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Hello SportsGamers,  The wait is almost over and in under a week (for the x-factor pre-orderers amongst us) we will have our hands on the new NHL 24. If the technical test was anything to go off, this new NHL will bring with a breath of fresh air to online gameplay that has gotten a little stale over the past few years. In the run up to this release, and with your feedback from the technical test, EA have released a change list that will be immediately active once you load up the game. You can of course find the full list of changes here, in essence though this post looks to provide an overview of what are the most interesting changes made by EA, as well as the impact I think that they will have, as such this is an opinion piece and so our views may differ.      Above: NoSleeves sits down with Lead Design Director Mike Inglehart to discuss the changes Hybrid Controls and Goalie Controls Whether it was previously planned and this announcement was an attempt at garnering good will from the community or not, NHL 24 will have the hybrid control scheme as an option for skaters, and goalies will be able to toggle whether they want the auto-positioning feature that was present in the technical test.   Gameplay changes Pressure system Based on feedback from players during the technical test, EA have decided to tweak how much of an impact simply possessing the puck in the offensive zone has regarding building pressure by 30%. Meanwhile shots on net and big hits are now the “best way to build pressure”. In addition to this, teams must stay within the offensive zone more consistently too to maintain their pressure as the rate in which the meter decreases when the offensive team is not in the zone has been increased by 100%. Overall, these two changes when paired together mean that getting ‘full pressure’ will take more time, and / or require the offensive team to be more proactive about it, as opposed to simply pinging it around the boards and playing keep away. Personally, these are a great set of changes and should reward teams for being more clinical at managing their offensive opportunities than their opponents.   Goalie fatigue system Personally, I only really tried goalie in club open practice so cannot really comment on the potential ups and downs on the tweaks mentioned. That said however, being able to see the current energy level of a goalie is a nice addition.   Physics-based contact (hitting) Hitting has the potential to be a worrying change depending on how strong the general standard of hits are once everyone figures out the controls as big hits now deal slightly more stamina damage. One area that is a welcome change is that reverse hits will now result in an animation slow down from the player throwing the hit, additionally player size will have more of an impact, with smaller players being less likely to throw an effective reverse hit against bigger and stronger players. This change might incentivise players to trend towards larger players in order to account for this ‘mismatch’ on the ice, but it remains to be seen how effective reverse hits will be in actual competitive gameplay. Additionally, hip checks have received a nerf in low-speed situations, so you’ll be less likely to see someone getting absolutely rocked a hip check unless they are carrying some decent amount of speed with them. Lacrosse Deke Mercifully, the lacrosse deke has been reduced in its effectiveness – somewhat. It will now be tied to a player’s deking attribute, with higher ratings resulting in a faster execution, this however does not say whether it impacts the success rate of the deke so while someone with 60 deking will be slower than 99, they’ll both end up completing it – which in my opinion kind of misses a major part of the issue with it.   X-Factor Tuning This is where the juicy changes are in my opinion. Close quarters has been nerfed (no this is not a drill keep calm) so that you now have to be within 20ft of the net for it to activate (how on earth it was originally 30ft and how anyone thought that was a good idea I’ll never know). In addition to this, the bonus accuracy when activated is reduced by 50%, with the superstar version by hit by a 75% decrease. All in all, a nerf to close quarters was needed and despite it taking a while for EA to get around to it, they at least have and hopefully means that it is in a good enough place to return to the competitive trait pool.   Human goalies tuning Again, I have very (read: none-existent) experience playing goalie in the technical test, however one thing that immediately pops out and is quite frankly borderline crazy for EA to change in the way they have is the way the instinct system works. As a rough rundown for people who aren’t aware, one feature that has been added to goalies for NHL 24 is the ability to hold the right stick in a direction and loosely anticipate where a shot is going to go, anticipate correctly and they receive a bonus to their stats and a higher chance of saving a shot in that direction, anticipate incorrectly however and they would find themselves on the receiving end of an attribute reduction and thusly a reduction in the likelihood of saving the shot. In short, this gave goalies a risk-reward system to leverage against skaters and give them an edge based on in game knowledge and skill. Well, the risk part of the risk-reward system has been completely cut away with the reward part being buffed (to an unknown amount). Now, if a goalie anticipates incorrectly, they receive no penalty, while if they get it right, they get all of the upside. On it’s own removing the risk part probably isn’t the worst idea, goalies have a rough job at the best of times, however buffing the result of a correct anticipation is sketching me out and makes the system way too forgiving (well, completely forgiving let’s be honest). It’s fine to buff it, but keep the negative. On the flip side, it’s fine to remove the negative, but keep the reward at the same level. Doing both just seems like an overreaction and makes it ripe for it to be incredibly overpowered on release, then resulting in either a year of ridiculous stone wall goalies, or an overcorrection from EA about a month into release.   Pokecheck During the technical test if you tried to poke check and then move off, you’d find that your player would take an age to start skating and consequently get blasted past by the puck carried like you were a pylon. To counter this EA have now reverted the speed loss to NHL 23’s level. Per EA’s own words, the recovery will still be lower (I presume they mean animation recovery), so while your player will still be slow out of the blocks if you mistime a poke and a pivot, you won’t lose that much speed if you do the poke while already skating.   General Gameplay Tuning As anyone that played the technical will have noticed, the nets had a slight tendency to become knocked loose and be taken for a walk by passing skaters. To remedy this, the rate at which nets can become dislodged has been reduced for NHL 24. Additionally, the glass is less likely to break so random stoppages have been cut down on. One thing that has not been mentioned are the broken sticks that they added, as well as penalties like cross checking and elbowing. While these are good quality of life additions for offline play and add a bit of immersion, they are wholly inappropriate for online play and it is hoped that they don’t actually ship WOC with these additions activated as they are things that are random, and completely out of the player’s ability to control – which is for obvious reasons are not great in an esport situation. ------ What do you think of the changes? Are you happy with what you’ve seen or would you like to see further changes for the release of NHL 24?

