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ECL 5 Player Awards In anticipation of the upcoming ECL 6, the time has come to celebrate the heroes of ECL 5 one last time before the board is re-set and we start from scratch again. Below you will find the winner of every statistical award among forwards, defenders and goaltenders. Credit goes to @Panarinz, @ramseyy2, @MartindalexC and @nylanderi for collecting it all. Furthermore, we'd like to reassure all NHLGamer members out there that we have all the stats-based award winners from ECL 1, 2, 3, 4 and Summer Cup 1 & 2 listed in a collection at the NHLGamer vaults - to be released at a later date. We are working on a feature that will allow us to have these trophies visible in your player profile as well. One last note: If you find yourself with a trophy but without a tag to your name, it is because we couldn't find your forum name. Most likely due to it not being the same as the gamertag listed. Anyway, without further ado, here are you ECL 5 individual award winners: Elite Playoff MVP: @Buantso 13g + 19a = 32p in 16 games [2 points/GP], Aapon Taikasauva Most Points: @MartindalexC 79p in 28 games [2.8 points/GP], Northern Ascendancy Most Goals: @MartindalexC 36g in 28 games [1.3 goals/GP], Northern Ascendancy Most Assists: @Foppatofflan 44a in 28 games [1.6 assists/GP], Northern Ascendancy Most Hits by a Forward: @jumalpeku 201 hits in 30games [6.7 hits/GP], Dynasty Best +/-: @jtorro1233 46+ in 28 games & @Penatski 46+ in 30 games, Aapon Taikasauva Most Points by a Defenseman: @jtorro1233 38p in 28 games [1.4 points/GP], Aapon Taikasauva Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Egyptologen 6g in 27 games [0.2 goals/GP], Synergy Most Assist by a Defenseman: @jtorro1233 34a in 28 games [1.2 assists/GP], Aapon Taikasauva Most Hits by a Defenseman: @Tanski87 260 hits in 30 games [8.7 hits/GP], Rusty Blades Best Save %: @Casper 85.71 % in 16 games, Aapon Taikasauva Best GAA: @Casper 1.25 gaa in 16 games, Aapon Taikasauva Most Wins: @s_w1ld_rus 21 wins in 30 games, Written In The Stars Most Shutouts: @Hiiruh 5 SO in 21 games, SJK eSports Pro Playoff MVP: @Erkki 20g + 26a = 46p in 24 games [1.92 points/GP], Evolution Most Points: @Stefan_397 88 points in 30 games [2.93 Points/GP], Inter Iceland Most Goals: @sweatyfathoe99 54 goals in 28 games [1.93 Goals/GP], Unlucky Boys HC Most Assists: @Playmaker 60 assists in 30 games [2 assists/GP], Inter Iceland Most Hits by a Forward: @vilperi90 207 hits in 30 games [6.9 Hits/GP], Nordic Stars Best +/-: @vilperi90 @FakiiR1 & Finbarkov +53 in 30 games, Nordic Stars Most Points by a Defenseman: @FakiiR1 43 points in 30 games [1.43 Points/GP], Nordic Stars Most Goals by a Defenseman: @The_Alpha_Furyan 14 goals in 28 games [0.5 goals/GP], Falun Coal Miners Most Assists by a Defenseman: @FakiiR1 31 assists in 30 games [1.03 Assists/GP], Nordic Stars Most Hits by a Defenseman: @Ampuhaukka 214 hits in 30 games [7.13 Hits/GP], Speedy Bros Hockey Best Save %: @IsakTuvesson, 85.08 % in 16 games, Lavetten Best GAA: @RaNtA, 1.60 gaa in 30 games, Nordic Stars Most Wins: @Hullued, 25 wins in 30 games, Shameful Knights Most Shutouts: @RaNtA, 7 shutouts in 30 games, Nordic Stars Lite Playoff MVP: James_Bontage - 15 wins, 87.80 %, 1.11 GAA, 8 Shutouts, Red Machine Most Points: lozt_amigo 32+36 = 68 in 18 games [3.77 pts/GP], Face Wash Hockey & @Ikavalko 24+44 = 68 in 18 games [3.77 pts/gp], Almost Famous Most Goals: @Chafak 39g in 12 games [3.25 g/GP], Red Machine Most Assists: @Ikavalko 44a in 18 games [2.44 a/GP], Almost Famous Most Hits: @Lidaas79 66 hits in 11 games [6hits/GP], Nordic Nosebleed Best +/-: @Ikavalko & se_ve420 +64 in 18 games & @jahajaha93 +64 in 14 games, Almost Famous Most Points by a Defenseman: @Philip Strom 13+17 = 30 in 18 games [1.66 pts/GP], Nordic Eagles & @Realpulunen 11+19 = 30 in 12 games [2.5 pts/GP], Almost Famous Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Philip Strom 13g in 18 games [0.72 g/GP], Nordic Eagles Most Assists by a Defenseman: @hilleri84 23a in 14 games [1.64 a/GP], Try Another Hole & @jahajaha93 23a in 14games [1.64 a/gp], Almost Famous Most Hits by a Defenseman: @kamenski 113 hits in 14 games [8 hits/gp], Penalty box Best Save %: @willywonkaaa 88.82% in 16games, Deadly Phantoms HC Best GAA: @Groppman 1.14 GAA in 14 games, Raging Monkeys Most Wins: @willywonkaaa 16W in 16 played, Deadly Phantoms HC & taiguri9 16W in 18 played, Almost Famous & @Yveri_1985 16W in 18 played, SGWEER United Most Shutouts: @willywonkaaa 7 shutouts in 16 games, Deadly Phantoms HC Until next time, @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers, The ECL 5 Pro season was an exciting battle from the very start, until the overtime winner in game 7 of the finals. Let's start with the group stage: Group 1 In this group all of the top 3 teams from The_Alpha_Furyan'ss ECL Pro Preview made it to the playoffs. Gotham Knights and SIKA ended up in the top 2 during the regular season and White Trash finished 6th in the group. Group 1 was tighter than group 2, with only 13 points between Gotham Knights - that won the group - and Murohoki and Black Panther Party, who finished in 9th and 10th place and just barely missed the playoffs. When you look at the bottom of the table you find Squirt Hockey, Nemesis and Bare Knuckles Hockey. All of these 3 teams had to play Relegation games to try their best to stay in the Pro division. If you go through the personal stats in this group, we have the Inter Iceland duo @Stefan_397 (88p) and @Playmaker1010 (83p) at the top. Both of them had big roles for their team that finished the regular season in 3rd place. My teammates and I in Lavetten got a painful reminder of how good that duo can be when Inter Iceland slaughtered us 10-0 and Stefan racked up 4+6 and Playmaker 3+4 in that game. After that devastating loss, Lavetten managed to play so much better in the second half of the season without me. I was really impressed by the guys on my team when they ended the season with 12 wins and 2 OT losses being the hottest team in the second half of the season in Group 1. Best goalie stats-wise in group 1 was - the star goalie from SIKA - @SpiderRoyal with a 15-5-1 record and an 83.01 save percentage. Group 2 In group 2 the two favorites Unlucky Boys HC and Shameful Knights did not disappoint their expectations finishing first and second. These two teams and Nordic Stars - who finished third - managed to score more than 100 goals each in the regular season. In group 1 there was only one team that scored over 100 goals (107 Inter Iceland). Looking at the bottom of the table you will find Banterfield Battalion, GHETTO FIREBIRDS and Bellizzi. Baltic Sea Eagles started out the season very well, being undefeated for the first 10 games, before losing two straight games against Nordic Stars. Unlucky Boys HC started the season very well as well, by winning their first 8 games only letting in 9 goals in those games. The top scorer in group 2 was @sweatyfathoe99 from Unlucky Boys HC with an impressive 54 goals and 30 assists in 28 games. Hullued from Shameful Knights was the best goalie in group 2 with a 25-4-0 record and an 81.81 save percentage. Playoffs Round 1 I must say I was surprised when Shameful Knights lost in the first round against Falun Coal Miners as well as when SIKA lost in the first round against The United Knights. Apart from those series the other ones were very even; Pata Hellalla managed to turn around the series completely after being down 2-0. Sadly, after losing to Pata Hellalla in the playoffs, Lavetten decided to