OGjahajaha

Hi NHLGamers, We are back with a small look into the third week of the Pro division. This season we are doing a player of the week segment, to highlight an individual and his team because of their success during said week. We will also do a small interview with our nominee and try to get to know the person better and get some insights of the team and the league in question. Without further ado we would like to present you our third Player Of The Week: PSN-ID: Hassu85 Team: POGGERS Position: Goaltender Games played this week: 6 (vs God Tier, Silver Sword Griffins, Clowns On Ice) Shots faced: 56 Goals against: 5 Save percentage: 91,07% Shutouts: 3 Our writer @Panarinz was sent out to get a few comments from this weeks main man: A good week for your team and especially for yourself, with 3 shutouts in 6 games! What do you think was the reason for your success this week? - Hard to tell. Our roster had a lot of changes from the past season. We also didn’t train almost at all before the season, but now the game has started to fall into it’s place. We have rock solid defense, and what can you expect if you have @JaKurrii as a mastermind of the offense and @Chafak and @Yoloberg as wingers? What is your aim for this season? as a team and you personally. - If I can help the team even a little bit, we will win the whole thing. How did you come up with your PSN ID? - In my hometown everyone calls me Hassu, even my parents. What is the best player build in this version of the game for goaltenders? - When NHL 19 came out, I chose one build right away and I have sticked with it. It’s a secret. What is your strengths as a goalie? - I think I can read the game pretty well. I usually know what the next happen now. Which team will win ECL 8 Pro? - Poggers or Checkmate. If you want to be featured next week, remember to work hard and help your team to success! Signing off for now, ECL Pro writing team @Panarinz & @Mannheimer1938 Additional art by @CzE Toni

Gamers! Another week has come to an end and it is time that we reveal the third ECL 8 Lite Player Of The Week. This past week has been great for many players but we have decided that @Jassoonsunlasso has earned the award. PSN-ID: Jassoonsunlasso Team: Me Carvoset Position: Center Games played this week: 6 (SKA from Neva, Campo De Juego, Western Express) Goals: 17 Assists: 16 Points: 40 +/-: 25 We gave the main man a call and asked him a few questions. Congratulations on being named POTW this week! What are your feelings about that? - Surprised and happy because we have secured a playoff spot! You have played 6 games this Week and scored 33 points (17+16). What is the key for you to score goals consistently? - About the goals.. i don't know? Every pass is a missed goal opportunity? Being in the right spot at the right time? Good passes from forwards and defensemen make it happen. You guys have been playing good so far this season. Why? - We've been having fun in chat during games, that's why I guess! Cap @Juanzaar switched me from RD to C in the middle of the season and after that I think our teamplay has gone to another level! Last but not least our Angry goalie Tepazor who has been sick for the last 3 weeks (IRL sick lol) is the right man between the posts! If you have to name one player in Lite that you would want to have in your team, who would it be and why? - This question is hard! Maybe @Pagemz because his shooting is 7.5% as F! We could help him to get it up! But i have to choose @Bantubox from Saucer Hockey. He's almost as good of a trash talker as me! We have so much fun when we are in the same party! All day every day! Once again we would like to congratulate Jassoonsunlasso on this award and we wish him good luck in the future. Until next time! @Willander97

Hi NHLGamers! Thanks for all the constructive feedback provided during the NHL 19 Beta tuner rollback. The devs have been working hard at improving the experience for us and announced that a new tuner will be out ASAP. The original release time was on Friday, January 25th at approximately 11 CET. Due to a problem with the new update, the team made a choice not to yet release a potentially problematic tuner. No new time has been announced, but we will be awaiting more information. The new tuner update, somewhat confusingly named 1.03 will be applied to online modes first and rolled out to offline modes in the coming weeks after that. Here is a changelog of what will have changed: On behalf of the NHLGamer staff, @jahajaha93

NHLGamers, We're reminding you that tonight, January 24th at 23:59:59 CET is the deadline for transfers in ECL 8 Pro and Elite. 14.1 Transfer Deadline The deadline for transfers is set to 23:59 CE(S)T, on the following days: • ECL Elite: 24.1.2019 • ECL Pro: 24.1.2019 • ECL Lite: 22.1.2019 If you're a player still looking for a team or a team still looking to add to your roster, please head to the Free Agents section or the Clubs Looking For Players section on our forum. Please post any last minute transfers in the comments section below!

NHLGamers! Yet again, we bring you joyful news about the success of some of our very own NHLGamer members. A while back, NHL franchise Washington Capitals announced the Capitals Esports Face-Off, which is a versus tournament open to EU and NA players on PS4. The tournament is played in a double elimination format, alike the NHL GWC. Four online qualifiers will be organized leading up to the final event in Washington D.C. on February 22nd. On top competing for a hefty $10,000 prize pool, the top 3 of the tournament will also have a chance to represent the Washington Capitals at the 2019 Chel Classic on March 19th. The Chel Classic is a 3v3 format show match against the top 3 players of the Bolts Chel Challenge, hosted by the Tampa Bay Lightning. The first online qualifier was held on Saturday, January 12th 2019 and we're happy to inform you that our very own @Eki is advancing undefeated from the winners bracket and @Eken45jr has managed to pave his way through to the finals after beating Regs84 in the losers bracket final. As stated, Eki moves on undefeated and Eken moves on with one loss on his record, that loss being against Eki. Check out the absolutely crazy game between Eki and eken45jr called by our friend SleevelessGaming: Here is the OT game winner against Regs84 that sent eken45jr to Washington D.C.: The Capitals Esports Face-Off will continue as follows: January 19th - Second Online Qualifier January 26th - Third Online Qualifier February 2nd - Fourth Online Qualifier February 22nd - Final Event March 19th - 2019 Chel Classic More info and registrations over at https://smash.gg/tournament/capitals-esports-faceoff/details Congratulations to Eki and eken45jr on behalf of all of NHLGamer! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

Hi there NHLGamers, The time has come for the 8th iteration of the European Championship League to kick off, the best EASHL 6vs6 league there is (in our unbiased opinion)! This time we beat the registered teams record AGAIN! We've increased the amount of teams in consecutive seasons from 108 teams to 123 and now 129. That's another increase from last season and it's great to see growth happening once again. Let's make sure we are as welcoming to new members as possible to make sure we continue on this path. The season for all divisions kicks off tomorrow on Monday 7th of January, however we would like captains to attempt respecting the suggested gamedays as follows: Elite: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday Pro: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday Lite: Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday The schedules for all divisions are available through the menu both on the main page and here on the community side. Now let's get into all you need to know: ECL 8 Rules As usual, we have fine-tuned our ruleset, so we suggest you give them a good read before the season start! The rules for ECL 8 are still being fine-tuned and will be released tomorrow afternoon (Monday, January 7th, 2019). League Administration All league related verdicts will be decided by the League Administration. To open up a case, visit the new Support section on the forums. Please note: before contacting League Administration, teams are expected to solve issues they might have on their own. Familiarize yourself with our rules first, as they include lots of guidance for different issues. League Administration is always to be used as the last resort to solve any disagreements. In which division can I find each team? ECL 8 Elite 15 teams confirmed their participation for ECL 8: AIK Hockey Almost Famous Bucketeers Butterfly Effect Deadly Phantoms HC Dynasty FILADELPHIA Northern Stars Resurrection Rusty Blades Symphony Synergy Hockey Team Frosty Unlucky Boys HC Written In The Stars As ECL Elite was missing a team, League Administration decided to promote a team according to rule 4.3, "Similarly, if the number of open spots in ECL Elite exceeds the number of promotions from ECL Pro, these additional spots will be filled with additional teams from ECL Pro according to the following factors from the previous season: Playoff wins". The promotion was offered to Speedy Bros Hockey, who according to the previously stated rule were next in line, but they declined. POGGERS also decided to stay in ECL Pro. Therefore the promotion goes to the next best ECL7 Pro performer: HC Wildcard (Previously known as CLUB ONE) We would like to congratulate HC Wildcard for making it to ECL Elite! ECL 8 Pro 25 teams confirmed their participation for ECL 8: Bellizzi Bone Breakers Born With It Checkmate Cowabunga Hockey EV Duisburg GHETTO FIREBIRDS Gotham Knights Mentula SKA Murohoki Nordic Stars Pata Hellalla POGGERS Raccoon Rampage Reality Check HC SIKA Silver Sword Griffins Speedy Bros Hockey Style Supernatural The Black Jacks The Next Gen Tiffen TIKI TALK Virtual Horizons eSports With HC Wildcard getting promoted to Elite, we now had 7 open spots in ECL Pro. According to the rule 4.2, "...If the number of open spots in ECL Pro exceeds the number of promotions from ECL Lite, e.g. due to ECL Pro teams disbanding, these additional spots will be filled with teams that applied during the sign-up phase according to the following factors: Priority for ECL Lite quarter-finalists from the previous season, Franchise history, Roster composition, EASHL record" First of all we looked at the Lite quarter-finalists from last season, which also had said "Yes" to apply for a Pro spot in their registration. These two teams fit the criteria: Freddie Mercury Institute (QF) SPARTANS (QF) These two teams will play in Pro this season, congrats! For the 5 remaining spots, we were looking at teams who applied for ECL Pro in their ECL Lite registration. Based on the previously listed factors the ECL Staff decided to promote the following teams: Black Horse Clowns On Ice God Tier Horror Hockey Rajatorpan Mafia Congrats to these teams as well, you will all play in Pro this season! ECL 8 Lite The remaining 81 teams that applied for ECL Lite will play in ECL Lite this season. ECL 8 Groups: Below is the complete list of the teams participating this season and in which groups they will play. Here are your ECL 8 groups: ECL 8 Lite - 6 Groups ECL Lite will be played in six groups consisting of 13-14 teams each. With 2 games against each opponent, this results in an 24-26 game regular season for each team in which the top 8 teams out of every group will go to the playoffs (48 teams total). Group 1: Club Savage Elämäm Kiekko FarmiNaattori Kanadan Majavat Men Of Mysteries North Pole Huskies Perttilan Kommandot Polarbears HC Red Devils HC RENEGATS ECL Savo Bears Scrubs of Sweden SKA Unknown Ice Breakers Group 2: Atomic Hamsters HC Devils in Disguise Grey Werewolves LammasLauma Last Period Nearbird Fighters Night hunters Old Farts Russian Lightning Stayhard Stallions Suomen Sonnit Uncle Dens United Crew Varissuon Toverit Group 3: Blackdawgs Blueline Bandits HC Dynamic HC Slapshot HighCoast Eagles Kaukosen Luistin Niederrhein Canucks NoCanDo Rusty Bulls Saucer Hockey Slapshot Club Germany The Dudes Vesa Pompa HC Group 4: Campo De Juego Cheers Hockey DingleDangles Dystopia Finnish Hockey Legends HC Finlandia KulmalaHengaus Me Carvoset Nordic Nosebleed Pink Panthers HC SKA from Neva Western Dynasty Western Express Group 5: Albatrossi Beast Hockey Ice Aliens HC Midnight Owls Mighty French Roosters N0 Name Poston Fruits Prowlers Puck Panthers Reaperr Rising Phantoms HC Sons of Baron UnderRated Lekstuga Group 6: Chatbox Czech Infamous DEG eSports EV Füssen eSports HC Bad Boys K A R H U T Korpens Finest Kouvola Screaming Eagles Oton Letkutemppu Red Light Zone SKA Hokurit The Everblades We Kings Schedule: ECL Lite schedule ECL 8 Pro - 2 Groups ECL Pro will be played in two groups consisting of 16 teams each. With two games against each opponent, this results in a 30 game regular season for each team in which the top 8 teams out of each group will go to the playoffs (16 teams total). Group 1: Checkmate Tiffen The Black Jacks Supernatural Silver Sword Griffins SIKA Rajatorpan Mafia POGGERS Nordic Stars Murohoki Gotham Knights God Tier GHETTO FIREBIRDS EV Duisburg Clowns On Ice TIKI TALK Group 2: Bellizzi The Next Gen Style Speedy Bros Hockey SPARTANS Reality Check HC Raccoon Rampage Pata Hellalla Mentula SKA Horror Hockey Freddie Mercury Institute Cowabunga Hockey Born With It Bone Breakers Black Horse Virtual Horizons eSports Schedule: ECL Pro schedule ECL 8 Elite - 1 Group As usual, ECL Elite will be played in one group, where the teams face each other twice per opponent. This will result in a 30 game regular season for each team in which the top 8 teams go to the playoffs. AIK Hockey Almost Famous Bucketeers Butterfly Effect Deadly Phantoms HC Dynasty FILADELPHIA HC Wildcard Northern Stars Resurrection Rusty Blades Symphony Synergy Hockey Team Frosty Unlucky Boys HC Written In The Stars Schedule: ECL Elite schedule Team management tools All teams have been created, the team management tools on the main page have been unlocked for the team captains (click on your username in the top right corner to access them). All players need to be invited to the team rosters ahead of your first game. Please note that all invited players need to accept the invitation (there will be a popup alert on the main page for them) before they show up on the team roster and can start playing! In case you have further questions, feel free to use the comment section below this article. We hope everyone has a great ECL and good luck to all teams! On behalf of the ECL staff, @jahajaha93