Hey SportsGamers, EA have just announced that once again we will have the opportunity to play an early build of the game in the run up to the release of NHL 23 - to sign up please click here! Typically these technical tests are fairly bare bones and feature a stripped back version of the game that will release down the line, that said however they offer a great insight into how the game is shaping up, as well as the opportunity to provide EA with our own feedback and suggestions regarding the state of play of the game.  In terms of modes and features to expect, we are fairly confident that EASHL will be the main attraction as this always offers up a lot of feedback due to the sheer number of players that are involved in a single game. As for features, this is the first news of any kind for NHL 23, so we really have no inkling as to what EA has focussed on for the next iteration of the series - should be noted as well that it was recently announced that FIFA will make use of crossplay so that players are not segregated based on their console of choice, perhaps EA has extended this ability to the NHL developers? As always, spots in the technical test are limited and offered on a first come first serve basis, of course providing that you sign up for the test you will undoubtedly receive a code once it is available, which EA is scheduling for late August. The code to gain access to the game will be provided in the inbox for the email of the EA account that you signed up with - we encourage all players to quickly check their EA account settings and see if it is paired with the PSN account that you think it is to avoid confusion and possible aggravation on the day. Furthermore, let it be known for our European members that our upcoming ECL season will be moving to PS5 and so we encourage all players that are signing up to try to make as much use of the technical test as possible by choosing the PS5 version.    What are you most looking forward to see? More offensive weapons? Easier ways to defend? Improved goaltending? No matter what, please feel free to share below!

As always, with each new NHL game comes the risk that EA may inadvertently introduce a bugged mechanic that players can abuse to gain a distinct advantage. Whilst ‘R1 blocking’ another player has been in the game for a couple years now, we feel that it has gotten to the stage where a post is required to get everyone up to speed on what is, and what is not, allowed regarding it.   What is allowed: Trying to reach the puck with your stick extended towards the puck Staying in front of your opponent while skating towards a loose puck Blocking a passing lane Preserving previously gained body position by standing in your opponent’s way and having them skate around you What is not allowed: Purposefully and actively blocking your opponent’s skating lane Blatantly blocking the opposing player by putting your stick / arm in front of them without trying to reach for the puck Negating your opponent’s body position advantage by wrapping your stick / arm around them from behind. Then is some overlap in what is allowed and what is not as ultimately some level of blocking naturally occurs over the course of a game. However, the intention of this is to eliminate people exploiting the fact that the game does not recognise interference unless you hit an opponent who does not have the puck – i.e., do not do something that would be classed as interference in real life. In the event of cases where a player toes the line between what is allowed and what is not, some level of leniency will be applied. Do not take this as an invitation to routinely test how far LA will bend on the matter however, as whilst the benefit of the doubt will be applied in one-off cases, we will still nevertheless punish those that we feel are making it a habit of pushing the boundary between legal and illegal. Naturally, this benefit of the doubt will not be applied if we also deem the blocking to be blatant. It should also be mentioned that cases involving blocking allegations need to be reported immediately, not days after the fact, and be paired with good quality video material. Cases that have not been reported via the support tool will NOT be investigated by LA. To further illustrate the line between legal and illegal, we have attached four videos:   Clip One In this, between 26:32 – 26:37, the LW (green icon) for the team in white was interfered with. This is due to the defender on the other team purposefully and actively blocking their skating lane, moving in front to block the LWs path whenever he attempted to skate around him.   Clip Two The defending player for the team in white was initially blocking a passing lane with his stick, and therefore was abiding by the rules. However, towards the end of the play they turned into the attacking player and blocked them by putting their stick / arm in front of them without trying to reach for the puck. This turn was highly questionable and whilst on its own it did not elicit punishment, any further reoccurring incidents like this from the defending player could bring about punishment. It should be noted that the quality of this clip is not up to the quality we expect to be provided and handheld recording should be avoided.   Clip Three The defender for the team in orange interfered with the forward from the team in white by blatantly blocking the opposing player by putting their stick / arm in front of them without trying to reach for the puck. By extending their stick / arm across the body of the attacking player, the defender slowed down the opposing player, reducing the danger of the potential breakaway.   Clip Four The defender for the team in green interfered with the RW (blue icon) on the opposing team by purposefully and actively blocking their opponent’s skating lane. We have received some questions regarding why we haven't suspended people for the so-called "R1-block". There are a few things that contribute to this. The original rule was written for blatant cases like clip 4 (which was not a League Administrative case and settled between the two teams). The rulebook now links to this thread to give the reader concrete examples of what we hope explain clear and unclear cases. We have received quite a lot of "R1" footage where we could not without a shadow of doubt say that the intention was interference rather than blocking the passing lane.  The "R1 block" in clip 3 is probably the most blatant use we have seen and while we contemplated a suspension of two games for the player in question, we recognized that we have not successfully drawn the line before in cases like this and the player in question's team has previously been told - about what we see as unclear cases of R1 blocking -that there was no interference. As such, we are now slightly tuning the rule to make it more clear and sharing how this rule will be interpreted   We hope that this has cleared up some questions regarding rule 9.2.4 as well given everyone an insight into what we (LA) deem to be legal vs. illegal. If you have any further questions that you would like to be answered regarding this, please do not hesitate to let us know down below and we will do our best to try to answer them – after all, given that this issue is fundamentally a judgement call, we all need to be on the same page and understand what is allowed and what is not. As a general thought though, with reference to rule 9.1, if you are ever unsure about whether an event in game should be allowed (does not have to be exclusive to legal vs. illegal interference with a player), ask yourself whether you would be happy being on the receiving end of what you are doing – if not, do not do it. Again, as this is possibly the most subjective rule in the rulebook, we ask that we are able to have an open and non-judgemental discussion to find a community consensus on what you see as interference and what not. Please share your thoughts in the comments section, as we are willing to adjust the rule ahead of ECL '22: Spring based on community feedback. 

