MartindalexC

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. New name, new roster, new style, new captain… you get the picture. After winning ECL 4 there were perhaps mumblings about how likely Laser HT would be able to repeat such a feat, especially considering the quite frankly preposterous numbers that @Dominointi was able to put up (94pts in the regular season and 39pts in 17 for the playoffs). Obviously, there was some truth to the speculation as they made the finals for a second straight season but could only manage to win one game against a very dominant Aapon Taikasauva. They then went on to whimper out in 5 games to Dynasty in the first round of ECL 6. These lacklustre results paved the way for an exodus of players from SJK over the summer, leaving but 5 players behind. After the dust had settled, @indi969, @ICappeI, @Ilmari_30, @Selarit and @Lauri were faced with the daunting task of putting together a team that, at the very least, could compete in Elite. As such, unlike a lot of teams in Elite this season, Symphony has a quite uncommonly high player turnover, so with that in mind to help us gain an understanding of who has joined and left the team, we have contacted their captain indi969 and new addition @vSilenttio to give us a snapshot of how they are coming along in their preparation for ECL 7. IN ADETIKKI <-- Written In The Stars Puantso <-- Dynasty Tbnantti <-- Northern Stars Entii112 <-- Nordic Stars nylanderi <-- Break from NHL vsilenttio <-- SIKA OUT Dominointi --> Written In The Stars Hansulinho --> Written In The Stars VesKuLiNe --> Written In The Stars OriginalPumaz --> Dynasty Leksa94 --> Dynasty Current roster: Forwards ADETIKKI @ADETIKKI indi969 (C) @indi969 Puantso (A) @Buantso tbnantti @tbnantti Defensemen vSilenttio @vSilenttio nylanderi @nylanderi Ilmari_30 @Ilmari_30 Entii112 @entii112 Selarit @Selarit Goaltenders ICappeI (A) @ICappeI Laurilion @Lauri As the “old but new” team in elite (with plenty of top tier elite talent to boot) how are you approaching your debut season and what was the logic behind your offseason moves? @indi969: I think we have a really good team at the moment, consisting of lots of old SJK players and lots of new guys also. I think we can go really far in this next tournament. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? If you are indeed finalised, what will your starting line-up look like? @indi969: At the moment, I'm not 100% sure are we done yet and i don't know about the starting lineup. It'll remain to be seen! 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? @indi969: There are many good teams in Elite this year, i think its gonna be harder than ever to win this next tournament. We are of course trying to do it. For favourites it's too lame to say your own team so I'm gonna go with Written In The Stars Symphony had probably the largest player turnover in Elite this offseason, surely many players knew each other from before, but how have the guys started gelling and building chemistry? As a new guy, how easy was it to join the team? @vSilenttio: I joined the team in April, so there's been some time to get to know the guys. We've been working on our chemistry hard all summer, you know, defensive positioning and all that stuff. I'll be blunt and say that it was a bit tough coming into a totally new team where the game speed and overall expected level of play was at a totally new level. However now as things have started rolling, I'd say I haven't had this much fun with this game since maybe NHL 14 and ECL 3. I'd like to extend a massive thanks to the team captains for making it so easy for the new guys to join the team! You're making your first strides on the Elite ice after quite a while this season, for the first time in a team with somewhat high expectations. What kind of thoughts does that bring to mind and how do you expect Symphony to handle this season? @vSilenttio: That's something I've thought about myself too. What kind of impact am I going to be able to make after a few seasons spent in Pro, and I didn't really play as much as I've wanted during NHL 18. At least the expectations are very different than ever before, and the IS Cup has started very well, so mine are high too. In the ECL, our only goal is the championship. Every guy is zoned in and gives a 100% every night, the work ethic and the morale within the team is what I've always wanted, so I'm sensing good things. Thanks indi & Sile for your answers and good luck with the upcoming season! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. Symphony 5. Dynasty 6. Northern Ascendancy 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty What do you guys think the top 3 will look like?

