Good evening, NHLGamers!

On the eve of NHL18 Beta, we've crowned the champions of our second Summer Cup - NG Cheap Shot. For team's captain @pelimies80 and assistant captain @xLVxRitchey this isn't anything new - they were part of Team pelimies80, winners of the first Summer Cup.

NG Cheap Shot overcame NG 50 Shades of Blades' superb defense and took a convincing 3-1 series victory.

Game 1 - NG Cheap Shot vs. NG 50 Shades of Blades 3-1
Game 2 - NG 50 Shades of Blades vs. NG Cheap Shot 2-3 OT
Game 3 - NG Cheap Shot vs. NG 50 Shades of Blades 0-1
Game 3 - NG 50 Shades of Blades vs. NG Cheap Shot 2-1 OT

NG Cheap Shot's roster

Goalies
#22 Supreex - L. Borga
#40 zaukki159 - M. Peikko

Defensemen
#5 Noddactius - S. Noddactius
#80 pelimies80 - T. Iceman

Forwards
#10 MCH_98 - M. Hendricks
#13 Dominointi - I. SK
#15 nispekt - T. Daddy
#19 yrjoo - P. Bert
#23 xLVxRitchey - B. Lotus
#47 RONDEBOY__ - D. Dziurzynski
#88 SomeJerk-_- - H. Steffe

Series GWG - https://clips.twitch.tv/DoubtfulFairCobraSMOrc

You can view our broadcast, including commentary, here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/161628574

Congratulations to both the winners and the runner-ups! Members of NG Cheap Shot will receive a copy of NHL18 and €30 gift card, members of NG 50 Shades of Blades will receive a copy of NHL18. All courtesy of Webhallen.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this tournament possible - my fellow staff members, all the captains, players and obviously Webhallen for supporting us and sponsoring this amazing tournament.

In adition with the NHL18 Beta approaching, we've planned a little surprise. Follow us on our social media channels in order to be notified of any further announcements. Sharpen your skates and get ready for NHL18 Beta!

OxtreeLAT // NHLGamer.com

Greetings, gamers!

After a great display by all four semi-final teams, the Summer Cup by Webhallen is gearing towards the grand finals between NG 50 Shades of Blades and NG Cheap Shot. We at NHLGamer are pursuing to match the dedication and passion shown by the finalists in reaching this stage by providing you with our first-ever broadcast with live-commentary! In the booth we will have Kenu Emrick and Janbo Ferraro.

The entire finals series will be played today 24th of July, starting at around 19:30 CET. Moreover, we encourage you all to join in an hour before the opening faceoff for an analysis of the finalists, and even more so for the autographed Mike Green jersey giveaway, which will kick off the stream! If you haven't taken part in the giveaway lottery, you still have time to do so until 18:30 CET. Instructions can be found here.

After the games we hope to have a live interview of a player from the winning team. We have also requested both teams not to skip replays during the games in order to provide you with an enjoyable viewing experience of the Hockey Night in NHLGamer, as well as to assist the aging couple in the commentary booth in what is expected to be a showdown of fast plays and tactical maneuvers.

Key facts:
Stream starts at around 18:30 CET with the Mike Green jersey giveaway and a pre-game analysis at NHLGamer Twitch Channel
The games will start at around 19:30 CET
Interview, awards and post-game analysis right after the games

We hope to see many of you join in with us, and as always - GL & HF!

Good evening, Gamers!

It's now time for the Summer Cup Semifinals as we only have four teams remaining in the competition.

It seems like all the big dogs (the top 4 of the regular season) have already been eliminated from the playoffs! However, the whole Summer Cup has been pretty even from start to this point, so I'm not sure if there are any underdogs in this competition. Anyways, here are the results of Round 2:

NG Club Kannunkulma vs. NG Cheap Shot: 1-3
NG Parolan Visa vs. NG International Army: 2-3
NG Nighthawks vs. NG Trashers: 3-0
NG 50 Shades of Blades vs. NG Alcohology: 3-0

The remaining two match-ups are very interesting to follow as both pairs have one clear favorite team (NG Nighthawks & NG 50 Shades of Blades) to get the chance to win those free copies of NHL18, while both less favored teams (NG Cheap Shot & NG International Army) fought for their playoff spots pretty much until the very last days of the regular season. However, they both have a great playoff-run behind them and we're pretty sure that they are not ready to give up just because their opponents might have had stronger seasons so far - at least on paper. 

The match-ups for the semifinals are:

NG Nighthawks (5) - NG Cheap Shot (15)
NG 50 Shades of Blades (6) - NG International Army (14)

Stay tuned for one more cool thing before the Beta arrives - I can promise that it's something that people have been asking us to do.

But before that - good luck everyone and have a nice week! 

@vSilenttio for NHLGamer.com

(Posting this on behalf of @vSilenttio and the rest of LA)

Hey Gamers,

The Summer Cup Playoffs Round 1 pairing NG Club Kannunkulma - NG Oispa Taitoo finished their series on time early last week. However, the game reports remained missing for a whole week after that. After League Administration made contact concerning this matter during the weekend, the games remain unreported, even as Round 2 is already going on - making it impossible to generate correct playoff-trees etc.

We look at this kind of action as completely reckless towards the rules but also towards the other participants of the Summer Cup. 

"10. Match report, from the rules of Summer Cup.

All match reports must be submitted within 24 hours after the game is completed, but as a general rule teams are expected to submit the stats immediately. Continued failure to report stats on time and/or accurately will result in disciplinary action. In case of repeated user error offenses, a warning will be issued. Once a warning has been given, further offenses may lead to a suspension or a deduction in team points. The rule also applies to the 24 hour period within which the matches should be reported. "

"Continued failure" is almost a week in this particular case. While there has been instances of game reports lingering for longer than 24 hours, this is an extreme case and the fact that we are currently in the Summer Cup Playoffs, Round 2 also work as an aggravating factor.

After receiving all information on the matter from both captains, League Administration has decided on the following outcome:

• Captain of NG Club Kannunkulma, @plee999, will receive a 1-game ban for Round 2 of Summer Cup Playoffs. The 1-game ban takes effect immediately, meaning the first game of Round 2.
• Captain of NG Oispa Taitoo, @Selezny will receive a 1-game ban for ECL5. As his team lost the series 3-2, that means Selezny's next possibility to play official league games at NHLGamer is in October 2017 when ECL5 starts. The 1-game ban takes effect immediately in ECL 5, meaning the first game of ECL 5 for whatever team Selezny chooses to play for.

Greetings, gamers

After the first round of playoffs, we have 8 teams left competing for their free copies of NHL 18.

We saw some upsets in the first round. Most notably NG Cheap Shot eliminating the 2nd seeded team, NG Kelamiehet, and the 3rd seeded team, NG Blackout, being eliminated by NG International Army. Let's have a look at how the first round played out:

NG Club Kannunkulma vs. NG Oispa Taitoo: 3-2
NG Kelamiehet vs. NG Cheap Shot: 2-3
NG Blackout vs. NG International Army: 1-3
NG Parolan Visa vs. NG Puck Nation: 3-2
NG Nighthawks vs. NG Goose Egg: 3-0
NG 50 Shades of Blades vs. NG Paikallinen: 3-1
NG Texas 6 Rangers vs. NG Trashers: 1-3
NG Alchology vs. NG Ultras: 3-1

The match-ups for Round 2 will be as follows:

NG Club Kannunkulma (1) vs. NG Cheap Shot (15)
NG Parolan Visa (4) vs. NG International Army (14)
NG Nighthawks (5) vs. NG Trashers (10)
NG 50 Shades of Blades (6) vs. NG Alcohology (8)

Good luck everyone, and remember to provide links to streams on the front page, thanks!
 

Good afternoon NHLGamers,

One look at the calendar and you might think its just another Monday at the start of July. Here at NHLGamer.com we know better though, for today is anything but an ordinary day... it is the start of the playoffs for Summer Cup 2, presented by Webhallen!

Ever since the Summer Cup draft took place on May 28th, 30 unique teams and more than 300 of the top european EASHL players have clashed - repeatedly - in order to have a chance at the ultimate prize when it comes to summer hockey; the NHLGamer Summer Cup title.