The League Administration has made some changes/clarifications to the rulebook. Please see the specifics below. You may access the rulebook through the usual links, or by clicking here. Neo: Playoffs Given ECL Neo’s unique standing in the ECL system, we often have to examine the current state of play regarding the division, and this season is no different. In the rulebook published for this season, we stated that five teams from each group, plus the next two highest ranked teams would progress to the playoffs – this would have given us 32 teams when working under the assumption that there would be six groups of teams. However, due to this season having four groups of teams, we have decided to make the following adjustments: The overall number of playoff teams will be moved to 24 from 32 The number of teams making the playoffs from each group will rise to 6 To make this number of playoff teams work (24 cannot work in a standard playoff structure where exactly half the number of teams are eliminated each round), the top two teams from each group will progress directly to the second round (seeds 1 – 8), whilst the remaining teams (seeds 9-24) will play in the first round, with the victors joining the top 8 seeds in the second round.   Pro / Core / Lite Prize Pool   The Licenses have been tallied up for each division and we can announce the final prize pools for the Pro, Lite and Core Winter seasons. The number of licenses purchased for the divisions were: Pro 32 (Compulsory) Lite 28 Core 37 After deducting the payment provider fees and VAT, the payouts for the divisions will be as per the below image. As a reminder, the prize pool only applies to teams who purchased the license. For a full list of Lite and Core licenses, see below: Disconnect Protocol: Update Due to a set of cases pertaining to disconnects and how teams are supposed to act, we have decided to update and add further clarification as to how team's should approach the situation: If the player has disconnected (icon not shown above their in-game player's head) before face-off, the game will stop immediately and teams are required to clear the puck.   If the player has disconnected (icon not shown above their in-game player's head) and the puck is in the neutral zone, the game will stop immediately and teams are required to clear the puck. The above rule does not apply if a player disconnects outside of the game situation, e.g., while a counter-attack is taking place. If this occurs, then teams must: Play out the immediate game situation. Once the initial game situation has been played out (e.g., odd-man rush no-longer applies) teams are required to clear the puck as soon as possible. If there are disagreements whether a goal scored during this time should count or not, teams must submit video proof to League Administration for review   If a player drops in either offensive/defensive zone the immediate game situation should be played out. The game situation cannot be extended beyond this and teams are required to clear the puck as soon as possible   If there are disagreements whether a goal scored during this time should count or not, teams may submit video proof to League Administration for review   EA Update Issues & Subsequent Rescheduling In a recent update that EA published, it made entering World of Chel difficult for some players, meaning that unfortunately some games were postponed. As such an event is outside the realm of control for teams, we have decided to make some slight modifications to some of the deadlines to finish the regular season. As such, the rulebook now states that: All regular season games in ECL Elite must be finished by the close of the 10th of February 2022; ECL Pro by the 6th of February 2022 ECL Lite by the 6th of February 2022 ECL Core by the 3rd of February 2022 ECL Neo by the 3rd of February 2022.   With that being said, we ask that teams try to finish and report their games as soon as possible, in order for our staff to set up the playoffs and for our writers to write the playoff previews.

NHL 22 - New gameplay trailer EA Sports just released a new NHL 22 gameplay trailer, showcasing some of the new features of the highly anticipated next iteration. As announced, the move from Ignite to the new Frostbite engine will greatly improve the game visually, but there will also be some other areas where the transition might have helped. Stick physics is going to be one of the improved areas in NHL 22, meaning that movement along the boards and penalty calls will be more accurate, and puck battles will be more skill-based. Also, a multitude of new animations and skill moves will look and feel better than ever thanks to Frostbite. An interesting detail that has been added is the use of Augmented Reality visuals in the game broadcast. This means integration of stats directly to the game through overlays and graphics on game surfaces, leading to players getting more out of the action and the game having a better flow in between whistles. Of particular note to EASHL players I’m sure are the new X-factor superstar abilities. From this deep dive we can learn that these abilities are split into six categories: Shooting, Skating, Passing, Hockey IQ, Defence, and Goaltending. They span all positions, and game-modes, as well as give rise to what EA is calling “class-based strategy”. Does this mean that they are locking certain abilities behind player types? It’s possible. Indeed, it would be a little game breaking if say a grinder with barely anything in passing could suddenly start flinging auto saucers because they had an ability like Tape-to-Tape or Third Eye. This is further compounded when considering that we are going back to the class / attribute system of NHL 09-15 again, where the lines could be blurred a little when comparing two different builds of varying class. Additionally, on the topic of the ‘systems’ of EASHL. From what it seems, X-factor superstar abilities could be split into two distinct types; zone abilities are the current specialities (i.e., only one can be active at a time), whereas superstar abilities are the current traits (i.e., more than one can be active). It remains to be seen whether this means that it will be a straight one-for-one where the current system is simply renamed. That said however, I personally would not say it’s a wild guess to make that the zone abilities are simply superstar abilities, but elevated. In other words, making a specific ability a “zone” one would boost the, well… boost it has on your player – although this is purely speculation at this stage as I’m sure that EA will release information directly pertaining to EASHL shortly, perhaps even when they announce when the closed beta will be playable. What is refreshing to see is the way that stick-on-body contact seems to be handled now. Instead of your stick being akin to a lightsabre, passing through whatever you want it to, regardless of speed or power behind the swing, instead it will now have a much more ‘solid’ feeling behind it. Sticks seemingly can get caught on things and even blocked on purpose. This could mean for instance, that it is harder to get tripped if