Janikka

On a serious note, does anyone here actually like the enforcer defenseman? I like its reach and physicality, but intercepting passes feels more haphazard compared to the DD and 2WD builds. Also, you have to be very careful with hustling. I find that the enforcer gets hampered by fatigue more than the other builds somehow. Slap shots are probably more powerful than with any other build so if you enjoy hammering shots against the end boards, the enforcer defenseman should be right up your alley.

New club Monte Carlo looking for a winger and both defensemen. Johtaja is C and I am RW/LW. We probably have a G already. We intend to compete at a decent level eventually. We will participate in ECL 6. What we want from our players: believe in and follow team captain Johtaja's vision. Message me or Johtaja (johtaja699 on PSN or j0htaja here at NHLGamer.com). EDIT: We have found a winger! He will be joining Monte Carlo and announced to the media as we finish the paperwork. Johtaja and I are very excited to welcome this player whose career we have had the privilege of following for a very long time. This signing adds invaluable experience, leadership (which, combined with Johtaja, we should now have in abundance) and prime playmaking ability to the ranks of Monte Carlo.

You know, there's an idea for another series, the best non-white players in the scene.

A highly respectable season by you guys amid the toughest competition in the ECL. While Aapon Taikasauva ended up powering through to the next round, you fought tooth and nail against a team that's up there among the best. You were supposed to be an underdog, but the way you challenged all of these teams this season points to something beyond that. In the end, you are no underdog. You are one of the elite. Thanks for the show and have fun in ECL 6!

PAJEN!!! SOUND THE HORN

That guy is a virtual hockey legend! He was once so dominating on the Xbox 360 that most people considered him the best player in the Xbox EHL scene. Maybe current-gen EASHL doesn't lend itself to such individual superiority, maybe the influx of young ECL stars has overshadowed floorbandy king, or maybe he just isn't the player he used to be? Or maybe I have it wrong and he's as good as ever, if not better. It's just that he's not been nearly as prominent as he was back in the day. One thing is for sure: he was the king of Xbox EHL with a consistently superior level of play, and there's no possible way all that skill might have disappeared. Maybe it all comes down to the changed role you point to in this article. Whatever the case may be, whatever the reason he is now a hidden gem, as a former Xbox 360 player myself it's great to see floorbandy king still going and playing for the highest distinction in the ECL.

The Caps Lock 4, brilliant!

Hmm. It's almost starting to make sense, but questions remain. For example, what happens if I schedule some games here in Finland but then go to Sweden to play them? What if I'm in Finland but decide to identify more with the time zone in a place like the United States, which is this big place with multiple time zones whose times are way behind ours? And how can I ever be sure my clocks are accurate, will I need to sync up with opponents using some neutral clock that we all agree on?

I wonder what the point of that move at 0:22 could be? It's not even a fake and poses no challenge to the goalie tracking the puck whatsoever. The guy just gets on his knees to do a spin and then gets up without having accomplished anything that I can see. It seems so unnecessary! Then again, he did score, so there has to be something to it...

Good news for everyone who liked our first offering! We're continuing the podcast with a second episode. We have a topic for it, but I will withhold the details for now. When we'll have it ready is also unknown. Johtaja is running an operation worth hundreds of thousands, so we'll have to find a convenient time in his busy schedule for the recording session.

I think this can be a very valid point, in all honesty. Look at musicians, for instance: a lot of the best stuff gets made under very high tensions between collaborators. I think decent arguments can be made for either view as these things aren't very black and white. Even though we're seemingly presenting our thoughts in the podcast as some ultimate fact, Johtaja and I certainly welcome differing opinions! Anyway, thank you for all of your lovely words. And to pelimies I would say that while we greatly value your feedback and appreciate the encouragement, we certainly don't want to step on ECL Talk's toes and feel like there's ample room for both that official podcast by the wonderful Alpha_Furyan and vSilenttio as well as our little thing that we did here. Perhaps your comment was in jest, but I wanted to say this either way.

It's here! Enjoy (or hate)!

I like Antti's idea, or some implementation of it that would work. Other than serving some people's idea of fairness, I don't see a point in forcing teams into Lite that are just going to wreck everyone there. Antti's proposition of objective player ratings sounds pretty good to me, but what if a team gets some highly rated friends into their roster just to avoid Lite and then those players switch back to their actual teams? I guess you could simply impose a cooldown during which they would have to remain in the new club, so it would probably not be an issue. Any potential loopholes in such a system need to be considered, though.

