vSilenttio

SIKA still looking for starting RD for ECL. If you can play already on FCL, good, but if cant, no problem. HMU here or vee_SILE#4715.

SIKA is looking for ONE more player. Back-up / multiposi guy needed. Currently our line-up for FCL: @Valee__ - @Rytze_ - @Valluxet @vSilenttio - @Kkarkass @IDangledYouOut HMU @ discord or PSN if you got interested.

Free LD looking for elite/pro team. Ready to commit and prac 100% so I hope you are too. 💋 HMU on Twitter (@vee_SILE) or add me on Discord vee SILE#4715. ✌️

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As for some reason our captain thought it wouldn't be smart to write an interview with himself making up both questions and answers - here we are with the last part of the "Who is this guy" interview series. This time behind the yadayada is your favorite human being of the whole scene, me. NHL gaming scene is full of different kind of leaders. @Tanski87 is one of those guys. He's this calm, humble but ambitious, "feet on the ground" kind of a leader - that I can tell you. Not perhaps the shiniest individual out there but I think that just fits him. He doesn't need any of that shit as there's plenty of stuff he brings to you as a friend, as a teammate on the ice and as a leader. He has played on almost every ECL season there has ever been; six of them in Rusty Blades as a team captain and now he has started his second season with Roots, also being a team captain. We all have probably played against him during the recent years and seen the guy on the ice and what he can do out there. "But who is this guy?" - let's find out! Name: Juhani "Tanski87" Tanskanen Age: 32 From: Riihimäki, Finland ECL Elite (before ECL10): Games: 170 Goals: 8 Assist: 64 Hits: 858 So lets start this with an easy one - who the hell is Tanski87? Like seriously, I need more than your jersey number here! I don't know if there is much to tell about me. I am a father of three little children, the small loves of my life. For my living, I build houses and other buildings, basically anything made of wood, steel or concrete. That is what I have been doing since I was 16 years old. Hockey and family are my greatest passions, virtual hockey included. You've been a team captain since ECL3 (2016). There must be tons of stories you could tell us - but what things have been the most crucial or absorbing experiences for you during your long player/captain career? Well yeah, there is some stuff I could mention. One of them is recruiting Furyan, Martindale and Foppatofflan to Rusty Blades just before ECL 8. I did learn a lot from them as a player. Also, I have to mention something that I think is expected to be mentioned here. I had to let go of a player who is my best friend in real life. Heck, he is a godfather of my firstborn child, and he is the person who has had my back in the most difficult times in my life. I knew that it will hurt him to show him the door, I did feel like an ass then and still do. It was just something that had to happen. One for the team... What did I learn? Personal feelings, mine or any other individual's, do not matter a crap if you think about the team as a whole. This does not mean that I am going to act like an asshole to my teammates, no. I do believe that if you do good and be kind to those you are able to, it will make our world a tiny bit better, and even the tiniest little things matter. There's no point in putting someone down just because you can, that's just being a dick. Is there any NHL gaming related stuff you would like to change or that should be lifted up more often? This is an easy one. I want to see a spectator mode for the 6v6 broadcasts. Adjustable camera angles, other tunings and stuff. I also want to see a practise room for EASHL teams. Like a free skate mode, at least. I would like to see some love from EA towards the crown jewel of virtual hockey, 6v6 EASHL. I know it's not the moneymaker, at least not at the moment, but come on, it is by far the most interesting and potential game mode if you think about legit esports. How about your position? Why RD? I actually like playing any position, just not LD. Well I can play it, but it is just like using socks with sandals, it does not make any sense. RD is the position I have always ended up playing in every team I have played with since NHL 09, when EASHL first appeared in the game. After all these years you've been around - why still NHL? There's like dozens of better video games out there to play! I just love hockey. I want to play this game, and to be more precise, I want to play 6s. I just can't see myself not playing it, I have never even thought about it. So you're big daddy. You enjoy doing actual men's work with your hands etc., yet you're pretty decent on the virtual ice as well. Do you have some specific real life inspiration or where