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NHLGamers, With puck drop for ECL 11 Elite just some days away, today is the day for some big news! We're happy to announce our partnership with Atria Wilhelm, who will be joining the ECL as presenting partner. Together with Atria Wilhelm we are able to produce an awesome league that meets both the standards of our own and those of our passionate gamers. We're also bringing high stakes to the table with a prize pool of 15 000€ in ECL 11 Elite! Atria's Wilhelm product range will keep gamers and fans fed throughout the ECL season - find your favourite game night snacks, such as the Wilhelm Flaming hot snacks or the spicy Carolina Reaper sausage in stores all around Finland. Alike last season we're happy to have an increasing number of organizations both from the esports scene and from the traditional sports side joining in on the ECL action. The highest tier of ECL competition will host 12 teams represented by an organization this season. It's a season we're more excited for than ever and with some changes going on at the top of the pack this might be the chance for just about anyone to steal the crown, bring it on we say! Say hello to our new ECL cover gamer We're also continuing the tradition started in ECL 8 and introducing this seasons cover gamer. As usual, our cover gamers have been players of ultimate prestige and joining the club together with Erik @Eki Tammenpää, Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen and Casper @ICappeI Lundgren is something we want to be considered as one of the greatest recognitions in the sport. "There's no understating how great it is to join Eki, Hansu and Cappe as the fourth ECL cover gamer" -Tuukka "FlyerKungen" Kuha With that being said, the time is right to announce that Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha will be the cover gamer of ECL 11. The HAVU Gaming captain has taken the long road to success, leading his team to several runs coming just short in the Written In The Stars-era, culminating in the multitude of championships clinched first with Written In The Stars and lately with HAVU Gaming. @FlyerKungen is one of the great players in the game and handles himself accordingly, being a true role model for his peers. Photo credit: Tuomas Kujansuu, HAVU Gaming "Being the cover gamer is a title I appreciate a lot. There's no understating how great it is to join Eki, Hansu and Cappe as the fourth ECL cover gamer in history and it's a huge honor for me. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for each of the previous cover gamers as they are truly guys who will go all out for victory. I've played together with all of them and can vouch for each one as good players and even better people. There's a lot of similarities to them and me, so I didn't think twice about accepting the offer to be the face of ECL 11. It's also a great show of respect to the success we've had with Written In The Stars, HAVU Gaming, FILADELPHIA and Linköping HC. It's great to see that it doesn't go unnoticed and credit is given where it is due. I feel like we've all been pioneers in paving the way for teams and players around the scene and we've tried to realize that in the way we conduct ourselves. There's a lot of young players in the scene and us experienced players need to think about the way we act both representing ourselves and our teams. It's crucial to act professionally, respecting your opponent and the end result. Among all the victories it is also important to learn how to lose." ECL Elite Finals and prize pool Due to the COVID-19 situation, the ECL 11 season is currently planned to be played entirely online. The semifinals are played between the 1st and 4th of February and the finals the 12th and 13th of February. More details about the playoffs will be shared as the season progresses towards that point. The Elite division of the prize pool will be as follows: #1. ECL 11 Elite Champion: 10 000 € #2. ECL 11 Elite Runner-Up: 3 000 € #3.-4. ECL 11 Elite Semifinal losers: 1 000 € *Prizes are subject to tax as per Finnish law and the tax is withheld before payment. Prizes will be paid out within 90 days of the ECL 11 Finals. When? ECL 11 Elite kicks off on Monday, November 30th at 20:00 CET. Our broadcast of the night features heated battles between the previous season finalist FILADELPHIA and challenger hREDS, followed by JYP Jyvaskyla and Farjestad BK going head-to-head. Where/how to follow? You saw the effort we put into our broadcast production during ECL 10 and we'll be continuing on that path during ECL 11. We've secured your favorite casters to continue with us on three nights weekly as broadcasts will be airing on Twitch.tv/NHLGamer each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. The broadcasts will feature three various caster duos, as Cody @Tougie24 Tougas & Paul @Cyn Anderson, Drew "Farbsy" Goldfarb & Nick @f5penguin DiMeo and Arttu @OLVARI Hämäläinen & Julius Sorjonen will be in the booth this upcoming ECL season. Broadcasts on Thursdays will be in Finnish. Social media 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: @NHLGamerCOM #ECL11 #mukanaWilhelm #NHL21 #esports Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerOfficial @atria_wilhelm #ECL11 #MukanaWilhelm #NHL21 #esports About our main partner Atria Wilhelm Atria's Wilhelm product range has become a staple in Finnish snack culture throughout the years. Whether you're having a summer night barbeque or need something to go with the big game of the night - Wilhelm has you covered. Check out the full product range here! About us Since its inception, NHLGamer has continuously strived to offer the best possible experience for any and all gamers who have come to enjoy the competitiveness of playing the EA Sports series of NHL games. Created by gamers for gamers, we are very much in touch with the growing community and want to understand the fundamental desires of our end customers fully. The international competitive leagues in Europe (ECL) and North America (NACL) are our crown jewels, which have proven to draw interest from the very best teams and players worldwide. 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 growing prize pools, and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports.

