MartindalexC

Hey NHLGamers! Welcome to our ECL 8 Elite season preview, and let us start off by stating this is going to be one to remember! Our Prize pool is now 10 000€, which makes ECL the biggest 6vs6 tournament worldwide both measured in team amount, player amount and prize pool by far! We're happy to have all of you back for another season of this greatness. In the last few days we've dropped some exciting news on you guys, such as the involvement of AIK Hockey into ECL and our new partnership with Dr. Oetker Rustica and Elisa Viihde. Now, let's not keep you guys waiting any more than we have and get into the team run downs. AIK Hockey New Swedish pride AIK Hockey enters with a bang as they were announced just before the start of the season. Not many changes have happened over the offseason, as the former Sjukstugan look to continue their strong efforts with the same lineup as in ECL 7. The most notable change is in the goaltending department, where @ICappeI is replacing @Hullued in a switch-up that turns AIK into an all-Swedish team. Both netminders are some of the very best the league has to offer, so the decisive factor here is the flag on their passport. A player to keep your eyes on this season is @Tacterz. The young and tremendously skilled winger was a welcomed addition to the teams offense in ECL7 and is only expected to improve from here on. Almost Famous Almost Famous were, well - famous for their offensive style of hockey in their previous seasons, but last season there were some serious problems. Troubles to score called for somewhat of a re-build. This season will be better for them, because their team leaders gained experience from ECL7 in Elite and bringing in fresh blood from Cowabunga Hockey (Pro) who are hungry to prove everyone tthat they can compete at the Elite level. Players added were G @Jonitski, LD @Makeaxl and RW @Sokkelo__. All of these players are in for their first season at the Elite level. Let's not forget that aF lost their defensive leader @Aze to Team Frosty, this might take it's toll but the new addition Make seems to possess some talent as he put up 24p in 30 games in ECL 7 Pro. Bucketeers As one of the five new teams in Elite for this coming season the emergent Swedish team should have some level of familiarity in the opponents that they will be playing. Of course, if they want to make a statement and assure themselves of Elite level play for longer than just one season, then they will have to take the next step in their startlingly fast rise through the ECL structure (Lite in ECL 6, Pro in 7 and now Elite in 8 ) and move outside their comfort zone in order to grind out the invariably close games that often characterise Elite. Regarding where the Bucketeers are predicted to finish, personally I think they will most likely end up somewhere around 10th - 14th place, simply based on the fact that there a lot of unknowns in some of these new teams. As long as the Bucketeers are able to stay above .500 against these aforementioned teams, they should be in a decent enough spot. Butterfly Effect It's gonna be really interesting to see how FLY plays this season, since they've underwent a major roster shake-up. The team formerly known as Red Machine gained Elite promotion before ECL 7 due to the folding of Evolution. In their inaugural season in Europes best division, the team put on quite an impressive showing. After clinching the sixth seed they made the playoffs, in which they lost in five games to big-time contender Written in the Stars. From last years team only three players stayed: Captain @jergelii, @Crisu_rottis and @Roisto999. These good-looking insects lost their most dangerous players in @Vilupoika and @RutonMosse. It's up to the newly acquired duo of @xDoumi and joukki13 (@Joukki) to replace some of the lost offensive capacities. They also acquired veteran defenseman @Totalii which should give them more quality and flexibility on the blue line. With the addition of Goalie @JanneK.(JANURI98) their GAA shouldn't be a problem anyway. Expect these guys to give their all and fight for one of the higher spots in the Elite standing. Deadly Phantoms HC DPH managed to claim the ECL 7 Pro title in stunning fashion after a very tough season facing some adversity early on in the playoffs. This is surely the season for redemption as the team will now compete at the highest tier. Their roster underwent no changed but a small downscaling as they now look for all of their players to take the step to the next level. It'll certainly be interesting to see how these guys will find their form and how they stack up against some of the more established teams. DPH could very well surprise, but an expected finish would be around 8th-12th. Dynasty The temptation when faced with adversity is to change too much (or even too little), with the consequence being that you take a step backwards. After x seasons in Elite, along with x trips to the playoffs and x semi final appearances, one would certainly expect some growing irritation that they have been so close, for so long, with little to show for it. Regardless of this, Dynasty are coming into the season having made probably the least changes to their roster amongst the teams of Elite, in fact the only changes appear to be the loss of @Filariou and the pick up of familiar face @Haldeem. All in all, barring a massive shift, Dynasty should easily clinch a playoff berth by finishing somewhere around 4th place (+/-: 1), beyond that however, your guess is as good as mine. FILADELPHIA All they do is win - no matter what. That seems to be the case with Finnish juggernaut FILADELPHIA. In their first season in the Elite division they immediately clinched the top seed for the playoffs after finishing with a record of 23-4-1. In the playoffs FILA kept on torching their opponents and ultimately finished with an incredible postseason record of 12-3. In the finals they had to battle though, beating Symphony in six games. I_Eki_I (@Eki) scored the championship-clinching goal in double overtime while teammate @PleeMaker grabbed the Playoff-MVP trophy after racking up 29 points in 15 playoff-games. Taking a look at FILADELPHIAs roster for ECL 8, they were able to keep their most impactful players and added top-tier defenseman @jtorro1233 from rival SKY. Captain @Patzlaf will still be flanked by the aforementioned and highly skilled wingers Eki and PleeMaker with @mikaasi providing the much needed forward-depth. The defensive-trio of @Janzuh, jtorro1234 and @vatalisti is arguably the best in the game. Both goalies, Zande95 (@sibeelius) and @FinKonna, are well-experienced guys and know how to handle pressure. It's hard to find any flaws in the star-studded finnish roster. The question is: Do they have what it takes to to build a dynasty (no pun intended) and become the first ever consecutive champion? HC Wildcard HC WILDCARD aka veterans squad. They appeared in ELITE filling the spot of Northern Ascendancy after a few interesting turns of events but they surely can pose a difficult opponent on any given night. Even though it’s their first season in ELITE they boast a squad with lots of experience. They signed the notorious Kinnunen brothers as known from Rusty Blades, @kinnun3 came from there, but @kikiukko came from Almost Famous where he had a short stint. Let's also not forget the recent addition of experienced offensive threat @Nampa77, who pent last season in aF with kiki. These signings increase their chances to stay put in Elite, but it surely won't be an easy fight. Northern Stars Much of the same is the modus operandi for this storied team. After another playoff appearance (and quit exit) NOS were faced with a similar question that Dynasty have been tasked with answering, in essence, what is the next step? Dynasty attempted to remedy the situation by picking up a new defender, whilst NOS appear to have done the same with the acquisition of @Nieppii, after that however the similarities drop off for the most part. This is due in part from NOS apparently going nuclear and trying out a, let’s just say, unorthodox lineup with @ma0niii (long time RD) playing C and Chimera being moved over to RW. Whether this pays off is yet to be seen, but at the very least this change (if they stick to it of course) should give them some new looks offensively, as Chimera will be allowed to take more risks given that he won’t have as much defensive responsibility to deal with. As for where I think they’ll finish, I’m going to say 8th place, not because I necessarily think they’ll end up there (they could easily finish one spot higher for instance) but rather I want the ‘yo-yo’ from them to continue since they’ve finished in 7th, 8th and 7th for the last three ECL seasons now. Resurrection It's name reflects it's programme. The team formerly known as Monte Carlo will now participate in ECL Elite - just a couple months after applying for ECL Lite. Yep, you read that right. Captain @Jiihooo86 and his squad put together a decent first season in the Pro division. He was the biggest difference maker himself, recording 3 shutouts and a save percentage of 82,38% during the playoffs. After losing 7 of their last 10 games in the regular season, they definitely resurrected in the postseason before losing to Synergy Hockey in the semifinals. They bounced back (again) from some bone-headed plays (bad one, I know) and defeated SIKA in the relegation series. The offensive line of @Artuzio, johtaja699 (@J0HTAJA) and @xKeskitalo was pretty much clicking constantly. The same can't be said for the defense though. Even though @Nikmes7 had a strong regular season, the team barely got any production from the blue line in the playoffs. The majority of the team felt a change was necessary, leading to @Veikkonator getting replaced by the rugged defenseman TheFakiiR1(@FakiiR1). It will be interesting to see if the new D-pairing will be able to hold their own against some of the best forwards in the game. Jiihooo might need to play out of his mind on a daily basis if Resurrection wants to compete. Rusty Blades Rusty Blades made one of the most interesting acquisitions of the off-season when they managed to secure the services of the former NOR duo @MartindalexC and @Foppatofflan. On top of this, they added @The_Alpha_Furyan to bolster their ranks in defense. The preseason games of Rusty have showed some promise as it seems they have kept their identity of playing a simple game, but the new additions have added some speed and offensive ability that wasn't there before. The combination of the two have turned into a dangerous mix that could quickly turn the opposing teams night into a bad one. Rusty could very well see their best season yet, as they should now finish in the top 8. Symphony This season they start as runner-ups of ECL 7 where they lost to FILADEPHIA in game six of the finals. The main story going on now is, will they be able to take the last step towards becoming the Champ? Could very well be, because they have made some great updates to their squad recently, even though they lost some of their leaders they got an equal trade for them. For example they lost top goalie @ICappeI, who went AIK Hockey, but they stole another great G from Gotham Knights in @swagx88. They also added the talented @RutonMosse from Butterfly Effect, who is now walking in his brothers footsteps and finally looking to overshadow the older one. A great point is that SYM managed to hold on to their amazing defensive trio @entii112, @vSilenttio and @Ilmari_30. Expect these guys to be contenders again. Synergy Hockey Joining Elite as one of the two automatic promotions from Pro due to a finals appearance we have the Swedish side of Synergy. As far as similarities go with Synergy and the Bucketeers, well, both are Swedish and that’s about it. Of the newly promoted teams, no other has the same amount of Elite experience as Synergy. For instance, their projected starting line-up (sans goalie) contains three players who have each played two full seasons in Elite previously (@Normark, @Supremski & @Egyptologen), so there should not be that big of an issue of players not being sufficiently prepared for the level of Elite, mentally speaking of course. All things considered then, I think that SYN, as well as DPH, probably have the best chance of making a claim towards a playoff position out of the new teams. Although, I think if either of them do end up doing