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. Sjukstugan, Carlsberg (now Radical), Kattiautomaatti, Silver Sword Griffins, Unlucky Boys, Evolution, Falun Coal Miners, Pata Hellalla, Monarchs, Filadelphia, Almost Famous, White Trash (now Team Frosty), Rusty Blades, Nordic Stars, & Gotham Knights. What do all of these teams have in common? The more astute of those reading will undoubtedly already know, but for those not always keeping up to date with the to-and-fros of Elite, the list details each and every team that has been promoted to the highest division over the past three seasons. Of said teams only five have remained in Elite after their initial inclusion, four have made the playoffs at least once, and only one has progressed past the first round and won the division title. What this shows is the true difference in skill between Pro and Elite, and that getting promoted does not mean that you can rest on your laurels or that your job as a captain or as a team is done, as in order to stay up and be competitive every game you need to constantly improve and identify areas that need practice. Sjukstugan is a team that perfectly embodies this concept due to their consistent results. As such, to hopefully key us in on how Sjukstugan are approaching their third season in Elite we would like to introduce 112s captain @Bjono who has answered some questions for us at the end of this article, enjoy! IN I-Maise-I <-- Break from NHL Tacterz <-- Monarchs Edhoolm97 <-- Monarchs PajenC32 <-- Monarchs juniorzalaz <-- Monarchs IFKPEKING2k15 <-- Monarchs OUT Patovic_ --> Stories will be told, banners will be raised - a legend retires JaikenK --> N/A Nampa77 --> Almost Famous Current Roster: Forwards IbjonoI @Bjono PajenC32 @pajenc Tacterz @Tacterz juniorzalaz @Zalaz Edhoolm97 @Edhoolm97 Norpee @Norpee Defensemen Klingen45 @Klingen45 Gustafsson7 @Gustafsson7 I-Maise-I Goaltenders I-Pippo-I @Pippo IFKPEKING2k15 @IsakTuvesson Hullued @Hullued Since joining Elite two seasons ago Sjukstugan has been on a slow, but nevertheless upward trend, moving up from 11th in ECL 5 to a very respectable 6th place finish in ECL 6. Do you feel like your team can reach loftier heights for the upcoming ECL 7 and if so, how have you gone about trying to achieve it? We can absolutely do it better but we need to be patience and give this new game some time. And also give time to play all New players in to the team. But the team is more motivated than we have been for a long time. We are also delighted that we have l-Maise-l back and motivated for this game. Also it warms my heart that JAIKEN is back at home. *Jaiken has since left the team. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? If you are indeed finalised, what will your starting line-up look like? Time will show, but as you know we've made quite a few acquisitions and I believe all of our players are capable of handling responsibilities at the Elite level. There will be some rotation for sure. Make a guess 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 this season is to get to know the game and make it to the semi finals, from there on we just hope for the best :) Really hard to say anything at the moment because it's still such a new and different game than the previous one. We haven't even played half of the teams yet so it's hard to say anything about who would be favourites, but The SKY People in Written In The Stars have looked really dangerous. Thanks Bjono and have a nice one! Good luck for the upcoming season! 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. _______________ 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Starting tomorrow, we'll be getting into the real top teams, votes were very tight among the top contenders and come the season, anyone could take the title. Can you guess who's next? (HINT: They're not Finnish)

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. Perhaps one of the more non-descript teams in Elite, Unlucky Boys HC are rare in that they do not seem to do anything fancy or step on anyone’s toes, instead they just go about and do their thing without making much of a racket so to speak. Do not dismiss their quiet nature as weakness however, as they harbour a team that perhaps works together more efficiently than any other team in Elite. This is exhibited quite nicely by their results in Pro and Elite over the years that they have been active. In ECL 4 (Pro) they finished mid table in a strong group which Carlsberg, Sjukstugan & Rusty Blades all called home before they moved up to Elite. In ECL 5 (Pro) UB upped their play after not clinching promotion to Elite in the previous season and stamped their ticket to the playoffs with