After some of the biggest games to date here at SportsGamer, we have crowned our NACL '23 Winter Champions - Entourage! We were expecting to see a Finals series unlike anything else seen before, with two teams going back-and-forth, potentially all the way in a seven game series, however, Entourage had different plans. While the short lived series was statistically very close, it was just a story of everything going right for Entourage, and in turn, everything going wrong for Scary Hours. In the end, the Champions prevailed with a sweep in the series!

With their Championship, not only does Entourage secure the largest share of the 6 000€ prize pool, but they also punch their ticket to the inaugural World Finals in Helsinki, Finland on February 25th. 

Entourage's road to the championship:

• #2 seed with the record 17-0-3
• Round 1: bye
• Round 2: vs Supremacy (14) 4-0
• Quarterfinals: vs The Underdogs (9) 4-1
• Semifinals: vs One Unit (4) 4-2
• Finals: vs Scary Hours (1) 4-0

The winning roster:
GOALTENDERS
#11 @IvanDelosh (xDelee)
#79 @Rampage l79l

DEFENSEMEN
#8 @Doughty x i8i (A)
#37 @Time2shineee
#65 @Dumoulin65

FORWARDS
#27 @BoilyHP
#71 @hxndry (C)
#86 @xDeath (Ethancy)
#93 @gilly (A)

We managed to reach out to the Entourage captain Lucas @hxndry Hendry amidst all the celebration:

What was going through your mind in those closing moments of the game? 
Any time there's an overtime between two great teams, the littlest things can end up making the big difference. As you saw, we were throwing punches back and forth in overtime and I'm so happy with how that turned out. We didn't wanna go any longer with how sweaty those games were!

How has all of this success come together for Entourage over the past year?
We definitely knew the talent was there when building this roster and as I said in one of the pregame interviews, we can take our losses and roll with them. We've played for about nine months now and just keep getting better and better!

What's your preparation going to be ahead of the World Finals?
We're definitely going to have to do some scouting on the EU teams and watch those Semifinals they're playing in right now. We'll have to try to pick up on some of the tendencies those guys have and see through the differences between the EU and NA game. It'll be achange of pace adjusting to that playstyle but we're excited to finally get to play those guys. 

On behalf of the entire SportsGamer community, we congratulate the Champions and extend a warm thank you to all participants!

The NACL '23 Winter Finals will be played in full tonight, and we're extremely excited to see two prestigious teams that have been able to compete at a high level for a very long time. Both the #1 seed Scary Hours and the #2 seed Entourage have some big titles under their belts already, but now the stakes are higher than ever and they'll be playing to punch their ticket to the inaugural World Finals in Helsinki on February 25th. 

Make sure to also read our full NACL '23 Winter Finals Preview before we go live tonight. 

Scary Hours (1)  vs Entourage (2)

TOP SCORER
Harley @Sitballs (Sitful-_-) Sitko 18 GP, 22+22=44 vs Ethan @xDeath (Ethancy) Macdonald  15 GP, 23+26=49

GOALTENDER
Justin @Bardown Beauty Turner 13 GP, 11 W, 83,76 SV%, 1.46 GAA, 2 SO vs Justin @Rampage l79l Horn 15 GP, 12 W, 81,44 SV%, 2.07 GAA, 2 SO

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
20-1-1 vs 17-0-3
 

Ahead of the big games we reached out to Entourage owner and captain Lucas @hxndry Hendry, who is heading into the Finals in good spirits, very confident in his own team.

Can you go over your history with Scary Hours and how your most recent games have gone?

Entourage has been around since 2019 and this team is a new roster built in May. We've played a bunch against the guys in Scary Hours under different names through the years but the latest competitive games probably date back to the Semifinals in Caps Gaming 2022, where the series ended 3-1 for Scary Hours. We've done a lot of work since then and are confident we can take them this time. We were actually scheduled to play them last Wednesday, but decided to pull a strategic forfeit to not show them any of our game ahead of the NACL Finals.

What would you say is the essence of success for Entourage?

I'd say we have a bunch of talent obviously. The entire roster is Top 3 in North America on their respective positions, we practice a lot and scrim a couple of times a week on top of the tournaments going on. A big thing is that we can handle the inevitable losses and learn from them. The mindset of just being the best and not settling for anything else is really the driving force.

Is there any specific player that has been particularly important for you guys during the NACL '23 Winter season?

Honestly I'd say our D-pair @Doughty x i8i and @Dumoulin65. They really are are the backbone of our team and just levels ahead of everyone else on their positions. They're able to effortlessly control the whole defense and jump in on the offense with the skill they have back there.

Join us tonight for the Finals series at twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG! We'll be going live at 7:30PM ET with NHL 23 X-Factor Edition Xbox Game Code giveaways after every game!

It’s official. Two teams remain in the North American Championship League, but only one can be crowned the winner. The stakes are ground breaking for the scene, with the winner taking a flight to Helsinki, Finland at the end of this month to face Europe’s top team to be considered the “worlds best” for the first time in the community's history. While the stage will be momentous, the teams that will be going head to head are household names in the region, who look to continue their ever growing legacy. Despite the classic upsets and underdogs looking to make a name for themselves, the top 2 seeds from the group stage will face off in the finals on Sunday.

Scary Hours (1)  vs Entourage (2)

TOP SCORER
Harley @Sitballs (Sitful-_-) Sitko 18 GP, 22+22=44 vs Ethan @xDeath (Ethancy) Macdonald  15 GP, 23+26=49

GOALTENDER
Justin @Bardown Beauty Turner 13 GP, 11 W, 83,76 SV%, 1.46 GAA, 2 SO vs Justin @Rampage l79l Horn 15 GP, 12 W, 81,44 SV%, 2.07 GAA, 2 SO

REGULAR SEASON RECORD
20-1-1 vs 17-0-3

It starts with Scary Hours, who came into the playoffs as the top seed after a fantastic group stage performance. With only a single regulation loss in the group stage, they looked as strong as they have ever looked. The new addition to the blueline in @Gwan brought the perfect balance of top end skill, and veteran experience to a team already with a loaded resume. @kcut has rounded into an MVP calibre defenseman in the past 12 months, and combining these two defenders  has created a rock solid defense for Scary Hours. Despite being so close, the team hasn’t hoisted a trophy for a few events, and the group stage dominance proved that this team will be ready to fight for their next bit of silverware.

Their path to the finals hasn’t come without some adversary. Matching 7 game series marathons in both the quarterfinals and semifinals could give outsiders some doubt over how strong this team really looks. However, drawn out series’ against 2 top 10 teams in Instinct and Caps Gaming could be seen as a sign of mental strength shown by the team. These type of nail biting moments can give teams that extra layer of confidence in themselves and their team in critical moments. This core has been enough battles to understand that there will be tough moments. It they truly wish to hoist the trophy, they’ll have to get through yet another strong opponent, and yet another potentially extended series. The team on the other side of the ice is someone they are certainly familiar with, and it’s in Scary Hours’ hands to finish the job. They’ve done it before, will be it their time on Sunday?

Entourage find themselves back in the final 2 after coming up short in their previous attempt, and look as hungry as ever to showcase their skills in Helsinki. Their star power is apparent even before they take the ice. All 3 forwards on this team find themselves 1-2-3 in points for the playoff scoring race. They are able to run up the score if you give them too much room. It’s even more impressive when your center is the leading scorer on the team, with @xDeath leading the playoffs with 49 points in 15 games. This doesn’t even mention their backend performance, with 2 top defensemen in @Doughty x i8i and @Dumoulin65 putting up well over a point per game, and goaltender @Rampage l79l posting an 81.44 save percentage. The team is deep, and has championship caliber talent across all positions.

While their playoff run has been less storied than their counterparts, Entourage has never looked rattled throughout the event. They have always looked in control of each game and each series they have played in. Rarely do you see any signs of nerves from this team, and it shows with how successful they have been as a team. The team is poised to win the entire event, and take their talents global, to truly showcase how good of a team they are.

The stage is set, and the teams, talent, and viewers are ready for what should be an extremely exciting series. I have no doubts that the series will go the distance, and both teams will trade blows en route to victory. It all depends on who shows up best on Sunday. Both teams have the talent and the experience, but only one can win the title and represent their region on the global stage. It all begins this Sunday, and it all starts at twitch.tv/sportsgamergg. 

We are down to the final four teams in the North American Championship League, and the competition only gets tougher from here. Some of the best teams in the region are competing for first place, and the chance to represent their region on the world stage against Europe’s best. All of these teams have the potential to win the whole thing, and the battle starts right away. The matchups will be as close as you can imagine from here on out, and so much is on the line each game. We’ll go through each matchup and talk about each team and how they stack up against their opponent.
 

 One Unit (4) vs Entourage (2)

Entourage are looking to make it back to the finals for the 3rd time in a row. I thought they didn’t look as dominate in the previous event, but they are back into their high octane offensive play. @gilly is one of the region’s top snipers, and will be looking to lead this team to another dominate performance. There is only so much you can say about this team without repetition, but they have simply been in this position enough times to know what they need to do to win. They simply need to play confidently like they are the better team. 

Originally thought as nothing more than a dark horse, One Unit has exploded into a true event contender with an underdog win against IslesGT. With IslesGT being considered a favourite to win the whole event, One Unit went into the series and beat them in a tight affair en route to a series victory. While they have not been in the scene for as long as others in the top 4, One Unit have risen to the top of North American 6’s at a rapid pace, and it will now be difficult to call them anything but contenders. While it will still be an uphill battle against juggernauts no matter what, they have earned a huge reputation boost making it this far in this fashion.

While it will be competitive, Entourage is playoff hardened and will be a huge challenge for One Unit to overcome. The question will be whether the cinderella story can continue. They massively impressed in their last series, but can One Unit keep up this pace against only championship level teams until the very end?
 

Prediction:  Entourage in 6
 

Caps Gaming (8) vs Scary Hours (1) 

Scary Hours are no surprise as the top seed of the event, and no surprise to find them in the final four of the  q qplayoffs. They bolster household names at all positions and are poised for deep runs the moment they step onto the virtual ice. @Gwan returning to competitive play somehow makes this team even more rich in pedigree. While this team isn’t known for their explosive offensive ability, their rock solid defensive play and overall chemistry and structure make them one of the hardest teams to beat in North America. Their win against Instinct was a hard fought game 7 victory, but this could be used as a confidence booster in the crunch time, especially as we get close to the title match.

Caps Gaming has been at the summit of North America for the past year, but after stumbling out of the gate this year they are right back to competing for the title. This team has been long running, and long successful, so taking them down in any situation is a tough ask.  Despite them being seeded 8th for the playoffs, this team was a favourite to win the whole thing before the event started, and are poised to accomplish that goal starting with a win here. Arguably the most successful team of 2022, they look to add another accomplishment to their already deep resume.

