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NHLGamers, The time has come for the Swedish Champions League to kick off. Last year when the SCL was introduced for the first time, 22 teams signed up for the competition. This year we’ve seen a massive increase in numbers as an outstanding 40 teams have registered for the race! We are happy to see such big growth happening in the Swedish community. Let's make sure we are as welcoming to new members as possible to make sure we continue on this path. Below we have collected the most important information for our teams and captains: Schedule The season kicks off today, Saturday 28th of August, after which we will be following the following default game days and times: Tuesday 20:00 CEST Thursday 20:00 CEST Sunday 20:00 CEST The schedule is available through the menu both on the main page and here on the community side. Please note that some scheduled days feature two matchups. Schedule for SCL 6v6: Group stage: 29.8-13.9 Play-in Round: 14.-15.9. (BO5) Playoffs Round 1: 17.-20.9 (BO7) Quarterfinals: 22.-25.9 (BO7) Semifinals: 27.-30.9 (BO7) Bronze series (BO3) + Finals: 3.10 (BO7) Groups Below is the complete list of the teams participating this season and in which groups they will play (teams displayed in random order): The reigning Swedish Champion Vesa Pompa HC was invited to round 1 of the playoff stage as the #1 seed, but the team announced that they have decided not to accept this invitation, as they would rather work on their team play by participating in the group stage. Brief season description The regular season lasts 3 weeks. The top 3 teams of each group advance directly to the playoffs. Teams finishing the regular season in spots 4 and 5 will play a BO5 Play-in Series to determine which team in each group takes the 4th and last spot into the Playoffs. The Playoffs will be played in BO7 series'. Please see the rulebook for a more detailed description. Rulebook You can find the rulebook here. It is also always available through the league menu. We strongly suggest every player gets familiar with the rules before jumping on the ice and at the very least that the captains do so. The rulebook is in Swedish, so any foreign players will have to turn to their captains for a recap. The rulebook strongly builds on the ECL 10 rulebook, but there are some minor differences, such as the instigation of fights being forbidden. League Administration All league related verdicts will be decided by the League Administration. To open up a case, visit the Support section. Please note: before contacting League Administration, teams are expected to do their best and solve issues they might have on their own. Familiarize yourself with our rules first, as they include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always to be used as the last resort to solve any disagreements. Communication In order to get in touch with your opponent, you can use the "Message all captains" button (pictured below) on the team's page. This will send a private message on the NHLGamer community to the three listed captains. Additionally, we offer an NHLGamer Discord server, which you can join by clicking the button below. We ask that at the very least the captains of each team join the server, as messaging through Discord is instant and it is a great way to communicate quickly and briefly. In the NHLGamer Discord you will find an SCL 6v6 group with designated channels for each group, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below) A cool feature on Discord is also being able to get a team role (example above), which enables people to see what team you represent. See the channel #team-commands-guide for instructions on how to get your own role. If you need help with this, please see the #discord-support channel. Broadcasts The official NHLGamer broadcasts will be on NHLGamer's Twitch channel. Please follow our channel to support us and to get notified when we go live. The broadcast schedule and more comprehensive instructions will be published later. Team management tools All teams have been created, the team management tools on the main page have been unlocked for the team captains. All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of playing their first game. Please note that all invited players need to accept the invitation (there will be a popup alert on the main page for them) before they show up on the team roster and can start playing! In case you have further questions, feel free to use the comment section below this article, or contact support. Licenses All Swedish and Finnish players require a player license from their respective esports federation, acquire your license by following instructions provided in the links below. For players of other nationalities, a license from their respective esports federation is recommended, but not required. Acquire your license here (Swedes) Acquire your license here (Finns) Please note that playing without an active license is against the rules and can lead to forfeits and/or disqualification. All captains have been sent a Private Message last night and are expected to email in a response per email. Social media Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerCOM @swehockeyse @svenskesport #SvSeHockey #SCL #NHLGamer #esports Instagram: When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerOfficial @swehockeyse #SvSeHockey #SCL #NHLGamer #esports We hope everyone has a great SCL. Good luck to all teams!

