vSilenttio

Hello, gamers! Let's skip the storytelling part because nobody cares about ancient history, right? ECL Talk rises from the ashes! Last time we tried the whole 'ECL Talk' thing we described it like this: "NHLGamer Presents: ECL Talk is our brand new broadcast program for the official ECL news, trades and other things that are associated with NHL gaming." This time, we're reintroducing the concept with more people working on it. Now we have a bunch of NHL gamers mostly from the ECL Staff doing the program for our very passionate NHL gamers out there in the community - you guys. Obviously it's a new chapter in NHLGamer's journalism production so we'll take this as a learning process. The more we can get community members to share their very own "NHL: On the Fly" kind of thing with us, the better content we can produce for you guys. Keep reading, the best parts are yet to come. How, when, where?! Each episode will first be streamed live on NHLGamer's Twitch channel and will be best experienced live, as you can comment and ask questions throughout. If you can't make it to the live broadcast, you'll be happy to know that each episode will be found later on Twitch and Spotify! We will also post a recap article from every episode, so you won't miss the most important things even if you don't have time to listen to the whole thing. To keep everything in order, easy and simple - we're going to have the same base structure for every single ECL Talk episode. Let's take a peak at that: Every episode will be split into five different sections. This way we can keep each episode easy and fun to listen to during live broadcast and especially when you're listening to one afterwards. As ECL Talk will work as a sort of an ECL recap from each division, our aim is to talk about everything that is happening in all of our three divisions, but as you probably know already - we have over 120 teams to cover in each episode, so some details might get forgotten. We'll try our best, that is guaranteed! The sections for each episode will be something like this: "Intro" Each episode will start with introducing our panelists and the main subjects of the broadcast - you know, the basics: how everyone is doing, how the ECL standings are looking right now and what we're going to talk about. Who knows - maybe there'll be some cat videos too? "Marketplace" Confirmed transfers or free agent messages on the forums will be mentioned. We'll also have to discuss the most notable transfers; why did "player A" leave "team X" and what will their role be in their new team. "Hot & Cold" Hot & Cold is a team of the week kind of thing where the panelists will discuss the best players and teams of the past weeks, without forgetting the worst ones! Hot & Cold will also feature the coolest highlights from the recent ECL weeks. Use #ECLHighlights on Twitter to get your shiny plays onto ECL Talk's highlight reel. And just to be clear, we're talking about dazzling goals, big game-savers, glitches or something like that so please try to keep your highlights shorter than 30 seconds. The highlights might not be as enjoyable on Spotify. "Watchlist" Each panelist will have their own watch list that they will talk about during an episode. Things like "how team X is doing", interesting match-ups, what will happen in the future and things like that. "This & that" General discussion on the latest subjects in our community: standings, stats, forums, social media, interviews, live Q&A and maybe some giveaways? Our first episode will be airing on Sunday, 28th of October at 17 CET and is expected to end by 19 CET.