you are in proper body position, and in turn harder for pokes to connect with your stick / the puck. They even go as far to make mention of the fact that protect the puck is supposed to be working as intended now, offering a weapon for forwards to use when trying to counter any potential poke spam they may receive en route to the net. In terms of pure gameplay and the speed of it, it does admittedly seem quite similar to NHL 21, although this is sort of to be expected given the shift to a new console, and a new engine, whilst trying to maintain playability on the old one(s). As for the UI mid-game, it does seem to be quite intrusive. We will have to see just how much of an impact this has on game durations, as whilst UI packages like the one in the video are nice as a novel addition, players will inevitably start mashing A / X to skip past them once they’ve seen them a few times. On this front, EA does not have a great track record with bloat like this, for instance if anyone can remember when they added the end of period highlight reel it took ages for games to end due to them not being skippable at first. All abilities mentioned Wheels Make It Snappy (Exceptional power and accuracy when taking snap shots while skating) Shock And Awe (Elite shooting out of dekes) Crease Crasher Yoink Send It Quick Pick (Defensive interceptions) Beauty Backhand It’s Tricky Contortionist (Goaltending) Third Eye (Increased pass assist with advanced ability to auto saucer pass out of a player’s field of vision) Shnipe (Outstanding skill to settle pucks with advanced wrist shot accuracy off settled pucks) One Tee (Advanced power and accuracy on one timer. Increased ability to one timers from less than ideal passes) Seeing Eye (Great shot through screens) Tape to Tape (Great passing with vision) Puck on a string (Great stick handling) Shutdown (Defensive skill increase?) NHL 22 will be available on Oct. 15th, 2021 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For more information on EA Sports NHL, visit www.easports.com/NHL. Related articles:

Well everyone, the wait is finally over! EA SPORTS have officially announced that NHL 22 will be with us later this year and that we will be able to participate in a technical test sometime in the coming few weeks. Going off technical tests that EA have released for NHLs past, it would be best to temper everyone’s expectations going into it as it may very well be an ‘alpha’ build fraught with glitches. Furthermore, there is a split in versions that you can sign-up for. PlayStation and Xbox will each receive two builds of the game, one made for PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X, and one for PlayStation 4/Xbox One. Given the distinction made by EA it would be a fair bet to imagine that players will not be able to play on one version, and then play against players on another version. As such, it may be worth signing up with two different EA accounts, so that you can maximise your experience on the technical test, regardless of console. You can find the link to register your account and which console / region you would wish to play on here. Please note that EA SPORTS have indicated that there is a limited number of spots available for the technical test, so don't take any extra time signing up, as it may be closed by the time you get to it next time. Given this restriction however, let us know in the comments below what you are thinking would be best going into this technical test? Should we try to push towards getting as many players as possible on the Playstation 5/Xbox Series X version; or maximise the amount of total players we can have playing together by focussing on the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version?

It's the eve of the ECL 12 Elite quarterfinals start and we're all eager to begin this journey towards finding out an eventual champion, but first - let's take a look at the matchups we're in for!      FILADELPHIA (1) vs. IQUE (8)  Tale of the tape (Reg. season record) 28-0-2 vs. 13-12-5 (GF/G) 3.67 vs. 1.83 (GA/G) 1.00 vs. 2.70 (Special teams %) 112.85 vs. 96.23 (Season series) FILA First on the docket is FILADELPHIA vs. IQUE in what can only be described as a complete and utter landslide in favour of the orange and black brigade. No disservice to IQUE, but personally I just do not see a single aspect in their line-up that could challenge FILADELPHIA to any meaningful degree. If it becomes a high-scoring, end-to-end, affair – FILADELPHIA wins. If it becomes a low-scoring, cagey and uneventful display – FILADELPHIA wins. If it becomes a special-teams battle where games are decided upon critical penalties taken for, or against, a particular team – FILADELPHIA wins. Can IQUE find a way to pull off the upset though? Well, to put it simply, they have to play perfectly. On top of this small task, they will need to lean heavily on @Pirtsa89, @Makeaxl, @zNico, and @laitineen64 to clog up anything in front, then, and perhaps most importantly of all, capitalise, on any quick counters using their wingers in @santeerii, and @Nieppii. FILADELPHIA’s path to victory? Show up… and that’s about it. Prediction: FILA in 4    hREDS (2) vs. POGGERS (7)  Tale of the tape (Reg. season record) 25-4-1 vs. 14-13-3 (GF/G) 3.80 vs. 2.80 (GA/G) 1.40 vs. 2.63 (Special teams %) 116.70 vs. 98.85 (Season series) hREDS Next up we have hREDS vs. POGGERS, which has the potential to be the highest scoring series in the ECL 12 Playoffs. Both teams are geared towards quick counters and ‘direct’ play. Both have shown throughout the season to be able to put up a large number of goals in a single game (7 for POGGERS, and 10 for hREDS). Both also boast a d-core that is offensively minded, with hREDS’s defenders (@xDoumi & @Tuukka.R) finishing 6th and 10th , and POGGERS’ (@Terodee & @Eemil) finishing 4th and 15th, respectively. This similarity in style however can be POGGERS’ downfall here, however. Much like with IQUE before them, in order to secure their spot in the semi-final POGGERS cannot fall into the trap of believing they can simply just go toe-to-toe with hREDS and get into a scoring-fest. hREDS can, and will, skewer any exposed POGGERS defenders if given the chance, so anticipating this one would understand if POGGERS attempted to curtail their offensive aggression in an attempt to not only give themselves more time with the puck, but to give their defenders time and space to recover from the hREDS onslaught they are likely to receive. Indeed, even this might not be enough, with hREDS’ @Beniittto nigh on solely possessing the ability to create something from absolutely nothing – something that the POGGERS’ players will be very accustomed to as the series wages on. Prediction: hREDS in 4    HAVU Gaming (3) vs. YMCA Esports (6)  Tale of the tape (Reg. season record) 22-6-2 vs. 16-12-2 (GF/G) 2.87 vs. 2.47 (GA/G) 1.17 vs. 2.13 (Special teams %) 116.66 vs. 94.7 (Season series) YMCA Again, no disrespect to the lower seeds mentioned previously, but these next two series are where the action will be if you are looking for series where the games have the potential to not only be competitive but could even go the