as much, it will not be by a large margin. Ergo, I can see Synergy finishing being a fringe team on the ‘outside looking in’ so to speak, somewhere around 9th - 10th place. Team Frosty @Vilupoika, @Penatski and @Aze. That's a trio that when added to any team in the league would certainly provide a welcomed boost! After a tough first Elite season, captain @Zip player was a man on a mission for their return in ECL 8. He made the biggest and most spoken-of signings of the off-season and didn't waste any time in getting his team going for ECL 8. The preseason has been a bit up and down for Frosty, but we expect the experienced lineup to get it together come the first puckdrop. Aze will be their defensive leader, but it'll remain to be seen if @After8 (will_yo7) will manage to fill the shoes of a consistent performer at the Elite level. TF will be a playoff team. Unlucky Boys HC The veteran team built around Anhel_Kuru (@Anhel) missed last season's playoffs by a lone point. Yeah, that's rough. Not as rough as being Cody Parkey (NFL reference) these days, but still. That bad break should solely ignite some new desire to get back to the postseason, especially because they completely kept their core. One of their biggest struggles last year was their lack of offense. UB only scored 40 goals in 28 games, despite having a decent powerplay. It will be interesting to see if they can make the right adjustments without really changing anything significant in their roster. Expect the horseshoes in the playoff hunt once again. Written In The Stars Written is always a contender, but they never fail to provide a let down come playoffs. For 3 seasons straight away they are among the best regular season teams, but they are always coming short of being the best in Europe. Last season they already reached the semi-finals, where they lost to Symphony 1-4. They lost some good players like @jtorro1233, who went to FILA, @Bugimir who announced his retirement, @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN who turned his talents to FIFA Pro clubs, and one of the best goalies in the scene: @JanneK. to Butterfly Effect. SKY needed to quickly make up for their losses, which seemed not to be a problem at all. The team signed @Buantso from Symphony and @Nassustelija from Butterfly Effect in quick succession. To help out in net@poliskontroll from Northern Ascendancy was added. Follow this team during the current season, because their time to win should be due. Well, there you go, gamers. We're happy to have brought you yet another preview for yet another season. Some teams change, some remain the same. We'll see who the champion turns out to be! Don't forget to tune in to our broadcasts this season on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in Finnish at Elisa Viihde Sport or the Elisa Viihde Twitch-channel. Broadcasts will also be available in English or without commentary at the NHLGamer Twitch-channel. Signing off for now, Your ECL Elite Writing Team @MartindalexC, @Serg1vratar and @Tim_FlyersFan

Hi there NHLGamers, Another season on the books and another champion to boot. To some, this season will be a period that will oft be reminisced about (particularly amongst those playing for FILA), whereas for others it will be the source of great ire. Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, we welcome you to ECL 7 Elite's season review... we hope you enjoy! 1. FILADELPHIA - Regular season record 23-4-1 (Playoff wins 12) Half way through the year and FILADELPHIA have been the epitome of domination; winning every single tournament that they have entered thus far. In fact, there is almost nothing to say that would mean much in the grand scheme of things, as it would effectively result in me penning a paragraph that would be singing their praises than an actual review. With that in mind then, for brevity I will state FILA's playoff record below, as quite frankly, it speaks for itself. 12-3 2. Symphony - Regular season record 22-3-3 (Playoff wins 10) Coming into this season as newly(ish) formed team one perhaps could have been forgiven for expecting them to take a season or two to get their feet under them before making a splash so to speak. Symphony obviously missed the memo and stormed towards a finals appearance, losing to FILADELPHIA (2-4) after besting Northern Stars (4-1) in the first round, as well as Written in the Stars (4-0) in the second. 3. Written In The Stars - Regular season record 20-4-4 (Playoff wins 4) Another season is over, and we have another season where Written made the top 4, but have very little to show for it really. Despite the disappointment undoubtedly shared by among on Written, they should feel as though that they're in a good spot going forward to mount a challenge for ECL 8, given the fact that they have now made the semifinals for three consecutive seasons. Additionally, @FlyerKungen appears to have transitioned to C flawlessly, only being beaten in points by fellow teammate in @Dominointi, as well as FILAs MVP @PleeMaker. 4. Dynasty - Regular season record 18-4-6 (Playoff wins 4) A slow start characterised a season where Dynasty were good, but not outstanding. Such a distinction may be alluring for some, but for those trying to challenge for the top spot each season, it is almost a curse as much as it's a blessing. The acquisition of @hpkfani at the very least proved to be pivotal as he once again exhibited his ability to set the tone of a team's offence - especially in the playoffs where goals are oh-so difficult to come by. Despite this however, they ended up getting knocked out in the semifinals to the eventual champion in FILADELPHIA. 5. Sjukstugan - Regular season record 18-6-4 (Playoff wins 2) 112 went on an impressive hot streak to start off the season, overcoming strong opponents such as Written In The Stars and taking the division by storm with their disciplined defensive routine and an exciting offensive trio with one of the leagues most exciting talents in @Tacterz. Their form somewhat dropped off towards the tail end of the regular season, but they still managed to finish 5th and put forth the best regular season in team history. Round 1 of the playoffs came knocking with Dynasty ahead. The traditionally well-performing Finns were too strong this time around, overcoming 112 with a series score of 4-2. 6. Butterfly Effect - Regular season record 17-10-1 (Playoff wins 1) After gaining promotion due to Evolution folding, these guys set out to prove they sure belong at the Elite level. Securing possibly the biggest offseason signing (@Vilupoika) ahead of ECL 7 was certainly a pivotal effort to kickstart FLY's run at the highest tier. The team came out swinging, claiming the #1 spot in the power rankings already in the first week of competition. A strong regular season proved that their good start wasn't just a quick run of form, but they were a serious contender. In the first playoff round Butterfly Effect faced 'big brother' Written In The Stars, who sent them packing 4-1. 7. Northern Stars - Regular season record 14-8-6 (Playoff wins 1) Another strong season was exhibited by NOS for ECL 7, where they made the playoffs for the 3rd straight season. Granted, their route into the playoffs was potentially more 'touch-and-go' than seasons past, as they were never able to really put distance between them and the all-out battle for 8th place between NOR, UB, RB & TF. NOS eventually fell to Symphony in the first round in 5 games, so like most teams in Elite, there are still improvements to be made if they want to move up the table and potentially challenge for a title. 8. Northern Ascendancy - Regular season record 14-10-4 (Playoff wins 1) After a disastrous start, NOR were able to rescue their season in a last ditch effort. The veteran team went on a streak of 9-2-1 to finish after starting with an abysmal 5-8-3. Due to their low ranked berth they consequently drew FILA in the 1st round and inevitably fell in 5 games, signifying the end of an all round pretty forgettable season by NOR. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Unlucky Boys - Regular season record 14-11-3 After proving themselves as more than a nuisance in the playoffs last season one perhaps was expecting more of a showing by UB, who more than anything seemed to truly live up to their name this time round as they narrowly lost out on a playoff berth by a lone point. The demise of UB this season was definitely one of the weakest finishing few rounds of a season we've seen in a while. 10. Rusty Blades - Regular season record 10-12-6 Compared with a lot of Elite teams from this season RB were somewhat consistent (although not exceptionally so), the aggravating thing for those from the RB side no doubt is the belief that if they just happened to play slightly better, earlier on in the season, as well as had a stronger finish, they would have made the playoffs instead of finding themselves on the outside looking in for the second straight season. 11. Team Frosty - Regular season record 11-14-3 ECL 7 was the debut season for Team Frosty (formerly known as White Trash), if we look at it from such an angle we can surely say that they did a good job for the first time around. One of their strengths this past season was their goaltending, as @Mehiiss got 9 wins in 21 games with 82,4 SV%. Good goaltending isn't always enough to win you games, though. Offensively, Frosty seemed to do fine, as their leading scorer @Zip player managed to snag 39 points in 28 games. The problem seemed to have been in team defense however, a goal differential of -22 didn't earn them a playoff record this season. 12. Almost Famous - Regular season record 11-15-2 Almost Famous were a debutant team this past season, possessing some definite potential with up-and-coming players such as centerman @Ikavalko. Even though they had some roster fluctuation during the season with two of their key players (@SadaPoika -> Unlucky Boys, @Nampa77 -> Team Frosty) leaving, aF managed to make some great signings such as having @Rimpe return from a stint in Gotham Knights and acquiring the very skilled goaltender @s_w1ld_rus. The season went pretty much as expected for the newcomer, some decent games but the consistency wasn't there to have some success yet. 13. Gotham Knights - Regular season record 9-13-6 After ECL 6 Gotham Knights did something of a rebuild by making plenty of signings to take the next step. On paper, Gotham had a playoff capable roster, but something went wrong, even though @swagx88 stood tall, stopping 85% of shots faced. The season ended in relegation games. There were a lot of expectations on @Nieppii who had his first season in Elite and he did rather well offensively with 12 points in 23 games as a defenseman, but he needs to get better in his own zone. The cornerstone of the team for ECL 7 were their older players, @ReDMisTi in offense and the defensive leader @MKivinen95, though. After a difficult season, Gotham was relegated to Pro following a relegation series loss against Bucketeers. 14. SIKA - Regular season record 5-19-4 What goes up, must invariably, come back down. Such is beginning to be tradition for SIKA at this point as they find themselves being demoted to Pro after a singular season in Elite for the second time (first one being ECL 4). For SIKA however, this time most likely has more of a sting to it, as they finished joint last (tied with FCM) with a measly 14 points over 28 games. Whether SIKA and captain @SpiderRoyal are able to replicate history and fight back into Elite is yet to be seen, but at the very least, this shows the level of play that Elite often demands and that getting promoted into it is only but half the battle. 15. Falun Coal Miners - Regular season record 4-18-6 RIP Kopparberget ⚰️ After a very solid opening season in Elite where they finished with 28pts in 30 games, it seemed as though that if Falun was able to make a couple choice free agent acquisitions and boost their offence, they could have very easily made the leap to the playoffs for ECL 7. Unfortunately, to say that that was not the case is perhaps a bit of an understatement. Their gf/g output dropped from 1.70 to 1.36, and their ga/g ballooned out to 3.68 from 2.27 just the season before. The cause of this is of course heavily debatable and exceptionally difficult to reduce down to a single player / reason, that said, it seems as though it was large dose of unluckiness as all of FCMs players appeared to have off-years simultaneously. 