a very strong 52pts in 30 games; ultimately achieving automatic promotion to Elite for the next season. Finally, in a rare feat for newly promoted team, they made the playoffs in Elite (ECL 6) and even went to a game 7 before ultimately falling to Northern Ascendancy. Throughout all of these seasons their captain @anhel_kuru was in and around the top point scorer for his team. With no signs of slowing down being seen throughout their roster one can only imagine what the ceiling is for Unlucky Boys HC, so with that in mind then we’ll switch over to the interview part of this report and see what thoughts their captain has about their run to elite, as well as what the future holds for them. IN Crimson_XX <-- TIKI TALK Sweaty__99 <-- Gotham Knights Viltzup <-- Club de Caballeros OUT Will_yo7 --> Butterfly Effect Ramboviking88 --> Monarchs/Free Agent Current roster: Forwards Anhel_Kuru (C) @Anhel Crimson_xX @Crimson re_Wenger (A) @Wenger Sweaty__99 @Sweaty__99 jm__98__ @JimBoo Defensemen Jugeh_ (A) @Jugeh_ Friilander @Frilander Goaltenders Danielcadabra @Danielcadabra Viltzup @Viltzup I had a short discussion with team captain @Anhel about the upcoming season for Unlucky Boys: As one of the new additions to Elite last year you captained the team towards a very successful debut season, not only making the playoffs but pushing the eventual ECL 6 runner up to 7 games. With that in mind, how did you approach this off-season, namely how were you looking to improve the roster to push your team further in the upcoming season’s playoffs? (For simplicity sake could you list all transactions for the team this past off-season?) Firstly we believe that playing with the same roster gives a better chance to be succesful. So keeping that in mind, we tried to make as few transactions as possible. Obviously there were going to be some new faces on our roster and I'm happy about our off-season. Overall we tried to get more depth on our squad and I'm confident that we made the right moves. In continuation of the last question, are you done tooling with the team now or are you still looking for some extra pieces? If you are indeed finalised, what will your starting line-up look like? We are still looking for a backup goalie and a all-rounder but our first lineup is quite clear currently. 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 only goal is to qualify for playoffs and I'm confident in reaching it. Imo Elite is now much tighter and the mid-table placements are impossible to predict. We believe Filadelphia is the strongest team and are going to win it all. Thanks for your answers Anhel, see you on the ice and good luck to UB for the upcoming season. ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. _______________ 7. _______________ 8. _______________ 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Join us again tomorrow, as we take a look at a very prestigious and traditional club from up north. Who do you think was predicted in place #8?

Hey NHLGamers, it's that time of year - NHL 19 full Feature Reveal! In the early hours of the morning (from a European perspective), at the NHL Awards, EA Sports dropped perhaps more information than usual regarding the upcoming NHL, detailing not only the cover athlete but also a whole host of features / modes in order to spice up the game and drive sales. Without further ado however, here is the official reveal trailer. The Cover First and foremost, we will begin with the cover athlete for this years upcoming NHL. P.K. Subban has been chosen to grace the cover of NHL 19, whilst there was some speculation regarding whether he was even eligible as he had appeared on a cover previously (NHL 13, Quebec exclusive), it seems the NHL either overlooked this or felt that this previous inclusion was not perhaps official enough? The Features Moving on to the nitty gritty of what NHL 19 will entail, and boy is it a lot, so sit back and relax because this could be a while. For ease of access, the main points chosen by EA on their website will be listed below: WHAT'S NEW In NHL® 19, play on outdoor rinks and journey from the ponds to the pros in new and returning game modes. Compete with and against 200 of the greatest hockey legends to ever hit the ice, highlighted by Wayne Gretzky. Powered by cutting-edge new gameplay technology, experience explosive-edge skating that delivers more acceleration, speed and responsiveness. OUTDOOR HOCKEY IN WORLD OF CHEL For the first time in franchise history, step onto the pond and compete in the EA SPORTS Hockey League, NHL THREES, Play Now and the brand new modes NHL ONES and Pro-Am. In NHL ONES, you and two other players compete in a 1v1v1 free-for-all gauntlet. Showcase