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SportsGamers, It's going to be an action packed weekend and lots of games are going to unfold also in the SCL 1v1 and 6v6 leagues. We're already deep into the Playoffs and several of the world's best teams and players remain in the mix. Let's take a closer look at how we are doing and what we can expect in the next few days.  SCL 1v1 Quarterfinals: 5.-6.5. TOP4: 7.5.* *Semifinals and Bronze series played in the morning, Finals on broadcast starting 17:30 CEST. The 1v1 portion of the SCL is just about to start the Quarterfinals stage, and with Finals scheduled for Sunday, May 7th, the schedule is tight. There's lots of action to unfold in the next few days and some interesting talent still in the mix. Reigning Champion Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund is chugging along as the #1 seed, and he will be challenged by the likes of Ted @Ted Kempe Kempe (Smayk99) and Max @LaxenHD Söderström, while Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander, another favorite, is still waiting to qualify.    SCL 6v6 Quarterfinals: 4.-7.5. Semifinals:11. & 14.5. 20:00 CEST Bronze & Finals: 17.5. 20:00 CEST We're at the Quarterfinals stage on the 6v6 side and Örebro Hockey is the only team to advance from there at the moment, as they managed to beat Brynäs IF in a convincing 3-1 series in the SportsGamer broadcast on Thursday evening. Some interesting matchups are about to unfold this weekend, with Redhawks Esport going up against Björklöven Esport and Djurgarden Hockey facing Leksands IF. Redhawks and Björklöven faced each other already in the regular season and at that time, the Redhawks managed to claim both wins. Djurgården are in for a tough challenge, as the past week has been turbulent for the team. They have a deep roster, but it'll be tough to adapt in time for a series against the lethal Leksands IF squad. 

SportsGamers, We'd like to remind you that there's still time to sign up for the ECL '23 Spring 1v1! With the 6v6 portion of the league already well underway, we'll be starting action for 1v1 on the 12th of May, with signups closing on Sunday, May 7th at 23:59 CEST.  What is the ECL? The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports  - a league where all the best European NHL gamers compete against each other in both EASHL (6v6) and Online Versus (1v1) for European Championship League titles. ECL 6v6 currently features five divisions, so enjoyable games are guaranteed for everyone regardless of skill level and experience! Find all information about the ECL '23 Spring season here. ECL '23 Spring 1v1 The 1v1 section of ECL gathers all the best European NHL 23 Players for a tournament where the prize is the European Championship title and the largest split of the 2500 EUR prize pool. The tournament will be played as a group stage, out of which the top 128 players will be making the playoffs. You can sign up for ECL 1v1 until the 7th of May, 2023. Participation requires the purchase of an ECL '23 Player License.  

SportsGamers, This season, we are introducing the ECL ‘23 Spring Elite Prediction! This is a community contest where the objective is to predict the final result of the ECL ‘23 Spring Elite regular season. Sort the teams according to your prediction in the standings and share your prediction on Twitter with the hashtag #ECL23Prediction in order to participate in the contest. Prizes include console store vouchers for PlayStation and Xbox for an amount of 500 EUR in total. Now is the time to be bold and share your hot takes for the season, we can't wait to hear from you! Prizing 1. 200 EUR voucher 2. 100 EUR voucher 3. 50 EUR voucher 4. 50 EUR voucher Bonus: 5 lucky winners among all participants will receive a 20 EUR voucher. Submit your predictions by Tuesday, May 9th. In case of several similar answers, the answer that is submitted first will take the win! One entry per contestant. Head over to SportsGamer.gg/ECLPrediction to make your prediction!

SportsGamers, We would like to notify every team that the transfer window for all ECL '23 Spring divisions expires on Saturday, May 6th at 23:59:59 CEST.  Please remember to make sure your transfers are in line with the rulebook before making them and check with support if you aren't sure. Remember, only one transfer per player is allowed per season. Refer to rulebook chapter 14 for more detailed information about player transfers in the ECL.  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 so everyone can enjoy them. 

SportsGamers, The first week of ECL '23 Spring Elite action is in the books and at the moment, most teams have got their first three matchups in the books. Tohtorit, ZSC Esports and Roots Gaming are the few exceptions, with only one matchup in their rearview, so they'll surely be looking to pick up the pace and play more intensively in the coming weeks. We had several very interesting clashes early on in the season already, as we got to enjoy matchups between four of the contender favorites already in the season opener!  Nordic Stars were one of the most exciting teams to watch out for heading into the season, and interestingly enough they had a very tough start to their season, facing off against all of the preview's top three teams in the first week. While the Stars managed to challenge the top contenders in every game, they didn't quite come away with as many points as they would have wanted, and the result was only one win against hREDS and no points gathered against Tunnel Vision or Frölunda HC. It's clear as day that it is the Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen (KingOfApes) show in Nordic Stars now, as the right defenseman leads the team in both possession time and points after the first eight games of the season. The team also made an interesting acquisition at the end of the first week, when they picked up Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen from GOONS to shuffle their offensive arsenal a bit.  Heimo is the team topping the tables after the first week of action, and deservedly so. The outfit seems to have picked up right where they left off in the Winter season and are intent on making another great Playoff push. Their first three matchups have been against teams that they should definitely be able to compete against, and with five wins out of those three games, they'll be happy to move on in good form. At the moment, Heimo is statistically the most solid squad in the division. Wade @Wpaanane Paananen seems to be on a hot streak and slots in at third in scoring throughout the league.  Now, a team we can't ignore are the rookies in Leksands IF. Their forward core of Robert @Robban kaudern Kaudern (I-Kaudo-I), Linus @Bror1326 Nidalen (I-Bror-I) and Philip @Philip Deemus Deemus (PHDeemus) have been picking their opponents apart early on in the season and as a result of scoring explosions against both Örebro Hockey and Reality Check HC, they've been able to push their way into #1, #2 and #4 in the scoring standings at the moment. This team scores a lot and have been able to win games as a result, but they'll certainly be looking to tighten up their defense moving forward. It is doubtful they'll keep up the pace of four goals for per game, but they'll do their best! The Swedish outfit Färjestad BK had a difficult Winter season and made some changes to their roster in the offseason due to long-time center Christoffer @I-Maise-I Berntsson retiring and while they do look good on paper, their changes haven't yielded results on the ice yet. Tough losses against both hREDS and Heimo will definitely spur the team to push even harder in week two. Wingers Anton @antoniomannen004 Svensander and Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund have been cold to start the season. Transfers It's a somewhat rare occasion to see some movement at the Elite level after the start of the season, but some transfers have come to knowledge in the past week or so, we'll also be recapping possible movement in these reports. Here are the transfers that have come to light since last week: Teemu @tkantola Kantola -  Otukset (ECL Pro) -->  GOONS Tuomas @Tumpp1A Aaltonen -  Otukset (ECL Pro) -->  GOONS Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen -  GOONS -->  Nordic Stars Joel @jtorro-_- Tourunen - Free Agent -->  Mayhems Standings - Week 1 1. Heimo +7 2. hREDS - 3. Leksands IF +12 4. Frölunda HC -1 5. Redhawks Esport +8 6. Reality Check HC - 7. JYP Jyväskylä -2 8. Tunnel Vision -7 9. Mayhems +3 10. Nordic Stars -6 11. Örebro Hockey +3 12. ZSC Esports -2 13. Tohtorit +3 14. GOONS -7 15. Roots Gaming -4 16. Färjestad BK -7    

SportsGamers, Last week the GCL 9 season had it's final games in the form of the GCL 9 1v1 Finals between #2 seed Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg and #3 seed Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi. These are two highly skilled players, and what adds so much to the matchup is their great friendship off the ice too. Both represent the ZSC Esports organization, and with substantial domestic success already in their back pockets, both certainly wanted to clinch the 1v1 Championship too. Eventually, the best-of-five series required four games to be finished, as Keuschemisch managed to best his good friend with a 3-1 series score. All games were a good back and forth, but the Champion really utilized his scoring chances very effectively.  Keuschemisch's road to the Championship: Regular Season record: 14-0-0 (#2 seed) Round 1: vs @schmiedli_68 3-0 Quarterfinals: vs @ProfaneKiss 3-2 Semifinals: vs @riegel29 3-0 Finals: vs @Original-SnuS 3-1 SportsGamer congratulates Kevin on his Championship and extends a warm thank you to all participants!

