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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