your skills and creativity with no rules, no stoppages, and no limits. RPM TECH With RPM Tech, Explosive-edge skating enables more control over how you generate speed using edge-work and crossovers. With all new animations, you'll experience more responsiveness in acceleration, high-speed skating, and pin-point turns. SELF EXPRESSION Stand out on the ice with over 900 customization options from authentic NHL apparel to pond hockey lifestyle clothing from some of the biggest brands in sports. Express yourself like never before with thousands of combinations of fresh looks. Stay up to date with the latest NHL® 19 news and never miss out on gear for your avatar. LEGENDS HAVE ARRIVED Play with or against over 200 hockey legends spanning 100 years of NHL history and build your dream team. Superstars of today's game playing alongside historical figures of past seasons is a defining factor of one hockey. PLAY NHL® 19 Pre-Order NHL® 19 today and get three-day early access, HUT packs, Cover Athlete items and more through the Ultimate and Legend Editions. Outdoor hockey in World of Chel Seen as the teaser, well, teased it, it would seem then that starting off with attempting to understand what exactly "Outdoor hockey in World of Chel" entails would be a good starting point for the analysis part of this article. The trailer does not show the specifics of how this feature will work per se, however their feature list does attempt to illustrate what form it will take. It seems that the 'world of chel' will take place perhaps in conjunction with EASHL. To further cement this similarity between the two areas is the inclusion of two new playable modes, namely "NHL ONES" and "Pro-Am". NHL Ones appears to be a free-for-all type of game where 3 people can face off against each other at the same time against a goalie (unfortunately AI only from what information we can gather). An example of an NHL ONES game in action can be seen below. Additionally, based on their wording it would seem as though the beautiful setting seen above will be available in NHL threes, Play Now, EASHL, as well as the new mode "Pro-Am". Unfortunately there does not appear to be much information regarding this "Pro-Am" mode, however Polygon stipulate that it is in fact a practice mode. Rather curiously enough though Pro-Am is seemingly an online mode, whether this means EASHL now has a true practice arena / area again, or it is simply a place to admire the scenary is up for debate. Although, Gameinformer has tried to illustrate the purpose of "Pro-Am" further by stating that it is a place where players can "hone their skills against A.I before jumping into real competitions", potentially meaning that the NHL series may have a FIFA arena-esque minigame available to players prior to joining an online game. RPM Tech RPM Tech appears to be another attempt by EA to further raise the quality of the skating engine used in NHL. Note, this is not part of a port over to the Frostbite engine, as from what we can tell they will still be using Ignite based on a lack of information stating otherwise and from the trailer showcasing as much. RPM stands for 'Real Player Movement', any FIFA players amongst us will probably have a slight feeling of déjà vu as RPM was introduced to that series last year (Polygon). What this means however is that a host of new animations have been added in order to create a much more fluid and explosive skating experience, with EA anticipating that players will feel more "responsiveness in acceleration, high speed skating and pin-point turns". Furthermore, in an interview with Polygon, Will Ho (NHL 19's creative director) relayed that RPM is especially attuned at blending different animations together, in order to facilitate smoother transitions between the two. Perhaps most important of all regarding this new 'tech' is that EA claims to have "solved" a massive issue plaguing the last few NHL series entries, namely puck pickups and their inconsistent nature. In fact, Ho went as far as saying that "We’ve basically completely addressed this issue" (Polygon). Self Expression One thing that almost anyone will notice when watching the trailer above is the attire of the players involved, most (if not all) are wearing clothing unique to them, ranging from flannel to camo designs. This is of course the 3rd 'feature' on EA's list, "Self Expression". In an attempt to perhaps catch people's attention and add in something that people can grind for to unlock, EA has decided to add over 900 customisation options for your personal pro, in addition to this starting amount it seems that EA will be adding more options throughout the year to further raise the amount of