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Hey NHL Gamers, First of all, congratulations to X Factor on winning ECL Season 3 in an amazing final effort against the Finnish Roosters! Tomorrow we will post a full season recap, so keep an eye on the news section. Many of you have been asking for ECL Season 4 registrations to open already, and today is the day! We are opening the floodgates for our first ECL Season in the new Divisions format. Not only do we think this is the start of the most exciting chapter in NHL gaming history, we also believe it points towards a very bright future for this community. During the last few days we have received many interesting comments from long time community members, suggesting ECL is undoubtedly heading into the right direction. At the same time, ECL is still as newcomer-friendly as ever - which will always be a top priority for us. Don't hesitate and spread the word on your own team channels, so we can mark another significant growth in participation with ECL Season 4. Many thanks for your continued support! ----- 'Divisions? Dude, what are you talking about?' In case you were hibernating during the last few weeks (it's freaking cold outside, we understand!), please read the latest update on ECL Divisions. ----- 'I see! What else do I need to know?' First of all, there are a few general rules that apply to our ECL branded tournaments: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American players. North American players are not allowed to host matches / be captain in the lineup, which means all games need to take place on European servers. The same rule applies for Russian players: Please evaluate your previous connection experience against some of the teams participating in the ECL, especially if you live in eastern parts of your country (which likely connects you to US West servers). In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. ECL is a 6 vs. 6 tournament building upon the EASHL mode in the latest EA SPORTS NHL iteration, NHL 17. Each player needs to sign up with NHLGamer.com and create his personal Player Card. You can find a tutorial video right here in case you experience issues. Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. Default game days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Registrations are open until 23:59 CET on February 10th / 00:59 EET on February 11th. The tournament will start approximately one week after registrations are closed. ----- 'What about the other tournament & gameplay rules?' The final ruleset will be released shortly ahead of the tournament start. ----- 'How do I register my team?' (PS4 ONLY, see below for Xbox One) If you qualified for ECL Elite during Season 3, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Elite' paragraph below. If you are a new team or did not qualify for ECL Elite during Season 3, you need to decide whether you would like to join ECL Pro or ECL Lite. ECL Pro will accomodate 2x16 teams, while ECL Lite does not have a limit. In case we exceed ECL Pro capacities, we will look at each individual ECL Pro registration and determine, whether you qualify according to several criteria (Players on the team, team history, stats from previous seasons if available, EASHL 6vs6 ranking and stats) compared to the other teams. By signing up for ECL Pro you accept to be moved to ECL Lite in case it is required according to our decision. You are also allowed to sign up for ECL Lite right away. If you wish to participate in ECL Pro, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Pro' paragraph below. If you wish to participate in ECL Lite, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Lite' paragraph below. ----- Signing up for ECL Elite Applies to the following teams only: Aapon Taikasauva, Dynasty, Fat Cats, Finnish Roosters, Laser HT, MUKIMIEHET, Nordic Lightning, Nordic Nightmare, Northern Ascedancy, Northern Stars, Refuse To Lose (to replace Nordic Blizzard), SIKA, Synergy Hockey, TIKI TALK, Written In The Stars, X FACTOR Go to the ECL Elite registration thread and use the registration template below to confirm your participation or withdrawal! Withdrawal posts are final - you immediately give us the permission to nominate another team from Season 3 to fill your spot. Signing up for ECL Pro Go to the ECL Pro registration thread and use the registration template below to sign up. Signing up for ECL Lite Go to the ECL Lite registration thread and use the registration template below to sign up. ----- Registration template Team name: Team Abbreviation: Team Captains (PSN IDs): Captain 1, Assistant Captain 1, Assistant Captain 2 Team Roster (PSN IDs): Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Player 6 Player 7 Player 8 ... (Optional: Add a team logo if this is the first time your team participates in a tournament on NHLGamer.com, or if you simply wish to change it.) ----- 'How do I participate with my Xbox One team?' At this time, there will be no division format on Xbox for ECL Season 4. However, Xbox players are very welcome to start their NHLGamer career in a regular tournament, and you can sign up in this thread. Please use the registration template above and add your Xbox Live IDs instead of PSN IDs. ----- For now, that's all you need to know. Get those sign-ups in, and in case of any questions, please use the comments below! NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, The last post on our transition to having divisions in our popular ECL tournament certainly created a buzz in the community. It is our most commented news story in the history of the website (108 comments!) and our second-most read story ever regarding ECL (second only to the ECL Summer Cup Draft review). We'd like to start off by thanking the community for contributing such a wealth of knowledge and well thought-out suggestions in the comment section - we encourage you to keep doing that. The staff reads all the comments and consider the input we receive to be invaluable. Based on the community feedback and lenghty (which is an understatement) internal Staff discussions, we have decided to tweak a few aspects of ECL Divisions. Read on to see how it works: ----- Q: How many divisions will there be? During ECL 4, there will be up to 3 divisions. Division 1 is called "ECL Elite" and will consist of the following 16 teams: Based on ECL Season 3 regular season: Northern Stars Written In The Stars X Factor Finnish Roosters Laser HT Aapon Taikasauva Synergy Hockey SIKA Based on ECL Season 3 playoff wins: MUKIMIEHET TIKI TALK Dynasty Northern Ascedancy Nordic Nightmare Nordic Blizzard Fat Cats Nordic Lightning In case one or more ECL Elite teams won't be able to participate in ECL 4, other teams will be nominated according to these tiebreakers: 1) Playoff wins 2) Regular season PPG average More tiebreakers from the ECL ruleset can be used if necessary. Division 2 is called "ECL Pro" and will be split up into two conferences to accommodate 16 teams each (to match the schedule of ECL Elite), meaning a total of 32 teams in the Pro division. ECL Pro will be open to new teams (teams which did not participate in ECL 3) as well as all ECL 3 participants which did not make the cut to ECL Elite. If there are significantly more than 48 registrations for ECL Season 4, we will introduce "ECL Lite" (read more below). ----- Q: How many games will teams play during the regular season? The amount of games will, as per usual, be 2 games against each opponent – meaning 30 games (15 opponents) each season for ECL Elite and ECL Pro, which consists of two 16 team conferences. Regular season will be done in approximately 5 weeks, by playing 3 opponents (6 games) per week. ----- Q: How will promotion/relegation and playoffs work? First off, we will have promotions and relegations. Having closed divisions is not something we are considering at the moment and we are going with the European hockey model where teams can be both promoted and relegated in the different divisions. For ECL Elite: 8 out of 16 teams will make the ECL Elite Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Elite Finals where the league winner will be crowned The teams that finish #15 and #16 in ECL Elite will instantly be relegated and play in ECL Pro the following season. Teams that finish #13 and #14 will each play one ECL Pro semi-final loser in a direct competition to determine which teams will play in ECL Elite during the next season Teams that finish in places 9-12 will not play in the playoffs nor be subject to relegation In summary, this means a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 teams are relegated each season. It also means 12 out of 16 teams will see some form of post-season play and ensure that every team will be fighting all season, either to make the playoffs or avoid relegation For ECL Pro: Out of each conference of 16 teams, the first 8 teams will make the ECL Pro Playoffs, where both conferences will be cross-seeded like in ECL 3 according to our tiebreakers. In the ECL Pro Finals, the ECL Pro Champion will be crowned, and both finalists will also be promoted to ECL Elite The two semi-final losers will each face one ECL Elite team in a direct competition to determine, which teams will play in ECL Elite during the next season The teams that finish #13 - #16 in both ECL Pro conferences will play a cross-seeded pre-playoffs style series, where all losers (4 teams total) will be relegated to ECL Lite for the next season Teams that finish in places 9-12 will not play in the playoffs nor be subject to relegation In summary, this means 4 teams are relegated each season. It also means 24 out of 32 teams will see some form of post-season play and ensure that every team will be fighting all season, either to make the playoffs or avoid relegation ----- Q: How is ECL Lite going to work? ECL Lite will be the entry point for less experienced teams and provides a great platform for new players to get accustomed to the ECL in a slightly less competitive environment. The exact shape and size of ECL Lite will depend on the amount of teams signing up for ECL Season 4, but the plan is to have conferences of smaller sizes (2x8 example below, will always be adjusted so all registrations can participate) than ECL Elite and ECL Pro. Each ECL Lite team will be able to make the ECL Lite Playoffs and have the chance to go to ECL Pro. For ECL Lite: After the regular season, all teams will participate in cross-seeded ECL Lite Playoffs. While all semi-finalists will immediately be promoted to ECL Pro, the two finalists will also face each other for the ECL Lite Champions title The exact ECL Lite Playoffs format will be slightly different every season, depending on the amount of teams, and will be disclosed once final registration numbers are available ----- Q: Can an ECL Elite or ECL Pro team pause/be inactive for a season? Inactive teams will be relegated. Example: An ECL Elite team decides to skip a season. This means they will play in ECL Pro for their next season. ----- Q: What if teams split up? Who keeps the divisional spot? The staff will look at each individual case but, as a rule of thumb, the