Guys, here's my excellent background image for the YouTube video. I made it in Paint 3D.

I'll be leaving the subtitles out, at least for now. I realized it was going to be more work than I thought. Johtaja's mind can be a bit tricky to translate. It's certainly doable and I might well return to add subtitles at some point, but I'm currently running on a lack of sleep and I'd need to actually focus on the translating. I do want to be inclusive and would love to let everyone who's willing to listen in on what we're saying in the podcast. I actually suggested to Johtaja that we record in English, but it's like he posted in this thread: the true Johtaja will only come out in his native language, and I wish to invite people to really experience the man whom I consider one of the most distinct personas in the community. I personally wouldn't mind doing something like this in English sometime, so we'll see.

As a spiritual spin-off to the infamous one-off podcast "Kusipäisyyden korneri" by Teemu "Johtaja" Ylösmäki and Oskari "OODAP" Koivuniemi, I give you the much tamer "Asiallisuuden korneri" where Johtaja and I discuss team dynamics, the dilemmas faced by GMs, and what goes into making a team work together. The conversation was off-the-cuff and not as in-depth as I originally intended. Still, we drew from experience playing EHL/ECL and figured we'd have something meaningful to say. Failing that, at least we got to listen to our own voices. As Johtaja pointed out to me after the recording session, it does feel more like an interview, with me asking the questions and Johtaja answering them, than a conversation between two active participants. Johtaja is the one who, for most of his time playing EASHL, has been running his own teams. Therefore, it felt natural to me that I step back and convey his perspective from all those years of managing a team. That's not to say I shouldn't have been more active, though. Just like Kusipäisyyden korneri, this is entirely in Finnish. However, if for some reason there is demand, I will subtitle it in English before uploading the podcast to YouTube. Asiallisuuden korneri is in no way intended to compete with ECL Talk, the official podcast by NHL Gamer. We're in a different language, and we didn't really veer into their territory with our topic. You're doing well, Alpha and Silenttio, and we appreciate your effort. I started this thread already to forewarn the community of the imminent release of Asiallisuuden korneri and to find out whether I should make those subtitles. I've completed the most painstaking part of the editing, so it's possible that I'll upload the finished podcast later today.

Good points!

I agree on your former point but partially disagree on the latter. While the overview at the beginning is not absolutely necessary, it prepares the listener with a sense of structure that helps follow the podcast. That same principle is used in various media and is certainly not exclusive to formal contexts. Very often such a structuring introduction will be more subtle, though, and perhaps ECL Talk could learn from that to alleviate the sort of frigidity that I believe you're referring to. On the whole, I think the guys are keeping things pretty natural with a decent balance between form and the digressions of spontaneous banter.

That reminds me of when I switched from Xbox 360 to PS3 on old gen NHL for a while and later played on both systems. I felt like the game was played differently. PS3 teams seemed more offensive with notably less neutral zone trapping. I even started to believe that the average PS3 EHL team was simply inferior compared to the Xbox EHL teams, with the latter's perceived defensive superiority trumping the weakly organized team defense of the PS3 teams. This notion seemed common on the Xbox side of things, but it was quickly dispelled as the communities merged onto PS4 where the former PS3 teams proved to be more than competitive.

I thought I'd speak up because jyrkkis may be rather obscure to today's ECL community. This guy is really good when he's actively playing, especially on defense and in net, and has some decent potential on RW. He's also great in the party and was 0 % toxic throughout all those years. Highly recommended. The only reason I wouldn't try to get him to join SIKA is that we have three defensemen and an active jyrkkis is too good not to have an automatic starting position in a team's lineup.

Thank you!