"Jack Link's has been part of HAVU's journey for the past two years, and we together always want to give more to the Finnish esports scene. As one of the leading Finnish esports organizations, supporting the Finnish scene and providing more entry-level competitions is always in our interest. This also applies to NHL, where we are taking that step today by announcing our first NHL tournament." - Lasse Salminen, CEO of HAVU Gaming NHLGamer provides it's true and tested platform for the Jack Link's Open in order to run the tournament as smoothly as possible! We're also tremendously excited about growing the scene and bringing interesting partners such as Jack Links and HAVU Gaming along for the ride in NHL 21. Jack Link's Open NHL 21 1v1 Tournament by HAVU will be played between 20-21.11.2020. Sign-ups close on Wednesday the 18th of November. The maximum amount of players is 256 and the entire tournament will be played as a single-elimination bracket. Each participant must be a Finnish resident. Tournament schedule: 20.11. Friday 18:00 EET - RO256 19:30 EET - RO128 21:00 EET - RO64 22:30 EET - RO32 21.11. Saturday 14:00 EET - RO16 15:30 EET - Quarterfinals (RO8) 17:00 EET - Semifinals (RO4) 19:00 EET - Finals (Preliminary dates, subject to change) Gameday 2 will be broadcasted in full - live on NHLGamer's official Twitch channel, where viewers are also able to participate in Jack Link's giveaways. Prizes: The main monetary prize in the tournament is 500€, which will be awarded to the winner. The top 4 placing players will also receive some great product prizes from Jack Link's. REGISTER NOW!

NHLGamers, As always, we look to bring you the most superior competitive gaming experience possible, and we're continuously looking to improve on previous iterations of our leagues. Nothing has changed in regards to that in our ECL, and therefore we assure you that ECL 11 will be run at the premium level you are used to. This time, we wanted to launch the signups as early as possible in order to allow entry for as many teams as possible, also minimizing the risk of someone simply missing the deadline. Without further ado - here you go: Signups will be open until Wednesday, 11.11 at 23:59 CET. Divisions framework The divisions framework for the ECL 11 will follow the same logic as for previous seasons. We will have a total of four divisions with the following team allocation: Elite 16 teams, Pro 32 teams, Lite 96-128 teams*, Neo 32+ teams. ECL Elite: 16 teams Sign up: ECL Elite eligible teams Regular season: One group Playoffs: 8 teams Best-of-7 ECL Pro: 32 teams Sign up: ECL Pro eligible teams Regular season: Two groups Playoffs: 16 teams Best-of-7 ECL Lite: 96-128 teams Sign up: Anyone can apply for ECL Lite Teams will be decided by Franchise history, Roster composition, and EASHL record ECL Lite registrants are also allowed to apply for a spot in ECL Pro Teams signing up for ECL Lite that don't make it into ECL Pro or ECL Lite will be automatically placed in ECL Neo Regular season: TBD Playoffs: TBD Best-of-7 ECL Neo: 32+ teams Sign up: Without restrictions Regular season: TBD Playoffs: TBD Best-of-5 *NHLGamer reserves the right to alter the team allocation to ECL 11 Lite depending on the number of total teams signing up. Preliminary schedule for the ECL 11 season: ECL 11 Neo: Start Wednesday, 18.11 ECL 11 Lite: Start Tuesday, 17.11 ECL 11 Pro: Start Monday, 23.11 ECL 11 Elite: Start Monday, 30.11 Stay tuned for more info dropping over the coming weeks, we'll be releasing more detailed information about the season and announcing the cover gamer for ECL 11! What is the ECL? The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports. The abbreviation stands for the European Championship League and it features NHL 6v6 esports in four divisions aimed at various skill levels. League games are played in the EASHL mode and the platform is PlayStation 4. Basic information/requirements of ECL: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however, we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian players. A European server will always be used. In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. 6v6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL Challenge Club game mode in NHL 21. Individual requirements: Each player needs to have an account at NHLGamer.com and create their personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams in ECL Elite need to have at least 7 players to sign up. Teams in ECL Pro, ECL Lite and ECL Neo need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. ECL Elite license: Teams in ECL Elite will be required to pay for an ECL Elite license in order to play (more details to follow). Rules: The ECL 11 ruleset will follow the same foundation as in season 10. The updated rulebook will be available before the season. Don't have a team yet? Team looking for additions to your roster? If you are a free agent looking to be picked up, please head over here. If you are representing a team looking for players, please head over here.