16. Radical - Disqualified Disappointment. That word alone describes Radical's season more accurately than any other. Not only was it a disappointment for the players of Radical, but it was also a disappointment for the spectators of Elite, as they were robbed of an extra 30 games at the very least and plays by some of the very best players at the most. 🏆 AWARDS Playoff MVP: @PleeMaker Most Points: @Dominointi, Written in the Stars, 26 Goals, 33 Assists, 59 Points in 28 games Most Goals: @Vilupoika, Butterfly Effect, 28 Goals, 21 Assists, 49 Points in 28 games Most Assists: @Eki, FILADELPHIA, 13 Goals, 37 Assists, 50 Points in 24 games Most Hits by a Forward: @hpkfani, Dynasty, 160 Hits in 26 games Best +/-: @jtorro1233, Written In The Stars, +49 in 26 games Most Points by a Defenseman: @jtorro1233, Written in the Stars, 11 Goals, 20 Assists, 31 Points in 26 games Most Goals by a Defenseman: @jtorro1233, Written in the Stars, 11 Goals, 20 Assists, 31 Points in 26 games Most Assists by a Defenseman: @vatalisti, FILADELPHIA, 5 Goals, 22 Assists, 27 Points in 22 games Most Hits by a Defenseman: @FakiiR1, Team Frosty, 144 Hits in 20 games TOP 3'S OF ECL 6 ELITE Top 3 Forwards Regular Season: 1. @Dominointi, Written in the Stars, 26 Goals, 33 Assists, 59 Points in 28 games 2. @PleeMaker, FILADELPHIA, 25 Goals, 30 Assists, 55 Points in 28 games 3. @FlyerKungen, Written in the Stars, 24 Goals, 30 Assists, 54 Points in 28 games Top 3 Defenders Regular Season: 1. @jtorro1233, Written in the Stars, 11 Goals, 20 Assists, 31 Points in 26 games 2. @vatalisti, FILADELPHIA, 5 Goals, 22 Assists, 27 Points in 22 games 3. @Ilmari_30, Symphony, 4 Goals, 19 Assists, 23 Points in 28 games Top 3 Goaltenders Regular Season: 1. @Hullued, Sjukstugan, 18 Wins, 89.02%, 1.33 GAA, 8 SO in 27 games 2. @poliskontroll, Northern Ascendancy, 14 Wins, 84.51%, 1.71 GAA, 6 SO in 28 games 3. @Mike Zigan, Northern Stars, 14 Wins, 84.32%, 1.60 GAA, 7 SO in 28 games Top 3 Forwards Playoffs: 1. @PleeMaker, FILADELPHIA, 10 Goals, 19 Assists, 29 Points in 15 games 2. @Eki, FILADELPHIA, 9 Goals, 14 Assists, 23 Points in 15 games 3. @tbnantti, Symphony, 10 Goals, 12 Assists, 22 Points in 15 games Top 3 Defender Playoffs: 1. @vSilenttio, Symphony, 2 Goals, 14 Assists, 16 Points in 15 games 2. @Ilmari_30, Symphony, 2 Goals, 7 Assists, 9 Points in 15 games 3. @vatalisti, FILADELPHIA, 1 Goals, 8 Assists, 9 Points in 15 games Top 3 Goaltenders Playoffs: 1. @Zande95, FILADELPHIA, 11 Wins, 86.59%, 1.00 GAA, 5 SO in 13 games 2. @ICappeI, Symphony, 9 Wins, 89.18%, 1.23 GAA, 4 SO in 13 games 3. @Hansulinho, Written in the Stars, 4 Wins, 88.15%, 1.00 GAA, 3 SO in 9 games We'll also be showcasing our controversial 'Top 6' of the season for Elite! What this means is a selection of six players in a starting lineup, that have showed exceptional skill and played a good season. Please note that all selections are subjective and they are made by community members who have been keeping an eye on ECL 7 Elite, in this case your Elite writing team. Hopefully we'll generate some discussion with this again: @PleeMaker (FILADELPHIA) - @FlyerKungen (Written in the Stars) - @Eki (FILADELPHIA) @vSilenttio (Symphony) - @vatalisti (FILADELPHIA) @ICappeI (Symphony) That's all she wrote for ECL 7, Gamers! The Elite Season Review will put a cap on ECL 7 and we'll be turning out heads into next week with a new season starting January 7th. Thanks again to all of you for being a part of this community and stay tuned for greater things to come! ECL Elite Writing Team @MartindalexC & @Serg1vratar

Hey NHLGamers, FILADELPHIA have been crowned as this season's Elite champion by besting Symphony 4 games to 2. As such, NHLGamer would like to congratulate each and every player from FILA 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 where all games will be available to watch. https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer/videos The game by game results for the series are as follows: Game 1: Symphony - FILADELPHIA 2:1 (OT) Game 2: FILADELPHIA - Symphony 3:2 Game 3: Symphony - FILADELPHIA 4:2 Game 4: FILADELPHIA - Symphony 2:0 Game 5: Symphony - FILADELPHIA 1:2 (OT) Game 6: FILADELPHIA - Symphony 2:1 (2nd OT) FILADELPHIA's championship roster: GOALTENDERS #8 M. Paasikontu @FinKonna #88 O. Grönroos @Zande95 DEFENSEMEN #7 J. Jäte @vatalisti #71 -. Hoosii @oGBioLan #82 M. Nyqi @Janzuh FORWARDS #10 M. Heikkilä @mikaasi #24 J. Heirala @FIN_Potilas #25 E. Tammenpää @Eki #44 P. Arontie @PleeMaker #86 J. Paatiala @Patzlaf FILADELPHIA's road to the trophy: Regular season: 23-4-1 (1st) Quarterfinals: 4:1 vs. Northern Ascendancy Semifinals: 4:0 vs. Dynasty Finals: 4:2 vs. Symphony Once again, NHLGamer would like to extend a warm thank you to all participants and every single member of this great community! We've completed yet another successful season of ECL hockey and the next season is creeping up on us quick! Enjoy your holidays and get ready to step on the virtual ice again early 2019! Your NHLGamer Staff

After some external difficulties and other issues, we've been able to compete the ECL7 Elite Quarter Finals with four extremely skilled teams advancing. Interestingly enough, we're also 4/4 for IS Cup 3: 6vs6 finalists in the Semi's of ECL 7. It'll be interesting to see how these games turn out this time around, as matchups are slightly different and some minor changes might have happened within the teams. As usual, the series are played with a best-of-7 system, meaning the first team to reach four wins advances to the next round. The Semifinal round has to be finished by Thursday December 13th, 2018. These are the matchups for the second round of our ECL 7 Elite Playoffs: (1) FILADELPHIA vs. Dynasty (4) Courtesy of @jahajaha93 Neither of these teams had a straight path to the semi-finals. FILADELPHIA in the sense that they had to battle through some server issues and a scheduling debacle, which again heated up things on the community side a bit. Dynasty in the sense that they clashed with Sjukstugan, the early Swedish sensation, who were now making their second Elite playoff showing, hungry to prove they could go far. This matchup wouldn't seem all too interesting if the teams we would take it back a month to the IS Cup, as Dynasty had a tough time competing at the Final event whereas FILADELPHIA went on to take it all home. Tables have turned, however. It's amazing how a little bit of time can work magic on the play of any said team. Dynasty has improved tremendously with the season progressing and are now looking to really challenge the IS Cup champions. One notable change Dynasty has made as of late is keeping @Leksa94 at center instead of @Tehh, as we're used to seeing. It would seem as if their decision is paying dividends as Leksa is a more offensive-minded player, with a slightly higher faceoff skill too - if we are to trust the stats. FILADELPHIA, on the other hand has been firing on all cylinders all season long. The team seems to have a relentless drive for success. Their first round opponent Northern Ascendancy didn't give up easy although the series ended 4-1, all but the last game were one goal games. FILA will surely look to play @Zande95 in net as he is yet to let in a goal during the playoffs. Possible Elite top-6 goaltender this season? Personally, I'm expecting FILADELPHIA to take the lead and never look back in this series. Although Dynasty is more than a capable team, they are simply up against a stronger force right now. I'll be more than happy to admit I'm wrong as that would set up an amazing success story for DYN, however, my prediction is FILA in 5. (2) Symphony vs. Written In The Stars (3) Courtesy of @MartindalexC Both competitors are coming off of similarly impressive routs of their previous opponents in Northern Stars & Butterfly Effect respectively. Symphony holds a slight edge given that they beat their opponent by over two goals in all but one of their wins, whereas Written only managed to do that very same feat two times. On the face of it then one would imagine that this series should be a close affair, with that said however some cracks have started to appear for the Written side. They may have beaten Butterfly Effect extremely convincingly to start the series (4-1 & 5-0 wins), yet their play degraded quite heavily as the series went on, as shown by them whimpering through to the second round off the back of two 1-0 wins, as well as being bested 3-1 by FLY. Such a drop off of goals as the series progressed is certainly a large red flag, especially as Butterfly Effect almost punished them for it. If FLY were almost able to make them look foolish then Written are in for one hell of a rude awakening as Symphony are assuredly better than Butterfly Effect, both defensively and offensively. The latter point is of great importance as we will now truly see what impact @Totalii's absence will have on the somewhat ‘untested’ Written back end. Regarding the actual prediction however I feel that this series has real potential to be an absolute bloodbath, on the other hand I can conceivably see Written getting ‘manhandled’ by Symphony in a bunch of 3-1-ish affairs if Written does not manage to restart their offence in time. Therefore, I’m going to play it somewhat safe and go with Symphony in 6 games, although as I’ve said before I feel as though this series, more than any other, has the potential to go absolutely ‘hay-wire’ at any second. So, what do you guys think? Agree with our predictions? Give us your thoughts below! Also, remember to stay tuned for upcoming playoffs broadcasts on our Twitch-channel! See you on the ice, ECL Elite Writing Team

Hello NHLGamers, For this past regular season of ECL Elite we have been releasing a recurring segment that looked to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over each week. The logic behind these rankings was / 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 admittably has been some bias that has crept in from time to time. First off I would like to apologise for this article being, well, late. Given how many teams played on the final day of the season and with the playoffs starting the very next day I felt it that it was perhaps not the greatest idea to push this out, on top of this I was still deciding what form this article should take on exactly. Despite this I still have ranked the team's based on their performance from the past week although this time the rankings will be sans the write-ups coupling them. If you just want to see these rankings and don't mind missing out on some grade 'A' statistical analysis then you can just skip to the end of the article where the familiar list will be shown. Previous rankings: Week 0 (16in16) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Anyway, with that out of the way we may as well get into it. This article will be attempting to deal with the quantative nature of these rankings, effectively trying to make sense of the 'noise' so to speak, as well as try to pinpoint any trends that may have occured. As such, this 'edition' is almost the complete opposite to articles from weeks prior. *Note: As Radical were disqualified part of the way through the season they will be represented on the three charts immediately below, however, past that point they will be omitted. 