NHLGamers, The time has come for the Finnish Champions League to kick off. Last year when the FCL was introduced for the first time, 37 teams signed up for the competition. This year we’ve seen a massive increase in numbers as an outstanding 72 teams have registered for the race! We are happy to see such big growth happening once again, especially in a competition that requires the players to purchase a license. Let's make sure we are as welcoming to new members as possible to make sure we continue on this path. Below we have collected the most important information for our teams and captains: Schedule The season kicks off today, Monday 24th of August, with the following default game days and times: Monday 20:00 CEST Wednesday 20:00 CEST Thursday 20:00 CEST The schedule is available through the menu both on the main page and here on the community side. Schedule for FCL 6v6: Group stage: 24.8-11.9 Playoffs round 1: 14.-18.9. (BO5) Playoffs round 2: 21.-25.9 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 28.9-1.10 (BO5) Semifinals: 3.10-5.10 (BO5) Finals: 10.10 (BO5) If you're looking for FCL 1vs1, you can still sign up! SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE! Sign-ups for 1v1 will be open until Thursday 27.8. end of day (CEST). Groups Below is the complete list of the teams participating this season and in which groups they will play (teams displayed in random order): The reigning Finnish Champion HAVU Gaming will be invited to round 1 of the playoff stage as the #1 seed as per eSM 2020 rules (restrictions apply). Brief season description The regular season lasts 3 weeks. Top 4 teams of each group + three best #5 based on PPG will advance to the playoffs. This means 32 teams (31+HAVU Gaming) will make the playoffs. Playoffs will be played in BO5 series'. Please see the rulebook for a more detailed description. Rulebook You can find the rulebook here. It is also always available through the league menu. We strongly suggest every player gets familiar with the rules before jumping on the ice and at the very least that the captains do so. The rulebook is in Finnish, so any foreign players will have to turn to their captains for a recap. The rulebook strongly builds on the ECL 10 rulebook, but there are some minor differences, such as the instigation of fights being forbidden. League Administration All league related verdicts will be decided by the League Administration. To open up a case, visit the Support section. Please note: before contacting League Administration, teams are expected to do their best and solve issues they might have on their own. Familiarize yourself with our rules first, as they include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always to be used as the last resort to solve any disagreements. Communication In order to get in touch with your opponent, you can use the "Message all captains" button (pictured below) on the team's page. This will send a private message on the NHLGamer community to the three listed captains. Additionally, we offer an NHLGamer Discord server, which you can join by clicking the button below. We ask that at the very least the captains of each team join the server, as messaging through Discord is instant and it is a great way to communicate quickly and briefly. In the NHLGamer Discord you will find an FCL 6v6 group with designated channels for each group, and own channels for general chat, announcements and to share your streams (image below) A cool feature on Discord is also being able to get a team role (example above), which enables people to see what team you represent. See the channel #team-commands-guide for instructions on how to get your own role. If you need help with this, please see the #discord-support channel. Broadcasts The official NHLGamer broadcasts will be on NHLGamer's Twitch channel. Please follow our channel to support us and to get notified when we go live. The broadcast schedule will be published later, but we have put together a small streaming guide for you. This guide applies for when your team is featured on an official broadcast. Team management tools All teams have been created, the team management tools on the main page have been unlocked for the team captains. All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of playing their first game. Please note that all invited players need to accept the invitation (there will be a popup alert on the main page for them) before they show up on the team roster and can start playing! In case you have further questions, feel free to use the comment section below this article, or contact support. Licenses All players require an eSM 2020 license in order to participate in FCL 6v6 and/or FCL 1v1. The cost of the license is 5 EUR and it can be obtained at esm.gg/pelaajalisenssi/ (click here for instructions in English). The one-time purchase of the license allows you to take part in all eSM 2020 leagues and tournaments (for 1v1 you must be a Finnish citizen). We have contacted all teams (private message from @iRSPe) to get the necessary license information. There are some individual discrepancies on teams, but there are also still teams who have not sent their lists at all. Please note that playing without an active license is against the rules and can lead to forfeits and/or disqualification. Social media Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerCOM @Gigantti @esm_gg #FCL #eSM Instagram: When posting on Instagram, can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NHLGamerOfficial @GiganttiGaming @esmkisat #FCL #eSM We hope everyone has a great FCL. Good luck to all teams!