This year, conquering that title doesn't just come with bragging rights amongst your peers, it also means winning extraordinary prizes courtesy of our tournament sponsor Webhallen. Needless to say, the coming weeks hold plenty to get excited about!

With that said, there are a ways to go before a champion can be crowned. First of all we have the intriguing (and brutal!) matter of getting 16 playoff teams to become just 2 finalists. Without further ado, here are your 2017 Summer Cup playoff pairings;  

NG Club Kannunkulma - NG Oispa Taitoo
NG KELAMIEHET - NG Cheap Shot
NG Blackout - NG International Army
NG Parolan Visa - NG Puck Nation
NG Nighthawks - NG Goose Egg
NG 50 Shades of Blades - NG Paikallinen
NG Texas 6 Rangers - NG Trashers
NG Alcohology - NG Ultras

You can find the entire playoff tree here

Walkovers

On a more somber note, we regret to announce that there was some administrational intervention required when it came to the matter of finishing the regular season. The following Summer Cup teams failed to complete the season on time and were dealt Walkover losses:

- NG Hupimunat: 4 WO Losses
- NG Hunky Dory: 4 WO Losses
- NG Golden Nuggets: 4 WO Losses
- NG Terror Squad: 4 WO Losses
- NG PONTIKKAPOJAT: 2 WO Losses

Playoff specifics

The first round of the playoffs is to be played 3.7.2017 - 9.7.2017. This means the second round will start on 10.7.2017 with the rest of the playoff rounds following the same Monday-Sunday pattern. Should all playoff pairings in a round be ready ahead of time there is the option of starting the next round early, so do bear that in mind when scheduling games. The goal and intention of the NHLGamer Staff remains to have a Summer Cup winner crowned before the NHL 18 Beta is released.

Furthermore, all playoff rounds are to be played Best-of-5. This is, of course, a procedure specific to our Summer Cup format (ECL remains Best -of-7), designed to make sure the 1-week time span is enough to complete each playoff round even during summer. 

Additional thoughts

On a personal note I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all the players I have gotten to interact with during this Summer Cup. Just like last season, I have made many new friends and aquintances among my own Summer Cup teammates but also among our opponents. In the end, bringing the community closer together is the ultimate purpose with the Summer Cup and if you'd ask me; I'd say it was another great experience!

Good luck in the playoffs and as always... later skaters,

Hey NHL Gamers,

during the game between NG International Army and NG Pojat Ilman Pelihaluu, the away team scored the game-winning goal in overtime. NG International Army filed a dispute including the following video:

NG International Army vs. NG Pojat Ilman Pelihaluu.mp4

The goal in question violates rule #7 "Fair Play":

"Currently, there is a known bug which leads to a player being stuck in an animation, making it impossible for him to play the game until the next stoppage. In case this bug occurs, teams are advised to clear the puck as soon as they notice it. Any goals scored during this time frame will not count. Video proof needs to be captured if there is disagreement whether a goal should count or not. In case this freeze occurs multiple times during a game, League Administration asks teams to provide video evidence for further investigation. Intentional, abusive usage is considered as exploiting the game and will lead to harsh disciplinary action described above."

Just before the goal is scored, one of the attacking players skates towards the frozen defender to play a pass. League Administration assumes he must have been aware of the freeze in this situation. However, due to the heat of the moment (overtime) and a good opportunity, we feel like it was not done on purpose. League Administration will refrain from any personal player penalties.

However, League Administration rules that this overtime must be replayed with the same rosters used in the original game. The rosters can be seen from the match page linked above. In case both teams fail to schedule the overtime until Sunday, the game will end 2:2 and both teams receive one point. In case one team is at fault, the other team will receive an overtime walkover win (3:2/2:3) and thus get two points, while the other team receives one point.

- League Administration

Observations of the Draft

First of all, a big thank you to all the captains for their patience and effort while overcoming the obstacles we had during the draft. The last 3 rounds were done afterwards as per captain's request on a looser schedule. The remaining players were allocated randomly in a short bonus 11th round. Overall, it was a great event and the stream peaked at over 350 viewers. Thank you!

The draft itself did not bring huge surprises. Quite expectedly the first round of the draft was dominated by centremen, totaling 14/30 of overall first-round picks. Goalies were, just like in last years Summer Cup, not at a premium until Rounds 2 & 3. This led to some really nice late pickups for the captains who seemed well prepared for this scenario.There was an interesting split between the drafting philosophies of picking the best player available, and drafting by need (picking players for the positions the team was lacking in). Regardless, following the draft through all its twist and turns was a genuine pleasure. One that we hope to repeat next year together with all of you.

Let's have a closer look at the Top 10 picks of the Summer Cup 2 Draft:

Top 10 picks

1.       Dominointi, NG Cheap Shot

MVP of ECL 4 Elite and one of the very best versus players in the game, Dominointi was an expected #1 pick. A centreman who manipulates the flow of the game extremely well. Timing and positioning are the keys to his game. We are used to seeing him as a captain, and it will be interesting to see how Dominointi adapts to a new team dynamic.

2.       tbnantti, NG Blackout

A flashy centreman with a long and impressive track record. Strong in the faceoff circle. Formed a lethal duo with PleeMaker in previous two ECLs. Will we see a new duo in the SC? I expect xDoumi to have had good hunch on it to happen; this pick was probably decided well in advance, as tbnantti and xDoumi had been playing together between ECL4 and SC2.

3.       Patzlaf, NG Ultras

The highest pick from players that played in Pro division last season, Patzlaf is a guaranteed performer. Very traditional type of a center, who sees the ice well and is strong full length and width of the ice, with or without the puck. Can play any skater position on a high level.

4.       Penatski, NG Oispa Taitoo

Undoubtedly one of the best puck handlers in the game; the puck is the wheel of a stick-jojo in Penatski’s hands. Excellent at drawing penalties. The question is whether the team will find chemistry in time to make use of the resulting time and space.

5.       Rullstolskalas_, NG Goose Egg

The highest-picked defenseman, Rullstolskalas, will find himself in a very nice spot, pairing the D with his team mate Floor17 from Northern Stars. Under pressure, Rullstolskalas is calm like a frozen pond. To round off his defensive awareness and positioning, he also has a great knack for getting pucks to the net through traffic. Expect a solid pts/G.

6.       Foppatofflan, NG European Union

The first winger to be picked in the draft, Foppatofflan could be the most dangerous player on the counter-attack. Superb passing ability and vision. Last year’s SC champion needs at least a few players around him who think the game fast enough, to be able to play the way he’d like.

7.       TehhAhola, NG 50 Shades of Blades

The centreman for ECL 4 Elite runner-up’s, TehhAhola is a consistent points producer, poised with the patience of a severed lama when equipped with the puck.  Expect him to finish around his draft position in the scoring tables at the end of the regular season.

8.       ADETIKKI, NG Trashers

Green and brown is the new black, and NG Thrashers will be eagerly waiting ADETIKKI to come back. Crisu_Rottis was ready to take a chance and this talented offensive stinger will join the team fully in a few weeks’ time, after completing his civil services.

9.       janbonator (by The_Alpha_Furyan), NG International Army

A pure student of the game, janbonator can adapt to any type of situation or forward position you put in front of him. Known for maintaining a steady point production while never forgetting about his defensive responsibilites, he is a solid pick to build your team around - especially as he will most likely spend most of his games at the center position with NOS mainstay Mullweiser riding shotgun on the wing.

10.    JaromirSniper68 (by The_Alpha_Furyan), NG Terror Squad

One of the highest scoring Swedish players in ECL history, JaromirSniper68 excels when the game is played at a fast pace. Being picked by longtime linemate (and sometime rival) TerrorsenkoI91I may have come as a surprise to many watching the draft, but should this C-RW duo re-kindle the chemistry they've had in previous editions of the game, look out.

Leading the Pack

At about mid-point of the regular season, the battle for playoff spots is as furious as ever. Each group has at least 7-8 teams with a very good chance of clinching a spot in the sun.

Current front-runners looked strong before the tournament, and have duly delivered thus far. NG KELAMIEHET, NG 50 Shades of Blades, NG Parolan Visa, NG Blackout, NG Ultras and NG Kannunkulma are the leaders of their groups and boast an impressive average of 1.5+ pts/G.