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Salute, gamers! Riddle me this: I am partly Scandinavian, Nordic and Western European while not actually being any of them entirely. I'm old but young, well respected but not the most liked one, very successful but still slightly underrated. What I am? The lads in Northern Ascendancy got to stamp another finale performance on their resume as they fought their way to the ECL 6 finals last spring. After a strong regular season (19-5-6) NOR showed why they've been at the top for so many seasons now. On the first round of the playoffs they faced the hungry Elite debutants in Unlucky Boys. UB led the series a few times as they won the first two games, and after couple more games they were so close beating NOR as UB had the matchball in Game 6. However, "Because it's the Cup" - MukiMaisteri scored the game winning goal 38 seconds before overtime and the game ended 1-0 for NOR. He didn't stop there as the veteran winger scored four goals in Game 7 and NOR went ahead to the second round to face the big bad regular season champions, Written in the Stars. Four one goal games, three overtimes, 37,5 minutes time on attack for the losing side and 25,5 minutes for the winning team. NOR surprised most of the community by beating "Written" 4-1 in games. There's some Ascendance for you. In the ECL 6 finals NOR faced Carlsberg HC and couldn't repeat their trick, as CAR dominated the finals with a game result of 4-1. We saw three tight one goal games and only 14 goals combined in the whole series so hats off for both teams - it wasn't walk in the park to win the championship even though the numbers might tell a different story. IN s_a_k_i_s95 <-- Break from NHL OUT MukiMaisteri --> Dynasty Current roster: Forwards Anrh17 @anrh17 MartindalexC (C) @MartindalexC Foppatofflan (A) @Foppatofflan s_a_k_i_s95 @jeppiz18 x27ScottieN27x @ScottieN27 Defensemen eyebiz @eyebiz Haldeem @Haldeem Goaltenders Poliskontroll @poliskontroll The one and only British captain of our NHL gaming scene continues in his role as he leads his ship towards the ECL Elite finals once again. What does the Englishman @MartindalexC think about his team & their future? With another season and long a playoff run behind - how does life and the new game taste for Northern Ascendancy? To me it looks like you guys have continued with your usual strategy - being annoyingly good in two way hockey. Hmm, where should I start? I suppose the game is probably a good one to tackle first. Especially since, well, truth be told we think the game is pretty much complete and utter garbage, although that hasn’t exactly been a secret of ours. Just the way that games can easily be decided on random drops that evade a bunch of people really rubs us the wrong way. Regarding strategy though we’re still rolling with old faithful so to speak, although compared to years past we are seeing more time on attack which is something we’re not exactly accustomed to shall we say? So, we’ll just have to see how that dynamic plays out. As a veteran member of our NHL gaming scene, how do you see "the new era" after playing tons of games in the old gen era? Licenses are being paid, new teams and players are becoming more familiar to the scene - you know, lots of stuff has changed and evolved - what do you think about all this? Honestly, I’m mostly ambivalent to it all. I suppose the idea of making money off of playing this game is exceptionally enticing to some people but for the most part I play this game because I like it, despite all of its faults, plus lord knows I’ve got nothing else to do :joy:. In addition to this, you could say I have a pretty pessimistic view of this game ever becoming an ‘esport’ (see here for evidence #204505317: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVRZxEhBJFg) and that kind of feeds into my ambivalence, or even vice versa. Nevertheless, I’ll do my best to support Kenu and the site as best I can but I’m not gonna push the boat out so to speak. By the way, where did Martindale's career start from? It's been a joyfyl ride for sure! I'm a little fuzzy on the precise date but I think it was the very start of NHL 13 when NOR was 'founded' officially under that banner. Before that me, Poliskontroll, Juizki and Tacklecontrol played mostly 4s in NHL 12 under a different team name, and prior to that it was just me and Polis in NHL 11 under, yet again, a different name. In terms of tournaments I've played in 8 across both NHLGamer and Consolehockey under NOR, with 1 season where the team was named Unknown (but the franchise underneath remained the same I guess). What kind of checklist did you set for this summer? Is there any new fresh blood in NOR, or was there any lazy employees so to speak to get rid of in order to make your team an even scarier cup contender for ECL7? Is it corny to say that we wanted to get better (who doesn’t after all)? As for acquisitions, the team is practically the same except for -Mukimaisteri, although hopefully there’s a decent chance we’ll be adding someone to the roster, perhaps before this article even comes out. Regarding making the team an “even scarier cup contender” I believe that self-reflection is more