captain is considered the owner of the team. If a team has disagreements where the captain has lost the faith of his teammates, he will have to explain this case to the staff. If both assistant captains and at least 3 other members, who played for the team the season before, apply ownership of the team, they will have a strong case to claim the team with all of it's history and current divisional spot - aside of the team name, which remains the captain's property (unless agreed otherwise). If a team is completely dismantled so the requirement described above cannot be fulfilled (e.g. the Captain and both Assistant Captains each decide to leave for different teams), nobody will be able to claim ownership. In that case, the team will be removed from ECL Divisions. ----- Q: What about newly created teams that consist of established ECL players from several different teams? Where do they start? Upon signing up for ECL Season 4, teams are expected to express their wishes for their placement. If your team wants to start in the Lite division, simply state so in your registration. It is not possible to register for ECL Elite. While we will do our best to honour the wishes, whether a new team participates in Pro or Lite will be determined by the NHLGamer Staff based on the following criteria (in no particular order): Players on the team Team history Stats from previous seasons (if available) EASHL 6vs6 ranking and stats We admit there is always a risk for subjectivity, but feel like this is the best approach. Obviously this is only necessary when exceeding 48 registrations, but based on the amount of new teams we're hearing about, we expect this to be the case. Remember, ECL Divisions is all about longevity and building Franchises - consistency and good roster management are key to qualifying as one of the best professional teams on the planet. ----- Q: Is this concept final? Yes and no. For ECL 4, this post outlines the final structure: ECL Elite with 16 teams, and ECL Pro with 32 teams divided into two conferences. This structure includes promotions and relegations in both of the divisions. ECL Lite will be introduced if there is a demand for it in the form of amount of teams and will also be connected to the other divisions via promotions. ----- Q: Will there be an ECL Season 5? Will it be played during NHL 17? When will the leagues start for NHL 18? NHL 17: ECL Season 3 ends by 31.1.2017 ECL Season 4 preliminarily starts 20.2.2017 and ends 16.4.2017 Summer Cup specifics to be determined, but season start jotted in around the start of May. (This is a draft-type league) NHL 18: Releases 14.9.2017 (estimate) ECL Season 5 starts 16.10.2017 and ends 17.12.2017 ECL Season 6 starts 8.1.2018 and ends 11.3.2018 ECL Season 7 starts 2.4.2018 and ends 3.6.2018 Summer Cup specifics to be determined. (This is a draft-type league) ----- Q: I got you! When will registrations open up? This week. Stay tuned for another update! ----- For questions or any other kind of valuable input, please refer to the comments below! NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, As most of you probably have noticed, there's been some controversy between the teams Synergy Hockey and Silver Sword Griffins. We will start this post off by laying down the information and staff ruling in this case and finish off with the round 2 matchups. The NHL Gamers staff was approached yesterday (3.1.) with Synergy Hockey (from here on SYN) asking what to do, when it's the last day and Silver Sword Griffins (from here on SSG) can't play. We instructed that the games need to be played yesterday. SYN was available to play, while SSG replied to them "I told you yesterday that we can't. We don't have to play with a suboptimal roster just because you couldn't play at all last two weeks" and adding "We could've finished yesterday but see Pelle I think it was who called it a night at 10pm. And now we have to adapt to that?". Here are the bullet points that we gathered from talking to both teams: The teams were supposed to play their first games on the 20th of December. SSG cancelled at the last minute due to "problems with personal relationship between our RW and G". SYN had before these games communicated to SSG that they can't play until the 2nd of January due to Christmas and New Years plans. As the games on the 20th were cancelled, SYN was able to offer another opportunity to play on the 22nd of January, where they played (according to their description) with a non-optimal line-up, in order to get the series started. SSG won both of the two games that were played. Series 0-2. The second batch of games were to be played, as agreed, on the 2nd of January. SYN asked before the games "How many games today (at most). 3?", to which SSG replied "yeah, something like that". SYN won the first game, SSG won the second game (making the series 1-3), after which SYN asked "One more?" and SSG replied "yeah". After the third game of the evening (SYN won and made the series 2-3), SSG asks "can you keep playing?", but SYN says that they can't and asks if SSG can play the next day. It is also explained that one of their players has already went to sleep. 13 minutes later, at 22:07 Swedish time, SSG says that they can't play on Wednesday, which is the last day of the first round. Neither teams are directly asking for WO's, but as time has run out and we're past the extra allocated day, we can not continue to give out more time for the series. The criteria on which we made our decision: We do not believe either team to have purposefully ended up in this situation. SYN was unavailable to play for a lot of evenings, however they did communicate this very clearly and were available to play on 4 occasions (20th, 22nd, 2nd and 3rd). SSG says they were ready to play on all default days. SSG didn't at any point contact the staff about any issues with the series. Only after being asked to play on the last day (3rd of Jan), they started communicating with the staff. Their explanation is that SYN was largely unavailable and that they are to be blamed for the situation. SSG claims they thought the 2nd of Jan was the correct date, as communicated earlier (before adding the extra day). Their point is valid about the clarity of the staff's communication and it is noted, but doesn't validate their unclear communication. As mentioned above, SSG made a comment about not agreeing to play with a "suboptimal" roster on the last day of the playoffs. They later commented to the staff that this was said out of frustration and wasn't accurate, and that they actually didn't have the appropriate amount of players to play. SSG did not communicate to SYN on time that they won't be able to continue the series on Tuesday. They only communicated this after some of SYN had left after the games on Monday. SYN asked up front how many games will be played and "one more" and not at any point was it mentioned that the series will have to be finished on Monday. After hearing both sides and investigating this case thoroughly - we have made the tough decision that Synergy Hockey advances to the second round of playoffs with WO's against the Silver Sword Griffins. We would like to remind everyone that the staff works as a team and there are votes on the difficult matters. The vote in this case was not unanimous, but this decision was supported by the majority. Walkovers at this stage are unfortunate but all teams need to be aware of the deadlines and due to the extra time already allocated, for the greater good, the NHLGamer Staff is forced to make this decision so the second round can start as promised. We've done our best to describe above, that we do believe both teams have made mistakes in this series. With better communication, these issues could've been avoided. The staff would've been happy to step in and do our best to help at an earlier stage. Bringing things up on the last possible day is not the approach that we want to encourage. Below are the second round pairings. Second round of playoffs is to be played 4. - 10.1. Laser HT - TIKI TALK Aapon Taikasauva - Fat Cats Northern Stars - Northern Ascendancy Written in the Stars - Nordic Nightmare Synergy Hockey - Mukimiehet X Factor - Dynasty SIKA - Nordic Lightning Finnish Roosters - Nordic Blizzard The schedule and playoff tree will reflect this as soon as possible. In the mean time, feel free to start playing. Respectfully, The NHLGamer Staff

Hey NHL Gamers, The playoffs are here! It’s time to look at our last batch of rulings during the end of the regular season. Again, we do apologise for taking more than a week to process some of the decisions. As mentioned previously, we aim to streamline this process to be more efficient in the future. In fact, we are looking for more staff members that are able to contribute to our website. If you feel you have what it takes to bring some value to our website – feel free to send me a PM and tell me what you bring to the table. This installment of NHL Gamer Staff rulings covers the following topics: Walkover requests a. HC Checkmate – Silver Sword Griffins b. Fat Cats – Silver Sword Griffins c. No Guts No Glory – Nordic Blizzard d. AK47 – Nordic Nosebleeds e. Nordic Nosebleeds – Bare Knuckles Hockey f. No Guts No Glory – La Suède g. Northern Ascendancy – Terrific Tigers h. Nordic Blizzard – HC Soittorasia The case of the glitched player: Silver Sword Griffins – Finnish Roosters Missing game stats 1. Walkover requests Boy, oh boy did we have a lot of walkover requests. I will mention that the below cases have been simplified for the reading (and writing) pleasure and may give more of a black and white picture of the case than the reality of things. 1a. Northern Ascendancy – Terrific Tigers Terrific Tigers weren’t responding to communication from Northern Ascendancy and even staff thought the Terrific Tigers had left the league, until we got a response at the last minute. Northern Ascendancy was awarded the walkover wins. 1b. Nordic Blizzard – HC Soittorasia The teams were communicating actively in order to get the games going, but as HC Soittorasia failed to get their full 6 on ice despite several attempts, they eventually decided to hand out the walkovers to Nordic Blizzard. 1c. No Guts No Glory – Nordic Blizzard No Guts No Glory asked about the possibility to get walk over wins due to issues with agreeing on a functional date to play vs Nordic Blizzard. Both teams were communicating actively, but what worked for the other, didn’t work for the other team. The NHLGamer staff didn’t see a reason to award either team with WO’s, as both have been active and Nordic Blizzard had been available to play on the default date. Instead, we gave the teams an extra day to play the games. Sadly, No Guts No Glory was unable to play on that day and decided to give walkover wins to Nordic Blizzard. 