Keuschemisch

NHLGamers, More than two months ago we started into the 12th iteration of the European Championship League. 31 teams competed in ECL Pro to fight for their spot in the playoffs, prevent relegation or gaining promotion into the European Top 16 in Elite. We saw tight matchups, beautiful goals as well as many surprises on our way to the finals of ECL 12 Pro. It is fair to say that two of the most dominant teams of the second half of the regular season and playoffs have paved their way to the finals. 5th seed Djurgarden Hockey will battle 12th seed Team LEISURE on Tuesday and Wednesday to determine who will hoist the cup in the Pro division this season. (5) Djurgarden Hockey - Team LEISURE (12) The Swedish Djurgarden Hockey and German Team LEISURE will combine to host the ECL 12 Pro finals - only one team will gain direct promotion, whereas the other is in for a hard fought battle against KOVA Esports in the upcoming relegation battle. First, however, we'll focus on the finals ahead! Over the past couple of seasons, Stockholm's pride Djurgarden have solidified their position as a true contender in the Pro division, but after a disappointing end to their ECL 11 campaign, they are surely determined to cap this one off a bit better. Captain @Jungledonk has surrounded himself with a tight knit group of players that are equally passionate about developing the team game, and it shows - the Swedes have plowed through opposition with relative ease throughout the season in it's entirety so far, with only Team LEISURE remaining in their way. Djurgarden's strength is their team play and adaptability, which will definitely come in handy in this series, but at times the group can end up on scoring dry spells. That is when goaltender @Sorsa103 bails them out with stellar play. In fact, Sorsa is WAY ahead of the competition statistically with a whopping 89,87 SV% to go with an equally great 1.07 GAA - keep an eye on this guy! @Strumpan87 is their leading scorer, but by no means do they solely ride on his success. While some guys will be hotter than others from time to time, Djurgarden is the definition of a squad with a team first-mentality. Road to finals: Regular Season: 3rd in Group 1 (18-7-5) Playoffs Round 1: 4-0 vs. Hotbox Quarterfinals: 4-2 vs. Kiekko-Espoo Esports Semifinals: 4-1 vs. BoxinElite Playoffs Top scorer: @Strumpan8715GP: 13G + 18A = 31P Team LEISURE is, as stated before, on a mission to regain their position as the strongest German team in the league. That means getting back their spot in the Elite division first and foremost. After a somewhat underwhelming regular season, this team has showed that their style of play is truly suitable for postseason battles and it is their suffocating defense and quick turnover attack that they most likely will live and die by in the end. After all, it is something that they do exceptionally well, an art they've perfected if you will. Especially if you take a look at the matchup of both teams during the regular season with Djurgarden Hockey getting the edge over Team LEISURE by gaining 3 out of 4 possible Points (4-1 Djurgarden & 3-4OT Team LEISURE) we can expect a very tight series. Since the Germans started to find their rhythm in the second half of the season with @Flo_goes_grazy(flgr93) becoming the starter on the left wing and @PlaymakerSJbeing the experienced and world class center the team needed for a long playoff run to return to ECL Elite. Team LEISUREs defense is what made the team go all the way to this seasons final. In their last two playoff rounds against Conquer Gaming (4-0) and HV71 (4-1) the German outfit only conceded 5 goals in 9 games, with @RPH_31 securing four shutouts and recording a whopping 1.5 GAA in this postseason. Just as mentioned in the first Playoffs preview: Offense wins games but defense wins championships. Road to finals: Regular Season: 7th in Group 1 (16-11-3) Playoffs Round 1: 4-3 vs. Sulkavan Sudet Quarterfinals: 4-0 vs. Conquer Gaming Semifinals: 4-1 vs. HV71 Playoffs Top scorer: @PlaymakerSJ 16GP: 14G + 20A = 34P @Keuschemisch's prediction: 4-2 Team LEISURE @Mikka's prediction: 4-2 Team LEISURE Tune in for the finals on Tuesday and Wednesday as broadcasts will be live at www.twitch.tv/NHLGamer!

