MartindalexC

NHLGamer’s NACL League administration (LA) have been sent multiple cases over the past few days, with infractions to a multitude of rules. We have decided to make a change to the rulebook to reflect this influx of cases. Before that, however, we will outline each case and the subsequent decisions made. Important note for captains: At the very least, read about the rule change at the end of this post. Case 1: Player ECHAMPO from the team Cross Crease (PS4) accepted a fight prompt. Per rule 10.8 which states the following: “Players are not allowed to fight in NACL Elite & Pro. In the case of a fight, the player (or goalie) accepting the fight will be suspended for one (1) game… “ As stated by the rule above, the action of accepting a fight carries an automatic 1 game suspension and the intention behind the fight is of no interest / relevance. As such, we have decided to suspend ECHAMPO for 1 game. Cases 2 & 3: Forfeit wins concerning Rag Rats & Smell My Cup (PS4), as well as Cross Crease & Smell My Cup Smell My Cup have been disqualified from the tournament, as such under rule 14.9 all games involving said team will be removed from the standings & schedule, played or otherwise. “Disqualification “Disqualification” is when a team gets removed from the tournament. A disqualified team has all its games cancelled, played or un-played. … ” Case 4: Forfeit wins concerning Complex & Chaos Esports (XB1) Complex and Chaos Esports were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 25th of March. Just 15minutes before the start time, Chaos Esports informed Complex they could not play and asked to reschedule. Complex declined and proceeded to message LA asking for forfeit wins. Under rule 9.2 it states the following: “9.2 Postponing Games Teams are allowed to postpone any of their games before 4:00 PM ES(D)T on the day the game is supposed to take place according to the schedule. To meet this deadline, it is sufficient to submit a message to all three of the opponent's captains via private messages on NHLGamer. … ” As Chaos Esports neglected to message anyone from Complex, we have decided to award Complex with forfeit victories in this matchup. Case 5: Forfeit wins concerning Quality Control & True North (XB1) Quality Control and True North were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 27th of March. Upon messaging True North’s assistant captain, who responded 10 minutes after the scheduled start time, it was found that they would not be able to ice a team to play. As such, we have decided to award Quality Control with the two forfeit victories from this matchup. Case 6: Forfeit wins concerning Epicenter & Kangaroo Court (XB1) Epicenter and Kangaroo Court had made arrangements to start their matchup at 23:30 ET on the 25th of the March, unfortunately Kangaroo Court failed to show up at the scheduled time and as such, we will award both victories to Epicenter by way of forfeit wins. Case 7: Forfeit wins concerning Epicenter & Chicago Mafia (XB1) Epicenter and Chicago Mafia were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 27th of March. Chicago Mafia did not show up to the default time, claiming that neither team decided on a specific date to play, however the GM of Epicenter never received a message regarding this. As such, Epicenter will be awarded the two forfeit wins from this matchup. Case 8: Forfeit wins concerning GT R & Chaos esports (XB1) GT R and Chaos Esports were scheduled to start playing at 21:30 ET on the 27th of March. Despite repeated attempts to contact Chaos’ captain by GT R, as well as messaging Chaos’ assistant captain, they received no response. Due to this, GT R will be awarded both forfeit victories. Additionally, it should be noted that Chaos Esports are now no longer able to forfeit any more games in this current season before facing disciplinary actions from LA. This is due to rule 7.2, in which it outlines that a team may only give out a max of four walkover wins over the course of a season before facing further consequences. “7.2 Forfeiting Games Teams are allowed to forfeit a maximum of 4 games in one tournament without further consequences. By forfeiting, the opposing team will be given a walkover win.” Case 9: Forfeit wins concerning GT R & Fox Squad (XB1) GT R & Fox Squad were scheduled to start playing at 22:30 ET on the 27th of March. Unfortunately, due to some issues regarding prior arrangements, Fox Squad was only able to start the 1st game at ~22:55 ET. After the first game was finished, Fox Squad then asked for the 2nd game to be rescheduled to another time. As this reschedule request was asked after the deadline outlined in rule 9.2 had passed, we have decided to award GT R with the forfeit win from the yet to be played game. ---- League Administration statement It is at this point that the LA would like to make a statement of sorts referencing the sudden influx of these types of cases laid out before you. For instance, (in particular reference to case 9) it should be said that whilst there is not specific rule stopping teams from playing potentially just one game of a matchup, such an arrangement should be made in advance. Additionally, if you know you might have issues getting to a game (e.g. games scheduled in beforehand), then it may be advisable to delay the start of the second game to make sure that you and your team are able to make it to the start time punctually. The point of this of course, is that you cannot make these types arrangements if you do not contact the other team’s captains in advance. As such, from this point onwards we will be making it mandatory for people to message the other team when concerned with trying to schedule a date. This is not us diminishing the value of the schedule, instead we are just requiring captains to be a bit more proactive, doing their best to work with the other team to find a suitable day for both, as opposed to just waiting in the DR and hoping the other team shows up with zero prior contact. Will it require more effort? Yes. However, the result is worth it. Note: Teams are required to contact the other team in advance, even if just to confirm the default date.