1d. AK47 – Nordic Nosebleeds A member of Nordic Nosebleeds was having problems with his internet connection during the last day of regular season and despite several attempts they weren’t able to get the full 6 men on ice. Nordic Nosebleeds suggested playing with 5 against AK47’s 6, but AK47 refused, as it is against the rules. Nordic Nosebleeds handed AK47 the walkover wins. 1e. Nordic Nosebleeds – Bare Knuckles Hockey This one is pretty much a carbon copy for what we have ruled on before. Neither team had communicated with each other before the default game date and time and 9 minutes before the default game time Nordic Nosebleeds approached Bare Knuckles Hockey asking if they are ready to play. See "On the matter of the games that were scheduled between Rusty Blades and Refuse To Lose (October 27th)" in Staff Rulings, Part 2 for the previous ruling: While we do agree that Bare Knuckles Hockey didn’t do their part, we want to remind everyone, that we will not accept walk over requests of game times that are simply based on assumption. That is not to say that the schedule isn’t to be honored, but if you plan to play on the scheduled day and time, please let your opponent know. If not, also let them know. After their mistake, Bare Knuckles Hockey asked Nordic Nosebleeds to play on another day, but according to BKH, they were told they can’t play for two weeks. Due to these circumstances, we allowed the teams the extra day to battle it off on the ice. Nordic Nosebleeds immediately refused this decision, so we had no other option than to give the walkover wins to Bare Knuckles Hockey. 1f. No Guts No Glory – La Suède We were told that La Suède can’t play and they will give the walk overs to No Guts No Glory. We approached La Suède to confirm and made sure both teams understood a) what an important matchup this is for the overall standings and b) that we can allow them one extra day to finish this matchup. La Suède informed us that they can’t play, so we had no other option but to honor the walkover requests. 1g. HC Checkmate – Silver Sword Griffins These two teams had been trying to find a matching game time for quite a while (with HC Checkmate being more available) and they finally did. Sadly, about an hour before the first match was supposed to take place, the Silver Sword Griffins informed HC Checkmate that one of their players had been banned from PSN and that they are looking for a solution. Despite their best efforts, and after confirming that this was a console ban and not a profile ban, SSG was unable to get 6 men on the ice. Both teams were actively communicating in this case and SSG was trying their best to offer alternative game times for the match, but they did not work for HC Checkmate. Also, the fact that HC Checkmate had cancelled job shifts and important hobbies to be available for this game time made the cancellation extra hard for them. As both teams were active and the cancellation of the games last minute was unintentional, we wanted to offer the teams the possibility to play on the extra day. Sadly, HC Checkmate couldn’t make it at such short notice. The staff, however, had to rule in HC Checkmates favour in this case, as they had been the more available team and were not responsible for the original games not being played, so the walkover wins were given to HC Checkmate. 1h. Fat Cats – Silver Sword Griffins The games between Fat Cats and Silver Sword Griffins were to take place after the above game. These games were cancelled due to the same circumstances as that game. This game was even more late due to problems agreeing on scheduling and Fat Cats had been the more available party. As with the above case, we tried giving the teams the option of settling the games on the ice, but Fat Cats were unable to make it on such short notice. Again, as in the above case, Fat Cats had been the more active and available team, so we awarded them with the walkover wins. 2. The case of the glitched player: Silver Sword Griffins – Finnish Roosters This case has been discussed widely throughout the community in the last few days and as far as we know, the teams have put this behind them, so please feel free to comment your opinion on the matter itself, but let's not attack either team over it. As this case is quite extensive and @ProMinx24 from Silver Sword Grinnis wrote his thoughts about the case in quite a well formulated manner (including also one of the Finnish Roosters in the PM thread), I have decided to embed his view of the case, the opponents reply and our verdict. Please note that the quotes are released as both teams were ok with this being public. PM's in general are treated as personal communication and are not shared under normal circumstances. Let's start off with the quote from SSG: The reply from FR: There was some irrelevant posts in-between, and below you have the staff verdict: In the end, Finnish Roosters wanted to continue the game from the 3-2 FR lead and chose not to follow our recommendation. As far as I understood, after some debate, the teams agreed to play the entire 1st period (as the 3rd period) starting from the 3-2 lead. No further goals were scored and FR won the game. As you can see in the quote, the staff is planning to introduce some changes to the rules. The question of course is, where do you draw the line - where should we step in and where not? There's a good discussion going on at the moment about how community users think these sort of issues should be handled: It's a very good topic to discuss and we hope to hear as many of our members voicing their opinions about the topic. 3. Missing game stats There are quite an amount of games still missing stats. In some cases, it is the staff’s fault for not fixing issues that have been reported. But in cases where it hasn’t been reported and a game is missing stats, please fix it immediately. If you need assistance, please let the staff know. Failure to comply with adding stats for every game may (after warning) lead to team diqualification. We thank all the teams for their efforts in making the long regular season successful and wish the playoff teams good luck! On behalf of the NHL Gamer staff,

Hello NHLGamers, It’s been rumored, it’s been talked about… we even hinted at it earlier during the season but tonight we are finally making the official announcement: moving forward after ECL 3, the European Championship League will take on a skill and merit-based divisional format. This is your post to find out everything about this new system and the next step in Online Competitive EASHL gaming before it is launched in ECL 4. Divisions First thing’s first, the divisions. The idea behind creating these divisions will be expanded upon in the text but the short version is this: We are continually working to improve the site, the leagues and the overall NHLGamer experience for everyone. Some might say this development process is moving too slow and does not reach far enough, some might say the website is expanding in ways that it should not. The community is special in many ways, not just because parts of it has stayed together for years (including previous websites, the community is now more than half a decade old) but also because it is continually expanding. NHLGamer has almost doubled its membership in less than a year while still maintaining its core, which is all of you in the community. It creates a tough balancing act when trying to create a fun place for EASHL rookies that want to experience the thrill of playing competitively for the first time while trying to give the hardened tournament veterans what they want, which is the best tournament possible where the stakes are high and winner takes all. Still, in an attempt to achieve this, we will be creating a divisions system where the hope is that teams will be better matched against each other – something we hope will lead to tighter games, more fun for everyone involved all the while creating a stronger foundation for the tournament to stand on. Our hope is also that more teams will be inclined to stay together and build longer lasting franchises. We’ve structured this post so that we should be able to answer as many of your questions as possible by getting to them one by one – a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) if you will. This FAQ will be available for future reference when the actual division based leagues come around. Despite this, if you feel something is unclear or just plain weird, feel free to sound off in the comment section with questions like: “Well, what if this happens..?” and we will do our best and elaborate. Let’s get to it: Q: How many divisions will there be? The short answer is 3 – a total of 3 separate divisions. The longer answer is that we set off to create an environment where all the top teams face off in the prestigious ECL Elite, up and coming franchises battle with veteran teams in the competitive ECL Pro and all newly entered or learning teams start off in ECL Amateur to hone their skills. This prevents teams with years of experience and chemistry from numerous EASHL competitions, from facing off with teams new to the site who are just learning what it takes to play EASHL at the ECL level. Q: How many teams will there be in each division? We are looking at a total of 16 teams for ECL Elite, 16 teams for ECL Pro and, depending on the amount of registrations, 16-24 (or more) teams in ECL Amateur. The goal is to keep ECL Elite and ECL Pro consistently the same size (16 teams each), which means if teams completely drop out of the division system or inactive teams return (read on), there will be balancing measures - meaning increased amounts of promotions or relegations. During extraordinary circumstances, ECL Pro can deviate from its 16-team baseline but ECL Elite has a hard cap of 16 teams. This part, much like inactive teams, is specified further down in the text. In case ECL Amateur sees an extraordinary amount of registrations, the staff will then decide if the division can be split up into two “conferences” (like ECL 3) or if registrations will have to be closed for the tournament in question. As a rule of thumb, we always do our best to include all registered teams in our leagues, as long as it’s reasonable. Q: How many games will there be in a season? The amount of games will, as per usual, be 2 games against each opponent – meaning 30 games (15 opponents) each season for ECL Elite & ECL Pro and somewhere around the same for ECL Amateur depending on the amount of teams. This ensures lean, hard-fought seasons with what we hope is the perfect amount of games – you get a sense of both the regular season grind while at the same time reaching the playoff threshold in just 5 short weeks: this by playing 3 opponents per week, just like during the last few seasons. Q: How will promotion and relegation work? First off, we will have promotions and relegations. Having closed divisions is not something we are considering at the moment so we are going with the European hockey model where teams can be both promoted and relegated in the different divisions. For ECL Elite: 8 out of 16 teams will make the ECL Elite Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Finals where the league winner will be crowned. The teams that finish #15 and 16 in ECL Elite will instantly be relegated and play in ECL Pro the following season. Teams that finish #13 and 14 will not be instantly relegated, but will have