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Would your friend group make the best NHL esports squad around? SportsGamer presents a ground-breaking competitive amateur tournament for Finnish citizens in the form of the Wilhelm eHockey Tour! The Wilhelm eHockey Tour starts in mid-April and is aimed at casual players in the Finnish market. All you need is a team with 2-4 players, access to NHL 22 on PlayStation 4 and a stable internet connection to have a chance at glory and the largest slice of the 10 000 € prize pool. We’ll tour all the biggest hockey towns in Finland virtually in order to determine the inaugural Wilhelm eHockey Tour Champion. The tournament is intended for players who are interested in playing competitively, but haven't necessarily taken the steps to get involved yet. Our goal is to get new players into competitive NHL gaming and grow our community. In order to make the gaming experience for new players as enjoyable as possible, we have restricted participation in the tournament so that players and teams from the top two ECL divisions (Pro & Elite) cannot participate in the tournament. While this event is for Finland only, we want to see this event succeed and bring similar events for other countries in the future. What? A competitive NHL 22-tournament, played on PlayStation 4. Mode: CHEL 4v4 Prize pool 10 000 € Teams of 2-4 players Where? City tournaments will be played online, and each team is eligible to participate in as many as they want The finals will be played in Helsinki When? The city tournaments will last 1-2 days over the weekend, depending on amount of participants Helsinki 16.-17.4. Tampere 23.-24.4. Turku 30.4.-1.5. Oulu 7.-8.5. Jyväskylä 14.-15.5. Kuopio 21.-22.5. Mikkeli 28.-29.5. Kouvola 4.-5.6. Espoo 11.-12.6. TOP 32 Playoffs 14.-15.6. Finals, Helsinki 18.-19.6. Whether you’re always playing for the win, or are just out there to have some fun, this is your chance to test out the competitive side of NHL esports at an amateur level. The prizes are also great! Our partners will be rewarding the best performers in each city tournament with product prizes in addition to the main prize pool up for grabs. Your road to the playoffs can be paved either by gaining a top 3 finish in one of the city tournaments, or by touring the events and collecting enough ranking points to qualify. Eventually, the eight best squads will make a finals appearance in Helsinki in June. The city tournaments and the final event can all be followed at the SportsGamer.gg Twitch-channel. In addition to top notch entertainment and great virtual hockey, our viewers can also expect some raffles and product prizes from our partners. Wilhelm eHockey Tour Landing Page (In Finnish) Partners:

NHLGamers, We are excited to announce our expansion of both our offering and our community to other sports gaming titles and will communicate more details in the near future. At this point we updated all of our socials to SportsGamerGG and with that would ask you to please make sure to update your social tags and bookmarks to @SportsGamerGG. See below for the full list of links: facebook.com/SportsGamerGG instagram.com/SportsGamerGG twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG twitter.com/SportsGamerGG youtube.com/c/SportsGamerGG

Hey NHLGamers, In an effort to get to know you better and hearing about your experiences and opinions we've put together a survey. To sweeten the deal, we've put a carrot at the end of the stick: By filling out the survey you get a chance to win a PS5 - you know, that console that is really hard to get your hands on! If you want to take part in the raffle of one (1) PlayStation 5: Digital Edition console, please fill out your email at the end of this survey. The survey will be open until 19.1.2022 and the winner will be picked shortly thereafter. One entry per person. By filling out this survey, you agree to our privacy policy and the giveaway terms and conditions.   Click here or the image below to access the survey. Thank you in advance!  

Happy New Year NHLGamers! The reinvented ECL '22 is just around the corner with several of our divisions about to start within the next few days and the Elite campaign kicking off in a bit over a week. This marks the start for the ECL '22 Winter season, but also for a period of prime NHL esports competition all the way until June. Here we have collected the most relevant information for you in one place. For our newer users, if you have any questions, we suggest you start by taking a look in our Frequently Asked Questions section. If you're unable to find the answer to your question, please contact support. If there's someone reading this, wondering what the ECL is: The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports - a league where all the best European NHL gamers create teams and compete against each other in the game mode EASHL (6v6) for the title of Best EASHL Team in Europe. The league currently features five divisions, so action is guaranteed for everyone regardless of skill level and experience! For a deeper look, read this article. PLEASE NOTE: Below are a few key notes that we wouldn't want any of our players and captains to miss: ⚠️ Due to changes to the EA API, currently only the statistics for the last five games per team can be retrieved for reporting. This means that games should be reported immediately after they have been completed. This also means that any issues with reporting must be resolved immediately. Thus, please contact support immediately if you are unable to report your game. ⚠️ ECL '22 Winter Rulebook is now downloadable and can also be accessed through the link via the league menus. Communicating with your opponents: Teams must, at the very least, attempt to reach out and contact their opponent(s) before a default schedule game. Simply waiting until the time as generated by the schedule, challenging an opponent, then filing for WOs if the opponent does not show will not be deemed acceptable. In addition to this, teams ideally should be in contact 12-24hrs before the default scheduled time, if no reply has been received by the other team despite your best attempts to contact them, then please contact support. Regular Season Dates: ECL Neo 2.1.