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of NACL Pro (XB1) we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. Previous rankings: Season preview Week 1 - 1. Code of Conduct (5-0-1) [+2] 2. Epicenter (5-1-0) [-1] 3. Heroes (4-2-0) [+2] 4. Complex (6-2-0) [+2] 5. PREDATOR (3-0-1) [+5] 6. GT R (4-1-1) [+1] 7. Kangaroo Court (2-3-1) [+1] 8. Problematic Esports (4-1-2) [-6] 9. Chaos Esports (2-2-1) [+2] 10. Quality Control (2-3-1) [-6] 11. True North (2-4-2) [-2] 12. Chicago Mafia (2-0-0) [=] 13. NACL 2nd Battalion HC (0-6-0) [=] 14. Fox Squad (0-6-0) [=] Standings timeline That's our power rankings after the first week of action in Xbox NACL Pro! We're looking forward to see which teams can keep their form running and who might be crashing. As always, if you want to see yourself at the top - keep working hard, win some games and check out the standings again next Monday! Until next time, @MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of PS4 NACL Pro we are rolling out a recurring segment that has been a feature of our ECL Elite coverage for the past two seasons. To put it simply, this weekly article looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Pro over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. Previous rankings: Season preview Week 1 - 1. Best 4 Business (8-0-0) [+1] 2. No Limits (7-0-0) [+2] 3. Cross Crease (5-1-2) [+2] 4. Smell My Cup (3-0-0) [-1] 5. RAG RATS (4-2-0) [+1] 6. Prestige Worldwide (4-2-0) [+1] 7. Barbajous (3-3-0) [-6] 8. Br0 Unit (2-5-0) [=] 9. Elegant Elgins (0-4-0) [+1] 10. Expect Many Errors (0-6-1) [-1] 11. Gr8ness Awaits (0-10-0) [=] Standings timeline That's our power rankings after the first week of action in PS4 NACL Pro! We're looking forward to see which teams can keep their form running and who might be crashing. As always, if you want to see yourself at the top - keep working hard, win some games and check out the standings again next Monday! Until next time, @MartindalexC

Hey NHLGamers, A new patch was released at 10:00am CET today (20/03/19). As far as EASHL goes, there are no changes of note (or any for that matter) in this patch, unless of course you're all about the stadium series and alternate jerseys. Essentially then, it looks as though this patch has been pushed out so that HUT games will now no longer show the gamertag of your opponent prior to the game starting. This is surely a very welcomed update to the competitive community, as there has been a lot of players backing out this year when meeting "better players" in hopes to have a better record. The full changelog is as follows: Patch 1.6

NHLGamers, Welcome one and all to the opening season of NACL on PS4! Almost a month has passed since we first announced the NACL league structure as a whole, and thanks to the interest of the 11 teams below, we were able to extend the NACL to PS4, as well as the XB1. As NHLGamer up to this point has been almost entirely EU based, we were somewhat at a loss in regards as to what to say about the players and teams taking part in this league. As such, prior to this season starting we asked all teams to submit a prediction of how the table will shape up, once all the games have been played in the regular season. So, without further ado, here is your NACL PS4 season prediction: 1. Barbajous 2. Best 4 Business 3. Smell my cup 4. No limits 5. Cross Crease 6. RAG RATS 7. Prestige Worldwide 8. Br0 Unit 9. Expect Many Errors 10. Elegant Elgins 11. Gr8ness Awaits Of course, these type of predictions tend to fall into irrelevancy as the season goes on, with many teams going on hot streaks, and many falling by the wayside in the attempt to win it all. Despite this, we hope that this rather brief breakdown of NACL PS4 gives you a good enough idea of who the favourites are going into the season! As always, we wish all teams the best of luck and we hope to provide the high quality league experience that NHLGamer is associated with. Anyway, now that the formalities and boring stuff are out of the way we can get down to the important stuff - so in other words, let the games begin! NACL Writer, @MartindalexC

Hey NHLGamers, Written In The Stars have been crowned as this season's Elite champion by beating FILADELPHIA 4 games to 1. As such, NHLGamer would like to congratulate each and every player from SKY for putting on a masterclass en route to their title. Additionally, we would also like to thank everyone that participated across all divisions this ECL for making each game as memorable as the last. If you missed out on any of the games from the finals then you can check out our Twitch channel or Elisa Viihde's where all games will be available to watch. The game by game results for the series are as follows: Game 1: FILADELPHIA - Written in the Stars 2:0 Game 2: Written in the Stars - FILADELPHIA 4:0 Game 3: FILADELPHIA - Written in the Stars 0:1 Game 4: Written in the Stars - FILADELPHIA 2:0 Game 5: FILADELPHIA - Written in the Stars 0:1 OT Written in the Stars' championship roster: GOALTENDERS #40 J. Lindström @poliskontroll #88 -. Hansuljevski @Hansulinho DEFENSEMEN #16 K. V @VesKuLiNe #43 Y. Wilhelm @willekunq #78 N. Tahtonen @Nassustelija FORWARDS #6 M. Sami @Buantso #13 I. SK @Dominointi #66 T. Keranen @topikeranen #91 U. SK @FlyerKungen Written In The Stars' road to the trophy: Regular season: 26-3-1 (1st) Quarterfinals: 4:0 vs. Northern Stars Semifinals: 4:0 vs. Rusty Blades Finals: 4:1 vs. FILADELPHIA Once again, NHLGamer would like to extend a warm thank you to all participants, every single member of this great community, Elisa Viihde and Dr. Oetker Rustica! Another entertaining season has passed us by and another new winner has been crowned. Enjoy your break and get ready to step on the virtual ice again very soon! Your NHLGamer Staff