This series will be tight and come down to the final game I believe. This could become the battle of the goaltenders with how good both of these teams are. It could come down to a single misplay or crazy goal to decide it all. It’s hard to pick between the two, but Scary Hours will take it deep into the series, multiple OT games.

Prediction: Scary Hours in 7

The battle starts tonight, and the 4 remaining teams will all be battling to the end for their chance at the trophy! Watch the coverage live at twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG. 

The regular season has officially wrapped up for the NACL season, and we now look forward to the playoffs. We started with 45 teams, and we are now officially down to the top 24 teams battling out for the top spot, and more importantly, the ticket to the World Finals in Helsinki.  The groups have been extremely tight, with only a few points separating teams in each group. The tight play will hopefully continue into the playoffs, for some high octane matchups! 

We’ll start with a quick recap of all of the groups and how we got to this point in the playoffs, followed by some quick predictions and previews of the matchups ahead.

Group 1

There is no surprise of who would be at the top for group one, as Scary Hours and IslesGT would top the group easily and earn that bye into the second round of playoffs. Both teams combined for only four losses in out of the entire regular season out of 44 total games,  and   looked dominant throughout the competition.  The rest of the playoff picture was very competitive,  with seeds 3 through 6 separated by only three points. Teams like Supremacy and TST have certainly proved themselves in this right,  coming in as slight underdogs in the group but most certainly made an impact and have shown that they are able to compete at this level. 

Group 2

A very competitive group at the top, with Legacy soaring to the top after finishing most of their games in the final hour of the season. Teams like Underdogs and Instinct had to settle for third and fourth respectively after very impressive campaigns out of Entourage and Legacy to lock up those top two seeds.  Both teams should have no trouble getting through their first-round matchups, as both teams have made deep runs in the past. The remaining 2 teams, Kingdom and Ohana, are newer squads looking to make their first splash as a roster. Both teams have some familiar faces across the board, and shouldn’t be considered slouches with so many quality teams above them. Both teams are capable of stealing games if their opponents are not on the top of their game.

Group 3

One Unit has to be one of the best stories this event, topping their group and earning that bye in the playoffs. The team has been making waves in recent events, and their trajectory has been soaring as the months have gone on.  They pushed down some title contenders to lower seeds, and have proven they can compete with the cream of the crop in North America and come out on top. No big surprises either way, with Caps Gaming earning  the other bye, followed by Ducks Gaming, Eclipse, No Mercy, and Tropics. Another tight group, with teams only separated by a few points. 

Group 4

Group 4 felt more like the wild west aside from the top 2 seeds, as Composure and Strictly Business cruised to the playoffs with relative ease. With top teams like Flawless, Heroes, and Catch 22 not in playoffs, the door was wide open for other teams to prove themselves in the spotlight. Veterans being at the top of these teams will have a tall task of taking this opportunity in stride, as they have proven before they are a tough team to put away, and will look to do just that heading into the post season. 

With the first round of the playoffs set, we’ll go over each matchup briefly and give a prediction each series. Playoffs will start with seeds 3-6 from each group facing off in round 1 in a best of 7 format. The top 2 seeds from each group will wait for the first round to complete before selecting their opponent to face in round 2.

The Underdogs  (9) vs Ohana  (24)

Underdogs is the clear cut favorite here. Ohana have some talent and have shown promise, but Underdogs should have a relatively clean series here. They have already made top 8 this year, and a loss in a best of 7 series here would be a complete surprise for all.

Prediction: Underdogs in 4.

Anaheim Ducks Gaming  (10) vs JOFA  (23)

One of the PSN teams joining thanks to newly added crossplay, but I think Ducks Gaming is a couple steps above JOFA. Too much chemistry and too much experience in such an early round to go up against. The PSN teams will be fun to watch develop with cross play allowing for more opportunity, but going up against one of NA’s best will be too much to close out. 

Prediction: Ducks Gaming in 4.

Hidden Potential  (11) vs Turning Point  (22)

A very interesting matchup, and one that is much closer than the seeds suggest. These teams played in group play and split the games with tight 2-1 scores in both games. Hidden Potential did have some roster turmoil during the season, and revamping their lineup mid season cause some potential issues. Turning Point are as steady as ever with a ton of chemistry, and their tight checking style could be tough to beat during the playoffs. Overall I like HP’s ceiling more than Turning Point’s, and as long as they can avoid the 2-1 overtime games too many times, they have the edge here.

Prediction: Hidden Potential in 6.

Veterans  (12) vs Tropics  (21)

Veterans comes from a depleted group 4, and will need to prove themselves every chance they get from here. @AgentSook613 has had an arguable MVP level performance for the team, dragging them forward with 18 more points than the next person on his team. He’ll need to continue this pace to advance any further.  I think Tropics is a deeper team with more skill across all positions, and will come out on top here.

Prediction: Tropics in 6.

Eclipse  (13) vs I n t e r s t e l l a r  (20)

Another PSN team that will be intriguing to watch how they stack up against some of Xbox’s best. While Eclipse has been in a turbulent period recently, they still have a good team that is capable of being a dark horse if they click at the right time. They finished 14-6-0, which is by no means a push over team. Their revamped roster has tons of skill,  with players like @Twistafied and @CaLL Me Jakoo joining @rickchelup front to lead the charge.  I think Interstellar will be competitive in the series and more competitive than others may think, but it will ultimately fall to Eclipse.

Prediction: Eclipse in 6.

Supremacy  (14) vs Kingdom  (19)

A true wildcard matchup, as both teams came into the event with question marks, and now face each other to see where they stand among the top teams. Supremacy is a PSN team reunited under an old banner, but they have shown good placements in the past before. Kingdom has some great talent, with top 1v1, 3’s, and 6’s players amongst their ranks. The big question was how will it click in a 6v6 environment, and so far it has looked pretty good. They still haven’t quite shown enough to warrant moving forward past another team similar to their level, but it will be fun to see the potential grow from this squad regardless.

Prediction: Supremacy in 6.

Instinct  (15) vs TST  (18)

Brothers matching against each other in @oHeroism and @Yetdi gives the matchup a little extra fun to experience. These 2 teams share a ton of connection to each other, which may be TST’s biggest asset heading into the series. They've had to scrim this team many times before, and will be TST's x factor to the unthinkable. I still think this is Instinct’s series to lose, but would be fun to see some tight games in the process. Instinct had a rough group play in my opinion, but still finished 13-6-1. They are more than poised to do well here.

Prediction: Instinct in 4.

Eruption  (16) vs No Mercy  (17)

Similar to Veterans, Eruption is coming from a wild group and will need to compose themselves here against swift competition. They deserve to be here, but the competition only gets tougher and will need to show they belong against a veteran brand in No Mercy. No Mercy has been fairly inconsistent recently, but is finally starting to return to their old form, one that saw them as staples in the late stages of events throughout EASHL’s history in North America. With their roster solidifying, the time is now to show what they have.

Prediction: No Mercy in 5.

Those are all of the matchups for the first round of the playoffs of NACL ‘23: Winter! All of these teams will be battling out for not only the title, but also the chance to take on Europe’s best to be crowned EASHL’s world champion for the first time ever!

Be sure to follow twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG to watch the action live, primarily on Sundays and Thursdays at 9pm ET.

The NACL returns for another season here on SportsGamer, with the stakes even higher than before. This new event not only features a large increase to the prize pool for the top 2 teams,  but perhaps the largest prize to be obtained is a trip to Helsinki to face the top team in Europe to determine who will hold the current title of “6s World Champion”. At least until the next set of teams clash between the two regions. Let’s go through the event format and how the regular season and playoffs will work before we actually talked about the team themselves. 

The regular season will feature four groups of 11 or 12 teams facing off in a group play where you well face every single team in your group twice. Six teams from each group will move on to the single elimination playoff bracket. The top two teams of each group  will get an automatic bye to the second round of the playoffs,  while teams ranked 3rd through 6th in each group will advance to the first round of the playoffs. While the first round will go as normal playoffs as proceeded, the second round will introduce the challenge system.  The challenge system will allow the top seeds from the regular season to select their opponents for their upcoming play-off round.  Whether teams will use this to get the best matchup for their team, or by setting up an entertaining series or rivalry, the possibilities are endless. The challenge system will only be used for the second round of the playoffs, and further rounds will be a reseeded playoff bracket.

With crossplay coming to NHL 23 EASHL, teams from both consoles will be able to play consistently in events like this. There will be more PlayStation teams that have come together and play in more events, and we will get to see where they stack up against the Xbox teams that have been playing in events for years. The potential for a dark horse PSN team is there, its whether they can rise to the challenge. 

Now, let's talk about the groups.

Group 1 is a very top-heavy matchup  with some interesting teams towards the middle end of the group in regards to seeding.  IslesGT comes in as the clear favorite to win their group, after a very impressive Ducks campaign which is still ongoing at the time of this writing. IslesGT is loaded with talent and will look to compete for that ticket to Finland in February.  The addition of @McFleuryadds yet another piece from the dominant Olympia that looked unstoppable. This team already has shades of its predecessor, and are poised to be a threat. Scary Hours is also no slouch, with a deep playoff run no surprise to this group, and have won titles before. The 6s scene is always better with @Gwan in it than without, and will slide into this deep squad effortlessly.

The rest of the group features teams with pedigree, but some room to prove themselves. Hidden Potential is back with the familiar duo @Shockz and @CT 66 but add fresh blood to the team such as @Flinnur and @Nick Veds, as they look to bring the brand back to the top of the pyramid. Turning Point has plenty of experience as a whole as well as a team, and are looking to get over the “elite team” hump rather than just a good playoff team. The rest of the group all depends on who surprises with their growth the most. Teams like Versatility, and Tolerance have shown the capability to snatch the final spots, but are still rather green when it comes to consistency. 

Group 2 contains some heavy hitters, but the mid table is wide open. Teams like Entourage, Instinct, and The Underdogs should realistically wrap up those top three spots.  All three of these teams have the consistency and the skill to reach the top end of  the group pretty easily and should have no trouble getting out of the group.  Legacy recently made top 8 in the Ducks event,  and while this is still a team  that should be making out of this group the majority of the time,  time will tell if  they are consistently a contender for top eight or further, or find themselves in that good team category that a lot of teams are in currently. 

After these teams,  any of these teams could realistically make the playoffs and no one would be surprised.  A lot of these teams have made playoffs in plenty of events before as individuals,  albeit with different teams. If certain teams are able to gel with their new rosters and show a higher level of chemistry compared to others, they should get the leg up to finish high in their group. I wouldn't be shocked to see any of these teams as high as 3rd in the group,  as there are a lot of teams that can surprise some of the favorites if they aren't careful. 

