janbonator

Alright, thanks! It was that look in his eyes, very "konna" indeed..

Hmm.. Never seen the guy, but I'm placing my bets on FinKonna!

Great coverage, Hampus! Looked like a fantastic event, shame I couldn't make it there this time. Congrats to Plee once more for the trophy! Who is carrying Plee in that award-picture?

Overall, to me it looks quite a messy situation, and that's what you generally end up with on matters where the rules rely largely on judgement calls. I feel the ruling in this case is OK. The details can always be argued upon. Replaying the games is an interesting precedent, but to be honest it feels like a much better solution than handing out WOs. There are a few players involved who've never proved to have an understanding of rules and/or the ability to follow them. I recall a wide sweep with a big-ass banhammer back in the days.

I wanted to share a few observations about the new API. Please move to a more relevant thread if there is one. Overall I'd say the API system is a great idea and something we've been waiting for. The current problems with its implementation, however, suggest to me that it might not be possible to fix them here at the site, but rather at EA's end. We all know how that usually works out. The API derives its individual statistics from the window with player ratings etc, but these statistics can be inconsistent with other match statistics. For example, the other day we played a EASHL game in which our player scored 3 goals. In the "stars of the game" window he had 3 goals as he should, but in the window with player ratings he only had 2 goals. It could be these sort of conflicts in EAs stats-system that causes much of the current issues here at NHLGamer. I actually hope the issue would be here and thus fixable. If you don't have a clear idea how to solve the issues rather quick, I think you should seriously consider dropping the API for now, because the problems will quickly mount up too huge with the amount of teams involved. Even Elite alone is already quite a mess stats-wise. For example, Dynasty has 8 wins and in individual stats there's a whopping total of 4 game winning goals scored. There are multi-goal games marked as OT wins, thus messing up the standings, too. If it is fixable but takes a few weeks, I'd imagine you will have well over a hundred games to fix manually..

It's a train that keeps on going. Great job guys!

The best post in NHL-Gamer history.

Haha, nice one. I was listening to some Wu-Tang Clan while watching this, it was simply perfect. Loved your "take that, bitch" attitude at the end. Congrats to both of you, well deserved!

Thanks for the feedback! I'll address the issue briefly. Right now, if everything goes according to the plan, the finals would end at around mid-June. We don't want to risk the final teams going on summer holidays etc. before the playoffs are over. Nine days is a lot in this perspective. Also, with 32 teams advancing to the playoffs I can't see it would make much of a difference. If it were 16 teams, then definitely a longer group stage. Aren't the group stage games more important now, when there's less games and less room for error? I think upsets would be even harder to pull off if the group stage had twice as many games.

You made a good point, there have been some issues in the past with players hopping around as playoffs approach. Last season everything went smoothly though, and we want to trust the community on that -- besides, the regular season is set to be so short that 7 days before the end of it is not actually too far off from the middle of the season. The time frame for the this tournament is rather unique I'd say. Thanks for pointing out the screw-up in the TLDR section! Well, each case has its own characteristics. I think the first choice is the suspensions for the captain(s) of the team. However if they are already under a suspension or none of the captains took part in the game, for example, we might look into deducting team points. Yeah, playoff scheduling will probably need some rules added. We will do it later -- we don't know exactly how many times will sign up, how many teams are in the playoffs and so on, until the registration period is complete. Thanks for the feedback thus far, keep it coming!