It's time, gamers! The pinnacle of the season is here! We've reached the end of the line with only the two best teams in all of Europe remaining. It is the ECL 8 Elite final between Written In The Stars and FILADELPHIA. These are two teams that definitely aren't strangers to each other, in fact what we will be treated to at LanTrek is a rematch of their IS Cup 3: 6vs6 best of 3 final at GameXpo 2018. Only this time, we're back bigger and better than ever before! Together with Dr Oetker Rustica, we're bringing you the first ever ECL live final and what better way to do that than with a guaranteed thriller of a matchup. SKY and FILA will face off in a best of 7 series, starting Friday, 1st of March, 2019 at 17 CET. How we find ourselves here For the first time in Written In The Stars franchise history, they have gained entry to the ECL finals. Thanks to one of, if not the, most dominant regular season displays ever seen, as well as a similarly commanding playoff showing thus far. FILADELPHIA on the other hand, come into this season’s finals as the reigning champions, and with an almost identical record compared to that season to boot. So, as far as finals go, this is no doubt shaping up to be one of the best we have ever seen. But how exactly does each respective team find themselves at this point? Let’s turn the clock back and find out. Picture courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at GameXpo 2018. (1) Written In The Stars Regular season record: 26-3-1 Playoff record: 8-0-0 As Written in the Stars are currently the favourites to take this ECL championship (albeit by a mere 16 votes at the time of writing), what better team to start this segment off with then? SKY History I think though, to properly set the scene we should take a trip (perhaps reluctantly for some) down memory lane. Specifically, all the way back to ECL 2 when SKY was first created. Just as a point of reference, the only player on the roster at this time who is still a feature in the current one was @FlyerKungen. In their first 6v6 competitive season Written posted a fairly decent record of 7-2-1, paving their entry to the playoffs where they were eventually bounced in 5 games by Infinity. A result that I’m sure was no doubt frustrating for those involved, but for an inaugural season you can definitely do worse. For ECL 3, SKY took off and recorded a 39-4-3 season with three players passing the century mark in points. Despite this impressive total, SKY only managed to proceed to the quarters before getting swept by the eventual runners up. Again, probably frustrating as all hell to be a part of, but as a far as trends go, their playoff performances are lasting longer and longer. Where the wheels begin to fall off is with the advent of ECL 4. Once again, SKY put up a fairly impressive season total of 18-6-4, good for 4th in Elite. However, they drastically underperformed and got beat in 5 games to a Dynasty side who eventually ended up being just 2 goals away from the championship title. ECL 5 then rolled around with SKY notching another impressive regular season. This time, they got revenge on Dynasty as they swept them in the first round, but experienced an unfortunate 2nd round exit to end their season. Sure, in hindsight it may have been another potentially wasted season from SKY, although with that said, getting past the first round in Elite is no small feat. Especially as they have been going in as the 4th seed in the past two seasons at this point, effectively guaranteeing that they would run into an extremely tough opponent. In response to these middling results SKY came out and posted the highest regular season point total on record (27-2-1). They then dismantled their first-round opponent in NOS in 5 games, setting up their best chance to make the finals and win a title up to this point, as their semi-finals opponent (NOR) was a team who had struggled massively in their first round appearance against Unlucky Boys, just about winning in 7 games and consequently prompting a positional / personnel change. Written then lost in 5. For ECL 7, they seemed to take a step back and ‘only’ racked up a record of 20-4-4, good for 3rd in Elite, proceeded to show some promise in their first-round matchup by disposing of their opponent in 5 games, then got swept by, you guessed it, the eventual runners up for the 4th consecutive season. At this point, I doubt few would call into question the idea that Divine Providence surely must be at play, given SKYs playoff opponents. Indeed, one could even go as far to call them the gatekeepers of the finals, guarding entrance to the stage, but never setting foot on it. ECL 8 So with that, we move into ECL 8 and the possibility of redemption for the much-maligned side. Indeed, starting the season with a blistering pace of 15-0-0 should have made abundantly clear to all onlookers that SKY surely meant business this time around. Not only were they winning games in their usual fashion of effectively sieging teams down, but they were doing it with startling efficiency compared to years past. Couple this with some slight, but noticeable, tweaks in how they set up offensively, as well as defensively, and it’s no wonder SKY have finally got over the hump of never making it to the ECL Elite finals. That is not to say that SKYs journey has been without fraught. Indeed, they seem to have a tendency for their offense to somewhat dry up from time to time, and thusly rely on their defence to carry a lot of the burden. This can be seen somewhat frequently throughout the regular season, with 2-1 / 1-0 wins over AIK, Bucketeers, Synergy and Deadly Phantoms HC. Sure, the optimist would say that SKY winning these games shows that their defense can be relied on and clearly, they would not be wrong per se, however the teams listed all had fairly disappointing seasons offensively, meaning that against other more offensively gifted teams SKY could easily have been in trouble. This is an admittedly minor issue, but couple this with the fact that FILA managed to snag both wins in their regular season matchup and there's little wonder why SKY do not have an overwhelming majority favouring them to take it all despite having such an obscene regular season and an 8-0 record in the playoffs thus far. Written In The Stars starting lineup reviewed by FILADELPHIA: LW @Buantso 8GP, 9+12=21 A great player and an even better guy. Puantso is a tremendously skilled player who has finally started playing up to his full potential in SKY. Is dangerous with the puck all the time, sometimes makes surprising decisions and doesn't force his game too much. Is a bit of a wildcard on the ice, you never know what he'll come up with. Torro's greetings: "Mä tuun pitään sua". C @Dominointi 8GP, 10+10=20 Dominointi is without a doubt an important piece of any team he is a part of. As his name suggests, a dominant presence at center. Has the desire to control and be the difference maker in games, which sometimes turns to a disadvantage. Needs to trust his teammates more. RW @FlyerKungen 8GP, 7+13=20 The heart and soul of SKY. He is a 200 foot player, a real workhorse. Made the switch back to RW after playing at center last season, so his style changed a bit with that. Seppo might be more important on the ice, but you can't underestimate this guy. Has improved his game without