Group 3 contains the battle of the NHL teams. Both Caps Gaming and Anaheim Ducks Gaming field rosters in this group, and both will be battling for the top spot in the group. Teams like Eclipse, No Mercy and Evolution have had success in the past, and are banking on their roster moves to bring them back to their previous level.

With multiple PlayStation teams in this group, this will be the true test of where the two consoles stand against each other. The wildcard team in this group for me is One Unit, a team that is fairly new to the scene, but has come out swinging since starting. The team has dark horse potential to top the group and make a run in playoffs. This will be the true litmus test of whether they are a potential top 10 team, or a team that find themselves hovering around the top 25.

Finally, group 4 is a well balanced group between consistency and potential. Composure is the standout team here, and adding @officialmark07 to the blueline will add some familiarity to an already tight knit group. Former Delusions core Strictly Business has made a splash since forming, currently top 8 in the Ducks Opening tournament. The additions of @YungGren and @ProMoe to forward, along with moving @OFs back to right defense appears to be paying off, and the biggest question will be whether they can continue this pace going forward. 

The Flawless brand returns after a hiatus for some time, and will look to return to the top end of the NA scene. The PSN squad has been in the top 8 before, and will look to rekindle past success with their previous branding. Heroes and Catch 22 have an interesting rivalry, as these teams have mixed and matched between the 2 rosters for many events, so there is a certain level of familiarity and competition to their matchup. 

This event has everything you could possibly want for storylines. From the established veterans looking to win it all, to up and coming rosters looking to make their mark on the scene. The depth of teams participating is unmatched, with all teams being no slouch to play against. Some will rise to the challenge, but only one will punch their ticket to Helsinki and the world finals.

Be sure to follow twitch.tv/sportsgamergg to watch the action live, primarily on Sundays and Thursdays at 10pm ET.

The first ever NACL cover gamer is awarded to the current North American GWC Champion.

Justin @Regs84 Reguly rose to public fame with his 2018 NHL GWC appearance at only 17 years old at the time. The now 21 year-old hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario has since gained a lot of success and is now one of the most consistent contenders in any tournament or league that comes around. He started getting into NHL back in NHL 14 and quickly noticed a competitive edge against his fellow gamers. The inaugural NHL GWC in 2018 was his real coming out party as he put his name on the map despite not going all the way yet. In 2020, Regs managed to get yet another step closer to ultimate glory by winning the NHL GWC Canadian Regional Championship against the young prodigy Matthew @YungGren Grenier. The accumulated success pushed Regs to an opportunity with the gaming organization Lazarus Esports in February 2021 and he has since been trying to focus more and more on studying the game and grinding to get better every day. All of his efforts were finally rewarded when he was crowned the 2022 NHL GWC North American Champion in July of 2022. 

Photo credit: Lazarus Esports

On the 6v6 side of things, Regs is currently representing the Gaming squad of NHL franchise the New York Islanders - IslesGT. The squad is currently signed up for their first ever NACL campaign, but have had some time to practice and build chemistry together since the very beginning of NHL 23. In fact, they've already got some wins in other tourneys under their belt. Regs will be seen in the NACL at the RD position, in which his great defensive skill stick and calmness with the puck will come in handy. 

Through all your success both at the domestic and international stages, who have been some of your toughest opponents and why?
"Some of my toughest opponents of the year have included players such as Matthew @YungGren Grenier, Ethan @Polgz Polgar and David @JrPens Roebuck. On the international stages Erik @Eki Tammenpää has been the biggest competition for me."

What would you consider being the attributes that best sets you apart from your competition?
"I think the biggest attribute contributing to my success has been my vision and how I see the game. I feel like I've been able to make plays that no other person sees but myself. I also think that i have a great calmness and poise about my game that is difficult for my opponents to combat."

What is your biggest motivation to continue competing and striving for success?
"My biggest motivation has got to be wanting to continue to try and be the best. I've said it before, as I've gotten older my enjoyment for the game has gone away a bit but the motivation and competitiveness to compete at the highest level for championships is stronger than ever, which keeps me coming back to the game."

Photo credit: Lazarus Esports

Who are some of the players you've looked up to over the course of your gaming career, not only because of their skills but perhaps their personalities?
"Some people I've looked at as role models have been Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag and Seth "Scump" Abner from an esports perspective. I was 13 years old when I found out about esports and playing video games for money for the best players and I aspired to one day be on a stage like these two were. I was originally going to play Call of Duty but quickly realized I had an exceptional skill for NHL and decided to pursue and perfect this game instead. On the NHL side of things, I think Eki and Gren have really shown the level of commitment it takes to be a professional and the amount of time and dedication it takes to perfect your craft."

What are your thoughts on the upcoming NACL season? Any teams especially to be on the lookout for?
"I look forward to the NACL tournament. This is the first opportunity for North American players and teams to travel to Europe. I know myself and the team feel very confident and that this is going to be the most important tournament of the year for us but I have no doubt that we will be in a position to fight for the chance of coming to Europe. I think Caps Gaming and Entourage have very competitive rosters and will give us great difficulty at achieving our goal. However, I believe in our roster and lineup and know what we are capable of and that’s achieving not just a North American 6s title, but a world 6s title."

Watch Regs and the IslesGT team in action this NACL '23 Winter season, starting already on December 11th! You can also challenge them for the throne by signing up a 6v6 club of your own, since the sign-ups are still open until December 8th! The NACL this season is played as a crossplay division with a prize pool of 6 000€, on top of which the winning team gets the chance to play for some more cash in the World Finals in Helsinki, Finland on February 25th, 2023. Read more about the NACL and sign up here.

Welcome back to SportsGamer, North America!

With the NHL esports competitive season ramping up, the time has now come for us to return to North American soil and launch one of the most exciting leagues of the year. The NACL is making a return for its third season, now following a similar system to that of the ECL with a Winter and a Spring season over the course of a competitive year. A lot of time has passed since the last NACL season, when Vertigo hoisted the cup back in May of 2020. Since then, a lot has changed and new contenders have emerged, who will be the ones to rise to the top and play their way to the fabled World Finals?
 

NACL '23 Winter will be completely free-to-play and no license will be required to participate. The Winter season will be played in one division featuring crossplay and cross-console availability. Please note that the entire team must be on the same console. Leading into the Spring season we are looking to implement a divisional system similar to that of the ECL and gradually monetize the league. NACL Winter will serve as a ranking basis for future tournaments and seasons, so this is where teams can make their mark and solidify their position in the divisional ladder.

For the most effective communication over the course of the season, and quick access to all news related to the league, join the SportsGamer Discord here! Remember to assign a NACL role for yourself to be able to access the league channel.
 

Introducing the biggest combined prize pool in NHL 6v6 history

NACL '23 Winter will be featuring one division with a prize pool of 6 000€, with an additional 6 000€ up for grabs in the World Finals. In total, the ECL, NACL and the World Finals feature a prize pool of 36 000€ (just under 37 000 USD with today's exchange rates), which is the highest combined prize pool in NHL 6v6 history!

The NACL is our North American counterpart to our longest running league - the ECL. With two seasons of experience in the North American market in the rearview, we have taken a step back and evaluated our successes and shortcomings for a new and improved approach. NACL offers 6v6 competition for both Xbox and PlayStation teams in order to secure a possibility for everyone to participate. 

• Regional restrictions: NACL is a North American tournament format, however, we do not necessarily exclude players located in Europe, or Asia. A North American server will always be used. In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. Teams must be based in North America.
   
• Individual requirements: Each player needs to have an account at SportsGamer.GG and create their personal player card.
   
• Rules: The NACL ‘23 Winter ruleset will follow the same foundation as the ECL. The updated rulebook will be available before the season.
   
• World Finals Qualifier: The winner of the NACL will face off against the European champions in Helsinki, Finland! Flights from an international airport and lodging will be covered for the six members who will be playing. Please have your passport ready should your team qualify. (If a player on the qualifying team is under the age of 18, they will be required to bring along a parent/guardian at their own expense)

Format

NACL '23 Winter will be played in one division open for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S teams. In the regular season teams will be split into groups, where every team faces each other in a double-header. The amount of groups and how many teams will qualify for the playoffs will depend on number of signups. Playoffs will be best-of-seven series in every round.

The Challenge System (top seeds choose their opponents) will be used for the first round of the Playoffs. In case the Playoff format is set up where the top seeds receive a first round bye, the Challenge System will be used in the second round instead.

NACL features default gamedays on Thursday and Sunday with two weekly broadcasts on the SportsGamer Twitch-channel over the course of the entire season. Teams that will not be featured in a broadcast on any given week will be allowed to flexibly reschedule their games in cooperation with their opponents. 
 

Schedule

Sign-up period: 11.24.2022-12.8.2022
Regular season: 12.11.2022-1.5.2023
Playoffs: 1.12.2023-2.12.2022
World Finals: 2.25.2023 @ Assembly Winter 2023 in Helsinki, Finland

 

• Regular Season broadcasts will begin at 10pm EST.
• On Thursdays one 9pm featured matchup will be moved to 11pm for broadcast purposes.
• All Playoff rounds will be played best-of-7.
• NACL Playoff broadcasts will begin at 9pm EST.

*While sign-ups are separate for both consoles, NACL '23 Winter will be played cross-platform.

 

As the first ever World Finals in the history of 6v6 NHL esports, we ask that you support the event as best you can on social media, Twitch broadcasts, and however else you can so we all can do our best and make this become an even bigger event in the future! Please be sure to tag @SportsGamerGG and use the #NACL23Winter, #RoadToHelsinki and #SGWorldFinalsin all your social media communication. 

NHLGamers,

The first NACL Super Final has concluded. Two teams entered. And after a grueling and hard-fought series, only one was left standing. We present to you the NACL champions in Vertigo. This marks their first ever 6s title for this franchise, a long awaited championship for players like @P t P 10 and @SamDelisle9. 