NHLGamers, The quarterfinals of the playoffs are now behind and we know the semifinalists of ECL 12 Pro. The best four teams of the season have now already secured a chance to play for an Elite spot next season but the Pro title and instant promotion is what the four remaining teams are aiming for. We have seen tight matchups and big surprises. Team LEISURE managed to sweep Conquer Gaming - the best team of the regular season – in breathtaking fashion. HV71 and Blackdawgs fought until the end with the Swedish side getting the edge over the Russians in game 7. BoxinElite overcoming VISU Gaming by winning four straight after losing the series opening game and securing their spot among the top 4 of the league in their rookie season as well as Djurgarden Hockey taking the next step and beating the Finnish outfit from Kiekko-Espoo Esports in six games. In the following we will take a closer look at the two remaining matchups. Who will pave their way to the finals? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each team? We will know better in a few days! (2) HV71 - Team LEISURE (12) After playing against Inter Iceland in round 1, HV71 is now facing a German team for the second time in this playoffs already. The Swedish outfit around captain @Demski13 managed to beat Inter Iceland in six games and secure their place among the top 8 in the league. The esports team from Jönköping had a tough time in the quarterfinals against Blackdawgs. After being down 2-1 after the first evening in the series and losing game 3 in astonishing fashion with 0-6, the blue and yellow outfit seem to have drawn the right conclusions and fought back on the second evening of the series. By winning 3 games and securing a 7-1 victory in the deciding game 7, HV71 put an exclamation mark on claiming their spot among the top 4 in ECL Pro. On the other side we find Team LEISURE. The German juggernauts might have found their form after the first half of the regular season only losing four games since including the playoffs. Being seeded at spot #7 the Germans were not able to secure home ice advantage which looks to suit them quite well. LEISURE did not lose a single game on the away server during their playoff run. Being able to beat Sulkavan Sudet in 7 games in round 1 the GCL record champion approached their biggest challenge so far in facing the #1 spot Conquer Gaming. The squad around captain @Franky__2768 looked as strong as never before and beating the former Finnish Elite outfit in crushing fashion. Team LEISURE secured their spot in the final four with a 4-0 sweep being able to shut down the strongest offense of the league three times and only conceding one goal in the whole series. Are the Germans on their way back to Elite? While HV71's offense is improving during their playoff run and looking very strong around their trio of @Demski13, @Rubituss and @Zupancic_King424 (Zuppe_29), Team LEISURE will be a very tough nut to crack defensively. Captain Franky__2768 and @xXPsykoSkillsXx found themselves as the top two scoring D-men in the regular season but seem to given up their scoring abilities to their forwards and focus on shutting down the opponents offense. @RPH_31 already secured three shutouts, which are the most in the playoffs of ECL 12 Pro so far. Both teams have found their qualities on both ends of the ice and always managed to find the right solutions to overcome their opponents in the playoffs. Especially the center matchup will be a decisive factor in this semifinal. Both players are top scorers of their teams and are extremely strong at the faceoff dot. @PlaymakerSJ contributed with 26 points (11G+15A) in 11 games to his teams success while also managing to win over 55% of his faceoffs giving his team the slight edge in tight games. Demski scored 25 points in 13 games and was always able to decide a matchup with contributing three game winning goals in their current run. Both teams are looking very strong which could make the series go either way. While HV71 played on a good and solid level for the whole season, the ex-Elite team of the former Deadly Phantoms HC found their form quite late in this years ECL. The winger duo of @ProfaneKiss and @Flo_goes_grazy (flgr93), who is playing his rookie season on Pro level, seem to harmonize even better with each game. After losing in the Elite relegation 4-2 against Tunnel Vision, LEISURE’s goal was clear: Instant promotion back to Europes Top 16. But will they be able to break down HV71 defense around @Terasniska, @Putteekiing and @Tiipponenii (Coffelainen)? The Swedish squad often enough proved this season that they took the next step in their development and are one of toughest teams to beat in ECL Pro. Since Team LEISURE already has the experience of four seasons on Elite level, as well as winning the Pro title back in ECL 7, the Germans could have the edge over their North European competitor. The away game disadvantage seems not to have any impact on their gameplan which makes it hard for any team in the league to beat Team LEISURE in their current form. @Keuschemisch's prediction: 2-4 Team LEISURE @Mikka's prediction: 1-4 Team LEISURE (4) BoxinElite - Djurgarden Hockey (5) Written by @Mikka If they struggled a bit surprisingly in the first round, the quarterfinals saw BoxinElite most definitely get back where they left off in the regular season. The high-flying Pro rookies took down VISU Gaming a lot easier than anticipated, only losing the opening game before winning the next four in a row. Getting their revenge on their playoff foes from last season is sure to give the Finns a nice boost when they look to take on the next challenge. The quarterfinals were not as easy for Djurgarden Hockey as they cleanly swept first round. That was expected though, and while they have had tight results for the whole season they have still ended up on top most of the time. Once again they did just that, narrowly avoiding a game seven by getting it done in six. The matchup went just about as expected as the Swedes continue onwards with their solid team play and routine, backstopped by amazing