important than blind faith, and I personally feel that we went to the finals last year because a couple key players amped up their game at critical times, for instance Poliskontroll really exhibited how good of a goalie he is when we played Written and Carlsberg, meanwhile Eyebiz played nigh on flawlessly when he came in mid-way through the Unlucky Boys series. Having players that can elevate their game is perhaps a consistent element that all winning teams have in their repertoire, however getting hot at the right time does not mean you can replicate it without fail, so we’ve been trying to get back to our basics and strengthen them, so that we don’t have to rely on players getting ‘hot’ to win. What Elite teams have been the most fun to face so far - and the word "fun" here can mean anything between easy to hard - you decide! I suppose Dynasty have been involved in some of the more entertaining games that we’ve played but apart from that I’m not sure. Our games against Written have been a tad underwhelming but it’s ‘fun’ playing a team with an abundance of skill since you know you’ll truly be tested, I know for instance that Flyerkungen has completely decimated me in faceoffs every time I’ve gone against him. I'd like to ask the same question that NOS was asked in their 16 in 16 - How much do you guys have left in the tank? For example, one of the best players of all time, Foppatofflan, is surely not getting any younger! I think, like most things, it’s a matter of perception and how you approach things. It’s easy to dismiss others skill as luck, or their emergence as your downfall. Me personally? I feel I can be better and perhaps that I should be since if we (NOR) want to win we’ll need a full team playing well, as I don’t think it’s possible nowadays for a player to ‘hard carry’ a team like you could on old gen. Besides, at the end of the day it’s not like I’m 50 years old, I’m maybe not going to pick things up as quickly or as easily as I could 7 years ago but as far as I’m concerned it should barely be a discernible difference since your brain doesn’t just start degrading once you’re past 20, 30, or even 40 years of age. In summary though, if we keep putting in hours each and every game and learn from any mistakes, then I feel (barring anything major) that there’s no real reason to expect a rapid decrease in skill. Huge thanks for your extensive answers, MartindalexC! See you on the ice and good luck on another long playoff push to NOR! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. Northern Ascendancy 7. Sjukstugan 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty We've got only five teams left to pick from for the next article.. Who would you think is going to finish 5th?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. What's up my NHL gaming friends and foes? This time in our 16 in 16, we're talking about Swedes - those beautiful, blonde haired people who seem to be talented at everything they do. You know, they're almost like Finns but instead of being grumpy, anti-social, pale and generally weird - Swedes are happy, social and tanned people who are mostly easy to like. Does that sound even close to Northern Stars - perhaps the most victorious Swedish EASHL club in history? At least for me they have always been easy to like - and even though I haven't heard anyone else than their captain talk out loud during the last eight years, they surely seem like happy bunch of good guys! Their ECL 6 was solid once again as they fought their way to the playoffs after an intense battle between them (8th with 35pts) and Evolution (9th with 30pts). While NOS ended their regular season with the record of 5-3-2 (12pts), Evolution failed to challenge NOS for the 8th spot as they ended their ECL 6 with the record of 3-5-2 (8pts). The problem is, when you enter the Elite playoffs from the last possible place, you will more likely than not meet the best team of the regular season and that's what Written In The Stars undisputedly were after losing only three games in a 30-game regular season. Written knocked out NOS from the playoffs after beating them 4-1 in a series where every game except the fifth were one goal games. However, another NHL game is here once again and ECL Elite seems to get tougher season after season. This entails more work for the "old guys" in a team alike the Northern Stars. IN KattenJansson <-- Quality MZK-Trophyhunter <-- Quality ma0niii <-- "retirement" mullweiser <-- Break from NHL OUT Tbnantti --> Symphony MajLeN-Gaming --> N/A Kibenibe --> N/A Current roster: Forwards cHIIMEERa (C) @cHIIMEERa Floor17 (A) @Floor17 KattenJansson97 @KattenJansson97 mullweiser @Mullweiser Defensemen ma0niii (A) @ma0niii Rullstolskalas_ @Rullstolskalas Goaltenders MZK-Trophyhunter @Mike Zigan I_BUM3R_I @BUM3R *Correct PSN of #92 at right defenseman is ma0niii. I had the pleasure of interviewing captain & founder @cHIIMEERa: As one of the oldest ECL teams out there, how have the Northern Stars prepared for the upcoming ECL7? With the amount of games under your belt you must be taking it a bit easier than most guys out there - have you been playing at all during the last months? At least I've seen some shiny logos being