Individually it’s been NG Kannunkulma’s captain, PleeMaker, who has been topping the stat sheets since the start. 21 goals and 11 assists in just 8 games, adding up to a phenomenal 4 points per game average. Can he keep it up?

Hey NHL Gamers!

Summer Cup, Presented by Webhallen is about to start soon, and here is our service post for all captains and regular players that provides all the necessary details to be ready for tomorrow's Live Draft and the league start.

THE DRAFT

The Live Draft will take place tomorrow on NHLGamer Twitch at 16 CEST / 17 EEST and will approximately take 5-6 hours to draft all of the ~300 players, meaning the draft procedure will be finished by 22 CEST / 23 CEST. @Kenu will be functioning as our lead host during that time, joined by @Dominointi and @gzell60 to keep all viewers up to date on all draft developments. We will also have a few topics to discuss, and are happy to answer any questions that come up in the chat!

To all captains: We will send out a private message to all of you, asking to confirm your presence for tomorrow's draft. It is crucial all of you are able to attend - otherwise we need to find backup captains on short notice! The message will also include more information about the player list and options to get connected tomorrow. Don't miss it!

THE RULES

The ruleset for this year's Summer Cup, Presented by Webhallen is finished and available below. It is everyone's obligation to be aware of all the details mentioned in all of the sections to ensure a smooth league progress during the next few weeks! All in all, the rules are based on ECL 4 (which worked out very well) mixed with a couple of Summer Cup specific aspects:

LEAGUE FORMAT

Summer Cup, Presented by Webhallen will be carried out in 3 groups with 10 teams each. This means, each team will have to play a total of 9 opponents (=18 games) during the regular season. The first 5 teams out of each group will go to the playoffs (one pot, seeded by PPG average and further tiebreakers), and they will be joined by a 16th team which is determined by the best PPG average (and further tiebreakers if necessary) out of all remaining teams in the 3 groups combined.

Depending on the schedule, the exact playoffs format will be determined at a later point.

That's all you need to know for now. Make sure to tune in to tomorrow's Live Draft!

@gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

Hey NHLGamers,

Keep your eyes peeled at 20 CEST/21 FIN time tonight when the Summer Cup Draft Order will be announced through a lottery at the official NHLGamer.com Twitch Channel:

NHLGamer Twitch

Also make sure you take this opportunity to subscribe to our Twitch channel to receive updates any time we go live (something that will be happening a lot more frequent moving forward) but also to show your support for NHLGamer.com 

We love hearing from everyone in the community and we also love being able to show partners and future sponsors how committed and large our community is. Every Like, Share and Subscription to our channels helps us achieve that, so if you want to help the community grow - this is one way of doing it! Thanks in advance.

Our other channels:
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Here is what is on the agenda for tonights stream:

• The announcement of all Captains for the Summer Cup
  As a side note, we are currently short about 2-3 captains so if you were on the fence about being a captain but decided against it... this is your chance to change your mind and be in the drivers seat when the Live Draft begins on Sunday evening! Get in touch with a Staff member as soon as you can if this sounds interesting to you.
   
• A lottery for the Summer Cup Draft Order
  Get the full summary of when each captain will get to make their picks! This years draft will, just like last year, be held in a "Snake draft"-format. This means if you pick first in the first round - you then pick last in the second round and so forth.
   
• A walk-through of how the Live Draft will work
  A detailed rules summary will be posted at a later time but here is your first chance to get an insight into how the process will work - basically the Do's and Dont's.
   
• Q&A with NHLGamer Staff
  If you have any thoughts, questions or comments - post them in the Twitch chatbox while we are live. We will try to collect and get to as many questions as we possibly can during the broadcast, but we cannot guarantee we will have time to answer all questions.

I will see you all later tonight at the Twitch channel, where we will have the distinct pleasure of watching @Kenu do his thing, accompanied by strange music (and perhaps some cat videos!).

Later skaters,

Edit:

Below you can see the lottery results. We are missing 4 captains, and they will take the TBD spots. Please get in touch with the staff, if you wish to be a captain. More info to follow during Saturday. The Draft stream is on Sunday at 16:00 CEST (17:00 Finnish time).

1.Team pelimies80 (Captain: @pelimies80)

2. Team xDoumi (Captain: @xDoumi)

3. Team Pair4You (Captain: @Pair4You)

4. Team Selezny (Captain: @Selezny)

5. Team Floor17 (Captain: @Floor17)

6. Team DenisovDenisI17I (Captain: @Denisovl17l)

7. Team The_Alpha_Furyan (Captain: @The_Alpha_Furyan)

8. Team Crisu_Rottis (Captain: @Crisu_rottis)

9. Team MAYZIIX (Captain: @MAYZIIX)

10. Team TerrorsenkoI91I (Captain: @Isidor1891)

11. Team seksileijona69 (Captain: @Seksileijona69)

12. Team topikeranen (Captain: @topikeranen)

13. Team Tactical_Face (Captain: @Casper)

14. Team MartindalexC (Captain: @MartindalexC)

15. Team xsakux99 (Captain: @xsakux99)

16. Team juha96 (Captain: @juha96)

17. Team Yoloberg (Captain: @Yoloberg)

18. Team Taunomaister1 (Captain: @Taunomaister1)

19. Team Hazard-laser (Captain: @Hazard-laser_)

20. Team Pelle3000 (Captain: @Pelle3000)

21. Team AzByCxx (Captain: @AzByCxx)

22. Team lbjonol (Captain: @Bjono)

23. Team nylanderi (Captain: @nylanderii)

24. Team Drunk_Charles (Captain: @DougGlatt)

25. Team KattenJansson97 (Captain: @KattenJansson97)

26. Team JParola (Captain: @Jorma Parola

27. Team artzirocks (Captain: @artzirocks)

28. Team AzeStiNE (Captain: @Aze)

29. Team Epsri (Captain: @Nahkatoteemi)

30.Team Ebinmikka31 (Captain: @Ebinmikka31)

Hey NHL Gamers!

Today marks one of those very special days in the short history of the website we have all been waiting for. In the past few weeks - alongside the ECL 4 Playoffs and our coverage of the IS Cup - interesting and highly promising connections have come together. Thanks to our Staff member Hampus (@The_Alpha_Furyan), who acted as the leading negotiator throughout this process, we are finally able to reveal the first official sponsorship for NHLGamer.com:

Summer Cup Season 2, Presented by Webhallen!

We could not be more proud of this partnership with one of the leading retailers for consumer electronics, hardware and software in Sweden - running a total of 26 stores scattered across the country. We believe this partner is a perfect match for a populated and innovative eSports platform like NHLGamer.

Webhallen can be found here:

• Online Shop
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Youtube
• Twitch

THE DEAL

Webhallen will be accompanying us throughout the duration of Summer Cup Season 2, leading up to the announcement of NHL 18 during E3 in Los Angeles which takes place on June 13-15.

While everyone is going to be excited about EA SPORTS NHL 18 feature announcements, trailers and other types of content; Webhallen will act as NHLGamer's recommended retail source for purchasing the game, due to release in September 2017 (estimate).

Finally, to honor the best Summer Cup Season 2 teams, Webhallen will be offering the following prizes for Summer Cup Season 2:

• Summer Cup winners receive one physical copy of NHL 18 (PS4) per player, arriving at launch
• Members of the 2nd place team receive runner-up prizes, which are to be announced in due time

OUTLOOK

Last year around 150 players took part in this draft-type league, which was aimed at experienced players as well as community greenhorns. The stated goal of the tournament was to improve networking between our players and to open up ways for prospects to make their way into EASHL's best teams out there. This is the same promise we are going to deliver on with Season 2, only even better.

Based on this, there will be a few tweaks to the following aspects of Summer Cup:

• Team building: No more than 2 players from a single ECL 4 team are allowed to play in the same Summer Cup team. This rule applies to the final rosters, after transfers and free agents.
• Team names: Due to our new API reporting tool, the Summer Cup will be played in dedicated EASHL teams which will have "NG" as a prefix - for example "NG Golden Knights".
• Sign-ups: To rule out unfortunate circumstances when it comes to player positioning, holidays and other aspects, the sign-ups will follow a clearer structure, allowing captains to recognize fitting players more easily.
• Draft procedure: We are working on improving our draft pick tool and simplifying communication towards and between team captains to reduce idling, allowing us to increase the speed in which draft picks are made.