to play two teams (one each) from ECL Pro in a Best of 7- ECL Relegation/Promotion Round. Teams that finish in places 9-12 will not play in the playoffs nor be subject to relegation. In summary, this means a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 teams are relegated each season. It also means 10 out of 16 teams will see some form of post-season play and ensure that every team will be fighting all season, either to make the playoffs or avoid elimination. For ECL Pro: 8 out of 16 teams will make the ECL Pro Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Pro Finals where the league winner will be crowned. The top two teams (finalists) of ECL Pro are instantly promoted and will play the season after in ECL Elite. The teams finishing in spots #3 and 4 (the losers of the semi-final round) will then move on to face teams #13 and 14 (one each) from ECL Elite in the Relegation/Promotion Round (7 games). As far as relegations go, teams that finish #15 and 16 will be instantly relegated to ECL Amateur for the following season. Teams that finish #13 and 14 will follow the same model mentioned earlier and play two teams from ECL Amateur (one each) in a best-out-of 7 battle. In summary, this means 10 out of 16 teams in ECL Pro sees some form of post-season play. For ECL Amateur: 8 out of 16 teams (depending on the size of the division) will make the ECL Amateur Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Amateur Finals where the league winner will be crowned. The top two teams (finalists) of ECL Amateur are instantly promoted and will play the next season in ECL Pro. The teams that finish in spots #3 and 4 will then move on to face teams #13 and 14 from ECL Pro in the Relegation/Promotion Round (7 games). In summary, this means a total of 4 teams in ECL Amateur will be given the chance to advance to ECL Pro, something that we hope will be a welcome addition for all our new members looking to make their way up. Q: What teams will play where when the Divisional system starts up in ECL Season 4? We said before ECL 3 that the new format (bigger conferences, more games) was mainly for two reasons; 1. To try out the format and see what the benefits and disadvantages were and 2. To make sure all teams truly got the opportunity to distinguish themselves over a long season before we introduced divisions. Therefore, the teams that finish this long, grinding regular season in the Top 4 in each of the ECL 3 conferences will have guaranteed spots in ECL Elite, locking up the first 8 spots. The next 8 spots will be decided by the ECL 3 playoffs. This gives the remaining 24 playoff-bound teams (seeds 5-16) a chance to – outside of battling for the title in our biggest tournament yet – use the playoffs to get their hands on the final 8 spots. The deciding factor will be wins. Out of the 24 teams who make the playoffs but are not directly qualified for ECL Elite, the 8 who manages to collect the most playoff wins will be the ones to claim the final spots. In a situation where two or more teams have the same amount of playoff wins, the regular season rank will act as a tie-breaker. The third tie-breaker is PPG in the playoffs and the fourth is PPG in the regular season. This naturally means the 8 teams who aren’t directly qualified to ECL Elite and make it the farthest in the playoffs are the final 8 to be added to the top division. This could theoretically mean that, if there is an upset and a #16 seed beats a #1 seed right away in the first round – they could both be playing in ECL Elite the following season. The teams that made the playoffs in ECL 3, but didn’t make the cut for ECL Elite, will start ECL Season 4 in ECL Pro. Teams that do not qualify for the ECL 3 playoffs will start in ECL Amateur next season. Q: Can a team pause/be inactive for a season? In ECL Elite and ECL Pro, teams can apply to “pause” for one season (in ECL Amateur this is not necessary). This turns them into an inactive team, and they will not participate during that season. They cannot be promoted nor relegated. An inactive team is however expected to play during the following season, otherwise they will lose their current divisional spot. A need for a longer inactivity would have to be brought up with the NHLGamer staff and will be handled on a case-by-case basis. To fulfill the inactive status, the team needs to keep at least their captain and one assistant captain, as well as 2 other players (for a total of 4) on the inactive roster – these players are not allowed to participate with another team in said season, where the team is marked as inactive. Special cases where, for example, 6-7 players outside of the captaincy squad cannot play and will stay inactive but the Captain wants to play for another team and still keep the divisional spot will be handled on an individual basis by the staff. If an inactive team is not able to keep the amount of necessary players on the inactive roster (4), they will lose their inactive status and drop to division 3 for the next season. Q: What if teams split up? Who keeps the divisional spot? On NHLGamer, just like in real life, drama is to be expected. Sometimes it even finds its way into individual teams. But if teams split up, who keeps the spot? The staff will look at each individual case but, as a rule of thumb, the captain is considered the owner of the team. If a team has disagreements where, for example, the captain has lost the faith of his teammates and kicked most of them – he will have to explain his case to the staff. If both assistant captains and at least 3 other members that played for the team the season before applies ownership of the team, they will have a strong case to claim the team (however not the name of the team, unless agreed on with the captain). If a team is completely dismantled, they will not keep their spot in the division. Q: What about newly created teams that consist of established ECL players from several different teams? Do they have to start in ECL Amateur? To have highly skilled, established, experienced EASHL players form a new team only to play in ECL Amateur and be unevenly matched with completely new teams goes against what we’re trying to accomplish with this system. That said, we are aiming to create an environment where longevity, stability and consistency are some of the key factors moving forward. What follows is an attempt to balance these mindsets. Let us use a team from this season as an example; Laser HT. Laser, for those of you who don’t know, has been an established franchise in EASHL tournaments for years. Yet, they had not played in either ECL season 1 nor 2, but the players that today form Laser had. Many of them had even been a part of teams that made the finals, even won the tournaments. Now, ECL 3 was not based on divisions but if it had been – like in the future – Laser could have applied for Exceptional Team Status. This term is drawn from the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) where certain special players (lately John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad and Connor McDavid) have been granted Exceptional Player Status where they were allowed to “skip” one year of waiting to be drafted and were approved to be drafted to the OHL at age 15 instead of age 16. Similarly, new teams can apply for Exceptional Team Status in the ECL where they will be allowed to skip ECL Amateur and start in ECL Pro. At this point, new teams cannot apply directly for ECL Elite as it would undermine the idea of working your way up the divisions and staying there based on ECL results. Anyway, back to Laser. Had Laser applied the Staff would have granted them this status due to a few factors; Longevity and reputation (Several top tournament finishes in their history, always considered a top team when participating) Quality of players (most, if not all, players on the current Laser squad have been leading members and top point producers of teams that finished in the top-4 of both previous tournaments) EASHL 6vs6 ranking (they are ranked in the Top-10 of all European teams) When deciding Exceptional status, there will always be a subjective factor involved but bullet points like the ones in the example above will form the basis of any decision made on whether to grant exceptional status or not. Finally, the term “exceptional status” is there for a reason. These applications will only be granted under very special circumstances. Q: Will there be an ECL Season 5? Will it be played during NHL 17? When will the leagues start for NHL 18? The below are subject to change, but provide an overlook of our plans and what our suggestions are for the upcoming leagues: NHL 17: ECL Season 3 ends by 29.1.2017 ECL Season 4 starts 13.2.2017 and ends 2.4.2017 ECL Season 5 starts 24.4.2017 and ends 18.6.2017 Summer Cup specifics to be determined. (This is a draft-type league) NHL 18: releases 14.9.2017 (estimate) ECL Season 6 starts 16.10.2017 and ends 10.12.2017 ECL Season 7 starts 8.1.2018 and ends 4.3.2018 ECL Season 8 starts 2.4.2018 and ends 27.5.2018 Summer Cup specifics to be determined. (This is a draft-type league) Q: Are you guys out of your minds? This concept/detail x will never work! First of all, this is a proposition that we have set up for the community and we look forward to hearing your feedback. While we have a strong belief in that the plans we propose will be a good step for the community, we don’t blindly believe our plans to be perfect (nor that there is a perfect one-solution-fits-all solution) and we are open to discuss the subject as a whole or the smaller details as long as the discussion and feedback is constructive and respectful. Please elaborate on your own ideas. Verbally attacking the staff, or other community members will not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary actions. That is all for now. Please feel free to share any and all thoughts you might have in the comment section below. On behalf of the NHLGamer.com Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, We hope you're as excited as we are about talking about the plans for divisions, which will be introduced in ECL Season 4. We will be releasing a news story tomorrow - Monday the 5th of December, at 21 CET - where we cover our proposed division system in as much detail and covering as many of the frequently asked questions as possible. Can't wait to let the cat out of the bag and get your feedback about our future plans. Until then - good luck on the ice! On behalf of the NHLGamer.com staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, It’s once again time to take a look at some of the discliplinary actions and requests that have been sitting on the staff’s table for a while. Apologies to the parties that have had to wait for a ruling for a while – we aim to streamline this process to be more efficient in the future. In fact, we are looking for more staff members that are able to contribute to our website. If you feel you have what it takes to bring some value to our website – feel free to send me a PM and tell me what you bring to the table. This installment of NHL Gamer Staff rulings covers the