Vertigo
Regular Season: 19-4-1 (1st)
Quarterfinals: vs Montage Moment (8) 4-2
Semifinals: vs Entourage (5) 4-1
Finals: vs 6th Sense (3) 4-1

GOALIES
#42 Louis-Philip Gagné  @Denisov x 42 
#35 Taylor Kerns @Kernsy

DEFENSEMEN
#43 Sam Delisle @SamDelisle9
#9 Kobe @Gwan

FORWARDS
#1 Trevor Cear @ScaryJoeyy
#10 Mateo Paonessa @P t P 10
#18 Matt Jakubowski @CaLL Me Jakoo

The NACL Superfinal was just as intense as expected, and showed the world what NHL EASHL 6s esports looks like at the highest level. The wonderful Nick @f5penguin Dimeo and Drew “Farbsy” Goldfarb led the stream with an amazing intro and interview. Afterwards, we were lucky enough to have the one and only James Cybulski, the voice of NHL20 to call play by play for game 1 of the series.  Following that game the tandem of Cody @Tougie24 Tougas and Paul @Cyn Anderson graced us with their play by play and color commentary. If you missed that action, you can watch it again here:

We'd like to thank all of our players and everyone who's tuned in to watch the NACL! While we don't have anything to announce at this moment, we're excited and humbled by your positive feedback and have heard your wishes for more North American esports action at NHLGamer. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

We’ve made it to the finals of the second-ever NACL season, and whether you've been along for all of it or just a part, let me tell you it’s been an extremely successful season chalked full of entertainment. We’ve gone through 312 regular season games, where we saw 822 goals. We started with 15 teams, but we’re down to the final 2. In a best-of-7 clash, we’ll see the winner take home $2,400, and 2nd place take $1,200. Let’s see how these 2 teams match up!

Vertigo  
Regular season record: 19-4-1

Vertigo comes into the series as the number 1 seed with a 19-4-1 record in the regular season. Being the top seed can bring some pressure heading into the playoffs, but Vertigo showed no signs of crumbling, advancing through both the quarterfinals and the semifinals series scores of 4-2 and 4-1 respectively. Neither one of these series was shy on storylines, however, with Vertigo dominating the opening two games against Montage Moment in the quarterfinals with 7-0 and 8-2 scores respectively. @Nasher and co. (Montage Moment) looked to make it as close as possible, with three one goal games to end the series, until @CaLL Me Jakoo scored the series-winning goal with 18 seconds left in game 6 to advance Vertigo to the semifinals. They had an opening game OT loss to Entourage in the semis, but followed it up with four straight wins, with three out of these four wins being one goal games to cement their spot in the Finals. 

Leading the way offensively for Vertigo is @P t P 10, who leads all skaters in playoff goals with 17 in 10 games. @CaLL Me Jakoo and @ScaryJoeyy round out the offensive core, with very solid playoff runs with 23 and 17 points respectively. @Gwan led all defensemen in scoring during the regular season and continues his success with 11 points in 10 games in the playoffs. @SamDelisle9 slides in on the right side of the ice, recording 12 points in 10 games for Vertigo. @Denisov x 42 tends the pipes for the squad, and has only let in 15 goals in 11 games during the playoffs, and has recorded an 83.52 save percentage with 3 shutouts.

6th Sense 
Regular season record: 18-4-2

6th Sense finished the regular season with an 18-4-2 record, good for 3rd place heading into the playoffs. They came up against an always tough opponent in Phantoms in the quarterfinals. They started off slow in the series, dropping the first two games in overtime to go down 0-2 in the best of 7 series. However, they kept their composure and roared back with four straight wins, topping it off with a 7-1 win in game 6, to take the series 4-2. The semifinals against BBB was even more of a barn burner, in the sense that games 2-5 were all finished in overtime and every single game was tight all the way to game 7, where 6th Sense would cap off the series with yet another OT winner, this time to punch their ticket to the NACL Finals. 

@F0G 19 leads the way with 29 points in 13 games for 6th Sense. @John Bri I 7 I and @TheGreatMP7 finish off the forwards, who put up 25 and 21 points respectively. @Vaporize 17 has been a force from the right defensive side, leading all defensemen in goals (3), assists (12), points (15), shots (19), and is second in hits (51). His D partner @Doops also had a solid run, with 12 points in 13 games. In net is @Seb TopG, who has a 2.31 GAA and a 80.13 save percentage. 
 

In the regular season matchup between the two, Vertigo came out with the 2-0 victory in the series, with scores of 1-0 and 5-1. However, both games were close in time on attack and in shots on goal. While Vertigo was the better offensive team throughout the regular season, 6th Sense was the better defensive team, although both teams were at least top 5 in every single statistical category, with both teams seemingly neck and neck in some categories. Expect some very close games, and some high-quality hockey to be played by both teams. The action  Sunday, where we will see one team be crowned as the NACL Champion.

Tune in for all the action starting Sunday, May 17th at 07:00 PM EST (01:00 CEST) over at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer!

On the 29^th of April League Administration was notified that during a disconnect in a quarterfinal game between the teams Entourage, and Composure, a player had changed build and therefore violated rule 11.11.

Quote

11.11 Player Disconnects

Player disconnects outside of the first 2 minutes and desynced/looped games need to be handled according to the following procedure:

• ...
• Additionally, players must not change positions or builds (including traits / specializations, height or weight) used between disconnected games. Line-up change is permitted if one of the starting players can no longer play; however, the replacing player(s) must take the position(s) left by the disconnection, they cannot in effect change with the players who did not disconnect. In such an event, it is up to the captains whether they want to start the restarted game afresh or follow the guidance from the previous bullet point.
• ...

The Ruling

We have decided that the game played between these two teams must be replayed. As the score was 0-0 at the time of the disconnect, we are allowing the teams in question to start the game afresh if they so choose, rather than replicating the time in which the disconnect occurred and playing from there. If there is a disagreement between the two captains regarding the point in which to 'start' from, then the game will proceed from the moment of the disconnect. Whether or not the game is decided to be continued from the time of disconnect or to be restarted, the player builds cannot be changed from what they were when the original game was started.
 

In Response

Over the course of this case, LA have discussed ways to tweak this rule as currently there are some issues that we feel need to be addressed. Namely, we do not want to get into a situation where the players themselves have to ‘police’ the matchup and consequently have to be on the lookout for any violations like this. Alternatively, we also do not want to be too lenient and offer up ‘warnings’ in place of strict punishment, as this could potentially lead to a loophole within the rules. Therefore, going forward we have decided that if a player is found to have changed their build when returning to a disconnected game in which their team ended up benefiting (i.e. lost in OT or won in reg/OT), the game in question will be rolled back and replayed from the moment of the disconnect, providing that LA is made known of the infraction no later than 24hrs after the game has been completed.  

On Tuesday, April 14th an issue in the NACL was brought to our attention regarding an illegal player on the roster for the Phantom. As accustomed, we gathered information and gave those involved an opportunity to present their side of the story before making a ruling.

The issue: Phantoms played games with player @G lR ii M x (from here on out 'Grim') on defense, who is not listed on their NACL roster.

Gathering of information

When asked about it, Grim responded that he had been on their team all season.  The Phantoms captain @Groulxz responded that the website (NHLGamer.com) is bad and does not work. According to the captain, Grim paid his share of the entry fee to team member ‘Heroic Duck’ and reasoned that he should be allowed to play.

First, we took a look at the claim that he had been on the roster all season. By looking at the Phantoms roster, you can tell that was not the case. We also checked the team’s original sign-up post where they listed all of their members. Grim was not on this list. This is an important detail, because a week or so ago, the same issue came with player @Mxtayer who was not on the Phantoms roster. At that time, we did, however, find him on the original sign-up post showing the intent of having him on the roster, and we found an expired invitation for him to the team that was never accepted. We chalked it up to a user error due to unfamiliarity with the website, making sure he was added to the roster correctly and let it slide. In a similar situation in the ECL in Europe, the captain would have received a two-game suspension for this mistake.

Next, we checked within the team invite history to see if a team invite was ever sent to Grim's account.  We also checked Grim's user history to see when he last logged onto his NHLGamer account, thinking maybe he received the invite but never accepted it. These were possibilities that needed to be checked.

Upon our research we saw the list of all players that were invited to the Phantoms roster - Grim was not one of the invited players. After checking Grim’s history, we discovered that - aside from the night of the violation - he hadn't logged on since March 2019.  The user not logging on for over a year does not align with the claims of an issue with the website. Additionally, had Groulxz sent an invite to Grim (which was already proven false), it is his responsibility as a captain to follow up and remind all players to accept invites and make sure they are on the roster.

No signs to support the claim of the website malfunctioning could be found, hence we find the claim false in regards to this case.  If something was genuinely wrong with the website invite system, it is the player's/captain's responsibility to inform NHLGamer staff so we can be of assistance and fix any issue as soon as possible.

The ruling

Based on this evidence we are using rules 4.2, 6.1, 8.1 and 16.5 to assist with our ruling:

Quote

 

4.2 Rule Circumvention
 Members are not allowed to circumvent the rules (including any attempts) to deceive NHLGamer Staff and its League Administration at any time.

6.1 Team Management Responsibilities
All managers are representatives of the entire team, as such they are responsible for ensuring their team always complies with league/tournament rules.

8.1 Players
Teams are only allowed to use players listed on their official roster on the NHLGamer.com main page.

16.5 Players
"Players" of a team are all members on the website roster, including the captain and assistant captains

 

The ruling is as follows:

1. Both Phantoms vs Vertigo games will be overturned as wins for Vertigo, due to illegal use of player
2. The first game of Phantoms vs 6th Sense will be ruled as a win for 6th Sense, due to illegal use of player
3. The second game of Phantoms vs 6th Sense will be played as soon as possible on a mutually agreed date
4. Player ‘Grim’ is ineligible to play this season as it is past the transfer deadline
5. Phantoms captain ‘Groulxz’ receives a 2 game suspension for neglecting his duties as a captain on more than one occasion. The suspension will be served in the first game against the next opponent + the remaining game against 6th Sense.
6. Failure to complete the season will result in a 12-month captaincy ban for Groulxz
7. Failing to finish the season may impact all team members’ eligibility to participate in future seasons

Final word

We do not like issuing forfeits as we would always prefer to have everything settled on the ice.  That being said the rules regarding roster eligibility were broken and we did not see any effort from the Phantoms captain to get the so-called 'site issue' resolved.  We ask that the community respect and learn our rulebook to avoid future issues.

Being a captain is demanding and if you haven't been one before, you might not realize that it can be very taxing to build a team, communicate with the 6+ members, agree on game times with the opponents and so on. After all, this is often done in addition to our everyday life. We ask every community member to keep that in mind when your captain asks you for availability or other information; replying is easy - chasing 6+ people isn't always that. We also want to bring up the importance of sharing the workload between the captain and the two assistants. Delegating different tasks is the key to keep things running smoothly and keeping things fun. And even if you're not a captain - why not ask your captain if you could help out with something.

The article has been edited: Corrected how the serving of the suspension will be handled in point 5 of the rulings.

The NHL community loves to do top 10 rankings at each position. These are fun discussion starters for the community, but no one seems to be talking about the best 6’s teams out there. NHL 6v6 is all about chemistry and teamplay, but there isn’t any distinction to the best 6’s teams out there. It’s probably because teams rosters/teams change dramatically after a long event or a crushing defeat. With NHL 6v6 on the rise, and with more and more organizations/sponsors stepping into the space, let this be a PSA to try and maintain a roster for longer than a month. There will be good teams who won’t be ranked here, and that will simply be because they did not maintain a majority roster (3/6 starters) so their previous results cannot be pinned to an individual, and more so to the now-defunct roster. If you are switching your roster that drastically, you would assume they haven’t had success and probably shouldn’t be considered top 10 at this time.