LEAGUE DETAILS

• Summer Cup Season 2 will take place on PS4 - if you are looking for Xbox action, we would love to see your team sign up for Xbox ECL!
• Last day to sign up is Wednesday, May 24th.
• Players instead of teams sign up using the registration tool linked at the bottom of the post.
• All signed up players are aimed to be seeded into teams with a size of 10 players (may vary).
• Out of all registrations, NHL Gamer Staff will elect an according number of team captains from the players that offered to take on a captaincy rule in their sign-up post - anyone is allowed to apply for it.
• Team captains will receive a draft sheet on May 26th, containing all signed up players and relevant information in a structured form.
• Team captains will be taking part in a live draft event on May 28th, picking their roster until all players are seeded.
• All games are played 6vs6 using dedicated EASHL teams.
• The leagues are set to start on the week of May 29th and aimed to be finished in July.
• Full rules will be released after registration is over.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

To participate, make sure you are logged in or create an account first, visit the sign-up page and fill in all fields of the registration form like below - make sure the player positions in your Player Card are up-to-date so captains know who they are drafting! You can update your Player Card on the "Edit Player" page.

Sign-up page: Click here!

That's all you need to do... sounds easy eh? Let's take this opportunity - together with our new partner Webhallen - to finish NHL 17 with a bang: Sending shockwaves through the community and setting up NHLGamer.com's ambitious goals for NHL 18.

@gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

Hey NHLGamers,

Be sure to check out our big ECL 3 Twitch live stream tonight (October 9th) at 22 FIN/21 SWE time! 

Our charming website owners KenuFHR and Lurkins will host the stream - announcing the groups, presenting the tournament structure and above all, providing some quality entertainment. The tournament is starting tomorrow (check out the Welcome to ECL 3-post here) so be sure to check out the stream tonight to know all the details before you start setting up games tomorrow.

This is the link, be there in two hours time; NHLGamer Official Twitch Channel

Hey NHL Gamers,

around 32 hours (at the time of this news) are left to sign up your team for the first NHL 17 edition of our popular ECL championship:
Registrations close on September 29th at 23:59 CEST / September 30th at 00:59 EEST.

For the PS4 side, 48 teams already decided to participate, which is once again an incredible number. If you want to join in on the fun, don't hesitate any longer and read through our earlier info news which includes everything you need to know:

Additional important note:

Every team captain is responsible to list a complete roster (at least 8 players) until the deadline is over. It is also your task to make sure that each player is part of your registration only. In case a player appears on multiple teams, we will not count him towards the 8 player deadline and thus he might risk your team's registration! If needed, you can edit your registration by editing your thread on the forums.

Further details will be published during the weekend.

Spread the word one last time - we are looking forward to meeting everyone of you on the ice!

On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers,

just short of the release of NHL 17, our Summer Cup / ECL Draft tournament came to an end, which means we all were able to fit it into our schedules nicely. Great job!

This also means, that we already started preparations for our first tournament of the NHL 17 season. And just like with the Summer Cup, we want to hear your opinions and ideas on how it should go down.

Please use the following thread on the community side to drop all of your input - whether it's about regions, platforms, format or anything else. There are no limitations

On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Evening NHLGamers,

This post is meant to update you on what has been going on the last couple of days so, dive in.

 

A recap of what has been going on and information about Round 2 - Playoffs
First of all, Round 1 of the playoffs are over - at least to our understanding. I say "at least to our understanding" as we haven't been able to get 100% confirmation of this as the website NHLGamer.com has been down the last couple of days. This downtime was neither planned nor intentional and wasn't caused by the site itself but rather the website service provider. This led the staff, and particularly web wizards @Lurkins and @Kenu, on a quest to get everything up and running again which they have now been able to do. The outtage came at quite an inconvenient time though, seeing as the Summer Cup was knee deep into its playoff phase and Lurkins was in the process of putting together a playoff tree right when it happened.

Some playoff games had even been reported in (namely the games between Mighty 8 Balls/Team PELTIKII and Hupimunat/Royal Warriors) and here's where the bad news kick in... due to the server issues these games will have to be re-reported as we work to rebuild the playoff section of the Summer Cup. We know this isn't ideal and we apologize for the frustration of having to report 2-3 games again but it's the best we can do under the circumstances. The playoff section is being built as we speak and we hope to have it up and running as soon as tonight - meaning you will be able to see a playoff tree and report all your playoff games tonight. Again, apologies for the inconvenience.

We do have information that the other two playoff series have been played during the website downtime which means that 4/4 playoff series are done, meaning we can move on to Round 2 of the Summer Cup Playoffs!

Round 1 results and Round 2 match-ups
Here is how Round 1 shook out, according to our information (feel free to correct us if anything is wrong):

Mighty 8 Balls vs. TEAM PELTIKII (2-1 in games)
Hupimunat vs. Royal Warriors (2-1 in games)
Team Juizki vs. Club Kannunkulma (0-2 in games)
Team pelimies80 vs. Mirage (2-1 in games)
 

Now, this means that for Round 2, we have the following teams:

From Group 1:
Seed #1 (Mighty 8 Balls)
Seed #2 (Hupimunat)
Seed #4 (Team pelimies80)

From Group 2
Seed #2 (Club Kannunkulma)

This means that we have a #1 seed, two #2 seeds and a #4 seed to organize into matchups. To organize these matchups, we took a look at the teams respective regular season point totals which created a ranking of Mighty 8 Balls 26p, Hupimunat 22p, Club Kannunkulma 21p, Team pelimies80 19p. Which in turn created the following matchups:

#1 Mighty 8 Balls vs. #4 Team pelimies80
#2 Hupimunat vs. #3 Club Kannunkulma

Again, the rules are best of 3 games and as today marks the launch of Round 2, we calculate another 5-6 days for this round with another 7 days after that for the finals (best of 7).

Should everything run smoothly from here on out, we look forward to crowning a Summer Cup winner in the first week of September.

Reminders - PLEASE READ
Playoff games aside, there are still some games unreported for the regular season. While we can overlook the playoff games not being reported (obviously that part is on us and the website service provider) the unreported regular season are a different matter entirely. So please, take a look if your team has any unreported games for the regular season and just report the games, including player stats. Not only is it part of the rulebook to report the games within a reasonable amount of time, the finished game reporting would make it a lot easier for me, for example, to make the proper adjustments to the regular season awards. C'mon guys, just report it.

Also a friendly reminder to the captains to send their Summer Cup Trophy nominees to me. I have received a few (about 4 out 14) but there are still many to go. 


Questions
If you have any questions about anything, feel free to fire away in the comment section! As always, being curious is a good thing.


On behalf of the NHLGamer Staff and also, "later skaters",

The_Alpha_Furyan

NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly: Who’s hot and Who’s not [Edition 4 - Award post #1]

Fellow NHLGamers,

Continuing every Sunday – we at NHLGamer.com are presenting a weekly column for as long as the Summer Cup is in action. This column will feature a list of which Forward, Defenseman and Goalie have performed well enough on the ice to have earned the honor of being named to this weeks ”Hot”-list. In the interest of fairness, it will also feature one representative of each position who hasn’t performed as well, resulting in a spot on the ”Not”-list.

Moving on, the list will work like a Power Ranking and not like a ”3 Stars of the Week” (like on the NHL website). A power ranking means that it’s not exclusively what a specific player has done in just the past week that matters, but instead what that player has delivered in total throughout the tournament when the list is published, that does.

Say for example if Kenu scores 20 points in 2 games in Week 1, landing him on the ”Hot”-list for that week, he can still be on the ”Hot”-list for Week 2 even if he only scores 10 points in 4 games that week – because his total will still be 30 points in 6 games which, presumably, will still be at the top of the rankings. Do you catch my drift? Good! Then let’s get started.