What’s up NHLGamers, We’re in the last days of downtime before a new season and teams are gearing up for battle come January 7th and the first puckdrop of ECL 8. One team that has certainly been busy in the last months is Sjukstugan, who has decided to join forces with AIK Hockey to create a new NHL gaming franchise. "It is with great pleasure we welcome the prestigious AIK Hockey organisation to NHLGamer and ECL Elite.” -NHLGamer founder Kenneth Lehtinen on AIK Hockey joining ECL AIK Hockey will be obtaining the ECL 8 Elite spot of the long-lived Swedish juggernaut Sjukstugan, as the traditional sports club is making a grand exploration into the esports world. The Swedish club is one of the most followed European sports franchises and is certainly eager to take on this new challenge. Their hockey club is the second club worldwide to venture into NHL gaming. - The growth of such esports as basketball, football or F1 hasn’t gone unnoticed. The NHL has already made indications that clubs are going to invest in NHL esports in the near future. We view this as an opportunity to step into an uncharted territory with massive potential. It’s nice to be the first Swedish player in this field but it’ll be important to have this step on our competition, states Sevve Saberi from AIK Hockey. - AIK as an organisation is the epitome of passion, professionality and innovativity and we’re convinced that these exact traits will also be the trademark of their team in ECL Elite. I was welcomed to visit the AIK offices during the negotiation phase and was struck by their attitude and drive for this project, says NHLGamer founder @Kenu. The eighth iteration of ECL kicks off in just a few days and the addition of AIK Hockey to our NHLGamer ranks is definitely a welcomed boost to start the season. Competition in all our division is expected to be ramping up as the stakes will only be increasing from now on. Last season, Sjukstugan finished in 5th place after being eliminated in the quarter finals against Dynasty. Now rebranded as AIK Hockey, captain @Bjono says the team is more motivated than ever: - As soon as we heard about their interest, it was full throttle from there! We have an outstanding opportunity in a growing esports environment like NHL gaming. Our entire team is extremely thrilled about this. We’re all even happier about the team being AIK, as they’re one of the biggest clubs in Sweden. Both Kenu and Bjono are praising the level of involvement and drive from AIK’s side, which really tells a lot about the organisation. When asked if the players were AIK fans prior to the acquisition, the team captain has a humble response: - Our goaltender @Pippo is a hardcore fan! We were all extremely happy to have caught the attention of one of the biggest clubs in Sweden. Hopefully this is only the start and many more will follow. What’s the outlook for AIK Hockey like in ECL 8? - With the involvement of AIK, we’re more motivated than ever! The team has been working relentlessly and even focusing more on the tactical aspects of the game. We’ll be entering the new season well prepared and ready to put forth the best effort possible. Our long-term goal is obviously to bring the title to our side of the Baltic Sea, says captain Bjono. AIK will enter ECL 8 with a very similar roster as their one for last season. The only change is in the goaltending department, where they have dropped the extremely skilled @Hullued, but added an equally competent @ICappeI. The main purpose of the move seems to have been going for an all-Swedish team identity. AIK AIK is a Swedish sports club based in Solna. The club was founded in 1891 and is one of the oldest and most prestigious clubs in Sweden. AIK is also known by the nickname Gnaget - Rodents. The nickname rumours to have been given in the 1920s, when the teams black jerseys were so worn out that they resembled a grey rat colour. The ice hockey department of AIK has seen tremendous success during their long history. Currently the club competes at the second highest tier HockeyAllsvenskan, where they are in 2nd place a bit past the halfway point of the season. You can read AIK's own story here: https://www.aikhockey.se/artikel/nwziajqhw-1bbi1/aik-blir-forst-i-sverige-att-starta-ett-e-hockeylag