Here is the updated rule book. New sections and the ones that have been modified from the rules used in the first tournament are in bold. If you notice any deficiencies don't hesitate to point them out; there's still time for modifications before the tournament starts. All captains and assistant captains should know the rules in detail. For the rest of the team, they should know the general lines and the most important things for them, such as what happens when a player disconnects and so on. 1. Member registration All players participating in any NHL Gamer league/tournament are required to have a registered account on NHLGamer.com with their Gamertag (Xbox) or PSN ID (Playstation) added to their profile. By joining a team registered for a league/tournament, the player is also accepting these rules. No player may have more than one account on NHLGamer.com. This account can be used for playing on different consoles simultaneously as long as the player has their relevant Gamertag/PSN ID set up on their NHL Gamer profile. If several players use their accounts from the same IP address (for example, brothers living in the same home), those players are required to inform an administrator about these conditions within 24 hours after registering the 2nd account from the IP address. Administrators may ask for proof of identification for both registered players. 2. Team registration All registered members are allowed to create a team on NHL Gamer. The creator of the team will be set as captain by default. In order to be eligible for NHL Gamer leagues/tournaments, teams must have: • A captain and 2 assistant captains. • 8 members or more Any member of a team may apply for a tournament, but should have agreed to do so with the rest of the team. If a captain wishes to change the name of a team, he/she must contact an administrator before registering for a league/tournament. If a player wishes to take control of a team that has no members, contact NHL Gamer staff before registering the team for a tournament. Team names should correspond with the team name on www.easports.com (the same name as in the game). 3. Code of conduct Registered members are required to treat each other with respect and not divert to overly abusive language. This applies to all league/tournament related conversations conducted on NHLGamer.com, or direct communication between players on external sources if proof can be provided that also includes the context of the conversation. Members are not allowed to try circumventing the rules. Members are not allowed to deceive or give NHL Gamer staff false information. Members are free to question rules and appeal decisions made by NHL Gamer staff, but are required to do so in a constructive and respectful manner. 4. Responsibilities All managers (C and A) are the representatives of their entire team, as such they are responsible for: • Scheduling games • Ensuring their team complies with the tournament rules at all times • Any communication with other managers or with NHL Gamer staff in the name of their team. All players are to follow the rules and any decision made by administrators. Even if a decision is being appealed the original ruling must be followed until further notice. NHL Gamer staff are responsible for: • Hosting the league/tournament • Enforcing the rules. That includes investigating potential infractions in order to issue the proper rulings. • Settling potential disputes between players or teams • Recording league/tournament events 5. Team rules Teams are only allowed to use players listed in their roster on NHLGamer.com. Teams are allowed to forfeit a maximum of 4 games in one tournament. By forfeiting, the opposing team will be given a walk over win. Failure to comply will result in disqualification for said team and all its members. 6. Scheduling By default, games are to be played on the day and at the time displayed in the tournament schedule. By default, game days are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. By default, teams are scheduled to play both games against a group stage opponent on the same game day and the default game times are 20:00 CEST and 20:30 CEST. Teams are allowed to re-schedule any of their games. Both teams involved must agree to the re-scheduled game date and time before the game date and time are made official. If there is no agreement of re-scheduling, the default date and time stands. Teams are not allowed to ignore requests for re-scheduling and must respond to the requests as quickly as possible. Games must be played between 7 days before default game day and 7 days after default game day. All games must be played by the end of the regular season. If all games are not played by the end of the regular season, the administration will investigate the issue and hand out walkover wins for the team that was more active in trying to get the games scheduled and played in time. If a team is more than 15 minutes late to a game, the opposing team has the right to request a walk-over win. These requests will be looked at by the NHL Gamer staff. Continuous disregard of the agreed schedules will lead in disciplinary action. 7. Game rules The away team jersey is required to be mainly white or very light in color. Home team jerseys are required to be dark or brightly colored. The main point is that the home and away teams should be easily distinguishable from each other. The away team is responsible for switching the uniforms prior to the game, if there is an issue with the colors. All tournament games are to be played 6 versus 6. Teams are allowed to use pauses during stoppages in play during games. Pauses should not be used before the first face-off. Teams are not allowed to disturb other teams using text or voice messages during the game. Players are not allowed to challenge for a fight before a faceoff nor against a player who is either in possession of the puck, or would be the first one reaching a loose puck. Note, however, that if a player delivers a big hit, gets the puck and the fight challenge comes up, the opposing team is allowed to take the fight, because the player delivering the hit is regarded as initiating the fight challenge. Teams are allowed to leave a game before the 2-minute mark of the first period if they experience significant lag or if a player has disconnected during those 2 minutes. The game is to be started again, with a new host if demanded by the team that experienced the lag. This process can only be used 2 times for a given game. On the 3rd start the game has to be played regardless of lag for either team. If a goal is scored during the first 2 minutes before anyone has disconnected from the game (due to lag, as described above), it counts towards the league game, even if either team would like to try to get a better connection. If there is a disagreement regarding whether or not the goal should count, teams are expected to provide the NHL Gamer staff with video material to prove their case. With the exception of the fist 2 minutes of a game, no player is allowed to quit a game midway on purpose. If a skater disconnects during a game outside of the first 2 minutes: • If a player drops outside the first 2 minutes of the period, the opposing team can choose whether to play the rest of the period 6v5 or 6v6. The team makes the decision by either continuing the game or quitting. After the disconnect the teams are expected to make a stoppage in play as soon as possible, for example by shooting the puck over boards, so that the team who didn’t drop a player can choose how they want to continue. If a team decided to quit, it is important that only 5 players leave the game, thus ending it, and the 6th stays to record the stats of the game. • Any goal scored until the end of that period counts. If the CPU gets points, these points do not count towards the disconnected player’s stats. • After the period is over, the team that did not have a disconnection must leave the game, thus ending it. The other team must take screenshots of the game stats and individual stats for both teams. It is recommended that both teams take the screenshots in order to cover any human error, even though the responsibility to do so is on the team with the disconnected player. • A new game must be started with the same host as the previous game. The remaining period(s) will be played in this new game. The first period of the new game will be the first remaining period of the league game and the game stats will be the sum of the stats from that game and the previous game for which screenshots have been taken. Example: Team A right-wing disconnects during the second period. Teams decide to play until the end of period 2, after which Team B quits. Team A is responsible for taking screenshots of all the necessary stats for both teams and later supplying Team B with these stats. A new game is started and only the first period is played. If the teams are tied (combined score) after the first period, the 2nd period would be counted as overtime. • If the team of the skater who disconnected was on the penalty kill when the disconnection happened, it must take measures to be on the same PK (same player(s) in the box) again for the full 2 minutes to start the remainder of the game. Delay of game is the suggested penalty to get this done as quickly as possible. • Failure to comply with the rules for a player drop will result in disciplinary actions for the captain(s) of the team. On first offense, a warning will be issued. Further violations will result in suspensions. If a goalie disconnects during a game outside of the first 2 minutes: • The team that did not have a disconnection must leave the game at the next stoppage in play, thus ending it. The other team must take screenshots of the game stats and individual stats for both teams. The time of this event must be recorded. • A new game must be started with the same host as the previous game. The remaining time of the period where the goalie left and the remaining period(s) will be played in this new game. The first period of the new game will be the period when the goalie left of the tournament game and the tournament game stats will be the sum of the stats from that game and the previous game for which screenshots have been taken. Example: Team B goalie disconnects at 12:36 into the 2nd period. Teams play until the next whistle, which was at 13:01, after which Team A quits. Team B is responsible for taking screenshots of all the necessary stats for both teams and later supplying Team A with these stats. A new game is started and the gameplay starts from 13:01 in the 1st period. The time before that will be used to get the score to match what it was at the time of the disconnect. Other than that, teams should be standing still. At 13:01, team A will start with the puck in their own zone, as Team B was the one with a disconnect. The game will end after period 2. If the teams are tied (combined score) after the 2nd period, the 3rd period would be counted as overtime. • If the team of the G who disconnected was on the penalty kill when the disconnection happened, it must take measures to be on the same PK (same player(s) in the box) again for the full 2 minutes to start the remainder of the tournament game. Delay of game is the suggested penalty to get this done as quickly as possible. • If teams are tied in points at the end of the regular season, the following tie-breaker will be applied: v 1) Points v 