distance to the always entertaining game 7. HAVU Gaming, as always, has finished the season in a strong position, albeit I’m sure with a bit of anger stemming from not performing up to their usual stratospheric level. Indeed, this first round matchup presents HAVU with a real test for once in a long time, or at least one that has the potential for it. Throughout this season HAVU has been as ironclad defensively as seasons past, however their offense has spluttered compared to their usual pace and is sitting at ‘only’ 2.87, good for 4th in the league ahead of a very close GOONS squad, and distantly back from Färjestad BK in 3rd. Of course, it’s not like the forward core of HAVU hasn’t faced adversity in the past and overcome difficult situations – in fact it may very well be that the duo of @Dominointi and @FlyerKungen once again turn it up a notch and find that ‘extra’ gear now that the playoffs are upon us. YMCA Esports on the other hand are coming into the series with the best defence out of the lower seeds (5-8) and the 4th best amongst all ECL Elite Playoff teams, although it should be stated here that this comes with somewhat mild caveat of YMCAs offence being the second most anaemic out of all playoff teams. Nevertheless, if YMCA are able to score the first goal, thanks in no small part to the engine of the team at C in @Timasy, then they stand a real chance of doing some damage in this matchup. Outside of that and simply frustrating HAVU, it is still rather difficult to nudge the needle in favour of YMCA over the course of a BO7, regardless of the potential issues that HAVU may be facing. Prediction: HAVU in 5    Färjestad BK (4) vs. GOONS (5)  Tale of the tape (Reg. season record) 20-8-2 vs. 19-9-2 (GF/G) 3.30 vs. 2.83 (GA/G) 2.23 vs. 2.30 (Special teams %) 118.18 vs. 81.22 (Season series) GOONS We now arrive at the series that has the most potential for an upset (whatever that means in a series where the 4th seed plays the 5th seed), but also one that has the potential to realistically go either way. Much has been made about Färjestad BK over the past few seasons. Indeed, I’m sure everyone has their own opinion regarding how they play but one cannot argue with the results they have forged as of late. Back-to-back 4th place finishes in the regular season is nothing to turn your nose up against, in fact this season they even cracked the 20-win plateau which is approaching some serious rarefied air as far as ECL Elite goes as very few sets of teams can join them in this achievement. Despite this, Färjestad BK comes into this series with nothing set in stone as their opponent in GOONS, whilst a lower seed, finished only a measly 2pts behind them in the standings and are seemingly finding more and more confidence as their season goes on. In truth, I cannot quite pin down this series and predict how it will go with much certainty. Färjestad BK are battle-tested and experienced in playoff situations across all manner of tournaments, with all their players possessing vast experience from previous ECL or SCL Playoffs. That said, one could make the argument that they are somewhat one dimensional, with most of their attacks being structured around and emanating from @I-Maise-I – take particular care in shutting down the middle of the ice across all three zones and Färjestad BK may develop some issues. On the other hand, GOONS are somewhat similar in that @kriketski17 forms a large part of their offence in the way that he sets the tempo of the team before dishing it to his wingers, granted GOONS’ offence is much more free-flowing than Färjestad BK’s so if effort is made to shut-down @kriketski17, then this strategy may be dulled in its effectiveness by GOONS’ flexibility. It should also be noted that Färjestad BK has a massive advantage on the special teams front, with a superior power-play and penalty-kill. Therefore, it would be wise for GOONS to minimise how often they go on little adventures to the box, lest they provide Färjestad BK’s deadly PP with an opportunity to be the difference maker. Indeed, it may very well be the case that the fate of this series is decided based on how many penalties GOONS offer up – although there is some hope that this won’t come to a head as GOONS recorded the fewest amount of PIMS this season. Prediction: GOONS in 7

NHLGamers, Here is the newest update to the ECL 12 rulebook. Generally speaking, most of the changes in this edition focus on the qualifiers and their structure (incorporating things you suggested earlier), as well as of course the usual miscellaneous tweaks that typically go on over the course of a season. The full changelog can be found in the rulebook, but for the changes since the last edition you can find them listed below: Added a clause which states that any additional spot(s) must be filled via the qualifier, as well as tweaked the seeding order so that relegated teams are placed above playoff teams (rules 5.10, 5.11) Added rule 5.13, expanded on the description of how the roster lock works in conjunction with the qualifier systems Updated section 7.6, expanded the numbers of staff members involved in LA Updated 7.7, included the most recent LA rulings Added rule 11.7.3, goalies are now allowed to wear non-standard ‘CHEL’ equipment without restriction Expanded upon rule 12.1.2, now includes a run-down on how to input stats from a game that had a disconnect part-way through Tweaked definition 15.17 regarding what counts as a starter Updated appendix 3 with details regarding empty spots both in and outside of the qualifier Added appendix 5, roster waiver form for ECL Pro teams What this means in practice is that instead of, for example, ECL Pro relegation teams being seeded behind ECL Lite playoff teams, they will now instead switch so that they are entitled to the higher seeds. Furthermore, in the event that a team from outside the qualifier drops out and creates an opening prior to, as well as during the qualifier, said spot will be filled via the qualifier. Meanwhile, if a spot opens up in the qualifier before it commences, we will fill it with a team from the following: ECL Pro relegated teams (29th – 32nd) ECL Lite teams who finished 10th – 16th Wildcard teams ranked 5th – 8th ECL Lite teams who finished 17th – 32nd ECL Core team who finished 5th – 8th  

A few weeks ago @sumskoy26 was displayed in an RCL tweet in which they were wearing a t-shirt that had an extensive amount of racist imagery on it. Prior to being notified of this by NHLGamer members, the image in question had been used in previous RCL broadcasts. Upon being called out for such a t-shirt publicly by other NHLGamer members, @sumskoy26 proceeded to act belligerently, going as far to call one member an “AFA clown”. LA has been in contact with @sumskoy26 in order to ascertain the motives behind the submission of such a photo to the RCL broadcast crew. In this conversation @sumskoy26 claimed that the t-shirt was worn for ‘satire’ purposes / as a joke – despite then conceding that they knew it would be taken more seriously in the ‘Western world’, as opposed to the Russian audience that, for the most part, the RCL broadcasts would be solely reaching. Without prompting, although closely following this conversation, @sumskoy26 apologised on Twitter for the picture in question and their actions, saying that they had regret regarding it. NHLGamer takes a strong stance against racism and discrimination of any form. We want to build a community that values people equally, regardless of their race or creed, and having images like the one in question be circulated puts a great stain on what we are trying to achieve. As such, we have decided to suspend @sumskoy26 from all events and tournaments on the NHLGamer platform for 90 days from the day that this statement was made, therefore the suspension will run from Tuesday, the 23rd of February, to Monday, the 24th of May, 2021. LA