disband. Gotham Knights beat LITE up-and-comers J P T J, Inter Iceland won against En Hund, Evolution beat Baltic Sea Eagles in an intense series that went go game 7, Unlucky Boys HC beat Alliance HT and in the last series Nordic Stars beat White Trash. Quarter Finals In the second round, Falun Coal Miners kept on impressing by beating another top team, as Nordic Stars lost in game . Unlucky Boys showed how good they are by sweeping The United Knights comfortably 4-0. Pata Hellalla beat Gotham Knights 4-3 and Evolution won against Inter Iceland 4-2 Semifinals In the semifinals it was Evolutions turn to show what a good team they are by beating Pata Hellalla 4-0. In the other series Falun Coal Miners did not manage to beat a third top ranked team and Unlucky Boys HC won the series 4-2. Finals The finals in the ECL 5 Pro playoffs was something special. Evolution got the best start being up 2-1 in games. However, Unlucky Boys managed to turn around the series with two wins in a row and Evolution had a lot of pressure going into the last day of the final series being down 3-2 in games. After a 2-0 win in game 6, Evolution managed to win game 7 after a OT goal from their new super signing I_EKI_I. Congratulations to Evolution for winning ECL Pro! After the very exiting finals in ECL Pro where Evolution managed to win this thrilling series that went to game 7, I asked Evolution Captain @Crisu_rottis about their impressive season: Playoff stats I_EKI_I (@Erkki) showed what a good signing he was from the Elite team MUKIMIEHET, leading his new Evolution team to the title in ECL Pro. I_EKI_I had the most points in the entire playoffs with 46 points (20+26), Stefan_397 from Inter Iceland was second with 42 points (22+20) and Sweatyfathoe99 was third with 40 points (25+15). Looking at the goalie stats we find two goalies from the teams in the finals, @SepiDN from Evolution, first with a 80.09 save percentage and @eissi83 from Unlucky Boys HC, with a 81.44 save percentage. Summary: Synergy Hockey was relegated from ECL Elite together with Nordic Lightning. After losing many players to other teams Synergy are merging together with Dead End Kings. Lavetten disbanded after only two seasons in ECL. Relegated teams from Elite to Pro Synergy Hockey Nordic Lightning New teams from Lite to Pro Nordic Nosebleed Almost Famous Raging Monkeys Red Machine

Hey NHLGamers, The ECL 5 Lite Finals were decided earlier this week and Red Machine was the team to walk away with a 4-1 win in the final series against Almost Famous. NHLGamer would hereby like to congratulate Red Machine for being the new ECL Lite Champions! If you wish, you can watch all five of the finals here: https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch/videos/all These are the series results: Game 1: Red Machine @ Almost Famous | 3-0 Game 2:Almost Famous @ Red Machine | 0-3 Game 3: Red Machine @ Almost Famous | 0-1 OT Game 4: Almost Famous @ Red Machine | 1-2 Game 5: Red Machine @ Almost Famous | 1-0 Red Machine Championship roster: G: #40 T. Rask (aka seksileijona69) G: #40 V. Lehto (aka James_Bontage) D: #28 R. Stonewall (aka Rankaisija_) D: #42 H. Huumetucca (A) (aka Mommmi) D: #65 N. Mooh (aka kojowaa) F: #9 A. Panarin (aka Chaostive) F: #44 P. Tyni (A) (aka bleiki81) F: #48 V. Saarijärvi (aka Chafak) F: #88 L. Skywalker (C) (aka jergelii) F: #98 D. delaVega (aka JaKurrii) Red Machine's road to the cup: 13 wins, 2 losses & 1 OT-losses during the regular season, ranked 1st in Group 2 Round 1: 4-2 victory against Slapshot Club Germany Round 2: 4-0 victory against Finnish Hockey Legends Quarterfinals: 4-1 victory against Face Wash Hockey Semifinals: 4-1 victory against Raging Monkeys Finals: 4-1 victory against Almost Famous A more detailed ECL Lite season recap will be released soon. Stay tuned.

Hey NHLGamers, The ECL 5 Pro Finals were also decided earlier this week and the finals between Unlucky Boys HC and Evolution went all the way into overtime in game 7, where Evolution came out on top and won the championship. NHLGamer would hereby like to congratulate Evolution for being the new ECL Pro Champions! If you wish, you can watch all seven of the finals here: https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch/videos/all These are the final series results: Game 1: Evolution @ Unlucky Boys HC | 0-1 OT Game 2: Unlucky Boys HC @ Evolution | 3-6 Game 3: Evolution @ Unlucky Boys HC | 3-2 Game 4: Unlucky Boys HC @ Evolution | 2-1 Game 5: Evolution @ Unlucky Boys HC | 1-3 Game 6: Unlucky Boys HC @ Evolution | 0-2 Game 7: Evolution @ Unlucky Boys HC | 2-1 OT Evolution Championship roster: G: #8 F. SeRe (aka FINSeRe) G: #24 I. Bock (A) (aka SepiDN) D: #10 I. Tuuba (aka puke85) D: #77 J. Jokipaska (C) (aka Crisu_Rottis) F: #11 J. Golds (A) (aka Jageksi) F: #25 E. Tammenpää (aka I_Eki_I) F: #40 K. ra (aka topikeränen) F: #52 S. Kärkkykov (aka Kaerkkyjae) F: #73 K. Luistelija (aka wickedtah69) Evolution's road to the cup: 19 wins, 7 losses & 4 OT-losses during the regular season, ranked 5th in Group 1 Round 1: 4-3 victory against Baltic Sea Eagles Quarterfinals: : 4-2 victory against Inter Iceland Semifinals: 4-0 victory against Pata Hellalla Finals: 4-3 victory against Unlucky Boys A more detailed ECL Lite season recap will be released soon. Stay tuned.

Hey NHLGamers, The ECL 5 season is coming to an epic end tonight and oh boy do we have some great games to stream for you! Starting at 20:00 CET we have the Pro finals between Evolution and Unlucky Boys HC. This best-of-7 series is currently 2-3 for Unlucky Boys HC. Starting at 21:00 CET we will continue with the Lite finals that are played between Red Machine and Almost Famous. Red Machine leads the best-of-7 series 3-1. The stream will be commentated by @Kenu and @nylanderi, so be sure to come say hi in the chat box! Be sure to tune in to the action at https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch starting a tiny bit before 20:00 CET!

The ECL Lite finals will between Red Machine and Almost Famous continue today as after Red Machine was able to win the first two games (3-0, 3-0). Join Kenu and Janikka tonight at 21 CET on the official NHLGamer live stream at https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch We'll see you there!