stats from netminder @Sorsa103 (10 GP, 88.78%, 1.1 GAA, 2 SO). As already stated, Djurgarden Hockey’s games have been quite tight. “How tight?”, one might ask. Well, their only loss with more than a one goal margin came with a 0-2 result. BoxinElite on the other hand have lost with a two plus goal margin six times out of the 13 in which they have fallen. Both teams have already secured a chance to play for an Elite spot, but avoiding that best of seven series altogether by grabbing the Pro title is at the top of their minds as they still have plenty of games left to play. BoxinElite has a relatively unproven squad, but @Prom99 and @Mehiiss have already been at this stage a few years ago with White Trash (now known as KOVA Esports). Although they lost to FILADELPHIA in the semifinals back then, they still managed to get promoted ahead of ECL 7. That experience is going to come in handy as they prepare to face off against a team that does not have any players with the same background. While BoxinElite might be the more offensive one of the teams, their defense has not had a bad performance either. Will it be Djurgarden who makes the series a small margins one, or will the Finns’ offensive prowess prevail? It will be interesting to see who manages to turn the results their way and pave their road to the final. Seeing how the teams’ playing styles match up and how well gelled the Swedes are, it seems like BoxinElite will have to overcome the predicted results just like they did in the last round. It is close though, so once again do not be surprised no matter whose way this goes. As we saw in the quarterfinal series between Conquer Gaming and Team LEISURE, even a presumed seven game series can end in a sweep. @Mikka's prediction: 3-4 Djurgarden Hockey @Keuschemisch's prediction: 2-4 Djurgarden Hockey

NHLGamers, The regular season of ECL 12 Pro is finished and now crunch time begins! The race for the playoff spots and battles in the relegation zone were as tight as ever before. We have seen some surprises as well as favorites defending the top spots in their groups. In the following preview we want to take a closer look at the upcoming eight matchups in the first round. It is extremely hard to predict which teams will advance but we will give you our best try. We also appreciate your opinion: Which of these 16 teams will be able to pave their way into ECL Elite? Be sure to post your predictions in the comment section! (1) HV71 – Inter Iceland (8) With an important 4-2 victory over Rookie Mistakes on the last gameday, German side Inter Iceland managed to secure the last playoff spot in Group 2. The squad around goalie @PLA77NER(Hasek-39--) was not able to repeat their stunning regular season from ECL 11 Pro where they managed to secure a strong rank 2 behind Tunnel Vision but found an early exit in playoff round 1 against RCTIC (2-4). Forward @Stefan_397 once again leads the team in terms of scoring and will be one of their most decisive factors during this budding playoff run. On the flipside we find the Swedish side of HV71 who won Group 1 with a strong record of 22-8-0. The club from Jönköping manages to qualify for their first postseason on Pro level and will be one of the top contenders if they are able to continue their form. One of the best offenses combined with the third best defense in the whole league will be a tough nut to crack. While HV71 was the only team in the whole league to not lose a single match in overtime, Inter Iceland fell short four times. Keeping their calmness and staying cool in the right moments will be one of the most decisive factors in a tight series. Both goalies can play an important role. While Hasek-39-- is surely one of the most experienced goalies in the community, @Tiipponenii(coffelainen) finds himself among the top goalies in ECL 12 Pro and records 8 shutouts - the most of any goalie during the regular season. The offense around captain @Demski13has found the right balance between playmaking and goal scoring abilities. While Elite experienced @Rubituss finds himself on rank 3 with 64 points, while his winger partner @Zupancic_King424 (Zuppe_29) contributed with 24 goals for his team. It is worth mentioning that 11 out of his 24 goals were GWGs! While HV71's dominant playing style could suit Inter Iceland’s dangerous counter attacks it will be hard to beat the squad in blue and yellow. @Keuschemisch’s prediction: HV71 4-2 @Mikka's prediction: HV71 4-0 (2) BoxinElite – SPARTIATES X MCES (7) The promoted squad from BoxinElite managed to play a stunning regular season and finished on a more than convincing rank 2. They only fell one point short to group winners HV71 due to losing one game in OT against Sinister. Team captain @xleksa35leads by example. Being one of the top scorers in ECL 11 Lite the, right winger showed his individual class once again - 68 points in 30 games makes him the second best scorer in the league. SPARTIATES X MCES had a tough start to the season. With only two wins out of their first 13 games the French side was surely not paving their way to a possible playoff appearance but had an amazing second half of the season. Winning 13 out of their last 15 games secured them rank 7 and their first postseason in their first season at the Pro level. The French are the third team from the central server to qualify for the playoffs beside Team LEISURE and Inter Iceland from Germany. The Finnish BoxinElite is in clear favour of winning this series. Having one of the strongest offenses as well as a solid defense the stage is set for a long playoff run. While special teams could always make a difference – especially in a tight playoff series – both teams are lacking in efficiency while being on the powerplay. BoxinElite had the best penalty kill in their group (94,44%) and will be very hard to break down even while being one man short. It will be interesting to see if SPARTIATES X MCES are able to maintain their strong form and continue their five game winning streak. The winger duo of @Winciand @Adri1_SCP needs to produce and convert any chance given into a goal. High efficiency