following topics: Teams that have left the league Trades a. Trade deadline b. The requests for captains to be allowed to be traded c. Trading of players that have already been on two teams this season Walkover requests a. Mpire - Silver Sword Griffins b. Murohoki - Terrific Tigers Amount of games played a. Too many games played b. Too few games played 1. Teams that have left the league Sadly, we have to add to the list of teams that have decided to leave the league. At least four new teams have decided to leave and that brings our total up to seven. It is important to remember, that in order to keep the league active and all teams active despite their success, we need to discipline the teams that decide to leave. That being said, we’re always interested in hearing why a team choses to leave, so we can – if within our power – do something to prevent this from happening in the future. The below team have decided to leave ECL Season 3: Ganja Bonanzas (Group 1) We’ve been unable to get a confirmation from the captains, but this seems to be the case. We will edit and take action once we get the confirmation. Rising Phantoms (Group 1) Among other issues, the team has been suffering from connection problems, making the gaming experience far from enjoyable and this is why the team has decided to leave. BraZZers (Group 2) We’ve just received news that the ”team broke and cannot play anymore”. HC Solhem (Group 2) The short explanation that we’ve received is that players have left and the team can’t continue in the league. VC Hockey (Group 2) This is a team that has had its issues throughout the season, but the captains worked hard to keep things going and it was looking like they would pull through. The final blow was, though, when an unknown team (outside the ECL, apparently) recruited two of the VC Hockey players, leaving the team below an active roster of eight players. 2. Trades a. Trade deadline The trade deadline is Wednesday the 7th of December and we will allow trades to be done until 23:59 GMT on the 7th. Please remember that the standard rules for trades apply (including the ones discussed below). The trade deadline is also the deadline for aquiring free agents – in other words, no player movement is allowed after the deadline. b. The requests for captains to be allowed to be traded There has been a handful of questions and requests about being allowed to being traded as a captain (this includes assistant captains as well). The rules are very clear about this, but as always, we took the time to look at the raised question together with the staff, as there were some valid points brought up by the players in question that escalated the issue. The reasoning behind this rule is to make sure the players that take the captain role of a team are committed enough to finish the season with the team, as the captains are often the driving force of a functioning team and making everything click. Even an active group of people can struggle, if you remove the person in charge of organizing the schedules. The NHL Gamer staff stands behind this rule and its core idea, which is why we have decided to make no exception to it. One of the issues brought up is the ability to make a team member a captain or assistant captain on the website without this being accepted by the user. While we strongly believe that every user should be informed about the rules and therefore aware of the captains’ responsibilities, we see this as an opportunity to improve our website and you can look forward to users being prompted to accept the captain position in the coming seasons. c. Trading of players that have already been on two teams during season This is a very rare issue, but we’ve had a case where an active player has changed teams at an early stage during the ECL 3 season and wishes to be traded again. As the above discussed case, this is also something that is clearly defined in the rules. While we symphathize with the player in question, the rule is in place to prevent team hopping during a season. We do not suggest that there is anything fishy with the players request, but we want to underline that we wish for players not to switch teams lightly and this is why we are sticking with the rulebook on this. 3. Walkover requests This is an area where we want to thank the majority of teams for excellent communication – both when communicating their possible issues with agreeing on scheduled games and with negotiating with the fellow captains. There has been some true sportsmanship there – thank you! However, there will always be some cases that don’t go as smoothly for one reason or another. I’m happy to say that one of the problems that was supposed to be listed below was actually solved by the teams on their own and the games have now been played. a. Mpire - Silver Sword Griffins In this matchup, it’s Mpire who have requested the walkover wins. The reason is that SSG has asked to reschedule the default date and then rescheduled that date as well. SSG offered a good explanation for why the rescheduled date didn’t end up working. SSG has also been very active at offering new dates and based on their explanation, Mpire has been slow to reply to these and eventually came to request WO’s instead of agreeing on a new date. SSG has in fact offered to play the games against Mpire on any date they wish to play. We think this is more than a reasonable offer and ask for the teams to finish the battle on the ice. b. Murohoki - Terrific Tigers Terrific Tigers were unable to get their goalie online and had other games (in another league) scheduled for later. They offered the WO’s themselves, so in this case the staff has chosen not to interfere, while we of course prefer to see the games played. 4. Amount of games played a. Too many games played In order to keep the league as even and interesting as possible, we have added restrictions to the re-scheduling of games in the rulebook. We have noticed that not all teams have followed this rule as strictly as others and in the process has slightly more played games than other teams. As a benchmark, we used 36-38 games at this stage. That being said, the total amount of played games for each team that is over is still reasonably even – with game amounts that can be expected to be played within a week. At this stage, we will not punish teams that have played some extra games, as the outcome at this stage is within the parameters that we designed the rule for in the first place. While it’s of course important to follow the rules under all circumstances, the staff would prefer too many games played opposed to too few. However, we ask teams to still respect this rule and the below listed mentality: o Prioritize the default scheduled games first. o Don’t race to finish the regular season just because you have nothing better to do. If half of your team is unavailable for the upcoming week – that is a better excuse. o When playing games earlier than your default schedule, always target the nearest opponents – we want the majority of teams to finish the regular season on the same date. b. Too few games played On the other side of the spectrum, are teams that are behind on their schedule. We want to give the teams a chance to redeem themselves and catch up, as I’m sure we can all agree we don’t want any more teams dropping out. We kindly ask that the below listed teams contact the NHL Gamer Staff with an update on their situation; are there any problems? Do you need help? Are you committed to finishing the season? Please send a PM here on the community forums to @Kenu, @Lurkins, @The_Alpha_Furyan, @gzell60 and @Ranksu. Thank you. Bone Breakers – Group 2 – 25 games played Free From Rodents – Group 2 – 29 games played ICE BROS – Group 2 – 28 games played EN HUND – Group 2 – 28 games played (The teams leaving and thus having their games nullified might be the reason for the low amount of games played, and if that is the case, that is a valid excuse,) So there you have it! A whole lot of things have been on the staff desk and honestly, the above is just the tip of the ice berg. We’d like to reiterate that we’re very happy about the initiative that many teams have taken in the past few weeks to handle issues on their own. This is much appreciated and the way we want the community to develop. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hopefully we can make it shorter next time. On behalf of the NHL Gamer staff,

Hey NHLGamers, As the days are growing colder and we move closer to fall, every hockey fan knows what’s coming - days and nights filled with the greatest sport on earth, be it SHL, SM-Liiga, KHL, NHL or even online gaming in the EASHL. With the release of NHL 17 and the 2016 World Cup right around the corner, hockey has never been hotter. Here at NHLGamer.com we are looking forward to the next installment in the European Championship League (ECL 3 – see thread here) – the premier league for NHL online EASHL gaming – and we hope you guys are excited as well. But before we turn the page in the tournament book and open up a new chapter, it’s time to close an older one first. I am talking specifically about NHL 16 and the ECL tournaments played on it. ECL 1 ECL 1 was a resounding success, lifted by the fact that the whole community that had previously been divided on different sides of the console pond, so to speak, were finally re-united on the PS4. This led to ECL 1 being one of the most competitive tournaments in european EASHL history, with newcomers battling old foes and ”Xbox teams” clashing with ”PS teams” for a long, gruesome regular season followed by an intense playoffs where Nordic Blizzard eventually stood tall. You can check out our summary of ECL 1, here. ECL 2 ECL 2 followed up on the success of ECL 1 with a tighter, more focused schedule due to ECL 1 having been kicked off late in the NHL season, around christmas. From the start, having another tournament on the NHL 16 platform wasn’t a guarantee but community demand made sure no more than a month passed between tournaments. For this tournament, rivalries had started to set in and some top teams were disbanded with players migrating to new hunting grounds. In the end, ECL 2 was an exciting way to finish off the season and Mukimiehet were crowned as winners. You can read about ECL 2, here. ECL Summer Cup Which brings us to the ECL Summer Cup. Not part of the regular ECL lineup and once again inspired by community demand and some very creative and interesting ideas (special shout-out to the community members who took initiative, you know who you are), the ECL Summer Cup was a totally new format which began in the middle of the summer with a fantasy draft and ended just before the release of NHL 17. The idea was to give NHL gamers a chance to make friends on different teams and also some incentive to keep their EASHL skills sharp during what is usually a slow time for hockey gaming, the summer. While I can’t speak for everyone, I think most people had a blast during this tournament. I know I did – all the way from getting drafted to playing with some entirely new teammates to our teams eventual demise in the second round