do you get the strength and the wisdom that still keeps you around among the whiny forever teenagers like we are? Like a role model? My father. He always does everything possible to make life better for those around him. I remember thinking as a teenager that if I will be half the man and father that my father is, I can call my life a success. And I did not make it easy for him back then, I was really difficult at that age. From him I picked up the mentality of hard work, the harder it gets the more it pays off. On-ice inspiration? It used to be Chris Pronger and The Big Buff, but now I could say that it is Victor Hedman. What does the future of NHL gaming bring to your mind? I hope that this 6 versus 6 scene can keep growing. Bigger broadcasts and a bigger audience watching them. As for NHLGamer, I hope that they can secure a stable long-term partnership so they can focus on running the leagues and growing the community. I think there is a lot of potential in team-based virtual hockey. Hockey might not be the biggest sport in the world, but it is exciting and fast, and people who like it are really passionate about it. The next step is to get followers who do not play the game. It is a challenge, yes – but I do see it as possible, I see it as likely. So you're old - how many seasons you have left in you and what do you want personally from the NHL gaming? In a nutshell: what do you want from ECL10 & the future of Roots? Oh, come on, I'm not that old, at least I don't really feel that I am old. I do joke about it yeah, but it is just talk. At the moment I see no end to playing. I love to get back on the ice night after night, and I am driven to get better as an individual and as a team player. I do think a lot about the game and how I am playing. It was not always like that, I used to play just for fun, although I did do my best on the ice, of course. But now I criticise myself as a player just to get better at the stuff where I am not at my best and to strengthen the areas that matter the most. But I will not forget the areas in which I am good already, I can still tweak those and be even better at defending, for example. I think I am a better player now than I was a year or two ago, for instance. And I will get better, age does not stop that. You can always get better if you are ready to admit that you are doing something wrong and are willing to really work on it. As for Roots in ECL 10, I think we have what it takes to be one of the "big boys". In ECL 9, we finished 4th in the regular season. I think we can and will achieve that again, but this time we want to do it in a way that leaves no question as to whether it belongs to us. Roots' future is bright. These guys are good already, and I trust their potential 100%. I trust that every one of us can and will be even better in the future. We're all hungry to improve, and we have the willingness to work for it. That is the essence of realising your potential. Let's end this one with a classic "TOP 3" question - who are the best RD's out there at this very moment? Willekunq and Loimmu are the obvious answers, there is no need to talk about them as everyone knows how damn good they are. I also like Ilmari. He has always been really good offensively, but I have noticed his defensive game improving a lot as well. He is not just an offensive tool anymore, he is strong in both ends of the ice. So he is the third. Tanski87 from an ex-teammate's and opponent's point of view? @MartindalexC: Mostly coming from ex-teammate since I never played much against him as a forward. Believe that when I went away from playing predominantly on LW was when Rusty were just starting to get 'going' so to speak. But as an ex-teammate (albeit for one season) I can only say good things about Tanski. He was always extremely reliable in game defensively, and didn't vary too much in his level. So in effect, it was very easy to play off of him since you would know with a great level of confidence what he would do in any given situation, something that should not be under-rated. Additionally, even though we disagreed on the exact tone, he would always try to keep people's spirits high in the party by making mention of things that we were doing well, as well things we could improve on. Furthermore, he would regularly put time in to watch back vods of games against teams, to try and give us some points to focus on and help us towards getting the win. The man needs to chill with his smoke breaks tho! Well that's about it. I hope now we all know little bit more about the T-guy. Five seasons of ECL Elite is behind him and hopefully we're going to witness atleast five more in the future, obviously with his beloved team, Roots. Gotta end this one saying that it was a pleasure to write this one for you guys. Til' next time, gamers! Spell check: no.