will be the most important factor. Will the French side be able to perform in the underdog role? @Keuschemisch’s prediction: BoxinElite 4-1 @Mikka's prediction: BoxinElite 4-1 (3) Djurgarden Hockey – Hotbox (6) The team from Sweden's capital found themselves among the top teams of Group 1 for the whole season. With a record of 18-7-5 Djurgarden Hockey secured rank 3 and home ice advantage in the first round. The Swedish side added @Strumpan87 from SSK Esports to their roster who immediately became their top scorer and contributed with 57 points in 30 games. While Danish Winger @Birkedal96 left the team after 6 games to ZSC Esports in ECL Elite, @amadee21 started every game on the right wing and found himself on a strong scoring streak. Lower seeded Hotbox started with a 5 game losing streak into this ECL 12 campaign. After getting acclimated to the Pro level, the Finnish squad started to collect their first points and especially being superior in winning tight matches by only one goal. Captain @Frans-Fin, who played every game in the regular season is also the teams best scorer with 44 points in 28 games followed by his winger colleague @James(Jamechkin) who contributed 35 points to the teams success. While Hotbox records the league's best powerplay with 34,21%, Djurgarden Hockey records the league's best defense by only conceding 45 goals in 30 games. Like in every series, special teams may be a decisive reason to win or lose games. It will be interesting to see if the Swedish side manages to stay away from the penalty box or if Hotbox will be able to break down Djurgardens solid defense. While the Finnish outfit of Hotbox is quite new to ECL Pro playoffs territory, the Swedish squad is well experienced on that ground. Finishing on rank 2 last season and beating Blackdawgs (4-2) in round 1 but falling short to later promoted ZSC Esports (0-4) the squad around captain @Jungledonk will be keen on taking the next step. Right according to the mantra: Offense wins games but defense wins championships? @Keuschemisch’s prediction: Djurgarden Hockey 4-1 @Mikka's prediction: Djurgarden Hockey 4-2 (4) Kiekko-Espoo Esports – Dynastia (5) Will it be one of the tightest series in this year's first round? Kiekko-Espoo Esports find themselves on rank 4 while recording 18 wins and being one point ahead of VISU Gaming. After falling short of a playoff qualification in ECL 11 by only 2 points, the Finnish outfit around captain @Hazard-laser is set to take the next step in the postseason. After bringing in @Frilander to strengthen the defensive force beside @Raikkoneeh, Kiekko-Espoo seemed to have found their starting six that we can also expect to play in this series. Dynastia fought their way through the Pro Qualification tournament right into their first postseason appearance on Pro level. Right from the start, Dynastia was able to collect points. The only team the freshly promoted side was not able to get points from was Hotbox who eventually finished one rank behind them in their group. Captain @Majuri20 (Diktaattori62) and winger @Vilze (Vilze92) are leading their team in points. Strong performances will be needed to beat Kiekko-Espoo in the first round. With 64 goals in 30 games, Kiekko-Espoo is the weakest offensive team of the top 8 in Group 1. On the other hand they record a strong defense by conceding only 1,93 goals per game. With their starting goalie @jg697000(Gresu__) reportedly being absent in the first round it will be interesting to see if backup @sMiika will be able to follow in his footsteps and carry the team to the second round. While Dynastia is one of three teams who managed to secure a spot for the playoffs with a negative goal difference it will be exciting to see how the offensive and defensive abilities of both teams will develop in this series. If Kiekko-Espoo maintains their calmness, they should be able to make use of their efficiency. @Timez(Timoccio), @Mikka and Hazard-laser played all 30 regular season games and scored many powerplay goals which could give them the edge over Dynastia. @Keuschemisch’s prediction: 4-2 Kiekko-Espoo Esports @Mikka's prediction: Mikka plays for Kiekko-Espoo Esports and stays neutral (1) Conquer Gaming - Bjorkloven Esport (8) Bjorkloven ended up staying above the playoff line after some walkover drama made sure to keep Sinister below them, but it does not in any way mean that they would not be worthy of playoff hockey. That being said though, the tight knit Conquer Gaming is the strong favorite here after steadily plowing through a Group 2 where it felt like almost every single team got into either losing or winning streaks of eight plus games. A testament to their consistency, Conquer had the best goal differential in the whole Pro division by a wide margin: a whopping +49 compared to the next-best +34 of Sulkavan Sudet and Djurgarden Hockey. Their leading offensive force centerman @Jertsicc was on fire too, finishing with a division leading 26+46=72 points in 28 games. At the other end, netminder @Jeresti (28 GP, 82.94%, 1.54 GAA, 2 SO) finished with the best save percentage amongst goalies who played the majority of games. While Conquer ended up as the second best in both most goals scored and the fewest conceded, Bjorkloven did not really shine in any stat category. Bjorkloven’s roster also had more variation, with seven skaters seeing playing time and only @Janzuh and @vVoDee featuring in every game, meanwhile Conquer played the whole regular season with the same starting six. Conquer should be able to keep their train back to Elite steadily on the tracks, but the ECL 11 Lite champions could cause the well oiled machine some problems by starting on the right foot from the get go, with the help of their high level names like @EDHOLMINHO and Janzuh stepping up and carrying them through. Out of all playoff teams they were the most penalized one in the regular season, so they will need to stay out of the box too if they want to have a chance to cause an upset. @Mikka's prediction: Conquer Gaming 4-1 @Keuschemisch’s prediction: Conquer Gaming 4-0 (2) Sulkavan Sudet - Team