'Welcome to the Noise' Figure 1. All teams that participated in ECL 7 Elite (including Radical) are shown above, plotting each team's respective ranking through week 1 to 5, with the additional inclusion of the week '0' which is otherwise known as the 16in16 series. Generally speaking there is not much to take away from this, although if you squint especially hard you can see that there was a slight period mid way through the season (wks 2-4) where there was some form of normality, that said this was quickly dashed by the tumultuous 5th week. Playoff bound teams (Average ranking: 5.65) Figure 2. In this we find all non-playoff teams have been eliminated so that we can see how each playoff team found their way into the 'promised land'. There are two notable trends here, one being NORs rather last second climb (at the cost of Unlucky Boys), as well as SYMs unparalleled consistency where they found themselves never dropping below the 5th spot each week. Teams that missed the playoffs (Average ranking: 11.35) Figure 3. Here we find that all of the playoff teams have been omitted and instead we have the 'rest' of elite. Regarding trends that can be seen there are at least three. Firstly, we have the collapse of Unlucky Boys (as alluded to in the past graph), as well as the similarly (but not as extreme) collapse of Rusty Blades. Finally, mention should be made of SIKA never reaching higher than 12th spot on any of the weekly rankings, perhaps underlining the forgetable season that they had. Most 'consistent' teams Figure 4. In this graph we have 5 teams selected based on them being the most consistent teams throughout the table. It is worth mentioning here how it is somewhat interesting how a clear division emerged between these consistent teams, signaling perhaps the difference between those at the very top of elite and those propping it up at the bottom. Most 'erratic' teams Figure 5. Personally, this is my favourite entry in this article. Just looking at NORs line go from 13th to 3rd in two weeks imbues me with an indescribable feeling of amusement and anguish. Additionally, I have tried somewhat to sort of dismiss week 0 throughout this and instead have attempted to go off weeks 1-5 almost exclusively, that said I could not help myself but factor '0' into this one just because of Butterfly Effect and their 'twin peaked' line. Largest overall climbs Figure 6. Who doesn't love a good feel good story? Probably Almost Famous as despite them going on a pretty impressive run, moving up from 14th in week 2 to 6th in week 5, they found themselves 8pts shy of a playoff berth. Aside from NOR who I have already talked about in previous graphs we have the only remaining team here in Dynasty, who went on an overall incline where large steps forward were mixed in with a couple 'missteps'. Nevertheless DYNs ascent from 12th to 1st in 3 weeks is mightily impressive, even if they immediately dropped off to 4th the following week. Largest demises Figure 7. I sort of feel bad for ragging on these two teams so hard but I just had to isolate them and exhibit this in all it's glory. Outside of week 5 one would not be wrong in feeling that both of these teams were on course for a playoff berth, and a comfortable one at that for UB. Well, even slipping up for just a lone week can seriously danger, if not outright kill, a playoff challenge and RB / UB are the two newest teams to feel the sting of such an event. Each team managed to only pick up 5pts out of a possible 16pts in the final week. In fact, if UB had just managed to record a single extra point from somewhere would have clinched them a playoff spot over NOR. Additional notes: Of the 8 teams predicted to make the playoffs in the 16in16 series, 7 made the playoffs, with the only team that ECL captains failed to accurately judge being the ever-surprising Butterfly Effect. The biggest change in position (across weeks 1-5, excluding 0's effects) was a -11, exhibited by Unlucky Boys in week 5. Comparatively, the largest uptick in position was found to have been +7, shared by Northern Ascendancy as well as Filadelphia in week 5. Week 5 Ranking 1. Symphony (8-1-1) [+1] 2. Filadelphia (9-1-0) [+7] 3. Northern Ascendancy (9-2-1) [+7] 4. Dynasty (7-2-0) [-3] 5. Written in the Stars (8-1-1) [+1] 6. Almost Famous (3-4-1) [+5] 7. Sjukstugan (6-3-1) [-3] 8. Northern Stars (5-4-1) [+4] 9. Gotham Knights (3-3-4) [-2] 10. Butterfly Effect (4-6-0) [-2] 11. Team Frosty (2-5-3) [+2] 12. Sika (1-2-3) [+3] 13. Rusty Blades (2-5-1) [-8] 14. Unlucky Boys (2-5-1) [-11] 15. Falun Coal Miners (1-6-1) [-1] 16. Radical (disq) [=] And with that we are done for this season, I would like to say thank you to all of those who have read this series over the past few weeks. Are there any trends you feel that I've missed? If so, please write below and I'll update the post if I feel that it is worth mentioning!

Hey NHLGamers, A new patch is scheduled to be released today at 11am CET (7th Dec.). Generally speaking it appears as though this patch is certainly not as 'extensive' as the previous patch, nevertheless there are still some gameplay changes of note. For instance, they claim to have fixed an issue where one's player would attempt a forehand shot when their stick was held out on backhand. In addition to this, albeit not quite 'gameplay' related, EA also claims to have fixed the issue with challenge lobbies where the side selection option was not working correctly in EASHL, something which at the very least should save a few minutes of time on each and every game day going forward. The main bulk of this patch however comes in the form of fixing miscellaneous bugs, such as the mascot in EASHL not showing up, as well as adding additional jerseys to the game. The full changelog is as follows: What do you think about the new patch? Let us know in the comments!

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are releasing a recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays (in this case as early as possible) 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 be 'missed', although if the results are significant enough they will be mentioned in the following next week's article. 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, therefore I will do my best to elucidate the reasoning behind why 'X team' deserves to be ranked at 'Y'. 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 0 (16in16) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 1. Dynasty (3-0-1) [+6] Rising to the summit of Elite this week we have Dynasty, although I feel as though I should clarify straight off the bat that whilst Dynasty’s rise is quite obviously down to them playing well, it is also quite considerably down to the rest of Elite going on some sort of grand rock paper scissors adventure. In fact, truth be told, Dynasty at the #1 spot is perhaps the only position this week that I can completely be sure of. They find themselves in such a position based on a nigh on flawless record of 3-0-1 against last week’s #2 team in Written, as well as this week’s #3 team in the Unlucky Boys. They may not have played that much but their general record is impressive and realistically (barring any actual miracles) there should be no reason that Dynasty are not able finish in the top 4 once again in Elite. They may not be the most flashiest of teams but fundamentally they are strong and their record up to this point illustrates that quite well. 2. Symphony (5-2-1) [+1] 34 points, 20 games played, 2 wins against last week’s hottest team solidify Symphony’s slight rise this time around. With an overall points per game average of 1.7 and a three point gap between them and Written in second place signify the gap that is beginning to form at the summit of Elite, although all is not rosy for Symphony, as they gained only one point against Sjukstugan, then dropped a game in regulation to Unlucky Boys. Sure, these aforementioned teams are quite strong (4 & 3 in these rankings respectively), however these are teams that Symphony may very well meet down the line in the playoffs, as such there should be some feeling of apprehension going forward although it shouldn’t be that intense of a feeling; more of a niggling annoyance than full blown panic. 3. Unlucky Boys (5-2-1) [+5] With a meteoric rise from 8th to 3rd we find the Unlucky Boys who came out of a very gruelling schedule this week (FILA, NOR, DYN & SYM) with an extremely solid record of 5-2-1. Remove NOR and the record is not as impressive as it falls to 3-2-1, however picking up ~58% of all points available against some of the very strongest that Elite has to offer is something that should garner some serious attention, especially with the playoffs approaching very quickly. 4. Sjukstugan (2-1-1) [+2] (7), 2, 4, 6 and 4. These are the positions that Sjukstugan has held throughout these power rankings from week 1 to the current week 4, with the 16 in 16 ranking shown in parentheses. Outside of their brief foray below the top 4 of Elite, Sjukstugan have managed to put together one of the single most consistent runs throughout the entirety of Elite this season, at least compared to those in the top half of the table. With that mind however, if there was any week out of the four covered so far where Sjukstugan looked at their weakest it would most likely be this one, despite them moving up two positions from last week. This is due in part to the somewhat inconsistent play exhibited by 112, as they transitioned from disposing of Symphony efficiently, to dropping both games against UB just two days later. It should also be noted that 112 would have been ranked lower than 4th this week, but due to the rest of Elite deciding to go a little insane and have everyone beat everybody it's particularly tough to punish Sjukstugan that much. 5. Rusty Blades (4-2-0) [+4] It’s at this point where the rankings become… interesting shall we say? It’s even somewhat tempting to lump teams placed 5th through 11th into one category and call it a day. Nevertheless, I’ll try to discern some patterns from the noise although I apologise in advance if I don’t mention too much because for real; I don’t even know where to begin with this. Starting off this descent into madness we have Rusty who find themselves on the playoff side of Elite for the first time in these rankings (sans 16 in 16). That said, despite such a high ranking there are some serious missteps made by this team that need mentioning. As impressive as their wins against Written are, they still dropped two regulation losses to basement dwellers in SIKA and the ever-sputtering Team Frosty. With that in mind then it’s tough to really place these guys higher than 5th as the consistency is simply not visible, at least not to the same extent that DYN, SYM, UB & 112 have exhibited. 6. Written in the Stars (3-2-1) [-4] Should the players for Written be worried about dropping two games to a team currently outside of the playoffs? Sort of? They didn’t score that much (only four goals in the two games) although they had plenty of zone time. Should they be annoyed that they dropped points that may have ruined their chance of clinching the top playoff spot? Hell yes they should. Just losing these two games and only picking up a lone point has sent them crashing down to three points behind Symphony with the same amount of games played between them, with FILADELPHIA nipping away at their ankles in 3rd place. Of course, it needs stating that the season still has a week (or so) to go before all the ‘chips are down’ so to speak and based off of how this week went expecting any of the top teams to slip up is something that is almost a certainty at this point. 7. Gotham Knights (4-2-0) [+4] Alright, I’ve made it this far, but I seriously don’t think I can make it any further. As I stare at the teams from 7 to 13 I can’t help but imagine the order being completely different with NOS being higher due to them having a relatively hard schedule, or FILA / FLY due to them not playing all that often and facing (currently) playoff bound opponents, or NOR for showing some life even if it’s all too late, or Gotham for taking down most of their opponents somewhat convincingly, or AF for going on a pretty reasonable 2-1-1, or TF for picking up 75% of all possible points this week. Honestly, you can make an argument for and against every team in this bracket moving up and down from where they are currently ranked. As for Gotham at least, they find themselves moving up to 7th thanks in part to a pretty resoundingly strong week points wise, that said their wins came against some pretty woeful teams (NOR & FCM) and their losses came at the hands of a middling Team Frosty so realistically this week isn't that impressive but it at least opens up the door for them to make a last ditch run towards the playoffs - although the window is closing fast. 8. Butterfly Effect (1-1-0) [-3] I almost feel bad for moving down a team so much for going 50% against a very strong side from last week’s rankings in NOS. Even so, something has to give and with a bunch of teams going on a tear since last week a demotion was in order for the side that once found themselves on top just a few short weeks ago. 9. FILADELPHIA (0-2-0) [-8] As was said previously regarding Butterfly Effect, the determining factor of this team’s fall from grace is quite simply inactivity and ‘rank’ decay. Sure, losing two games to Symphony stings but in the grand scheme of things does it really change FILADELPHIA's chances of making the playoffs? Not a chance. And realistically, making the playoffs is really all that matters, as clinching a higher playoff position certainly helps, it is not however the be all and end all. 10. Northern Ascendancy (2-1-3) [+3] Too little, too late. On the surface of things, one may be mistaken for assuming that a record of 2-1-3 shows that NOR may finally be waking up from their slumber and are on the road to putting together a playoff push, well, that’s why there’s also another adage for this very scenario, You can never tell a book by its cover. Taking down AF with two wins surely makes life easier for the NOR side, however dropping two games in OT to UB and failing to pick up more than one point against the cellar dwellers in Gotham puts a serious dark mark on NOR going forward. Despite this there is still a mathematical chance that they make the playoffs, although the disconnect between reality and this ‘fact’ is certainly not lost on anyone. 