This post will contain the top 10 North American teams from the past couple of events in NHL 20. Here are the criteria:

1. Tournament/Event Results will be heavily considered here. Events are long and hard to come by these days, and teams change so much that we will only cover LG S12 and Caps Gaming in this list, as they are the most relevant and most recent. Going too far back leads to too much roster shuffling, but also the meta changing from yearly installments. So we’ll only use those 2 tournaments I mentioned. I’m using a points system, similar to ATP rankings in tennis, or how ESL ranks CSGO teams. Caps Gaming is ranked slightly more (about 5% higher) than LG due to recency. You can learn about these systems here:

ATP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATP_Rankings

ESL CSGO: https://pro.eslgaming.com/worldranking/csgo/rules/

2. Opponents played/beat is also an important factor in these rankings. With both of the tournaments above being used, the quality of opponents can vary depending on scheduling/the format in general. In other words, some people may have an easier road than others, and best of 1’s versus best of 3’s+ are also a factor. Each team ranked here will have their notable wins in each category shown to get a grasp of the quality of opponent + placing. 

Best of 1’s (BO1) will only be a single game, while best of 3, 5 and 7’s (BO3, BO5, BO7) will be a series of wins over the same opponent, making them more noteworthy than a best of 1, where a bad or lucky bounce could change the tide of the game. Best of 7’s is the format of the NHL playoffs, where the first to win 4 games will ultimately win the series.

10. BBB

LG Championship S12 - Top 16

Caps Gaming Showcase - Top 16

Bo3: Prophecy 

Bo1: Resilience, Composure x2 

BBB was dominant in NHL 19, winning multiple 6s Championships. Unfortunately, it’s been too long since those events, and BBB hasn’t been able to replicate that same success in NHL 20. They bring back Flowmaster Joe, who was a key player in their previous success and will look to get that old BBB chemistry back and flowing. While they have been consistent in their placements, they’ll need to step it up in upcoming matches to jump in the rankings.

9. Dahlia

LG Championship Season 12 - T24 (from Royalty)

Caps Gaming Showcase - T8

Bo3: Prophecy, Phantoms, Entourage

Bo1: Resilience, Vertigo 

The Dahlia Type Beat was in full force during the Caps Gaming Showcase and rolled through most of the regular season without a series loss. They play a tight defensive game and can play any team no matter how much offense to close games. They changed @TheGreatMP7 with @KingClutch, who is a proven PSN player in his own right and should be a solid addition to the squad. They’re proving that the gap between Xbox and Playstation players is smaller than people think, and will look to build off their previous campaigns. 

8. Vertigo

LG Championship Season 12 - T4 (From Legacy)

Caps Gaming Showcase - N/A

Bo7: Prophecy 

Bo1: Hidden Potential, Composure, Entourage, Dahlia, Underdogs 

Vertigo is a recently formed roster, filled with plenty of veterans from the 6’s scene. The majority of this roster comes from Legacy, who had solid 6’s results prior to the switch, but ultimately dropped out of Caps Gaming.  They added the Turning Point duo of @Soy los 19 and @SamDelisle9, who you could argue were the two most impactful players on their roster. They then top it off with @Kernsy, @CaLL Me Jakoo, and @DDW4, who have been a part of very solid rosters in the past and are skilled players in their own right. This team has the potential to move up spots in these rankings in the near future, and the only reason they aren’t is because of the DNF in the Caps Tournament. 

7. Prophecy

LG Championship Season 12 - T8

Caps Gaming Showcase - T16

Bo3: N/A

Bo1: Dahlia, Entourage, Vertigo, Phantoms, BBB 

The long-running brand of Prophecy has had a decent amount of consistency in terms of placing, but nothing too high or noteworthy. They recently went through a rehaul of their roster, bringing in @McLxvinn, @Po1andsFinest and @Sorokin x 90. All three of these guys bring pedigree and experience to the team and look to make a deeper run in future events.

6. Phantoms

LG Championship Season 12 - T16

Caps Gaming Showcase - 4th

Bo3: Entourage 

Bo1: Vertigo, Dahlia, Composure, BBB, Entourage 

Phantoms have been a pleasant surprise of the 6’s scene recently, being a newer roster/brand formed in NHL 20. The French squad surprised plenty in the early going, but then topped it off with a dark horse run in the Caps Gaming Showcase, making it to top 4 and the LAN experience. These guys can’t be considered dark horses anymore and will look to continue their consistent success. 

5. Underdogs

LG Championship Season 12 - T4

Caps Gaming Showcase - T8

Bo3: Composure, Dahlia 

Bo1: Dahlia, Composure, Entourage, Prophecy, BBB, Phantoms 

This French squad is by no means an underdog at this point, as they have been consistently a solid contender in all the events they play in. The Underdogs like to play a high powered offense and have the skill to match any top team goal for goal. They had a tough run in the Caps Gaming tournament, as they had forfeit wins and forfeit losses all over the place, which messed up their swiss ranking and eventually their seeding for playoffs. They have however been one of the more consistent teams in placings, and look to make a run in an upcoming tournament to jump in the rankings. 

4. Composure

LG Championship Season 12 - 1st

Caps Gaming Showcase - T32

Bo7: Phantoms, Underdogs, Resilience 

Bo3: Resilience, Prophecy 

Bo1: Prophecy, Dahlia, Hidden Potential, Phantoms, Underdogs 

Composure is one of the few rosters that’s stuck together for a significant period of time. While they have had success in the past that aren’t mentioned here, the results look a bit hot and cold for the squad. I don’t think that the top 32 placement in Caps doesn’t tell the full story here, as they came up against another top 5 team in Underdogs. They have had wins in all series formats, and with an event win under their belt this year, they know how to get it done in NHL 20. 

3. Hidden Potential

LG Championship Season 12 - T8

Caps Gaming Showcase - 2nd

Bo7: BBB (LG)

Bo3: Composure, Dahlia, Prophecy, Underdogs, Phantoms 

Bo1: Prophecy, Underdogs, Dahlia, Phantoms, Entourage, Vertigo 

Hidden Potential is a relatively new team, but has made waves in NHL 20. They started off with solid placements and results early on in NHL 20, beating a lot of top 10 teams, and then followed it up with a 1st place regular season in Caps Gaming, and a 2nd place overall finish. They have depth in all positions, adding players like @rickchel, @YungGren, @Remi l9l and IHuskie to round out the utility positions.  The next step for this team is an event win. 

2. Entourage

LG Championship Season 12 - T16

Caps Gaming Showcase - 1st

Bo5: Hidden Potential 

Bo3: Composure, Resilience 

Bo1: Phantoms, BBB, Resilience, Dahlia, Composure

The most recent champion, Entourage looked significantly more prepared for the LAN environment than the other attendees. This showed in their results, as they didn’t drop a single game on their run. Their event win is plagued by their slow start in the beginnings of NHL 20, but their ranking is nothing to discredit. This team is solid top to bottom, have the firepower to run up the score or play a tight 1 goal game. The addition of @Regs84 has proven beneficial in spades, as he brings a puck-moving side to the right defense spot not seen from too many other teams. 
 

1. Resilience

LG Championship Season 12 - 2nd

Caps Gaming Showcase - 3rd

Bo7: Hidden Potential, Vertigo 

Bo3: BBB, Phantoms, Underdogs

Bo1: Underdogs x2, Phantoms, Hidden Potential, Composure, Vertigo, Prophecy, BBB, Phantoms 

As much as people may feel it’s strange to have a team that hasn’t won an event at number 1, it’s tough to not put Resilience at the top spot. They have been the most consistent, being the only team to get at least top 4 in both events. They also have the best track record in terms of beating top 10 teams, which comes from those deep playoff runs. The Resilience boys have bounced around with different wingers from time to time, but they brought back Stifmeister x7 and @Thibodd, who are arguably 2 top 5 wingers right now. They have one of the most well-rounded rosters and have done everything except win a big event. It feels like the only thing left for this team is to get that coveted trophy. Unfortunately, this team has spread itself out for NACL, joining various top 10 teams to bolster other rosters, so they will not be looking to raise the NACL trophy as a squad.

Do you agree with our ranking? Let us know your TOP 10 in the comments below.

Welcome to the North American Championship League! The league will feature some of the best 6v6 teams in North America, hence the very accurate league name.  This season of NACL has a $4,000 prize pool and featured an individual team buy-in of $200 USD. 

Before starting it’s important to give some information on the current structure of the league. There are 15 teams participating in this season, and each week we’ll be publishing a power ranking featuring our top 8 teams going into that week. This week we’ve highlighted some key additions, removals and a particular player to watch. This article was written before the season puck drop, but released just after the first round of action.

1) Entourage

Key Additions: @Revv, @l JLP l, @Briere
Key Removals: None
Week 1, Player to Watch: @JClaus33

Notes: The CapsGaming Showcase Champions! Entourage was able to win the first-ever NHL 6s tournament hosted by an NHL affiliated team. In doing so they take home the top spot on our NACL Pre-Season Power Rankings, despite their championship hangover in S13 of ESHL. Adding backup goalie Revy will give the team some stability if / when @Scheckel29is unable to make games, and adding utilities JLP and Briere will give the team both depth and versatility when needing substitutions during the season.

2) Vertigo

Key Additions: None
Key Removals: None
Week 1, Player to Watch: @P t P 10

Notes: Vertigo has been no joke early on, as they’re off to a hot start in S13 of ESHL and look to carry that success over into NACL this season. This team is a former shell of the team Legacy and is led by both @ScaryJoeyyand @Gwan. Several rostered players were featured in the dramatic overtime of the first-ever Game 25 of the annual CanAm tournament (Gwan and P t P for Team Canada, and @CaLL Me Jakoo, @Soy los 19 and ScaryJoeyy for Team USA).
 

3) Hidden Potential

Key Additions: @YungGren, @r0tes, and @Thibodd
Key Removals: @Dings16
Week 1, Player to Watch: @Auggy

Notes: Hidden Potential came home from the CapsGaming Showcase, but not as champions. HP got swept in the finals by Entourage in convincing fashion but took an incredible leap forward from S12 ESHL. The core of the team for this tournament remains the same for the most part, with the only change being YungGren replacing Dings. Key members of Resilience (Rotes and newcomer Thibodd) have also joined the roster along with Dangs and Remi to serve as utilities throughout the tournament. 