LEISURE (7) Another tight-knit former Elite roster, Team LEISURE have not had an amazing fairytale campaign back to the top this far this season. They struggled in the beginning to find their footing in the tighter Group 1, falling to a nine game losing streak after winning their three first, but have seemed to finally find it with 10 wins in their last 12, many of them with wide margins. Compared to the German outfit’s lackluster start resulting in them barely making the playoffs, Sulkavan Sudet on the other hand have been a positive surprise by managing to snatch the #2 seed from Group 2. The division’s top scoring squad (98 goals for) ended their regular season on a high note too, with winning streaks of four and eight games in their last 14. Their last opponents consisted of mainly the group’s bottom teams though, meanwhile Team LEISURE’s schedule had a bit of a wider mix of both bottom and playoff bubble opponents. This could be one of the more interesting matchups in the first round, with Sulkavan Sudet always having been an offensive minded, strong counter attacking squad that now are facing the highly experienced Team LEISURE, who have traditionally been known for their strong defense and team play. That is not to say that they cannot score though, as they ended up scoring the second most goals in Group 1, with their tally of 88 falling just one shy of the well known offensive dynamo BoxinElite’s 89. They got a lot of help on that front from their back end, with @Franky__2768 (6+28=34) and @xXPsykoSkillsXx (5+29=34) finishing as the number one and two in points among all defensemen in the division. Now that the Germans seem to have finally found their stride, I do not see many reasons why they would not be able to upset the much higher seeded Sudet. LEISURE’s playing style seems like it will match well against them as long as they keep an eye out for the Finns’ counter attacks. They have only made a six-game playoff appearance during their two prior Pro seasons, meanwhile Team LEISURE has always been a playoff performer and got some more experience from tighter games in the lower scoring Group 1. Even though Sulkavan Sudet racked up the most goals in Pro, they also let in a lot and that is why in my eyes Team Leisure have the advantage despite their low seed. @Mikka's prediction: 1-4 Team LEISURE @Keuschemisch’s prediction: 1-4 Team LEISURE (3) Patience - Blackdawgs (6) At around the midseason mark, Patience had some kind of internal falling out with their clear starter and only listed goalie, @PCJP(Pelkoneen), and he has not played a game for them since. After that the post between the pipes has been shared by ECL rookie @SirRaittinen and ECL 1 original @Miska (Zundeh), who has a few seasons worth of games under his belt at that position. The former seems to have been performing better though and looks slated to be the starting netminder come playoff time, with the latter most likely taking the center spot and @Karkkyjaa moving to SirRaittinen’s prior LW spot. Patience’s results have taken a bit of a dip after the goaltending change, but we will see if the uncertainty is now behind as they get ready to take on Blackdawgs. As expected prior to the season, the mostly Russian outfit was led by the clear internal top scorer @Valluxet with 27+26=53, 15 more points than their next best @Tiltsson. Other than that, they did not cause major feelings in any way, ending up with streaky results both ways. Every time they lost a game after a win, they also lost at least the next one. As in, all of their losses were part of at least a two game losing streak. The same kind of trend can be observed with their wins too, with only one of them being neither followed or preceded by another one. Expect this series to be a tight battle that can be won by either team that ends up having the hot streak during next week. Can Patience smother the guy on whose shoulders the Blackdawgs' offense lies on, or can Valluxet execute his scoring prowess and take advantage of the opponent’s goaltender situation? @Mikka's prediction: Patience 4-3 @Keuschemisch’s prediction: Blackdawgs 3-4 (4) Pata Hellalla - VISU Gaming (5) Last but definitely not least, Pata Hellalla and VISU Gaming are going to be facing off against each other. VISU looked very strong to start the season with only two losses in their first 16 games, but then something happened and what at the time looked like an easy ride to the top seed changed to a nine game losing streak. They managed to somewhat gather their form back when it started to look like they could even fall out of the playoffs, dropping only three points in their last five with a record of 3-1-1. In their second last regular season game, the former ECL 11 Lite runner ups got a huge confidence boost from a 6-2 win over BoxinElite that also kept the fellow Pro rookies from overtaking HV71 as the Group 1 number one seed. Similarly to VISU Gaming, Pata Hellalla had a very strong start too with 11 wins in a row, and after a one goal loss to Inter Iceland they once again got three wins in a row. After that though, in the remaining 13 games they only managed to gain a total of three wins, two of which in overtime, and one overtime loss along with seven of them in regulation, on top of the two walkover losses handed to them against Patience over their last matchup. This series is a battle of two teams with plenty of experienced players, which is once again going to be decided through who has the best form coming into the matchup. Although both outfits started out looking like their respective groups’ number one squads, VISU seems to have the slightly better form right now, giving them the edge over Pata Hellalla. Even then, this series is a toss up and could really go either way so do not be surprised about how it ends, unless it is a clear 4-0 sweep for either one. @Mikka's prediction: 3-4 VISU Gaming @Keuschemisch’s prediction: 2-4 VISU Gaming