SportsGamers, Today it's time to get the action going also in the Core division, the fourth tier of European NHL esports competition. We've got 32 teams divided into two groups all eager to  push for the next level in their competitive careers. Several returning teams have strengthened their ranks in the offseason either through new recruits or simply grinding hard at their game and trusting that one more season of experience could be the difference maker for them.  ECL '23 Spring Core Schedule Registration period: 18.3.-20.4.2023 Regular Season: 25.4.- 24.5. RO32: 30.5.-4.6. RO16: 6.-11.6. Quarterfinals: 13.-18.6. Semifinals: 20.-25.6. Finals: 27.-29.6.* Group 1  Nordic Nosebleed No doubt about the fact that Nordic Nosebleed is one of the more experienced squads in the ECL Core division, with several players including captains @Cherry and @Lidaas79 having started their careers already before the divisional framework was included into the ECL. Nordic Nosebleed have established themselves first and foremost as a strong devensive team, which should do them lots of good this season. A tough team to beat.   North Sawo Lions A returning team that did extremely well in the group stage of the Winter season, but didn't get their game going against HC Pustertal eSports in the first round of the Playoffs. One more season of experience should have done these guys good and captain @Liimatainenn is expected to lead the team from the front once again.   Ambri eSports Another returning squad, who struggled a bit last Core season, barely making the Playoffs out of the Group stage. However, they've done lots of great work in the offseason and managed to claim the GCL Division 2 Championship just a few weeks ago. Ambri eSports could end up being one of those sneaky good teams that flies under the radar.   HC Palosaari After some time away from the ECL ice sheet, HC Palosaari makes a return in a fusion with the former Karmadillos. In that fusion, they receive a fair amount of experience into their roster in the form of @JanEerikBanan and @Moneygunx along with several other HC Palosaari alumni, who had been with Karmadillos for some time. We're expecting this squad to challenge for the top spots in their group. Group 2  Lutunilkat The beloved Lutunilkat brand have had a tough few seasons in the Lite division and are now droppong down a level in order to find their game again. Lutunilkat is a team that likes to have fun on the ice and might just need to see some success in order to find joy in what they do.   EV Duisburg EV Duisburg is one of those brands that has been around for countless years at various levels of ECL competition, at their best, they had a stint of two seasons in ECL Pro but have since dropped down a few levels. Captain @GreatOne139 has been with the team through thick and thin and is a true heart-and-soul player for this squad.   Pirates eSports This mainly French outfit is very familiar from previous ECL seasons and while they haven't seen substantial success, they should be a tough team to crack in any game this upcoming season. We're expecting the pirates to Yarr hard, and maybe we'll see a pirate rivalry between these guys and HC Palosaari in the Playoffs?    KohKae Esports A few seasons of Lite experience and a decent eHSM performance in the rearview makes us expect that KohKae Esports could be on the brink of a good Playoff push this season. Who will take over the top scoring role, as @Ylijumala96 has made the move to Nelos Kentta?

SportsGamers, It's the season opener day for the ECL '23 Spring Pro season and we've got several interesting storylines to follow throughout the season. There's been a lot of turnover within the division and while some teams stand out as favorites to take it all, we have several black horses that could take the division by storm. It'll be a fierce battle for mid-table positions and with most bottom half teams going to Qualifiers, all games will be very important. In traditional ECL Pro Preview manner, we'll be taking a look at a few of the teams in each group, which of these squads are HOT, and which, perhaps, NOT? We can't wait to get things started! ECL '23 Spring Pro Schedule Regular Season: 24.4.-25.5. RO16: 29.5.-1.6. Quarterfinals: 5.-8.6. Semifinals: 12.-15.6. Finals: 19.-22.6. Group 1 HOT 🔥  Be a Bro Be a Bro is one of those teams that have been grinding away in the Pro division for a while now, and they seem to always be in contention with the top teams, still somehow avoiding bigger success at the moment. They've had a somewhat turbulent offseason and found themselves struggling in the recent Elite Qualifiers as a result. It seems like Be a Bro will have a lot of figuring out to do in terms of how they'll line up their starting five, with lots of high-profile players in their ranks, but still not a definitive number one constellation that has clicked.  Player to watch: @MCH_98  Björklöven Esport We've been predicting success for Björklöven for quite some time already, and now could very well be the time for the squad hailing from Umeå, Sweden. They have brought in an all new defensive pairing from the ashes of Memento in the form of @Janzuh and @Jonetzky (Zayzei), which has seemed to work well for them early on in SCL competition and most likely will continue on that path in the Pro division. On offense, Brörklöven is stacked with talent and especially @Pappen has big expectations to live up to, with @Johansson__224 entering his first full ECL Pro season on the Björklöven flank.  Player to watch: @Pappen  HV71 HV71 have gathered one of the more experienced rosters in the Pro division and more importantly, a lot of that experience is gathered in various formations with the same players these guys have alongside them right now. The three brightest stars of this roster are captain @Demski_, @Rubituss and goalie @Tiipponenii (Coffelainen), who very well could be one of the best on his position in the division. Playoffs need to be a lock for HV71, and their experience should be able to carry them far in the postseason. Player to watch: @Tiipponenii (Coffelainen)    RCTIC RCTIC is a team that has consistently been able to claw their way into the Playoffs of the Pro division, and they are able to challenge top teams when they are on their game, but bigger success seems to always avoid this team. @Limbe65 and @yrjoo are their biggest weapons up front and their very experienced defense consisting of @FakiiR1 and @Aze is a tough one to get past, especially if they are able to find chemistry, where we all know Fakiir1 will be the aggressive, highly physical party and Aze will need to stay back in more of a sweeper role. @Ricco is expected to continue developing in net.  Player to watch: @Limbe65   NOT ❄️  Purification A rather inexperienced team with some potential players in their ranks. They will need to improve playing as a unit and moving the puck in order to be competitive at the Pro level when facing defensively solid opponents, and there will most likely be an adjustment period for them in doing so. The team did very well in the Pro Qualifiers and scored a lot, with their most experienced player @eBasstian leading from the front. Keep an eye on him and @LaxenHD especially. Player to watch @LaxenHD  Red Bull Munich eSports A team that have slowly built their way up all the way from ECL Neo back in ECL 11 and managed to put up a fight against most of their opponents in the Pro Qualifiers, despite not coming away with wins in most games. At their best, Red Bull Munich can be a touch team to play against and @Lamsa is a weapon on the flank that everyone in the division has made a note to be weary of.  Player to watch: @Flo_goes_grazy (flgr93)  Prestige Prestige is a team with a rather short history, who battled hard during the ECL '23 Winter Lite season and eventually faltered int he Quarterfinals at the hands of the Champions, Pirati Chomutov Esports. This team hosts lots of individual skill, but they suffer from a lack of organization and solid team defense. They will be in for a rough awakening in the Pro division and will need to grow into more of a unit in order to see some success. Player to watch: @I_Saarinen_I  Neptune Hockey A very similar story to that of Prestige's in terms of how they made the Pro division from Lite, Neptune Hockey played their first season back in ECL '22 Winter Core, though. The team still holds several day one members, such as captain @JakkeJynkky, @wiibeni and @Zamiboii and the development they've had together is admirable. Neptune Hockey completed the ECL Pro Qualifiers with a .500 record and while they managed to keep games close against all opponents, they didn't manage to stand out in any way. We're expecting a tough season for Neptune Hockey, where they'll have to fight tooth-and-nail for a spot in no-man's-land. Player to watch: @egetelli_ Group 2 HOT 🔥  Renascor Now entering their fifth consecutive ECL Pro season as Renascor, the entire squad is aching to finally see some substantial success. All of their campaigns thus far have led to Playoff berths, but only one has taken them past the first round. The Russian based outfit have strengthened their ranks in the offseason with @Oxdoggi and @TeikDaun of Sulkavan Sudet fame. Renascor could be in for a successful season if they are able to gel together and find chemistry. They have a rather deep roster with some options for rotation if things don't work out.  Player to watch: @Virusactive    Polski Boys One of the biggest eHSM success stories, and now the team is getting ready to take the Pro division by storm. Already self proclaimed Champions, the only thing that remains is to deliver on their promises. Polski Boys is something of a fusion of the former Hunters and a portion of Golden Nights, and with that in mind we can expect a team heavily reliant on fast-paced offense and going hard to the net. They dominated their ECL Pro Qualifier group and really flexed their offensive muscles, but were picked apart by OTUKSET in their eHSM Round 3 Playoffs matchup.  Player to watch: @xSaski_    SIKA An interesting comeback to say the least. SIKA is known on the ECL as something of a top Pro contender team from years past, and after a short hiatus they've reappeared at the second highest level of ECL competition. This is a very different SIKA from what we've seen before, though, and you could argue we've got a more skilled SIKA roster on the ice than ever before. The roster was built just in time for the eHSM 2023 season and while it was the first true test for the squad, SIKA could have hoped for better results. A tough group put them at a lower seed than hoped for and they eventually faced elimination at the hands of fellow Pro squad RCTIC in round 2 of the Playoffs. @Valluxet is one of the division's most prolific scorers.  Player to watch: @Valluxet    OTUKSET The former ISO ESPORTS are the definition of a fringe Elite team. They had a taste of Elite action last season, but struggled getting a foothold in the European top 16, with scoring being their main issue. Otukset have since made a lot of moves on the transfer market and there's plenty of fresh faces on every position. We've even been hearing there might be some last minute transactions coming up right at the brink of the season. On defense, @juhkis96 and @Tumpp1A should be a lock, but their forward trio is still unclear. @Tukexi(MATILAISKA_) will take the right flank, but for the other positions they'll have lots of figuring out to do, with @OsquuG, @tkantola, @Valee__ and potentially even @Kaikkien Janoisten Sankari (Goodtobeatonttu) being possible choices for the spot. As mentioned, some of these players might also be on the move at the brink of the season opener.  Player to watch: @Tumpp1A NOT ❄️  Venom This team played their rookie Pro campaign in the Winter season and against all odds, managed to make it to no-man's-land. Now with some more experience under their belts, we could possibly see some improvement. Venom made a few acquisitions on the forward front in the offseason but they'll heavily rely on performances from the veteran winger @Jusa (JusaSoLow) in the offensive end. They will need to find a way to slow down some of the faster teams in their group in order to see some success. Player to watch: @Jusa (JusaSoLow)    Hawaii Hockey This is an interesting team that's seen a fair amount of player turnover over the past few seasons. For the ECL '23 Winter season, Hawaii Hockey shocked the division by acquiring superstar @jxrska, but unfortunately that ended up being a shorter stint than hoped for, and he has now been replaced by bringing in @ItzPoro from the former Memento. Hawaii Hockey played an excellent Pro Qualifier and flexed their offensive muscles with @Burtsi980H being their main man up front. Player to watch: @Macentoitunu    Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming have been grinding away in the Neo-Lite region for a few seasons at this point, and their rookie campaign in Lite in the Winter season wasn't what they had hoped for, with a 14th place in their group and no postseason action. However, this is a team that has taken over the history of Inter Iceland with an influx of new talent into the roster and mainly, new captain @Hasek-39-- who represents the more experienced playerbase in the entire division. The completed the ECL Pro Qualifiers with a .500 record and put up good fights against all of their opponents, including SIKA. We're doubtful about Eisbaeren's chances, but hope that they can prove us wrong along the way! Player to watch: @Hasek-39--    IK Oskarshamn IKO played a successful ECL '23 Winter season in the Pro division, but unfortunately lost their top scorer @Chevikov in the offseason. They also lost @snippystatue and are now entering the season with an all Swedish lineup, having brought in @Dehliiin from Ace Hockey and @Discokryckan as a free agent after several seasons on the sidelines. While we believe that a smaller and an all Swedish lineup will definitely help IK Oskarshamn tighten things up in their own end and play a game that is tougher on their opponents, it seems like they could be lacking an X-Factor that really gets the team going and wins them those close games. We'll gladly be in the wrong, and only time will tell. Player to watch: @Dehliiin The season for these clubs kicks off already today, but tomorrow you'll be able to watch some of them in our weekly ECL Pro broadcast at www.twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG! Stay tuned for the broadcast announcement on our social media channels. 