Top5 since NHL20 released: LW : Rimpe37, Dobzu, jumalpeku, kaivuri94, debi85 C : Migo_boo, Darkki87, janbonator, Nampa77, SadaPoika RW : Keranee, imosi, Foppatoffla, Jageksi, indi969 LD : vee_SILE, Lurkins, utaNishu, sumppi90, Terasniska RD : Tanski87, Nikge, Lagipommi, Snadi48, friilanderi G : Swagx88, SpiderRoyal, Sandroh, Laurilion, Cappe Then the list which is actually based on the recent level (preseason & ECL10): LW : Puantso, Plee, Krike, Joukki, MrNipsuli C : Dominointi, Patzlaf, tbnantti, jergeli, Anhel_Kuru RW : indi969, Eki, FlyerKungen, MartindalexC, NikkeDangles LD : Nassustelija, xDoumi, Makeaxl, Janzuh, Furyan RD : Loimmu, ilmari30, Samza96, willekunq, vviljo G : Jombb-, Cappe, Supreex, Sibbe, Hulluedi EDIT: somehow I forgot hulluedi

Beautiful text. Harvey Dent part got me thinking Hampus as a Two-Face. Chills.

UP UP UP. 2G who can play 70-30 or 80-20 -- EASHL & ECL. We're playing 4-5 days a week. Come on someone, have some balls.

Yo, will Pro have qualification series as well? Would like to see those last spots to be filled by playing the game (quals) than just watching who has the most Lite playoff wins from ECL9.

Not just club GM's but esports-wise as well. It would be so much easier for everyone (NG Staff, players, teams, sponsors, organisations behind teams, companions) if you'd know when the next tourney even starts. Sure NHLGamer has said it out loud why this is the case: "we dont want to promise or say anything what isn't confirmed" etc. Sure, I'm not saying that this isn't the case or truth here but atleast the schedule of next ECL should be public information as it is "the major" thing of the whole sport. And I'm pretty sure NG agrees with this. Tbh it's really stupid, like literally stupid, that we as a players and management of the teams & esports organisations, and even companions around the sport dont have any clue when the next tournament or next ECL is set to be played. It's fun to have talks with people when all you can say about next major tournament is that "it probably will be played in the next 6-9 months." We all know that the direction is right here, no doubts about that. But this is one very important thing that needs to be fixed in the future. Maybe 2020? 🤭

No offense, but the fact is that Elite wouldn't be elite if there would be like 24 or 32 teams. Same thing with Pro. Right now the most of our teams in this scene are Pro/Lite teams, not Elite so it would make zero sense to grow Elite only because there's more lower level teams these days. And if someone bases their opinion on a day dream where every lower level team would magically be Elite/High pro - then you can keep on day dreaming. And this is not me being a dick, just saying how it is as someone needs to say it out loud (with KingofApes). Haven't changed anything? Um, the value of first three divisions would obviously grow and the match schedule would be partly the same for the top three divisions. Elite 16, Pro 32, Lite 32, The Rest XX (the hungry, the ugly and the dads). This system would be as competitive as it ever could be for top80 teams which is about the same amount of teams NHLGamer had in it's first division season (ECL4). How's that no progress? I get that some people would like to have every possible team in the higher level but at that point the whole reason of having divisions would pretty much disappear.

No. No discussion.

This is it - the organizing. And to answer your real question; there should be time for that! I know that the people who run this shit (Kenu & friends) are not doing this for big money or anything like that, but NHL19 was pretty succesful what it comes to possibility to play competitive hockey in NHLGamer. However, we haven't seen any ECL hockey since March and that fucking sucks. For me this has always been a problem: the last big tourney of an NHL game ends around March, and the next major level tournament starts six months later in late October, and then we have six months (with breaks included) to play those two tournaments. This is not KHL. If there's never going to be three ECL's which some people want here - we should keep these two current main leagues far away from each other. What I'm saying is that if we start the first ECL in October, the next ECL after that should definitely start in the next March - not end there. Like, how about if we keep those blahblah (Spring League.. never again pls) and these native (FCL, SCL) tourneys between these two major tourneys, or/and during the summer. Spring League -> Summer League and if/when the Summer Cup has to be there too, keep that shit shorter instead of important leagues. For me atleast it would be cool as hell to start and end the NHL gaming year with ECL. Also maybe that's how the gamers would stay more motivated during the long year. For an example, even though your team do shit in the first ECL and then in the native tourney you do little bit better but still fail, you still have the third shot in the Spring time ECL. Oops, little offtopic but I got nothing better to do so whatever...

I dont understand why the "easy way to the top" is the main subject here right now. Like, no one has said that the "new teams" should get promoted asap. They still need to win games and qualify from Pro to Elite. All I'm saying is like @iSvamp said, requiring like over one year to compete in the highest level, is just nonsense when we are talking about as small scene as we have in our hands. How about the opinions on the actual matter of subject? Four divisions or three, and how many seasons per year if there would be four. After all I like the current system but it won't hurt to fix it as it needs to be fixed at some point, as the current system was builded like four years ago when NHLGamer had under 80 teams playing ECL. And how many we have right now? Exactly... A lot more than that.