The first half of the regular season in ECL 12 Pro is done and with that it is a good time to take a closer look at what happened in the first weeks of virtual hockey action. Which teams are performing well? Which players are making the difference and who are the new kids on the block? Only a few points will make the difference and things begin to heat up in the race for the playoffs as well as in the battle of escaping relegation. We can look forward to an exciting race to the finish line in the 12th season of the second highest tier in the European Championship League. Written by @Keuschemisch Djurgarden Hockey and VISU Gaming are leading Group 1 with 31 points each while the freshly promoted group of former Exerceo still has two games in hand on the yellow, red and blue. The Swedish side built around captain @Jungledonk seem keen on repeating their strong performances from last season when they finished at a solid rank 2 behind the eventual Pro-finalists GOONS in the group stage. With 47 points in 22 games, @Strumpan87 is Group 1's top scorer and underlines the offensive standards of Djurgarden. Goalie @Sorsa103 already has 5 shutouts and is performing on a high level to strengthen their defense. VISU Gaming's @Sagee95 is on his way to become one of this seasons most dangerous forwards and already contributed to 21 goals and 23 assists to help his team gain a good spot in the playoffs. Especially his performance in the 7-2 win over RCTIC, where he scored 7 points, stresses his offensive abilities. Both teams look very strong and on the road to home ice advantage in the postseason if they are able to continue in their winning ways. With only 16 games played so far, BoxinElite is one of the special teams to keep an eye out for in the second half of the regular season. Scoring more than 3 goals per game and and rocking an outstanding record of 12-4-0, the Finnish side is trying to gain one of the top spots in group 1. If they manage to set up yet another winning streak and maintain their focus, BoxinElite can surely secure home ice advantage in the playoffs. Right behind we find yet another two Swedish squads: HV71 and ECL 11 Lite Champions Bjorkloven Esport are on their way to playoff qualification. Led by their captain @Demski13, the esports team of the 5-time SHL champion HV71 has seemed to take their next step in their development after missing the playoffs by only three points in ECL 11. Bjorkloven's captain @Kallmanius made the right decisions and brought in @rakkauspakkaus- from Ringette HC as well as ECL Season 1 veteran @Janzuh. After starting their Pro campaign with 8 wins in their first 10 games, Bjorkloven Esport immediately made an impact in the league and showed that they can compete on that higher level. Both Swedish squads need to continue gaining as much points as possible, especially with Kiekko-Espoo Esports and Blackdawgs breathing down their necks. The Finnish and Russian warhorses started rather well and are on a decent run with room to improve still. Blackdawgs' @Valluxet is performing at a high level once again, contributing with 20 goals and 15 assists and is one of the main reasons for the success of his team. It will be interesting to see which sides are able to repeat their strong first half in ECL 12 Pro and manage to gain a spot in the playoffs. In the middle of the pack we find Sinister, Hawaii Hockey, Golden Nights and Rögle BK. All four teams are quite new to the league after managing to gain promotion following ECL 11 Lite or find their way in through the Pro Qualifiers. While Sinister and Hawaii Hockey both started with a negative record, they seem to have acclimated themselves to the Pro level and were able to start winning streaks and find themselves in a tight battle for a playoff spot as we speak. @Kumbik was one of Bjorkloven's top scorers last season before changing colors and joining Hawaii Hockey in the Pro Wildcard Battle. The Czech forward and his center @theMaddias crucial pieces in the offense of their team and are surely some of the most exciting players to watch on the last stretch of the regular season. Will they be able to lead Hawaii Hockey into the postseason? A bit surprisingly, we find Herlev Eagles in 10th place in the standings of group 1. The Eagles who finished on a solid third place last season have failed to live up to their expectations. Especially with Danish superstar @vibholm10, who found himself among the leagues top scorers the past few seasons. Starting with five losses in a row, Herlev is still lacking in offensive efficiency. In the last eight games the team around captain @oSandello needs to turn course in order to keep their dream of making the playoffs alive. At the bottom of the table we find freshly promoted Russian team Nearbird Fighters, who have only managed to win two out of 16 games so far. Just ahead of them, Finnish outfit RCTIC find themselves in 15th place and are currently suffering from a six game losing streak against Rogle BK, Herlev Eagles and VISU Gaming respectively. @Janikka's Finnish Roosters continue to lag behind compared to last seasons performances also. After a negative start, the Roosters got back on track with five wins in their last six games. A qualification for the playoffs seems to be very unlikely but after splitting points with the very strong HV71 and Bjorkloven Esport, the Finnish side can be optimistic to avoid relegation if they continue to play like their most recent games. Another surprising face in the bottom of group 1 is the 5-time GCL Champion Team LEISURE. After getting beaten by Tunnel Vision in six games in the Elite relegation, the former Deadly Phantoms HC were keen on proving themselves and paving their way back into Elite, but after starting with three wins including two shutouts on the first matchday, LEISURE's ambitions turned around. Nine losses in a row followed by three matchdays with split points are not what they want to see in terms of results. Defender @xXPsykoSkillsXx finds himself among the best defensemen of the league while the offense is lacking in efficiency - LEISURE needs to find a way to decide tight matchups in their favour to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Germans have 12 matchdays left to prove everyone wrong and find themselves