(Before you continue to rip me to shreds for being dead wrong on all my selections, I’ll remind everyone that this is a column of opinion and a playful, tounge-in-cheek way to celebrate what a success this Summer Cup has been. However, a comment of ”You’re an idiot Alpha, that’s just wrong” is always better than no comment so remember – share your opinions!) 

NEW THIS WEEK (Week 4):

Hello NHLGamers and welcome to another Special Edition of the Summer Cup Weekly! I am foregoing the regular format to once again make a special edition of this newsletter. This time, there won't be any "Not" skaters and we'll solely be focusing on the "Hot" ones - namely the people who have managed to capture the various awards we are introducing through the Summer Cup. For ECL 1 we had best offensive player, best defensive player etc. for regular season and playoffs. For ECL 2, there were no awards handed out.

This time, we are setting the bar high to deliver the most expansive awards ceremony in the history of the NHLGamer.com website and hopefully, in the process, introducing something that will remain for future tournaments to come.

How will this work?
Well, some awards will be handed out today - in this Part 1 of the Award Posts. These will be the regular season awards that really aren't up for debate, meaning: Most points, most goals, most assists, most points by defenseman, best +/-, best save % and most wins by goalie.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. For this to work I will need all the captains ( @LastMandalorian, @selänne8, @Billy44205, @FINSeRe, @Juizki, @juha96, @Joonas Paatiala, @mir02k1, @Tuukka.R, @vSilenttio, @DieCutterMC, @pelimies80, @debi_85, @Basstian23) to submit nominations (from their own team) for the following, subjective awards (meaning the awards where OPINION matters greatly, and not just stats);

- Team MVP (most valuable to your particular team, not always the "best player overall")
- Best Defensive Forward
- Best Defender
- Best Goalie
- Best Teammate (with a very short explanation why, for example "Was always available when needed" or "Was a positive influence")

These subjetive, nomination-based awards will also concern the regular season so everyone has a chance to be nominated and/or win, playoffs or no playoffs! The staff will then look at these five nominations from each team and compare them to each other. Among these nominations, one skater from each category will be chosen who will then become:

- Summer Cup MVP
- Summer Cup Best Defensive Forward
- Summer Cup Best Defender
- Summer Cup Best Goalie
- Summer Cup Best Teammate

Once the whole tournament is over, these five awards will then be handed out in Part 2 of the awards post, together with the biggest one of them all; Summer Cup Best Playoff Performer. In the playoffs it's all about the TEAM so that's why we only have one award for the post-season, just like in the NHL.

So, to summarize, today we are presenting the following stat-based awards for the 2016 Summer Cup, Regular Season:
- Most Points
- Most Goals
- Most Assists
- Most Points by a Defenseman
- Best plus/minus
- Best Save %
- Most Wins by a Goalie

Once the playoffs are over, we are presenting the following opinion-based awards for the 2016 Summer Cup:
- Summer Cup MVP
- Summer Cup Best Defensive Forward
- Summer Cup Best Defender
- Summer Cup Best Goalie
- Summer Cup Best Teammate
- Summer Cup Best Playoff Performer

All in all, we are bringing you 7 stat-based awards and 6 opinion-based awards for a total of 13 (!) awards! Hopefully, you will see this as a fun addition to what has already been a fantastic NHL summer! Without further ado, here are the stat-based awards:

Most Points - @selänne8 with 14 goals and 20 assists for a total of 34 points in 12 games. Very impressive, congratulations to you!
Most Goals - @plee999 with a staggering 17 goals in just 10 games played. Well done!
Most Assists - @selänne8 again with 20 assists in 12 games. Quite the playmaker!
Most Points by a Defenseman - @The_Alpha_Furyan with 4 goals and 17 assists for 21 points in 10 games. Playing on a great team helps, thank you teammates!
Best Plus/Minus - @Joonas Paatiala (Patzlaf) with +17 in 10 games. Tied with Plee but he already won the goals award so, this one is for Patzlaf.
Best Save % - @FINSeRe with 87.93% in 6 games. Very impressive to be over 85% in EASHL - kudos!
Most Wins by a Goalie -  @OxtreeLAT with 8 wins in 12 games. A winning percentage over 70% while playing all the teams games? The definition of reliable!

Congratulations to all the winners! Now captains, let's hear your nominations for the other categories!  You can send them by message here or on PSN to any member of the staff.


Later skaters,

The_Alpha_Furyan

 

Evening NHLGamers,

As you are no doubt aware of, the ECL Summer Cup regular season came to an end tonight. Having been delayed a bit and getting some of the wind taken out of its' sails by the NHL 17 Beta Week, the Summer Cup nonetheless marches on.

Here are the final standings for the two groups;

Standings
Group 1: (One result wrongly reported, but these are the correct standings)
1. Mighty 8 Balls, 26 points
2. Hupimunat, 22 points (tiebreaker over Team Juizki, more goals scored)
3. Team Juizki, 22 points
4. Team Pelimies80, 19 points (tiebreaker over Ullas Pojkar, 7 wins to 6)
5. Ullas Pojkar, 19 points
6. Los Dominos, 15 points
7. Team Billy44205, 3 points

Group 2: 
1. Mirage, 21 points (tiebreaker over Club Kannunkulma, 7 wins to 6)
2. Club Kannunkulma, 21 points
3. Royal Warriors, 19 points
4. TEAM PELTIKII, 18 points (tiebreaker over Everyday Im Byfuglien, 7 wins to 6)
5. Everyday Im Byfuglien, 18 points
6. Latvian Army For Hire, 16 points
7. Thats the Spirit, 13 points
 

Playoffs
The playoffs will look a bit different from the past ECL tournaments, this being the Summer Cup and all. There is only about a month left until NHL 17 is released which means we need to up the tempo a bit on the playoffs (as the extended Beta delayed the tournament by about a week). This means the playoffs will start TOMORROW (17/8-2016) and work as BEST OF 3-series until the Finals where - time permitting - the final two teams will play a best of 7 to determine the ultimate Summer Cup champion. This means a whole playoff series (3 games at the max) can be played in one night, something that should help with scheduling as the summer winds down and people start to head back into the "real world" = jobs/school/etc. We have calculated roughly 5 days per playoff round for the quarter- and semi finals but if they are completed sooner than that, we will of course accelerate the start of the next round.

So, the Summer Cup playoff pairings will look like this:

Mighty 8 Balls vs. TEAM PELTIKII
Hupimunat vs. Royal Warriors
Team Juizki vs. Club Kannunkulma
Team pelimies80 vs. Mirage

The Summer Cup has, in the eyes of the staff, been a great success and a fun opportunity to get to know some new people in the community! So, we'd like to acknowledge and thank all of you who have participated so far, with a special thank you going to the captains for making this as smooth a ride as possible. Of course, not everything can be smooth sailing always and alas we had some games that had to be settled by walkover.


Walkovers
In this case, Team Billy44205 was forced (due to inability to get enough skaters to complete matches) to submit walkover wins to two teams, as follows;

Team Billy44205 vs. Team Pelimies80 0-5
Team Billy44205 vs. Team Juizki 0-5
Team Pelimies80 vs. Team Billy44205 5-0
Team Juizki vs. Team Billy44205 5-0

Billy, the captain, has handled the situation as well as can be expected and has communicated to the staff his efforts to set up games. No further discipline will be excercised in this matter.


Point deductions
The staff were presented with a number of cases where exceptions and/or trouble and miscommunication arose in regards to the "3-game rule". These matters were in regards to about five different teams. The staff has decided not to give these teams point deductions for two reasons (with #1 being the primary reason);

1. In every case the captains were able to show (through batches of print screens and messages) that they, in fact, tried above and beyond the call of duty to get all players involved in atleast 3 games. This is something we knew could happen when the tournament started but again, the majority of teams were able to comply with the 3-game rule and the teams that weren't, didn't end up in that situation for a lack of trying. This is important to emphasize because it was what formed the basis of our ruling.

2. In the individual cases where team point deductions were considered, all of the teams were out of the playoffs as far as the final standings go. Making point deductions would not have changed the playoff picture. 


