he might play LD. That’s not bad either since Haldeem left and I know for a fact that Puantso is really good at defense. If he does play D, he will for sure form one of the better defensive partnerships in the game with Snapu and Dynasty will most likely continue the tradition of being one of the top defensive teams.

Teams to watch

1. Nordic Lightning
“New” NL is a really interesting team. They are back in ECL 4 without their captain JaromirSniper68 but in EASHL games their defense has been really good and their fast counter attacks have caused all sorts of problems. Tactical_Face is a great goalie as well so I think these guys can really surprise a lot of people this season.

2. Dynasty
They really impressed me last season, but I think Dynasty will be even better this season. They're a team who truly plays great in every area of the ice and will be a tough assignment for every opponent to break down. Dynasty, lead by Snapu, is looking for a long playoff run at this point and their recent EASHL performances show that they have a good chance to achieve just that.

3. Northern Stars
During an off-season where it felt like everyone and their mother changed teams, NOS made the bold choice to stand pat - only mixing up their lineup internally with some possible position changes. This could prove to be a wise choice as many other Elite teams will be scrambling to find chemistry in their lineups while NOS will have many years of experience to lean on. Lets see how this decision works out.

This was our full 3-part preview for ECL 4 and we hope that you enjoyed it. As always, feel free to leave to leave your thoughts in the comment section. Now, let's get back on the virtual ice and play some hockey!

Later skaters,
The_Alpha_Furyan & nylanderi for NHLGamer.com

Good evening NHLGamers,

Me - The_Alpha_Furyan - and the rest of the NHLGamer staff bid you welcome to another installment of our ECL Season Preview. To get an idea of what we will be doing in these previews, you can check out our previous one for Season 3. While that preview focused more on listing all the participating teams and predicting which ones would come out on top from the regular season, this one will try to dig a little deeper and supply a more in-depth look at each and every division - something the community has been vocal about in their feedback to our writing staff.

After giving you the preview for the ECL 4 Lite division yesterday, we now move on to the ECL 4 Pro division. To assist me with this preview I have enlisted the help of a community member who needs no introduction (but will still get one). After finishing up the previous ECL tournament as the captain of the championship winning team Limitless, this Finn wanted to contribute more to the community in the form of reporting. Therefore, it is with great joy we here at NHLGamer.com - through this article - introduce our newest content creator and Staff member, @nylanderi. So without further ado, I now turn the mic over to nylanderi for this preview. The predictions and words are his, my contribution is solely some editing and additional thoughts. Let's go!

• Main text, scouting and predictions by nylanderi
• Text editing and additional reporting by The_Alpha_Furyan
• Art by OxtreeLAT

Prediction for the Regular Season Top- 5.

1. Carlsberg
Carslberg HC is a team who would quite possibly be my pick for even the ECL Elite Championship - so this choice was pretty much a no-brainer for me. I expect this reunited team to dominate the regular season, possibly even finishing their whole run without any losses. Carlsberg truly are amazing in every zone on the ice, with almost no weaknesses to their game. Especially look for joukki13 and Patzlaf to most likely finish #1 and 2 in scoring for the Pro division.

2. Sjukstugan
I will say that Sjukstugan has made some really interesting moves in the offseason - acquiring Filariou, The_Alpha_Furyan and LastMandalorian. From what I have seen when recently playing against 112 in EASHL games they have really taken their game a step in the right direction. Honestly, if they can defend as a team in ECL they could challenge CAR for the ECL 4 Pro title. In my opinion their team offense is their biggest source of strength, but forwards will have to make sure to also defend if they want to find themselves in ECL Elite when NHL 18 shows up and ECL 5 kicks off. 

3. Unlucky Boys HC
One of the more underrated teams out there, I think UB is really going to impress a lot of people this season. They have great players upfront in Anhel_kuru and Ilmari30 but also share a weakness with many other Pro teams - their defense. In UBs case, especially defending together as a team. If this team wants to succeed they will have to be able to shut other teams down. Their offense can score goals against pretty much anyone, but it will not help them if they let in more than they score.

4. Kattiautomatti
This is a team that I am quite familiar with, seeing as how we faced them in the ECL 3 playoffs. Overall I think Katti is a really good defensive team, but they are somewhat lacking in offensive power. If they can find a way to score a few extra goals per game, look for them to go real far this season but if not, it could be a tough season. Good luck guys and again - thanks for the playoff series!

5. Silver Sword Griffins
To me, it was kind of a big suprise last season to see how good SSG did. Their defense and goaltending is usually their strength (it has always been their trademark) but how they are going to score their goals is usually the big mystery. SSGs goals often come from low point shots with deflections and that style of play definitely requires luck if they want to go far. A big responsibility will be on the shoulders of #1 center and top scorer, ProMinx24. Will also be interesting to see how OxtreeLAT handles going from goaltender to defender - from what I have seen it should work out really well.