11. Almost Famous (2-1-1) [+1] It’s at this point where I genuinely run out of things to say for the following three teams. For Almost Famous it feels as though that they’ve been the mid to low table answer to Sjukstugan’s consistency, with them constantly being ranking in and around this 11th spot. Then again, just like NOR, AF are still within a shot mathematically although the road towards the promised land is even more unlikely than NOR’s, as they are going to have to go toe to toe against some exceptionally tough opponents in Symphony and Unlucky Boys. 12. Northern Stars (2-4-2) [-8] Moving on to NOS we have slightly more to talk about simply due to the fact that they played four different opponents this week, unfortunately for NOS they performed fairly poorly, only amassing 6 out of a possible 16pts. Despite these quite horrid results NOS still commands 8th place in the league standings and are relatively safe from most challengers unless they drop several games. Such an event is somewhat unlikely, however with that said it should be noted that the path towards the playoffs is often fraught with drama, and with so many close challengers in TF, AF, RB & even to a degree NOR there is certainly the chance of something memorable occurring. 13. Team Frosty (3-1-0) [+1] Rounding out the completely nonsensical mismatch of teams from 7-13 we have Team Frosty who have shown quite nicely the impact that newly acquired players can have, as @Nampa77 & @Totalii have thrust the once rudderless team into something with a purpose, and perhaps most importantly of all, the means to accomplish that goal. This is exhibited by Frosty churning out a generally impressive 6 out of 8pts, although the main criticism of this record is that it came against an overall fairly weak set of opponents (Rusty & Gotham), nonetheless, points are points and at the end of the season all that matters is how many you have so I don’t imagine TF are really that bothered all things considered. 14. Falun Coal Miners (1-2-1) [-4] Despite a reasonably strong showing last week Falun have fallen back down to the lower end of Elite once again thanks to a very underwhelming set of games against Gotham where they only managed to scrape together a lone point, although besting NOS in OT certainly raised the spirits of the FCM side as it is currently one of their three wins on the season thus far. Even though the season is close to being finalised, FCM cannot afford to become complacent. Although their motivation has been all but wicked away, one slip up could easily cause them to fall even lower in the standings into the automatic relegation zone. 15. SIKA (1-3-0) [=] Another week, another series of wasted chances by SIKA to pull themselves out of the gutter that is 15th place in the league. Sure, they had a decently difficult schedule with them going up against Written and Rusty, but when you’re in a hole as deep as the one SIKA finds themselves in these sorts of aspects are no longer of any importance and just serve to mask the true reality that only picking up 2 out of a possible 8pts is going to barely help at all. At this point however, they do have something to hold out on and that’s the chance that they can leapfrog FCM so that they are no longer in the automatically relegation zone, that said even that prospect relies on FCM dropping games which could obviously backfire if they decide to go on a run. 16. Radical (n/a) [=] ⚰️ Rip ⚰️ *Rankings accurate as of 17/11/18 That's it for this weeks Power Ranking, we'll be getting back to you in a weeks time and take a look at which teams have made a climb and who possibly hasn't. Until next time, gamers! Do you agree with our ranking? You can create your own in the comments below!

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are releasing a recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. Each article in this series will be released on Mondays (in this case as early as possible) 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 be 'missed', although if the results are significant enough they will be mentioned in the following next week's article. 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, therefore I will do my best to elucidate the reasoning behind why 'X team' deserves to be ranked at 'Y'. 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 0 (16in16) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 1. FILADELPHIA (6-0-0) [=] Third week in and for the first time we have a team ranked #1 for two consecutive weeks. FILA find themselves in this position by going unbeaten against, albeit for the most part weak opponents, Unlucky Boys, Sika & Almost Famous. Putting up a pretty tidy 4 GF/GP and 1.1 GA/GP, showcasing to all how much of a powerhouse these guys currently are, with little to suggest a potential slow down in the future. All in all then, as well as taking into account their recent ESM 6s event win, I think few could argue otherwise that FILA are truly the hottest team around right now and, quite frankly, it would require a Herculean effort by the closest challengers Written In The Stars and Symphony to even come near to dislodging them from their perch. 2. Written in the Stars (5-1-0) [=] As the season trundles on we are beginning to bear witness to an all-out brawl for the top three positions in Elite with a clear division between FILA, Written, Symphony and the rest based off of the average points gained per game by each team, with Written currently sitting in the third spot with an average of 1.71. A total that historically would have put them 1st in ECL 4, barely 2nd in ECL 5 (being edged out by .02) and 2nd again in ECL 6. Whilst Written did drop pivotal points to Symphony this week which could cost them dearly down the line if they want to make a challenge for the top spot, they nevertheless went about business as usual almost and defeated Butterfly Effect, as well as Falun Coal Miners quite resoundingly. Looking forward however their schedule appears to weaken up quite substantially with next week being made up of the floundering Team Frosty and similarly rudderless Sika, only Dynasty really pose a challenge so we’ll have to wait and see if @FlyerKungen's team can conjure up something to topple FILA. 3. Symphony (3-0-1) [+2] Last week I asked people to wait one more week, just to see if Symphony was ‘for real’ and not just the result of a pretty weak schedule. Well, one week later and Symphony definitely seemed to have used their games against Written as the opportunity for a statement, besting SKY once in regulation before succumbing to them in OT in the next game. On one hand however, I still cannot shake the aspect of their schedule. Sure, they are currently the only unbeaten (in regulation) team remaining, yet they have almost exclusively played teams below them in the standings (and I mean well below them). In fact, if one was to peruse their upcoming schedule I don’t think they would be at fault for being a little surprised, or even slightly uneasy on behalf of SYM, since as far as schedule’s go this is going to be a rough one. FILADELPHIA, Northern Stars, Northern Ascendancy, Sjukstugan, Unlucky Boys, Dynasty & Almost Famous. Aside from the disappointing NOR & AF you would certainly be hard pressed to find a more difficult schedule from any team this season. 4. Northern Stars (4-1-1) [+4] “Hey look, Northern Stars are top 4” “What year is it again? Is Obama still in his first term?” Since ECL splintered off into three distinct, but not discrete, divisions in the advent of ECL 4 the predominantly Swedish team in the Northern Stars have had a very tough time finding their footing. In that inaugural season they finished 10th (six points out from a playoff position), in the following season they clawed their way back into the post-season with a strong 7th position, however in the subsequent season they seemingly lost a step, slipping one position back to 8th, couple this with the midseason loss of @PleeMaker and the summer exodus of @tbnantti one could fairly reasonably assume that NOS were going to slide all the way back to that horrid ECL 4 season form again. Turns out though, who needs Finns anyway? Whilst NOS are certainly struggling to score, they are nevertheless grinding out very important wins in critical matchups, trading wins against NOR and UB, as well as defeating a Sjukstugan team that’s looking ‘cooler’ compared to previous weeks. As long as this ability to grind out these wins remains, then NOS could very easily find themselves in a top 4 spot for the first time in a very long time. 5. Butterfly Effect (5-3-0) [+4] I think we’re going to have to hand out awards at the end of these articles, with one of them being named the “Most helter-skelter team known to man” for which FLY would be the only 'real' candidate by a mile. Just look at their position deltas thus far: +11, -8 & +4. At the very least it appears that they’re beginning to stabilise which is nice. In fact, after last week’s frankly inactive showing FLY were exceptionally active this week, playing four teams from up and down the standings. Going up against high-flyers in Written, middle table players in Rusty & Gotham, as well bottom dwellers in Sika. The question that should be asked then is could Butterfly Effect have a better record to show than 5-3-0? Certainly. Should they? Probably not. Taking away their two losses against Written brings their recent record up to 5-1-0, a record that should precipitate some real fear into those who are jostling for purchase in and around 4th ,5th ,6th & 7th place as FLY have shown to be a very deadly adversary. 6. Sjukstugan (2-1-1) [-2] Three weeks in and it would appear that the Swedish club are no longer sipping away at rarefied air and have instead begun to slowly descend back towards a more familiar position in the standings. This week was made up only of ‘derbies’ for 112, going up against the other Swedish majority teams in Elite (NOR & NOS). Gaining only one point from potential 'standing' neighbours in NOS certainly stings, although besting NOR twice in regulation without giving up a single goal probably makes up this. All that can really be said about this week for Sjukstugan is that it was a decent showing, not great, but not bad either, and coming out with five out of a possible eight points goes a long way towards clinching their second consecutive Elite playoff appearance. 