made by you! You are right, we took the summer off. I think it has to do with for how long we have been playing together. Back in the days, like in NHL 09-11, I'm pretty sure we were still going strong well into the summer months, but the motivation to grind games in the off season is not there anymore. As long as we are putting in the hours when the new game drops I don't think we'll put ourselves at a disadvantage by being inactive during the summer. I'd say your roster has remained very close to unchanged, right? Is that the secret behind the everlasting success of the Northern Stars? I believe it's a long lost skill to gel with guys and keep grinding together for more than just a couple of months. I think there are many different reasons why the team has mostly remained the same all these years. The two strongest reasons have to be our prior success on the Xbox 360 and our Swedish nationality. As some people know, Northern Stars won a bunch of EHL titles on the 360. As we haven't been able to win anything on the PS4 yet, I guess we're still hoping to win one more title with this team. Also with the community having an abundance of Finnish teams I would say it's easier for the Finns make roster changes and create new teams left and right. We are doing some changes to our roster compared to the previous ECL. Antti (@tbnantti) left the team and @KattenJansson97 replaces him. With Antti being as skilled as he his, it's obviously hard to replace him with a player with same skill set, but Katten is offensively talented and we are happy that he wanted to join the team. With the release of NHL 19 we have been working hard to find set plays in the offensive zone so we can repeatedly and continuously get to the dangerous areas. At this moment it's looking promising and we are optimistically looking forward to ECL 7. On the defensive side of things, @kibenibe decided that he wanted to go back to being a forward in a new team, which resulted in the RD-spot being open and @ma0niii making a comeback. No real explanation needed here. People that have been in the scene for a while definitely know who ma0niii is. Goalie-wise we are seeing some changes. Törna aka @MajLeN-Gaming/Mr Magic (who the F knows what his PSN is, honestly) has moved overseas and we brought back Mike aka MZK-Trophyhunter (@Mike Zigan). We have experimented with @Floor17 on center and @cHIIMEERa on the right flank in EASHL. That doesn't mean that we are planning on doing that in ECL, but don't be surprised if that is the outcome. Whatever works best in EASHL the upcoming weeks will determine our starting roster. It's also worth noting is that thanks to EA we haven't been able to use @BUM3R at all due to the dressing room errors, but we plan on using both Bumer and Mike in ECL. It's been a few years since you guys won the European championship the last time. I'm gonna be blunt and ask how much do you think there's left in you? Is it already time for those "one more year" chants inside your team or do you still see yourself as one of the best contenders for the championship now and for years to come? I slightly touched on the subject above, but to dive a bit deeper I think that if we were to win ECL 7 I wouldn't be surprised to see us call it quits, once and for all. That is sort of keeping us going. The motivation to win another European championship. It has been a great run, but at this moment we are taking it a tournament at a time. We don't have any long term goals so it's hard to predict the future of our team. Who knows, maybe Northern Stars don't play in ECL 8? Maybe we are still chasing that title two years from now? Lastly - who do you see as the biggest threats for you this season due to their style of play - are those the same teams that could be the biggest championship contenders this season as well? What advice would you give to teams that might struggle this season? Because of the dressing room errors we haven't been able play many of the ECL Elite teams yet so it's hard to say who will be competing for the ECL 7 title. All we can do is look at the rosters and their past accomplishments. A safe assumption is that the best teams from NHL 18 will be just as good this year. All we can say is that ECL Elite is only getting tougher for each iteration. There are no bad teams and that is going to make the standings real interesting. As for any team that might be running into a slump mid-season, I would say that at least give yourself the chance to win the game. Play tight defense and put the puck on net. It may sound cliché, but it works to some extent - even in Elite. It's been a pleasure and huge thanks to cHIIMEERa for the extensive answers and insight of a veteran player. Good luck for the upcoming season to the team! ECL Elite 16 in 16 so far: 1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________ 6. _______________ 7. _______________ 8. Northern Stars 9. Unlucky Boys 10. Rusty Blades 11. Almost Famous 12. _____________ (To be released) 13. SIKA 14. Gotham Knights 15. Falun Coal Miners 16. Team Frosty Tomorrow we'll take a look at another Swedish team, who made a lot of changes during the offseason. We're excited to share it with you, can you guess who's up?