Championship favorite

It is Carlsberg. For me, as I said in the regular season predicitions, this was never in doubt. Maybe one of the other teams pull off an upset and somehow sneak by Carlsberg... but if they do not win the Pro division (or at the very least make the finals) it would have to be considered a failure.

Players to watch

1. Janzuh, Carlsberg, D
I have heard many people state that Janzuh is one of the very best LDs in the competitive NHL gaming scene, and I totally agree with that notion. Janzuh is rock solid in his own end and with his amazing hockey IQ I am sure he is going to have a huge role in Carlsbergs offense as well.  

2. Ilmari30, Unlucky Boys HC, Forward
One of the better playmakers in the game for sure. He makes things easy for him and his teammates. His definitely gonna quarterback UBs game, and take them far this season.

3. Stefan_397, Inter Iceland, Forward
Stefan, just like the rest of Inter Iceland, is some kind of mystery to me (and to the community I think). I dont really know that much about him to be honest, only that he can score a lot of goals. If he can keep that kind of scoring up (65 goals last regular season) we can expect great things from Inter Iceland this season.

4. Kaneyh, White Trash, Forward
Kaneyh is one of the best Versus/HUT players to come out of Finland and based on his stats from last season, his talents has carried over to 6v6 as well. If WT is able to shut down their opponents and Kaneyh manages to continue his skillfull terror upfront - watch out for him and for this team.

5. Juizki, Checkmate, G
Juizki is one of the most underrated goalies in the game and everytime I have faced him in EASHL, he has been really good, bordering on amazing. Checkmate as a team has acquired a whole bunch of new players and with Juziki backstopping them, this team is going to be really interesting to watch.

Teams to watch

1. White Trash
We faced them last season and from what I could tell then (and now) their offense is truly elite level. But again the same story as most of the Pro teams comes back - they really lack unity in their own zone. If they can sort that out, these guys are going to be scary good.

2. HC Checkmate
Building on what was said above in "Players to watch" with Juizki, Checkmate is a team to look out for this season. While maybe not at the very top of the predicted Pro teams, they still feature a lot of skill and massive amounts of chemistry. Their offense, led by BiggestEight on LW, also features speedcell104 and TackleControl - forming a line whose speed and creative attacks is enough to send the opponents heads spinning. Couple that with Juizkis play in net and new signing IYouShallNotPass on defense and you have a real interesting team.

3. Nordic Stars
This is a team filled up with some great players. However, I have not yet faced them in EASHL competition so I couldn't really put them in the top 5 prediction this time. This team has the potential to be really good in every zone though and actually dominate the pro division - possibly even challenging CAR and 112 for the championship.

4. Baltic Sea Eagles
Don't forget about these veterans. BSE has been around since before Jesus (not talking about the Company of Geeks captain... or am I?) and has amassed a lot of experience. This will be their first entry into the ECL scene from what I understand and it will be interesting to see how they handle the tempo of ECL competition.
 

That is it for Pro, leave your thoughts in the comment section and give nylanderis first contribution to the website the attention it deserves. See you all tomorrow for the ECL 4 Elite preview!

Later skaters,
The_Alpha_Furyan & nylanderi

Good afternoon NHLGamers,

Me - The_Alpha_Furyan - and the rest of the NHLGamer staff bid you welcome to another installment of our ECL Season Preview. To get an idea of what we will be doing in these previews, you can check out our previous one for Season 3. While that preview focused more on listing all the participating teams and simply predicting which ones would come out on top from the regular season, this one will try to dig a little deeper and supply a more in-depth look at each and every division - something the community has been vocal about in their feedback to our writing staff.

• Text, scouting and predictions by The_Alpha_Furyan
• Art by OxtreeLAT

We kick off our 3-part installment by looking at the Lite division, where we find a total 32 teams (one more team was allowed late entry to even out the amount of Lite teams) - lots of them new to the community and to myself personally. This preview might be a bit biased towards the teams I know and have seen before but that should also provide some great motivation for all other teams to prove me wrong and fight for those top seeds.

Prediction for the Regular Season Top- 5.

1. HC Ancient Warriors
This team is on par with most Pro teams out there and should without a doubt be a contender to win the Lite title. If not the champions, they are likely to gain a top seed in the regular season and make their way through the playoffs to secure one of the promotion spots.

2. Bone Breakers
I will admit to not knowing the full story of this team outside of their appearance in ECL 3 where their participation didn't extend all the way through the season. From what I've been told by multiple sources though, they were quite the force to be reckoned with back in the Consolehockey days and could be one of the top contenders for the ECL 4 Lite title.

3. DEAD END KINGS
Featuring quite a few former players from Elite division team Synergy, DEAD END KINGS will be looking to establish their own legacy with this new team. Keep an eye out for this team right from the start as I predict they will come out of the gates hungry to prove that they belong in the Pro divison.