-3.2. ECL Core 2.1.-3.2. ECL Lite 2.1.-3.2. ECL Pro 3.1.- 3.2. ECL Elite 10.1.-10.2. * All games must be played and reported by 23:59 CET on the last game day. If the games are unreported and there is no support request made on time, no points will be awarded to either team. Playoff Dates: ECL Neo 6.2.-6.3. ECL Core 6.2.-13.3. ECL Lite 8.2.-16.3. ECL Pro 7.2.-1.3. ECL Elite 14.2.-5.3. * Each playoff round must be played according to the period defined in the rulebook. Transfer Deadline: ECL Neo 16.1. ECL Core 16.1. ECL Lite 16.1. ECL Pro 16.1. ECL Elite 23.1. * Transfers must be made by 23:59 CET on the Transfer Deadline date. ECL '22 Winter Gamedays In ECL '22 Winter, Neo will continue acting as the entry level into competitive virtual hockey and with that, will continue at the pace of two gamedays each week. Our other divisions will run at the pace of three weekly gamedays with Elite hosting three broadcasts weekly and Pro one. Gamedays: ECL Neo Wednesday Sunday ECL Core Tuesday Thursday Sunday ECL Lite Tuesday Wednesday Sunday ECL Pro Monday Tuesday -> ECL Pro Broadcast 📺 Thursday ECL Elite Monday -> ECL Elite Broadcast 📺 Wednesday -> ECL Elite Broadcast 📺 Thursday -> ECL Elite Broadcast 📺 The divisions framework for the ECL '22 Winter will follow the same logic as for the previous season. We will have a total of five divisions with the following team allocation: Elite 16 teams, Pro 32 teams, Lite 64 teams, Core 103 teams and Neo 40 teams. ECL Elite: 16 teams Regular season: One group Playoffs: 8 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Monday Wednesday Thursday Prize pool: 11 000 € (total 33 000 € in ECL '22 Elite) ECL Pro: 32 teams Sign up: ECL Pro eligible teams Open spots will be decided based on Qualifiers Regular season: Two groups Playoffs: 16 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Monday Tuesday Thursday Prize pool: TBA once licenses have been processed. ECL Lite: 64 teams Regular season: 4 Groups of 16 teams Playoffs: 32 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Tuesday Wednesday Sunday Prize pool: TBA once licenses have been processed. ECL Core: 103 teams Regular season: 8 groups of 13 Playoffs: 64 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Tuesday Thursday Sunday Prize pool: TBA once licenses have been processed. ECL Neo: 40 teams Regular season: 4 groups of 10 Playoffs: TBD Best-of-5 Gamedays: Wednesday Sunday Social media Here's an update to the social media instructions. Our sponsors this season are Kouvolan Lakritsi, Wilhelm & St Hockey. Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Winter #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Winter #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Note: It is super helpful and critical for us to succeed in getting our partners tagged, so they get the necessary mentions and interaction to validate their participation in the future. That being said, it is understandable that there may be circumstances due to your other partners where you are unable to tag competition etc. Your support is appreciated. As there are quite a few hashtags by now, especially from a Twitter perspective with limited characters, we recommend using at least #ECL22Winter in the text part of the tweet and leave the sponsor tags for the end. If you need to cut out tags, remove #esports and #NHL22. For Instagram this shouldn't be an issue. PS: We would love for you to follow our social channels, as they are an integral part of the ECL season. Discord Instagram Facebook Twitch Twitter

Gamers, the time has come to step into the future. Today, we invite you to join us for “A Song of Winter and Spring” as we introduce the next step in the evolution of ECL. We’ll also walk you through some incoming improvements to the website and the overall EASHL team experience here at NHLGamer. You’ll find all the details below but before we get to the grand reveal, I’d like to take a moment to address the community directly. Introducing something new in the world of gaming comes with a certain responsibility. Especially when presenting it to a group of loyal, passionate consumers. Like you, our 14,000+ members here at NHLGamer.com. How the invention itself is received can be difficult to predict, but for better or for worse the launch itself is often memorable. Who can forget the celebrated Cyberpunk 2077 presentation at E3 2019 when Keanu Reeves set the internet ablaze by shouting “You’re breathtaking!” to the crowd? Memorable, for the right reasons. But like Cyberpunk proved, the introduction itself is nothing without a solid product launch. Today, we aim to deliver on both fronts as we write yet another new chapter in the already storied history of the European Championship League. And, just like when we introduced our Divisional system in ECL 4 or when we hosted our first LAN event in ECL 8 or even when we re-imagined the divisional framework for ECL 12, we welcome your thoughts, opinions and above all – your passion. After all, that is what it’s all about, isn’t it? Now, let’s get to it. INTRODUCING… ECL WINTER & ECL SPRING Moving forward, our ECL leagues will no longer carry the numerical distinctions next to them as before. Instead, NHLGamer will be hosting two annual ECL seasons: ECL Winter and ECL Spring. What’s more, we’ll be crowning an annual ECL Grand Champion – exclusive to the Elite division. The combined prize pools for ECL Winter, ECL Spring and the ECL Grand Finals will be larger than anything seen before here at NHLGamer. Furthermore, the divisional framework as presented in ECL 12 will remain, but we are happy to announce we’ll be adding a license and prize pool