Hey everyone, LA have concluded our investigation, finding one infraction – performed multiple times, however. The perpetrator of this infraction was rasite-_- / (aka hapee-_- and community user Leftinkarlssoni) who, over the course of a season, manipulated and doctored the stats of his own team, in order to put himself and his teammate nagneigel in a better light. Furthermore, when confronted with our suspicions that their team had engaged in illegal activities, rasite-_- / Leftinkarlssoni did not immediately come forward and confirm our suspicions, they did however when pressured in a follow-up message by LA. As such, these actions are in breach of rules: 4.2 (Rule circumvention): LAs time is stretched thin at the best of times, therefore if we come to you saying that we have suspicions that your team may have engaged in the breaking of rules, then replying, and playing coy, will be regarded at though you are purposefully obstructing our investigation. We do not exist to simply punish people, and would much rather deal with straightforward cases where people are open with us, as opposed to cases where we have to dedicate hours of our time to collate info on something that could have been finalised in a quick confirmatory opening message. 6.1 (General): Due to the failure to comply with rules 4.2, and 12.3. 12.3 (Stats Accuracy): Due to the inaccuracy of the game reports, and the systematic nature in which the captain of Goosebumps added points to himself, and nagneigel. Furthermore, an allegation was made by JOONAJOHIS that stated that a player from another team had played for GOOSEBUMPS on a second account in some capacity. If this was true, then the player in question would have been found to have broken rule 2.4 (as seen below). That said, we were unable to validate JOONAJOHIS's claim, and as such will not be penalising the player in question. Additionally, JOONAJOHIS has been warned about making jokes of this nature again. In conclusion, LA has decided to suspend rasite-_- / Leftinkarlssoni for the duration of this ECL season (i.e. the Neo Finals), as well as ECL 12. In addition to this, rasite-_- / Leftinkarlssoni will also receive a captaincy ban for ECL 12, and ECL 13. We would also like to take a moment to remind players that whilst we do allow the change of PSN account used in-game, it is strongly advised that you flag it up to LA before playing with the account, so that we are fully informed. Furthermore, we would like to reiterate the seriousness of rule 12.3. The accuracy of stats is singularly one of the most integral parts of our platform, and the integrity of the scene itself. As such, breaking this rule is one of the most heinous of infractions that one can commit on NHLGamer, and with it come extremely harsh penalties. Kind regards, LA

Hey NHLGamers, As I’m sure many of you have noticed, we have had a record number of teams sign up for the current season of ECL. Whilst growth is good, it certainly comes with some challenges, and our ECL division structure has certainly had to undergo some impromptu changes over the years to account for this exponential increase. Indeed, talk about adding a new division to reduce the strain placed on those that already exist has been a debate that has been raging for a while now, as such we hope that an update to the ECL structure, as well as the very system in which teams are promoted, will help satiate your desires as we embark into truly unchartered waters for NHL 6v6 esports. Please note that the changes to the promotions and relegations will be effective immediately. Hitting the ice for ECL 12 will be an all-new division which will be going by the name of ‘ECL Core’. This division will aim to take up most of the strain of the ECL structure by acting as the place in which the main bulk of teams will play. Position-wise, Core will be placed in between Lite and Neo, acting as the main starting off point for teams that want to try their hand at climbing the ECL ladder. In terms of raw numbers, we are looking for Core to field a division high 128 teams. This means that we can tighten up Lite above it, condensing the skill gap between teams competing there. What this means is that ECL will starting with season 12 host the following amount of teams in each division: Elite – 16 [16] Pro – 32 [48] Lite – 64 [112] Core – 128 [240] Neo – Open Square brackets [*] denote the aggregate number of teams within the ECL system. As always, Neo will remain open to all teams and will not have a cap imposed upon it due to the intention being that the division in question should be available at all times to teams that are new to the 6v6 game mode, and would otherwise feel discouraged from applying to enter the ‘more serious’ division in Core. As already outlined, Core will be placed between the divisions of Lite and Neo. One of the problems that this causes is that the number of teams playing in Lite will be greatly reduced, and with that brings up the question of how to fairly allocate teams. Therefore, with that in mind here is the solution we have arrived at: As Lite will (for ECL 12) have a cap of 64 teams playing within it, we have decided that the top-32 Lite playoff teams from the current season (i.e. teams that make it to the second round) will maintain their spot within Lite automatically – although with that said, it can still be viewed as a promotion all things considered. However, this still leaves 32 spots that need to be filled. To remedy this, we have decided to run a 64-team qualifier in which 32 teams will claim their spot in Lite for ECL 12. Teams that are invited to take part are as follows: Bottom-32 Lite playoff teams (i.e. those that lost in their first round matchup), the top-20 non-playoff Lite teams, the top-8 playoff Neo teams, as well as four ‘Wildcard’ spots. These 64 teams will then be placed into eight groups of eight teams based on the following seeding: Bottom-32 Lite playoff teams (#1-#32) Top-20 non-playoff Lite teams (#33-#52) Top-8 Neo playoff teams (#53-#60) Wildcard* teams (#61-#64) *In order to be eligible to compete as a wildcard team, your team must meet the following quotas: Have 3 former Elite and/or Pro starters Have the remainder of the team be former Lite starting players. A starter is defined as having played 16 or more games in the ECL 11 season, or 20 or more games in the ECL 10 season. It should be noted that the Wildcard