Individual discipline
Just because the teams weren't handed any point deductions doesn't mean there won't be any discipline doled out during this tournament. The Staff has, as indicated above, been handed a number of cases by the captains where individual players put their teams in tough situations and sometimes even acted immature and difficult. Each individual case will be reviewed further by the staff and communicated to the players affected after the end of the tournament. If you are one of the players who for some reason didn't complete 3 games for your team, fear not. It is not the intention of the staff to mindlessly throw punishments about, especially in cases where real-life circumstances were a factor. However, inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated and as such, discipline will be imposed after the individual reviews are completed.


Questions
If you have any questions, feel free to fire away in the comment section! Being curious is a good thing.


On behalf of the NHLGamer Staff and also, "later skaters",

The_Alpha_Furyan

NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly: Who’s hot and Who’s not [Edition 3 - Special]

Fellow NHLGamers,

Continuing every Sunday – we at NHLGamer.com are presenting a weekly column for as long as the Summer Cup is in action. This column will feature a list of which Forward, Defenseman and Goalie have performed well enough on the ice to have earned the honor of being named to this weeks ”Hot”-list. In the interest of fairness, it will also feature one representative of each position who hasn’t performed as well, resulting in a spot on the ”Not”-list.

Moving on, the list will work like a Power Ranking and not like a ”3 Stars of the Week” (like on the NHL website). A power ranking means that it’s not exclusively what a specific player has done in just the past week that matters, but instead what that player has delivered in total throughout the tournament when the list is published, that does.

Say for example if Kenu scores 20 points in 2 games in Week 1, landing him on the ”Hot”-list for that week, he can still be on the ”Hot”-list for Week 2 even if he only scores 10 points in 4 games that week – because his total will still be 30 points in 6 games which, presumably, will still be at the top of the rankings. Do you catch my drift? Good! Then let’s get started.

(Before you continue to rip me to shreds for being dead wrong on all my selections, I’ll remind everyone that this is a column of opinion and a playful, tounge-in-cheek way to celebrate what a success this Summer Cup has been. However, a comment of ”You’re an idiot Alpha, that’s just wrong” is always better than no comment so remember – share your opinions!) 

NEW THIS WEEK (Week 3):
Now that's more like it! The comments went pouring in for Week 2 and I couldn't be happier - let's keep that trend going for Week 3. All the comments also gave me a chance to explain my reasoning behind how I make my selections. For those of you who didn't see one comment in particular, I'll paste that here:
 

Quote

If I could, and had the time, I would watch every teams games to get a perfect scouting report for this list. Sadly, I don't. 
So to create these columns; I look at stats, I look at the games I play in myself, I look at the games I watch on twitch (Because I do watch some!) and I look at my knowledge of the player and what he's capable of. Then I put it all together to create this list... As Silenttio said, at the end of the day it's just my shitty opinions

New for Week 3 is that we will be departing a bit from the regular format. Since the Beta for NHL 17 just came out (Read about it here and get your Beta code here) on Wednesday and there really wasn't more than 5-6 games played even at the start of the week, we won't be looking at the Summer Cup in general. Instead, we'll be a taking a look at the names behind each team - the captains. Look for the regular Hot or Not-format to return next week as the Summer Cup concludes its regular season but for now, this is the NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly, Edition 3 [Captain Edition].


CAPTAINS (Week 3): 
 

GOALIES:
#30, Mr Juizki ( @Juizki), Team Juizki

Having been featured on the Hot-list for two weeks, one certainly can't complain about the results this goalie has delivered. He's been in net for all his teams games so far and a quick look at the standings reveal that same team to be headed for the playoffs. His first round pick TehhAhola has turned out to be a fine addition with 11 points in 8 games, only bested by second round pick Jageksis 19 points in 8 games. Looking good so far for Juizki. 

#8, Fin Sere ( @FINSeRe), Mirage

With a record of 5-1-0, it's no wonder that Fin Sere found himself on the runner-up list for goalies last week. Combine his stellar save percentage and Goals Against Average in those 6 games with his historical numbers as a #1 goalie for Nordic Blizzard in both ECL 1 and 2 and you've got yourselves one of the best goalies in the community right now. Seems to have done well with the draft as his #1 and #2 picks, tbnantti and kaislikko_peruna are #1 and #2 in scoring for Mirage.

#34, Juha Julmala ( @juha96), Hupimunat

One of a few teams to have completed their Summer Cup regular season so far, things are looking good for Hupimunat. 22 points in 12 games with a record of 7-4-1 will most likely generate a playoff position. Team captain Julmala has been in net for all 12 games and have done an admirable job between the pipes. He also seems to have put together a well-balanced team that could feature in the playoffs for a long time.
 

DEFENDERS:
#53, Shayne Gostisbehere ( @vSilenttio ), Thats the Spirit

Thats the Spirit is another team who have finished their 12-game slate for the Summer Cup. As it stands right now, a playoff position is looking unlikely in the very tough Group 2 but this team have certainly fought for it. Involved in more OT games than any team I've seen so far, Silenttio has led his men into many tough battles and has put up a point per game pace with a GWG in the mix as well. His first round pick, imosi1, also did what he could with almost 2 points per game and 3 game winners but ultimately, things didn't go the way this captain wanted. 

#88, Boba Fett ( @LastMandalorian), Latvian Army for Hire

A captain that I know quite well seeing as that we've played EASHL together since its inception on NHL 09. Wasn't sure about if he was going to play center or defense when the tournament started but eventually found a home on RD. Has delivered 3+3 in the 10 games Latvian Army for Hire has played so far but the real test for him and his team will come with two games remaining as the team is fighting for their playoff lives in Group 2.

#17, Ludwig Borga ( @DieCutterMC), Ullas Pojkar

A physical force on defense, Borga encourages the heavy hits among his teammates. Something that teammates FlyerKungen and Haldeem seems to have picked up on as they have almost 40 hits each. Teamwise, Ullas Pojkar have positioned themselves quite strongly ahead of the playoffs but will most likely have to win one or two of their remaining two games to secure a playoff spot. His first round pick, Tapparafan-, has only gotten into 6 games so far but has delivered 11 points in those games.

#80, The Iceman ( @pelimies80), Team pelimies80

Defender who likes the defensive side of the game with strong positioning and few goals against, pelimies has his whole team playing solid defensive hockey. Having personally supplied 1+5 in 8 games, Iceman will have to continue his solid defensive play and timely scoring to help his team make the playoffs as the team are on the outside looking in right now with 4 games remaining. Hopefully he gets his #1 pick Foppatofflan back as he hasn't played in a single game so far.

#44, - Billy ( @Billy44205), Team Billy44205

Putting Billy in any one position is tough as I've personally seen the man play defense and goalie in Summer Cup games, as well as seeing him as a forward in the box scores. Regardless, he stepped up to the captaincy plate with bravery, as he admitted to not knowing the players in the community as well as he would've liked. His team won't make the playoffs but he himself and most members of his team have conducted themselves professionally throughout and when problems have arisen, Billy has stepped up.

FORWARDS:
#88, Miro Hedman ( @mir02k1), Los Dominos 

Forming a very dangerous line with vilperi-90 and Nampa77, Miro has supplied 17 points in 8 games. Unfortunately, a slow start to the tournament has left Los Dominos in a tough position for the rest of the regular season, with a lot of ground to make up to be able to make the playoffs. One big factor in all this is the fact that the star Miro planned on leading the team, Dominointi, hasn't played in a single game so far.

#91, Team Debi ( @debi_85), TEAM PELTIKII

Debi is leading the charge for his team together with #1 pick Joukki and it has been quite a successfull charge. With 4 games remaining, Debis team has every chance of making the playoffs and do some damage once they get there. Debi is also the leading hitter among his teammates so one could make the argument he is leading by example on the scoresheet and in the physical side of the game.

#86, Joonas Paatiala (???), Club Kannunkulma

Patzlaf/BAAHTIS/forum name (?) has put together a high scoring team with him and #1 pick Plee at the helm. Not to be forgotten is the supporting cast of the team though, with defenders jaikken and plymalking, goalies FinKonna and Swigi and forwards indi696 and KenuFHR. At the "center" of it all, Patzlaf leads his team on both the offensive and defensive side of the game with an impressive 59% faceoff percentage and 28 hits outside his 21 points.