NHLGamers, Semifinals! Only four teams remain and all want their spot in the finals. This news story will be a tightly wrapped info package about the semis: (1) HAVU Gaming vs JYP Jyvaskyla (5) TOP SCORER (Playoffs) Risto @Dominointi Järvi (9+13=22) vs Santeri @indi969 Pendolin (19+11=30) GOALTENDER (Playoffs) Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen (84.62 SV%, 1.11 GAA, 1 SO) vs Oskari @sibeelius Grönroos (82.43 SV%, 1.30 GAA, 3 SO) (2) FILADELPHIA vs hREDS (4) TOP SCORER (Playoffs) Erik @Eki Tammenpää 10+17=27) vs Perttu @Beniittto Kemppainen (15+23=38) GOALTENDER (Playoffs) Casper @ICappeI Lundgren (87.95 SV%, 0.83 GAA, 6 SO) vs Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen (80.56 SV%, 1.17 GAA, 1 SO) Tune in for the playoffs tonight! The semifinals start tonight as we'll see the starts of both series on the broadcast commentated by Julius Sorjonen, Kenneth @Kenu Lehtinen and Jani @Janikka Tuominen, starting at 19:50 CEST on twitch.tv/NHLGamer.

Last spring the Finnish Hockey League, as many other sports leagues around the world, was canceled. As a response to the feedback from the hockey community, the season was finished unofficially online through the NHL 20 console game. The ePlayoffs finals gathered over 165 000 unique viewers in total. The fan reception was overwhelmingly positive throughout the execution. “It is safe to say that ePlayoffs exceeded our wildest expectations. We received tons of positive feedback from both the teams and the hockey community. The positive feedback is what inspired us to move forward with an official esports league. We are thrilled to launch the first-ever season of eLiiga,” says Aija Saha, Marketing Manager of Finnish Hockey League. eLiiga will be played using the NHL 21game and every team in the league will be represented by Finland’s top 1v1 players. Games are broadcasted by Telia and MTV, the biggest commercial TV-channel in Finland. NHLGamer is involved in this project as part of the production. “We are very thrilled to continue our cooperation with the Finnish Hockey League after our first successful outing with the ePlayoffs. The new series aims to reach fans of traditional hockey as well as esports. We see eLiiga as an important part of bringing new fans to the whole esports scene,” says Niklas Segercrantz from Telia Esports Series. In 2019 Telia launched Telia Esports Series and ever since its foundation the series has steadily grown and this year alone they have successfully expanded from Finland to Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. This summer Telia Esports Series also announced an official eFootball league together with Veikkausliiga, the premier division of Finnish Football. “Launching eLiiga means that Finland’s two largest sports series now have their esports counterparts. Finland is embracing esports on a truly impressive level and we are proud to be a part of it. We aim to help esports players of all levels to rise to the top,” concludes Segercrantz. eLiiga will begin on the 1st of November and the premium partner for the league is PlayStation. “PlayStation is excited to be a partner of eLiiga as the +500k strong Finnish PlayStation community loves sports games. Ice hockey is clearly close to the heart of our players with EA SPORTS NHL being the most popular sports game in Finland,” says Suman Rath, General Manager of PlayStation in the Nordics. How to participate Aside from being involved in the league production, NHLGamer will be organizing the official eLiiga Näytön Paikka (=showcase) tournament, which allows players a platform to show their skills in hopes of impressing the Liiga clubs. Each club will be represented by two players. To participate in the qualifying tournament, sign up here. Please fill in the form carefully, as it allows both our staff and the clubs participating in the eLiiga to contact you if necessary. NOTE! Participation in the Screen Place tournament is NOT a guarantee that you will represent clubs. Each club conducts its own player selection and contract negotiations. Other relevant information: Telia Esports Series website Tournament Rules: eLiiga Näytön Paikka tournament rules Please join NHLGamer's Discord server to make it easier to communicate with the other players and our staff: