MartindalexC

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?

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?