Hey NHLGamers, the ECL 5 Pro semi-finals have come to a close, and here are the final results: Falun Coal Miners |2:4| Unlucky Boys HC Pata Hellalla |0:4| Evolution This means Unlucky Boys HC and Evolution will fight for the ECL 5 Pro championship in the last playoffs series this Pro season: Evolution vs. Unlucky Boys HC Both finalists are already promoted to ECL Elite for ECL 6, however having that ECL 5 Pro championship trophy in your collection is something both teams will continue fighting for fiercly. NHLGamer Staff already sends out congratulations for the promotion accomplishment and is looking forward to the very best ECL Pro hockey this season! The first two games of this intense matchup begin at 20:30 CET tonight and will be covered at the NHLGamerTwitch channel Furthermore, the Relegation Faceoffs between the two teams that finished in spots #13 and #14 in ECL Elite and the two ECL Pro semi-final losers will be kicked off as well. Unfortunately, ECL Elite team Nordic Nightmare already decided to disband after a dissapointing regular season, which means they will not participate in these games. Thus, they will also automatically lose their ECL Elite spot for ECL 6. This leaves us with two ECL Pro teams and just one ECL Elite team for the Relegation Faceoffs. Now, the whole point of playoff seeding, as constructed in our rules, is to assign the highest rated teams with the "easier" matchup as defined by the opposing teams performance. As such it would be illogical to give the easier opponent to the team that performed "worse", in this context. By applying our playoff seeding rules, the ECL Pro playoff team seeded as #1 for the Relegation series is Falun Coal Miners due to their two semi-final wins (= 10 Pro playoff wins in total). ECL Pro playoff seed #2 with 0 semi-final wins (= 8 Pro Playoff wins in total) is Pata Hellalla. As Nordic Nightmare have disbanded, they are not seeded (or considered seed #2 as they are the "easier" opponent due to not actually playing the games), which per default makes TIKI TALK ECL Elite seed #1 for this Relegation series. This leaves us with the following matchups: Pata Hellalla (Pro #2) vs. TIKI TALK (Elite #1) --- (-#) vs. Falun Coal Miners (Pro #1) As a result, Falun Coal Miners will be promoted to ECL Elite for ECL 6 automatically. TIKI TALK and Pata Hellalla will play for the last remaining ECL 6 Elite spot. FRAMEWORK (FINALS & RELEGATION FACEOFFS) Teams mentioned on the right side have their home game first, left = away. The Pro Finals and the Relegation Faceoffs are played in a best-of-7 series Both rounds start TONIGHT, and all games must be completed before December 20, 23:59 CET / December 21, 00:59 EET. Good luck to everyone for the final Elite and Pro games in ECL 5! @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

The ECL Pro finals will be televised! Evolution face off against Unlucky Boys HC as the two teams vie for the coveted grand prize after a long and successful run in the Pro division. Join Kenu and Janikka at the official NHL Gamer live stream at https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch Without further ado, jump in and talk to us!

Hey NHLGamers, The ECL 5 Elite Finals have been played and it turned out Aapon Taikasauva were absolutely unstoppable this season and they secured their championship with a 2-1 win in game 5 against SJK eSports. NHLGamer would hereby like to congratulate Aapon Taikasauva for being the new ECL Elite Champions! If you wish, you can watch all five of the finals here: https://www.twitch.tv/nhlgamertwitch/videos/all These are the series results: Game 1: SJK eSports @ Aapon Taikasauva | 0-4 Game 2: Aapon Taikasauva @ SJK eSports | 4-0 Game 3: SJK eSports @ Aapon Taikasauva | 2-1 OT Game 4: Aapon Taikasauva @ SJK eSports | 3-2 Game 5: SJK eSports @ Aapon Taikasauva | 1-2 Aapon Taikasauva Championship roster: G: #33 E. Larmi (aka swagx88) G: #49 F. Hardy (aka ICappeI) D: #27 S. Voynov (aka xDoumi) D: #29 W. Nylander (A) (aka nylanderi) D: #40 T. Torro (A) (aka jtorro1234) F: #9 S. Tuuba (C) (aka indi969) F: #55 L. Snapster (aka Puantso) F: #91 T. Domi (aka ShaneC27) F: #96 G. St-Pierre (aka Penatski) Aapon Taikasauva's road to the cup: 24 wins, 2 losses & 4 OT-losses during the regular season, ranked 1st Quarterfinals: 4-2 victory against Rusty Blades Semifinals: 4-3 victory against Northern Stars Finals: 4-1 victory against SJK eSports ECL 5 is not over yet though, as Pro and Lite Divisions are still fighting for their championships and promotions, with some really intense match-ups ahead. Make sure to keep an eye on further coverage! A more detailed ECL Elite season recap including award winners will be released in due time - stay tuned.