Hey NHLGamers, ECL 7 was the biggest season for our community yet! That's both in terms of registered teams, players and the newly introduced price pool. Once again, we were treated to some incredibly exciting action as skillful teams and players went head-to-head in all three divisions. We'll be kicking off our look in the rearview mirror with this season review of ECL 7 Lite, which included a total of 73 teams divided into eight groups. Group 1: The Black Jacks The eventual champions surely had a season to remember! This Swiss-based team went into their second ECL season with one goal in mind only: promotion. Their offensive trio of @Krinke-@Original-SnuS-@Freeman7187 was unstoppable and proved incredible dominance all season long as the fast-paced passing ice hockey seems to have been absolute poison to the opposing teams. With their promotion it'll be interesting to see if they'll be sticking together to continue on the same note in the Pro division. Arguably, their breakout game and defense will need to step up in order to compete on the next level. The Black Jacks managed to string together a row of excellent performances all season long, seeding 3rd into the playoffs and being in the driver seat through most of their playoff matchups too. Their second round opponent Lehmannen Badboyz proved to be a difficult obstacle to overcome though, as the series went into game 7 and nail-biting overtime before captain @Original-SnuS sent the Badboyz packing. All in all, the performance put up by TBJ this season was nothing short of perfection, as they absolutely crushed the whole division and put forth a very convincing run to the championship. Mentula SKA Mentula SKA was a team that a bit surprisingly battled their way to a promotion spot. They're in their third season of ECL competition already without any mentionable prior success. However, this season was one to take note of. The team has managed to stick together for a few seasons and seemed to find some consistency this year. Also the acquisition of their top scorer and rookie @Meiccimoi seemed to have been a key factor in their success. Group 2: The Next Gen Newly established TnG was an interesting team all season due to their roster including lots and lots of 1vs1 talent and some young, potential players. Their talent seems to have translated well into 6vs6 play as the team managed to pave their way through to the finals, where they suffered a tough 4-2 series loss at the hands of The Black Jacks. Rajatorpan Mafia Rajatorpan Mafia put up a respectable fight this season, finishing 2nd in their group and going on until round 3 in the playoffs before being eliminated by Dubnation Gaming. The team has an extremely strong defensive game, showcased by their 0,94 GA/GP in the groupstage. Lack of firepower ended up being their demise in the playoffs. Group 3: We Kings We Kings consist of some veteran players who are making a very welcome comeback into the scene and being rather successful in doing so. The team went undefeated for a large part of the group stage, falling just short of a perfect run in the closing rounds. Captain @Hbnzo and everyone's favourite tactician @pelimies80 were the most important building blocks in the success of the team this season. SPARTANS Newly formed SPARTANS had a strong showing in ECL 7, managing to pave their way into the quarter finals where they fell one win short against Supernatural. When watching this team, don't miss LD @Drunkendefender, who accounted for 1/4 of the teams total goals in the regular season and led his team in scoring in the playoffs. Talk about an offensive defenseman! Group 4: Prowlers Swedish team Prowlers did good in the groupstage, but ended up falling short in a disappointing round 3 exit against the lower seeded Infinity. In fact, Prowlers were on fire offensively and managed to seed 6th into the playoffs while scoring a total of 71 goals. Their top scorer of the regular season was @RullAthor1991, who amassed 60 points in 18 games. Farminaattori Farminaattori is a new acquaintance for me, personally. The team is rumoured to play a fast paced hockey, the kind some might call straight up wild. Their game seemed to work out fine in the group stage, pushing them into the playoffs at 7th seed, a push which ended rather quick in the second round at the hands of community sweethearts Elämäm Kiekko. Group 5: Dubnation Gaming Dubnation is a team full of young potential players. They don't play a flashy game, but it is effective in securing points. You could say they have a more mature playstyle than you'd expect from a new Lite team. Despite not scoring a tremendous amount of goals, the team managed to do very well throughout the season, which didn't end until the quarter finals when they came up against the eventual champions The Black Jacks. K A R H U T The roster of K A R H U T include some veteran names such as @Ubula (RuttuBerse), the team was placed in an arguably easy group 5, which they handled very well, ultimately seeding into the playoffs at 23rd. Winger @Jii1984 led the team from the front all the way into the 3rd playoff round, where they were knocked out by Supernatural. Group 6: Clowns On Ice I think we can call Clowns On Ice a veteran team by now. They're a common sight on the ice and have managed to string together a few good seasons recently, making the playoffs of ECL Pro last season. However, the team lost captain @Tim_FlyersFan in the offseason and decided to step back a bit. They must feel rather dissappointed about the outcome though, as a convincing groupstage wasn't enough, they fell short in the playoffs against Supremacy in the 3rd round. Poston Fruits Led by veteran Lite player @Jobeyz, Poston Fruits were making their inaugural appearance in the ECL and did so on a successful note. Although being eliminated in the second round by SPARTANS must sting, we'll be hoping for a comeback in ECL 8. Group 7: Supernatural Supernatural is a team consisting of several experienced players who haven't really managed to find a home for themselves in an established team. We were surely aware that this was a skilled group of guys, but I must say they put up a far better performance than I expected. The team seeded 8th into the playoffs and kept their level of play high in the playoffs, eventually faltering in the semifinals against The Next Gen. Supremacy Former Soldiers of Odens consists of some very skilled and potential players who seem to be playing the game rather casually. I know the skill level and potential is there to see some success in ECL games too and they started showing signs of that in ECL 7. Supremacy finished 3rd in their group, seeding 24th into the playoffs, but took their minor underdog status and ran with it all the way to the quarter-finals, where they didn't manage to surprise The Next Gen. Group 8: Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat Hinkkaajat has been grinding it out in Lite for some seasons already, often having a decent group stage campaign but quickly running into trouble in the playoffs. This season showed some promise as they were able to win their first two playoff matchups, but ended up falling short against The Next Gen in round 3. Finnish Snipers Finnish Snipers looked great in the groupstage and through the first round of the playoffs, as they dominated group 8 and seeded 2nd into the playoffs. Hockey Hooligans was no match in the first round but groupstage opponent Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat sent them home in round 2. Under the radar: Freddie Mercury Institute FMI is a tough team to play due to their tight defensive trap, but they've had trouble converting in the offensive zone. This season they ended up in a quite tough group together with the likes of We Kings and SPARTANS, eventually finishing 3rd in the group and seeding into the playoffs at 13th. The team managed to make their way into the quarter finals, where they suffered a devastating loss against Mentula SKA. AWARDS Playoff MVP: @Original-SnuS Most Points: @Original-SnuS, The Black Jacks, 37 Goals, 53 Assists, 90 Points in 18 games Most Goals: @Original-SnuS, The Black Jacks, 37 Goals, 53 Assists, 90 Points in 18 games Most Assists: @Original-SnuS, The Black Jacks, 37 Goals, 53 Assists, 90 Points in 18 games Most Hits by a Forward: @Enerfity, Finnish Snipers, 142 Hits in 16 games Best +/-: @Freeman7187, The Black Jacks, +62 in 18 games Most Points by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 13 Goals, 25 Assists, 38 Points in 16 games Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 13 Goals, 25 Assists, 38 Points in 16 games Most Assist by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 13 Goals, 25 Assists, 38 Points in 16 games Most Hits by a Defenseman: @kenamo28, Outrageous Falcons, 92 Hits in 24 Games TOP 3'S OF ECL 7 LITE Top 3 Forwards Regular Season: 1. @Original-SnuS, The Black Jacks, 37 Goals, 53 Assists, 90 Points in 18 games 2. @Freeman7187, The Black Jacks, 37 Goals, 36 Assists, 73 Points in 18 games 3. @Krinke , The Black Jacks, 27 Goals, 37 Assists, 64 Points in 14 games Top 3 Defenders Regular Season: 1. @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 13 Goals, 25 Assists, 38 Points in 16 games 2. @Koppipelaaja, The Next Gen, 3 Goals, 25 Assists, 28 Points in 16 games 3. @pelimies80, We Kings, 5 Goals, 19 Assists, 24 Points in 14 games Top 3 Goaltenders Regular Season: 1. @ramseyy2, The Next Gen, 16 Wins, 87,36%, 1,27 GAA, 5 SO in 18 games 2. @PeeloJombb, Mentula SKA, 15 Wins, 87,50%, 1,22 GAA, 4 SO in 18 games 3. @mythThor, Prowlers, 15 Wins, 86,34%, 1,55 GAA, 2 SO in 16 games Top 3 Forwards Playoffs: 1. @Original-SnuS, The Black Jacks, 39 Goals, 48 Assists, 87 Points in 32 games 2. @Krinke, The Black Jacks, 42 Goals, 42 Assists, 84 Points in 32 games 3. @Freeman7187, The Black Jacks, 36 Goals, 39 Assists, 75 Points in 32 games Top 3 Defender Playoffs: 1. @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 18 Goals, 31 Assists, 49 Points in 21 games 2. @Koppipelaaja, The Next Gen, 6 Goals, 21 Assists, 27 Points in 32 games 3. @burban26, The Black Jacks, 3 Goals, 22 Assists, 25 Points in 16 games Top 3 Goaltenders Playoffs: 1. @ramseyy2, The Next Gen, 22 Wins, 89,78%, 1,50 GAA, 9 SO in 32 games 2. @PeeloJombb, Mentula SKA, 17 Wins, 83,68%, 1,70 GAA, 3 SO in 27 games 3. @afc_Tschitsch, The Black Jacks, 15 Wins, 84,91%, 1,94 GAA, 3 SO in 18 games The controversial 'Top 6' of the season is making a comeback! 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 Lite. Without further ado, here's the top 6 of our Lite division in ECL 7: @Krinke (The Black Jacks) - @Original-SnuS (The Black Jacks) - @Freeman7187 (The Black Jacks) @Drunkendefender (SPARTANS) - @Koppipelaaja (The Next Gen) @ramseyy2 (The Next Gen) The NHLGamer staff congratulates The Black Jacks for winning the Lite division and furthermore The Next Gen, Mentula SKA and Supernatural for their promotions to the Pro division. We want to thank all participating teams for their efforts and hope you all enjoyed the season! If you have any suggestions on how we could improve our website, please let us know by contacting any staff member. The recaps of our other divisions will be published soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Hey NHLGamers, The ECL 7 Lite Final has now been played and we have a winner! In their second ECL season, The Black Jacks set an objective that was very clear - promotion. Very well, they certainly had a season to remember and succeeded in accomplishing their goals set. Their offense dominated the Lite division all season long, finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the top scorers department by amassing 246 points between their three top forwards @julmi21 (Original-SnuS), @Freeman7187 and @Krinke. The trio continued their scoring in the playoffs, being one of the decisive factors for the success of TBJ this season. They marched on convincingly through almost every playoff matchup, the only team to really surprise them was Lehmannen Badboyz, who took their round 2 series into game 7 overtime. Captain Original-SnuS bailed TBJ out with arguably the most important goal of the season to push them forward, ultimately all the way. If you missed any of the action, you can check the games out on Twitch. These are the results of the final series: Game 1: The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks 6-7 Game 2: The Black Jacks vs The Next Gen 2-1 Game 3: The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks 3-2 Game 4: The Black Jacks vs The Next Gen 2-3 Game 5: The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks 1-2 Game 6: The Black Jacks vs The Next Gen 2-1 The Black Jacks - Championship roster: GOALTENDERS #22 @afc_Tschitsch #30 @NHLDennis86 DEFENSEMEN #7 @Cami_7 #66 @Bille1990 #77 @Tornado.hr #88 @burban26 FORWARDS #6 @Krinke #13 @Freeman7187 #15 @Tron1x90 #16 @RudY51 #21 @julmi21 (Original-SnuS) TBJ's road to the cup: 16-2-0 during the regular season, seeding 3rd into the playoffs. 24-5-3 in the playoffs. Round 1: 4-0 VS HC Keskikalja Round 2: 4-3 VS Lehmannen Badboyz Round 3: 4-0 VS Infinity Quarterfinals: 4-2 VS Dubnation Gaming Semifinals: 4-1 VS Mentula SKA Finals: 4-2 VS The Next Gen Congratulations to TBJ on behalf of the whole NHLGamer staff! Thanks for tuning in NHLGamers! Be on the lookout for the season recap article, up soon. Your NHLGamer Editor jahajaha93