SportsGamers, We're at the brink of the 16th ECL season, and yet again, 16 of the best European NHL esports teams will be taking a crack at the European Championship title. Last season was one for the ages and as the stakes were higher than ever, the competition was also tougher than before. In terms of competition at the top, it feels like it's only getting tougher, as teams like Nordic Stars and JYP Jyväskylä are slowly creeping into the discussion of title contenders. Maybe there's also some trouble at the top, who knows? What we do know, though is that as always, before a single game has been played, it's a blank slate - carte blanche. ECL '23 Spring: Elite Schedule Regular Season: 24.4.-24.5. Quarterfinals: 29.5.-1.6. Semifinals: 4.-7.6. Finals: 16.-17.6.* Relegation: 26.-29.6. ** * TBC ** Series can be started as soon as pairs are known 1. Tunnel Vision The defending Champions are looking good leading up to the season opener. After their tough loss to Entourage in the World Finals, it would have been easy to start questioning yourself and changing things up, but according to captain Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen, Tunnel Vision have overcome the disappointment and moved forward as a team. The squad haven't made any changes to their roster, or their game and they're intent on dominating the ECL just as they have done in all of their preseason games thus far. More competition has usually brought out the fighting spirit in these guys, and we're just expecting them to get better as the season rolls on. 2. hREDS One of the more talked-about teams of the offseason, as usual. hREDS are expected to remain right there among the top teams and could very well run away with the Championship in a comeback effort after faltering to Frölunda HC in the Semifinals last season. Although on paper this team looks unstoppable, their preparation for the new ECL season hasn't gone without hiccups, though. Just this week, hREDS had a big matchup to test their level against fellow title contender Tunnel Vision in the Quarterfinals of the eHockey Finnish Championships, and quite surprisingly they were bested in three games and swept. The only other Elite squad hREDS played in the eHSM was Reality Check HC, against whom they went to overtime in both games and ended up splitting points. Will there be trouble in paradise if they can't pick up the pace? 3. Frölunda HC Slowly working their way back to the absolute top of NHL esports, nicknamed the "NHL 19 Allstars", Frölunda HC and their star-powered roster are looking set for yet another Championship push this season. This time, it's Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha's turn to take a crack at playing defense alongside mainstay Kristian-Mikael @Nassustelija Katajisto, and thus far it seems like their efforts to rotate the squad in hopes of better results has yielded some success. The greatest asset for this team is how much fun they seem to have while playing the game, and to be fair, it must be easy to have fun when you're this good, right? Contender team. 4. Nordic Stars After an impressive ECL '23 Winter campaign that took many by surprise, Nordic Stars have went all out in the offseason, making a very interesting overhaul to their defensive end. One of the most talked-about transfers of the ECL era could be Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen (KingOfApes_) getting the boot from hREDS and joining Nordic Stars in a surprising turn of events developing over the course of a few months. In addition, the up-and-coming squad have now went out and acquired one of the most interesting talents on the market, young prodigy Sisu @sisu33_ Nurminen of ECL 1v1 Championship fame. Together, KingOfApes_ and Sisu33_ will form one of the most exciting defensive pairs to date and we'll follow how their dynamic will develop over the course of the season. 5. JYP Jyvaskyla For a long, long time, JYP Jyväskylä were trending downwards and it even looked like the team was past their prime in all ways. We doubted them heavily heading into last season with a very inexperienced squad, but were gladly surprised when their rookie defensemen Jimi @J-_-Jamaltheman Rönkkönen and Aapeli @Frans-Fin Landström performed above all expectations. On top of that, young goalie Kasper @Kaz_zu Ramstedt has grown into a very solid elite level netminder, who is able to steal games for his team on any given day. JYP's preseason ended in a third round eHSM Playoffs exit at the hands of Reality Check HC, which is less than they would have hoped for, but if the Winter season is any indication of what's to come, we expect JYP to be back in the Playoffs this season. 6. Reality Check One of the biggest sensations of the Winter season, Reality Check are in for a big campaign and it's an even bigger ask for the team to repeat another successful Playoff berth. Maybe they could pull it off, though? In an interesting offseason transaction, long-time captain Harri @Pursuitti Haaksiala has left the team in favor of Be a Bro and he will be replaced by Miikka @xColeslaww Kolehmainen on the right flank alongside Jesper @Niskalaukaus Aho and V-V @vvlampela Lampela (cTunkeilija). Somehow, this team is oozing Stargazing rookie season vibes, but with lots of more experience, some success in their future shouldn't be entirely out of the question. 7. GOONS Ever since their eHSM 2022 Championship title, it's seemed like GOONS just haven't been able to catch a break. They entered the ECL '23 Winter season with a roster compiled just in time for the season to start, a campaign, which put them outside Playoff contention for the first time since entering the European top 16 in ECL 12. In the eHockey Finnish Championships, GOONS have entered the second round of Playoffs by invitation, and have now been eliminated in the Quarterfinals by Reality Check HC in a full five game series. GOONS seemed to struggle to find their game throughout their short campaign and games ended up being tighter than they would have wished for. Not the results GOONS have been looking for, but there's still time, and plenty of room to improve. Offensively, GOONS are one of the most versatile outfits out there. 8. Heimo Formerly with JANO, this squad switched organizations in the offseason, but that is all that's changed, as they are heading into their second consecutive ECL Elite season with the exact same roster as in the Winter season. What worked so well for them previously hasn't been changed. While Heimo suffered a disappointing third round exit in the eHSM Playoffs against Tunnel Vision, they are looking in decent shape heading into the Elite season. They have had some extra time to develop on their pre-existing chemistry and prolific scorer Wade @Wpaanane Paananen seems to have stayed hot throughout the offseason. Success won't be a surprise for this team anymore. 9. Färjestad BK Consistently missing the Playoffs is something that isn't in the DNA for Färjestad BK and their roster certainly holds the quality and skill to do better than that. They squad hailing from Karlstad, Sweden haven't quite found their game over the past few seasons despite having some of the most skilled individuals around in their ranks. They were able to remedy their inability to convert on the ECL ice by hoisting the eSHL season 4 trophy at the end of the Winter season and are looking to ride that wave into the SCL and now also the ECL Spring season. A notable absence will be Christoffer @I-Maise-I Berntsson (I-Mallen-I), who has been replaced by former Växjö Lakers centerman Adam @dzouvi Mensik, arguably bringing even more skill to an already abundantly skilled lineup. 10. ZSC Esports Last season was the first time ever we saw the Swiss outfit in the Playoffs, and while they can be proud of their accomplishments, the work doesn't stop there. This time, the team is in for an interesting challenge with former successful forward Alex @IDangledYouOut Wagner taking a step back to his original position in net, while Christian @GERxVillain Ungeheuer will most likely be taking over duties on the right flank. We can't help the doubt creeping in about whether these are moves that will strengthen the squad that greatly benefitted from the aggressive play Wagner displayed on the wing before, but we'll gladly be in the wrong! 11. Roots Gaming Roots Gaming entered the Elite division back in ECL '22 Winter as one of the most exciting young outfits we'd seen in a while. They managed to make the Playoffs in their first two seasons, but have been on a downwards trend ever since. This offseason, the squad acquired Mr. positivity Eemil @Sokkelo__ Soikkeli from the ashes of Unlucky Boys in an attempt to perhaps not only bolster their offense, but also to do good for their team chemistry. The new recruit has immediately made an impact and together with @zMikkeez, he could form an offensive force to be reckoned with. 12. Mayhems The ECL '23 Winter Pro Semifinalists enter the Elite division for the first time in team history after winning their relegation battle against Unlucky Boys in a thrilling game seven finish. The team was the topic of a lot of discussion over the course of the weekend and we ended up seeing a change of leadership, where the former captain and team owner @Miska (Zundeh) was forced out in favor of other players taking over. Their roster will remain largely unchanged, and quite interestingly, with the exception of goaltender Ville @Viltzup Poutiainen and a fresh new signing in Joel @jtorro-_- Tourunen, they are entering their campaign with an all-rookie lineup. After a few seasons in the mid-tier trenches of the Pro division, Mayhems really seemed to up their level last season and established themselves as a great defensive squad with the ability to win tight scoring games. More recently, they made the Quarterfinals of the eHockey Finnish Championships and overcame fellow Elite rookie team Tohtorit in Round 3 in a relatively convincing 3-0 series. 13. Redhawks Esport Having played the ECL '23 Winter season under the legendary Falun Coal Miners name and making it to no-man's-land after a disastrous start to their season, Redhawks Esport are making a comeback to ECL action, intent on paving their way back into the Playoffs. The team relies on the veteran presence of captain Hampus @l-Furyan-l Duvefelt with his trusted men André @Foppatofflan Liljegren and Connor @MartindalexC Martindale to lead the way, and the great part about these players are their versatility and the possibilities for them to play up and down the lineup in various positions. Based on some preseason scouting, we might be seeing Furyan and Martindale taking on defensive roles, while Foppatofflan might be seen at the center spot. Redhawks have acquired Fredrik @Kattenj Jansson of Växjö Lakers fame to step in on offense alongside Foppatofflan and Arttu @TheArska Aarnio, but we might see different variations in the final form of their lineup once the action gets underway. 14. Örebro Hockey Having made the Elite division after a Semifinals push in ECL '23 Winter Pro and winning their Qualification series against ISO ESPORTS, Örebro Hockey are getting ready to make an impact in their rookie season at the Elite level. The challenge will be massive, and to help them on their way, they have acquired some Elite experience in the form of Jere @keranee Keränen in the offseason. Most likely, they will be opening with the familiar offensive trio of Timi @Rimpe Rimpeläinen - Steffen @Suth98_ Sutherland - Anton @Henka0009 Henriksson, where Rimpe will continue holding an important role as their top scorer and the most experienced player. Many players in this roster grind the game a lot and as a result, theres an abundance of mechanical skill, but it remains to be seen if they can translate that into results when the games matter the most. 15. Leksands IF Having secured their Elite spot in a thrilling Qualifier series against Lulea Hockey no later than on Sunday evening, Leksands IF are coming in hot into their first ever Elite season. The team might benefit from having played such important games right at the end of their preseason and we'll follow closely if they look to be in better form than their competition early on. In Leksands IF, we're looking at a team that likes to play a fast-paced north-south game. They are very individually skilled and also have the ability to shut down opponents when needed. The issue for them will be inexperience at the top level, which they have looked to mend by acquiring Bajram @Katunarski Xhafa from Nordic Stars in the offseason. Jesper @I-Lillebror-I Nidalen has been able to shine in net at all levels and seems to be ready to take the next step on his career, his performances will be crucial for Leksand this season. 16. Tohtorit This ECL Elite Rookie team is entering the top division after a highly turbulent season in ECL '23 Pro Winter. Tohtorit had a disastrous start to the season and some rumours were floated about a large portion of the team quitting when they were in their darkest times. Some movement within the roster sparked their game, though, and the second part of the season really skyrocketed Tohtorit to a postseason unlike anything we've seen before. Tohtorit is a team that plays a very straight-forward breakout game, which could end up being their demise at the Elite level, but if they can adapt in time, they certainly have the skill to make things happen. Tune in to the ECL '23 Spring Elite season opener tonight at Twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG! The broadcast starts at 19:45 and we've got some really high profile matchups lined up right from the get-go! First Nordic Stars will challenge Frölunda HC, after which GOONS and Tunnel Vision will go at it. This is also the return of your favorite booth talent Cody @Tougie24 Tougas and Paul @Cyn Anderson for the first time since the World Finals in February!