of the playoffs. As ECL 1 & 2 have already had their separate book closings with news stories of their own, announcing the winners and thanking everyone for their participation – this will be the closing of the book of the ECL Summer Cup. A total of 14 teams entered, who were then split into two groups of 7. Of these 7 teams, 4 from each group would go on to make the playoffs. The quarter- and semifinals were each played in a best of-3 format to make sure the tournament would be played on time, followed by a best of-7 finals. In the end, we were left with somewhat of an upset! The #4 seed from Group 1, Team pelimies80, made the playoffs by a hair and then went on to defeat Mirage (Quarter), Mighty 8 Balls (Semi) and lastly Hupimunat in the finals. Congratulations to Team pelimies80! I’ll leave you with the words of team captain, @pelimies80: Missing games Next order of business is once again reminding all the captains that there are still some unreported games for the Summer Cup, both regular season and playoffs. Now, while we know we here at the NHLGamer staff dropped the ball on a few occasions (the website being down for an extended period of time, not getting all the proper information out on time and not having a proper playoff tree in place) we still require you captains to fulfill your obligations and report the remaining games. We are only human, and we know you are too, so this isn’t intended to place blame – instead we have taken the time to list all the games that remain unreported, to make it easier on you to find them. Regular season @debi_85 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1289 @FINSeRe http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1348 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1349 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1341 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1342 @mir02k1 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1362 Playoffs @debi_85 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1351 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1356 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1355 @FINSeRe http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1361 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1360 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1359 @Joonas Paatiala http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1357 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1358 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1372 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1374 http://nhlgamer.com/match.php?matchID=1375 Awards Last but not least, awards. The most highely coveted individual award, the ECL Summer Cup playoff MVP, will be given to @Foppatofflan. This first round draft pick didnt show up for more than a few games in the regular season but made up for it in the playoffs. With 10+18 for 28 points in 13 games AND with the endorsement of the captain of his Summer Cup winning Team pelimies80, this one was a no-brainer. Congratulations Foppatofflan! While I’m sad to report that my personal dream of having judgement-based awards for the rest of the Summer Cup has been put on ice for now (only about half of the 14 captains gave me a list of who they thought was worthy of each of the trophies suggested in THIS earlier post), I am proud to once again present the regular season stat-based awards for the ECL Summer Cup – but also a compilation of stats retroactively for ECL 1 & 2. Enjoy and see you on the ice in NHL 17 for ECL 3! (If I haven't tagged a player, it's because I couldn't find that player on the community side - probably due to having a different name there than his player card/gamertag) ECL 1: Most Points - @Joukki with 55 goals and 36 assists for a whopping 91 points in 22 games. A margin of 17 points down to the next best skater Puantso - impressive. Most Goals - @Joukki again with 55 goals in 22 games – with 8 PPG, 0 SHG and 5 GWG. Most Assists - Puantso with 49 assists in just 20 games played. Most Points by a Defenseman - @Chrisbernt with 10+30 = 40 in 24 games played. Chris did play around 6-8 games as forward but with over 75% of his games as a defender, he still qualifies! Best Plus/Minus - @Joukki just edges out his teammate @vatalisti with +61 to vatas +59. Great work by Carlsberg HC Best Save % - For this award we set a limit of atleast 50% of the teams games played, meaning atleast 12 games out of 24. Just qualifiying is OveikkoO of team Kattiautomatti with 85.08 % in 12 games. Most Wins by a Goalie - @vepe- wins this one with 19 wins in 22 games played. A good awards season for Carlsberg HC. ECL 2: Most Points - @Tapparafan from Nordic Stars swoops this award up with 28 goals and 11 assists for 39 points in 10 games. Great work! Most Goals - Mr. @Tapparafan collects this one as well with the above mentioned 28 goals in 10 games – this with 8 PPG, 1 SHG and 5 GWG. Most Assists - @Basstian23 ties @FlyerKungen with 20 assists each – these two gentlemen will split the trophy! Most Points by a Defenseman - @vatalisti wins this one with 5+16 for 21 points in 9 games. Best Plus/Minus - Another season, another win for @Joukki with +30. This season he has to share it with teammates @vatalisti and KingOfApes_ who also finished the season with +30. Best Save % - @OxtreeLAT wins this one with a magnificent 89.74% save percentage in 10 games. Could this be the record to beat for future ECL tournaments? Most Wins by a Goalie - A three-way tie between the above mentioned @OxtreeLAT, @FINSeRe and @poliskontroll who each ended the season with 8 wins in 10 games. ECL SC: Most Points - @selänne8 with 14 goals and 20 assists for a total of 34 points in 12 games. Very impressive, congratulations to you Finnish Flash! Most Goals - @plee999 with a staggering 17 goals in just 10 games played. Well done! Most Assists - @selänne8 again with 20 assists in 12 games. Quite the playmaker! Most Points by a Defenseman - @The_Alpha_Furyan with 4 goals and 17 assists for 21 points in 10 games. Playing on a great team helps, thank you teammates! Best Plus/Minus - @Joonas Paatiala with +17 in 10 games. Tied with Plee but he already won the goals award so, this one is for Patzlaf. Best Save % - @juha96 with 73.38 % in 12 games. Was awarded to @FINSeRe earlier but with just 6 games reported for his team, this moves to juha96. Most Wins by a Goalie - @OxtreeLAT with 8 wins in 12 games. A winning percentage over 70% while playing all the teams games? The definition of reliable! Comments, as always, are much appreciated! On behalf of the NHLGamer Staff, The_Alpha_Furyan

NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly: Who’s hot and Who’s not [Edition 3 - Special] Fellow NHLGamers, Continuing every Sunday – we at NHLGamer.com are presenting a weekly column for as long as the Summer Cup is in action. This column will feature a list of which Forward, Defenseman and Goalie have performed well enough on the ice to have earned the honor of being named to this weeks ”Hot”-list. In the interest of fairness, it will also feature one representative of each position who hasn’t performed as well, resulting in a spot on the ”Not”-list. Moving on, the list will work like a Power Ranking and not like a ”3 Stars of the Week” (like on the NHL website). A power ranking means that it’s not exclusively what a specific player has done in just the past week that matters, but instead what that player has delivered in total throughout the tournament when the list is published, that does. Say for example if Kenu scores 20 points in 2 games in Week 1, landing him on the ”Hot”-list for that week, he can still be on the ”Hot”-list for Week 2 even if he only scores 10 points in 4 games that week – because his total will still be 30 points in 6 games which, presumably, will still be at the top of the rankings. Do you catch my drift? Good! Then let’s get started. (Before you continue to rip me to shreds for being dead wrong on all my selections, I’ll remind everyone that this is a column of opinion and a playful, tounge-in-cheek way to celebrate what a success this Summer Cup has been. However, a comment of ”You’re an idiot Alpha, that’s just wrong” is always better than no comment so remember – share your opinions!) NEW THIS WEEK (Week 3): Now that's more like it! The comments went pouring in for Week 2 and I couldn't be happier - let's keep that trend going for Week 3. All the comments also gave me a chance to explain my reasoning behind how I make my selections. For those of you who didn't see one comment in particular, I'll paste that here: New for Week 3 is that we will be departing a bit from the regular format. Since the Beta for NHL 17 just came out (Read about it here and get your Beta code here) on Wednesday and there really wasn't more than 5-6 games played even at the start of the week, we won't be looking at the Summer Cup in general. Instead, we'll be a taking a look at the names behind each team - the captains. Look for the regular Hot or Not-format to return next week as the Summer Cup concludes its regular season but for now, this is the NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly, Edition 3 [Captain Edition]. CAPTAINS (Week 3): GOALIES: #30, Mr Juizki ( @Juizki), Team Juizki Having been featured on the Hot-list for two weeks, one certainly can't complain about the results this goalie has delivered. He's been in net for all his teams games so far and a quick look at the standings reveal that same team to be headed for the playoffs. His first round pick TehhAhola has turned out to be a fine addition with 11 points in 8 games, only bested by second round pick Jageksis 19 points in 8 games. Looking good so far for Juizki. #8, Fin Sere ( @FINSeRe), Mirage With a record of 5-1-0, it's no wonder that Fin Sere found himself on the runner-up list for goalies last week. Combine his stellar save percentage and Goals Against Average in those 6 games with his historical numbers as a #1 goalie for Nordic Blizzard in both ECL 1 and 2 and you've got yourselves one of the best goalies in the community right now. Seems to have done well with the draft as his #1 and #2 picks, tbnantti and kaislikko_peruna are #1 and #2 in scoring for Mirage. #34, Juha Julmala ( @juha96), Hupimunat One of a few teams to have completed their Summer Cup regular season so far, things are looking good for Hupimunat. 