(Source: Ilta-Sanomat - Picture by Mika Tuononen) @Eki takes it home once again. Seems to be the common occurrence nowadays, right? Success just seems to follow this youngster. IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM was a blast and we had a lot of people showing up to cheer for their favourite in our stream! On top of that, we also had a nice amount of people show up at the event in Kauppakeskus REDI, Helsinki. The atmosphere was intense especially as the last games were being played. NHLGamer, together with your partners Ilta-Sanomat and SJK eSports would like to thank all of you for showing up, either live or through the broadcast! The event didn't lack any excitement as we were treated to some absolute thrillers by our competitors. Here are the results of each group after the group stage: Group A was regarded as 'the group of death' prior to the games, with really strong and experienced players @Dominointi, @Artuzio and @eskoeinari, joined by youngster @MrNipsuli who managed to cause an upset and make his way into the finals, playing as his favourite team Toronto Maple Leafs. Everything was up for grabs until the last round in group A, but Dominointi and MrNipsuli- managed to snag their second victories and move on. In group B we saw the only player who made it through the group stage without a loss in @kriketski17, a name that will certainly be on peoples lips in the versus scene from now on. @xDoumi managed to pave his way into the playoffs as the second player from group B. Group C didn't offer much in terms of surprising outcomes. @Eki took a routine route to the big games and @Nassustelija managed to cop the second place spot, although he edged out @Markoohh- only by goal differential. To no surprise @PleeMaker grabbed the first spot in group D, whereas @Hansulinho had himself a night to forget going 0-3-0. @buranaburana made his way to the playoffs in second place of group D. Upsets Galore. We definitely saw some upsets in the group stage already. @kriketski17 took the whole competition by storm as he went undefeated through a tough group B. Group A with @Dominointi, @eskoeinari, @Artuzio and @MrNipsuli was an absolute free-for-all, as players pretty much traded wins through the first two rounds, leaving a ton of factors to decide who moves on to the playoffs. The underdog in that group was definitely Nipsuli, who together with Dominointi managed to make it through from the group stage. Another massive surprise was the weak performance of @Hansulinho, who didn't quite get into the groove of things this time around. In a group where he could have had the chance of moving on from on a good day, the former IS Cup champion didn't get it done, dropping all group stage games. Playoff bracket: The most interesting quarterfinal matchup was definitely Dominointi vs xDoumi, which ended 1-2. The two guys battled hard trading wins and going into double overtime of game two. The younger xDoumi showed his skill and managed to take home the tight series, moving on to a semifinal matchup against PleeMaker. Plee managed to overcome Nassustelija 2-0, as did Eki against buranaburana. Kriketsi17 also won 2-o against MrNipsuli, we saw an interesting turn of events in their second game, as Kriketsi managed to score on a pass from the neutral zone after Freddy Andersen of Nipsuli's Maple Leafs let in an abomination of a goal in the first period. The game was tied up after which Kriketsi managed to secure a win in overtime of game 2. Jani "JiiHoo86" Hetta and Arttu Hämäläinen had a busy day in the commentator booth. (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen) The semifinals offered us a series to remember as PleeMaker and xDoumi went head-to-head. Plee drew first blood in game 1 after a long period of offensive pressure from Doumi to start the game. The game was close all the way through, Plee leading 2-1 until just about the end of regulation when Doumi managed to score off of a shorthanded one-timer chance with 4,7 seconds remaining in the game. To start OT we saw some undisciplined play by Plee, allowing Doumi to snag the win of game 1 by scoring on the powerplay. The second game was a one goal bout - a defensive battle ending in Plee tying up the series. Game 3 was certainly a headscratcher. Doumi came out swinging with two quick goals to start the game, whereafter Plee managed to mount a comeback and the guys went on somewhat on a scoring spree, leaving the game at 5-4 in favour of Doumi at the start of the 3rd period, which is where miracles happened. Doumi scored two goals first, putting him at a three goal advantage. Plee came back to 7-5, Doumi made it 8-5, Plee scored - 8-6 - spectators couldn't even keep up! The guys were nowhere near done, Plee scored three unanswered and the game seemed like a win until Doumi decided to spoil the party again, tying it up AGAIN with 8,5 seconds left! Regulation ends 9-9. Plee ended up securing a final spot in after scoring his 10th goal of the game about halfway through the first period of OT. As Eki managed to win two games against Kriketski, we were treated to a final game with the matchup Eki vs Plee! See PleeMaker vs xDoumi here: The Plee - xDoumi series is certainly hard to top in terms of excitement. However, the final matchup was one of the best we could ever have asked for. Eki and Plee are FILADELPHIA teammates, they are arguably the two best NHL 19 players of the world - and we were treated to the opportunity of seeing the two battle it out with 4000€ on the line. The first game of the finals was a tight battle as expected, Plee opened the scoring, but Eki quickly came back. Both guys scored once more in regulation sending us to overtime, which was decided about three minutes into OT at the hands of Eki, making his first claim for the championship. Game two was a bit different in the sense that Eki seemed to run away with the game early as he made it 2-0 in the first period. Plee had different ideas as he scored three unanswered. That remained the case until 41,9 seconds remaining, when Eki managed to find twine on a cross-crease one-timer. We had OT on our hands once again! The first OT period went into the closing seconds, where Eki had an offensive zone faceoff and managed to find the lane for a blueline slapshot - we had a winner! See the decisive final game here: Eki was certainly the favourite to take it home all along. The world champion joined the tournament through invite and didn't disappoint. Eki lost only one game in the final tournament, his last group stage game against Nassustelija - a game without any real meaning going forward as Eki had already secured a playoff spot by winning his first two games. When being asked how he felt about the result of the final, Eki stated: "Games between me and Plee have always been a coin toss, he had his chances that didn't go in and I had some luck on my blueline slapshot. It's the way this game is, sometimes the bounces go your way." Eki is the new champion! (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen) PleeMaker had to settle for second place (Source: Ilta-Sanomat - Picture by Mika Tuononen) Kriketsi17 took home the bronze. (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen) Here are the final standings of IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM: (Source: Ilta-Sanomat) Congratulations to all participants! Once again, NHLGamer would like to thank everyone involved in the event and all of you who tuned in to the stream or showed up at the event. You have played a significant part in promoting the NHLGaming scene and we greatly appreciate every single one of you! Thank you.

Hey NHLGamers, ECL 7 is nearing its end as we only have some final games left to play. These are of course the most exciting games of the season and I highly recommend all of you to tune in for the games on our Twitch channel. This article is a small informative post for you ahead of ECL 8. Let's start off by confirming that ECL 8 will start on January 7th, 2019. All divisions will have the same kick-off date. The seasons will be finished late February to early March. With this article we also launch the signups for ECL 8! If you don't know what I'm talking about by now, here's a briefing of what ECL is; ECL is a competitive EA Sports NHL League. Games are played in the EASHL game mode in a 6vs6 manner. Since ECL 4, we have implemented a divisions framework with Lite being entry level without restrictions, Pro being our mid-level and Elite holding the best 16 teams in Europe. A season in each division consists of a group stage/regular season and playoffs. Here is the ECL framework for season 8 and other details we can confirm: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian players. North American players are not allowed to host matches / be captain in the lineup, which means all games need to take place on European servers. This also applies to Russian players - please evaluate your previous connection experience against some of the teams participating in the ECL, especially if you live in eastern parts of your country (which likely connects you to US West servers). In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. 6 vs. 6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL Challenge Club game mode in NHL 19. Individual requirements: Each player needs to have an account at NHLGamer.com and create his personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams in ECL Elite need to have at least 7 players to sign up. Teams in ECL Pro and ECL Lite need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. ECL Elite license: Teams in ECL Elite will be required to pay for an ECL Elite license in order to play for the prize pool (more details to follow). Sign-up period: Signups open now. Registrations are open until Wednesday 2.1.2019, 23:59 CET. ECL 8 Kick-off: ECL Lite, Pro and Elite are set to begin on Monday 7th of January. The return of the All-star Weekend: The ECL Elite All-star Weekend will return for season 8. Details will be announced later (please feel free to discuss your ideas). ECL Elite live final: The ECL Elite Final of season 8 will be played at a live event between the 1st and 3rd of March, 2019 (more details to follow). Rules: The ECL 8 ruleset will follow the same foundation as in season 7. We will fine-tune the rules a little bit, but more information is to follow. Meanwhile, you can find the ECL 7 rules here. Gamedays: In order to allow fans to better enjoy the action of the different divisions, we are suggesting the following: ECL Elite default game days: MON, WED, THU ECL Pro default game days: MON, WED, SUN ECL Lite default game days: MON, TUE, SUN Where and how to sign up? Gather a team and register your team in one of the threads linked below. As stated, the entry level is ECL Lite. Elite Teams Eligible: All teams NOT relegated from ECL 7 Elite, the finalists of ECL 7 Pro, teams who won ECL 7 Elite relegation faceoffs. Pro Teams Eligible: All teams NOT relegated or promoted from ECL 7 Pro, all semi-finalists of ECL 7 Lite, teams who won ECL 7 Pro relegation faceoffs. Lite Teams Eligible: All teams who are not eligible for an Elite or Pro spot. We're hoping for feedback on what you want from season 8 as there is still time for adjustments, so don't be shy to give us your thoughts in the comment section below. Also ask questions, we'll answer as best we can! Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