It's been a rather young but highly successful ECL career for Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen thus far, as he's spent all but his rookie season with Tunnel Vision, claiming his first Elite title last season and representing Europe in the World Finals against the NACL Champions, Entourage.  The ECL '23 Winter season was a big one and it brought a lot of changes and marked a milestone with the first ever NHL Esports World Finals hosted at Assembly Winter 2023. Tunnel Vision and Entourage went head-to-head in a clash that eventually, the North American Champions ran away with in convincing fashion. Despite the disappointment, Tomi @tombo_02 Laitinen and his team have picked up the pieces and are determined to return stronger than before for a title defense. The young captain of Tunnel Vision has seen a lot of success in his career both on the 1v1 and 6v6 sides of the game, but his only Championship title is the one won with Tunnel Vision in ECL '23 Winter. On the 1v1 side, Tomboo has managed to compete at the top for quite some time already, but success has avoided him. He has represented Tampereen Ilves in both seasons of eLiiga and is intent of focusing more also on the 1v1 side in the future. List of previous ECL cover gamers: ECL 8: Erik @Eki Tammenpää ECL 9: Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen ECL 10: Casper @ICappeI Lundgren ECL 11: Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha ECL 12: Niklas @NikkeDangles Tukiainen ECL '22 Winter: Johan @Lehmannens Lehmann & Hampus @l-Furyan-l Duvefelt ECL '23 Spring: Niklas @uhNikke Nieminen ECL '23 Winter: Erik @Eki Tammenpää First off, how did you get into competitive NHL gaming? I've always played and enjoyed different sports and been interested in video games. Getting into NHL was a natural outcome of that. I started out playing mostly HUT and 1v1 modes ever since NHL 13, but it took until the end of NHL 19 until I really got into competitive action.  Your ECL career took off real quick and you actually started off as a winger, can you go through those experiences a bit? The start of my ECL career was a sum of several random events. I had been playing HUT and gotten to know Tapani @Tappu Anttila through that, which landed me a spot with Rookie Mistakes in ECL 10 Pro. I think the team was somewhere around a mid-tier Pro squad at that time, and I started off playing on the right wing, sharing responsibilities with Miikka @xColeslaww Kolehmainen in my first season. I think the main reason for my quick development has been playing the game so much and doing that with likeminded experienced players. A lot of my early development could be attributed to the early times with Tunnel Vision alongside players like Eemil @Sokkelo__ Soikkeli, Väinö @Pikkardz Pikkarainen and Aki @Frilander Frilander who already had some Elite experience under their belts. We played a lot and discussed the game which really helped me take a big leap in the development on a personal level.  What would you say are some of the attributes that sets top players apart from the rest and what makes the best stay at the top? It might be quite obvious, but you just have to play the game and put in the hours consistently. As an example, many top players have fallen off in the past when they haven't had the fire to grind the game enough anymore. At the very top, the margins are small and you have to gain the competitive edge in any way possible, our team spends time watching our past games and learning from them through discussing development points. An individual ability I think is exceptionally important is just being able to keep your cool and being level-headed. After all, we're playing a video game and there's several aspects in any game you just can't control, so not letting those things rattle you is a massive factor in making you a better player. Lately there's been some discussion about various leadership types and team dynamics, how do you see yourself as a leader and what does the dynamic in Tunnel Vision look like? Well when we started Tunnel Vision, I didn't have a leadership role, but since then I've continued on the same path that we started and kept it going for about two years now. All decisions are made within the entire team and a big part of the recruitment process is making sure our new players fit the vibe of our team and are able to weigh in with valuable input in team discussion. For me, an open dialogue is very important within the entire team.  How is Tunnel Vision looking heading into the ECL '23 Spring season? Honestly, I'd say we were in better overall form during the Winter season. I feel like our game has been fluctuating a lot since the ECL & World Finals, which is a bit uncharacteristic for us. An obvious reason is that we've played less, but we'll pick things back up as the ECL kicks off again. At our best, I think we've been way better than ever before lately. We've also enjoyed playing without the banned abilities and I think it's also made the game more fun to watch.  What are some of the opponents you'll be on the lookout for in the upcoming season? I think there's more good teams than before. hREDS are the strongest team on paper, I think they have the best players on each position and they are the ones to beat. Frölunda is another team I expect to continue their good run and Erik @Eki Tammenpää & Tuukka @FlyerKungen Kuha switching places could be a good thing for them, they've looked good. JYP Jyväskylä has taken back their position as a solid top team and they should be a consistent Playoff contender as long as they keep things going. The most interesting teams to follow, though are GOONS and Nordic Stars. GOONS have a highly skilled roster and their offense especially is one of the toughest to guard when they are on their game. They've got golden one tees on both flanks and know how to use them. Nordic Stars took a big leap forward by getting Tuukka @Tuukka.R Röpelinen (KingOfApes_) in the offseason and have some success to show for that in the eHSM 2023. They'll surely continue improving.  ECL '23 Spring Elite starts on Monday, April 24th and Tunnel Vision is entering their title defense in confident manner. You can follow the league on all of the social media channels of the teams and in weekly broadcasts at Twitch.tv/SportsGamerGG!