for our second-tier division; ECL Pro – and voluntary licenses and prize pools for ECL Lite and Core. Here’s how it will work. ECL Winter ECL Winter takes the place of ECL 13, as it were, and will be played from January through March 2022. This will be the tentatively scheduled slot for ECL Winter in the future as well, but we are open to starting the Winter edition even as early as November – depending on feedback from the community. Knowing ahead of time when the seasons are set to start allows our players and teams to plan ahead in a way that was previously difficult. ECL Spring ECL Spring replaces ECL 14 and will be played from April through June 2022. Just like ECL Winter, Spring will be tentatively scheduled for the same slot next year. Having ECL Spring finish before midsummer allows our players and teams to take the summer off from playing ECL games, as per requests from the community. Annual ECL Champion Come June, we’ll be hosting an ECL Grand Final – with an additional prize pool – to crown the annual ECL Champion. This much-anticipated best-of-seven event will feature the ECL Elite teams who won ECL Winter and ECL Spring, respectively. Should the same team win both seasons, that team will be crowned the ECL Grand Champion in conjunction with the ECL Spring Finals. INTRODUCING… PRIZE POOLS FOR ECL PRO, LITE AND CORE ECL Elite remains the pinnacle of virtual hockey gaming in Europe and will feature our biggest prize pool yet - a total of 33 000 EUR! As our community continues to grow and the competition becomes increasingly tougher, playing in ECL Pro, Lite and Core is more prestigious than ever before. Now, for the first time ever, we are set to further elevate the status of these divisions by introducing the concept of prize pools. ECL Pro will feature a mandatory license fee and prize pool. All the money from the team licenses goes into the prize pool. The top sixteen (16) out of the divisions’ 32 teams will be awarded a share of the prize pool. ECL Lite and Core will feature a voluntary license fee and a prize pool for the teams who choose to acquire a license. The top 16 teams that choose to acquire a license in ECL Lite (64 teams) will be awarded a share of the prize pool. The top 32 teams that choose to acquire a license in ECL Core (128 teams) will be awarded a share of the prize pool. ECL Neo will continue as our division for new teams who want to get accustomed to league play on a relaxed schedule. There will be no license or prizing for ECL Neo. INTRODUCING… NEW WEBSITE FEATURES As a community, you’ve been asking us for upgrades to the website infrastructure. You’ve given us feedback; you’ve outlined what you want to see in terms of a competitive esports platform. And we thank you for it. We continue to listen – and ask for – your thoughts and feedback when it comes to the long-term development of the platform. Here’s an outline of what we’re doing to improve the website experience in the short term. We’ll be improving and expanding the admin tools with a singular focus on streamlining the support process. As the community grows, the need for a quick and efficient support system has never been greater – and this is something we’ve put a lot of work into. We’ll be improving and expanding the amount of stats from the EA SPORTS NHL game we’re able to track. As you might have seen in the Player Summary screen, several new statistical columns have been introduced and we’ll be introducing them to our website. The stats in question will be available retroactively for the previous ECL seasons where they were available in-game. We’ll be introducing a social sharing tool for the teams and organizations that make up our user base. No longer will teams need to grab a screenshot of a game report on NHLGamer or an in-game screen grab of a result for posting on social media. Instead, you’ll be able to share results and stats conveniently to social platforms directly from our website. We’ll be eradicating the website bugs that exist today, while also improving our general response time when it comes to fixing them. Above all, we introduce a pledge that this is just the opening salvo in what will be a renewed focus to further develop the platform thousands of you choose to visit on a daily basis. INTRODUCING… SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMS AND ADDED TEAM VISIBILITY More and more esport organizations continue to join the ECL ecosystem and here at NHLGamer, that is something we take great pride in. In order to take further steps towards professionalism and allow all our teams – not just the ones signed to an organization – to attract sponsors and develop their franchise in terms of visibility and competitive efforts, we are introducing the concept of sponsorship programs. We will build and share free of charge sponsorship packages which will include high-class sales presentations, best practices, and other supporting materials for teams to elevate their commercial efforts. We will also set up a sponsorship pool for the community which will be allocated by competition rankings and other community incentives. We will continue to broadcast Elite games with the same passion and intensity as before, while also adding a weekly broadcast dedicated to our second-tier division, Pro. We’ll be introducing the opportunity for added sponsorship visibility during our broadcasts. As an example, an Elite team could be given the chance to have one sponsor visible at a designated area during our wide-reaching league broadcasts. I want to take this moment to thank you all for being on this journey together, we are very excited for the upcoming year and looking forward to share more with you in the near future. So without futher ado, welcome to ECL '22! READ MORE ABOUT THE ECL '22 WINTER SEASON HERE PS: We would love for you to follow our social channels, as they are an integral part of the ECL season. Discord Instagram Facebook Twitch Twitter