4. iNF4M0US
Any team that is good enough to beat Laser HT under any conditions has my respect and that is just what this team did. No idea what the circumstances were for that game but like I said, beating LHT certainly establishes some credibility.

5. EN HUND
Able to keep most of their roster together after a disappointing end to the ECL 3 season, EN HUND should be rejuvenated playing in the Lite division. Featuring many former members of Elite division team SIKA, EN HUND has both the experience and chemistry neccessary for both a strong regular season and a long playoff run.

Championship favorite

Going with my top pick for the regular season here as I predict HC Ancient Warriors to win the Lite championship. They're one of the best Lite teams I have personally played against and have been practicing hard ever since ECL 3, trying to get themselves ready for ECL 4. Getting past some of the other more experienced teams won't be a walk in the park though and who knows - we might see a complete upset coming out of Lite.

Players to watch 

1. esdor15, Lavetten, Forward
One of the very best HUT players NHL 17 has to offer makes his ECL debut for team Lavetten and it should be an interesting one. With the right mindset, willingness to improve and translation of his Versus/HUT skill to EASHL - esdor15 could easily be one of the breakout players from ECL 4 Lite. At this point I am not sure what position he will occupy in the lineup but my guess is forward to maximize his offensive skill.

2. Stylez-Hadez, HC Ancient Warriors, C/RW/LW
The captain and leader of my predicted ECL Lite championship team, HC Ancient Warriors, deserves a mention here. Stylez is originally from the Versus side of NHL 17 where he has been a Top-100 player for quite a while while only getting his first taste of ECL last season with Sjukstugan. When playing against Ancient Warriors in EASHL lately they've been very competitive and I have to believe that is largely due to their captain.

3. Nephenzy, DEAD END KINGS, C/LW
Another captain on this list, Nephenzy is an experienced ECLer with two seasons in Synergy and one season in Northern Ascendancy under his belt. While capable of playing everywhere (as evidenced from last season where he played every position in the lineup for NOR), we will most likely see Nephenzy lead his team to a top seed in Lite from the center position.

4. PatzyDrake, Falun Coal Miners, LW
One of the more experienced ECLers in the entire ECL Lite division, PatzyDrake has amassed exactly 60 goals and over 100 points through 3 ECL seasons thus far. A constant presence on the FCM left wing, this sniping powerforward is just as effective ripping a one-timer as he is dangling his way to the net. Will try to juggle his IRL career as a semi-professional handball player with his responsibilites as the go-to guy for FCM - remains to be seen how many games he will be able to play for ECL 4.

5. TEAMSEILA, EN HUND, D
TEAMSEILA, the hardest hitting defender in ECL, barely missed out on winning the "Most Hits" trophy for ECL 3. While his strenghts lie in his physical game and defensive awareness, this ex-SIKA defender is also a capable leader with the ability to chip in offensively when needed. Will try to lead his team EN HUND to ECL Lite glory this season. But seriously, what is with the capital letters - both username and team name?!

Teams to watch

1. Lavetten
This team will feature many experienced Versus and HUT players with parts of the squad getting their EASHL feet wet in ECL 3 for team HC Solhem. While that adventure didn't turn out the way the team had hoped, look for the members of that squad to want revenge while playing this time for Lavetten. With the signings of esdor and dallinhoo, Captain (and winner of the Swedish Versus championships) juniorzalaz has put together a strong team.

2. Falun Coal Miners
Got to give a shoutout to my old team here as well. With brothers and FCM owners/captains The_Alpha_Furyan & LastMandalorian both leaving for Sjukstugan - this team of real-life friends will be looking to prove themselves in ECL 4 Lite. Led by ECL veterans Meeertz (D), onecorner95 (G), PatzyDrake (LW) and iscojr94 (C), Falun will first be looking to establish a new team identity without the ever-constant crack of the whip from their previous captains. Look for this team to take a while to gel before taking off in the back half of the season.

3. Elämäm Kiekko
The sweetheart team of ECL 3, these happy-go-lucky Finns certainly displayed a tremendous attitude during their first season. Despite losing more games than they won, they kept their spirits high and made sure to entertain the community as much as they could. Lets see what their sophomore season brings in terms of success on the ice!

 

That is all for Lite. Look for our second part of the ECL 4 Season preview, Pro Division, tomorrow. For that installment (and for the Elite preview on Sunday) I will be enlisting the help of a new mystery Staff member-in-training... Keep an eye out!

Later skaters,
The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Update: Due to the fact that one ECL Lite group was having an empty slot, we decided to accept a late registation by J P T J. Furthermore we decided to merge two ECL Lite groups into one (per lottery), so we end up with the same conferences as ECL Pro. All changes are reflected below.

Hey NHL Gamers,

First of all, some of you have been asking for an ECL 4 kick-off date already, and we can confirm we will be starting on Monday, the 20th of February.