7. Dynasty (4-0-0) [-1] After last week’s trials and tribulations, it would appear as though Dynasty have stabilised and become much more predictable. Despite this, they find themselves dropping a position due to a couple teams going on a much more impressive series of wins as Dynasty were gifted a quite frankly sub-par schedule this week. All things considered I don’t feel as though there is much more to say about this team outside of the fact that this season is shaping up to be fairly nominal, and that entry to the playoffs is practically assured if they maintain this path. 8. Unlucky Boys (1-2-1) [-5] Coming in with one of the toughest schedules this week we find the aptly named Unlucky Boys. Gaining three points out of eight against two very tough opponents in FILA & NOS is certainly noteworthy, especially if you look to predict the final standings for Elite. I say this because UB, for the most part, have not faced especially great opponents thus far. Whilst they may have faced the teams aforementioned, they are still yet to go up against 112, DYN, FLY and SYM, a series of franchises that could, should, and perhaps will harper UB’s playoff push quite substantially; especially with Rusty Blades and Team Frosty nipping away at their heels. This is effectively the make or break half of the season, they have set themselves up in decent position, but not great, so UB are going to have to play exceptionally well to open up a gap between them and those wanting to depose them. 9. Rusty Blades (3-1-2) [+2] Even now, just one week later, Rusty surely are ruing their loss to UB as they sit just two points behind them on the outside looking in towards a playoff berth. In fact, it seems as though the proverbial penny has dropped inside Rusty’s camp and the urgency of their play has been raised a notch with them recording a very respectable eight points out of a possible twelve, sure it wasn’t pretty and against fairly subpar opponents, nevertheless a point is a point and drawing closer to a playoff berth is all that they should be thinking about. Similar to UB before them however, Rusty is facing a somewhat bleak upcoming schedule as they are yet to face DYN, FILA, NOS and SKY. Just half way through the season, that 1-0 loss (or 2-0 win, depending on who you ask) may prove to be unbelievably critical in deciding whether RB or UB make the playoffs, outside of the race for 1st, this battle for 8th has the potential to be the most entertaining skirmish in all of Elite. 10. Falun Coal Miners (1-2-1) [+6] Doubling their wins on the season (hey! It’s something!) we find a Falun team in their best form of the season thus far. Trading wins with Rusty was perhaps expected, if a little surprising, however taking Written in the Stars to overtime is something that I doubt anyone could have called, even those within the FCM team. Even though it was just a lone point that they gained, it’s a point that very few teams, if any at all, around them in the standings could have gained. Taking scalps like this from teams vastly higher in the standings cannot be underestimated in value, as it gives the team in question some room for error going forward. Such is a luxury that FCM have not been afforded this season, and on top of that their performance against SKY has allowed them to jump out of the bottom three for the first time this season, giving them some form of respite in the run-up to the conclusion of the regular season. 11. Gotham Knights (1-4-1) [-1] Coming into this week Gotham Knights were facing a vast uphill battle to regain the spot in the playoffs that they held just two weeks prior. It would seem however that the genie has truly left the bottle and any magic left over has been spent as Gotham continued their descent into the nether regions of Elite. Getting smoked by Symphony no doubt stings but such an event should probably have been anticipated, even gaining only one point against FLY was perhaps even predictable and could be viewed as a ‘good result’, what is not acceptable however is dropping a game to playoff hopefuls Almost Famous. Even still, Gotham remains within a shot of the playoffs and at the very least assured safety, however the clock is ticking and, in truth, losing @Rimpe may have delivered the death blow already for their season. 12. Almost Famous (2-4-0) [+2] Rising slightly from the doldrums of the standings we find an Almost Famous side who are effectively on autopilot right now. Two losses against FILA showcases the vast gap in skill between them and the top of the table, however trading wins against Rusty and Gotham exhibits a certain average quality; although such a quality may be on the way out with @SadaPoika leaving to join Unlucky Boys. Aside from that however I’m at a loss of what to say about these guys, as not everyone can make the playoffs and as it stands AF are ‘favourites’, if you can even call it that, to be one of those on the outside looking in once the dust has settled in a few weeks. 13. Northern Ascendancy (1-3-0) [-1] Ten games, six points, eleven goals for, twenty against and not a single powerplay goal. The only thing working in favour for NOR is the fact that they’ve played the least games out of any team in Elite and that their overall defence is mediocre statistically. Despite this, there is still some hope if they can figure out their offensive troubles as this upcoming week could practically make or break their season, as they go up against the current 8th placed team in the Unlucky Boys. It should be noted that besting UB twice in regulation is all but required if NOR wants to be serious about making the playoffs, slipping up even slightly and giving away points to a team in prime position to take 8th place could be the ‘canary in the mine’ that draws the curtain on NOR’s season so soon. 14. Team Frosty (1-3-0) [-7] Last week Dynasty were noted as being unpredictable, well that note has been passed on to Team Frosty for this week. Just one week removed from being solidly in playoff contention TF find themselves having missed a step, going 1-3-0, with two losses coming against Dynasty and one against a very weak Sika. Despite this, TF has loaded up and are almost certainly posturing towards making a run with the acquisition of @Totalii & @Nampa77, two players who will sure up their defence and offence respectively very nicely. This upcoming week is going to be interesting as they have ample opportunity to leapfrog competitors in the standings as they are slated to play Rusty Blades and Gotham Knights. 15. Sika (1-7-0) [-2] 16th in all but name thanks to Radical’s disqualification. Bottom four offence, bottom three defence, the only statistic that paints Sika in a positive light is their league leading 58.8% faceoff rating. Even the return of the long-time member @imosi could only stem the haemorrhage for a few games before full blown systemic shock inevitably set in again. Playoffs are of course completely out of reach; however, safety is not necessarily off the cards. A solid performance against their remaining opponents (most of which are in and around them in the standings) could solidify their membership in Elite. It should also be mentioned that in all honesty, their 1-7-0 record this week is kind of admirable as they went up against a fairly tough set of opponents in FLY, FILA, DYN, then rounded it out with a playoff hopeful in Team Frosty in which they traded regulation wins. The panic button should have been pressed a long time ago but the window of safety, whilst shutting at a rapid pace, is nevertheless still open and within touching distance. 16. Radical (n/a) [-1] ⚰️ Rip ⚰️ *Rankings accurate as of 10/11/18 That's it for this weeks Power Ranking, we'll be getting back to you in a weeks time and take a look at which teams have made a climb and who possibly hasn't. Until next time, gamers! Do you agree with our ranking? You can create your own in the comments below!

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we are releasing a recurring segment that looks to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite over the past week. Each article in this series will be aimed for release on Mondays (in this case as early as possible) 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 be 'missed', although if the results are significant enough they will be mentioned in the following next week's article. 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, therefore I will do my best to elucidate the reasoning behind why 'X team' deserves to be ranked at 'Y'. 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 0 (16in16) Week 1 Week 2 1. FILADELPHIA (5-0-1) [+3] Not content with their 4th placed ranking last week FILADELPHIA set out to bolster their budding résumé by disposing of a who’s who from the top 6 of last weeks edition, taking Northern Ascendancy, Dynasty & Sjukstugan out to the woodshed, only dropping one point out of six in a game against Dynasty where they (FIL) perhaps should have won. Nevertheless, with such a dominant display against teams who were supposed to put up more of a fight one can only imagine that the SKY is the limit… or, indeed, is it? 2. Written in the Stars (5-0-0) [+4] @vSilenttio quite aptly said recently in the ECL podcast that “SKY didn’t look like SKY”, in reference to their showing in the first week. Well, one can safely assume that the players in SKY have smashed this assertation. Dispatching of NOR in resounding fashion, then absolutely decimating an Almost Famous by a combined score of 10-2 and on top this, they defeated Dynasty 3 to 2 in OT to mark a week where you would struggle to find a single aspect that they faltered in. Similar to last weeks edition of this ranking however it should be mentioned that like Sjukstugan before them, if it wasn’t for FILADELPHIA going on a hot run then SKY could easily have been slotting in at #1 as opposed to #2. If anything, it speaks to the level of competition at the very top that such a thing can happen twice in a row. 3. Unlucky Boys (3-1-0) [+6] Putting aside their lacklustre opening week Unlucky Boys find themselves in a more familiar position this time around, both here and in the Elite standings (latter being 7th). As is often the case for me I am at a loss as to what exactly I should say about these guys. They’re just solid, sure their goal scoring is particularly frightening (and not in a good way) compared to teams around them, especially when combined with their goals against average (-1 differential). Nevertheless, they grind out their wins just as well as any other team in the league, as shown by them rounding out this week by toppling last week's #3 team in Gotham Knights in both games, as well as splitting with Rusty Blades. 4. Sjukstugan (2-1-1) [-2] Sliding down to the #4 spot we find Sjukstugan, a team possibly playing at the highest level that they’ve ever played at in their entire history as a franchise. 8-1-1 overall, both losses (OT & reg.) coming against this week’s hottest team in FILADELPHIA, as well as @Hullued putting up a quite frankly ridiculous .911 save% signals that perhaps the Elite captains who participated in the voting section of the 16 in 16 may have underestimated the new look Swedish team a tad. 5. Symphony (4-0-0) [=] Eventually you’ll see me say that Symphony have had a tough week in terms of the schedule they were tasked with, today is not that day however as they went up against a bottom feeder of the division in Falun Coal Miners, then an underperforming Rusty Blades, disposing of both teams with four regulation wins (each with a goal differential of 2). Look for these guys to truly make a statement next week as they’re scheduled to play FILADELPHIA, Northern Stars, as well as Gotham Knights. 6. Dynasty (3-1-3) [+6] Having played only two games last week all eyes were on Dynasty to see how they truly stacked up against Elite’s finest, and boy were they tested. Two wins against a visibly struggling team in Falun Coal Miners surely gave Dynasty the confidence to go toe-to-toe with FILADELPHIA the very next day, with both games being decided by a single goal. They then sort of crashed back to Earth with a disappointing single point in two games against Northern Stars, finally rounding out the week with a OTL + mystery game against Written. If a single word could be applied to Dynasty’s week, I think that unpredictable would be appropriate. 7. Northern Stars (4-0-0) [+3] Entering the top 8 for the first time this year we have Northern Stars, who seem to have consolidated their playoff aspirations after last week’s wobble, even if it was minute. The one negative I would note is that the issue still remains that their offence is particularly weak, especially compared to their contemporaries, however wins are wins and with such solid defence it’s somewhat tough to not win games. In addition to this, it should be noted that whilst Dynasty are incredibly unpredictable right now and it seems luck of the draw almost regarding how well they’ll play in any given game, they are not facing down the barrel of disbandment like Radical, as such NOS’s wins against this team will be rescinded according to the LA ruling posted today. (along with any games league-wide involving RAD). 