NHLGamers, Last year, the FCL concluded at the Summer Assembly event and we finished by crowning Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola (1v1) and HAVU Gaming (6v6) champions. This time we’re proud to announce our recurring partnership with Gigantti to bring you another immensely exciting season of FCL action. Like last year, the FCL holds the official Finnish Championship license (eSM 2020) from the Finnish Esports Federation (SEUL) and the league will feature both the 1v1 and 6v6 game modes. The FCL will be played through August and September and is planned to finish on the 10th of October with a live event* in the capital area of Finland. The combined prize pool is 10 000 EUR. Like last year, this iteration of the FCL will allow for non-Finnish citizens to challenge for the throne in the 6v6 league. The upcoming league will feature a foreign player quota, which entails that a majority (51%) of the team's roster (and line-up) must be Finnish. In addition, all captains must be Finnish citizens. All players require an eSM 2020 license in order to participate in FCL 6v6 and/or FCL 1v1. The cost of the license is 5 EUR and it can be obtained at esm.gg/pelaajalisenssi/ (click here for instructions in English). The one-time purchase of the license allows you to take part in all eSM 2020 leagues and tournaments (for 1v1 you must be a Finnish citizen). SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE! Sign-ups for 1v1 are open now and will be open until 27.8. Preliminary schedule for 1v1: Group stage: 31.8-20.9 Playoffs: 21.9-1.10 TOP 4 Finals: 10.10 (BO3) Sign-ups for 6v6 are now closed. Schedule for FCL 6v6: Group stage: 24.8-11.9 Playoffs round 1: 14.-18.9. (BO5) Playoffs round 2: 21.-25.9 (BO5) Quarterfinals: 28.9-1.10 (BO5) Semifinals: 3.10-5.10 (BO5) Finals: 10.10 (BO5) *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 FCL 2020 Finals. Due to the majority of the FCL being played online and cross-platform play not being available, this year FCL will be played only on the Playstation 4 console. The final formats and schedules for both the 1v1 and 6v6 portions of FCL will be determined based on the number of signups. Invitations FCL 6v6: Reigning Finnish Champion HAVU Gaming will be invited to round 1 of the playoff stage as the #1 seed as per eSM 2020 rules (restrictions apply). FCL 1v1: Reigning Finnish Champion Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola will be invited to the playoff stage as the #1 seed as per eSM 2020 rules. The Finnish player who finishes highest in the NHL GWC 2020 European Finals will be invited to the playoff stage as the #2 seed. *Note: NHLGamer and Gigantti reserve the right to alter or cancel the live portion of the FCL in accordance with regulations and restrictions that may apply, or based on the judgement of the event organizer. Photo: Arttu Kokkonen / SEUL 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 prize pools, and working together with organizations at the cutting edge of gaming and esports. About our partners Gigantti is the largest consumer electronics retailer in Finland, with 41 stores and 1200 employees. Gigantti has been an active player in the esports scene for a few years already. Their Overwatch-squad Team Gigantti bears the flag of Europe's most successful team, whereas the Gigantti CS:GO Cup and last year's FCL finals have proven to be great examples of what the tech retail giant can do in the field. Gigantti will continue on the path of developing Finnish esports and a key factor of that is partnerships with the industry-leading players. The Finnish Esports Federation (SEUL) works as the umbrella organization for Finnish competitive electronic gaming. SEUL's mission is to improve and promote electronic sports and the activities of our members. The federation was established in December 2010 to respond to the growing need for an organization to promote esports as a hobby and as a respectable sport. The activities performed by SEUL are divided into the development of esports, protection of player’s interests and communicational work. The development of esports is done partly by utilizing workgroups, which are based on the work of our volunteers. The board is responsible for the day to day operations in co-operation with employees. The federation co-operates with many national organizations such as VERKE, EHYT ry and KAVI, promoting a positive image of gamers and gaming in general. The federation’s participation in the international field is strong, since they represent Finland in the International Esports Federation (IESF). SEUL is also on the receiving end of the yearly grants given out by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture for youth programs, and represents Finnish esports as a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee. What are you waiting for? Sign up now for the chance of winning the Finnish Championship and some great cash prizes! We sincerely hope to see as many of you there as possible! Also, since the sign-up period is rather short, we'd appreciate it if you spread the word to everyone!