ECL Elite 16 in 16 is a season preview series we're implementing ahead of ECL 7. The idea was conceived by @chavelski, but due to time constraining the man himself, the project is now being carried out by the rest of our Elite writing team. The series will be released in 16 parts, one article for each team. The teams have been ranked by all team captains, and articles are being released in order from predicted last place finish to predicted champion of ECL 7. The objective of this series is to give an idea to the community of who is representing which team, added by a small insight into the team with an interview of the team captain. Hello, gamers! As October is now here, I think it's time for all of us to shake the rust off and get prepared for ECL7. Get it? Rust? Rusty Blades? No? I'll get my coat. Rusty Blades are known as one of the grittiest teams of ECL Elite. Atleast that's how they stepped into the Elite division a few seasons ago in ECL5 when they surprised pretty much everybody by ending the season with a good record of 15-11-4, leaving teams like MUKIMIEHET, Kattiautomaatti, Sjukstugan, Silver Sword Griffins and Nordic Nightmare behind them. The Blades scored only 2.00 goals per game during that season, but still they found their way to the playoffs. Not bad for a debut Elite season. What happened for them in ECL6, though? Were the few overtime losses the difference? The Blades scored a few goals more than they scored in ECL5 and even conceded fewer goals but still, the separation to 8th placed Northern Stars, was seven points. Harsh. Once again, a fact which proves that ECL Elite really is an elite level virtual hockey league. IN ktewjh <--Gotham Knights Migo_boo99 <-- Shameful Knights OUT Kikiukko --> Almost Famous Epelis --> Club One Wuorio --> Tiki Talk Current roster: Forwards Lamsa @Lamsa koojiikoojii (A) @koojiikoojii Migo_boo99 @Migo_boo Defensemen Tanski87 (C) @Tanski87 kinnune @kinnun3 ktewjh @Janikka Goaltenders Supreex (A) @Supreex I managed to snag an interview with team captain & founder @Tanski87 for this piece, let's get to it: Last time Rusty Blades played competitive hockey on NHLGamer was on the 2nd of April, so that's about five months ago. Still from what I've seen and heard it seems like you guys managed to keep practicing all summer long. What has Rusty Blades been doing all this time - any new signings or losses perhaps? Is there any rust left for ECL7 after a long, hard working offseason? We just love to play this video game together. We have a nice group who are fun to play with. That is why we play so much and often. There was a couple of changes during the long offseason. First we lost @Fuhrer Vuorio to Tiki Talk. @epelis kinda took original member Wuorios LW spot during the season and Wuorio thought it was his time to find some new wind. Good luck to Tiki Talk and thanks for your time with us. We later lost the well seasoned Epelis while we tried @imosi on our roster. That didn't work out sadly, but we acquired a talented youngster in @Migo_boo to fill the empty spot. @kikiukko went to Almost Famous to get some more ice time at his main position RD. I'd say NHL19 will probably be the best game in the history for NHL gaming, as the game itself seems a little bit better once again and money will be involved on the highest level as well. How does all this new stuff feel for you guys - NHL19's gameplay and the ECL license? It's really nice that the game is going forward and this community is growing. We've seen a lot of growth with this as some esports organisations have already backed up a few teams and a few individual players have signed legit contracts. Rusty Blades has been known as a hard competing, never waivering team that plays a simple and some might say ugly game. What is your direction from now on - any new game plans? Will the Rusty Blades compete in the upcoming ECL7 playoffs and if so, with what teams? A simple and ugly game does not keep you in Elite. I think we have something more. As a team we are hard as nails and we do not do drama, no matter how hard it gets. We keep it together. This season I believe we will be better than ever. I have high faith in these guys. Thanks for your time Tanski! Hope you can shake off the rust and compete hard this year! Stay tuned for more ECL Elite 16 in 16 later today, as we take a look at a fringe playoff team, who has been fighting it out in Elite for some time now. Can you guess who was predicted to finish next in line?