Secondly, all of us here in the NHLGamer Staff are overwhelmed by the amount of registrations for the new division format: 79 teams in total! Back when we were discussing the framework for divisions, the following quote was dropped in the Staff chat: "Expecting 80 or more teams is likely ridiculous". Turns out we were quite wrong about it. The community has never been more alive, and we are incredibly happy about this.

Having said that, the Staff had to make a couple of decisions. Unfortunately, Fat Cats, which were nominated for the Elite division, decided to withdraw from ECL 4. According to the announced tie-breakers (most playoff wins -> best regular season PPG average), Rynnäkköviikset will join ECL Elite and fill up spot #16. This is the final ECL Elite lineup:

• Unknown (previously Northern Ascendancy)
• Dynasty
• Synergy (previously Synergy Hockey)
• Written in the Stars
• Northern Stars
• Laser HT
• SIKA
• Limitless (previously X Factor)
• MUKIMIEHET
• TIKI TALK
• Aapon Taikasauva
• Nordic Lightning
• Refuse To Lose
• Nordic Nightmare
• Finnish Roosters
• Rynnäkköviikset

For ECL Pro, we received a total of 44 registrations for 32 spots, which means we needed to move 12 teams to ECL Lite. Some choices were more obvious than others, but in the end, we believe we made the right decisions. As announced earlier, we have taken ECL and EASHL records, as well as team/player reputation and consistency into account, and ran a lottery with 10 pre-seeded teams (Nordic Stars, Carlsberg HC, Germany's Finest, HC Checkmate, Kattiautomaatti, murohoki, Rusty Blades, Silver Sword Griffins, Sjukstugan, White Trash) - followed up by another lottery with the 22 remaining teams. Here are both ECL Pro conferences for ECL 4:

ECL Pro A

• Sjukstugan
• White Trash
• Carlsberg HC
• Rusty Blades
• murohoki
• Nocturnal Hunters
• The Beagle Boys
• Ace Holes HC
• HC Magic Zone
• The Lights Out (previously Lunatic Lions)
• Shameful Knights
• Bare Knuckles Hockey
• Origins
• Free From Rodents
• Unlucky Boys HC
• Baltic Sea Eagles

ECL Pro B

• Silver Sword Griffins
• Germany's Finest (previously UKnighted HC)
• Nordic Stars
• Kattiautomaatti
• HC Checkmate
• Company of Geeks
• Bellizzi
• Pata Hellalla
• Inter Iceland
• Showtime
• Royal Club
• Nemesis (previously Voodoo People)
• Huppati HC
• Thunder Tigers
• Alliance HT
• AK 47

All remaining 32 teams will join ECL Lite and compete in two conferences with 16 teams each. These are the ECL Lite conferences:

ECL Lite A

• Ice Phoenix
• Pohjoista Voimaa
• HC Scorpions
• Vemppaosasto
• Lavetten
• Banterfield Battallion
• HC Palosaari
• Clowns On Ice
• Anonymous HC
• Elämäm Kiekko
• Die TwitchProleten
• Dynamo Danglers
• GHETTO FIREBIRDS
• Papat
• Bone Breakers
• A Dream Valhalla

ECL Lite B

• Wolfsrudel
• EV Duisburg
• Prometheus
• HC Ancient Warriors
• Pungbrock HC
• Falun Coal Miners
• Teletapit
• DEAD END KINGS
• EN HUND
• PSHL Roadrunners
• The Youngsters
• Last Kings
• Hawks Hockey Club
• iNF4M0US
• Blues HC
• J P T J

What do you think about the conferences? Let us know in the comments below!

NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers,

Well, that was quite an intense experience wasn't it? Several months of competitive virtual hockey in the bag with more than a few highlight reel goals, slick saucer passes and bone crushing hits along the way. If you are anything like me, the time between ECLs is spent recovering from the emotional rollercoaster of the previous tournament while at the same time anticipating the next one.

Judging by the activity in the NHLGamer forums, the amount of new members and teams registered plus the crazy Free Agent season we've seen so far - ECL 4 looks to surpass all previous tournaments in terms of participation and activity. Almost 80 teams registered, that is insane! Thank you all for making this community what it is and making sure we stay on course in building the ultimate gathering place for competitive NHL gamers. Keep up the great activity and know that the next step on the NHLGamer journey, ECL Divisions, is right around the corner.

Here is all the information that is available right now concerning ECL 4 and the format it will feature: ECL Divisions FAQ.

With 45 teams registered for the Pro division and 15 for Elite, the NHLGamer staff does have some work to do in balancing the divisions and making sure the numbers stay even in terms of division size. Look for an update this week with the finalized division placements, the tournament start date plus the schedule for the season.

With that said, before we get started with ECL 4 it is time to properly close the book on our previous tournament. What better way to do that than to celebrate the greatest individual achievements of ECL 3? As you've most likely guessed based on the news story title, it is time for the ECL 3 Regular Season Awards (featuring the Playoff MVP)!