NHLGamers, Our North American following has been longing for some 6v6 action ever since the last NACL season concluded with the victory of Vertigo in mid May. We've been asked a lot about when our next North American event would be and the time has come to reward your patience. In cooperation with Northern Arena and Goalie Guild Gaming, we are proud to be bringing you The Northern Arena NHL 20 Cup - presented by Xbox Canada - with a prize pool of $10,000 USD. The Northern Arena NHL 20 Cup will feature a qualifying stage, where any North American 6v6 team can enter for a chance to represent one of the NHL's 32 franchises (including Seattle). Once the teams have qualified, the 32 best teams in North America will play throughout August in a battle over the largest slice out of the $10,000 USD prize pool. There are three ways to qualify for the Northern Arena NHL 20 Cup: Official NHL Esports Team Representative: The NHL Cup will have four NHL Esports Team Representatives. The Florida Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks. The Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets have their own teams, whereas New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks will be allowed to approach any of the existing qualified teams. Qualified teams reserve the right to decline would they rather represent another team. Standings from the CBJ Summer Cup: The top six (6) teams in the standings from the CBJ Summer Cup as of July 31st will be invited to join the NHL Cup. These teams are 1. Underdogs, 2. Composure, 3. BBB, 4. Entourage, 5. Vertigo and 6. X Factor. Qualification tournaments: Teams who have not qualified through the aforementioned ways will need to qualify through an open qualifier. 24 spots will be up for grabs in the three (3) total qualifiers that will be held on Friday, August 7th, Tuesday, August 11th and Saturday, August 15th. For further details about the format of the NA NHL 20 Cup, please refer to this league format document. Please also get acquainted with the ruleset of the Northern Arena NHL 20 Cup here before registering your team for the tournament. You can also visit the NA NHL 20 Cup official landing page for more information. NHLGamer is the official tournament partner for the NA NHL Cup. The tournament itself will be run on our platform here at NHLGamer.com Should you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to contact our support. Click here to sign up now! We've also set up a place in our community forums where you can discuss, introduce your team, look for players for your team, or find yourself a team. The official Discord channel for the tournament is run by Northern Arena. Additionally, we'd like to offer you the opportunity to join the NHLGamer Discord. When? Here is the schedule for the Northern Arena NHL 20 Cup: Registration period: Monday, July 7th - Tuesday, August 11th, 2020 Qualifying period: Friday, August 7th (Qualifier 1), Tuesday, August 11th (Qualifier 2) and Friday, August 15th (Qualifier 3) Signups for Qualifier 1 closes: Tuesday, August 4th Signups for Qualifier 2 & 3 close: Tuesday August 11th Regular season: Tuesday, August 18th - Thursday, August 27th Playoffs: Saturday, August 29th - Saturday, September 5th Broadcasts More detailed info about what to expect in regards to broadcasts will be published closer to the tournament. What we can tell you now is that the semifinals and finals will be aired live on GINX TV and www.twitch.tv/northernarena. We want to take this opportunity to thank the handful of NHL teams that are involved in this event. In the end, we understand what makes a league successful is having the support of the players and teams. To earn that support we will do everything we can to make this an equally exciting and entertaining event. In return, we kindly ask for your cooperation and support, especially on social media. When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - can you please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @NorthernArena @NHLGamerCOM @XboxCanada @ginxcanada #NHLCup Disclaimer: The event is approved by EA and supported by some NHL teams. Not all players are official representatives of respective NHL teams.

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Hi and welcome to SportsGamer - we're very excited that you have chosen to join our community! In this article we will be taking you through the steps of creating your community account and your player card. The community account is the one you sign into and your player card is where your entire competitive history is recorded for yourself and others to marvel. Without further ado, let's get started! Note that while the screenshots represent our old site before rebranding to SportsGamer, the logic has stayed the same. Creating your account To create your account, click the "SIGN IN" menu option in the top-right corner of the menu bar and select "Join now". This will take you to the Sign Up page. On this page you want to fill out: Display Name - This is the name you're referred to throughout our community. We recommend using your Xbox Gamertag or PSN ID, as that will lead to the least confusion in the future. Email Address - Enter your email address that you commonly use and be sure to spell it correctly. This email address will be used for private messages, resetting your password and information about new tournaments (optional). The automated messages from our community will be sent from the address [email protected], so be sure to check that our emails don't end up in your spam folder. Password - Choose a secure password that you will remember. Nowadays browsers often have the ability to recommend and store a password for you. The community sign up form will give you some feedback on the password, ranging from "Weak" to "Very Strong". Confirm Password - Repeat the same password. This step is done to make sure you did not accidentally make a typo in the first password field. Send me news and updates (checkbox) - This is optional, but we'd love for you to receive our emails. We promise not to spam you - our goal is to simply keep you up to date with what's happening and events that might interest you. I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy - In order to sign up for SportsGamer, you need agree to those two linked documents. This is simply a part of us being transparent and law abiding by telling you how we store and use your information. After you're done with the form, click "Create my Account" and you'll get to the next screen, which tells you that we'd like to verify your email address. You should receive this email pretty much instantly, so head over to your email inbox (check your spam folder if necessary) to read this email. If for some reason you didn't receive an email, you've checked your inbox and spam and waited for - say, 5 minutes - you can either resend the confirmation email or try changing your email address by using the allocated buttons (pictured above). Got the email? Great! Validating your email address is easy, just click the button that says "Validate my Email address". This button (link) will take you to the below screen, telling you "You're almost there". Just click that "Validate my account" button, and your email will be validated. Yay! That was easy, wasn't it? Ok, but what's this? My profile is only 50% complete? After all of this hard work? Don't you worry! That other 50% is just us wanting you to add a profile image to your newly created profile. You can choose to do so by clicking "Complete My Profile" or decline, by pressing "Dismiss". You can also just ignore it until you're ready to upload your photo. Clicking "Complete My Profile" will bring you to the following screen, where you can decide to upload a photo, importing a photo by pasting in a URL (that's just another word for an address or link), or selecting simply not to upload a photo. In this case we happened to have a very attractive photo lying around on the desktop, so we chose "Upload Photo" and then clicked the "Choose Single File...". By clicking this button, a new window will open, allowing you to browse your hard drive for images. Alternatively, you can also drag an image into that little grey area that the button sits in. Both methods get the job done. Below: After adding your photo, you will be able to crop your picture by using the “Adjust size” tool. Select the portion of the picture you want to use. If using a png file, you’ll see a checkered backround, which means that the background is transparent and the image will display on any background without having a background box to it. This can be achieved with png files only. When you're done, click next. Below: There it is, in all its glory, youre SportsGamer community account with a profile picture! Well done! You have now successfully created your community account and added a profile picture. You can now discuss things on the forums and in the chatbox. Now let's set up your player card, which allows you to put on your skates and compete! Creating your player card Once you're logged in and don't already have created a player card, the below prompt - telling you that you don't yet have a player card - will be visible on top of any content, whether it's on the SportsGamer.gg main page or the community side: Above: On the community side you can click "Click here" to create the player card. Below: Great, we've now found the player card! You can select the game you are editing your player card for via the menu on top of the player card editor. In the above image, we are editing an NFL player card. PLEASE NOTE: Most of the screenshots below are for editing of the NHL 23 Player Card, but the information requested can be different based on the game you are filling out the information for. On this page you want to fill out: First name - Real or fictional first name (be sure you use the same name in the game). Last Name - Real or fictional last name (be sure you use the same name in the game). Note: The SportsGamer account name, PSN ID / Gamertag and player name must not be of offensive, insulting, crude or vulgar nature. SportsGamer Staff reserves the right to request players to change these details if deemed inappropriate. PSN Online ID - If you own a PlayStation console, please enter your PlayStation Network Online ID into this box. If you don't have a PSN account, leave this box empty. Xbox Live Gamertag - If you own an Xbox console, please enter your Xbox Live Gamertag into this box. If you don't have an Xbox account, leave this box empty. Note: While you can leave the PSN Online ID or Xbox Live Gamertag box empty, you must fill in at least one of the boxes to be able to save your player card and start playing. Jersey Number - Choose the number for your player. Please note that every player on a team needs to have a unique number, i.e. two players on the same team cannot use the same number. Positions you play - Here you can select one (1) or more positions that you like/are open to play. LW = Left Wing C = Center RW = Right Wing LD = Left Defenseman RD = Right Defenseman G = Goalie Preferred Position - What is your favorite position, or for this purpose, for the tournament/league you're signing up for, what will be your main position? This will determine in which category you show up in your team's roster. Good news - that's it! Once you're happy with what you've entered, go ahead and click that "Save" button. If everything went according to play, you should now be seeing this green notification at the top of your screen: Don't worry, you can always come back to edit your player card by using the front page menu, clicking your user name and selecting "EDIT PLAYER" (see image). Note: If there were any issues with saving your card, you should get a red notification with an explanation telling you what went wrong. If you can't figure out what the issue is and need help, please don't hesitate to contact our support. You're now ready to visit your profile, which you can do through the same menu and selecting "MY PROFILE". And there it is, your new player card! As you can see, your player card will use the same image as we uploaded as a profile picture while creating our community account, so if you want to avoid making that "d-oh!" face, pick something that you will be happy with. Your newly created profile is a bit empty of course, but don't you worry - you're ready to join a team, jump on the ice and rack up some points (or saves... or penalty minutes - we don't judge!). Here's a little preview of what that might look like: And that's it - you're now ready to join or create a team!

Last night we witnessed what was the start to the Elite Finals of the 10th ECL iteration. Giants HAVU Gaming and Linköping HC clashed in three expectedly tight games where the heart rates of both players and viewers skyrocketed from time to time. The teams are battling for a record-setting prize pool of 15 000 €, where the winner takes the biggest slice of cash, this being a hefty amount of 10 000 €. Action resumes tonight at 20:00 CEST as HAVU has a 3-0 chokehold of the series. Will LHC bounce back once again? In case you didn't read our preview yet, you can do so here. (3) HAVU Gaming vs Linkoping HC (2) SCORES SO FAR Game 1: HAVU Gaming - Linköping HC 2-1 OT Game 2: Linköping HC - HAVU Gaming 1-2 OT Game 3: HAVU Gaming - Linköping HC 2-1 How to watch? The last day of the ECL 10 Elite Finals will be played tonight, Saturday, 6th of June with a broadcast on our Twitch-channel. The broadcast is also available on Ruutu.fi & ISTV. Saturday, June 6th 20:00 CEST Games 4-7 (puck drop around 20:25) HAVU Gaming vs Linkoping HC Don't miss the afterparty! NHLGamer proudly presents the ELC 10 Elite Finals official afterparty! We'll be treated to a special one-hour B2B set by Luxonia, featuring artists NickyB & Samlight. The party will kick off on our Twitch channel right after the Finals!

