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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 community@sportsgamer.gg, 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.

NHLGamers, We know you've got that competitive itch and it's time to get the action started! The total of 196 teams signed up shows that we are growing at a rapid pace. The tenth iteration of our longest-running league will be bringing you that high-level competition you've been longing for, but this time we wanted to up the ante - in bringing you a historical 6s prize pool of 15 000 €! This is made possible because of the several steps forward that we've taken in the past few months, but first and foremost due to our cherished partners Ilta-Sanomat Esports & Prisma Gaming. We'll also be seeing an unprecedented number of professional teams present in our league, with the Elite division alone featuring a total of ten teams representing esports organizations as well as traditional sporting associations. Among the newest additions, we have recently welcomed JYP Jyväskylä, SJ Gaming, hREDS, and KOVA Esports, whereas teams such as HAVU Gaming and Farjestad BK have already been sporting their colors for an extended period of time (and done so in successful fashion!). These organizations joining in brings an added level of interest and some existing rivalries to the scene, where for example the Finnish organizations are battling between themselves and our Swedish eSHL teams surely want to be able to call themselves kings of the hill in their own neighborhood. Continuing the tradition that began in ECL 8 when NHLGamer introduced NHL 18 World Champion Erik "I_Eki_I" Tammenpää as the first-ever cover gamer in the NHL 6v6 scene, a torch that was carried further by HAVU Gaming's star goaltender Hannes "Hansulinho" Kettunen in ECL 9, we are proud to present our ECL 10 cover gamer. None other than two-time ECL Elite champion and Linköping HC goaltender, Casper "ICappeI" Lundgren! Meet the ECL 10 cover gamer - Casper @ICappeI Lundgren You're the third ECL cover gamer and in good company at that, what are your thoughts about your selection? I'm proud to have been selected obviously and it's even more special to be the first Swede having the honor. I have tremendous respect for both @Eki and @Hansulinho and think they are the embodiment of sportsmanship, being in this club with those guys feels humbling. Your team Linkoping HC had a rather perfect run over the winter months and you walked away with two trophies to stack your shelf with. How motivated are you to defend that top spot and how does it feel to be the team everyone is gunning for? Yeah, it seemed like everything clicked and we really got our game going so there definitely was no stopping us. We're all competitive people and having established that winning culture makes us want to keep that momentum going, rest assured we will do everything in our power to keep that top spot. I know a lot of teams are out to get us and especially HAVU Gaming must be looking for a rematch after last season's finals. I also see hREDS as a prime candidate in the championship battle and Symphony has looked stronger than ever during the preseason. The COVID-19 pandemic has put the world on halt, but with the absence of traditional sports, that has opened up the opportunity for esports to shine. What are your thoughts on that and what do you think we can do to best utilize that opportunity? It's a shame to not have traditional sports, especially in a time where a majority of leagues would have been in the decisive times and the biggest games of the season would have been starting. With all of these esports orgs and traditional sports clubs joining, this is our chance to develop the NHL gaming scene and the interest around our league. I think the best we as players can do is to stay active on social media, get your Twitter, Twitch or Instagram going and support all the teams and people putting content out there! Check in on each other's broadcasts to get those viewer numbers up. It is up to us as a community to take care of this opportunity and growing the scene. Now is our chance to show all other sports fans how exciting esports really is! ECL Elite Finals and prize pool Due to the COVID-19 situation, the ECL 10 season is currently planned to be played online. The semifinals are played May 25th-28th and the finals on June 4th-5th. More details about the playoffs will be shared closer to the playoffs. The Elite division of the prize pool will be as follows: #1. ECL 10 Elite Champion: 10 000 € #2. ECL 10 Elite Runner-Up: 3 000 € #3.