4) Phantoms

Key Additions: Second Roster
Key Removals: None
Week 1, Player to Watch: TBD

Phantoms will serve as a combination team consisting of members between The Underdogs and Phantoms. Both teams had great runs in the CapsGaming showcase, and their roster will definitely benefit from being able to pick and choose which lines play each opponent throughout the duration of this tournament. The Phantoms were able to make the final LAN as one of the remaining four teams in the tournament, and The Underdogs were one game shy of reaching themselves. We don’t expect to see many mix and match style lineups, but do look for this team to match opposing teams lineups, and play the ‘hot line’ down the stretch and through playoffs if they make it.

5) Composure

Key Additions: @Hart x l79l, @TheCreasePolice (ESHL), and @Trobs
Key Removals: @Foote
Week 1, Player to Watch: @officialmark07

Composure picked up two of the best free-agent goalies available after a disappointing finish in the CapsGaming Showcase. Adding both JMoney (ESHL) and Hart (ESHL and NACL) added more stability and has created some healthy goalie competition between the pipes. Although early returns have been questionable at best in ESHL - look for both goalies (particularly Hart for NACL)  to come into form in the upcoming weeks as the team works through a funk.

6) BBB

Key Additions: @Bert, @Bass, @desyd19 and @Foote
Key Removals: @Grim
Week 1, Player to Watch: @Bones

BBB did a great job reuniting with former teammate Bert (FlowMaster Joe). Bert was a key part of the core that won several ESHL championships with BBB in NHL 19. The team also did a great job adding reliable utilities in acquiring forward Bass19, defenseman Desy, and goalie Foote (S12 ESHL winning G). Foote and Perri both played for Composure just a few short months ago, and now both find themselves on BBB sharing the net once again.    

7) 6th Sense

Key Additions: @TheGreatMP7 , @Vaporize 17 and @Seb TopG (General420)
Key Removals: None
Week 1, Player to Watch: Vaporize 17

6th Sense has been retooled for success in the upcoming NACL by adding both GreatMP7 (Dahlia) and Vaporize (Infinity). On top of that, they’ve added one of the better free agent goalies in General420, who has already captured an impressive early record of 6-1-1 featuring an 83.3 S% and a GAA of 1.36 in S13 of ESHL.

8) Montage Moment

Key Additions: @NugeTV, @OFs, and @Girgss
Key Removals: None
Week 1, Player to Watch: @Nasher

Here we are with the most ambitious pre-season ranking on this whole list! The new image Montage Moment is here, but are they here to stay? Out of the gate with an impressive start of 8-1-1 in S13 of ESHL, this team has already caught many by surprise by splitting a two-game series with Vertigo (NACL: Pre-season Ranked 2nd) and a two-game sweep of Composure (NACL: Pre-season Ranked 5th). Montage Moment made a huge splash this off-season by signing three players with top-end 6s experience, headlined by streamer Nuge. Nuge and Girgs were also teammates in the CapsGaming Showcase as members of Infinity. 
 

Did we get the TOP 8 right? How does your ranking look? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Welcome to the North American Championship League - NACL!

The North American Championship league is making its long-awaited return and It's time to find out who's the best 6v6 team in North America. There is plenty of reason to get excited for this season of NACL as the same principles seem to apply with NACL as on our European endeavors - great broadcasts, prize pools and the fiercest of competition! We are also excited about our new playoff format, which was well received by the community. 
 

Below you will find all the information you need before the tournament.

Game mode: 6v6

Console: Xbox One

Rules: Download here

NACL License: In order to play, the team must purchase the NACL License at $200. Buy the NACL license here.

Prize pool: The NACL prize pool will amount to a minimum of $4000*. 

1. $2,400
2. $1,200
3-4. $200

*Prize pool is guaranteed at 10+ registered NACL license owners. With the exception of PayPal fees, all of the NACL license costs will be going towards the prize pool. NHLGamer does not take a cut. 

Schedule & Gamedays: Our schedule will consist of Tuesday and Sunday evenings with our main times being 9-11 pm, however, the "Featured Games" for casting purposes will be from 8-10 pm. Teams will also have the freedom to reschedule games within reason. Every team will face each other in a two-game series alternating home and away.
 

Weekly Broadcasts:

One thing NHLGamer takes pride in is our top-notch broadcasts and we aim to have the same standards in the NACL as we do in our European casts.  We are looking forward to working with the players to make this possible. The NACL will have a featured stream each week, cast by @Tougie24 and @Cyn. More information to follow.

Meet our staff:

• @APsychicTaco (Support)
• @DirtyJerrz (Support)
• @HowtoChel (Support)
• @Kenu (Admin)
• @MartindalexC (Writer)
• @Oohwayy (Support)
• @TheCreasePolice (League Lead)
• @WingelsDGC (Writer, Support)

*roles are simplified for convenience and aren't limited to the above title

Support:

While it's totally ok to ask for help on Discord and you might get a quicker reply from fellow community members to some of the simpler questions, when you actually want to get help with an issue from our staff, please contact support. While sending PM's to staff members may be tempting, using our ticketing system is the best way to go.

The tentative schedule for what's coming:

• The sign-ups for the NACL will kick off now and end on March 3rd.
• The sign-ups are followed by a media week, where everything is set up and we look forward to learning about your team.
• The season starts on March 10th.
• The regular season is estimated at 4-6 weeks, followed by BO7 playoffs.

The NACL season will begin on March 10th and registrations kick off effective immediately, so please CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP RIGHT NOW!

Discord: 

Our communication with the teams is done through articles on the website and through our Discord server. You can join the NHLGamer Discord server by clicking here. In the NHLGamer Discord, add the NACL Elite role as well as the role for your team to help with league communication.  This can be done in the #role-commands-entry channel (see #role-commands-guide for instructions).

Last but not least, a very warm welcome to the community!

About NHLGamer

NHLGamer.com first saw the light of day over a decade ago, somewhere around 2004. What started as a website platform for friends to arrange NHL leagues against each other has since grown exponentially into what is today the largest community for NHL gamers in Europe. In late 2015, NHLGamer launched a new platform for a larger audience by introducing the first-ever European Championship League (ECL) - a league where all the best European NHL gamers create teams and compete against each other in the game mode EASHL (6vs6) for the title of Best EASHL Team in Europe. We took another big step forward by launching the NACL and welcoming North American teams into a league hosted on our site. This launch was also a monumental step in bringing together all the best NHL gamers on one platform. Our new found venture into the North American NHL gaming scene is looking to follow in the footsteps of what we have done with the ECL. 

While proud of our achievements and the success we've had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, we are not done yet. Our long-term goals include growing the community, hosting larger leagues with larger prize pools and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports.

Remember to stay up to speed with all our leagues by following our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find our broadcasts on our Twitch channel.

Hey NHLGamers,

In an announcement two weeks ago, we presented the long-awaited return of our North American Championship League. NHLGamer has achieved tremendous success in Europe and we hope to bring the same level of excitement and success for NHL esports to North America.

We've been getting a ton of questions about the new season of the NACL. In this article, we aim to answer some of those questions short and sweet. Here we go!

Game mode: 6v6

Console: Xbox One

Prize Pool: The final prize pool is still under consideration but at this point, we can say it will be at least $4000. The plan is to reward the top 4 teams.

NACL License: In order to play, the team must purchase the NACL License at $200.

Schedule & Gamedays: Our schedule will consist of Tuesday and Sunday evenings with our main times being 9-11 pm, however, the "Featured Games" for casting purposes will be from 8-10 pm. Teams will also have the freedom to reschedule games within reason. Every team will face each other in a two-game series alternating home and away.

The tentative schedule for what's coming:

• The sign-ups for the NACL will kick off on February 19th and end on March 3rd.
• The sign-ups are followed by a media week, where everything is set up and we look forward to learning about your team.
• The season starts March 10th.
  • The regular season is estimated at 4-6 weeks, followed by BO7 playoffs.

Expect more information closer to sign-ups.

About NHLGamer

NHLGamer.com first saw the light of day over a decade ago, somewhere around 2004. What started as a website platform for friends to arrange NHL leagues against each other has since grown exponentially into what is today the largest community for NHL gamers in Europe. In late 2015, NHLGamer launched a new platform for a larger audience by introducing the first-ever European Championship League (ECL) - a league where all the best European NHL gamers create teams and compete against each other in the game mode EASHL (6vs6) for the title of Best EASHL Team in Europe. We took another big step forward by launching the NACL and welcoming North American teams into a league hosted on our site. This launch was also a monumental step in bringing together all the best NHL gamers on one platform. Our new found venture into the North American NHL gaming scene is looking to follow in the footsteps of what we have done with the ECL. 

While proud of our achievements and the success we've had in creating and maintaining such a great community of talented gamers, we are not done yet. Our long-term goals include growing the community, hosting larger leagues with larger prize pools and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports.

Remember to stay up to speed with all our leagues by following our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find our broadcasts on our Twitch channel.

The North American Championship league is making its long-awaited return.

Would you like to help us come back in a big way? We are looking to bring the most exciting competitive format to the community by proposing a major playoff system change. This will be the first of its kind in NHL esports and we are looking for your feedback.

With the new season of NACL, we want to make the regular season more meaningful and the playoffs more exciting. Keep reading to learn more about our proposal and what we plan to achieve by doing this.

Proposed Playoff System: Challenge System
To illustrate the proposed Challenge System, we will use a 16 team league format where 8 teams make the playoffs. However, this system can be adjusted depending on the number of team signups. In traditional playoff formats the 1st seed will play the 8th seed, the 2nd seed will play the 7th seed, and so on. While this format can still produce high quality matchups and excitement, we believe the proposed Challenge System will give teams more incentive to finish the regular season on top and will add a layer of anticipation to the first round of the playoffs.

The proposed format will separate the playoff teams into two groups; group 1 will be teams seeded 1-4 and group 2 will be teams seeded 5-8.

Example Standings:

1. Team A
2. Team B
3. Team C
4. Team D
   ---------
5. Team E
6. Team F
7. Team G
8. Team H

Group 1 consists of teams A, B, C, and D, while group 2 consists of teams E, F, G, H.
 

How the Challenge System will work:

• Team A will pick their first round opponent from any team in group 2 (team E, F, G, or H)
• Team B will then pick from the three remaining teams
• Team C will then pick from the two remaining teams
• Team D will match up with the team that wasn’t picked by the top 3 seeds

To make this even more exciting, it is our goal to have the selection process broadcasted live on Twitch with one representative from the top three teams.

The key benefits of this system:

• Additional content and added excitement during the first round of the playoffs
• Potential for new rivalries
• Completely eliminates any benefit of seed manipulation
   

This new system is a fantastic way to build excitement and hype for a potential series. For starters, there will be a lot of anticipation to know which teams get matched up. There is also potential for drama during the draft: a team can fake out the stream, playfully trash talk their opponent, or present their case why they think they're number one. All of these factors can create an even more intense atmosphere, which will give viewers and the community more reasons to tune into the broadcasts.