8. Team Frosty (3-1-0) [+5] Going from 16th to 8th in the space of a fortnight isn’t exactly a bad turnaround for those from Team Frosty. Especially so as one of the main criticisms I had about this team was their apparent lack of goal scoring support, an assertation that has been thoroughly smashed this past week with them potting ten goals in four games (a pace that would have them above the likes of FILADELPHIA & Dynasty). It should however be noted that eight of these goals came against the proverbial ‘whipping boy’ of Elite in the Falun Coal Miners and therefore there should still be some caution within the Frosty camp, nevertheless they can rest easy at the very least now that they have put some distance between them and the bottom of the league. 9. Butterfly Effect (1-1-0) [-8] If last week we talked about the “no-man’s land of mediocracy” then this week the theme is the broadening of the gap between the playoff bound teams (8th and above) and ‘the rest’ (9th and below). Despite an extremely hot start last week which earned them a #1 ranking, Butterfly Effect has fluttered, or rather, crashed back to Earth due partly to inactivity, as well as dropping a potentially key two points to playoff spot rivals Team Frosty. Despite this however, it’s tough to really criticise FLY that heavily as they somewhat atoned for this loss by doing some clean up duty in the following game, dominating the time on attack 9:10 to 3:35 with a score line that was equally as impressive (4-0). In a sense then this ranking is more of a ‘decay’ than anything else really. 10. Gotham Knights (0-3-1) [-7] If Butterfly Effect’s decline was motivated heavily by ‘decay’ then the same cannot be said for Gotham Knights. Since their 3-1-0 start just a week ago, Gotham has scored a miniscule two goals in four games, as well as allowing a not so great (but not bad mind you) ten over that same period. In fact, the only reason they’re ranked here and not lower is based on the level of the opponents that they have faced (112 & UB), other than that though this should just act as a ‘wakeup call’ to Gotham, reminding them that Elite can easily chew up and spit out a team resting on their laurels. 11. Rusty Blades (1-3-0) [-3] I mentioned last week that whilst Rusty Blades should not be discouraged by their tumultuous start, they should however take notice of their goal scoring and try their best to get it going. Well, one week later and the case remains largely the same for this team. In fact, I could honestly copy and paste my account of them from last week because the similarities are striking. For instance, their GF/GP is still locked to a lone tally, their GA/GP is still hovering around the middle of the league at 1.88, and perhaps most importantly of all, they again played two strong teams in Unlucky Boys & Symphony. Eventually though some of Symphony’s luck on the schedule thus far will swap with Rusty’s apparent lack thereof and all will be well, until that point however I can’t really rank RB higher than this as much as I would perhaps like to. 12. Northern Ascendancy (0-4-0) [-6] As no one else was able to write NOR’s entry this week I’ll take up the mantle, although I’ll try to keep it snappy since it’s my team and biases are a thing. Right now, NOR are in a very delicate position, as while they may have gotten all four points last week, this time around they were practically steamrolled by Elite’s finest in SKY & FILA. Of course, bad starts are not always a death sentence, that said even now just six games in NOR are close to matching their last season total of five regulation losses which for intents and purposes isn’t exactly a great thing to think about. 13. SIKA (1-1-0) [+3] Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor is a season won or lost providing that there’s some life shown. Compared with their last week SIKA was no where near as active, playing in only two games vs. the eight they were in before. Nevertheless, gaining two points goes a long way in the dogfight that is brewing for ECL 8 Elite security. It is also of important interest to note that @imosi is now back and is 0+3 in the two games that he has played. Whilst he’s maybe not a player that’s going to carry them to the playoffs, he certainly can be a massive factor in SIKA's ongoing survival battle. 14. Almost Famous (1-3-0) [-3] A third of the way into the season and Almost Famous have put themselves in a very respectable position going forward, affording them the chance to make a run into the playoffs. That said, there are still questions to be asked of this roster, especially as six of their eight points thus far have come against teams that currently sit below them in the standings. Now of course, one may say that having 80% of all possible points against teams below you is not exactly a bad thing and I am inclined to agree. The problem is that the other two points have come from the team directly above them in the standings (Team Frosty). Therefore, what aF should be wary of is that this a trend that, while almost assuring safety for ECL 8, makes it quite difficult to put up a challenge for the playoffs if they can’t snatch points away from those above them in standings. 15. Radical (0-2-0) [-1] DSQ For a team predicted to finish 3rd in the regular season one could perhaps be mistaken for thinking these games would be a formality, however it would seem as though these games are anything but that as Radical have sputtered out of the gate, playing a meagre four games and recording a paltry point. It would also appear that there are some internal differences within the team as a couple of their players have left, putting Radical in a very precarious position going forward. 16. Falun Coal Miners (0-5-1) [-1] If the 16 in 16 report got Sjukstugan wrong, then it all but nailed the Falun Coal Miners. Twelve games into the season with a record of 1-9-2, an anaemic offence potting 11 over that period, as well as a leaky defence allowing a league high 43 earmark a team struggling desperately to stay afloat. The one saving grace is that they have had to go up against some very strong opponents recently in Symphony and Dynasty, although the fact that they gathered only one measly point against Team Frosty certainly puts a dampener on things. *Rankings accurate as of 3/11/18 That's it for this weeks Power Ranking, we'll be getting back to you in a weeks time and take a look at which teams have made a climb and who possibly hasn't. Until next time, gamers! Do you agree with our ranking? You can create your own in the comments below!

Hello NHLGamers, For this season of ECL Elite we will be releasing a recurring segment that will look to detail the ‘hottest’, ‘coldest’ and… ‘mildest’? teams in Elite 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 be 'missed', although if the results are significant enough they will be mentioned in the following next week's article. 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, therefore I will do my best to elucidate the reasoning behind why 'X team' deserves to be ranked at 'Y'. 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 0 (16in16) Week 1 ‘Wild West’ Yes, that is a pun about Red Dead Redemption 2 being released recently, and yes, it is the last pun I will ever make. Nevertheless, I feel it’s a fitting description given how some teams have played 8 games whilst some have only played 2, consequently making the ranking of any team quite onerous. *Rankings accurate as of 27/10/18 1. Butterfly Effect (6-1-1) [+11] Playing the most games in Elite thus far FLY have certainly sent a statement out that they’re here to play; despite being the last call up from Pro due to the folding of Monarchs. They’re ranked 1st over the similarly impressive Sjukstugan due to them playing more games against 'better opponents', most notably one of them being the highly touted Dynasty. 2. Sjukstugan (6-0-0) [+5] Despite what the ranking may suggest, being placed 2nd here is not a case of playing second fiddle in any way. In fact, it’s tough to really differentiate the two teams so treat this pick as 1b rather than 2, especially when you consider the fact that four of 112’s wins came against the previous regular season ‘president’s’ winner in Written in the Stars, as well as a playoff hopeful and stalwart defensive team in Rusty Blades. 3. Gotham Knights (3-1-0) [+11] Having the most points out of any other team on such a hard-opening schedule Gotham Knights have shown that they are here to play and don't need any games to get up to speed, dismantling Radical in regulation as well as OT, on top of defeating NOS in OT before falling to them in regulation. 4. FILADELPHIA (3-1-0) [-2] Wins over a previously predicted playoff bound team in Northern Stars, as well as going toe to toe with FLY and coming out with 2pts mark a pretty good showing thus far by FILA. Their stock is carried quite heavily by their rinsing of NOS 7-1 however, so much so that without it they perhaps wouldn't find themselves so highly ranked here. 5. Symphony (4-0-0) [-1] Are Symphony's wins against a pair of opponents who aren't the 'best'? Sure. Nevertheless, they've exhibited the ability to win and at any level that's something that simply cannot be understated. (Plus, they sort of dominated all games bar one so there's that too.) 6. Northern Ascendancy (2-0-0) [=] What is there really to be said so far? Northern Ascendancy have played only two games, winning both of them in overtime as they "only did what they had to do" against Rusty Blades. A little birdie told me that Rusty had more to give in those games and that they perhaps should have earned more than just two points from NOR. I must say that when a veteran team like NOR takes home four points and you hear these "ifs" and "buts" after the games - it just doesn't surprise me anymore. Next up they are facing SKY, BAT and FILA so it's easier to get back to this team when they have dealt with more opponents. (Courtesy of @vSilenttio) 7. Written in the Stars (2-0-2) [-6] Visible struggles against Sjukstugan mar an otherwise solid showing thus far, although one could argue that said struggles were overcome in a 8-0 victory versus the defensively orientated Unlucky Boys. Therefore, with such a varied level of play it's tough to place them anywhere other than 'mediocre'. 8. Rusty Blades (0-1-3) [+1] It's at this point we make our way into the 'no man's land' of mediocracy, don't take this as a diss by any means but that's kind of the way these rankings tend to go. That is not to say that Rusty have been bad per se, for instance their defence seems to be in form yet again sporting a 2 GA/GP which is historically a pretty decent level. With that said however, it's not like everything is rosy for Rusty as their offence has all but completely dried up (1 GF/GP) which could spell danger if it continues, although it should be mentioned that they've played two 'defensive' teams in NOR & 112 which can explain their apparent lack of goal scoring ability to some degree. 9. Unlucky Boys (3-3-0) [+1] I can see it already... "why are UB 9th with 6pts but Rusty at 8th with 3pts?". Well, as I alluded to before in the introduction, points aren't everything. Sure, UB have 6pts but those came via a series of unconvincing one goal wins vs. pretty subpar opponents in Team Frosty & Sika, then they got smacked down by a resurgent Written. Still though, running at a pt/g average in elite is nothing to scoff at, especially as that is historically close to the playoff cut-off point (avg. 1.17 P/GP). 10. Northern Stars (1-1-2) [-2] As we slip further and further down this list any issues plaguing these teams becomes less and less of a niggling problem and more of a systemic issue that poses a severe risk to derailing their chances of clinching a playoff spot. Of course this does not mean that NOS are in danger territory yet, especially as the point made about UB and maintaining a pt/g average applies here as well, just that there are some issues that perhaps could become larger problems unless tackled at some point, one of these perhaps being the fact that Chimera is currently averaging over double the amount of turnovers as his forward line mates whilst performing below their level points wise. Despite this they've played two very solid teams and come out of as a .500 team, so the panic button doesn't need to pressed just at this moment but if they want to solidify their playoff ambitions then Chimera is going to have to pull his play together. 