NHLGamers, The first championship of the ECL 10 season was crowned on Wednesday when the two ECL Pro title contenders Enigma and Black Horse clashed for games 4-7 of their final series. Going into the games, Enigma had a 2-1 series lead, but Black Horse came in strong and managed to turn the series around as they managed to win games 4 and 5, going into game 6 in a 2-3 lead. Enigma force a game 7 and teams went scoreless into the third period. With just 6 minutes remaining in the 3rd, Enigma received a somewhat questionable penalty shot. As @PCJP managed to make the save, the viewers were blessed with the most exciting thing a hockey fan could witness: game 7 overtime action! The digitals stopped at 77:01 as Wirtsuuu (@Tapparafan) managed to get the only goal of the game, securing Black Horse the ECL 10 Pro Championship and a place in ECL Elite for next season! Black Horse 🏆 Group stage record: 23-5-2 (1st) Round 1: vs Kaupallinen Yhteistyö (16) 4-3 Quarterfinals: vs Children of Ice (15) 4-0 Semifinals: vs Hanaa HC (14) 4-0 Finals: vs Enigma (10) 4-3 GOALIES #92 P. Pelkonen @PCJP DEFENSEMEN #4 R. Reijonen @bot_dole #24 Originaljets29 @Mika #81 M. Laitinen @Miika (MiiQu81-) FORWARDS #19 M. Virtanen @Tapparafan (Wirtsuuu) #22 M. Vanhala @Pasi Modry (Makkeez22) #64 A. Laitinen @laitineen64 All in all, the Pro season once again provided some very exciting action and surely showed the amount of skill that runs deep throughout the divisions framework. As mentioned above, as a reward for their ECL Pro Championship, Black Horse will be directly promoted to ECL Elite. Enigma will continue their season for one more series, as they meet Gotham Knights in a best-of-seven series to determine which of these two teams will play in ECL Elite next season. The decisive games of the finals were broadcast at the NHLGamer Twitch channel. @Tougie24 and @Cyn once again blessed us with their presence and put forth a great effort in the commentator booth. If you missed that action, you can watch it again below:

NHLGamers, The first NACL Super Final has concluded. Two teams entered. And after a grueling and hard-fought series, only one was left standing. We present to you the NACL champions in Vertigo. This marks their first ever 6s title for this franchise, a long awaited championship for players like @P t P 10 and @SamDelisle9. Vertigo Regular Season: 19-4-1 (1st) Quarterfinals: vs Montage Moment (8) 4-2 Semifinals: vs Entourage (5) 4-1 Finals: vs 6th Sense (3) 4-1 GOALIES #42 Louis-Philip Gagné @Denisov x 42 #35 Taylor Kerns @Kernsy DEFENSEMEN #43 Sam Delisle @SamDelisle9 #9 Kobe @Gwan FORWARDS #1 Trevor Cear @ScaryJoeyy #10 Mateo Paonessa @P t P 10 #18 Matt Jakubowski @CaLL Me Jakoo The NACL Superfinal was just as intense as expected, and showed the world what NHL EASHL 6s esports looks like at the highest level. The wonderful Nick @f5penguin Dimeo and Drew “Farbsy” Goldfarb led the stream with an amazing intro and interview. Afterwards, we were lucky enough to have the one and only James Cybulski, the voice of NHL20 to call play by play for game 1 of the series. Following that game the tandem of Cody @Tougie24 Tougas and Paul @Cyn Anderson graced us with their play by play and color commentary. If you missed that action, you can watch it again here: We'd like to thank all of our players and everyone who's tuned in to watch the NACL! While we don't have anything to announce at this moment, we're excited and humbled by your positive feedback and have heard your wishes for more North American esports action at NHLGamer. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

It has come to our attention that Linköping HC player @Patzlaf made an inappropriate comment on his personal stream last week, in a moment of insensitivity that he feels does not reflect his personal values. The stream was not related to NHLGamer’s leagues or tournaments, but rather in his free time. We have been in touch with the Linköping HC organization and they have approached this matter with the utmost seriousness, starting by suspending Patzlaf for Sunday’s games. Understanding his comment would be the source of both anger and disappointment, Patzlaf publicly accepted responsibility and apologized for his actions. We believe this lapse in judgement is not an accurate portrayal of his personal values and that he regrets his actions but we do not—and will not—tolerate discrimination of any form and we stand to promote diversity and inclusion for all our players. In addition to Patzlaf’s suspension of games, LHC has committed to providing their players with training about their values and how each and everyone of them are accountable for upholding them on and off the ice. We will review our rulesets upon the conclusion of the ECL 10 season to explore the option of covering scenarios like these in our rulebook.