2) Wins (including OT-wins) v 3) Head-to-head record (points in mutual games) v 4) Goal difference v 5) Scored goals 8. Match report After a game is completed, both teams must submit a match report on NHLGamer.com. All managers (C's and A's) have access to do this. The reporting person of a team is agreed internally per game. All match reports must be submitted within 24 hours after the game is completed, but as a general rule teams are expected to submit the stats immediately. Continued failure to report stats on time and/or accurately will result in disciplinary action. In case of repeated user error offenses, a warning will be issued. Once a warning has been given, further offenses may lead to a suspension or a deduction in team points. The rule also applies to the 24 hour period within which the matches should be reported. All stats reported must correspond with the figures in game. 9. Recruitment and transfers The rules in this section only apply during a league/tournament. Teams are allowed to recruit free agent members of NHL Gamer up until the trade-deadline. Both the player and team must mutually agree to being picked up from the free agents. Teams are allowed to release a player from their roster, provided this doesn’t violate the roster minimum rule. Released players cannot go back to the team that released them and their next move is considered a transfer from the team that released them to their new team. Team captains and assistants are not allowed to transfer during a league/tournament. Other players are allowed to transfer from a team to another, unless the move would put their initial team under the 8-player limit. Players are not allowed to transfer to a team they had previously left during a league/tournament. The deadline for transfers is set to 23:59 GMT 7 days before the end of the regular season. Teams may add up to 3 transferred players for the duration of the league/tournament. If a team is disqualified its managers are banned from the league/tournament. The other roster players are free to transfer to another team, unless they were proven involved in the disqualification of their team, in which case they are also banned. 10. Infractions Violation of the member registration rules will result in a permanent account ban. If a team ends up with fewer than 8 players at any point of a tournament, it has 24 hours to add the player(s) necessary to comply with the rule again, otherwise the team will be disqualified. Violation of the code of conduct, with the exception of rule 2, will result in a player ban, the length of which is defined as follows: • 2 games for first offense • 6 games for second offense • Tournament ban for 3rd offense Violating rule 2 of the code of conduct will result in a tournament ban. Teams unavailable to play a scheduled game are given a walk-over loss. If the opponent was available they get a walk-over win, otherwise they also get a walk-over loss. All walk-over requests are reviewed by the NHL Gamer staff. 11. Definitions “League/Tournament start” is the date of the first game played in the tournament. “League/Tournament end” is after the end of the final game of the tournament. “Game” is defined by a home team and an away team. “Managers” of a team are the captain and the assistants. “Transfer” is the movement of a player from a team to another. A player is on a team as soon as he is displayed as such on NHL Gamer. “Recruitment” is the addition of a free agent by a team. “Free Agent” is a member of NHL Gamer who has not been registered to any team during a league/tournament. “Disqualification” is when a team gets removed from the tournament. A disqualified team has all its games cancelled, unless it has already played 80% of it's games, in which case the remainder of games will be reported as walk-over losses. This is in order to keep the stats intact and respect all the effort that has gone into playing and reporting all of these games. “Ban” is a player punishment. Ban length depends on the infraction made by the player. A player banned for N games is not allowed to play the next N games scheduled for their team at the time of the ban. As such, if the team schedule is changed the games the banned player has to skip remain the same. “Infraction” is the act of breaking any rule described in this document. “Walk-over” is a team punishment in the form of an automatic 5-0 result. If a game cannot be played and one team is at fault, that team gets a walk over loss while the other team gets a walk over win. All walk-overs are reviewed by NHL Gamer staff before becoming final. "Trade deadline" is the moment when transfers are not allowed anymore until the end of a tournament. "League/Tournament game" is the official game according to NHL Gamer stats. In the case of disconnection, the tournament game consists of parts of two NHL16 games. TL;DR version for teams – Captains need to know the full rules: - At least 8 members for a team - Schedule games up to 7 days before or after default date. - Players can transfer to new teams only if they don't put their former team under roster minimum of 8. Free agents are fair game up until the trade deadline. You can't rejoin a previously left team. Trade deadline is 7 days before end of group stage. - If you lag substantially in the first 2 minutes of a game you can leave and make the other team change host. You can do that twice only. - If a skater is disconnected, the opposing team chooses whether to finish the period with CPU then start a new game for the remaining periods, or restart with 6v6 right away. - If a G disconnects, keep the stats but replay the remainder of the current period, as well as the next periods in the new game. On behalf of the NHLGamer staff,