#68, Jaromir Sniper ( @Basstian23), Everyday Im Byfuglien

Truly a prime example of a captain leading the team with his performance on the ice. Having played in all 12 games for his team with 26 points to his name, Bastians team are most likely going to make the playoffs. Bastian has only used his #1 pick Chafak in 4 games so maybe there is more to gain there, but otherwise this sniper has formed quite the duo with second leading point scorer Hanssoni.

#9, Busku Mees ( @Tuukka.R), Royal Warriors

Busku and his Mees clan (seriously, atleast 5 players are named Mees) was probably the most game-ready team when the Summer Cup started. Having almost exclusively selected players from his own team Victorious Secret, the Royal Warriors were expected to come out of the games storming. For some reason it hasn't worked out perfectly so far but don't count this squad out as they will fight to the end for the last playoff spots in Group 2.

#8, Teemu Selanne ( @selänne8), Mighty 8 Balls

Last but not least, Selanne rounds out this captain list. His 32 points are the most out of any player in the cup and that is with 2 games remaining! A likely candidate to win the scoring title, Selanne has done well with his draft selections and team as well. #1 pick OxtreeLAT has been in net for all the teams wins so far and those wins have carried the team to a likely #1 or #2 spot in Group 1. Later picks Leksa, The_Alpha_Furyan and RedMisti have also contributed to the teams scoring prowess and every member of the team has delivered solid performances thus far. Remains to be seen if this team can carry their regular season success into what will be a tough playoff matchup. 

 

Now, bring your chainsaws to the comment section and let me have it! Did I make the wrong selections? The right ones? Were there any factual errors? Who's happy? Who's upset? Who's secretly plotting to murder me?

Later skaters //
Alpha Furyan

NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly: Who’s hot and Who’s not [Edition 2]

Fellow NHLGamers,

Continuing every Sunday – we at NHLGamer.com are presenting a weekly column for as long as the Summer Cup is in action. This column will feature a list of which Forward, Defenseman and Goalie have performed well enough on the ice to have earned the honor of being named to this weeks ”Hot”-list. In the interest of fairness, it will also feature one representative of each position who hasn’t performed as well, resulting in a spot on the ”Not”-list.

Moving on, the list will work like a Power Ranking and not like a ”3 Stars of the Week” (like on the NHL website). A power ranking means that it’s not exclusively what a specific player has done in just the past week that matters, but instead what that player has delivered in total throughout the tournament when the list is published, that does.

Say for example if Kenu scores 20 points in 2 games in Week 1, landing him on the ”Hot”-list for that week, he can still be on the ”Hot”-list for Week 2 even if he only scores 10 points in 4 games that week – because his total will still be 30 points in 6 games which, presumably, will still be at the top of the rankings. Do you catch my drift? Good! Then let’s get started.

(Before you continue to rip me to shreds for being dead wrong on all my selections, I’ll remind everyone that this is a column of opinion and a playful, tounge-in-cheek way to celebrate what a success this Summer Cup has been. However, a comment of ”You’re an idiot Alpha, that’s just wrong” is always better than no comment so remember – share your opinions!) 

NEW THIS WEEK (Week 2):
Okay, so after Week 1 I'm adding a little something to this weekly column. First, let me just say that ALL your feedback has been appreciated! Even though it didn't take place as much in the official comment section as I would've hoped (seriously - drop some comment bombs!), it's still fun to know that what is being written is also being read and better yet - that it's making people FEEL something, whether that's anger, joy or hate!

Anyway, as I said, new addition. It might seem small, but I've decided to add "runner-ups" for all categories. These runner-ups will feature who else was in my mind when I made my decision. These runner-ups will just get a short paragraph to explain why they are there but regardless, just having them in the column will hopefully let you guys in on what my thought process was for makings these selections! Okay, lets do this.


WHO’S HOT (Week 2): 

FORWARD:
#68, Jaromir Jagr ( @vilperi90), Los Dominos, 8GP 8G 10A = 18P, -2, 4 PIM, 30 Hits  

While Plee and Patzlaf continues their destruction of the Summer Cup (52 points combined) they will have to step aside this week for vilperi-90. What a comeback story! After being featured on the defenseman "Not"-list for Week 1, vilperi-90 shifted from defense to forward and started to tear the league up. Having scored 0 points in 2 games on defense, he absolutely exploded for 8 goals and 10 assists in 6 games as a forward, landing him 5th overall in the scoring race. Very impressive and certainly worthy of a spot on the "Hot"-list. 

Runner-ups:
PleeMaker & Patzlaf - Club Kannunkulma [By far the best 1-2 punch in the tournament so far, leading points scorers, unstoppable?]
BiggestEight - Mighty 8 Balls [This captain is leading his team by example, the top point getter after Plee&Patz]

DEFENDER:
#17, Junior Jaihicovic ( @JaikenK ), Club Kannunkulma, 10GP 2G 10A = 12P, +18, 10 PIM, 21 Hits

No longer the leading scorer amongst defenders, Jaiken is still a strong 2nd with 2 goals and 10 assists.  Furthermore, Jaiken is currently the only defender (with Haldeem) to play in 10 out of 10 games, suggesting how highly valued he is by his team. He also sports the very best +/- among all defenders (+18) all the while having a GWG and 21 hits to his name. All in all, the top defender on what is very likely one of the best teams in the tournament. 

Runner-ups:
The_Alpha_Furyan - Mighty 8 Balls [Top point scorer among all defenders, needs more hits and better +/-]
FIN_Potilas - Hupimunat [Strong in points and powerplay goals, although sometimes plays center]
Haldeem - Ullas Pojkar [Solid point production, most hits among defenders, plays every game for his team]

GOALIE:
#30, Mr Juizki ( @Juizki), Team Juizki, 6GP 4W 2L 0TL, 85.29%, 1.66 GAA, 2 shutouts

Still the reigning champion, Juizki remains at the very top of all goalie stats (#1 in save percentage, tied for #3 in wins, #5 in total saves, #3 in GAA, tied for #1 in shutouts). However, just like Jaiken among the defenders, Juizki is getting tougher competition - from several goalies - every week and he will have to continue playing at the highest level to remain at the top of this list in the future.

Runner-ups:
FINSeRe - Mirage [Close to Juizki in both save percentage and shutouts, needs more games]
frenchplayer92 - Everyday I'm Byfuglien [Solid save %, solid GAA, solid goalie - on the rise!]
MonkeyHead_AF - Latvian Army For Hire [Acrobatic goalie with the most saves and best save % out of all goalies with 8 GP]


WHO’S NOT (Week 2): 

FORWARD:
#84, - Bonn ( @Bjono), Latvian Army For Hire, 6GP 1G 5A = 6P, +5, 10 PIM, 26 Hits

Perhaps being a high draft pick means being unfairly held to a higher standard than other players. However fair, the fact remains that this is another first round pick to end up on this list. An experienced ECL veteran - Bonn hasn't gotten everything going points-wise with his new team yet, although credible inside sources tell me he's been a leader and calming presence on the ice. With just a single goal to his name so far and a playoff position for his team in jeopardy, expect him to come out firing the last weeks of the regular season.

Runner-ups:
Billy44205 - Team Billy44205 [Will have to start leading his team out of the hole they've dug themselves as the team with the lowest point total so far]
joukki13 - TEAM PELTIKII [Another first round pick with just 1 goal, in just 3 games played - where is joukki?]
Pelle3000 - Los Dominos [4+1 in 5 games and a -3, has more in him!]

DEFENDER:
#53, Shayne Gostisbehere ( @vSilenttio ), Thats the Spirit, 6GP 0G 6A = 6P, -5, 4 PIM, 20 Hits

Speaking of unfair, it is a known fact that when a team is struggling as a unit, the captain sometimes has to shoulder a disproportionate amount of the responsibility. Like Ovechkin when the Caps are struggling or Subban when Montreal (was) struggling. Which leads us to this defender... vSilenttio is a leader and one of the better two-way defenders in the tournament with loads of offensive skill, so with 0+6 in 6 games and his team on the verge of falling behind the pack and missing the playoffs - he will have to step up even more. 