-4. ECL 10 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 10 Finals. When? ECL 10 Elite kicks off on Wednesday, April 8th at 20:00 CEST. Our broadcast of the night features heated battles between Unlucky Boys vs JYP Jyväskylä, followed by JYP Jyväskylä and GHETTO FIREBIRDS. Where/how to follow? ECL 10 Elite will see a whole new level of coverage and with traditional sports out of the picture for the time being this is our time to shine. The top division will feature two weekly broadcasts on Mondays and Thursdays at 20:00 CEST with our very own Cody @Tougie24 Tougas and Paul @CynAnderson being the prevalent voices over the course of the season and for those of you that have tuned in for some of our NACL broadcasts, you know that we've been working on the production a lot over the last few months, so you can expect us to have a few tricks up our sleeve. All broadcasts can be seen live at our Twitch-channel, but due to our fresh partnership also now on IS TV and Ruutu.fi. To clarify - while our regular scheduled broadcasts are on Mondays and Thursdays, the season will kick off with a Wednesday broadcast tomorrow, on April 8th at 20:00 CEST! About our main partners Ilta-Sanomat Ilta-Sanomat is Finland's largest digital media measured by unique daily readers. The tabloid is distributed in traditional form, but thrives online, prevailing as one of the main daily news outlets for Finns alike. Prisma Gaming Prisma Gaming is a carefully picked assortment of consoles, computers, and other gaming gear. The selection has been built together with the professionals at HAVU Gaming and can be found in all Prisma locations and online at Prisma.fi. Prisma Gaming wants to support Finnish esports and through the ECL, now also supports esports internationally. About our partners HockeySverige.se Hockeysverige.se is the biggest independent hockey site in Sweden, covering everything from the NHL to women's hockey and E-sport

NHLGamers, Welcome to the tenth iteration of the European Championship League! It is with great pleasure we are once again able to open the registrations for the longest running and most prestigious competitive NHL league in Europe. The best players and the best teams gather to battle for the title that's long been reigned between the current champion Linköping HC and HAVU Gaming. There have been challengers before, but the rumour has it that this season we'll see something special with a great uprising of new talent in our community. The pinnacle of NHL gaming - our Elite division is running as smooth as ever and interestingly enough has received an influx of new teams through relegation matchups and will most likely also see an Elite Qualification Series. The Pro and Lite divisions are extremely well established too, and competition is ramping up through the introduction of ECL Neo that was done last season. The divisions framework will roll on in the same fashion and teams will further solidify their position at a suitable level of play. If you don't know what we're on about by now, here's a briefing of what ECL is; ECL is a competitive EA Sports NHL League. Games are played in the EASHL game mode in a 6vs6 manner. Since ECL 4, we have implemented a division framework with Lite (and now also Neo) being entry-level, Pro being our mid-level and Elite holding the best 16 teams in Europe. A season in each division consists of a group stage/regular season and playoffs. Here is the planned divisions' structure for ECL 10: ECL Elite: 16 teams Sign up: ECL Elite eligible teams Gamedays: Monday, Wednesday & Thursday Regular season: One group Playoffs: 8 teams Best-of-7 7 days per round ECL Pro: 32 teams Sign up: ECL Pro eligible teams Gamedays: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday Regular season: Two groups Playoffs: 16 teams Best-of-7 8 days per round ECL Lite: 64 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 Gamedays: Tuesday, Wednesday & Sunday Regular season: Four groups Playoffs: 32 teams Best-of-7 8 days per round ECL Neo: 32+ teams Sign up: Without restrictions Gamedays: Wednesday & Sunday Regular season: Four groups Playoffs: 16 teams Best-of-5 7 days per round Basic information/requirements of ECL: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however, we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian players. North American players are not allowed to host matches / be captain in the lineup, which means all games need to take place on European servers. This also applies to Russian players - please evaluate your previous connection experience against some of the teams participating in the ECL, especially if you live in eastern parts of your country (which likely connects you to US West servers). 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 20. 