The end of the line. That's where we've come. Season 7 of ECL Elite consisted of 15 teams in total, fighting tooth and nail for each and every point available. The regular season was tougher than ever - no, that isn't an overstatement. We were treated to exciting matchups all the way to the end as the last regular season matchups were decisive for the outcome of the regular season winner, as well as regulation matchups and the very last few available playoff spots. Your ECL 7 Elite Final matchup: (1) FILADELPHIA - Symphony (2) In competitive matchups, FILADELPHIA and Symphony have gone head-to-head a total of six times within the last few months, game wins being tied at 3-3 as it stands currently. FILA managed to overcome SYM in two games during the Finnish Championship Semifinals, but it's worth noting that SYM has swapped centerman @ADETIKKI for @tbnantti since. Their more recent ECL games ended 2-0 and 3-2 in favor of SYM, meaning FILA is yet to win against Symphony 2.0. @Eki and @PleeMaker of the FILA lineup have a big weekend behind them, with some tight 1vs1 games in the Finnish Championships that eventually had the pair meet in the Finals, where Eki was able to come out on top and win the title. We'll see if the wear of grinding live games for a day straight is still taking its toll as the big ECL games start tonight. It's an interesting game FILA plays, as their tasks are rather nicely divided on the ice. They have a more defensive defenseman in @Janzuh, who controls the pace of the game at appropriate times whereas his partner @vatalisti is the more offensive part we get to see more of on the breakout. Wingers Eki and Plee link up beautifully while "Mr. Selke" @Patzlaf hangs back and provides danger coming in the second wave. @Zande95 has been the brick wall we are used to seeing in net. Symphony's gone through an intriguing development during the season. They went from being just a shell of the former SJK eSports to an Finnish Championship (IS Cup 3) bronze medalist to an ECL Finalist. Some would call that a decent development curve, which is exactly what I'm doing in this preview. Their opponent is absolutely stacked to the gills with talent, but so is Symphony. Goaltender @ICappeI has been dominating the competition, setting a new Elite regular season record of 8 shutouts in 10 games. I don't regard their defense with @vSilenttio and @Ilmari_30 as balanced as FILA's counterpart, but the duo has still proven that they can swing against the best of them. @tbnantti at center seems to be what the doctor ordered for Symphony as the team has consistently improved since his addition. A few interesting notes stat-wise are that Symphony is the more physical team of the two, with especially Puantso and vSilenttio leading the way in that department. The explanation for this might be that FILA is controlling the puck more in most of their matchups. FILA seems to shoot slightly more than Symphony, as the shots for differential is 110 to 92 in favor of FILA in the playoffs so far. This is really a tough battle that can go either way and neither team winning would be an upset. FILA has, however managed to build quite the winning culture both as a team and for their individual players and head into the series as the favorite. Our prediction: FILADELHPIA wins 4-2 FILADELPHIA starting lineup evaluated by @ICappeI LW @PleeMaker 9GP, 7+12=19 FILADELPHIA's best player. Always a threat when he has the puck. C @Patzlaf 9GP, 7+5=12 Mr. Selke. Great two-way player. RW @Eki 9GP, 6+10=16 Also a great two-way player, who’s linking up good with Plee. LD @Janzuh 9GP, 0+3=3 Their most experienced guy. A calm player who doesn’t do a lot of mistakes. RD @vatalisti 9GP, 1+5=6 The best offensive d-man in the game. Will be interesting to see if he can handle Hans Moleman. (Puantso) G @sibeelius 7GP, 7W, 91.89 SV%, 0.42 GAA, 4 SO Amazing G! Looking forward to play against him. I think that both of us is going to face our most difficult challenge of the season in this series. Vatalisti scored the decisive goal of the Finnish Championship 6vs6 finals. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Symphony starting lineup evaluated by @Eki LW @Buantso 9GP, 6+8=14 The best player in symphony and one of the best players in the game . You can see he was born in a hockey family 🙂 C @tbnantti 9GP, 7+10=17 Symphony started playing better as soon as Antti started playing. Is that a coincidence? I don't think so. RW @indi969 9GP, 7+4=11 Solid two way forward. Very easy player to play with. LD @vSilenttio 9GP, 0+11=11 Good sense of humor. RD @Ilmari_30 9GP, 2+5=7 Very good offensive defenseman, one of the best in the game. But could improve defensively. G @ICappeI 7GP, 7W, 94.44 SV%, 0.57 GAA, 4 SO The 2nd best goalie in the game. Haven't really been tested this year so I'm interested to see how he does in the Finals. Symphony finished 3rd in the Finnish Championships and have a chance to go all the way in ECL 7. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) How to watch the finals? All of the ECL Elite Finals will be broadcasted with English commentary on our Twitch channel, which can be found at twitch.tv/NHLGamer, be sure to join us for the action! Schedule for the finals: Game 1: Monday, 17th of December 20:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Game 2: Monday, 17th of December 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA vs Symphony Game 3: Tuesday, 18th of December 20:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Game 4: Tuesday, 18th of December 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA vs Symphony Game 5: Thursday, 20th of December 20:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Game 6: Thursday, 20th of December 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA vs Symphony Game 7: Thursday, 20th of December 21:30 CET Symphony vs FILADELPHIA Tonight's matchups for games 1 & 2 What are your expectations for the games? Let us know your thoughts below!

One of the biggest weekends of the year for the Finnish NHLGaming scene is here! It's time for the IS Cup 3: NHL19 1vs1 eSM final event and the venue is nicely set up by your NHLGamer staff together with our partners from SJK eSports and Ilta-Sanomat. The final event, played at Kauppakeskus REDI in Helsinki kicks off on Saturday at 12 CET with the group stage. 16 of the the very best Finnish NHLGamers have qualified for the tournament through local qualifiers at our event at GameXpo 2018 and through online qualifiers. Here is the list of players participating is the IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM final event, sorted by the groups they were placed in: Group A Arttu “Artuzio” Mustila @Artuzio Risto “Dominointi” Järvi @Dominointi Juho “eskoeinari” Sillantaus @eskoeinari Roni “MrNipsuli-“ Kaján @MrNipsuli Group B Kristian "Kriketsi17" Veijola @kriketski17 Niklas “NikkeDangles” Tukiainen @NikkeDangles Toni "Thounidinho" Hirvikorpi @Thounii Aaro "xDoumi" Ruuhinen @xDoumi Group C Vesa “Dreamickie” Rajamäki @Dreamickie Erik “Eki” Tammenpää @Eki Marko “Markoohh-“ Pennanen @Markoohh- Mikael “Nassustelija” Katajisto @Nassustelija Group D Sami “buranaburana” Piiparinen @buranaburana Hannes “Hansulinho” Kettunen @Hansulinho Paul “PleeMaker” Arontie @PleeMaker Samuli “xKeskitalo” Keskitalo @xKeskitalo In the group stage starting at 12 CET, each player faces off against every other player in their group. Two players from each group advance to the playoff bracket. The playoff matchups are played best-of-three series and the matchups will be as follows: A1 vs B2 D1 vs C2 -------------- C1 vs D2 B1 vs A2 Veikkaus is hosting the betting for our event. You can log in and place your winner bets over here. At the time of writing this article, the three winner favourites are: 1. EKI (odds 6,84*) 'Champ' or 'Goat' are some of the nicknames you might have heard being thrown around when the discussion revolves around EKI. By signing with Team Sampi in the summer, EKI became the first professional NHL player, so he surely has some practice hours under his belt. EKI is also a highly skilled offensive player, alike Plee, but his defensive game is considered slightly better. He also overcomes opponents by second-to-none puck control and is by now an experienced live-event player. 2. PleeMaker (odds 5,09*) After taking home the championship in the very first IS Cup, Plee didn't participate in the second iteration. Everyone knows the capabilities of this 17-year old though. Plee is a dangerous offensive player who makes you pay for your mistakes with deadly efficiency. His trademark is short, quick passing play and patient puck possession. Plee made his way to the finals through our local qualifiers at GameXpo. 3. Hansulinho (odds 12,63*) 'Hansu' is the most experienced player of the bunch by far. He has five Finnish championships under his belt and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. Despite not doing all too well in a few tournaments this year so far, Hansu doesn't feel the need to put any pressure on himself. He's going to take it easy and enjoy the atmosphere and meeting people. Underdog: xKeskitalo (odds 3,41*) xKeskitalo is one of the most inexperienced players of the bunch despite not being the youngest of age. This player has recently surfaced in the versus scene as a potential name of the future and is mentioned in this article due to currently having the lowest betting odds. xKeskitalo competed in the Syyscup at the launch of NHL19 and dominated his group stage by winning all games and conceding only 8 goals in 12 games. This group included names such as Artuzio and Esdor. He also completed a rather successful campaign as a right winger for Resurrection in ECL 7 Pro. Underdog: eskoeinari (odds 15,95*) 29-year old eskoeinari is the oldest player at the event. He is also the reigning Finnish Champion. Although maybe not matching the other players in raw skill and quickness, eskoeinari possesses eye for the game and is known for playing a but of an unorthodox style. Don't count the old guy out! *Odds are updated in real-time. This means that the odds will be changing until the betting is closed when the event starts. The prize pool of 8000€ will be divided between the eight best players of the event. The winner takes 4000€, runner-up 1600€, third 900€, fourth 500€ and the quarter-finalists will go home with a check of 250€ each. Schedule for IS Cup 3: 1vs1 eSM: 12.00 – Group stage, round 1 12.30 – Group stage, round 2 13.00 – Group stage, round 3 14.00 – Quarter-finals 1 & 2 15.00 – Quarter-finals 3 & 4 16.30 – Semifinal 1 17.30 – Semifinal 2 18.30 – Bronze game 19.05 – Final We'll be streaming the event on our Twitch-channel tomorrow starting approximately 11:45 CET. Remember to tune in and cheer for your favourite! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