SportsGamers, The newest update to the ECL '23 Spring rulebook is now live and can be accessed through the league pages shortly. Generally speaking, the rulebook is a revised and improved version of the rulebook used in ECL '23 Winter. Find the new rulebook here. Some major changes have been made as follows: • 7.7 Active bans – for convenience, the active bans are now available in a Google sheet • 10.4 Postponing games – Introduced restrictions to how many times a game can be rescheduled (without agreement) • 11.7 Banned Player Abilities – Some player abilities are now banned as per feedback from community We ask every team and it's members to familiarize themselves with the rulebook before taking the ice for the ECL '23 Spring season. Please refer to the rulebook in case of any issues that may arise over the course of the season. In case of any questions, please be in touch with support.

We're pleased to announce the Madden 23 Academy Tournament, a casual-style Madden 23 tournament for any and all European gamers looking to get familiar with the more competitive side of the game. In cooperation with EA Sports, we're able to provide a low entry barrier by providing participants with game codes, so this is not only a great deal, but an amazing opportunity to start your career in a game that might not be familiar to you from before. The Madden 23 Academy Tournament is a one-day single-elimination tournament played in the Online Head to Head game mode of Madden NFL 23 on PlayStation 5. The tournament is open to European residents. Madden NFL 23 and the all-new FieldSENSE™-system change the foundation of how you play. The newest iteration of the legendary football franchise game gives you more control than ever before all around the field and allows you to make plays you never thought were possible before. Put the ball where only your receiver can catch it, control explosive cuts to lose your coverage, read plays and react better, and showcase your speed on the field for highlight reel plays. Now is your chance to pick up your competitive Madden career, whether you are a seasoned vet or a rookie who's never touched the game, it won't get any easier than this to try it out. Together with EA Sports, we're happy to bring great prizes to the table too, as the #1 player will win four general admission tickets to any NFL International Games event of their choice and the #2 player will be winning two tickets. These events are once-in-a-lifetime experiences bringing the NFL show on the road. On top of that, we've also got a bunch of cool NFL-themed surprise prizes for Semi-finalists. What? Online Madden NFL 23 Tournament on PlayStation 5 for European Players. When? One-day tournament, 29.4.2023 Where? Sign up here at SportsGamer.GG and find all info over at SportsGamer.GG/madden PLAY LIKE MAD.

SportsGamers, After a long and very fluctuating season, GCL 6v6 action has come to an end. We have seen many thrilling matchups and upsets in the 4th iteration of the GCL Cup. Honorable mention: Division 2 squad Old Primates managed to advance to the quarterfinals but eventually fell short to SCB eSports! In the end ZSC Esports completes the "double" for the second consecutive season. After clinching the German Championship League title in the previous week, the Swiss outfit had to face the Deadly Phantoms once again for the final time this season. In a thrilling and exciting Best-of-1 final the virtual lions came back from a 1-3 deficit and equalized 38 seconds before the end of regulation. With the 4-3 OT Win the Lions secured first back-to-back doubles in GCL history! Austrian Phantoms forward Felix @ProfaneKiss Kiss secures the top scoring title (10G+12A in 5GP) in this campaign. On behalf of the whole community we want to congratulate ZSC Esports and thank all participants. See you next season! Take a look at the OT GWG by Chris @GERxVillain Ungeheuer 👇   ZSC Esports' road to the Cup: Round 1: Bye Round 2: vs EV Duisburg 8-0 Round 3: vs Hannover Indians e Sports 5-0 Quarterfinals: vs HC Lugano eSports 4-3 Semifinals: vs SCB eSports 2-1 Finals: vs Deadly Phantoms 4-3 OT   The winning roster: GOALTENDERS #22 Reto @afc_Tschitsch(eTschitsch) Ulrich (A) #28 Alex @IDangledYouOut(I_Alex28_I) Wagner DEFENSEMEN #9 Max @Toneee9 Tonitz (A) #13 Reto @Haldeem Haldemann FORWARDS #2 Chris @GERxVillain Ungeheuer #21 Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi (C) #39 Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg

SportsGamers, The European Championship League is just about to enter it's 16th season and there's still plenty of room for more teams and players to join in on the fun! The Spring season guarantees competitive action suitable for everyone regardless of skill level and an opportunity to start your NHL esports career, working your way to the top gradually through our divisional framework. What is the ECL? The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports - a league where all the best European NHL gamers compete against each other in both EASHL (6v6) and Online Versus (1v1) for European Championship League titles. ECL 6v6 currently features five divisions, so enjoyable games are guaranteed for everyone regardless of skill level and experience! Find all information about the ECL '23 Spring season here. ECL '23 Spring 1v1 The 1v1 section of ECL gathers all the best European NHL 23 Players for a tournament where the prize is the European Championship title and the largest split of the 2500 EUR prize pool. The tournament will be played as a group stage, out of which the top 128 players will be making the playoffs. You can sign up for ECL 1v1 until the 9th of May, 2023. Participation requires the purchase of an ECL '23 Player License. ECL '23 Spring 6v6 6v6 is what the ECL has built it's prestige on, and with close to 200 teams currently signed up, we've got all participating teams in a divisional framework across five different skill levels, with Neo and Core being the entry levels. In order to sign up, you'll need an NHL 23 EASHL club with a minimum of 8 members on either PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S. You can sign up for ECL 6v6 until the 20th of April, 2023. How do I join? First off, make sure you create an account at SportsGamer.gg. Once you're signed in, make sure you update your Player card by clicking your gamertag in the top right hand corner and selecting "edit player". Make sure the player name matches the one you use in game. If you only intend to play 1v1, you'll still need to create your player card, but the information isn't as crucial. Once you've got your account on SportsGamer.GG set up, you are ready to sign up! For ECL 1v1, all players sign up individually, but on the 6v6 side, only the team captain needs to register the team, after which they can invite all team members to the roster. For more information on getting started, head over to the SportsGamer FAQ. Don't have a team yet? Team looking for additions to your roster? If you are a free agent looking to be picked up, please head over here. If you are representing a team looking for players, please head over here.