NHLGamers, We're reminding you that tomorrow, April 23rd at 23:59:59 CET is the deadline for transfers in ECL Pro, Lite, and Neo. We previously had the 22nd as the last day for Pro but have decided to give Pro one more day for transfers in line with Lite and Neo. The ECL Elite transfer deadline is on Tuesday, April 28th. Please remember to make sure your trades are in line with the rulebook before making them and check with support if you aren't sure. Remember, only one transfer per player is allowed per season - unless the player has played 0 games (overall, for any team) the entire season, which is covered in rule 14.11. If you're a player still looking for a team or a team still looking to add to your roster, please head to the Free Agents section or the Clubs Looking For Players section on our forum. Please post any last-minute transfers in the comments section below so everyone can enjoy them.

The Rulebook for the ECL has been updated with several important points. Please always refer to the rulebook for the full ruleset - this news story is intended to highlight some of the additions and/or amendments to the rulebook. Without further ado, let's jump into the new rules. Betting While the ECL isn't officially associated with any betting company, some companies have started offering bets on ECL Elite games. This is an honor for us, as it means our games are appreciated at the same level of seriousness as we play and organize them with. In addition to the raised importance of reporting the games and potential reschedules in a precise and timely manner, the introduction of betting poses some potential risks involving integrity. In order to ensure the integrity, members of ECL Elite teams are hereby prohibited from betting on ECL Elite games or other ECL Elite related bets. ECL Elite Playoff Schedule Below you'll find the ECL Elite Playoff Schedule and the dates for the broadcasts (starting time 20:00 CEST). The goal is to cover two of the quarterfinals, both semifinals, and the finals. ECL Pro, Lite & Neo Playoff Schedule Below you'll find the playoff schedule for the rest of the divisions. Due to the overlap of the different division's playoffs, our goal is to cover all of the divisions' finals on our broadcasts. Rescheduling games into the future This is not a new rule, but something we ask teams to pay attention to. Games should never remain unplayed and unreported on a past date. If the games can't be played on the default date, discuss the new date with the opposing team's captains and use the rescheduling tool to update to the new date. This also applies to games played ahead of time - please reschedule them for the earlier date and time before playing and reporting. This is important for e.g.: Betting Fans following your games League staff making sure everything is running as planned End of the regular season Here you'll find the information on the last day to play your games. Any games left unplayed can end up being decided by the League Administration. Instigating a fight While we haven't been presented with any actual evidence about instigating a fight prior to a faceoff, we've been contacted by numerous teams worried about players instigating a fight before faceoffs. In order to save us all from the trouble of speculating about the topic - especially as instigating fights prior to faceoffs is generally speaking pointless - we have decided to ban this behavior. That being said, if you can properly prove that this actually gives you a boost, please send us the evidence, as we're sure EA Sports would appreciate it. Accidental fights Accidental fights rarely get started - in fact, not even once per season. However, it can happen, so we decided to add it to the rulebook to describe what to do under these circumstances and what the outcome could be if the League Administration deems the "accident" intentional. Reporting game immediately after game As mentioned earlier in this article, there are more eyes on the ECL and more teams in the ECL than ever before. This is why it's crucial that games are reported at the very latest within 24 hours of the game. It is good practice to report the games by the end of the evening, though. ECL Elite games must be reported directly after the game. This improves the experience for betting and allows our articles and broadcasts to always work with the most up to date information. Our broadcasts actually get the up to date numbers immediately after reporting now. Winning team reports games This is not a new rule, but something many seem to have a misconception of due to memories of ECL seasons in the past. The winning team is responsible for reporting the games. The losing team is, however, also responsible for documenting the necessary data as a backup. ECL Neo Playoffs Due to the expansion of ECL Neo from 32 teams to 84 teams, we added more groups and more teams make the playoffs. Here's how it works: Transfer Deadlines We allow transfers in ECL. Transfers are like trades, but there isn't a requirement for teams to get anyone in return. Note: The transfer deadline is just around the corner. In order to leave a team or transfer, a player has to request that the captain drops them from the roster. This is to make sure the communication is there when leaving teams - in order to not leave the old team in trouble. How to get help I get messages (PM, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, PSN, email, etc) daily asking for help with a lot of ECL related questions. This applies to many other members of our staff as well. While we love to help you, when you get spammed with 30-50 messages on random platforms each day, it becomes an unmanageable task. In order to be able to help you in a structured way, we offer our support section. Support can be accessed through the Team Tools (for captains) and through the community. Consider bookmarking this link: https://nhlgamer.com/community/support/. Please keep in mind that while we try to reply as soon as we can, sometimes it will take a while for us to get back to you. The important part is that you report the issue and we'll help you out as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience. We hope you found these updated rules logical and reasonable. Please let us know if there are any questions and suggestions on how you would make the rulebook even better. UPDATE: 21.04.2020 Updated Lite playoff specifics (5.6) 22.04.2020 Tweaked Pro transfer deadline to be in line with Lite and Neo (14.1)