a spot in the Top 8 of group 1! Written by @Mikka In the second group, Conquer Gaming seems to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack by only losing once in regulation and once in overtime, backed by a strong start from their goalie @Jeresti and the entire division’s leading scorer, centerman @Jertsicc. Pata Hellalla has also been able to immediately reach a high level, fueled by their top scoring defensemen @kungenkurwa and @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN alongside the last minute addition of current internal top scorer @apettaja. There are two teams at the middle of the table that have not broken from their tradition of relying strongly on their captains: Inter Iceland and Sulkavan Sudet, led by @PLA77NER (Hasek-39--) and @Oxdoggi respectively. Their squads have been up and down, struggling to get into consistent winning streaks but on the other hand have also avoided losing too many times in a row. A bit below them the two Swedish teams with more or less Finnish reinforcements, Sjukstugan and Lekstugan HC, have fallen to gruelling losing streaks after starting out okay. They need to quickly gain their focus back and start turning the streaks into positive ones, or else they will have to battle to retain their divisional spots instead of eyeing for the last potential playoff spots. At the bottom end of the standings we find SPARTIATES X MCES in a somewhat similar, yet more challenging situation as the aforementioned teams ending in -stugan. The French outfit have seemed to have some trouble adjusting to the Pro level of play, only winning two of the first 13 games. Could they now be on the up though, having won their last three against top teams Pata Hellalla and Rookie Mistakes? The later mentioned squad has not had as strong of a start as maybe expected, but led by captain @Niskalaukaus and his assistant @xColeslaww (Koleslaav_) they have still managed to claw their way to pose a challenge at the top. Along with SPARTIATES X MCES towards the bottom is another team with a freshly signed esports contract, METALLURG MAGNITOGORSK. After winning four of their first seven games, the Russians have had losing streaks of five and four, with only a win in between. Any playoff hopes are probably over for the French and the Russians, leaving them to fight for their lives to at a minimum avoid instant relegation and even the qualifiers if all goes well. Company of Geeks had quite a decent beginning but have only won one of their last nine, with only the two most recent losses coming in overtime. The young rookie @xLeikku has taken his first strides on the ECL ice quite effectively, leading the team and at one point the whole division in scoring alongside with his captain @Jesus (eJezuz). The story of the German organization PENTA has been different, starting the season with an eight game losing streak before they began to pick up steam. Despite the tough adjustment period at the new level, their current form has them right at the brink of a playoff spot with Dynastia trailing them closely behind. The Finns started the season playing a lot of games with up and down results, ending up with a 8-7-1 record after the first seven days. As they have continued on a similar path since, captain @Majuri20 (Diktaattori62) definitely needs to lead his team towards more consistent results if they want to solidify their spot in the playoffs. They have had some trouble scoring relative to the rest of the group, so that should be a big area of focus for the remainder of the season. Despite never being a team expected to be seen in the relegation battle, the quite recently formed Patience has still managed to exceed expectations by mounting a challenge at the top of the table. Contrary to the best inexperienced newcomer teams we have grown accustomed to seeing in seasons past, it has not come with crazy offensive fireworks, but instead with the second fewest goals against per game in the group after Conquer Gaming. Their most experienced skater and former ECL 3 champion @Karkkyjaa has proved valuable, leading them in a fight for a top seed with an A on his chest. If Patience has been overachieving relative to pre-season expectations, bottom of the pack Sack Brothers have done exactly the opposite of that. Heading into their sophomore campaign after a first round exit last season, they looked like one of the group's better teams on paper with some added strength on the back end. That wasn’t necessarily reflected in their on-ice performance, with them only managing to cough up three points in the first 10 games alongside a couple of big margin losses. Perhaps they have finally started to gel together after the roster changes and are now back on their way up though, with four wins in their last six games. Finally, there is the squad that managed to upset team after team as a lower seed in the ECL 11 Lite Playoffs: Hotbox. Their rookie season in Pro began as anticipated in the season preview, with only three points amassed in the first eight games. After the rough start their lord and saviour emerged though, in the form of forward @James (Jamechkin), who joined them from Lite’s Reality Check HC after his qualifier related roster lock ended. Before the season got underway it looked like he was slated to be acquired as a defenseman by Rookie Mistakes, but fortunately for Hotbox that did not end up happening. Things have seemed to click for Hotbox and Jamechkin from the get go, with the Finns going on an eight game winning streak as soon as the move happened and only dropping three points overall during that period. If they can keep on going with the same flow, Hotbox now looks like a lock for the playoffs. Some of the pre-season predictions have been accurate and others have not, meanwhile some have been in the correct range but still not quite. That is the nature of the game though, and we will excitedly await to see how the rest of the season shapes up. Still a lot of points left up for grabs as the ECL 12 Pro regular season is to end on June 23rd, so fight hard and have fun doing so - see you on the ice!