What's up, gamers? Do you know that feeling when you have missed something you used to do some time ago, but for certain reasons you haven't been doing that thing for a long time. It can be writing articles for NHLGamer, it can be some old hobby, listening to some childhood favourite band or you know - playing virtual hockey on the very highest level in ECL Elite. I happen to know a few guys who can certainly agree with me on this one. I used to be one of them for a long, long time. Can you guess who I'm talking about? SIKA - one of the oldest competitive EASHL teams in Europe is back in ECL Elite! Very few teams can say that they've been out there for almost 10 years, but SIKA is truly one of those teams. Obviously their roster has changed during that long 10-year road but hey - how many teams actually manage to keep their core players and team itself together for that long? They've seen lots of ups and downs, different players, friends and brothers, leagues and tournaments during that long road. Personally, I can say that it takes a lot from you. It was like a family, and to be honest, it still feels like one. *Wiping a tear* In ECL6, SIKA played in the Pro division. Their regular season was solid as they finished with a record of 22-6-1. Arctic was SIKA's first round opponent in a series that SIKA managed to win in six games. In Round 2 they lost a thrilling 7-game battle to White Trash where the winner was decided in overtime after SIKA failed to convert their two powerplays before conceding the season ending goal in double overtime. However, anything can happen in life and due to some off-season transfers and teams disbanding, SIKA managed to find a backdoor entrance to Elite. IN Rankaisija <-- Old Farts MrNipsuli <-- Free Agents OUT imosi1 --> Break from NHL vSilenttio --> Symphony Current Roster: Forwards yrjoo (A) @yrjoo Albatrooss @Albatross Naikou88 @Naikou88 Defensemen MCH_98 (A) @MCH_98 MrNipsuli- @MrNipsuli Rankaisija_ @Ranksu Goaltenders SpiderRoyal (C) @SpiderRoyal RingDaKing30 @Ylijumala Alright, lets get to business. I had the honor of interviewing my long time friend and former teammate - the man, the myth, the old but gold in its true meaning: @SpiderRoyal Shall we start with an easy one - how are you and the lads? What does SIKA think about the new NHL-game? Me and the lads are doing just fine, thanks for asking! Ready to go after a nice warm summer, quality time with our families and a needed break from the hockey scene. We all purchased the pre-order version of the new NHL 19, so we've been grinding the new game from day one and we like the game a lot. Not sure about the new patch, but more games are needed before jumping to conclusions. The game feels fresh, for me at least. Can't wait for the new season to begin! It's been over a year now since SIKA was last seen in ECL Elite. What kind of thoughts does the comeback bring to you personally? Is it time for some changes in the schedules and work ethic maybe? Yes, finally SIKA is back! SIKA in my opinion is an Elite team and finally we're back where we belong. Still I'm haunted by the fact that we got relegated after a season of many disasters, and even more shocked that we couldn't get back up to Elite, as we're always shooting ourselves in the foot in the playoffs. Getting promoted isn't easy even if you have a very solid team. For me personally getting back to Elite is a huge boost, not that I wouldn't be motivated playing in Pro, but playing in the Elite this upcoming season brings an extra flavor to the dish! As the founder of SIKA I'm in it for the ups and the downs. Being on the bright side of things this time makes me very happy and hungry for success. Schedule wise of course we have to play even more and prioritize that 6's is the #1 game mode for us if we want to gain success. Less HUT and FUT, that's for sure We all have pretty similar schedules as to when we can play, so that won't be an issue. The work ethic definitely needs to be stepped up a notch. We are discussing learning our style, studying opponents, how to play in different situations, minimizing the differential between the good day and the bad days...all