SportsGamer introduces a new community sponsorship program in order to unite hard-working players and teams of all levels with mutually beneficial partnerships. Since the inception of SportsGamer, besides the obvious objective of creating high-quality leagues and tournaments for our players, one of our main objectives has been growing the community. The way we want to do that is by highlighting the great players and teams that are playing on our platform and giving them an environment and tools needed to succeed. This is why we are glad to announce that we are launching the SportsGamer Community Sponsorship Program, an application-based program with the purpose of helping players of all skill levels through SportsGamer sponsorship. The objective of the program is to unite hard-working players and teams with partners to form a long-lasting and mutually beneficial partnership, allowing both parties opportunities to grow and develop. The program is intended for all members of our community, but naturally the selection process will be strict and favor players and teams with clear future objectives, good action plans, notable reach and some previous body of work in their rearview as a portfolio.  The application is open to the entire community and we are looking forward to learning as much as possible about you and your future plans in your application. In order to apply and find out more about the program, head over to sportsgamer.gg/sponsorship. Applications will be reviewed on a monthly basis by the SportsGamer team and all applicants will receive replies, whether chosen for the program or not. As the program is developed further, we are hoping to be able to increase the amount of sponsored teams and players in the future.

SportsGamers, With the signups for both ECL '23 Spring Lite, Pro and Elite now closed, we have determined the final amount of open spots in our three highest divisions. ECL Elite had 15 returning teams signed up, which caused the need for Qualifiers for the 16th spot. As a result, we have invited four teams to join the Qualifiers, which will be played as a group stage, followed by a best-of-five Playoff series between the top two teams. The invited teams were the teams seeded 17-20 in the ECL divisional framework based on the results at the end of the ECL '23 Winter season. In ECL Pro, we had 21 returning teams signed up, with one team being promoted from the ECL Elite Qualifiers putting the total at 20 teams. This means that ECL '23 Pro had 12 open spots to fill. As a result, all teams that qualified from the first stage of the ECL '23 Spring Pro Qualifiers have earned spots in the Pro division. The ECL Lite division will consist of 34 returning teams, four teams from the ECL Pro Qualifiers and the remaining 26 open spots will be filled through the ECL Lite Qualifiers. As a result, the qualification process in the ECL '23 Spring Lite Qualifiers have been modified as follows: The top five teams of each group will earn spots in ECL '23 Spring Lite, the teams seeded #21-#28 will then enter the Playoffs, where round 1 winners will secure a Lite spot. Losers will advance to round 2, where the winners will secure the remaining two Lite spots. Here are the teams signed up in the Elite, Pro and Lite divisions, and an illustration of how Qualifiers will work: ECL '23 Spring 1 Tunnel Vision 2 Frölunda HC 3 JYP Jyväskylä 4 hREDS 5 Reality Check HC 6 Heimo 7 ZSC eSports 8 Nordic Stars 9 Goons 10 Färjestad BK 11 Redhawks Esport 12 Roots Gaming 13 Tohtorit 14 Orebro Hockey 15 Nemesis 16 ECL '23 Spring Elite Qualifiers 1 OTUKSET 2 Luleå Hockey 3 Leksands IF 4 Be a Bro ECL '23 Spring Pro 1 OTUKSET 2 Luleå Hockey 3 Leksands IF 4 Be a Bro 5 Golden Nights 6 Djurgården Hockey 7 RCTIC 8 Renascor 9 IK Oskarshamn 10 Exerceo 11 Herlev Eagles 12 Deadly Phantoms 13 Bjorkloven Esport 14 Gifu Hockey 15 Arkham Asylum 16 Valco 17 Bastu 18 Venom 19 Pirati Chomutov eSports 20 Project X 21 Gunners HC 22 Hawaii Hockey 23 Brynäs IF 24 Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming 25 Prestige 26 Red Bull Munich eSports 27 Vizio 28 Purification 29 HV71 30 N0VA 31 Polski Boys 32 SIKA 33 Neptune Hockey ECL '23 Spring Lite 1 Company of Geeks 2 Frolunda HC Academy 3 Timrå IK Esport 4 EHC Kloten eSports 5 Mora IK 6 RoKi Esports 7 Sodertalje SK 8 NOSTREETSPORTS 9 Duesseldorfer EG eSports 10 Lions Academy 11 Blessed Suedis 12 Nappula 13 Sawolanche 14 SCB eSports 15 TROJANS 16 Technical Disaster 17 Skelleftea AiK 18 Ultimatum 19 EHC Dinamo Riga 20 xBOTS 21 Armada Hockey 22 Sunne IK Esport 23 Wildcats esport 24 PunaKala 25 Tupsukorvat 26 Ghost 27 Including Me 28 Nurnberg IceTigers eSport 29 Golden Sticks 30 Woodhands 31 Saucer Hockey 32 Chiefzz HC 33 Rahinage 34 HC VADELMA 35 Cheeky Grinders 36 HC Korobka 37 Hannover Indians eSports 38 Deggendorfer SC Esports 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 ECL '23 Spring Lite Qualifiers 1 Black Hurricanes 2 Boost HC 3 Canucks Hockey 4 Clowns 5 Dragons Gaming 6 Ducktales BK 7 EHC Olten eSports 8 Fiilis Hockey 9 Freunde des Alkohols 10 HC JEUSSEN 11 HC Lugano eSports 12 HC Pustertal eSports 13 Hc Replay 14 Karhukissat 15 MoDo Hockey 16 Mustaa Kultaa 17 Northern Dust 18 Pirati Chomutov academy 19 Predators 20 Progress 21 Seinajoki Noms 22 Shameful Knights 23 Showtimes 24 Dark Wild 25 Stadin Kingit 26 Supernatural 27 Swedish Stars 28 Western Express

SportsGamers, The ECL '23 Spring Lite & Pro Qualifiers kick off today and we're in for a bunch of exciting gamedays leading up to the regular season, as the Qualifier teams will need to fight tooth and nail for open spots in both divisions. At the moment, Pro holds seven open spots while the Lite division holds nine open spots. The amount may increase if teams eligible to sign up for the respective divisions drop out. ECL '23 Spring Lite Qualifiers Schedule Group stage: 9.-16.4.2023 Playoffs Round 1: 17.4.2023 (if needed) Playoffs Round 2: 18.4.2023 (if needed) Playoffs Round 3: 19.4.2023 (if needed) Playoffs Round 4: 20.4.2023 (if needed) Playoffs Round 5: 23.4.2023 (if needed) The following teams will be taking part in the Lite division Qualifiers: Lite Qualifiers 1 Clowns 2 Ducktales BK 3 Freunde des Alkohols 4 HC JEUSSEN 5 Karhukissat 6 Pirati Chomutov academy 7 Predators 8 Boost HC 9 Canucks Hockey 10 Dragons Gaming 11 EHC Olten eSports 12 Fiilis Hockey 13 Northern Dust 14 Progress 15 Shameful Knights 16 Black Hurricanes 17 HC Lugano eSports 18 Seinajoki Noms 19 Showtimes 20 Skelleftea AIK 21 Swedish Stars 22 HC Pustertal eSports 23 Hc Replay 24 MoDo Hockey 25 Mustaa Kultaa 26 Stadin Kingit 27 Supernatural 28 Team Radis 29 Western Express The Lite Qualifiers will hold four groups, out of which the top two teams in each group will be securing a spot in the Lite division. The Playoff format will be announced on April 14th, when the Lite division signups have closed and the final number of Lite spots open has been determined. See the groups and schedule on the league page here. ECL '23 Spring Pro Qualifiers Schedule Group stage 1: 9.-13.4.2023 Group stage 2: 16.-18.4.2023 Playoffs Round 1: 20.4.2023 (if needed) The following teams will be taking part in the ECL Pro Qualifiers: Pro Qualifiers 1 Pro 25 Hawaii Hockey 2 Pro 27 Brynäs IF 3 Pro 28 Company of Geeks 4 Pro 29 Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming 5 Lite 5 Prestige 6 Lite 6 Red Bull Munich eSports 7 Lite 7 Vizio 8 Lite 8 Purification 9 Wildcard HV71 10 Wildcard N0VA 11 Wildcard Polski Boys 12 Wildcard SIKA 13 Pro 32 ▼ Frolunda HC Academy 14 Lite 10 Neptune Hockey 15 Lite 12 Timrå IK Esport 16 Lite 13 EHC Kloten eSports The Pro Qualifiers will also hold four groups, out of which the top three teams in each group will be advancing to stage 2 (two groups - six teams) of the Qualifiers. The top three teams of each group in stage 2 will secure a spot in ECL '23 Spring Pro. The Playoff format will be announced on April 14th, when the Pro division signups have closed and the final number of Pro spots open has been determined. See the groups and schedule on the league page here.