Here are nine players who come to mind right now. I have excluded all current teammates from SIKA and former longtime teammates from the Finnish Roosters. I've also excluded goalies, because there's a separate thread for those and what do I know about goalies, anyway? This list is based mainly on the players' recent form in ECL 4 and regular EASHL games that I've witnessed personally. Centers Dominointi: I perceive this guy as a two-way center with a victorious (R.I.P. VSH) playing style. He makes the game easier for his team. Shift after shift and game after game, Dominointi keeps making all the right decisions on the ice. Patzlaf: one of the toughest forwards to defend against, for sure. Excellent vision. Playing against him you really aught to mind those passing lanes, because Patzlaf needs little time and he will find his teammates. Bjono: "underrated" comes to mind. Then again, I don't really know how he's rated around here. I see him as an elite center in both ends of the ice. Bjono is also quite the tactician. He's one of those guys who's thinking of the game in depth and will adjust as needed. Wingers Joukki: Joukki is no joke with the puck. Hailing from a class of young stars with twitchy thumbs like PleeMaker (who, by the way, would surely be on this list had I not recused myself earlier), Penatski and Ape, Joukki has carved his name into the elite by combining raw individual skill with smart team play. It's no wonder his contribution has resulted in a number of consecutive ECL finals for his team. Now if only he could squeeze just four more wins out of a tournament... itspardytime: if anyone were to care about my list at all, I suspect this might be my most controversial pick. I see "pardy" as one of the greatest offensive threats in the game. His importance to Tiki Talk cannot be overstated. To say that pardy is offensively minded to the detriment of his defensive game may be putting it lightly, but I see him as the biggest reason why any game against Tiki Talk needs to be taken seriously. Foppatofflan: one of the quickest minds on the ice, Foppatofflan is a treat for any linemate. His lightning fast game sense tends to ensure plenty of scoring chances for his team. One night I got to see him in action playing on the same team, and it was quite amazing to watch. Foppatofflan seems always aware of his next move, and as a defenseman trying to shut him down, I must confess that it can get very difficult to keep up. Defensemen Terasniska: it's only a few nights that I've paired with "Sniska" on defense, but the impression is such that I didn't hesitate to include him. From what I've seen, he's like a factory machine pumping out one perfect play after another. If EA made the bot defensemen really unfair, they just might model them after this guy. nylanderi: a defenseman with tour de force moves who's bound to be a decisive factor in games. A young guy who plays with emotion, which is an aspect that elevates his game at best and hampers it at worst. His highest level may just be unequaled. Rullstolskalas: the legendary "Rulle" has been ruining opponents' games for as long as I can remember. I've heard he's a man of not just few but in fact no words at all. Apparently, the guy just sits there in the party, listening, focused on doing what he knows best: getting in the mind of the opponent carrying the puck into NOS' defensive zone, and denying the fool who thought to even try. Back in my days with the Finnish Roosters, "Fucking Rulle!" was an expression I heard countless times from the mouth of my dear Johtaja. Rullstolskalas is like a force of nature: with the same pressing inevitability by which day turns into night, Rullstolskalas will take the puck away from you.

I play defense, and for whatever reason, I find it more difficult to defend from Overhead. Playing on a small 24-inch display probably doesn't do it any favors. I do enjoy the increased visibility of Overhead, though. My perfect camera would be a hybrid of the two: automatically switching to Classic when the opponent has the puck and back to Overhead when the puck is loose or my team has it. That could get way too jerky with all the fast-paced changes in possession, so the camera transitions would need to be smooth somehow. Zone, formerly known as Custom 3, is another popular option. The way it's tilted is problematic for me, so I don't bother with it. As it is, I tend to use Classic with auto zoom and the camera focused on my player. This is the best compromise that I've found so far. So what does everyone else use, and why?

Hey, I've just recently started learning how to play goalie. I'm pretty bad at it, but I just want to say that I really appreciate your videos. Also, it would be interesting to read more of your thoughts on the differences between European and North American competitive EASHL. That's interesting that you guys adopted and prefer our points system.

I'd love to find a nice ECL-oriented team to play with forever and ever. My longtime team Finnish Roosters folded after the last ECL season, so I joined Aapon Taikasauva but failed to establish myself there and now I'm back to square one. I've played most of my EASHL games as right defenseman. Lately I've enjoyed playing goalie, too, but I'm very much a work in progress in that role. If you have the patience to watch me let in some cheap goals at this point, I'm quite sure it would all pay off once I have a better grip on all the mechanics. I'm already playing some solid games where I don't let in any easy shots and I'll even save a bunch of the high-percentage chances. It's just not consistent yet. This whole goalie thing is secondary to me, though, so if you just need a defenseman you can ignore this bit if you like. My PSN ID is ktewjh but my old name from the Xbox 360 was Janikka, as seen here at NHL Gamer, which rolls off the tongue a lot better so a bunch of players (including myself) still call me that. UPDATE: I went to HC Sika on a tryout basis so my announcement of free agency is now void. It all happened so fast as to disorient my aging mind. Having previously played for the Finnish Roosters and now playing in Sika, you could say I've simply gone from one farm animal to another.