Hey NHLGamers, The ECL 7 Pro Final has now been played and we have a winner! After a long season with a total of 52 games played, we're able to crown Deadly Phantoms HC the champions of ECL 7 Pro! DPH had an excellent playoff run, where they were able to overcome adversity and power on until the end. They really made a statement in the finals by dominating opponent Synergy Hockey. The final series were expected to be very tightly contested as both teams play a very conservative game, leaving very little to chance and defending well. Synergy had a tough time figuring out the German defense and fell short this time. Both teams are promoted directly to ECL Elite for season 8. Congratulations to the teams! If you missed any of the action, you can check the games out on DPH's twitch channel. These are the results of the final series: Game 1: Synergy Hockey @ Deadly Phantoms | 2-1 OT Game 2: Deadly Phantoms @ Synergy Hockey | 3-2 OT Game 3: Synergy Hockey @ Deadly Phantoms | 2-3 OT Game 4: Deadly Phantoms @ Synergy Hockey | 1-0 Game 5: Synergy Hockey @ Deadly Phantoms | 1-2 Deadly Phantoms HC - Championship roster: GOALTENDERS #30 @RPH_31 DEFENSEMEN #23 @gzell60 #27 @Mannheimer1938 #40 @willywonkaaa #83 @steveERC #90 @Jeason99 FORWARDS #11 @neymar92ftrio2 #13 @Rayman (The_Rayman80) #16 @Tim_FlyersFan #87 @Daniel Thenextone (XxTHENEXTONE89xX) #96 @Playmaker (Playmaker1010) DPH's road to the cup: 27-3-0 during the regular season, seeding 1st into the playoffs. 16-4-2 in the playoffs. Round 1: 4-3 VS Saints Quarterfinals: 4-0 VS Pata Hellalla Semifinals: 4-2 VS Bucketeers Finals: 4-1 VS Synergy Hockey Thanks for tuning in NHLGamers! Be on the lookout for the season recap article, up soon. Pro Writing Team @Panarinz & @jahajaha93

73 teams down, two remain standing. It's been a wild ECL 7 in 'The Jungle' formally known as ECL Lite. As we know, the Lite regular season is probably not as tightly contested as in our other divisions simply due to the fact that a vast majority of teams will make the playoffs. The playoffs, however, are an absolute free-for-all. With 64 teams making the playoffs, we've now weeded through five rounds in order to make it to the finals, that's a lot of games right there. Number one seed The Next Gen has played a total of 25 playoff games so far and the opposing number 3 seed The Black Jacks have fought through a total of 26 playoff battles. Here's what our ECL 7 Lite Final matchup looks like: (1) The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks (3) As previously stated, both teams have fought a long way to make it to the final. There's still a lot of hockey left to play, so let's hope their tanks don't run empty and there is some hunger left to claim the very top spot of ECL 7 Lite. Seeding first into the playoffs, we have the favourite from Finland, The Next Gen. The offensively strong team started off with a 'bang', sweeping Bombers Hockey in the first round. After this, they've ran through their opponents at a rather steady pace (Pink Panthers HC 4-2, Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat 4-0, Supremacy 4-2 and Supernatural 4-2). You could see that the opponents were getting tougher as the games went on, but the playoff favourites still managed to engine their way on. By advancing to the semifinals The Next Gen gets to enjoy a promotion to ECL Pro for season 8. On the opposing side is a team from small Switzerland, The Black Jacks. TBJ has had a similar playoff run as their final opponents, but they ended up with a close scare in round 2 against Lehmannen Badboyz. Their round 2 went into overtime of game seven until captain and center @julmi21 (Original-SnuS) scored the decisive goal. This is the complete run of TBJ: HC Keskikalja 4-0, Lehmannen Badboyz 4-3, Infinity 4-0, Dubnation Gaming, 4-2, Mentula SKA 4-1. Alike their final opponents, TBJ has secured promotion to ECL Pro for season 8 by advancing to the semifinals. It'll be interesting to see these teams go at it, as we without a doubt have two highly skilled opponents going head-to-head. The Next Gen packs a massive amount of individual skill and holds several young and potential players, whereas The Black Jacks are probably more reliant on their routine and some set plays in their game. Both teams like to use their center as a target player to set up their game, so it'll be a battle of who can execute said strategy better. My personal opinion is that TnG has a slight advantage in skill level but TBJ is a more coherent unit. Margins are small and I expect a tightly contested series. My prediction is TnG in 7. Head-to-head The Next Gen The Black Jacks C NikkeDangles C Original-SnuS LW Ninjawiq LW Krinke RW thounidinho RW Freeman7187 LD koppipelaaja LD Bille1990 RD lambu89 RD Cami__7 G ramseyyy2 G Afc_Tschitsch TOP SCORER Thounidinho (25GP, 22+23=45) vs Krinke (26GP, 34+39=73) GOALTENDERS Ramseyy2 (25GP, 19W, 91.75 SV%, 1.24 GAA) vs Afc_Tschitsch (12GP, 11W, 87.57 SV%, 1.66 GAA) Schedule for the finals: Game 1: Wednesday, 12th of December 20:15 CET The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks 6-7 Game 2: Wednesday, 12th of December 20:45 CET The Black Jacks vs The Next Gen 2-3 Game 3: Wednesday, 12th of December 21:15 CET The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks 3-2 Game 4: Wednesday, 12th of December 21:45 CET The Black Jacks vs The Next Gen 2-1 Game 5: Monday, 17th of December 20:15 CET The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks Game 6: Monday, 17th of December 20:45 CET The Black Jacks vs The Next Gen Game 7: Monday, 17th of December 21:15 CET The Next Gen vs The Black Jacks The games will be streamed on: twitch.tv/gameturniertv and twitch.tv/tbj_hockey unless otherwise informed. Good luck in the finals for both teams! Thank you to @julmi21 for reaching out and assisting with this article. All opinions are my own. Your NHLGamer Editor

Did we ever see some Excitement in round 3!? Two game sevens and a thrilling finish to both of those series. With round 3 being over, we're moving on to weeding out the teams that will have a shot at promotion to Pro for ECL 8. The quarter finals of ECL 7 Lite are to be played between Tuesday, November 27th 2018 and Monday, December 3rd 2018. As you know, the series are played in a best-of-7 format, meaning 4 wins are required to advance to the semi-finals. Here are your matchups for the ECL 7 Lite Quarter Finals: (1) The Next Gen vs. Supremacy (24) (3) The Black Jacks vs. Dubnation Gaming (18) (4) Mentula SKA vs. Freddie Mercury Institute (13) (8) Supernatural vs. SPARTANS (12) Broadcast So far, we've had a lot of good action go down on our Twitch channel. Should you want your games to be covered in our live broadcasts, please inform @Kenu about it as early as possible before the games. Necessary broadcast information includes: Date Time Line-ups for both teams (including correct spelling of PSN ID’s and player numbers) Captain/player interviews are a plus! Some series are already up and running, so please make sure to check our site regularly on info about the matchups and possible streams! You may have noticed the lack of articles around ECL Lite and we would love your help with writing some. Please contact me if you want to help!