NHLGamers, Right before the start of the 12th iteration of the European Championship League, Swiss hockey club EHC Biel-Bienne signed the roster of former The Black Jacks! The 3-time Swiss champions from the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne are after ZSC Esports, HC Lugano, EHC Basel and SC Bern already the fifth professional club from Switzerland who enters the EA Sports NHL 6s scene. After being founded in 1939 and reaching their three titles in 1978, 1981 and 1983, EHCB had to gain promotion back to NLA (the Swiss top tier) in 2008. In their red and yellow, EHC Biel-Bienne is on their hunt for the playoffs – in real life as well as on the virtual ice! Team captain Bryan @CuteTerminator7 Bolliger looks optimistically to the future: "We want to represent the club in its best light and with that we also hope that other clubs from Switzerland will enter the esports scene. Maybe we will see even more teams from the NLA on NHLGamer? We want to develop as a team and improve our style of play. Making the Playoffs this ECL will be the next step as well as finishing as good as possible in the next German Championship League!" Captain CuteTerminator7, Oliver @Red09Dragon08 Knapp and Dean @Sm0kez13_Bachmann played together since GCL 6, where they managed to win the Division 2 Championship with the Redlight Jokers. After that season, former Zürich defenseman Mario @Cami_7 Camenzind rebranded the former The Black Jacks as a partner team of ZSC Esports and added the mentioned trio as well as goalie veteran Peter @wobfighter Stein and big EHCB supporter Kyle @KG12PK88 Grossen to the team. In their first ECL 11 campaign in Lite the team managed to secure a strong 6th place in Group 1 but eventually got swept by TTK in the first round of the playoffs. Before the start of GCL 7, Sebastian @Sebwies2139 Wieser joined the "Eidgenossen“ to complete the goalie duo and later on received the Rookie of the Season-trophy for his efforts. Kevin @Gregson91 Householder and Janick @Janick_97 (ovechkin97) Hauser also joined the club to strengthen their offensive force. The Black Jacks managed to gain promotion in the qualification tournament and underlined their ambition by making the playoffs on a solid 4th seed but eventually found an early exit against PENTA in Round 1. Before the start of ECL 12 Lite The Black Jacks started the cooperation with EHC Biel-Bienne and is currently in a tight battle for a spot in the playoffs in group 2! We welcome EHC Biel-Bienne eSports to NHLGamer and wish them good luck in their first season in red and yellow!

The young and aspiring esports organization IQUE from Tampere, Finland is expanding to succeed among Europes virtual hockey Elite. ECL 11 Pro Winner Enigma signs with IQUE who are already competing in other titles like DOTA2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and PUBG. The talented and succesful roster around team captain Janne @Nieppii Niemelä will take the next step to professionalize and establish themselves in ECL Elite in a new and fresh colorway. Does black and green suit as well as black and red already did? The euphoria certainly is huge. Just before the start of ECL 12 Elite on Monday, IQUE is joining the World of CHEL. After being one of the top contenders in ECL Pro for the last few seasons, Enigma managed to pave their way to Europes Top 16. Since losing in the Finals of ECL 10 to superior Black Horse, Enigma bounced back in big fashion in the 11th version of the European Championship League. Finishing on Rank 3 in Group 2, the squad around captain trio Nieppii , Aleksanteri @sannteri Niemi and Tapani @Tappu Anttila beat Växjo Lakers, Tunnel Vision and finally GOONS in seven games to gain promotion. IQUE's roster looks stronger than ever. With a good mix of experienced horsemen and young talented players, the Finns are keen on establishing their team on the highest level of European 6v6 hockey. Captain Nieppii has a clear vision in his mind: "Our goals in this organization are to prove ourselves as a team who belongs in ECL Elite and are also able to succeed on the highest level. We have a good mix of veterans and young talented faces. We need to adjust our game style to play against the best of the best. Of course we are aiming to go to the playoffs – but first things first, we have to establish IQUE and stay in the league“. After adding former YMCA Esports and Butterfly Effect Goalie Rami @ramseyy2 (Ramsiil) Rissanen, who brings experience of 24 Elite games to the roster, the team is set to compete against the big guns. Defenseman Markus @Makeaxl Lahti will build the defensive core together with Nico @zNico Tuoreniemi. Center Arttu @laitineen64 Laitinen completes IQUE's cadre and aims to continue his strong scoring streak from last season (29+26=55 in 24GP). We welcome IQUE to the NHL esports scene and wish them good luck in their starting ECL 12 Elite season!