I get what you're saying but the time to create new Elite team would not be "1-2 months", it would take more like 3-4 months with only two ECL seasons per year. Nobody would like/enjoy to play the whole year of ECL if they would play first in "Semi" level where you face current Lite teams who are just "not there" with current Elite teams. If you qualify from there to Pro, you'd play another two months but the teams would be little better that time of course. With two ECL seasons this road to Elite thing would take atleast 12 months from a single team, if they would start from "Semi" or Lite in the current system. Right now the NHL as an esport isn't that big yet that we should slow down the better teams from stepping up. Obviously this isn't that big problem as we've seen how majority of the teams has found their place thanks to the divisions, and because it's pretty easy to take over some old Pro (even Elite) team, which is good thing in my opinion. Why? The players and the management change in the real life too, so it would be stupid to require same guys to be core of certain teams only because of they has played there first. I'm talking about cases where the team roster has faced big update. But yeah, like I said, this would probably not be the biggest problem anyways so lets just bring the 4 in.

Yeah that was my second thought too but lets be honest - there's just no sense to force legit elite players to play up from Lite/Semi. My first thought to solve this? Option to qualify to Pro division through Lite & Semi during offseason/before the start of the ECL. The status and history of the players in a new team has to mean something if this would be the case. And I'm saying this a guy who isn't fan of team hopping etc.

Wow, never thought so many of us would prefer four over the current three. With 4 the Lite would literally be lite and as there's some teams around who dont even want to compete in the highest level, SEMI-PRO/LITE option would be a lot better for them. Also it would upgrade the status of the Pro division. @ahonaattori good shit.

In the world we live in these days, there's not that much news anymore that can really effect you in certain ways but this one did hit me very hard. It was a pleasure to defend against you. Rest in peace Floor. 💚

Yeah, It's great to even see few guys here sharing their thoughts. It's good to know what people think and not just voting yes or no .

Well yeah if that's the case, the Summer Cup and it's meaning for this whole community, is not built with that kind of mindset. Maybe having two different kind of Summer tourneys next year could for help for this, but it's just a fact that majority of SC players are thinking the whole playing in summer different way.

If we have played the SC with the same rules for three years in a row and there have clearly been some issues, how the change is going to "heaviny lean" into that same result again? The number one reason for the new draft format was the exact same you guys are writing about. Teams being unbalanced because of captains of some teams might not be that aware of the level of players he can draft. Now for an example, with this format the Lite captain is forced to draft one guy from Elite and one guy from Pro. In the previous drafts there have been lots of cases where the "Lite captain" has ruined his team in the first three rounds of the draft -> rip moti for those guys who know little bit more about the game and community than his future captain. Now all teams will start from the same line, having certain basic structure for the draft. Atleast it will be closer to that than before. Obviously you can't say it's going to be 100% that way but in my eyes, this new format should help with this problem compared to the old format where the captain could do whatever he ever wanted. The result with that format was too many saunakaveri picks in the first rounds of the draft. In the end it's not going to be that much different, really. It's just about having atleast three different level players in every team when the 3rd round of the draft starts. Oh and by the way if it means anything to anyone - I've enjoyed the previous tournaments. But it can't hurt to try something new, to make it even more balanced and fun tournament for every player.

"(In the case of the captain representing a team that was relegated from or promoted to Elite at the end of ECL 8, the captain will be interpreted as an Elite captain)" C'mon King.

This would solve the problem pretty much but it's understandable why there's not that much Elite captains in Summer Cup. Then again some of the guys are talking about the problem like there's no solution for it - but there is. Read above. I'd be captain this summer but the draft day, well actually the whole weekend, is a huge no for me so :(.

Yeah it's pretty even right now, 19 for 1 and 13 for 2. The rest not commenting dont care, I dunno? Both are fine because well, the SC is not that serious hockey after all. But personally I'd like to see some change after three, same kind of tournaments. Obviously it's not changing the whole format but I really think that the Elite/Pro/Lite system would bring new taste for the SC and make the tournament even more balanced than before, which would be nice. Some (mostly elite) players reached me during the previous Cups (even though I wasn't in the NG Staff) about the bullshit that happens when he gets drafted to the team where the captain is maybe not that aware of the community. Result? They saw their team in the draft -> rip moti. And this is no bullshit, this has happened to lots of guys, and you dont have to be even Elite player to get into this situation. Option #2 is not an end of the world but... it's Summer Cup. Like, it's not hurting anyone to try something new once a year. If there's any and I mean any kind of new ideas, bring em to the table.

1. or I quit