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 10 ruleset will follow the same foundation as in season 9. Broadcasts ECL 10 Elite will be regularly broadcasted on the NHLGamer Twitch channel. Broadcasts will feature our favorite casters @Tougie24 and @Cyn, but also other familiar faces throughout the season. Be sure to follow our channel at twitch.tv/NHLGamer. ECL Elite Finals and prize pool The ECL Elite Finals information and prize pool will be confirmed close to season start. NHLGamer will continue to follow the COVID-19 situation and regulations and talk to the teams before making final decisions on how the ECL Elite finals will be played. When? ECL Elite is planned to kick off first, while the other divisions will have some more time to sign up for this season: ECL 10 Elite will kick off on Monday, 6th of April, signups end on Thursday 19th of March 23:59 CET ECL 10 Pro will kick off on Monday, 6th of April, signups end on Thursday 2nd of April 23:59 CET Pro teams that play for potentially open Elite spots will need to be signed up by Thursday 19th of March. ECL 10 Lite will kick off on Tuesday, 7th of April, signups end on Thursday 2nd of April 23:59 CET ECL 10 Neo will kick off on Wednesday, 8th of April, signups end Thursday on 2nd of April 23:59 CET Elite Qualification Series If all 16 Elite teams don't sign up for the ECL 10 season, we will have an Elite Qualification Series among the teams that are qualified to take part. In this case the teams eligible for a possible Elite Qualification Series are: TIKI TALK (Elite Relegate #13) Almost Famous (Elite Relegate #14) BRAYCE Phantoms(Elite Relegate #15) Leksands IF (Elite Relegate #16) Vaxjo Lakers (Pro Quarterfinalist #5) Reality Check (Pro Quarterfinalis #6) Kaupallinen Yhteistyo (Pro Quarterfinalis #7) Black Horse (Pro Quarterfinalis #8) The Elite Qualification Series exact format will be determined based on the available spots and the teams that want to play for the spot in Elite, but the dates for the games are 22nd-26th of March, with potential gamedays on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday in order to ensure a fair competition for the spot. More details will be given to the eligible teams on Friday, March 20th. Where to sign up? Sign up for ECL 10 Elite here Sign up for ECL 10 Pro here Sign up for ECL 10 Lite here Sign up for ECL 10 Neo here Please note: If you are currently in negotiations with an organization and have plans to change your team name, but are uncertain if you will make it until the start of the season, please contact @Kenu with this information as soon as possible. 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. Support While it's totally ok to ask for help on Discord and you might get a quicker reply from fellow community members to some of the simpler questions, when you actually want to get help with an issue from our staff, please contact support. While sending PM's to staff members may be tempting, using our ticketing system is the best way to go. Discord You can join the NHLGamer Discord server by clicking here. In the NHLGamer Discord, add the appropriate ECL role as well as the role for your team to help with league communication. This can be done in the #role-commands-entry channel (see #role-commands-guide for instructions). What can I do to help out? If you feel like you want to do more for the project, head over to this article for some examples of what sort of staff we are looking for and where to get in touch. As for the small things everyone can do, follow our different channels and spread the positive word of our community and your fellow players and teams - together we can make a difference! NHLGamer on Facebook NHLGamer on Twitch NHLGamer on Instagram NHLGamer on Twitter NHLGamer on Discord Hopefully, that covers most of the questions you might have. Without further ado: Welcome to the ECL! Finally, a short word about COVID-19 As mentioned above, we will continue to monitor the situation with COVID-19 (also known as the coronavirus) when determining whether or not to have a live on-location element to the ECL 10 Elite season or not. We at NHLGamer love to get together with the community and celebrate the game and the players, but we must also be responsible in stopping the spread of the virus. We will communicate with the Elite teams internally about this before the start of the season. In addition to the considerations of a live event, we must of course keep the health and safety of our community in mind and reserve the right to pause or cancel the season, in addition to altering the details of it. If you've somehow managed to miss what the COVID-19 is all about and what actions you should take, we definitely recommend you read about it. UPDATE: We have made the call to postpone the start of ECL 10 Elite by one week, until Wednesday the 8th of April. There are several underlying reasons and without going into great detail we want to ensure the best quality output possible.