the puck a lot lately. LD @Nassustelija 8GP, 1+6=7 A defensive defenseman. Plays well in his own zone and has shown that he can compete at the highest level. The most unexperienced player in Written, @FinKonna will be targeting him especially at the hotel. RD @willekunq 8GP 1+9=10 Admirably calm with the puck. Is responsible for most of SKY's breakout plays and has done that tremendously well this season. Without a doubt one of their best players in IS Cup 3: 6vs6. G @Hansulinho 8GP, 8W, 85.71 SV%, 0,75 GAA, 4 SO The most experienced player of the finals and it shows in his game. Very calm in net and never overplays the puck. He's an OK goalie but not better than ours. Picture courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at GameXpo 2018. (2) FILADELPHIA Regular season record: 23-6-1 Playoff record: 8-1-1 FILA history Moving on to the other half of the finals we find FILADELPHIA. A team that has accomplished a lot in a very short period of time. In their inaugural season FILA was placed in Pro for ECL 6, much to the chagrin of many who felt that they had not earned their place and should have been placed in Lite. Well, FILA went on to post the best regular season record in Pro across both groups, then advanced to post a playoff record of 12-1-1 before being toppled in 7 by Monarchs, solidifying their spot in Elite for the upcoming season. In that season, as I am sure most of you can remember, FILA ended up going all the way and beat Symphony by the combined score of 4 games to 2 in the ECL 7 Elite finals. Since then, FILA have also picked up more hardware in the form of an eSM title where they beat none other than Written in the Stars. ECL 8 FILAs road to the finals this time around has been anything but easy though. Perhaps the largest transfer that occurred over the past off-season was the loss of their stalwart defender in @vatalisti to military duty, and the subsequent pickup / replacement @jtorro1233. Early on it seemed as the hole left by this change was perhaps a little too big to fill. In fact, as far in as 8 games it looked as though FILA were looking almost decidedly average in a way, ‘only’ managing to pick up 9 points in 8 games with a record of 4-3-1. Granted, they had played a top team in Symphony, on the other hand they had dropped points against teams such as Resurrection who would end up propping up the league table, something which, for a reigning champion at least, was fairly beneath them. The slow start could easily be explained by a somewhat lackluster season preparation by FILA, which goes to show that even the best of teams can't compete without practice. Despite or because of their start, FILA began to find their play, and racked up a combined 19-3-0 to finish the season, a pace somewhat close to that of Written’s. As far as hitches go however, that’s ‘all’ that FILA have had to deal with this season. Sure, thus far in the playoffs they may not have gone the perfect 8-0-0 that Written have, though going 8-2-0 is nothing to scoff at. In fact, despite losing two more games than Written, FILA have the superior goal differential with +30 compared to SKY's +22, showing the raw scoring ability that this roster still harbours. Therefore, it stands to reason then, that if FILA is able to open up the game and get their offensive weapons involved going forward, rather than being shelled for 8min a game, they have a very good chance of being the first team in ECL history to ever win two championships, and naturally the first to do it in back-to-back seasons. FILADELPHIA starting lineup reviewed by Written In The Stars: LW @PleeMaker 10GP, 12+15=27 Wouldn't believe it from what you see on the ice, but the youngin in the group. Very slippery on offense, their hardest player to face 1-on-1 and a pain in the ass with occasional cherrypicking. C @Patzlaf 10GP, 14+11=25 The beating heart of FILA, Mr. Selke, El Capitano - A dear child has many names. Rumour has it that he's a skilled dangler. High hockey IQ. RW @Eki 10GP, 9+13=22 The world champ. A friendly and pleasant guy to be around. Throws sauce better than everyone else, defends better than everyone else. Lost to Ippe (@Buantso) in Sampi Cup. LD @Janzuh 10GP, 0+9=9 A true FILA veteran. Janzuh is a hard hitter and a tough defender to face any given night. RD @jtorro1233 10GP, 1+8=9 Judas Iscariot of FILA. Loves the puck more than his teammates. G @sibeelius 8GP, 7W, 92.69 SV%, 0,37 GAA, 6 SO FILA's shortest player. Has proven to be a winning goaltender and handles the pressure well in tough spots. A former SKY player, who's been spotted at the training facility in a snakesuit on weekends. How to watch the finals? Preferred option: Show up to the live event at LanTrek on Friday, 1st of March, 2019. Puck drop is at 17CET, so be there early! Follow our stream at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer. Arttu Hämäläinen and Jani @Jiihooo86 Hetta will be commentating all games live from Tampere. Schedule:* Game 1 17:00 CET Game 2 17:40 CET Game 3 18:20 CET --------------------------------------- BREAK 18:55-19:55 CET --------------------------------------- Game 4 20:00 CET Game 5 20:40 CET --------------------------------------- BREAK 21:10-21:20 CET --------------------------------------- Game 6 21:25 CET Game 7 22:05 CET *ECL Staff withholds the right to alter the schedule if need be. Who do you think will win? Will you be joining in on the action at LanTrek or through the stream? Let us know in the comment section! ECL Elite Writing Team, @MartindalexC & @jahajaha93

Hey NHLGamers, A new tuner & patch have been released. The changes of note (at least for EASHL) are the nerf towards a player's skating (acceleration, agility & speed) whilst backskating with the puck, some improvements towards blending of certain animations in the attempt to reduce the effectiveness of "shovel" style shots, a rise in the reliability of faceoff counters, as well as the network performance screen now correctly displaying your ping. Regarding the 'main' change (i.e. backskating), the tweaks that EA have made are described to be "subtle" in nature. So, it should not impact play too wildly in theory, although with that said, even a small adjustment to such a widely used mechanic will invariably lead to some pretty stark differences. The full changelog is as follows: Patch 1.55 Tuner 1.04 What does everyone think of the changes? Do you think the backskating nerf was something that needed to be done, or was it a necessary evil to give teams more options on attack? Please, feel free to post your thoughts below!