With this system, anyone who is looking to gain an advantageous first round matchup by intentionally underperforming won’t be able to, as the control of the pairings is in the hands of the top 3 performing teams.

The rivalries that build up during the regular season, especially the rivalries that have been building up for years in other leagues, will be put to the test. Will the high seed play it safe? Will they challenge a familiar team to flex in front of an audience? The possibilities!
 

The inspiration for this format comes from the Southern Professional Hockey League which has also inspired rule changes for the NHL. The most recent change being the implementation of 3-on-3 overtime.

We are hoping this will bring a fresh, highly competitive format to NHL 6v6 in North America. Let us know how you feel about this new format in the comments section below.

Hey NHLGamers, 

Code of Conduct have been crowned as the first NACL Pro (XB1) champion by beating Epicenter 4 games to 0. Naturally, NHLGamer would like to congratulate each and every player from COC for putting on a show en route to their title. Additionally, we would also like to thank everyone that participated in this inaugural season for making each game as memorable as the last. 

The game by game results for the series are as follows:

Game 1: Epicenter - Code of Conduct 0:1

Game 2: Epicenter - Code of Conduct 0:4

Game 3: Code of Conduct - Epicenter 6:1

Game 4: Code of Conduct - Epicenter 3:0

Code of Conduct's championship roster:

GOALTENDERS

#9 C. Hoose @EnVyD l 1

#35 H. Bluntqvist @Darcy Kuemper

DEFENSEMEN

#2 L. Butters Scotch @Lbflag

#7 D. Jacobs @x beit

#16 A. Miller @Lmiller16L

#16 A. Roy @Makar x 16

#23 J. Blais @Ragey23

#25 J. Kingov @cabcavlax1

#55 -. LiL-emo-boy @GeTMuTeDD

FORWARDS

#7 -. Karma @Karma I2I

#9 -. LOL @LOL

#37 J. Himoff @PieR Talent

#45 -. TINO @TIN045

#87 -. Auggy @Auggy

The Code of Conduct was enforced quite heavily throughout the season as the COC guys put on an absolute show in the regular season only to keep up the form in the big games. Somewhat surprisingly the eventual champions dropped games in the first two rounds but managed to sweep Epicenter in the finals. Code of Conduct seemed to have completely dismantled their final opponents as all but one game were quite one-sided and the eventual scoring differential ended up being 14-1 in favor of COC throughout the series. @TIN045 ended up being the most prolific scorer of the postseason tallying 13 goals and 23 assists for 36 points in 15 games. 

Code of Conduct's road to the trophy: 

Regular season: 12-1-1 (1st)

Quarterfinals: 4:1 vs. Fox Squad

Semifinals: 4:2 vs. Problematic eSports

Finals: 4:0 vs. Epicenter

As always, NHLGamer would like to extend a warm thank you to all participants and every single member of this great community! Enjoy your break and get ready to step on the virtual ice again very soon!

Your NHLGamer Staff

Hey NHLGamers, 

No Limits have been crowned as the first NACL Pro (PS4) champion by beating Best 4 Business 4 games to 1. Naturally, NHLGamer would like to congratulate each and every player from NOL for putting on a show en route to their title. Additionally, we would also like to thank everyone that participated in this inaugural season for making each game as memorable as the last. 

The game by game results for the series are as follows:

Game 1: Best 4 Business - No Limits 3:5

Game 2: Best 4 Business - No Limits 1:3

Game 3: No Limits - Best 4 Business 5:1

Game 4: No Limits - Best 4 Business 0:2

Game 5: Best 4 Business - No Limits 0:1

No Limits' championship roster:

GOALTENDERS

#55 i. SoWhat @icallsowhat55

#69 M. Hunt @thebipolarjew69

#70 B. Holtby @Capitalsfan_08

DEFENSEMEN

#8 M. FLoWeR @LaFleuR11

#9 -. Heiskanen @RSall14

#10 B. Dangles @Bo-dangles10

#91 A. Stammer @Stammerchel

FORWARDS

#8 -. Ethan @xDeath

#19 I. Jbur @i9-Stamkos-1i

#21 K. Rivs @Rivnasty

#89 Y. Gladu @Yann_Gladu

#90 -. Laziee @LazieeQc

There really were No Limits to the greatness of this team during the past season. No Limits only suffered one regular time loss all season long and it didn't come until in the fourth game of the finals against Best 4 Business. The teams proved to be a superior defensive power with a serious scoring upside as they conceded less than a goal per game during the season and averaged over five a game at the other end of the ice. 

No Limits' road to the trophy: 

Regular season: 13-0-1 (1st)

Quarterfinals: 4:0 vs. Gr8ness Awaits

Semifinals: 4:0 vs. Barbajous

Finals: 4:1 vs. Best 4 Business

As always, NHLGamer would like to extend a warm thank you to all participants and every single member of this great community! Enjoy your break and get ready to step on the virtual ice again very soon!

Your NHLGamer Staff

Hey NHLGamers!

It's time for the real part of the season to start. The time when every game is tighter than the game before it. The time when each game could very well be your last. It is of course playoff time! It has been a bit of a struggle for some getting up to this point, with multiple teams deciding to call it quits and dropping out. Despite this, we're looking forward to seeing what PS4 Pro has to offer and, most importantly of all, who will end being crowned the inaugural champion!

The primary game days for this round of the playoffs are: Monday the 15th of April and Wednesday the 17th of April. As always, team captains should make sure to contact their opponent in advance. Furthermore, even though all seven games are scheduled across the two days mentioned previously, it is of course possible for teams to spread out their games over the week up 'til the end of Monday the 22nd of April. 

Additionally, we aim to broadcast some of the series. To facilitate this we ask that all players make sure that their player cards are updated and accurately show what name they will be using in game. On top of this, to assist the broadcast staff in this endeavour, we ask that team captains contact myself (@MartindalexC) either here, or on discord and supply me with information regarding who will be playing for their team as well as what lineup they will be using. 

So, without further ado here are the matchups:

(1)  No Limits vs. Gr8ness Awaits  (8)

Prediction: No Limits, 4-0

(2)  Rag Rats vs. Expect Many Errors  (7)

Prediction: Rag Rats, 4-1

(3)  Best 4 Business vs. Br0 Unit  (6)

Prediction: Best 4 Business, 4-1

(4)  Barbajous vs. Prestige Worldwide  (5)

Prediction: Barbajous, 4-0

---

Stay tuned for future announcements on our social media accounts for details regarding broadcasts. 

And as always, good luck to all competitors! 

 - @MartindalexC

Hey NHLGamers!

It's time for the real part of the season to start. The time when every game is tighter than the game before it. The time when each game could very well be your last. It is of course playoff time! It has been a bit of a struggle for some getting up to this point, with multiple teams deciding to call it quits and dropping out. Despite this, we're looking forward to seeing what XB1 Pro has to offer and, most importantly of all, who will end being crowned the inaugural champion!

The primary game days for this round of the playoffs are: Monday the 15th of April and Wednesday the 17th of April. As always, team captains should make sure to contact their opponent in advance. Furthermore, even though all seven games are scheduled across the two days mentioned previously, it is of course possible for teams to spread out their games over the week up 'til the end of Monday the 22nd of April. 

Additionally, we aim to broadcast some of the series. To facilitate this we ask that all players make sure that their player cards are updated and accurately show what name they will be using in game. On top of this, to assist the broadcast staff in this endeavour, we ask that team captains contact myself (@MartindalexC) either here, or on discord and supply me with information regarding who will be playing for their team as well as what lineup they will be using. 

So, without further ado here are the matchups:

(1)  Code of Conduct vs. Fox Squad  (8)

Prediction: Code of Conduct , 4-0

(2)  Heroes vs. Kangaroo Court  (7)

Prediction: Heroes, 4-0

(3)  Epicenter vs. Complex  (6)

Prediction: Epicenter, 4-2

(4)  Problematic eSports vs. GT R  (5)

Prediction: GT R, 4-3

---

Stay tuned for future announcements on our social media accounts for details regarding broadcasts. 

And as always, good luck to all competitors! 

 - @MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers,

For this season of NACL Pro (PS4) we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. 

The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. 

Previous rankings:

Season preview

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

-

1. No Limits (5-0-0) [+1]

2. Barbajous (5-1-0) [+1]

3. Prestige Worldwide (2-4-0) [+4]

4. Best 4 Business (1-3-0) [+1]

5. RAG RATS (1-0-0) [-4]

6. Gr8ness Awaits (0-3-0) [+3]

7. Expect Many Errors (0-2-0) [+1]

8. Cross Crease (0-3-0) [-4]

9. Br0 Unit (0-0-0) [-3]

Standings timeline

That's our power rankings after the third week of action in PS4 NACL Pro! We're looking forward to see which teams can keep their form running and who might be crashing. As always, if you want to see yourself at the top - keep working hard, win some games and check out the standings again next Monday!

Until next time,
@MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers,

For this season of NACL Pro (XB1) we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. 

The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. 

Previous rankings:

Season preview

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

-

1. Code of Conduct (6-0-0) [+2]

2. Heroes (6-0-0) [-1]

3. Epicenter (3-2-0) [+3]

4. Quality Control (4-2-1) [-2]

5. Problematic Esports (3-1-0) [-1]

6. Complex (1-1-2) [+1]

7. GT R (1-3-1) [-2]

8. True North (0-0-4) [+5]

9. Fox Squad (0-0-0) [+1]

10. Kangaroo Court (0-0-6) [-2]

Standings timeline

That's our power rankings after the third week of action in Xbox NACL Pro! We're looking forward to see which teams can keep their form running and who might be crashing. As always, if you want to see yourself at the top - keep working hard, win some games and check out the standings again next Monday!

Until next time,
@MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers,

For this season of NACL Pro (XB1) we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. 

The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. 

Previous rankings:

Season preview

Week 1

Week 2

-

1. RAG RATS (7-1-0) [+4]

2. No Limits (3-0-1) [=]

3. Barbajous (4-2-0) [+4]

4. Cross Crease (2-1-0) [-1]

5. Best 4 Business (2-3-1) [=]

6. Br0 Unit (2-3-0) [+2]

7. Prestige Worldwide (2-4-0) [-1]

8. Expect Many Errors (2-3-1) [=]

9. Gr8ness Awaits (0-2-2) [+2]

Standings timeline*

Due to a bunch of games being deleted and re-uploaded due to stat errors the timeline of the standings will be postponed until next week's article. 

Until next time!
@MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers,

For this season of NACL Pro (XB1) we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. 

The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. 