In total, there will be 9 individual trophys handed out (6 for skaters, 3 for goalies) for the regular season and 1 for the playoffs. Most of these you might have seen before in this story where we presented the trophys for ECL 1, 2 and Summer Cup. However, you will notice two new additions for this particular tournament. Enjoy!

(If someone isn't tagged, it is because I did not know their forum name.)

ECL 3 - Regular season:

Most Points -  @Joukki with 86 goals and 87 assists for 173 points in 42 games. This is joukkis second award for Most Points as he previously snagged the award in ECL 1.
 

Most Goals - Joukki again with his 86 goals; featuring 13 PPG, 1 SHG and 16 GWGs. joukki won this award for ECL 1 as well, so this is his second goal scoring title and fourth individual trophy in total. 
 

Most Assists - Puantso, who breaches the 100-plateau with 106 assists in 39 games played. This is the second trophy for most assists by Puantso as he won the title for ECL 1. 
 

NEW Most hits - Tanski87 of Rusty Blades delivered a crushing 327 hits in 46 games played. He wins this new award by a margin of more than 70 hits. 
 

Most Points by a Defenseman -  @Rullstolskalas with a total of 14+63 = 77 in 46 games played. The first defenseman scoring title for longtime Northern Stars defender "Rulle". 
 

Best Plus/Minus - This category was completely dominated by Aapon Taikasauva who had the Top 5 spots. Winning the award is @indi969 with +179 in 44 games. 

Best Save % - Just like before, the requirement to win this title is that the goaltender in question plays at the very least 50% of his teams games. Playing in 24 out of 46 games for Northern Stars, MZK-TrophyHunter qualifies and delivered a commanding 83.71 % in those games. 

Most Wins by a Goalie - By many considered to be one of the top EASHL goalies in the world, @FinKonna finally manages to snag an goaltending award with his spectacular 37-8-1 record for ECL 3. 

NEW Most shutouts - @SneakPeaker of X Factor and  @SpiderRoyal of SIKA shares this new goaltending award with 9 shutouts each.

ECL 3 - Playoffs:
As is custom, we only award one individual trophy during the playoffs - the Playoff MVP.

This one goes to championship winners X Factors #1 center, @Penatski. With 46 points in 24 playoff games (featuring an impressive 8 points in 4 games during the finals) he finished among the top point scorers for the playoffs and was judged to be the primary X Factor in his teams success.

Yes, I know. Sorry.

Jokes aside, congratulations to you Penatski - well deserved! To finish this one off, we once again hand the mic over to X Factor captain, @nylanderi, for some choice words about his top playoff producer; 

"What a player. Great two-way forward, with TOP hockey iq. In the regular season X Factor scored 199 goals... and Penatski had a point in 165 of them. He always found a way to create scoring chances without ever hurting our defense. Although he is really young, he plays a truly mature game. He came through for us in the playoffs with so many crucial OT goals. Penatski deserves this trophy without a doubt"

That is all for now. Look for the ECL 4 update this week!

Later skaters!

NHLGamer.com

Evening NHLGamers,

After a tremendous season and an even better playoff run it gives us here at NHLGamer.com great joy to present our new reigning champions: X FACTOR. Congratulations on winning the ultimate prize that competitive EASHL gaming in Europe has to offer! Well deserved.

It feels like a lifetime ago when ECL 3 kicked off in mid-October but really it has only been 3 months. That being said, it has been our longest season yet and a learning experience to be sure. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teams and players that participated - we know there are things to work on for future tournaments and we are excited to do so in combination with you, the community. Thanks once again!

Now, without further ado, I will leave the floor to X Factor captain and leader, @nylanderi, who was gracious enough to take time out of his teams' celebrations to write a season recap. Take it away, sir.

 

"OUR STORY 
When I created X Factor 3-4 days before ECL3 registrations closed, I never ever expected that this would happen.  

We played pretty good in EASHL before ECL start, but my biggest concern was our experience in big games. We had a team who could challenge every team, but I still was not sure about our chances to go far. I did not know - would we have what it takes to win best of 7 series against top teams?

Regular Season

Regular season started with big games against former champs Nordic Blizzard. I felt like we could have won both games, but they played really good and won one of the games. Northern Stars also gave us big problems, with their defensive playstyle and offensively just going for rebounds/deflections.

We had most of our best opponents in the start of the season, and since we lost many games i dont think anyone believed in our chances. After Rynnäkköviikset games, something changed. We won 23 ECL games in a row, and I got excited. Maybe we could go far, and challenge for the title.

Closer to end of season, something happened. We signed a player. F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_. And this signing was the point in the season, when I knew that we are gonna win the title.

End of the season, big games against SKY and Dynasty. My personal least favourite opponent SKY. We won 1, lost 1 but still managed to put good performance.