The European Championship League Elite season is reaching its peak tonight, as we head into game #5 between Aapon Taikasauva and SJK eSports. Aapon is one win away from the championship, but SJK was the dominant team yesterday despite the wins being 1-1 last night. Look forward to two hungry teams and at the end of the night we will celebrate the ECL 5 Elite champion! We will be broadcasting tonights battle on our Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/NHLGamerTwitch and you can watch the games there or below this news story. Tonight's games are commentated by: @janbonator, @Kenu and @OxtreeLAT The stream will be live from 20:45 CET and will take you through the rest of the ECL Elite Finals. Watch live video from NHLGamerTwitch on www.twitch.tv Without further ado, we hope you enjoy the stream and join us in the chat with some questions and comments.

The ECL 5 Elite season is at it's high point as Aapon Taikasauva (#1) is facing SJK eSports (#3) in the Best-of-7 Finals. Aapon Taikasauva was able to win the first two games 4-0 despite some good pressure by SJK eSports and it is possible that we will see a new champion tonight, unless SJK eSports is able to bounce back and challenge Aapo. You don't want to miss the pinnacle of 6vs6 eSports hockey! In case you missed the first two games and you want to watch those, you can do it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/207570643 We will be broadcasting tonights games (#3 & #4) on our Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/NHLGamerTwitch and you can watch the games there or below the news story. Tonight's games are commentated by: Jānis "@OxtreeLAT" Eglītis Jani "@janbonator" Keskinen The stream will be live from 21:45 CET and will take you through games #3 and #4 of the ECL Elite Finals. If needed, the info on the later rounds will be announced as the times are confirmed. Watch live video from NHLGamerTwitch on www.twitch.tv Without further ado, we hope you enjoy the stream and join us in the chat with some questions and comments.

NHLGamers, We have reached the semifinals phase of the ECL 5 Pro Playoffs and here are the playoff pairings and framework: FRAMEWORK Each pairing must be finished within 7 days from today, meaning last evening to play games is December 12th. Don't expect any extensions! All pairings are to be played in a best-of-7 series (teams on the left side below play home first) PRO PLAYOFFS Here is how last round ended: #1 Unlucky Boys HC vs. #8 THE UNITED KNIGHTS [4-0] #2 Nordic Stars vs. #7 Falun Coal Miners [3-4] #3 Gotham Knights vs. #6 Pata Hellalla [3-4] #4 Inter Iceland vs. #5 Evolution [2-4] This gives us the following pairings for the semifinals: #1 Unlucky Boys HC vs. #7 Falun Coal Miners #5 Evolution vs. #6 Pata Hellalla We offer our congratulations to Unlucky Boys HC, Falun Coal Miners, Evolution and Pata Hellalla for making the "final four" of ECL 5 Pro. All four teams will - at the very least - have the opportunity to play for a spot in Elite for ECL 6. An announcement from the LA department regarding the SJK-SKY case and the ECL finals will be released shortly. @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Hello NHLGamers, Round 4 is finalized in ECL5 - Lite and we have four winning teams that have gone on to semifinals: NORDIC NOSEBLEED vs DEADLY PHANTOMS 4 - 0 (4-3 OT, 4-2, 4-3, 4-1) This one was a big upset, as Nordic Nosebleed, ranked 15th place, played four really good matches against Deadly Phantoms, who were ranked first after the regular season. 4-0 to Nordic Nosebleed in matches, congratulations on a well-completed quarterfinal. RAGING MONKEYS vs EV DUISBURG 4 - 2 (3-2, 1-2, 2-4, 7-1, 5-2, 7-2) Raging Monkeys keep going strong in ECL and advanced after 4-2 in matches against EV Duisburg. ALMOST FAMOUS vs SQUAD VILTTIKETJU 4 - 0 (4-0, 8-0, 3-2OT, 3-2) Almost Famous stood as a winner after 4-0 in matches over Squad Vilttiketju, Almost Famous have had a great season so far. RED MACHINE vs FACE WASH HOCKEY 4 - 0 (1-0, 2-0, 1-0, N/A, N/A) Red Machine won their quarter-final series with 4-1 in matches over Face Wash Hockey. Here are the four teams that moved on and qualified for ECL - Pro next season: Nordic Nosebleed Almost Famous Raging Monkeys Red Machine We congratulate these four teams for advancing to ECL - Pro! NHLGamer would like to thank the teams Face Wash Hockey, EV Duisburg, Deadly Phantoms and Squad Vilttiketju for their participation in our league, well played by all of you! But the playoff is not over and now it's time to play two finalists in ECL 5 - Lite. There are two really exciting semifinal series that we will follow. Here are the next two series in the Semi-finals: Almost Famous vs Nordic Nosebleed Raging Monkeys vs Red Machine Framework Teams mentioned on the left side have their home game first The quarter-finals are played in a best-of-7 series, meaning the first team to rack up 4 wins proceeds to the semi-finals The round starts today, and all games must be completed before December 13, 23:59 CET / December 14, 00:59 EET Good luck to everyone!