On Tuesday, April 14th an issue in the NACL was brought to our attention regarding an illegal player on the roster for the Phantom. As accustomed, we gathered information and gave those involved an opportunity to present their side of the story before making a ruling. The issue: Phantoms played games with player @G lR ii M x (from here on out 'Grim') on defense, who is not listed on their NACL roster. Gathering of information When asked about it, Grim responded that he had been on their team all season. The Phantoms captain @Groulxz responded that the website (NHLGamer.com) is bad and does not work. According to the captain, Grim paid his share of the entry fee to team member ‘Heroic Duck’ and reasoned that he should be allowed to play. First, we took a look at the claim that he had been on the roster all season. By looking at the Phantoms roster, you can tell that was not the case. We also checked the team’s original sign-up post where they listed all of their members. Grim was not on this list. This is an important detail, because a week or so ago, the same issue came with player @Mxtayer who was not on the Phantoms roster. At that time, we did, however, find him on the original sign-up post showing the intent of having him on the roster, and we found an expired invitation for him to the team that was never accepted. We chalked it up to a user error due to unfamiliarity with the website, making sure he was added to the roster correctly and let it slide. In a similar situation in the ECL in Europe, the captain would have received a two-game suspension for this mistake. Next, we checked within the team invite history to see if a team invite was ever sent to Grim's account. We also checked Grim's user history to see when he last logged onto his NHLGamer account, thinking maybe he received the invite but never accepted it. These were possibilities that needed to be checked. Upon our research we saw the list of all players that were invited to the Phantoms roster - Grim was not one of the invited players. After checking Grim’s history, we discovered that - aside from the night of the violation - he hadn't logged on since March 2019. The user not logging on for over a year does not align with the claims of an issue with the website. Additionally, had Groulxz sent an invite to Grim (which was already proven false), it is his responsibility as a captain to follow up and remind all players to accept invites and make sure they are on the roster. No signs to support the claim of the website malfunctioning could be found, hence we find the claim false in regards to this case. If something was genuinely wrong with the website invite system, it is the player's/captain's responsibility to inform NHLGamer staff so we can be of assistance and fix any issue as soon as possible. The ruling Based on this evidence we are using rules 4.2, 6.1, 8.1 and 16.5 to assist with our ruling: The ruling is as follows: Both Phantoms vs Vertigo games will be overturned as wins for Vertigo, due to illegal use of player The first game of Phantoms vs 6th Sense will be ruled as a win for 6th Sense, due to illegal use of player The second game of Phantoms vs 6th Sense will be played as soon as possible on a mutually agreed date Player ‘Grim’ is ineligible to play this season as it is past the transfer deadline Phantoms captain ‘Groulxz’ receives a 2 game suspension for neglecting his duties as a captain on more than one occasion. The suspension will be served in the first game against the next opponent + the remaining game against 6th Sense. Failure to complete the season will result in a 12-month captaincy ban for Groulxz Failing to finish the season may impact all team members’ eligibility to participate in future seasons Final word We do not like issuing forfeits as we would always prefer to have everything settled on the ice. That being said the rules regarding roster eligibility were broken and we did not see any effort from the Phantoms captain to get the so-called 'site issue' resolved. We ask that the community respect and learn our rulebook to avoid future issues. Being a captain is demanding and if you haven't been one before, you might not realize that it can be very taxing to build a team, communicate with the 6+ members, agree on game times with the opponents and so on. After all, this is often done in addition to our everyday life. We ask every community member to keep that in mind when your captain asks you for availability or other information; replying is easy - chasing 6+ people isn't always that. We also want to bring up the importance of sharing the workload between the captain and the two assistants. Delegating different tasks is the key to keep things running smoothly and keeping things fun. And even if you're not a captain - why not ask your captain if you could help out with something. The article has been edited: Corrected how the serving of the suspension will be handled in point 5 of the rulings.