Playoffs

Kattiautomaatti:
Great defensive team, with top D-man pairing. We did not really expect too much, but they played really good. I felt like they just did not have goal scorers, that could challenge our defense. Well played and good luck to the future. 

Dynasty:
First gameday (games 1-3), i felt like we are gonna sweep these guys. We played so good, and Dynasty struggled to create offense. Series was 2-1 after 3 games, although i felt like it should have been 3-0.

Second gameday, they bring in Jageksi. I still felt confident, until i found out Penatski's alarm didnt go off and he slept during game 4. Series 2-2. I gotta say, i have never seen a team develop so much in couple of days. Gameday 2s Dynasty was of course so good defensively, but now super dangerous offensively aswell. But, then Mr. Danielcadabra stepped up. I never have seen such a dominant goalie, he was the reason we got trough Dynasty. (and of course my overtime shorthanded rebound goal  ) We won Game 7, and Snapu was the first member of X Factor bandwagon.  Lets go!

Sika:
Good defensive team, who are always dangerous in offensive zone. We did not play our best hockey this series, but Danielcadabra continued his great form. Series could have been lot closer, they got some good chances and were quite unlucky at times. 4-1 Factor, Lets go!

Aapon Taikasauva:
Super offense. Best offensive in the game, hands down. I knew that this is the time for me and Andy to step up. I think this series, was the time when people found out that maybe we are not all offense. During this we defended as a team, and i was really happy with our performance although it took us 7 games to go through. We did not score so many, but i felt like our defense was rock solid and they could not really get any good chances. Game 7 OT goal by yours truly, Lets go!

Finnish Roosters:
Well, team who swept Written and Laser. (Holy shit!). Team with 2 amazing players in offense PleeMaker and Tbnantti, and great team defense. I were still really confident, since i always felt we play really good vs. Roosters. Series were really tight, both teams played really good. Our team defense was on point, they did not really get any good chances, and we were really clinical. This series showed me that we had the best team defense in the whole tournament. Throughout the series one player stepped up the most, Penatski. He created almost our every offensive chance, and scored big goals (and for once defended  ). 3 games went to overtime, but we somehow managed to score big goals, thanks to our offense Vilu, Ape and Pena. 

Amazing series by us, 4-0 X Factor. VICTORY!

Playoff lineup:
Vilupoika: One of the best defensive forwards in this game, who scored lots of important goals. He always listened and learned. Truly a great team player, and i hope he finds a good team for ECL4. 

Penatski: Young boy, who does not really care about anything. But hey, he can play NHL! Our offensive leader, who is certainly my pick for our season MVP. Lots of good goals, assists and penalties. 

Kingofapes_: I have never argued with someone as much as i did with Ape. Ape scored lots of big goals, and defended like a beast in the finals. Ape listened to Nylanderi Hockey Philosophy, and instantly turned in to best RW in the game. Otahan siitä. Well done

Fbiandy: Best RD in the game, no doubt. I felt really comfortable playing alongside him, we always had good chemistry. He was solid in defense, and great passer.

Nylanderi [TEXT BY @vSilenttio]: X Factor's ultimate leader. Captain with big C for sure. The guy who some people were laughing at during the XF's streams when he told his players what to do and how to do. From my view it was Nylanderi who kept this insanely talented team moving forward, come hell or high water. And that's just how I see him off the ice. What he did on the ice, defensively and offensively, was that he kept his calmness and skill-set of his just like that in the most tightest games of the season. Amazing player, even better captain. Can't wait to see this guy to play with @plee999 as they will be the LW/LD combo in new Elite team, Limitless.

Danielcadabra: Player who stepped up the most, during playoffs, Dynasty and Sika series MVP. Made all this possible. Amazing goalie.

Huge thanks to staff for organizing this tournament.

-nylanderi"

Thank you nylanderi! X Factor has truly made a mark on the community on its way to becoming our third ECL champion, beating some terrific teams along the way to their first ever championship. Once again, congratulations!

But now, let us look to the future.

To all the teams that are eager to get back on the ice and follow in the footsteps of our champions Nordic Blizzard, Mukimiehet and X Factor - ECL 4 is just a couple of weeks away. Be sure to check out our news story concerning the next step in competitive EASHL gaming; divisions and once you are done reading that - go check out the registration news story here. The ECL Elite, Pro and Lite divisions await - let's play some hockey.