NHLGamers! One round down and already we have had a couple upsets with Dynasty (5) and Rusty Blades (6) besting Deadly Phantoms HC (4) and Symphony (3) respectively. In fact, this marks the first time in two playoff seasons where a higher seed was knocked out in the first round, and the first time since the inaugural season that more than one fell. Proving, quite illustratively, that at the very top of the ECL structure the parity amongst teams is very strong, and that trying to make any predictions as to how the teams will finish can only be described as a ‘fool’s game’. Nevertheless, we will try to outline our thoughts regarding each team in the coming matchups for your viewing pleasure. The ECL 8 Elite semi-finals are going to be played on Monday 18th of February, Tuesday 19th of February, Thursday 21st of February and Sunday 24th of February. Please see a full schedule at the end of this post. These are the matchups for the ECL 8 Elite Semifinals: (1) Written In The Stars vs. Rusty Blades (6) The setup for this series is very much similar to that of the previous matchups of these teams. Written In The Stars is expected to control the pace of the play with their strong puck possession play and impressive passing whereas Rusty Blades is expected to rely on counter attacking and converting their chances efficiently. SKY won both regular season games with scores of 3-0 and 4-2 respectively. @Dominointi and @Buantso were the most prevalent players in those games, so a suggestion would be to keep your eyes on those two in this series. Rusty Blades will look to rely on the duo of @Foppatofflan and @MartindalexC, but undoubtedly they will need some secondary scoring and a whole lot of good fortune if they are going to see the series swaying their way. Written in the Stars (Regular season record 26-3-1) Written In The Stars have played an outstanding season so far and their playoff start has been nothing less than that. SKY dominated the eighth seed Northern Stars in the quarterfinals and advanced with a series score of 4-0. SKY wasn't really tested in that first matchup and the aggregate score of 16-3 speaks volumes of how dominant they were. Their scoring has been clicking well so far with 4 GF/GP and the team will surely look to stay on that path. All five of their players pose a threat in the offensive zone, which translates to an endless amount of opportunities when creating chances up front. The teams defense hasn't really been tested yet and we'll be expecting Rusty Blades to put forth some dangerous pushes. @willekunq and @Nassustelija will need to stay alert. Leading point scorer (F): @FlyerKungen & @Dominointi // 72pts (31+41) & (29+43) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @willekunq // 30pts (8+22) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @Hansulinho // 86.36 SV% & 0.75 GAA in 16 games Rusty Blades (Regular season record 15-10-5) The Blades had an impressive showing in the first round where they bested a strong Symphony. RB went into their first matchup with a clear underdog status and will be doing the same in the semi-finals. Symphony had made their quarterfinal matchup 2-0 before Rusty Blades decided to bounce back with four consecutive wins including two shutouts by @Supreex along the way. They've only scored two goals per game so far, but as long as they keep up the solid play in their own zone and Supreex stays hot they have every chance to steal some wins in this series. Beating SKY is never easy, but we've seen that it won't be out of the question. Rusty Blades need to find the holes that are there and run with it. Leading point scorer (F): @MartindalexC // 45pts (26+19) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @The_Alpha_Furyan // 22pts (2+20) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @Supreex // 79.93 SV% & 1.96 GAA in 30 games Prediction: Written In The Stars wins 4-1 (2) FILADELPHIA vs. Dynasty (5) Similar to the series outlined previously, this one between FILADELPHIA and Dynasty has a clear favourite / underdog division between the two teams. Not only because of FILAs pedigree over the past year (not least the fact that they are the current reigning champions) but also due to Dynasty having looked somewhat out of sorts at times in the 1st round, something that should, and in all likelihood will, get punished by a FILA team looking to become the first team in ECL Elite history to win two tournaments on the trot. FILADELPHIA (Regular season record 23-6-1) Despite an early stumble by FILADELPHIA against Butterfly Effect, they find themselves in the second round after performing the biggest beatdown from the first round, as they disposed of FLY in 5 games with a goal differential of +19 (the next closest was Written with +14). Even with this in mind however there are still some question marks going forward, specifically whether their defence can hold up against the pressure that Dynasty will invariably apply over the course of the coming series. It should be noted however that whilst this may become an issue, FILAs offence seems to be almost as effective as ever right now and should the series turn into a back and forth affair, then the advantage largely rests with FILA as opposed to Dynasty who are quite a bit less offensively inclined. Leading point scorer (F): @PleeMaker // 60pts (23+37) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @jtorro1233 // 21pts (6+15) in 28 games Most winningest goalie: @FinKonna // 86.66 SV% & 1.00 GAA in 14 games Dynasty (Regular season record 18-10-2) Emerging from an all-out brawl in the first round we find Dynasty, who are probably counting their lucky stars that they were able to beat out the Elite entrants Deadly Phantoms HC in 7 games, with all games bar one being