customisation options. Whether this broad range of choice carries over into 6s EASHL however is again up for debate as little has been released regarding the overlap between the "Outdoor world of chel" and EASHL outside of shared personal 'characters'. Legends Have Arrived Now on to quite possibly the least game-changing addition, Legends. Over 200 players have been added, spanning across the 100 years of NHL history. Who these legends are however is again subject to discussion and conjecture as very little information has been released regarding this feature. It goes without saying perhaps that these players will be available across all offline modes, as well as Hockey Ultimate Team (as was the case with the legends inclusion in NHL 12). Pre-Order Options For select countries there will be three pre-order options available, namely: Standard, Legend, and Ultimate. Each come with their own differing bonuses, as well as cover art. (What "Hockey bag" means will be outlined further down in the article) In addition to these pre-order bonuses, there will also be special 'loyalty' rewards for players returning from previous NHL iterations. Previous owners of NHL® 16, NHL® 17, and NHL® 18 pre-order now and receive special rewards in HUT 19. 2 HUT packs for your first year of ownership, 3 more packs for your second year of ownership, and 5 more packs if you own all three. 1 HUT Cover Athlete item per year of ownership, Jonathan Toews for owners of NHL® 16, Vladimir Tarasenko for owners of NHL® 17, and Connor McDavid for owners of NHL® 18. 1 World of Chel Hockey Bag per year of ownership Note: Currently the varying editions are named incorrectly/differently on both the PSN & Xbox store, whether or not this error will be attended to is unclear at the moment. On the PSN and Xbox stores the Legend Edition is named the Deluxe Edition and the Ultimate Edition is named the Super Deluxe Edition. Extra snipets of information regarding 'The World of Chel' If all of this seems a bit confusing regarding how 'The World of Chel' (TWoC) will interact with the already established mode of EASHL then allow me to clear up some of this mess. If I was to have a crack at trying to predict how TWoC will actually play out, I would say that perhaps the best parallel existing in other games right now would be 2K's NBA series, where you create a character that will be available throughout most online modes and has the opportunity to be customised to the extreme. What this could also mean unfortunately is a quite sudden retreat back to microtransactions that were found in within EASHL on last gen NHL titles. This is evidenced by the inclusion of "Hockey bags" which are proposed to be used as a means to pay for gear to customise their personal player with (Polygon). It of course should be noted that players will still be able to earn 'Hockey bags' through winning NHL ONES games. In addition to this, you will also be able earn points / currency by playing any of the other three modes under the TWoC 'umbrella' (EASHL, being one of them). Furthermore, it appears as though EASHL players will still have to choose player types prior to starting a game (e.g. power forward spam). What is new however is that there is now a trait system where players can pick two to slot in to two very distinct slots, namely Primary and Secondary. Primary traits will be more heavily weighted than Secondary traits, resulting in more powerful effects on their player; additionally it seems as though you can choose to activate either of these traits mid game via new UI indicators (Gameinformer). In addition to this, Gameinformer also stipulate that there are "Specialisations" that players can select from that are typically context based but can in fact benefit your teammates as well as your own player (e.g. extra energy gained in the dying seconds of a period). To help players juggle this myriad of options, EA is reportedly allowing players to save 'loadouts' to quickly select a prefered build based on the opponent they are facing. GM Mode Last but not least, EA looks to have done a semi-overhaul of how scouting works within GM mode. Not only will you have the ability to handle amateur and pro scouts within your franchise, but the scouts themselves will have biases towards different regions of the world. For instance, one scout within your organisation could be excellent as discerning players within the Scandinavian region but absolutely pants at figuring out how good players are from Russia. All in all then what do you think about these features? Will the trait / specialisation system be strong enough to force more people away from the power forward, or will it just serve to power it further?