11. Almost Famous (3-3-0) [=] If UB were rated at 9th because of their unconvincing wins and blow out losses, then Almost Famous are ranked even lower despite identical records due to a series of even more unstable and ever-changing performances by the newly promoted team. Opening up the season losing two straight to FLY stings, but it happens, winning the next two (albeit in close fashion) against FCM certainly atoned for their opening display, however splitting their games against TF (with one being a 4-1 loss) certainly puts a dampner on things and AF may rue these early missed points come later in the season. 12. Dynasty (1-1-0) [-7] Two points against a seemingly strong opponent in FLY yet here we are at 12th, what gives? I suppose it's a little bit like a 'chicken and the egg' situation, did Dynasty get two points because they played well? Or did FLY get three points (reg. W and OT W) because Dynasty played badly? Usually all that these 'hypotheticals' teach us is that context is key and in order to get context you need a certain amount of background information to make an informed decision, as Dynasty have only played FLY thus far I'm going to err on the side caution and simply say that they just weren't playing up to their usual standard and that's that. 13. Team Frosty (2-4-0) [+3] This season is looking like it may be a bit of a rough one for Team Frosty. Opening up with two losses to Symphony surely wasn't part of the plan although I doubt many could have expected a different result. Going on to split games against AF & UB is again, nothing to scoff at of course, yet outside of their wins their offence has struggling exceptionally with them only potting 3 goals in 4 games. One could say that these type of stats are inherently cherry picked and to some degree I agree, since it seems intuitive that when you win you're going to perform better than when you loss, however if you're relying on random games where your offence 'explodes' then games down the stretch are going to get very frustrating very quickly when you desperately need to close out or get within reaching distance of an opponent, only to 'hope' that something happens eventually. Nevertheless, despite such a depressing outlook this type of play may be all that Team Frosty needs to stay afloat in Elite as long as their 'average-ish' defence holds steady. 14. Radical (0-1-1) [-12] Similar to Dynasty it's especially tough to gauge exactly how good a team is when they've only played two games and had mixed results. In addition to this, it doesn't exactly leave much to be discerned from the 'noise' so to speak so... yea. 15. Falun Coal Miners (1-4-1) [=] Has Kopparberget began to run dry? With a frankly pitiful 1.17 GF/GP (good for joint 5th worst) the Miners from Falun are looking up once again as underdogs after a series of poor results vs. teams that were predicted to finish quite close to them in the standings (Sika, Almost Famous & Butterfly Effect). On the one hand if you take away their losses from FLY (who look to be an early dark horse candidate this season) FCM's results don't seem too bad, however even with that in mind giving up points to teams that you are looking to displace in order to get into the playoffs is never a great strategy. 16. SIKA (1-6-1) [-3] Worst GF/GP, 4th worst GA/GP and three points out of a potential 16 makes for a start that the Finnish Swine were not exactly looking for. There's always time to work their way up the standings but even this early it may be a case of damage control and securing safety as opposed to lofty playoff aspirations. That's it for this weeks Power Ranking, we'll be getting back to you in a weeks time and take a look at which teams have made a climb and who possibly hasn't. Until next time, gamers! Do you agree with our ranking? You can create your own in the comments below!

Hey NHLGamers, A new patch (1.3.0) is has been released for NHL 19. As this is a patch and not a tuner there are a significant amount of changes to the game. Main additions / changes to EASHL are the reinclusion of 'Club captaincy', the removal of the post-game timer restarting once you already stopped it by going into the instant replay, as well as a bunch of other fixes aiming to stop the mode randomly breaking for no reason. In addition to this they are still investigating the dressing room errors that are plaguing some users. On top of this they have tried to improve how your player picks up a stick from the bench so hopefully they'll no longer cosplay as Helen Keller. Furthermore, they've tried to make the transitions more consistent when moving between different stances for human goalies. The full changelog is as follows: Additionally, there was a tuner released recently (24th Oct) which is shown below. What do you think about the new patch & tuner? Is the VS/HUT AI at a good level now? What is your main gripe with NHL 19? Let us know in the comments.

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Few teams hold the distinction that Written in the Stars are able to claim; playing in all ECL Elite seasons and making the playoffs throughout is certainly an impressive feat. Despite this continued regular season success, Written has run into some quite serendipitous matchups in the playoffs. In ECL 4 they faltered to Dynasty who would go on to make the finals and lose to Laser HT. ECL 5 was an improvement as they dispatched Dynasty in the 1st round, however they came unstuck against SJK (previously Laser HT) who went on to make the finals and lose to Aapon Taikasauva in a five game series. In both of these seasons Written finished in 4th place, so when they punched their ticket to the ECL 6 playoffs with a nigh on perfect record of 27-2-1 (30GP), it was beginning to look like it was finally ‘their’ year. However, fate is rarely so simple. After quashing Northern Stars’ run in convincing fashion in the 1st round, Written moved on and was knocked out by, you guessed it, the eventual runner up Northern Ascendancy. IN: Dominointi <-- SJK eSports VesKuLiNe <-- SJK eSports Hansulinho <-- SJK eSports willekunq <-- Red Machine topikeranen <-- Evolution Bugimir <-- Military service OUT: ADETIKKI --> Symphony joukki13 --> Radical eissi83 --> Butterfly Effect Totalii --> Radical Current Roster: Forwards Dominointi (A) @Dominointi FlyerKungen (C) @FlyerKungen Bugimir @Bugimir topikeranen @topikeranen Defensemen jtorro1234 (A) @jtorro1233 willekunq @willekunq JOHTAJAVIRTANEN @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN VesKuLiNe @VesKuLiNe Goaltenders JANURI98 @JanneK. Hansulinho @Hansulinho With this is mind we’ll segue into our short but sweet interview with @FlyerKungen: With such great regular season showings but post-season results that perhaps leave little to be desired, what changes have you made over this past off-season in an attempt to hopefully propel your team deeper into the playoffs, and what were the motives behind said moves? After a disappointing playoffs, we didn't have any plans to change things too much. When ADETIKKI made an early decision to leave us, we were forced to start looking for a new center. After hearing a rumor about the SJK eSports "re-building" thing, I immediately asked Dominointi if he is leaving SJK eSports and maybe interested to join us, and he was. He wanted me to start playing the center position, so he can play right wing for the first time in his career and it was a fine deal for me. That's why I played Summer Cup 3 as a center. Our next thing was when Bugimir called me and said, "My Army is almost over, I want to play Hockey again!". He has played here for ECL 3 & 5 and he is my good friend so that's why I wanted to take him back. Last four signings, VesKuLiNe, Hansulinho, willekunq and topikeranen wanted to join here after seeing our current team and we know all these guys very well from the past and each of them are great teammates. We also agreed that a bigger amount of players could be better for us now. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? Our team is now ready for the ECL 7 and we are not looking for players anymore. With all of this in mind, what are your expectations for the upcoming season? And who do you think are the current favourites to win it all? The Elite division seems to be tougher than never before. So many potential and skilled teams. Battle between playoff-spots will be fun to watch and it's very hard to predict which eight teams will be playing in playoffs. It's also hard to say who is the favourite to win it all but at least FILADELPHIA, Symphony & Dynasty will be tough teams to beat if you face them in playoffs. Thanks for your answers FlyerKungen, good luck with the starting season! You can follow Written In The Stars during the ECL Elite season and live at the eSM finals 3.11. at GameXpo. ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: (Links to each team article) 1. Written In The Stars 2. FILADELPHIA 3. Radical 4. Symphony 5. Dynasty 6. Northern Ascendancy 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. Butterfly Effect 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty So, NHLGamers.. The Elite season is on it's way and we've counted down to the very start with this 16 in 16 series! What do you think about the season that is around the corner? Who will be the top scorer? Who prevails as the champion? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more amazing action to come!

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. As we all know by now, ECL 6 Pro-winning Monarchs decided to call it quits after a tough offseason. The team decided to join forces with the Elite established Sjukstugan. This put the NHLGamer League Administration in a tough spot and we were forced to promote a new team, which based on ECL 6 Pro playoff wins is Butterfly Effect. The team formerly known as Red Machine have made some big changes to their roster over the summer, with only 3 members left from last season. Butterfly Effect has a rather successful ECL history already, as they won ECL Lite in their first campaign in ECL 5, after which they experienced a tough 2nd round exit in ECL 6 against the eventual Pro champions Monarchs, who we already briefly introduced in this article. With some of the new signings @Vilupoika, @After8 (will_yo7), @eissi83 (do I even need to go on!?) they will have a strong season ahead of them. A negative was losing some of their key players but on the other hand adding Elite quality and a cool new logo and name will make up for that. IN Vilupoika <-- Carlsberg HC (Now Radical) will_yo7 <-- Unlucky Boys HC eissi83 <-- Written In The Stars Nassustelija <-- Shameful Knights Crisu_Rottis <-- Evolution OUT erholtzi --> Gotham Knights Mommi --> Wasps Gaming kojowaa --> Wasps Gaming willekunq --> Written In The Stars JaKurrii --> Wasps Gaming Chafak --> Almost Famous Stylez-Hades --> Free Agent Current roster: Forwards jergelii (C) @Jere Jortama RutonMosse (A) @RutonMosse Vilupoika @Vilupoika Defensemen Nassustelija (A) @Nassustelija will_yo @After8 Crisu_Rottis @Crisu_rottis Goaltenders eissi83 @eissi83 Roisto999 @Roisto999 I managed to have a short chat with captain @Jere Jortama: As a (very) fresh face in the upcoming Elite season how have you approached this past offseason? I.e. What were the main areas that you felt needed addressing after your last season in Pro? We hoped all offseason long that we can get that elite spot, our team had a lot of changes in the roster leading up to this season. We wanted to get more active players in our team, since our roster last season didn't show the level of activity I desired. Our team has been grinding daily ever since NHL 19 was dropped. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? We made some good acquisitions and our roster is now ready for what ECL7 throws our way. With all of this in mind, what are your expectations for the upcoming season? And who do you think are the current favourites to win it all? Our expectations for the upcoming season are pretty high, I think that our team will surprise a lot of teams on the ice. I think Written In The Stars is a viable candidate to win ECL and if I had to name another one it's definitely FILADELPHIA. Thanks for the quick chat jergelii and good luck in your inaugural Elite season! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. Radical 4. Symphony 5. Dynasty 6. Northern Ascendancy 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. Butterfly Effect 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Only two ways left we can go! Who will be #1?