22 points in 12 games with a record of 7-4-1 will most likely generate a playoff position. Team captain Julmala has been in net for all 12 games and have done an admirable job between the pipes. He also seems to have put together a well-balanced team that could feature in the playoffs for a long time. DEFENDERS: #53, Shayne Gostisbehere ( @vSilenttio ), Thats the Spirit Thats the Spirit is another team who have finished their 12-game slate for the Summer Cup. As it stands right now, a playoff position is looking unlikely in the very tough Group 2 but this team have certainly fought for it. Involved in more OT games than any team I've seen so far, Silenttio has led his men into many tough battles and has put up a point per game pace with a GWG in the mix as well. His first round pick, imosi1, also did what he could with almost 2 points per game and 3 game winners but ultimately, things didn't go the way this captain wanted. #88, Boba Fett ( @LastMandalorian), Latvian Army for Hire A captain that I know quite well seeing as that we've played EASHL together since its inception on NHL 09. Wasn't sure about if he was going to play center or defense when the tournament started but eventually found a home on RD. Has delivered 3+3 in the 10 games Latvian Army for Hire has played so far but the real test for him and his team will come with two games remaining as the team is fighting for their playoff lives in Group 2. #17, Ludwig Borga ( @DieCutterMC), Ullas Pojkar A physical force on defense, Borga encourages the heavy hits among his teammates. Something that teammates FlyerKungen and Haldeem seems to have picked up on as they have almost 40 hits each. Teamwise, Ullas Pojkar have positioned themselves quite strongly ahead of the playoffs but will most likely have to win one or two of their remaining two games to secure a playoff spot. His first round pick, Tapparafan-, has only gotten into 6 games so far but has delivered 11 points in those games. #80, The Iceman ( @pelimies80), Team pelimies80 Defender who likes the defensive side of the game with strong positioning and few goals against, pelimies has his whole team playing solid defensive hockey. Having personally supplied 1+5 in 8 games, Iceman will have to continue his solid defensive play and timely scoring to help his team make the playoffs as the team are on the outside looking in right now with 4 games remaining. Hopefully he gets his #1 pick Foppatofflan back as he hasn't played in a single game so far. #44, - Billy ( @Billy44205), Team Billy44205 Putting Billy in any one position is tough as I've personally seen the man play defense and goalie in Summer Cup games, as well as seeing him as a forward in the box scores. Regardless, he stepped up to the captaincy plate with bravery, as he admitted to not knowing the players in the community as well as he would've liked. His team won't make the playoffs but he himself and most members of his team have conducted themselves professionally throughout and when problems have arisen, Billy has stepped up. FORWARDS: #88, Miro Hedman ( @mir02k1), Los Dominos Forming a very dangerous line with vilperi-90 and Nampa77, Miro has supplied 17 points in 8 games. Unfortunately, a slow start to the tournament has left Los Dominos in a tough position for the rest of the regular season, with a lot of ground to make up to be able to make the playoffs. One big factor in all this is the fact that the star Miro planned on leading the team, Dominointi, hasn't played in a single game so far. #91, Team Debi ( @debi_85), TEAM PELTIKII Debi is leading the charge for his team together with #1 pick Joukki and it has been quite a successfull charge. With 4 games remaining, Debis team has every chance of making the playoffs and do some damage once they get there. Debi is also the leading hitter among his teammates so one could make the argument he is leading by example on the scoresheet and in the physical side of the game. #86, Joonas Paatiala (???), Club Kannunkulma Patzlaf/BAAHTIS/forum name (?) has put together a high scoring team with him and #1 pick Plee at the helm. Not to be forgotten is the supporting cast of the team though, with defenders jaikken and plymalking, goalies FinKonna and Swigi and forwards indi696 and KenuFHR. At the "center" of it all, Patzlaf leads his team on both the offensive and defensive side of the game with an impressive 59% faceoff percentage and 28 hits outside his 21 points. #68, Jaromir Sniper ( @Basstian23), Everyday Im Byfuglien Truly a prime example of a captain leading the team with his performance on the ice. Having played in all 12 games for his team with 26 points to his name, Bastians team are most likely going to make the playoffs. Bastian has only used his #1 pick Chafak in 4 games so maybe there is more to gain there, but otherwise this sniper has formed quite the duo with second leading point scorer Hanssoni. #9, Busku Mees ( @Tuukka.R), Royal Warriors Busku and his Mees clan (seriously, atleast 5 players are named Mees) was probably the most game-ready team when the Summer Cup started. Having almost exclusively selected players from his own team Victorious Secret, the Royal Warriors were expected to come out of the games storming. For some reason it hasn't worked out perfectly so far but don't count this squad out as they will fight to the end for the last playoff spots in Group 2. #8, Teemu Selanne ( @selänne8), Mighty 8 Balls Last but not least, Selanne rounds out this captain list. His 32 points are the most out of any player in the cup and that is with 2 games remaining! A likely candidate to win the scoring title, Selanne has done well with his draft selections and team as well. #1 pick OxtreeLAT has been in net for all the teams wins so far and those wins have carried the team to a likely #1 or #2 spot in Group 1. Later picks Leksa, The_Alpha_Furyan and RedMisti have also contributed to the teams scoring prowess and every member of the team has delivered solid performances thus far. Remains to be seen if this team can carry their regular season success into what will be a tough playoff matchup. Now, bring your chainsaws to the comment section and let me have it! Did I make the wrong selections? The right ones? Were there any factual errors? Who's happy? Who's upset? Who's secretly plotting to murder me? Later skaters // Alpha Furyan

NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly: Who’s hot and Who’s not [Edition 2] Fellow NHLGamers, Continuing every Sunday – we at NHLGamer.com are presenting a weekly column for as long as the Summer Cup is in action. This column will feature a list of which Forward, Defenseman and Goalie have performed well enough on the ice to have earned the honor of being named to this weeks ”Hot”-list. In the interest of fairness, it will also feature one representative of each position who hasn’t performed as well, resulting in a spot on the ”Not”-list. Moving on, the list will work like a Power Ranking and not like a ”3 Stars of the Week” (like on the NHL website). A power ranking means that it’s not exclusively what a specific player has done in just the past week that matters, but instead what that player has delivered in total throughout the tournament when the list is published, that does. Say for example if Kenu scores 20 points in 2 games in Week 1, landing him on the ”Hot”-list for that week, he can still be on the ”Hot”-list for Week 2 even if he only scores 10 points in 4 games that week – because his total will still be 30 points in 6 games which, presumably, will still be at the top of the rankings. Do you catch my drift? Good! Then let’s get started. (Before you continue to rip me to shreds for being dead wrong on all my selections, I’ll remind everyone that this is a column of opinion and a playful, tounge-in-cheek way to celebrate what a success this Summer Cup has been. However, a comment of ”You’re an idiot Alpha, that’s just wrong” is always better than no comment so remember – share your opinions!) NEW THIS WEEK (Week 2): Okay, so after Week 1 I'm adding a little something to this weekly column. First, let me just say that ALL your feedback has been appreciated! Even though it didn't take place as much in the official comment section as I would've hoped (seriously - drop some comment bombs!), it's still fun to know that what is being written is also being read and better yet - that it's making people FEEL something, whether that's anger, joy or hate! Anyway, as I said, new addition. It might seem small, but I've decided to add "runner-ups" for all categories. These runner-ups will feature who else was in my mind when I made my decision. These runner-ups will just get a short paragraph to explain why they are there but regardless, just having them in the column will hopefully let you guys in on what my thought process was for makings these selections! Okay, lets do this. WHO’S HOT (Week 2): FORWARD: #68, Jaromir Jagr ( @vilperi90), Los Dominos, 8GP 8G 10A = 18P, -2, 4 PIM, 30 Hits While Plee and Patzlaf continues their destruction of the Summer Cup (52 points combined) they will have to step aside this week for vilperi-90. What a comeback story! After being featured on the defenseman "Not"-list for Week 1, vilperi-90 shifted from defense to forward and started to tear the league up. Having scored 0 points in 2 games on defense, he absolutely exploded for 8 goals and 10 assists in 6 games as a forward, landing him 5th overall in the scoring race. Very impressive and certainly worthy of a spot on the "Hot"-list. Runner-ups: PleeMaker & Patzlaf - Club Kannunkulma [By far the best 1-2 punch in the tournament so far, leading points scorers, unstoppable?] BiggestEight - Mighty 8 Balls [This captain is leading his team by example, the top point getter after Plee&Patz] DEFENDER: #17, Junior Jaihicovic ( @JaikenK ), Club Kannunkulma, 10GP 2G 10A = 12P, +18, 10 PIM, 21 Hits No longer the leading scorer amongst defenders, Jaiken is still a strong 2nd with 2 goals and 10 assists. Furthermore, Jaiken is currently the only defender (with Haldeem) to play in 10 out of 10 games, suggesting how highly valued he is by his team. He also sports the very best +/- among all defenders (+18) all the while having a GWG and 21 hits to his name. All in all, the top defender on what is very likely one of the best teams in the tournament. Runner-ups: The_Alpha_Furyan - Mighty 8 Balls [Top point scorer among all defenders, needs more hits and better +/-] FIN_Potilas - Hupimunat [Strong in points and powerplay goals, although sometimes plays center] Haldeem - Ullas Pojkar [Solid point production, most hits among defenders, plays every game for his team] GOALIE: #30, Mr Juizki ( @Juizki), Team Juizki, 6GP 4W 2L 0TL, 85.29%, 1.66 GAA, 2 shutouts Still the reigning champion, Juizki remains at the very top of all goalie stats (#1 in save percentage, tied for #3 in wins, #5 in total saves, #3 in GAA, tied for #1 in shutouts). However, just like Jaiken among the defenders, Juizki is getting tougher competition - from several goalies - every week and he will have to continue playing at the highest level to remain at the top of this list in the future. Runner-ups: FINSeRe - Mirage [Close to Juizki in both save percentage and shutouts, needs more games] frenchplayer92 - Everyday I'm Byfuglien [Solid save %, solid GAA, solid goalie - on the rise!] MonkeyHead_AF - Latvian Army For Hire [Acrobatic goalie with the most saves and best save % out of all goalies with 8 GP] WHO’S NOT (Week 2): FORWARD: #84, - Bonn ( @Bjono), Latvian Army For Hire, 6GP 1G 5A = 6P, +5, 10 PIM, 26 Hits Perhaps being a high draft pick means being unfairly held to a higher standard than other players. However fair, the fact remains that this is another first round pick to end up on this list. An experienced ECL veteran - Bonn hasn't gotten everything going points-wise with his new team yet, although credible inside