decided by a single goal. In fact, to illustrate how much of a struggle Dynasty had against the German side, they enter the final four on the back of a measly +2 goal differential (the lowest out of the four remaining teams). Despite this, there is perhaps some hope for an upset to be staged by the DYN side, as they seemingly came alive after dropping game 1 & 2 to DPH, going on to win four out of the next five games. Of course, waiting until game 3 to start playing may just about work in the 1st round against playoff rookies DPH, but against the tested FILA such a start would all but seal their fate. So, realistically if DYN are to come out on top in this matchup they will need to carry over as much momentum as they can and not afford FILA the chance to become comfortable, otherwise their time may very well be numbered. Leading point scorer (F): @hpkfani // 48pts (30+18) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @Haldeem // 14pts (3+11) in 18 games Most winningest goalie: @Sandr0hh // 85.28 SV% & 1.70 GAA in 20 games Prediction: FILADELPHIA wins 4-1. ECL 8 Elite Semi-Finals Schedule: Monday, 18th of February 19:30 CET FILADELPHIA - Dynasty (Game 1 & 2) 21:00 CET Written In The Stars - Rusty Blades (Game 1 & 2) Tuesday, 19th of February 19:30 CET FILADELPHIA - Dynasty (Game 3-5) Thursday, 21st of February 20:00 CET Written In The Stars - Rusty Blades (Game 3 & 4) 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA - Dynasty (Game 6 & 7) Sunday, 24th of February 20:00 CET Written In The Stars - Rusty Blades (Game 5-7) All games will be broadcasted at Elisa Viihde. International broadcasts will be announced on social media. Signing off for now, ECL Elite Writing Team @MartindalexC & @jahajaha93

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are tweaking the recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. There will be more of an emphasis towards the quantitative approach, so expect more graphs and fewer walls of text. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. Previous rankings: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 - 1. FILADELPHIA (4-0-0) [+2] 2. Symphony (7-0-1) [+6] 3. Deadly Phantoms HC (3-1-0) [+3] 4. Rusty Blades (4-2-2) [-2] 5. Dynasty (3-3-0) [=] 6. Team Frosty (3-5-0) [-2] 7. Butterfly Effect (5-0-1) [+2] 8. Northern Stars (3-2-3) [+2] 9. AIK Hockey (2-1-1) [+5] 10. Almost Famous (5-3-0) [+3] 11. Bucketeers (3-3-0) [=] 12. Written in the Stars (0-0-0) [-11] 13. Unlucky Boys (1-3-0) [-6] 14. HC Wildcard (0-6-0) [+1] 15. Synergy Hockey (1-2-1) [+1] 16. Resurrection (0-4-0) [-4] Standings Timeline *The "playoff cut-off point", as well as the "relegation zone" lines are rough estimations of where the respective areas of Elite will fall once the regular season has been wrapped up. So, in other words, if a team is able to get over the green line, they 'should' stand a very good chance of making the playoffs, whilst if a team cannot make it past the red line, then there is a good chance that they will have to fight a relegation battle in order to assure their Elite spot for next season. Analysis As we enter the home stretch of the season it appears as though the ‘blocks’ outlined last week have remained somewhat, albeit with some notable differences. For instance, Symphony have moved up into the upper bracket off the back of a very strong surge as of late, consequently joining the likes of Written in the Stars, Dynasty, FILADELPHIA & Rusty Blades. Regarding the final playoff spots however we find some stark development. For instance, despite a week to forget from Team Frosty, they still remain within the group of 4 (Butterfly Effect, Deadly Phantoms HC, Almost Famous) who harbour the best shot at clinching a berth. Time is running out for Frosty however, as they are sitting on the cusp of 8th/9th thanks to a great performance over this past week by DPH who are now nipping away at their heels. If any of these teams fail to find traction and cannot gain any more points from the remaining games on their schedules then they may be in for a rude awakening as, whilst the group has thinned slightly with Synergy effectively being out of contention now, the pace of the teams trailing them cannot be written off. AIK Hockey, Northern Stars, Unlucky Boys, Resurrection & even Bucketeers all have had a noticeable uptick as of late and could conceivably put on a late push, of course some are more likely than others (e.g. AIK still have a couple games in hand compared to most), nevertheless, all of this just makes for perhaps a more interesting end to the season than years past. Projection The section looks to, well, project where a team will finish based off of all the games they have played thus far. -- And with that, we can now conclude the fourth edition of ECL 8 Elite's power rankings. Hopefully next week we will see the stratification continue so that we can pick out any further trends with ease. ECL Elite Writer @MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are tweaking the recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. There will be more of an emphasis towards the quantitative approach, so expect more graphs and fewer walls of text. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. Previous rankings: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 - 1. Written in the Stars (6-1-1) [=] 2. Rusty Blades (5-0-1) [+5] 3. FILADELPHIA (6-2-0) [+1] 4. Team Frosty (3-3-0) [+4] 5. Dynasty (5-2-1) [=] 6. Deadly Phantoms HC (4-4-0) [-3] 7. Unlucky Boys (6-2-0) [+5] 8. Symphony (2-2-2) [+1] 9. Butterfly Effect (4-5-1) [-3] 10. Northern Stars (2-1-1) [+3] 11. Bucketeers (3-2-1) [+3] 12. Resurrection (4-4-0) [+3] 13. Almost Famous (1-3-0) [-11] 14. AIK Hockey (2-6-2) [-4] 15. HC Wildcard (0-3-1) [+1] 16. Synergy Hockey (1-4-1) [-5] Standings Timeline *The "playoff cut-off point", as well as the "relegation zone" lines are rough estimations of where the respective areas of Elite will fall once the regular season has been wrapped up. So, in other words, if a team is able to get over the green line, they 'should' stand a very good chance of making the playoffs, whilst if a team cannot make it past the red line, then there is a good chance that they will have to fight a relegation battle in order to assure their Elite spot for next season. Analysis Whilst Northern Stars and Unlucky Boys were able to stave off a full-blown cardiac arrest, HC Wildcard have not been as fortunate and as such are requiring a strong finish to not end up being the team propping up the rest of the standings once all things are said and done in little over two weeks time. Written had a momentary wobble thanks to Symphony and Northern Stars, nevertheless their challenge for the number one spot is almost as solitary as it comes. That said, it is technically possible of course that they don't end up rolling into the playoffs with the number one seed in tow, although at this late stage of the season it would require something akin to a biblical miracle. One trend of note is that it appears as though we are beginning to see a few 'divisions' within Elite. Outside of Written, who may as well have set up their own space program at this point, we have the next best 'top 3' involving FILADELPHIA, Dynasty and Rusty Blades. These teams harbour the best chance of anyone catching Written, on top of this they are the only teams who have a points per game average substantially above the playoff 'guaranteeing' level of 1.07. Moving on to the next 'block' we have the teams who currently round out the remaining playoff positions. Namely, Symphony, Deadly Phantoms HC, Team Frosty and Almost Famous. Unlike the block that precedes it, this fringe playoff group have not been afforded the same level of security as the 'top 4' simply based on the fact that if they slip up, even momentarily, they can very easily fall into the group hot on their heels. A group that, quite frankly, can only be described as an all-out brawl, as we have all the remaining teams in Elite (minus HC Wildcard) all within spitting distance of 8th place, even Synergy (who currently sit at a measly 12pts through 16 games) if they happen to go on a run and win ~4 in a row. Finally, of course, we come to the lowly HC Wildcard who, admittedly, started out very well, but have since appeared to sputter out and become almost comatose. Unlike Synergy, who still remain in contention mathematically, if HCW were able to win every remaining game on their schedule (a tough ask at that with their opponents being SYM, TF, DPH, RB & DYN) they would only finish with 29 pts, which would result in an exceptionally low likelihood of them making the playoffs, so while it is not impossible per se, for all intents and purposes it may as well be. Projection The section looks to, well, project where a team will finish based off of all the games they have played thus far. -- And with that, we can now conclude the third edition of ECL 8 Elite's power rankings. Hopefully next week we will see the stratification continue so that we can pick out any further trends with ease. ECL Elite Writer @MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are tweaking the recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. There will be more of an emphasis towards the quantitative approach, so expect more graphs and fewer walls of text. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. Previous rankings: Week 1 Week 2 - 1. Written in the Stars (8-0-0) 2. Almost Famous (7-1-0) 3. Deadly Phantoms HC (3-2-1) 4. FILADELPHIA (6-3-1) 5. Dynasty (6-2-0) 6. Butterfly Effect (2-2-0) 7. Rusty Blades (3-1-0) 8. Team Frosty (3-2-1) 9. Symphony (4-0-0) 10. AIK Hockey (1-4-1) 11. Synergy Hockey (3-3-0) 12. Unlucky Boys HC (1-5-0) 13. Northern Stars (1-4-3) 14. Bucketeers (1-3-0) 15. Resurrection (2-3-1) 16. HC Wildcard (1-9-0) Standings Timeline *The "playoff cut-off point", as well as the "relegation zone" lines are rough estimations of where the respective areas of Elite will fall once the regular season has been wrapped up. So, in other words, if a team is able to get over the green line, they 'should' stand a very good chance of making the playoffs, whilst if a team cannot make it past the red line, then there is a good chance that they will have to fight a relegation battle in order to assure their Elite spot for next season. Analysis Two weeks in and we are beginning to see some stratification at long last. I suppose, the elephant in the room would be Written just straight curb-stomping everyone and, well, what is there to say really? In fact, to summarise how ridiculous their start has been, if they decided to fall off the rails (relatively) and merely finished the season at a sedentary 1PT/G pace, they would end up with the same amount of points as they did last season. As for the mortals, aF has gone on a pretty strong run recently (7-1-0), potentially going a long way towards punching their first playoff berth in Elite. In addition to this, Dynasty have undergone a resurgence of sorts, climbing into the upper echelons after a fairly dismal first week. Joining them are Team Frosty and FILA who trail just behind them. On the flip side however, we can quite plainly see that HC Wildcard, Northern Stars & Unlucky Boys have flatlined with no recourse in sight. It is of course early, with us being ~1/3 of the way into the season for the most part, nevertheless, going on extended losing streaks at any time in the season can be especially deadly for playoff ambitions, especially with Elite looking