Indeed, the system you proposed for the awards is a good one, and I agree that even advanced statistics do not tell the whole story. Nevertheless, this time we had to work under such time pressure over other obligations that organizing a vote was not possible. Of course, a vote-based system has its problems too -- it can easily turn into a popularity contest instead of objective analysis of performance, just like we can see from our current state of democracies. Not saying it will, but it can. I still like the concept though.

Thank you for your feedback! After next season the award-system is likely to be modified. I would also like to see an award given to the best defensive forward, as well as separating between the best offensive and defensive defenseman. These awards, however, would need some additional statistics and/or a revamp on how the awards are handed out. For the previous tournament such awards would've required a substantial amount of subjective evaluation, and as such it was deemed not plausible.

Great job as always Billy! It was a pleasure reading your well-thought-of analysis of the possible division systems. Personally I find it impossible to run another tournament in time without implementing a division system. This, however, depends of course on how long it takes to make the necessary improvements on the site, including the possible division system. In any case we'll do our best to start the next tournament as soon as possible. Please continue to share your thoughts on the matter!

A great player and a very nice guy. Would complement any team in need of a forward!

We talked about this briefly yesterday. If such a tournament comes, Dynasty is in! Let's hope for the best.

NOS and Dynasty have agreed to play the round 3 games according to the below: Wednesday 24.2.: Game 1, Game 2 & Game 3 Thursday 25.2.: Game 4 and Game 5 & 6 (if necessary) Saturday/Sunday 27/28.2.: Game 7 (if necessary) - Ass. Captain of Dynasty

Dear gamers, Unfortunately it has turned out that the current rules for playoff match scheduling have turned out inadequate. The remaining teams are very competitive by nature, which is of course to be expected in a tournament like this. However, the side effect of this is that many teams only want to play with their best possible lineup, resulting in conflicting interests between the teams, as no one would like to give an edge to their opponent. We simply cannot afford to postpone the tournament any longer, so we have decided that the current rules should be modified with immediate effect. From now on, the playoffs will continue with the schedule that was in use already during the regular season. Effectively it means that the default match days will be Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 20:00 CET, with Sunday being the "emergency back-up day", during which the games delayed due to technical difficulties etc. must be played at the latest. Not having the best lineup available is not considered a sufficient reason to postpone games from default times and/or agreed re-scheduled times to Sunday. Teams are allowed to re-schedule their games, but any game day outside the default days will have to be accepted by both teams. If no agreement is reachable, then the games will be played on default match days. By default 2 games should be played on Monday, 2 games on Tuesday and the rest (max 3) on Thursday. A public thread will be opened in the Forum section, in which teams are expected to post their match dates and times. If the teams are playing on default times, the teams should post that "We have agreed to play on default days". In addition to making the scheduling more transparent to the community and the administration, this will also make it easier for those who want to spectate the streams of the games. Round 3 of the playoffs will officially start on Monday the 22nd of February, and the following rounds on consecutive Mondays. However, teams are allowed to start Round 3 before that if they have already agreed to do so. We apologize for any inconvenience the new ruling might have on the remaining teams, but we felt it was of utmost importance to improve the rules to get the rest of the playoffs played in time and with as little hassle as possible. Respectfully yours, NHLGamer Staff Edit: Note! We meant Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, as in the regular season, as currently scheduled. Sorry for the confusion!

Solid post as always, Billy. Yes, the players would have been able to join another team if this had happened before the trade deadline. At that point the investigation was still ongoing, and there had been no other decisions made yet except for Pairii's suspension. Your team told me that you were in a hurry to hear the decision, as you had very limited days for playing the rest of the games. P.S. Kudos to Pairii for the apology.

I strongly suggest this be the last time you claim me having said something I haven't. I told you that you can schedule your remaining games with the assumption that all players except for Pairii are eligible for the unscheduled games.

I don't see what's the point in that. By that point it was general knowledge that Pairii had been manipulating the stats, telling general information does not equal sharing anything that shouldn't be shared. In fact, it was the chatbox from which I personally first found out about the case, and this was already much earlier.

The major neglect was the fact that according to your team's accounts, none of your other captains ever checked a single match report and thus the team continued to violate the rules of the tournament for the whole of the regular season, and it is the responsibility of the captains to ensure it does not happen. Yes, the bar is set high in terms of breaching the rules, and we have no intention of lowering that bar. Double-accounting is one of the biggest violations of the rules and will be punished accordingly if such an issue is spotted. If you happen to know of anything such happening, please contact us about it. Incorrect. The rule on disqualifications states the following: “Disqualification” is when a team gets removed from the tournament. A disqualified team has all its games cancelled, unless it has already played 80% of it's games, in which case the remainder of games will be reported as walk-over losses. This is in order to keep the stats intact and respect all the effort that has gone into playing and reporting all of these games." For your second point, I don't think I ever used it as an excuse for not making better rules before the tournament. Though I would like to hear why you think this scenario was not covered in the rules, as I think in the rule section quoted above it is abundantly clear that this issue was covered in the rules.