spots can either be filled by solely special* teams, remaining non-playoff Lite teams, or a combination of the two – with that said however, the special* teams take priority and if there are four eligible for admission into the qualifier, then the non-playoff Lite teams that finished 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th will not be selected. If more than four special* teams should be eligible for participation into the qualifier, NHLGamer staff will be making the final selections based on player history and perceived skill level. Note: Image has been updated March 17th - see bottom of article for more information. Once placed within these eight groups, each team will play all of their opponents twice in the usual (Home-Away) fashion, meaning that each team will finish the group stage portion of the qualifier with 14 games played. Teams finishing in the top-2 of each respective group will secure their spot in Lite for ECL 12, whilst teams finishing in the bottom-3 of each respective group will be eliminated from the second stage. As 12 more spots need to be filled at this point, a second stage will begin where the middle-3 teams from each group (i.e. those that finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th) will reseeded against each other using the tiebreakers mentioned in the rulebook, with each team being matched up against an opponent in which they will have to play a BO5. The teams victorious in this final stage will lock in their spot for Lite in ECL 12, whilst those that did not qualify will be placed in Core along with those that finished in the bottom-3 in the group stage element of the qualifier. In the spirit of including an all new division to the ECL structure we feel that updating the promotion logic between divisions would be advisable – not just from the perspective of refreshing the system, but to give you the players a more concrete setup, especially as the systems we have been using have been fairly varied and plastic. First up we have Pro and Lite. These two divisions mark the mid-way point of the climb into Elite and are the epicentre of where the game goes from just being a hobby or pastime, to something serious, in most cases. From this point on, prior to every ECL season there will be a 20-team qualifier. This qualifier will be used to decide which teams are relegated, and which teams are promoted into Pro. Before we go into detail regarding the structure of the qualifiers, it should be mentioned that Pro teams who finished 15th and 16th in their group will be relegated straight to Lite (i.e. they will not be invited to the qualifier). Additionally, the top-3 Lite teams (i.e. the champions, runners-up, and bronze medal victor) will be promoted directly into Pro. With that out of the way, let’s get into the nitty gritty of the all-new promotion structure. Making up the bulk of qualifier competitors will be the Pro teams that finished 12th, 13th and 14th from both groups, as well as the top-6 remaining teams from the Lite playoffs (i.e. 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th). Joining these twelve teams will be the top-4 teams from the Core playoffs (i.e. champion, runners-up, and semifinalists). Finally, to round out the competitors to an even 20 we have four ‘wildcard’ spots. These spots can then either be filled by solely special* teams, remaining Lite playoff teams, or a combination of the two – with that said however, the special* teams take priority and if there are four eligible for admission into the qualifier, then the Lite playoff teams that finished 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th will not be selected. *As ECLs only occur once a calendar year, and twice per each NHL year, we feel that a balance has to be struck between affording upper echelon teams (i.e. Elite and Pro) the ability to reform in a different setting under a different team banner, as well as being ‘fair’ for teams that have worked their way up through the ECL division structure – as such, under this system we feel that balance has been struck. Of course, we would love to hear your opinions regarding this. In order to qualify as a ‘special’ team you must hit one of these two quotas: Three former Elite starters Four former Pro starters A starter is defined as having played 16 or more games in the ECL 11 season, or 20 or more games in the ECL 10 season. With the ‘who’ out of the way so to speak, let’s get into ‘how’ the qualifiers will be conducted. The twenty teams will be split into four groups of five based on the following seeding: Lite playoff team (4th) Lite playoff team (5th) Lite playoff team (6th) Lite playoff team (7th) Lite playoff team (8th) Lite playoff team (9th) Pro relegation team (12th) Pro relegation team (12th) Pro relegation team (13th) Pro relegation team (13th) Pro relegation team (14th) Pro relegation team (14th) Core playoff team (1st) Core playoff team (2nd) Core playoff team (3rd) Core playoff team (4th) Wildcard Wildcard Wildcard Wildcard Once the groups have been decided, each team will then play each of their opponents in the usual (Home-Away) double matchup. Once this stage has been completed, the top-3 teams from each group will progress to the second stage, meanwhile the teams finishing 4th and 5th in each group will be eliminated. Progressing on to the second stage we have a bit of a reshuffle of sorts, as the four group of five will be combined into two groups of six. It will not be a ‘full’ reshuffle however, as teams will progress with the other two progressing teams from their group. Furthermore, each team’s record and points accumulated from their games against the advancing teams from their group will be carried forward into this stage. Teams will then be tasked with playing against three different opponents. Once this has been completed, the top-3 teams from each of the two groups will be promoted into Pro, meanwhile the teams that finished 4th in both groups will battle against each other in a BO5 for the final Pro spot. Once the BO5 has been played out, and the victor promoted, the pro / lite qualifiers will have concluded. ECL Pro 11 -> 12 Transition We do agree that the "sudden" immediate relegation for teams in 15th and 16th spot is too harsh at this stage in the season, so we put together a compromise for the transition between ECL 11 and 12 that allows for every team to have a chance to prove their worth. Lite playoff team (4th) Lite playoff team (5th) Lite playoff team (6th) Lite playoff team (7th) Lite playoff team (8th) Lite playoff team (9th) Pro relegation team (12th) Pro relegation team (12th) Pro relegation team (13th) Pro relegation team (13th) Pro relegation team (14th) Pro relegation team (14th) Pro relegation team (15th) Pro relegation team (15th) Pro relegation team (16th) Pro relegation team (16th) Wildcard Wildcard Wildcard Wildcard Seven (7) out of these twenty (20) teams participating in the ECL Pro Qualification tournament will play in ECL Pro 12. Like the promotion structure laid out for Pro / Lite, Lite / Core will be largely the same – albeit with some minor differences. Instead of the qualifiers consisting of 20 teams