SportsGamers, The ninth iteration of the German Championship League kicked off in mid-February and the DACH gamers have once again crowned their Champion. The Swiss ECL Elite juggernaut ZSC Esports secured their third consecutive GCL championship, beating their eternal rivals Deadly Phantoms in six games. After a whopping 5:1 victory in game six, the virtual Lions secured their first "Threepeat" after one of the most dominant GCL campaigns in DACH eHockey history. Finishing their regular season with a perfect record of 14-0-0  including the best offense (104 GF) and defense (22 GA) in the league. Left Forward Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg secured back-to-back regular season scoring titles (31G + 50A in 14GP) while Center and Captain Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi secured the topscorer title in this postseason (33G + 26A in 14GP).   The series was casted live on twitch.tv/sportsgamerdach by Alexander @BloodyLP Blattmann. Take a look at the final Championship winning goal by Alex @IDangledYouOut Wagner in Game six: ZSC Esports' road to the championship: #1 overall seed from group 1 with the record 14-0-0 Quarterfinals: vs Deggendorfer SC Esports (8) 4-0 Semifinals: vs Red Bull Munich Esports (6) 4-0 Finals: vs Deadly Phantoms (2) 4-2   The winning roster: GOALTENDERS #11 Pierre @RedPi(CestQuiLuiii) Lerouge #22 Reto @afc_Tschitsch(eTschitsch) Ulrich (A) #28 Alex @IDangledYouOut(I_Alex28_I) Wagner DEFENSEMEN #9 Max @Toneee9 Tonitz (A) #13 Reto @Haldeem Haldemann #93 Lenne @kemppainen39 Kemppainen FORWARDS #2 Chris @GERxVillain Ungeheuer #21 Sven @Original-SnuS Julmi (C) #39 Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg Congratulations to the champions on behalf of the entire community, and a warm thank you to all participants!

SportsGamers, Tonight we'll be kicking off the GCL9 Finals with a banger of a series! ZSC Esports and the Deadly Phantoms will be battling it out this week with games 1-3 tonight, followed by the rest of the series next week. Will the ZSC Esports secure their first "threepeat" or will the Deadly Phantoms back on top in the DACH community? Who do you think will hoist the trophy? ZSC Esports (1) vs. Deadly Phantoms (2) (written by @OGjahajaha)   TOP SCORER (Playoffs) Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg 8 GP, 16+34=50 vs. Felix @ProfaneKiss Kiss 12 GP, 19+10=29 GOALTENDER (Playoffs) Alex @IDangledYouOut(I_Alex28_I) Wagner 8 GP, 8 W, 89,16 SV%, 1.13 GAA, 2 SO vs. Patrick @RPH_31 Braun 5 GP, 3 W, 77,36 SV%, 2.4 GAA, 0 SO REGULAR SEASON RECORD 14-0-0 vs. 10-1-3 PLAYOFF RECORD 8-0-0 vs. 8-2-2   For the fourth consecutive time we are seeing ZSC Esports and Deadly Phantoms clash in the GCL finals! While the former German juggernaut of the Phantoms secured five consecutive titles (from GCL2 to GCL6), the Swiss Lions will be keen on crowning themselves back-to-back-to-back DACH champion for the first time. While ZSC Esports secured their spot in the finals with two comfortable sweeps against Deggendorfer SC Esports and Red Bull Munich Esports, the German outfit had to go through two tougher matchups. Beating DEG Esports in round 1 in five games and securing their final spot with a game 7 semifinals victory over Team NGU. Both teams are well-experienced and have faced each other many times in the German Championship League. We do not expect anything less than a tight and exciting series to finish this 9th GCL campaign. One of the most important factor for the success of each team will be consistency.    Community prediction: 4-3 ZSC Esports Community players-to-watch: Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg & Felix @ProfaneKiss Kiss   Just as last year, we are very proud that Alexander @BloodyLP Blattmann will present the German Championship League finals live on twitch.tv/sportsgamerdach. We are live at 20:50 CEST. Make sure to tune in! Play hard and smart!

Heimo Esports is the esports section of the floorball club Westend Indians, hailing from Espoo, Finland. The club has been running their esports section since the fall of 2022 and are now entering NHL esports for the first time. The Esports section for Finnish floorball club Westend Indians have acquired the former roster of JANO Esports, who made an excellent Playoff push back in their rookie season in the European top 16 last season. This will be the first time this organization is seen in the NHL esports scene but the partnership seems to be a great fit, with players in their roster more or less invested in Floorball as a sport outside of their NHL esports careers. "NHL esports has shown a steady growth throughout the past few years and an interest towards the sport has been there ever since Heimo Esports was founded. I think the greatest aspects of esports, being dynamic team play and individual mechanic ability, are heavily present in NHL esports. Our expectations are high and the team is stronger than ever, we are ready for puck drop. GLHF!" - Samuel "Mäyrä" Lindholm, GM of Heimo Esports In their inaugural season among the European top 16, the new Heimo Esports roster managed to surprise several doubters by squeaking into the Playoffs as the #8 seed, seeing an impressive season individually by rookie of the season Wade @Wpaanane Paananen and impressively mature team play from the rookie squad. The roster is looking to continue on their great form and haven't made any changes to their lineup in the offseason. GOALTENDERS #49 Jani @Vamoux Jämsäläinen (A) #77 Saku @Mehukatti10 Serttilä DEFENSEMEN #4 Markus @Makeaxl Lahti #11 Saku @Sakkem Saaranluoma FORWARDS #15 Otto @xHatsi Hämäläinen #50 Eemil @Eeemill_ Törnvall (C) #52 Jim @SadaPoika Leskinen #97 Wade @Wpaanane Paananen Team captain Eeemill_ is confident his team can continue their success into the eHSM and the upcoming ECL '23 Spring seasons and also puts emphasis on the fact that their transfer from JANO to Heimo Esports didn't involve any drama. "Our contract with JANO was up and the opportunity to sign with Heimo Esports presented itself. It was a team decision to make the move in search of fresh new wind for our sails. I'm obviously hoping for success in the upcoming tournaments and I believe we can do even better than in ECL '23 Winter."

SportsGamers, Based on several community polls and careful deliberation over the course of the past few months, League Administration has decided to enforce a ban on a number of player Abilities in the upcoming eHockey SM, SCL and ECL seasons. The upcoming seasons will serve as pilots for these bans and we will review the situation in the offseason based on feedback received. Here is the list of abilities that will be banned: Bans will apply to both Zone (Gold) and Superstar (Silver) abilities listed below. Big Tipper Advanced speed, accuracy, and range when deflecting shots. Close Quarters Advanced power and accuracy when taking wrist/snap shots in close proximity to the net. Truculence Exceptional stability and assist on hits. Greatly increases the chance of knocking over the opponent and sapping their energy. Unstoppable Force Exceptional strength with the puck and a greatly increased ability to hold onto the puck when off balance. These bans will be enforced in the eHockey SM and the SCL, as well as the four highest divisions (Core, Lite, Pro and Elite) of ECL '23 Spring. ECL '23 Spring Neo will have no Ability bans in effect. If a player is found to have used a banned Ability in competitive games, the first infraction will result in a warning. Two warnings will result in a suspension. UPDATE: Based on feedback the penalty for infractions will be revised and released in the rulebooks of each upcoming league.