like everyone can beat everyone (sans Written) for some inane reason. Projection Missing from last week due to time constraints were a pair of 'features', namely a projection and a prediction. The projection looks to, well, project where a team will finish based off of all the games they have played thus far. Prediction (Missing from last week) The second feature that was absent was a prediction of where the teams will fall once the dust has settled at the end of this season. Unlike the projection, the data used to assign points in the graphic below did not come from this ongoing season, instead it came from collating previous season results for each team (if possible), as well as some user bias to bring it all together. Think of this as similar to the 16 in 16 baseline (Week 0) we used in ECL 7. -- And with that, we can now conclude the second edition of ECL 8 Elite's power rankings. Hopefully next week we will see the stratification continue so that we can pick out any further trends with ease. ECL Elite Writer @MartindalexC

Hey NHLGamers, As you've probably heard by now, EA will be having a tuner rollback to the Beta Tuner for a limited duration of time. That rollback has now gone live and will take place between Friday, January 18th (11:00 CET) and Friday, January 25th (11:00 CET). EA is also issuing a tuner feedback survey for the duration of the rollback, you will find a link in-game and on Twitter. Please see EA's previous announcement and the full 'changelog' below: So, what do you guys think about the rollback? It surely brings some spice to the ongoing season, where the game will have a completely different feel for the coming week. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section! On behalf of the NHLGamer Staff, @MartindalexC

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are tweaking the recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. There will be more of an emphasis towards the quantitative approach, so expect more graphs and fewer walls of text. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays and will thusly be based on the days in between each power ranking iteration. In addition to this it should be noted that each ranking will invariably be in some way biased as it is, at the end of the day, a subjective list. Note: Each article will be based off of results starting from the Monday, all the way up to (& including) Friday. Ergo, any games played over the weekend will generally end up being a week 'late' so to speak. The logic behind the ranking is admittedly a sort of internal subjective ranking that weighs up results, opposition 'strength' as well as thoughts on the general play during some games. As such a ranking is not 100% quantifiable in nature there will be some bias that creeps in. One thing I would like to make abundantly clear however is that points are not the be all and end all within these rankings; for instance, just because 3 teams have the same record does not mean they won't be ranked wildly differently, as the context behind said results are of great importance and simply cannot be understated. 1. Written in the Stars (6-0-0) 2. AIK Hockey (3-1-0) 3. Unlucky Boys (3-2-1) 4. Team Frosty (3-1-0) 5. Butterfly Effect (2-1-1) 6. Bucketeers (3-3-2) 7. Symphony (3-3-0) 8. Deadly Phantoms HC (2-1-1) 9. Resurrection (3-1-2) 10. HC Wildcard (3-3-0) 11. Northern Stars (2-2-2) 12. Dynasty (1-1-0) 13. Synergy Hockey (1-2-1) 14. Rusty Blades (2-2-2) 15. Almost Famous (1-3-0) 16. FILADELPHIA (0-0-0) Standings Timeline *The "playoff cut-off point", as well as the "relegation zone" lines are rough estimations of where the respective areas of Elite will fall once the regular season has been wrapped up. So, in other words, if a team is able to get over the green line, they 'should' stand a very good chance of making the playoffs, whilst if a team cannot make it past the red line, then there is a good chance that they will have to fight a relegation battle in order to assure their Elite spot for next season. Analysis Anyway, on to the mess. As I'm sure you can see, this early into the season teams have not been afforded the chance to really differentiate themselves from each other, as such it is generally pretty tough to spot many teams as they overlap with each other. That said, there are some things we can pick out. Namely, Written In The Stars are already the only team still unbeaten in regulation (sans FILA who are yet to play at all), quite an anticlimactic feat given that most teams have only played 4-6 games. Additionally, we can see that Bucketeers have clearly dispelled any notion that they would not be ready for Elite, as they have stormed out of the block and posted a very respectable point per game average over 8 games. Sure, at that pace they're unlikely to make the playoffs, however it certainly offers up the opportunity for them to make a run at a playoff berth, a position I'm sure that they're more than happy to be in right now. As far as slow starts go though, there seems to be quite a heavily amount of parity at the moment as all teams (who have played), already have at least a win on the board. If we have to name and shame however, the most anaemic start would go to Almost Famous who are currently 1-3-0, not great, but even this would put them on pace for 15pts which is should be alarming for those from the AF side, yet they've played just 4 games, so do not read too much into this at the very moment. - With that all of this in mind, we are now finished for the first edition of ECL 8 Elite's power rankings. Next time we'll have a projection and a (belated) prediction of how the standings will fall once the dust has settled, as well as (hopefully) more trends to discuss. ECL Elite Writer @MartindalexC