Runner-ups:
Nikge_89 - Thats the Spirit [Like his D partner, Nikge will have to step up the rest of the regular season for their team to make the playoffs]
|tokFan| - Hupimunat [0 goals and 3 assists in 7 GP with just 3 shots on goal, on one of the highest scoring teams in the league]
vatalisti - Team Billy44205 [Is leading his team in scoring so is most likely doing all he possibly can, but as a #2 overall pick - more is expected than a league-worst -7]

GOALIE:
#20, Antti Miettinen ( @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN), Ullas Pojkar, 6GP 5W 1L 0TL, 55.17%, 2.16 GAA, 0 shutout

Just like last week, I am "attacking" a goaltender who is part of a winning team but isn't producing as good stats as can be expected of such a team enviroment. Miettinen does have a solid Goals Against Average with 2.16 and is actually helping his team win with a 5-1-0 record. Perhaps it is his team that is putting him in tough situations and maybe he is making the tougher breakaway saves, but with a league-worst 55.17% in save percentage, Miettinen is on this list for now.

Runner-ups:
poliskontroll - Thats the Spirit [Is struggling to help his team win games as he's gone 2-4-0 with 65.51% and 3.33 GAA - probably hungry to bounce back]
Siickan - Team Billy44205 [will need to step up together with his teammates to help Team Billy make the playoffs]
 

Now, bring your chainsaws to the comment section and let me have it! Did I make the wrong selections? The right ones? Were there any factual errors? Who's happy? Who's upset? Who's secretly plotting to murder me?

Later skaters //

Alpha Furyan

NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly: Who’s hot and Who’s not

Fellow NHLGamers, starting today and continuing on every Sunday – we at NHLGamer.com are introducing a new weekly column for as long as the Summer Cup is in action. This column will feature a list of which Forward, Defenseman and Goalie have performed well enough on the ice to have earned the honor of being named to this weeks ”Hot”-list. In the interest of fairness, it will also feature one representative of each position who hasn’t performed as well, resulting in a spot on the ”Not”-list.

Moving on, the list will work like a Power Ranking and not like a ”3 Stars of the Week” (like on the NHL website). A power ranking means that it’s not exclusively what a specific player has done in just the past week that matters, but instead what that player has delivered in total throughout the tournament when the list is published, that does.

Say for example if Kenu scores 20 points in 2 games in Week 1, landing him on the ”Hot”-list for that week, he can still be on the ”Hot”-list for Week 2 even if he only scores 10 points in 4 games that week – because his total will still be 30 points in 6 games which, presumably, will still be at the top of the rankings. Do you catch my drift? Good! Then let’s get started.

(Before you continue to rip me to shreds for being dead wrong on all my selections, I’ll remind everyone that this is a column of opinion and a playful, tounge-in-cheek way to celebrate what a success this Summer Cup has been. However, a comment of ”You’re an idiot Alpha, that’s just wrong” is always better than no comment so remember – share your opinions!)


WHO’S HOT (Week 1): 

Forward:
#44, Reijo Renkewitz ( @plee999 ), Club Kannunkulma, 6GP 10G 8A = 18P, +12, 16 PIM, 25 Hits

PleeMaker came into the tournament like shot out of a cannon – determined to live up to his early draft pick status – and immediatey started racking up the goals and points. Playing on a line with players like BAAHTIS (Patzlaf), indi696 and the NHLGamer staff’s very own KenuFHR has surely helped but, having put up the most points in the tournament to this point, PleeMaker has to be considered the frontrunner for best forward thus far.

Defender:
#17, Junior Jaihicovic ( @JaikenK ), Club Kannunkulma, 6GP 0G 9A = 9P, +12, 2 PIM, 15 Hits

Got to go with another Kannunkulma player here as they have been not only one of the highest scoring teams thus far, but also one of the teams who have played the most with 6 games played. Jaikenkk of Sjukstugan is the defenseman with the most total points thus far and when you combine that with a solid 15 hits and just 2 PIMs and you’ve got your defenseman of the week.

Goalie:
#30, Mr Juizki ( @Juizki), Team Juizki, 4GP 3W 1L 0TL, 88.0%, 1.50 GAA, 1 shutout

Given that Captain Juizki has lead his team to 3 wins in 4 games all the while putting up the most saves and the highest save percentage – this one was a no-brainer. Having been a relative newcomer to ECL (only joining in ECL Season 2 with Checkmate) Juizki is seeing his star rise quickly with performances like this. A well earned spot on the Hot-list.


WHO’S NOT (Week 1): 

Forward:
#34, Olli Palola ( @Tapparafan), Ullas Pojkar, 2GP 1G 1A = 2P, -2, 2 PIM, 5 Hits

This first round pick has had a tough start to the Summer Cup as the only two games he has participated in so far ended up in just 1+1 in scoring, with the team losing both games and getting 0 points out of it. Ullas Pojkar has had somewhat of a rough start in general, collecting 6 points total in their first 6 games, and to snap out of it they need their #1 pick to lead by example.

Defender:
#68, Jaromir Jagr ( @vilperi90) & #7, Blob Beaverson ( @Akasido-95), Los Dominos, 2GP 0G 0A = 0P, -1, 0 PIM, 0 Hits

With identical statlines, it was impossible to single out any one of these Los Dominos defenders to put on the list – so the solution was to have them share it. Both experienced ECL players known to be able to play any positon (Defense or Forward), these gentlemen will most likely pick their game up as Los Dominos gets rolling but, after a start where their team gained 1 out of 6 possible points with no production from either one of them, they start out here on this list.

Goalie:
#59, Peter Savemaker ( @FinKonna), Club Kannunkulma, 6GP 4W 1L 1TL, 62.79%, 2.66 GAA, 0 shutout

The third member of Club Kannunkulma to feature in this article, FinKonna probably won’t be as happy to be on the list. Known to be a top goalie in the community, FinKonna has been a part of his teams 4-1-1 start while at the same time not delivering stellar numbers. Goaltending in EASHL is a tough business and I have no doubt FinKonna will bounce back but for now, he is on the Not-list.

Hey NHL Gamers!

The registration for this year's ECL Draft / Summer Cup is over, and we already informed all of the captains, which were chosen by staff members, about the next steps. These are your captains, in no particular order:

• Juizki
• juha96
• DieCutterMC
• pelimies80
• vSilenttio
• FINSeRe
• Tuukka.R
• selänne8
• Basstian23
• Billy44205
• LastMandalorian
• mir021k
• debi_85
• Patzlaf

NHLGamer welcomes you to the Draft ECL (Summer Cup) '16!

Hey NHL Gamers,

ECL Season 2 on PS4 is history, and thanks to your discussion about a Summer Cup we decided to start one last tournament for NHL 16. This time it is not part of our regular ECL series, as we want to refocus on two aspects: Open schedules and a chance to get together.

The Summer Cup is based on the draft idea which was brought up by @vSilenttio and @Billy44205 during the discussion. Let's go into the details:

League details:

• Last day to sign up is Wednesday, June 29th.
• This time, PLAYERS instead of TEAMS sign up for the tournament.
• All signed up players will be seeded into teams with a size of 8 players (if it adds up).
• Out of all registrations, NHL Gamer Staff will elect an according number of team captains (if 160 players sign up, 20 teams and 20 captains are needed).
• Team captains will be taking part in a live draft event (between July 9th and 10th), picking their roster until all players are seeded.
• All games are played 6vs6 using private drop-in games - no exceptions!
• There will be default game weeks instead of default game days -> more freedom
• The leagues are set to start on the week of July 11th and aimed to be finished in mid-August.
• Full rules will be released after registration is over.

How to join?

• Register to the forums.
• Read this post entirely before registering.
• Follow the link to the ECL for your preferred platform: 
• In the above thread, create a post and use the following format in the post itself:
  • PSN/XBL Name: xxx
  • Tell us about you: Here you can tell us about your NHL career and mention any accomplishments or specific reasons why you should be considered as a team captain. These comments will also be added to the draft sheet, which will be handed out to all team captains once they were chosen, so they are able to get an impression about your person.

We look forward to seeing you on the ice!

On behalf of the NHLGamer staff,