Previous rankings:

Season preview

Week 1

Week 2

-

1. Heroes (6-0-0) [+2]

2. Quality Control (2-0-0) [+8]

3. Code of Conduct (3-1-0) [-2]

4. Problematic Esports (2-2-1) [+4]

5. GT R (3-2-0) [+1]

6. Epicenter (3-1-0) [-4]

7. Complex (2-1-1) [-3]

8. Kangaroo Court (0-2-0) [-1]

9. Chicago Mafia (0-1-0) [+3]

10. Fox Squad (1-6-0) [+4]

11. PREDATOR (0-4-0) [-6]

12. Chaos Esports (0-0-0) [-3]

13. True North (0-0-0) [-2]

Standings timeline*

Due to a bunch of games being deleted and re-uploaded due to stat errors the timeline of the standings will be postponed until next week's article. 

Until next time!
@MartindalexC

NHLGamer’s NACL League administration (LA) have been sent multiple cases over the past few days, with infractions to a multitude of rules. We have decided to make a change to the rulebook to reflect this influx of cases. Before that, however, we will outline each case and the subsequent decisions made. Important note for captains: At the very least, read about the rule change at the end of this post.

Case 1: Player ECHAMPO from the team Cross Crease (PS4) accepted a fight prompt.

Per rule 10.8 which states the following:

“Players are not allowed to fight in NACL Elite & Pro. In the case of a fight, the player (or goalie) accepting the fight will be suspended for one (1) game… “

As stated by the rule above, the action of accepting a fight carries an automatic 1 game suspension and the intention behind the fight is of no interest / relevance. As such, we have decided to suspend ECHAMPO for 1 game.

Cases 2 & 3: Forfeit wins concerning Rag Rats & Smell My Cup (PS4), as well as Cross Crease & Smell My Cup

Smell My Cup have been disqualified from the tournament, as such under rule 14.9 all games involving said team will be removed from the standings & schedule, played or otherwise.

“Disqualification “Disqualification” is when a team gets removed from the tournament. A disqualified team has all its games cancelled, played or un-played. … ”

Case 4: Forfeit wins concerning Complex & Chaos Esports (XB1)

Complex and Chaos Esports were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 25^th of March. Just 15minutes before the start time, Chaos Esports informed Complex they could not play and asked to reschedule. Complex declined and proceeded to message LA asking for forfeit wins.

Under rule 9.2 it states the following:

“9.2 Postponing Games Teams are allowed to postpone any of their games before 4:00 PM ES(D)T on the day the game is supposed to take place according to the schedule. To meet this deadline, it is sufficient to submit a message to all three of the opponent's captains via private messages on NHLGamer. … ”

As Chaos Esports neglected to message anyone from Complex, we have decided to award Complex with forfeit victories in this matchup.

Case 5: Forfeit wins concerning Quality Control & True North (XB1)

Quality Control and True North were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 27^th of March. Upon messaging True North’s assistant captain, who responded 10 minutes after the scheduled start time, it was found that they would not be able to ice a team to play. As such, we have decided to award Quality Control with the two forfeit victories from this matchup.

Case 6: Forfeit wins concerning Epicenter & Kangaroo Court (XB1)

Epicenter and Kangaroo Court had made arrangements to start their matchup at 23:30 ET on the 25^th of the March, unfortunately Kangaroo Court failed to show up at the scheduled time and as such, we will award both victories to Epicenter by way of forfeit wins.  

Case 7: Forfeit wins concerning Epicenter & Chicago Mafia (XB1)

Epicenter and Chicago Mafia were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 27^th of March. Chicago Mafia did not show up to the default time, claiming that neither team decided on a specific date to play, however the GM of Epicenter never received a message regarding this. As such, Epicenter will be awarded the two forfeit wins from this matchup.

Case 8: Forfeit wins concerning GT R & Chaos esports (XB1)

GT R and Chaos Esports were scheduled to start playing at 21:30 ET on the 27^th of March. Despite repeated attempts to contact Chaos’ captain by GT R, as well as messaging Chaos’ assistant captain, they received no response. Due to this, GT R will be awarded both forfeit victories.

Additionally, it should be noted that Chaos Esports are now no longer able to forfeit any more games in this current season before facing disciplinary actions from LA. This is due to rule 7.2, in which it outlines that a team may only give out a max of four walkover wins over the course of a season before facing further consequences.

“7.2 Forfeiting Games Teams are allowed to forfeit a maximum of 4 games in one tournament without further consequences. By forfeiting, the opposing team will be given a walkover win.”

Case 9: Forfeit wins concerning GT R & Fox Squad (XB1)

GT R & Fox Squad were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 27^th of March. Unfortunately, due to some issues regarding prior arrangements, Fox Squad was only able to start the 1^st game at ~22:55 ET. After the first game was finished, Fox Squad then asked for the 2^nd game to be rescheduled to another time. As this reschedule request was asked after the deadline outlined in rule 9.2 had passed, we have decided to award GT R with the forfeit win from the yet to be played game.

----

League Administration statement

It is at this point that the LA would like to make a statement of sorts referencing the sudden influx of these types of cases laid out before you.

For instance, (in particular reference to case 9) it should be said that whilst there is not specific rule stopping teams from playing potentially just one game of a matchup, such an arrangement should be made in advance. Additionally, if you know you might have issues getting to a game (e.g. games scheduled in beforehand), then it may be advisable to delay the start of the second game to make sure that you and your team are able to make it to the start time punctually.

The point of this of course, is that you cannot make these types arrangements if you do not contact the other team’s captains in advance. As such, from this point onwards we will be making it mandatory for people to message the other team when concerned with trying to schedule a date. This is not us diminishing the value of the schedule, instead we are just requiring captains to be a bit more proactive, doing their best to work with the other team to find a suitable day for both, as opposed to just waiting in the DR and hoping the other team shows up with zero prior contact. Will it require more effort? Yes. However, the result is worth it. Note: Teams are required to contact the other team in advance, even if just to confirm the default date.

Hello NHLGamers,

For this season of NACL Pro (XB1) we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. 

The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. 

Previous rankings:

Season preview

Week 1

-

1. Code of Conduct (5-0-1) [+2]

2. Epicenter (5-1-0) [-1]

3. Heroes (4-2-0) [+2]

4. Complex (6-2-0) [+2]

5. PREDATOR (3-0-1) [+5]

6. GT R (4-1-1) [+1]

7. Kangaroo Court (2-3-1) [+1]

8. Problematic Esports (4-1-2) [-6]

9. Chaos Esports (2-2-1) [+2]

10. Quality Control (2-3-1) [-6]

11. True North (2-4-2) [-2]

12. Chicago Mafia (2-0-0) [=]

13. NACL 2nd Battalion HC (0-6-0) [=]

14. Fox Squad (0-6-0) [=]

Standings timeline

That's our power rankings after the first week of action in Xbox NACL Pro! We're looking forward to see which teams can keep their form running and who might be crashing. As always, if you want to see yourself at the top - keep working hard, win some games and check out the standings again next Monday!

Until next time,
@MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers,

For this season of PS4 NACL Pro we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. 

The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. 

Previous rankings:

Season preview

Week 1

-

1. Best 4 Business (8-0-0) [+1]

2. No Limits (7-0-0) [+2]

3. Cross Crease (5-1-2) [+2]

4. Smell My Cup (3-0-0) [-1]

5. RAG RATS (4-2-0) [+1]

6. Prestige Worldwide (4-2-0) [+1]

7. Barbajous (3-3-0) [-6]

8. Br0 Unit (2-5-0) [=]

9. Elegant Elgins (0-4-0) [+1]

10. Expect Many Errors (0-6-1) [-1]

11. Gr8ness Awaits (0-10-0) [=]

Standings timeline

  
That's our power rankings after the first week of action in PS4 NACL Pro! We're looking forward to see which teams can keep their form running and who might be crashing. As always, if you want to see yourself at the top - keep working hard, win some games and check out the standings again next Monday!

Until next time,
@MartindalexC

NHLGamers,

Welcome one and all to the opening season of NACL on PS4! Almost a month has passed since we first announced the NACL league structure as a whole, and thanks to the interest of the 11 teams below, we were able to extend the NACL to PS4, as well as the XB1.

As NHLGamer up to this point has been almost entirely EU based, we were somewhat at a loss in regards as to what to say about the players and teams taking part in this league. As such, prior to this season starting we asked all teams to submit a prediction of how the table will shape up, once all the games have been played in the regular season. So, without further ado, here is your NACL PS4 season prediction:

1.  Barbajous

2.  Best 4 Business

3.  Smell my cup

4.  No limits

5.  Cross Crease

6.  RAG RATS

7.  Prestige Worldwide

8.  Br0 Unit

9.  Expect Many Errors

10.  Elegant Elgins

11.  Gr8ness Awaits

Of course, these type of predictions tend to fall into irrelevancy as the season goes on, with many teams going on hot streaks, and many falling by the wayside in the attempt to win it all. Despite this, we hope that this rather brief breakdown of NACL PS4 gives you a good enough idea of who the favourites are going into the season! As always, we wish all teams the best of luck and we hope to provide the high quality league experience that NHLGamer is associated with.

Anyway, now that the formalities and boring stuff are out of the way we can get down to the important stuff - so in other words, let the games begin! 

NACL Writer,
@MartindalexC

NHLGamers,

It's been almost a month since we announced the NACL, and finally we have arrived at the doorstep of the inaugural season of what we hope will be as successful of a ride we've had with the ECL in Europe. The signup phase is over and after a short break in order to get everything set up the time has come to play. For NACL Pro on Xbox, we have a total of 14 teams participating. 

Due to all of the teams being new on our site and a majority of NHLGamer staff being EU based, we have very limited knowledge about participating teams so far. For that reason, we reached out to the players and asked each team to submit a prediction of the final standings for NACL Pro. Based on all of these predictions, we've generated a prediction ranking:

1.   Epicenter

2.  Problematic eSports

3.  Code of Conduct

4.  Quality Control

5.  Heroes

6.  Complex

7.  GT R

8.  Kangaroo Court

9.  True North

10.  PREDATOR

11.  Chaos Esports

12.  Chicago Mafia

13.  NACL 2nd Battalion HC

14.  Fox Squad

As we've seen over and over. Predictions don't always mean much when it's all said and done, but we hope that this ranking will give you guys a snapshot into what we can expect from these teams. We're very excited to have so many teams participating in the Pro division and look forward to delivering the high quality league experience NHLGamer is associated with. As it is now, our knowledge of these teams is limited, but as the action takes off and we get to see some games, we'll be able to provide better and more detailed reports and previews about the ups and downs this upcoming season.

Let's get the hockey underway!

Your NHLGamer Editor,
@jahajaha93