that comes with when you take a step up in the work ethic aspect of the game. SIKA has seen a lot during the recent years so obviously terms, such as "rebuilding" or "re-tooling" are not new for you. With dozens of seasons and offseasons behind, how did the team do this time around - could you tell me about how well you accomplished your goals set this offseason? The terms "rebuilding" and "re-tooling" aren't new to us at all. That might very well be the reason we fell off our course for the past 2-3 seasons. Too many new faces who weren't loyal after all and not having that solid #1 lineup to go with. The offseason started with a couple of bangs! vSilenttio, our captain and GM, went to play with Symphony. imosi1 retired. So you could say that we were in a little bit of a shock at the beginning of the offseason. Losing two of our full breed SIKA's was a pity, but we understood why they left. Saying that, losing two of our brothers might be actually the best thing that could have happened to us. We all stepped up a lot, everyone got more involved in team matters and the atmosphere is more united and relaxed than maybe ever before. Everyone has their own role now and the workload is spread very evenly. We're all a part of rejuvenating SIKA. Two new signings needed to be done after vSilenttio and imosi1 left. Rankaisija and MrNipsuli- came to the rescue. Rankaisija being a highly skilled veteran defender, "a leader" if you will and MrNipsuli- being something of a "gods gift". Especially MrNipsuli- has surprised us all, not often you find an Elite defender from the 1vs1-scene lingering around among the free agents. I'd also like to shoutout MCH_98 for elevating his game to a totally new level! The growth of MCH_98 skill-wise after vSilenttio left the defense has been mindboggling. The forwards are now locked in their own positions and they get to play their own favorite position. Forwards: Albatrooss, Yrjoo and Naikou88 have all been in SIKA for a while now so they are no strangers to each other. Not forgetting the goalies: Me[insert old guy joke here] and RingDaKing30 sharing the playtime 50-50 and LOCKING UP! So to sum it up: Offseason went way better than expected From there it's easy to jump to one of the most exciting subjects. ECL7, Elite division, it's license and the season in itself. What is SIKA planning to do in the next three months? We aim to get better everyday and show everyone why I earlier stated that SIKA belongs to ECL Elite. SIKA has never been shy to show games to the viewers and we'll stream EASHL and ECL on a daily basis. Everyone can come see us grow as a team and see why we believe in ourselves so much! The license for this upcoming season is huge! This is exactly what we as a community needed and SIKA supports it all the way. Finally, the last burning question - will SIKA play in the ECL7 playoffs? And how do you see the other teams out there - what teams do you see as the biggest championship contenders? Our minimum goal is the playoffs, our dream is to win it all! Why play if you don't believe in yourself?! Of course we are aware of the reality, but there is no reason we can't achieve the biggest price if everything clicks. Also I think almost any team in the Elite can win it all, if everything goes as planned. I'm hopeless optimist I know Soooo many good teams in Elite, but if I had to say top-3 teams and I couldn't name ourselves, I'd say: FILADELPHIA because of Eki "The Champ", PleeMaker (wrap-arounds me to death every year), Zande95... Are you kidding me?! Written in the Stars: Favorite status every year. Now with Dominointi and Hansu... Lord have mercy! Dynasty: Gets better every year! Thanks for your time, SpiderRoyal. Good luck for the upcoming season! Unfortunately we received some sad news coming from the Monarchs camp last night - Monarchs will not be participating in ECL 7, as the team will be folding. Some of the Monarchs players will transfer to Sjukstugan and represent them in ECL 7. More news regarding this once Sjukstugan is up! In tomorrow's ECL Elite 16 in 16, we will be looking at another team that made a rapid climb through the divisional ladder.