What's up NHLGamers, 28 games later, right? That's where we stand now compared to where we started off in mid-October. As always, there's been no shortage of action and interesting events during the regular season in Elite. Unfortunately, we saw a team fold this season, nothing you'd want to see on the very highest level but sometimes our minds don't think alike and conflicts prevail. This time around, we were treated to suspense all the way to the end, as no playoff matchups were solidified prior to the last round. Also, a tight battle was being fought over the last playoff spot, as Northern Stars needed a mede 2 points from their matchup against Rusty blades to overtake Unlucky Boys for the final spot. The outcome sure was unlucky for the Boys, as Northern Stars rose to the occasion and clinched a spot in the playoffs. With all this being said, the ECL 7 Elite Playoffs start today, Tuesday November 27th of November 2018. Teams are allowed to start scheduling games immediately and the games of the first round have to be finished by Tuesday December 4th, 2018. As you guys know, the series are played with a best-of-7 system, meaning the first team to reach four wins advances to the next round. As we had one team fold this season, only the team placed 15th will face automatic relegation. This season, Falun Coal Miners is the team that is facing relegation. On top of that, we have two relegation battles that will commence once the Pro playoffs have been played. The ECL 7 Elite teams heading into these battles are SIKA (14th) and Gotham Knights (13th). These are the matchups for the first round of our ECL 7 Elite Playoffs: (1) FILADELPHIA vs. Northern Ascendancy (8) Courtesy of @vSilenttio The Finnish Champions of FILADELPHIA surely weren't joking when they stated in their 16 in 16 that they'd be the team that is going to take home all of ECL 7 Elite. We know it's only the regular season but so far, so good. Of course they had their own problems during the regular season just like every other team out there but when it comes to FILA, these guys know how to handle those situations and how to move on, being even better going further. Stat-wise FILA's players were on at their best when the games mattered the most. Four out of their five opening roster guys were in the scoring top 20 after 28 games - and the remaining guy who's not there is @Janzuh, who is known as one of the best D-men of the whole next gen era. You could say no wonder things went well for these guys. The main offensive trio of @PleeMaker, @Patzlaf and @Eki was dominant as they scored 55 goals together which sounds pretty crazy when you compare it to other Elite teams who made the playoffs - teams such as Northern Stars (40GF), Northern Ascendancy (53GF) and Sjukstugan (58GF). So their offense is fine, their defensive pairing is perhaps the best in all of Europe and they have two top goaltenders who can bail them out if they end up being in a tough spot. On the opposing side we have ECL 6 Elite's finalists Northern Ascendancy. They didn't have the easiest road to the playoffs, that's for sure. The team had a really slow start as they managed to win only 3 out of their first ten outings. Granted, their schedule was on the more difficult end. With one win less they would have placed 9th in the final standings and thusly falling short of a playoff spot. After somewhat surprisingly losing a few games against non-playoff teams such as Unlucky Boys and Almost Famous and having a rather shaky vide to their game, the veterans in NOR found a way to make the playoffs. Experience is the key word I believe. At one point they even started rotating their roster for some reason, D-men playing offense and vice versa. FILADELPHIA simply has to be the team coming out on top in this series. I predict a series score of 4-1. (2) Symphony vs. Northern Stars (7) Courtesy of @jahajaha93 This matchup is going to be something of a Finland-Sweden battle. As far as I know, at least all NOS skaters are Swedish and SYM on the other hand is all Finnish except for netminder and assistant captain @ICappeI, who managed to set an ECL Elite record by amassing 8 shutouts in just 10 games in the regular season. Symphony has had a great season so far. Despite losing @ADETIKKI after a disappointing third place finish in IS Cup 3 6vs6, the team managed to bounce back and find an even better run of form towards the end of the season. SYM quickly patched up the hole left by ADETIKKI, as @tbnantti joined. Antti is an experienced player, whose importance for his team this season couldn't be stressed enough. He immediately commanded the centerman position and has been a good force to build the teams play around for the remainder of the season. We'll have to hope he can keep up his good form going into the playoffs. I would dare to say that the strength of Symphony lies in their offense. Antti at center is a good balancing factor to the offensively talented winger duo @indi969 and @Buantso, they are also getting some good secondary scoring from down low as @Ilmari_30 chips in on the offensive side quite often. The underdog in this series is without a doubt Northern Stars. Not by a massive margin, though. The Swedes have been playing a solid game for the whole season, while being able to go toe-to-toe with the best of teams in the Elite division. However, they have suffered some surprising losses against Team Frosty and Falun Coal Miners to name a few. One worrying factor for the Stars in this matchup has to be the fact that they are facing one of the hottest goaltenders in the ECL right now, and they haven't directly had an easy time putting the puck in the net so far. 40 goals scored during the regular season is by far the least out of all playoff teams. Experience is the strength of this team though, and hopefully they will utilize that in order to overcome their opponent in tight matchups. All in all, I think this might be an interesting matchup to keep your eyes on, although there's a risk of it being over rather early in the series. Unless NOS manages to completely shut down Symphony and score a few goals here and there, I predict a 4-0 sweep for Symphony. (3) Written In The Stars vs. Butterfly Effect (6) Courtesy of @Serg1vratar Written In The Stars has one of the best offensive lines in the entire league, a feat easily exhibited by the sheer quantity of goals this team scores - 89 for a goals per game average of 3,18, stats in which they are topping the Elite division. two out of their three main forwards made their way intp the top 3 scorers of the regular season, as @Dominointi amassed 59 points for 1st place and Flyerkungen put up 54 points for 3rd place. Talking about SKY, you can't simply forget the weapons they are packing in terms of offensive defensemen, as @jtorro1233 has been terrorising the Elite division from his point for several seasons now. Torro took a long step and ran away from FILADELPHIA's @vatalisti in the race for most points by a defenseman in the regular season with 31 points in 26 games. No ECL team could win without a sufficient backstop, though. SKY has two elite level goalies in @JanneK. and @Hansulinho. Butterfly Effect has had a great start in ECL Elite and one of the game changers for them is definitely @Vilupoika who has 49 points in 28 games. Pair him up with a talent like @RutonMosse (42 points in 24 games) and good things will happen. @JimBoo (jm__98__) joined FLY a bit into the current season and while not topping the scoring boards, he has made his way into the top 3 within his team. There's been some talk about FLY being the minor affiliate of Written, and that surely sets a nice rivalry tone for this matchup, as David is making a stance against Goliath. We could also look to the rosters to find a rivalry, as @eissi83 was a SKY netminder last season, but will now try to take on his old teammates and prove what he is capable of. During the regular season bouts, Written In The Stars won both games (2:1, 6:1). I predict a 4-2 series win for SKY. (4) Dynasty vs. Sjukstugan (5) Courtesy of @MartindalexC Making up the fourth and final matchup in Elite we have Dynasty & Sjukstugan, the only series where, in my honest opinion, both teams 'realistically' have a chance of winning. Both have similar GF/GP (2.25 vs. 2.07) and GA/GP (1.32 vs. 1.39) averages with Dynasty edging out Sjukstugan in both, albeit slightly. Both have 18 wins on the season. And both are coming into the playoffs with fairly decent L10 records (6-2-2 vs. 6-3-1). Therefore, with such similar statistics one should perhaps expect a frugal affair where most, if not all, games in this series are decided by one goal. Especially so with the knowledge that teams tend to play even more conservative once the playoffs come around, so at the very least this series should offer up a level of parity between the two opponents that potentially won’t be seen elsewhere. Regarding who could break this ‘inevitable’ deadlock my votes of confidence are directed towards Dynasty’s dynamic winger in @hpkfani, as well as Sjukstugan’s playmaking head-honcho in @Tacterz, these two alone has exhibited the ability to change any given game more so than any other player on their respective rosters. On the other hand, a factor that should not be disqualified is the familiarity of this scenario that each team has, or rather, the disparity between them. Dynasty have been through this many a time before, with them reaching the Elite playoffs every single season thus far. Sjukstugan however are entering largely unchartered territory as only three players (one of which being a goalie) are making their return to the Elite playoffs from last season’s first round exit, the rest are new to this situation and one must wonder how impactful those ‘early series jitters’ will be, and more importantly, whether it will cost them the chance of progressing. In summary then, despite both teams seemingly being a pretty decent match I have to seriously question whether Sjukstugan can carry their play into the playoffs, especially as recently they have faltered against some fairly subpar opponents. Ergo, I feel that Dynasty should best Sjukstugan four games to two. Whilst 112 may cobble together two wins I simply don’t see Dynasty dropping the four games required for a Sjukstugan advancement, nevertheless despite this all games should be very close and this series will certainly be entertaining to watch. There you have it, gamers. Let the first round begin! Let us know in the comments section if you agree with our predictions and opinions about the teams. See you on the ice, ECL Elite Writing Team

Hey NHLGamers, The first round of the ECL 7 Pro Playoffs sure offered some drama! We're in for a treat as the playoffs continue with round 2 starting Monday November 26th, 2018 and goes on until Sunday December 2nd, 2018. As before, series are played with a best-of-7 format, meaning that four wins are required to advance to the semifinals. Also worth noting is that from this point on, teams are seeded based on PPG from the group stage. Without further ado, here are your ECL 7 Pro Playoff matchups for round 2: (1) Deadly Phantoms HC vs Pata Hellalla (16) Oh boy, did we ever se an exciting series in the first round between Deadly Phantoms and Saints! The first three games were a little slow, ending in DPH victories after which we saw a gigantic uproar and a lot of controversy regarding their play style, which was discussed widely in our community. Things got rather nasty, but let's leave it at that here. DPH lost the next three and the decisive game 7 was played Sunday night. The Phantoms seemed to have overcome their demons and advanced to round 2. The decisive effort in round 1 for DPH was seen by LW @Rayman (The_Rayman80), who managed to get on the board in each of the 7 games played so far. Skating up against the Phantoms, we have an underdog by a large margin - Pata Hellalla. This is surely the series to watch in the second round, as Pata Hellalla definitely isn't a team to toy around with. Pata managed to send group 1 winner Cowabunga Hockey packing for vacation to end the first round. All in all, this series has a nice storyline to it. DPH, who have faced the cold shoulder of (some of) the community, going up against the very likeable underdog PTH. We'll have to wait and see if the Phantoms can overcome adversity and harness it to their strength or if Pata will send yet another top seed packing. (4) Synergy Hockey vs CLUB ONE (12) Synergy is surely having a bounce-back season after a disappointing ECL 6. These guys have successfully regrouped and let no questions arise in the first round as they completely shut down their opponent Born With It, a team with serious playoff aspirations of their own. Goaltender @DUNZA has been standing on his head all season long and there is no reason to doubt him going forth to the second round. CLUB ONE on the other hand has had quite a fluctuant season as they haven't really strung together series of victories, but still managed to stay well above .500. The team managed to cause an upset in the first round, by outclassing 4th seed Checkmate in a series ending 4-1. Centerman and captain @epelis is leading his team into what they hope is a long playoff run. (5) Wasps Gaming vs Bucketeers (8) This will be a tough and grindy series. Mark my words. After quite a surprising season from the Bucketeers, we know better than to underestimate them! Definitely keep your focus on sniper @Daniel Gadd (demski13), with 6 goals in 6 games so far in the playoffs. Watch out for their goalies too, doesn't matter who's in the net, no easy way to score will be found. In Wasps, we have a well experienced side who knows how to win tough matchups. Lots of Pro experience in their squad. Worth a mention is @JaKurrii, who's had a great season, making his way onto our Team of the Week several times during the regular season and is expected to continue his strong outings in the playoffs. (6) Resurrection vs Speedy Bros Hockey (7) As a newly established team, Resurrection has managed to pave their way quite far into the big games. With a mix of you talent like @xKeskitalo and @Nikmes7 combine with prime leadership in @J0HTAJA and @Jiihooo86 has proven to be a good recipe for these boys so far. Having a dominant winger in @Artuzio isn't a bad addition to top it off. Resurrection managed to overcome a strong TIKI TALK with a series score of 4-2 in the first round. SBH on the other hand has already established themselves in the pro division. They haven't had any mentionable success so far and their regular season was on the average side. They have a hard-hitting defense and a very prominent scoring duo in @Tzon93 and @mir02k1 on their wings, so let's see if they'll be able to get it done in this series. There are some exciting times ahead, and games are only going to get tougher from this point on! Check our site and social media for any broadcasts coming up in the next few days. Until next time, @jahajaha93 & @Panarinz