See you soon,
NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers

Today we bring you a preview of the ECL 3 Finals or as Gandalf would put it: "So, we come to it at last... The great battle of our time". The featured teams in this spectacular finish to our longest season yet will be Finnish Roosters and X-Factor - two teams that have lived up to their hype before the season and navigated their way through some of the toughest teams in the world to reach this point. But enough hype, let us move on to the show:

[Research (statistics) and matchup analysis by Ranksu]
[Additional text, player interviews and editing by The_Alpha_Furyan]
[Art by OxtreeLAT]

X- FACTOR

Projected lineup
Vilupoika - Penatski - KingOfApes_

nylanderi - F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_

Danielcadabra

Statistics (Forwards):

• Vilupoika
  Regular season: 44 GP [55G + 55A] 110 P / +127 / 8 PPG / 2 SHG / 148 HITS
  Playoffs: 23 GP [17G + 17A] 34 P / +14 / 2 PPG / 0 SHG / 87 HITS
• Penatski
  Regular season: 46 GP [70G + 95A] 165 P / +134 / 9 PPG / 1 SHG / 129 HITS
  Playoffs: 20 GP [17G + 21A] 38 P / +18 / 3 PPG / 0 SHG / 49 HITS
• KingOfApes_
  Regular season: 46 GP [48G + 63A] 111 P / +134 / 9 PPG / 0 SHG / 135 HITS
  Playoffs: 23 GP [13G + 17A] 30 P / +14 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 97 HITS

Statistics (Defenders):

• nylanderi
  Regular season: 40 GP [14G + 38A] 53 P / +87 / 3 PPG / 1 SHG / 38 HITS
  Playoffs: 23 GP [3G + 12A] 15 P / +14 / 1 PPG / 1 SHG / 19 HITS
• F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_
  Regular season: 8GP [4G + 10A] 14 P / +19 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 40 HITS
  Playoffs: 22GP [2G + 17A] 19 P / +14 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 59 HITS

Statistics (Goaltender):

• Danielcadabra
  Regular season: 28GP / 18 W / 6 L / 4 OTL / 79.38% / 1.67 GAA / 5 SO
  Playoffs: 23GP / 16W / 5 L / 2 OTL / 78.67% / 1.95 GAA /  5 SO

How did they get here?

X-Factor reached to finals by defeating the top-notch team Aapon Taikasauva in Game 7 in the 3rd round. This is X-Factors first appearance in the ECL Finals. X-Factor and Finnish Rooster faced each other in the regular season with the following results: 1-3 to FR and 0-4 to XF.

How will they win?

X-Factor signed F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_ at the ECL Trade Deadline which was in my book easily the best acquire at TDL. "Andy" is well known for playoff performances and is considered a "big games player". He's going to face the FR top scoring forward PleeMaker, who had yet another outstanding regular season and an even better post-season. If "Andy" can win that match up, that would be huge for X-Factor. Finally, I believe they will win if Penatski can break down Finnish Roosters redline trap and find the holes for it.

How will they lose?

X-Factor can sometimes be too reckless offensively which will put their D pairing in awkward positions - knowing the fast break game Finnish Roosters will execute. We saw it in game 6 against Aapon Taikasauva (1-5 to Aapo). It will be hard for X-Factor if they don't keep up nylanderi's game philosophy and trust his gameplan. X-Factor will lose this series if they can't find a way to deal with FR's hard blueline trap and can't find a way to shut down PleeMaker. You could say this set-up is almost the same like against Aapo were they needed to shutdown Joukki13 and they did. However, this time they are facing more defensively oriented 5-man team who will heavily lean on offensive mistakes and lurk around for fast breakaways.

* * *

FINNISH ROOSTERS

Projected lineup
PleeMaker - tbnantti - johtaja699

JParola - ktewjh

FinKonna

Statistics (Forwards):

• PleeMaker
  Regular season: 46 GP [83G + 56A] 139 P / +137 / 10 PPG / 2 SHG / 251 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [29G + 11A] 40 P / +24 / 8 PPG / 1 SHG / 125 HITS
• tbnantti
  Regular season: 46 GP [68G + 84A] 152 P / +137 / 7 PPG / 6 SHG / 11 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [17G + 20A] 37 P / +24 / 4 PPG / 0 SHG / 22 HITS
• johtaja699
  Regular season: 44 GP [39G + 42A] 81 P / +118 / 9 PPG / 0 SHG / 81 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [5G + 13A] 18 P / +24 / 1 PPG / 0 SHG / 44 HITS

Statistics (Defenders):

• JParola
  Regular season: 36 GP [5G + 60A] 65 P / +87 / 3 PPG / 0 SHG / 67 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [1G + 23A] 24 P / +24 / 0 PPG / 0 SHG / 36 HITS
• ktewjh
  Regular season: 46 GP [8G + 40A] 48 P / +137 / 2 PPG / 1 SHG / 104 HITS
  Playoffs: 19 GP [2G + 11A] 13 P / +24 / 0 PPG / 1 SHG / 46 HITS

Statistics (Goaltender):

• FinKonna
  Regular season: 52 GP / 43 W / 8 L / 1 OTL / 80.88% / 1.82 GAA / 10 SO
  Playoffs: 19 GP / 16 W / 2 L / 1 OTL / 83.78% / 1.57 GAA / 3 SO

How did they get here?
The Roosters reached the finals by first beating Alliance HT, only to enter a tough battle with Nordic Blizzard. After narrowly defeating the Blizzard in an entertaining Game 7 they moved on to Written In The Stars - a team many thought would go far in the playoffs. However, Written were missing some of their players and the Roosters played a great series to win 4-0. After such a morale booster, they went on to dethrone championship favorites Laser HT in 4 straight games.