there will be 24 teams, all competing to gain entry into Lite. Now for the quick rundown of who this qualifier will not have an impact on. Lite teams that finished the season prior as the 15th or 16th ranked team in their group will be directly relegated to the Core division. Meanwhile, the top-3 teams from the Core playoffs (i.e. champion, runners-up, bronze game victor) will be instantly promoted into Lite. With the automatic relegations / promotions out of the way let’s get into the specifics of who you will see in the Lite / Core qualifier. As with the Pro / Lite system, the majority of the teams taking part will be sourced from the season prior’s Core playoff teams (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th), as well as Lite teams who were ranked 13th, or 14th in their group (of which there are four). Specifically, this means that these two groups of teams will take up 16 spots of this 24-team qualifier. The next group of teams invited will be the four best Neo playoff teams (i.e. champion, runners-up, and semifinalists). Finally, the remaining four slots will be ‘wildcard’ teams. The process will be similar to the one already laid out for Pro / Lite, namely that these spots can either be filled by solely special* teams, remaining Core playoff teams, or a combination of the two – with that said however, the special* teams take priority and if there are four eligible for admission into the qualifier, then the Core playoff teams that finished 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th will not be selected In order to qualify as a ‘special’ team you must hit one of these two quotas: Five former Lite starters A starter is defined as having played 16 or more games in the ECL 12 season, or 20 or more games in the ECL 11 season. Additionally, to prevent teams from taking advantage of the staggered divisional start time that we have instituted for ECL, specifically recruiting players to bolster your chances in the qualifier that have no intention of remaining in the team beyond that, we have decided to enforce a soft roster lock post qualifier play. What this means in practice is that if a former Elite player wants to participate in a qualifier for a Pro or Lite team, then they will be locked into that division for four weeks (starting from the first game played in Elite that season). If a former Pro player wishes to do the same, then they will be locked into the division for 2 weeks (starting from the first game played in Pro that season). Finally, if there happens to be more open spots than anticipated (e.g. from teams disbanding which would have been invited to play in the qualifier, or owned a spot to the division in question), we will award the next highest ranked playoff team each spot, whilst the next highest ranked potential qualifier eligible team will replace them in the qualifier. This procedure will be carried out for each and every extra unforeseen spot. Now onto the method in which the Lite / Core qualifiers will be conducted. The twenty-four teams will be split into four groups of six based on the following seeding: Core playoff team (4th) Core playoff team (5th) Core playoff team (6th) Core playoff team (7th) Core playoff team (8th) Core playoff team (9th) Core playoff team (10th) Core playoff team (11th) Lite relegation team (13th) Lite relegation team (13th) Lite relegation team (13th) Lite relegation team (13th) Lite relegation team (14th) Lite relegation team (14th) Lite relegation team (14th) Lite relegation team (14th) Neo playoff team (1st) Neo playoff team (2nd) Neo playoff team (3rd) Neo playoff team (4th) Wildcard Wildcard Wildcard Wildcard Once the groups have been decided, each team will then play each of their opponents in the usual (Home-Away) double matchup. Once this stage has been completed, the top-2 teams from each group will be promoted directly into Lite, whilst the bottom-2 teams will be eliminated from further contention. Of course, this leaves 5 spots still open, so, like in the Pro / Lite structure described earlier, we will have a second stage following largely the same procedure. The remaining teams from the four groups of six (i.e. teams that finished 3rd and 4th) will be combined into two groups of four. Teams will progress with the other progressing team from their group. Furthermore, each team’s record and points accumulated from their games against the advancing team from their group will be carried forward into this stage. Teams will then be tasked with playing against two different opponents. Once this has been completed, the top-2 teams from each of the two groups will be promoted into Lite, meanwhile the teams that finished 3rd in both groups will battle against each other in a BO5 for the final Lite spot. We realize that this article is very detailed and can be tough to digest in one sitting. Please send your questions in the comment below. EDIT: Added section "ECL Pro 11 -> 12 Transition" EDIT March 17th: During the preparation of the new ECL 12 season, we noticed that the transition qualifier that we previously introduced for the ECL 12 Lite season had a small error. We failed to take the Wildcard teams into consideration in our math for the qualifiers which would have lead to an 68 team Lite division. We will still use the previously announced system we mentioned in our structure article, but we will be making a small adjustment: The playoff line will be moved from above the 7th seed to above the 6th seed. This means that the top 5 teams out of each qualifying group has a chance to continue to play for the ECL Lite promotion, while the 6th-8th ranked teams in each group will solidify their spot in the Core division. We apologize for the miscalculation while creating the new system, but we still believe that having a chance to fight for the ECL Lite promotion as a 5th ranked team in your individual group still gives you a very fair chance to make it.

Hey NHLGamers, It would be safe to say that the 1.1 patch released just over two weeks ago was heavily expedited due to the broken defensive skill stick, which allowed people to poke / knock the puck loose without tripping the puck carrier. As such, we are now in the general time-frame in which EA would drop their first 'major' patch of the year and, right on cue, we have just that - releasing sometime today on the 5th of November 2020. Making up the bulk of the changes in the 1.2 patch are fixes / improvements that look to strengthen the gameplay, reducing the likelihood of weird events occurring. One such example of this would be 'fixing' cases where a player would drop the puck when blending in and out of animations. Additionally, for all the goalies out there, EA is also supposed to have packaged an improvement in human goalie save selection within this patch. Generally speaking though, most of the changes contained within this patch look to fix niggling issues more than anything so one would wager that the gameplay should remain largely similar to how it was pre-patch. The full changelog can be viewed below (press expand to view the full list): What does everyone think of these changes? Anything that stands out to you?