sources tell me he's been a leader and calming presence on the ice. With just a single goal to his name so far and a playoff position for his team in jeopardy, expect him to come out firing the last weeks of the regular season. Runner-ups: Billy44205 - Team Billy44205 [Will have to start leading his team out of the hole they've dug themselves as the team with the lowest point total so far] joukki13 - TEAM PELTIKII [Another first round pick with just 1 goal, in just 3 games played - where is joukki?] Pelle3000 - Los Dominos [4+1 in 5 games and a -3, has more in him!] DEFENDER: #53, Shayne Gostisbehere ( @vSilenttio ), Thats the Spirit, 6GP 0G 6A = 6P, -5, 4 PIM, 20 Hits Speaking of unfair, it is a known fact that when a team is struggling as a unit, the captain sometimes has to shoulder a disproportionate amount of the responsibility. Like Ovechkin when the Caps are struggling or Subban when Montreal (was) struggling. Which leads us to this defender... vSilenttio is a leader and one of the better two-way defenders in the tournament with loads of offensive skill, so with 0+6 in 6 games and his team on the verge of falling behind the pack and missing the playoffs - he will have to step up even more. Runner-ups: Nikge_89 - Thats the Spirit [Like his D partner, Nikge will have to step up the rest of the regular season for their team to make the playoffs] |tokFan| - Hupimunat [0 goals and 3 assists in 7 GP with just 3 shots on goal, on one of the highest scoring teams in the league] vatalisti - Team Billy44205 [Is leading his team in scoring so is most likely doing all he possibly can, but as a #2 overall pick - more is expected than a league-worst -7] GOALIE: #20, Antti Miettinen ( @JOHTAJAVIRTANEN), Ullas Pojkar, 6GP 5W 1L 0TL, 55.17%, 2.16 GAA, 0 shutout Just like last week, I am "attacking" a goaltender who is part of a winning team but isn't producing as good stats as can be expected of such a team enviroment. Miettinen does have a solid Goals Against Average with 2.16 and is actually helping his team win with a 5-1-0 record. Perhaps it is his team that is putting him in tough situations and maybe he is making the tougher breakaway saves, but with a league-worst 55.17% in save percentage, Miettinen is on this list for now. Runner-ups: poliskontroll - Thats the Spirit [Is struggling to help his team win games as he's gone 2-4-0 with 65.51% and 3.33 GAA - probably hungry to bounce back] Siickan - Team Billy44205 [will need to step up together with his teammates to help Team Billy make the playoffs] Now, bring your chainsaws to the comment section and let me have it! Did I make the wrong selections? The right ones? Were there any factual errors? Who's happy? Who's upset? Who's secretly plotting to murder me? Later skaters // Alpha Furyan

NHLGamer Summer Cup Weekly: Who’s hot and Who’s not Fellow NHLGamers, starting today and continuing on every Sunday – we at NHLGamer.com are introducing a new weekly column for as long as the Summer Cup is in action. This column will feature a list of which Forward, Defenseman and Goalie have performed well enough on the ice to have earned the honor of being named to this weeks ”Hot”-list. In the interest of fairness, it will also feature one representative of each position who hasn’t performed as well, resulting in a spot on the ”Not”-list. Moving on, the list will work like a Power Ranking and not like a ”3 Stars of the Week” (like on the NHL website). A power ranking means that it’s not exclusively what a specific player has done in just the past week that matters, but instead what that player has delivered in total throughout the tournament when the list is published, that does. Say for example if Kenu scores 20 points in 2 games in Week 1, landing him on the ”Hot”-list for that week, he can still be on the ”Hot”-list for Week 2 even if he only scores 10 points in 4 games that week – because his total will still be 30 points in 6 games which, presumably, will still be at the top of the rankings. Do you catch my drift? Good! Then let’s get started. (Before you continue to rip me to shreds for being dead wrong on all my selections, I’ll remind everyone that this is a column of opinion and a playful, tounge-in-cheek way to celebrate what a success this Summer Cup has been. However, a comment of ”You’re an idiot Alpha, that’s just wrong” is always better than no comment so remember – share your opinions!) WHO’S HOT (Week 1): Forward: #44, Reijo Renkewitz ( @plee999 ), Club Kannunkulma, 6GP 10G 8A = 18P, +12, 16 PIM, 25 Hits PleeMaker came into the tournament like shot out of a cannon – determined to live up to his early draft pick status – and immediatey started racking up the goals and points. Playing on a line with players like BAAHTIS (Patzlaf), indi696 and the NHLGamer staff’s very own KenuFHR has surely helped but, having put up the most points in the tournament to this point, PleeMaker has to be considered the frontrunner for best forward thus far. Defender: #17, Junior Jaihicovic ( @JaikenK ), Club Kannunkulma, 6GP 0G 9A = 9P, +12, 2 PIM, 15 Hits Got to go with another Kannunkulma player here as they have been not only one of the highest scoring teams thus far, but also one of the teams who have played the most with 6 games played. Jaikenkk of Sjukstugan is the defenseman with the most total points thus far and when you combine that with a solid 15 hits and just 2 PIMs and you’ve got your defenseman of the week. Goalie: #30, Mr Juizki ( @Juizki), Team Juizki, 4GP 3W 1L 0TL, 88.0%, 1.50 GAA, 1 shutout Given that Captain Juizki has lead his team to 3 wins in 4 games all the while putting up the most saves and the highest save percentage – this one was a no-brainer. Having been a relative newcomer to ECL (only joining in ECL Season 2 with Checkmate) Juizki is seeing his star rise quickly with performances like this. A well earned spot on the Hot-list. WHO’S NOT (Week 1): Forward: #34, Olli Palola ( @Tapparafan), Ullas Pojkar, 2GP 1G 1A = 2P, -2, 2 PIM, 5 Hits This first round pick has had a tough start to the Summer Cup as the only two games he has participated in so far ended up in just 1+1 in scoring, with the team losing both games and getting 0 points out of it. Ullas Pojkar has had somewhat of a rough start in general, collecting 6 points total in their first 6 games, and to snap out of it they need their #1 pick to lead by example. Defender: #68, Jaromir Jagr ( @vilperi90) & #7, Blob Beaverson ( @Akasido-95), Los Dominos, 2GP 0G 0A = 0P, -1, 0 PIM, 0 Hits With identical statlines, it was impossible to single out any one of these Los Dominos defenders to put on the list – so the solution was to have them share it. Both experienced ECL players known to be able to play any positon (Defense or Forward), these gentlemen will most likely pick their game up as Los Dominos gets rolling but, after a start where their team gained 1 out of 6 possible points with no production from either one of them, they start out here on this list. Goalie: #59, Peter Savemaker ( @FinKonna), Club Kannunkulma, 6GP 4W 1L 1TL, 62.79%, 2.66 GAA, 0 shutout The third member of Club Kannunkulma to feature in this article, FinKonna probably won’t be as happy to be on the list. Known to be a top goalie in the community, FinKonna has been a part of his teams 4-1-1 start while at the same time not delivering stellar numbers. Goaltending in EASHL is a tough business and I have no doubt FinKonna will bounce back but for now, he is on the Not-list.

NHLGamer welcomes you to the Draft ECL (Summer Cup) '16! Hey NHL Gamers, ECL Season 2 on PS4 is history, and thanks to your discussion about a Summer Cup we decided to start one last tournament for NHL 16. This time it is not part of our regular ECL series, as we want to refocus on two aspects: Open schedules and a chance to get together. The Summer Cup is based on the draft idea which was brought up by @vSilenttio and @Billy44205 during the discussion. Let's go into the details: League details: Last day to sign up is Wednesday, June 29th. This time, PLAYERS instead of TEAMS sign up for the tournament. All signed up players will be seeded into teams with a size of 8 players (if it adds up). Out of all registrations, NHL Gamer Staff will elect an according number of team captains (if 160 players sign up, 20 teams and 20 captains are needed). Team captains will be taking part in a live draft event (between July 9th and 10th), picking their roster until all players are seeded. All games are played 6vs6 using private drop-in games - no exceptions! There will be default game weeks instead of default game days -> more freedom The leagues are set to start on the week of July 11th and aimed to be finished in mid-August. Full rules will be released after registration is over. How to join? Register to the forums. Read this post entirely before registering. Follow the link to the ECL for your preferred platform: In the above thread, create a post and use the following format in the post itself: PSN/XBL Name: xxx Tell us about you: Here you can tell us about your NHL career and mention any accomplishments or specific reasons why you should be considered as a team captain. These comments will also be added to the draft sheet, which will be handed out to all team captains once they were chosen, so they are able to get an impression about your person. We look forward to seeing you on the ice! On behalf of the NHLGamer staff,

Hey Everyone, We'd like to thank you for getting the regular season done in a timely matter! Unfortunately we didn't get through even this short regular season without a dropout and thus handing out WO's, but for the most part, things have been going really smoothly. It's time to move into the second ECL Season Playoffs and below you will find the Playoff pairs: Group 1 vs Group 2 Nordic Lightning - Nordic Hockey Tigers Dynasty - Ace Holes HC Sjukstugan - ORIGINS Kattiautomaatti - Beniserna Group 3 vs Group 4 Nordic Nightmare - Rising Force Victorious Secret HC - SIKA Refuse To Lose - TIKI TALK Nordic Blizzard - Fat Cats Group 5 vs Group 6 Synergy Hockey - Freaky Friday Aapon Taikasauva - Nordic Stars Infinity - Written In The Stars Silver Sword Griffins - HC IceTigers Group 7 vs Group 8 Helter Skelter - Rising Phantoms HC Finnish Roosters - Falun Coal Miners HC Shameful Knights - Murohoki MUKIMIEHET - Northern Stars The games will be played best-out-of-7 and groups 1-4 will be on the left hand side of the playoff tree and 5-8 on the right side. In the second round the teams will be reseeded based on points per game, however groups 1-4 and 5-8 won't mix until the finals. The time allotted for every round in the playoffs is one week and the default scheduled days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Sunday should not be used for scheduling - only as a last resort to get the games played. This will allow us to have everything set up and for the next round to start on time. There are a few statistical mistakes currently displaying on the page that will be fixed shortly. The actual standings have been taken into consideration while creating the above pairs. On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,