FILADELPHIA is our IS Cup 3: 6vs6 eSM champion! (Picture courtesy of Jussi Jääskeläinen) What a weekend, gamers! GameXpo is now in the books and we can surely say it was a success. Saturday was the end of IS Cup 3 6vs6 and we set all kinds of records! It was most definitely a great stepping stone for the whole 6vs6 community. On behalf of NHLGamer, I’d like to thank everyone who showed up either to the event or joined via stream. Also a massive shoutout to everyone who helped out with the production of the event. Although we faced some adversity, our persistence prevailed and we were able to bring you what we are now proud to call the biggest event in NHL 6vs6 ever so far. While the stakes were high, the players were enjoying themselves. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Late on Saturday night, FILADELPHIA was crowned the champions of IS Cup 3: 6vs6 eSM. They are the first ever 6vs6 Finnish champions. FILADELPHIA’s road to the cup: 10 wins, 1 loss and 1 overtime loss earned FILA a 2nd place behind Symphony in their group. Their one loss came in a 1-0 game against Symphony, who they later swept in dominant fashion in the semi-finals. @PleeMaker led the team in scoring through the group stage with 20+10 combining for a total of 30 points. FILA was coming in very confident into the finals event at Messukeskus, as captain @Patzlaf stated in an interview for Ilta-Sanomat that nobody is going to stop them from winning the tournament. FILADELPHIA played their semi-final against Symphony, who managed to steal points from them in the group stage. This time, FILA came out strong right from the get-go and were determined to send their competition home quick. The first game ended up being tightly contested and ended in a 2-1 win for FILA, with an impressive amount of people watching the game both at the event and on stream. The boys in orange also managed to win the second game, now with a larger score margin, 4-1. FILA was now in for a short break as the bronze game was taking place before the finals. The final series were extremely even and long, the players had to focus for an extended amount of time. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) The finals were a different kind of spectacle for sure. I think it's safe to say we've never seen two teams matching up that well agains each other. All games went into OT and a total of only five goals were scored over the around 15 periods of hockey played. FILA won the first game as right wing @Eki opened the scoring of the IS Cup 3 6vs6 finals early in the first overtime period. The second game of the finals was one for the ages. Both teams went at it full-force and Written In The Stars had came back to play with their backs against the wall. FILA drew first blood and they looked like certain champions but SKY had different thoughts as they tied the game two minutes before the buzzer. Regular time ended 1-1 and we headed into overtime again. The teams played through five scoreless periods despite several scoring chances and bouncing pucks around the crease, only to see SKY right wing @Dominointi bury the series-tying goal in 6th overtime. What a thriller! There was still one decisive game left, both teams very exhausted but ready to go head-to-head for the trophy and a whole lot of cash that comes with it. We saw no surprise as it was yet agains a very tightly contested battle and both teams showed excellent defensive play and outstanding patience with the puck. It took 2nd overtime in game 3 to decide our IS Cup 3 6vs6 champion as @vatalisti, the right defenseman of FILA blasted a rocket from the blueline. The puck chipped the left post and crossed the line at 8:45 into double overtime of game 3 and we had a champion! Vatalisti scored the decisive goal of the IS Cup 3 6vs6 finals. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) 1. FILADELPHIA 🥇 Championship roster: Forwards Patzlaf (C) @Patzlaf 🥇 I_Eki_I (A) @Eki 🥇 PleeMaker @PleeMaker 🥇 mikaasi @mikaasi 🥇 FIN_Potilas @FIN_Potilas 🥇 Defensemen vatalisti @vatalisti 🥇 Janzuh @Janzuh 🥇 oGBioLan @oGBioLan 🥇 Goaltenders FinKonna (A) @FinKonna 🥇 Zande95 @sibeelius 🥇 2. Written In The Stars 🥈 Written In The Stars had to settle for second place this time - despite their great effort. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) 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 🥈 3. Symphony 🥉 Symphony managed to win the bronze game and secure the bronze medal. (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Forwards ADETIKKI @ADETIKKI 🥉 indi969 (C) @indi969 🥉 Puantso (A) @Buantso 🥉 Defensemen vSilenttio (A) @vSilenttio 🥉 Ilmari_30 @Ilmari_30 🥉 Entii112 @entii112 🥉 Goaltenders Laurilion @Lauri 🥉 Results of IS Cup 3: 6vs6 eSM Semi-final: Written In The Stars - Dynasty 2-0 (5-0, 3-2 OT) Semi-final: FILADELPHIA - Symphony 2-0 (2-1, 4-1) Bronze game: Symphony - Dynasty 2-0 Final: Written In The Stars - FILADELPHIA 1-2 (0-1 OT, 2-1 OT, 0-1 OT) IS Cup 3 ended in a disappointing 4th place for Dynasty (Picture courtesy of Mika Tuononen) Once again, thanks to all the teams, viewers, staff and everyone who in some way participated in the event. We made history and we will continue on that path onto even greater things to come. Also, congratulations to FILADELPHIA as the recent IS Cup 3 6vs6 champions!

What's up NHLGamers, Today we're extremely happy to have the opportunity in bringing you some world class 6vs6 action from our live event at GameXpo, Messukeskus in Helsinki. We're of course referring to the Finnish Champiopnships in NHL 6vs6, also known as IS Cup 3 and more exactly the final four of this tournament. The schedule of today will look as follows (times are CET): 10:30 | Dynasty – Written In The Stars (BO3) 12:00 | FILADELPHIA – Symphony (BO3) 16:00 | Bronze Game 16:30 | Final (BO3) All games will be streamed live over at our Twitch channel. Please tune in and support your favourites! We'll also be active on all our social media channels, so make sure to follow our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If you're from around the Helsinki area, you can also visit us and watch the games live on the big stage at GameXpo. Also note that t-shirts are still available at our booth if you didn't preorder. See you at 10:30!

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. It seems like quite a few Elite teams have experienced a larger type of overhaul this offseason, right? Remains to be seen if that will affect the power rankings at all when the season starts. So far, the captain vote has been rather predictable, and next in our 16 in 16 series that has now been slightly prolonged - we're taking a look at a team that's been known to finish close to the top of the standings, they've also made some drastic changes over the summer, they're former Carlsberg HC now turned Radical. Radical, led by scoring powerhouse @Tuukka.R (KingOfApes_), experienced some devastating losses in the early summer as arguably the best defensive pairing in the game @Janzuh - @vatalisti headed to FILADELPHIA and scoring winger @Vilupoika joined Butterfly Effect. Admirably, Radical didn't rest on their laurels and got right to action. They made some high level acquisitions and the team includes some interesting comebacks, so they're surely a team to watch out for once the season gets going. IN Joukki13 <-- Written In The Stars xDoumi <-- FILADELPHIA F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_ <-- Break from NHL s_W1ld_Rus <-- Break from NHL Juizki <-- Evolution MAYZIIX <-- Arctic OUT Vilupoika --> Butterfly Effect vatalisti --> FILADELPHIA Janzuh --> FILADELPHIA Zande95 --> FILADELPHIA FinKonna --> FILADELPHIA Current roster: Forwards KingOfApes_ (C) @Tuukka.R Joukki13 (A) @Joukki Penatski (A) @Penatski Defensemen xDoumi @xDoumi Terasniska @Pontus T F-B-I__A_N-D-Y_ @Andy90 MAYZIIX @MAYZIIX Goaltenders s_W1ld_Rus @s_w1ld_rus Juizki @Juizki Interview with captain @Tuukka.R (KingOfApes_) We've heard a lot of criticism about the new game, mostly the tuners and patches have got quite a negative reception. What do you guys think? The game was brilliant before the patch, although the poke check was completely useless. I think the patch broke the game, though. I'm very much against taking away the toolbox for individual skill and domination on the ice. This year it seems like everyone has the chance to play a winning type of hockey. Worst NHL ever. Alike many other Elite teams, Radical has experienced a well.. radical player turnover over the summer. At times there were speculation if the team will even continue. With this in mind, how has the team been able to prepare for ECL 7? To be honest, the preparation hasn't been easy at all. First of all it wasn't even easy to put together a team after we had so many players jump ship after the season. We were close to calling it quits a few times, but now as we've managed to establish a core group again, it's been easier. Radical experienced some significant losses (see: @Vilupoika and @vatalisti to name a few) during the summer. What kind of acquisitions have you made to make up for your losses? How will the roster changes affect your style of play for the upcoming season? Well, in reality you can't talk about 'making up for our losses'. We lost the best d-pairing in the game and a top scoring left wing. How do we come back from that? Luckily we managed to get players like @Joukki, @xDoumi and @Andy90 (F-B-I__A-N-D-Y_) so I think our future is bright! What kind of thoughts do you have about the ECL Elite license? Definitely positive. Personally, I think it will increase interest towards the league. I'd like to extend a special thanks to @FlyerKungen for firing up the discussion! ❤️ We've got about a month of NHL19 behind us now, who's been yout toughest opponent so far? Why? Frankly, almost every game has been like an ECL Final game 7. The new game has evened out the skill gap so much, it doesn't really matter who you're facing right now. It's going to be a difficult season. Let's finish off with a short one, who do you think will be the top scorer of ECL Elite this season? @PleeMaker surely has the skill set and strong linemates to win. Thanks Ape, good luck with the upcoming 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. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Only two teams left to choose from, which way do you think it'll go?