With the NHL 23 season in high gear, we have the traditional regional Championships to play for and with that we're glad to announce the return of the Swedish Championship League! The fifth iteration of the SCL makes its long awaited return this spring, and we're excited to see the best Swedish gamers back on the virtual ice again amidst the grind of the unusually high-action NHL competitive season.  To cap off the fourth season of the SCL, Manos secured their 6v6 title and Henrik @Eken45jr Eklund was able to achieve his fourth consecutive 1v1 title. According to the SCL ruleset, both will receive an invitation to join this years SCL as the #1 seed in the playoffs.  The 2023 SCL season will feature a prize pool of 75 000 SEK combined for the 1v1 and 6v6 sides of the league. Participation this season will require the purchase of an SCL 2023 Player License that costs 5,5 EUR or approximately 62 SEK depending on the exchange rate. The license will allow for participation in both the SCL 6v6 and 1v1 leagues for the 2023 season. Schedule Default gamedays for the SCL 2023 season will be Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. SIGN UP FOR 1v1 HERE! Registrations for SCL 1v1 are open now, until Sunday, 9th of April. Registration: 20.3-9.4.2023 Regular season: 12.-26.4. Playoffs: RO32: 29.4. RO16: 3.5. Quarterfinals: 6.5. TOP4: 7.5.* * The Schedule is preliminary and will be confirmed later. SIGN UP FOR 6v6 HERE! Registrations for SCL 6v6 are open now, until Sunday, 9th of April. Registration: 20.3-9.4.2023 Regular season: 11.-23.4. Playoffs: RO16: 27.-30.4. Quarterfinals: 4.-7.5. Semifinals:11.-14.5. Bronze & Finals: 26.5.* * The Schedule is preliminary and will be confirmed later.   Eligibility In the development of our regional leagues, the main objective has been creating a structure that allows all of the regional communities to shine, while strengthening each tournament’s own unique identity and sense of national pride. In the interest of solidifying an identity for the SCL that has a stronger native focus while also avoiding scheduling issues for especially the two concurrently running tournaments (eHSM & the SCL), player participation in the SCL will exclude that player from participating in the eHSM. However, for this season, Swedish players will be allowed to compete in both tournaments simultaneously. 'Player participation' is defined as being listed on the roster of a team participating in the SCL. In short, non-Swedish players can not be listed in the roster for teams in both the SCL and the eHSM. For SCL 2023, two non-Swedish players will be allowed per team on ice in a game – under very specific conditions. Here they are: Outside of the Swedish championship (SCL). The German (GCL), Finnish (eHSM), and Czech and Slovak (CSCL) communities will be defined as the “major communities” for the purposes of this text. Players hailing from nations that currently do not have a region-based championship to sign up for – one where they are allowed to play free of restrictions and are counted as the main target demographic – will be defined as “minor communities” for the purposes of this text. All teams must always feature a minimum of 4 Swedish players in their on-ice lineup Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if both players are from a minor community (for example: Danish, Norwegian, Latvian) Teams may feature a maximum of two non-Swedish players on ice if one player is from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak) and the other player from a minor community Teams may NOT feature two non-Swedish players on ice if both those players are from a major community (German, Finnish, Russian, Czech, Slovak) Below you will find an image to help illustrate this rule clarification: The 1vs1 portion of the SCL is available only for Swedish citizens. We hope you are as excited as us to take the ice and battle for the Swedish Championship once again! Tough battles and some heated rivalries are to be expected, and we'll be bringing you the decisive games of the season live with our broadcast team as usual. So without further ado, get your squad together and sign up now! Finally, if you would like to help the SCL grow, please do so by spreading the word by sharing this news story.

The start of the ECL '23 Winter season brought lots of news to the beloved crown jewel of European NHL Esports, and we're committed to keep developing the league. Now we're launching registrations for the ECL '23 Spring season and it's time to gear up amidst the packed competitive schedule the game offers this year! After the ECL '23 Winter season culminated in the biggest event we've done to date and the national Championships have taken off to a nice start in the competitive schedule, the time has come to also announce the ECL '23 Spring season. This season will continue strengthening the framework we've built whilst maintaining the status as the crown jewel of European NHL Esports. Just over three weeks ago, we crowned Tunnel Vision the ECL Winter Elite Champions at Assembly, and now the young squad is seemingly entering their prime in the looks of a similar dominant streak to that of hREDS, Frölunda and HAVU that were before them. With more parity than ever before across the league and across divisions, the newly crowned Champions will have several hungry teams in pursuit, though. The ECL '23 Spring season will feature a prize pool totalling up to 26 000€ across the four highest competitive tiers. This puts the ECL up there as not just the biggest 6v6 league out there, but also one of the longest running and highest paying leagues. We are committed to keeping the development and the trend going not only this season, but long into the future too. Having established the ECL as the superior European NHL Esports league, a big part of the league is the culmination in live Finals - a big event where the community can come together to celebrate another successful season. This season, the ECL Elite Finals will be played on June 16th and 17th in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The location and specifics will be announced at a later stage! Revamped ECL 1v1 format With the introduction of the inaugural season of the 1v1 European Championship League, we saw lots of potential, but also realized several areas that needed development. This season, we'll be looking to improve on the player experience by introducing a group stage and playoffs similar to what we've seen in the national leagues to this point. This means that all entrants will be seeded into groups right from the get-go and the top 128 players will advance to the playoffs from the group stage. As ECL 1v1 still falls under the ECL umbrella, you can also expect the big production and a hefty prize pool to go along with it. To X-Factor, or not to X-Factor? There's been lots of discussion going on about X-Factors and we'd like to remind you that an official desicion on their future in the ECL has not yet been made. We are still looking for community input to help us make an educated call, and with that would like to invite you to the discussion in the threads below: ECL Elite & Pro: Abilities Ban Poll ECL Core & Lite: Abilities Ban Poll ECL Neo: Abilities Ban Poll An official decision will be communicated leading up to the season and we will do our best to allow teams an adjustment period if any changes will be implemented. UPDATE: LA Announcement: Certain Player Abilities to be banned in eHSM, SCL and ECL '23 Spring ECL '23 Player Licenses An ECL '23 Player License purchased for the Winter season will still be valid for the Spring season. However, if a player had not obtained their license for ECL '23 Winter, a license can now be purchased for the Spring season at a slightly reduced price.. The new ECL Player License will cost 15€ and allow for participation in both the ECL 6v6 and 1v1 leagues for the ECL ‘23 Spring season. This license will grant you access to compete in the most prestigious and biggest competitive NHL esports league in Europe. An ECL season spans over the course of two to three months and guarantees a minimum of roughly 20 games of competition on the 6v6 side*, whereas the 1v1 league adds - at the very least - the opportunity to participate in the group stage, guaranteeing a good amount of high level competition also on that side. ECL Neo will continue being available at no license fee for teams wishing to get a taste of competitive virtual hockey, whereas all other divisions are subject to a team license fee. The license is exponentially higher at higher levels of competition, given the increased spotlight and additional content around the divisions in question. Each team can name up to 3 backup players (outside of the primary 6) that can help the team out and play up to 10 games during ECL '23 without having to own the player license. The 10 games consist of qualifier, regular season and playoff games during the ECL '23 Winter and Spring seasons. The ECL ‘23 Player License can be purchased during the season if a backup wants to play more games than expected. ECL Neo will remain free to play, with no player license required to compete, however To uphold the integrity of ECL Neo as the beginner level, we reserve the right to deny teams to participate in cases where they are clearly above the amateur level, as it could significantly impact the experience of what ECL Neo is intended for. The ECL ‘23 Player License can be purchased by an ECL Neo player if they want to participate in ECL 1v1, benefit from the additional advantages that come with the license, or simply as a form of supporting the league. License fees will be allocated to fund prize pools and developing operations, such as our broadcasts, live productions and promoting the league. *Based on the minimum amount of games played in a starting role in the ECL '22 Spring: Core regular season. The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports - a league where all the best European NHL gamers compete against each other in both EASHL (6v6) and Online Versus (1v1) for the European Championship title. ECL 6v6 currently features five divisions, so action is guaranteed for everyone regardless of skill level and experience! Basic information/requirements of ECL: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however, we do not necessarily exclude players located in North America or Asia. A European server will always be used. In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. Individual requirements: Each player needs to have an account at SportsGamer.GG and create their personal player card. ECL licenses: Teams in ECL Elite & ECL Pro, ECL Lite and ECL Core will require their respective ECL ‘23 Winter team licenses in order to play. In addition, every player needs to have a valid ECL ‘23 Spring Player License before taking the ice. Rules: The ECL ‘23 Spring ruleset will follow the same foundation as the previous season. The updated rulebook will be available before the season. The divisions framework for the ECL ‘23 season will follow the same logic as for previous seasons. We will have a total of five divisions with the following team allocation: Elite 16 teams, Pro 32 teams, Lite 64 teams, Core 128 teams and Neo 32+ teams. Please refer to this ECL Ranking in order to understand which teams are eligible to sign up for each division. Wildcard teams: 18.3.-1.4.2023 ⚠️ Lite Qualifier: - 18.3.-7.4.2023 ⚠️ Pro Qualifier: - 18.3.-7.4.2023 ⚠️ Neo: 18.3.-20.4.2023 Core: 18.3.-20.4.2023 Lite: 18.3.- 13.4.2023 Pro: 18.3.-13.4.2023 Elite: 18.3.-13.4.2023 *Signups will close at 23:59 CET on the last day mentioned unless otherwise specified. Schedule Pro Wildcard Battle: 3.-4.4.2023 Lite Qualifiers: 9.-23.4.2023 Pro Qualifiers: 9.-20.4.2023 ECL '23 Spring Season: 24.4.-29.6.2023 Signups are open right now, so now is time to brace for that final push in building your teams! Get your team together and sign up for the biggest event of the year! Read more about specific division schedules, prize pools and more: ECL '23 Spring Wildcard ECL '23 Spring Lite & Pro Qualifiers ECL '23 Spring Neo ECL '23 Spring Core ECL '23 Spring Lite ECL '23 Spring Pro ECL '23 Spring Elite ECL '23 Spring 1v1 Purchase Licenses Don't have a team yet? Team looking for additions to your roster? If you are a free agent looking to be picked up, please head over here. If you are representing a team looking for players, please head over here. Did your team sign with an organization that is represented in the game and needs in-game unlocks? Fill in this form. (Only if your organization has unlockables available in NHL 23)