How will they win?
The Roosters will win by unleashing their offense while maintaining their tight team defense. The key is for johtaja699 to keep doing the terrific two-way work he has been doing together with defenders JParola and ktewjh and for Plee and tbnantti to work their offensive magic on a somtimes reckless X Factor squad. FinKonna also needs to be his usual talented self.

How will they lose?
The Roosters will lose if they can't get that offense going and also if they underestimate the X Factor offense which at times can be really dangerous. If FinKonna should falter or have a bad series, this could also spell doom for the Roosters because even if they have a truly impressive offense, their defense and goaltending is what has gotten them this far.

* * *
 

5 things to look for, in general:

1. Both teams have 1-2 punch, Penatski - Ape and tbnantti - Plee.

2. Both teams have a guy who can change the series in Plee vs. Ape.

3. FinKonna vs. Danielcadabra - who will step up and who will melt down?

4. Finnish Rooster has the best powerplay % from regular season 35.4%, compared to X-Factors 21.6%

5. tbnantti has the most SHG in regular season by 6 goals - look out!

* * *

5 Questions with X-Factor Captain nylanderi and Finnish Roosters Assistant Captain PleeMaker

Give us a few words on your opponent!

Nylanderi (X Factor):
Roosters is a great team with good mixture of offense and defense. They got forwards who can score and defenders who work really well together. With FinKonna being one of the top goalies in the game, it is certainly going to be really hard to score against these guys.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
XF is a great defensive team with a lot of individual skill. They have two top quality defensemen and a great goalie. And they also have three really high skilled forwards - Penatski is a top center and the wingers Vilupoika and Kingofapes_ can score goals thanks to their great talent and stick handling.

Who would you consider to be the toughest player to defend on the opposing squad?

Nylanderi (X Factor):
Tough question! PleeMaker and tbnantti are both really dangerous, and it is going to be really hard to keep that tag team from scoring.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
Penatski is, in my opinion, the best player of XF so I would consider him the toughest opponent to defend. I would say he is one of the best playmakers in this game with maybe the best hands out there.

Tell us a little bit of your playoff run so far

Nylanderi (X Factor):
I did expect us to go pretty far, especially since our game has developed a lot throughout this tournament. We had our fair share of problems, but I am still really happy with our performance in this ECL. I feel like we could have maybe done even better (considering a couple of our series went to game7) but since we have made the Finals I can’t really complain, can I? Haha.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
Our goal was champion so it's not surprise to me that we are playing finals. Our first round opponent was Alliance HT and I think it was kind of a warm up round for us, but they are actually the best Russian team that I have ever seen so, well played. The 2nd round against NBz - that was close. I will tell you more about them in the next question!

Then the 3rd round against Written In The Stars. That was… well, much easier than I was expecting before the games. After Adetikki and Flyerkungen left for the army, they have started to play with a "weird" style. Lot of shots and always trying to go for rebounds. But anyway, well played SKY.

As for the semi-finals against Laser HT - 4 tight games against them. They have lot of skill but team defense was their weakness in that series. So 4 tight wins to us (I think it was 2 OT wins?) and we managed to get our spot in the finals.

Which series gave you the most amount of trouble?

Nylanderi (X Factor):
I would have to say… either Aapon Taikasauva or Dynasty. To be honest, those were two totally different kind of teams and especially Dynastys defense was one of the best I have ever seen in this game. On the other hand, Aapos offense was really hard to defend. Really hard to decide actually, but in my opinion Dynasty was the tougher series.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
Nordic Blizzard was the toughest opponent for us in this tournament so far. Great team defense and truly a dangerous offense. If you have players like Gendlik and Hooneli, your opponent will always give you a hard series. It was actually close that NBz beat us, when the 3rd period of Game 7 started NBz was leading 1-3 but we managed to get momentum with a 2-3 goal and then it was our game after that… Well played NBz and it is a shame that it seems you can't get a team to next season. 

What key factors should the community be on the lookout for in this series?

Nylanderi (X Factor):
Both teams have rock solid defensive strategies, so I think that will certainly be one of the deciding factors in this series. Also, in my opinion, tbnantti and Penatski are both Top-3 centers overall in this game so it will be nice to see who can put on the greatest performance and lead their team to victory.

PleeMaker (Finnish Roosters):
I think the key factor in finals will be which team can break their opponents great team defense! I think the finals has the two best defensive teams in the ECL so I acutally think that we won’t see so many goals this series. Anyway, good luck in the finals XF and good luck to next season everyone!

* * *

The series goes live at 20 CET/21 FIN tonight so be sure to check it out!


For NHLGamer.com,

The_Alpha_Furyan