NHLGamers, Here are the playoff pairings and framework for Round 2 of the ECL 5 playoffs for Pro & Elite: FRAMEWORK Each pairing, Elite or Pro, must be finished within 7 days from today, meaning last evening to play games is December 5th. Don't expect any extensions! All pairings are to be played in a best-of-7 series (teams on the left side below play home first) PRO PLAYOFFS After the cross-seeding of the first round between Group 1 and Group 2, we now return to our usual points per game seeding for the rest of the playoffs. Here is how last round ended: Gotham Knights vs. J P T J [2-1, final two games WO from J P T J due to no players available in the alloted time] SIKA vs. THE UNITED KNIGHTS [3-4] Inter Iceland vs. EN HUND [4-2] Lavetten vs. Pata Hellalla [2-4] Unlucky Boys HC vs. Alliance HT [4-2] Shameful Knights vs. Falun Coal Miners [1-4] Nordic Stars vs. White Trash [4-2] Baltic Sea Eagles vs. Evolution [3-4] This gives us the following pairings for Round 2 (new seeds based on points per game relative to each other in regular season): #1 Unlucky Boys HC vs. #8 THE UNITED KNIGHTS #2 Nordic Stars vs. #7 Falun Coal Miners #3 Gotham Knights vs. #6 Pata Hellalla #4 Inter Iceland vs. #5 Evolution ELITE PLAYOFFS For Elite, these were the results of Round 1. Aapon Taikasauva vs. Rusty Blades [4-2] Carlsberg HC vs. Northern Stars [3-4] SJK eSports vs. Northern Ascendancy [4-2] Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty [4-0] This gives us the following pairings for Round 2 (seeds remain unchanged = sorted by points per game in regular season): #1 Aapon Taikasauva vs. #7 Northern Stars #3 SJK eSports vs. #4 Written In The Stars Good luck to all teams and see you for Round 3! ECL Lite announcement regarding Round 3 will be out tomorrow. @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Lamsa - Rusty Blades (RB) ECL Hidden Gems is a concept that was created by @The_Alpha_Furyan and @pnordetun (patovic). The idea evolved out of discussions concerning what type of content patovic himself would like to see more of at NHLGamer.com and what kind of texts he'd be most interested in writing. Hidden Gems, for the purposes of this feature, means players that the author feels haven't quite gotten their time to shine at NHLGamer or players that aren't getting full credit for the skill they bring to the table. This is the second edition in a six-part series that patovic has written so do enjoy the witty writing of "pato" and leave a comment with your thoughts on the piece. After the first edition of Hidden Gems, which was more of a "old school" type gem, we return with this second installment that is focused on a player that manages to be a veteran and a new addition to the community both at the same time. I am of course talking about good ol' @Lamsafrom Rusty Blades - a man so good on the offensive side of the puck that all of your team better be prepared to focus 110% when going up against Rusty Blades. The franchise itself has only participated in ECLs 3, 4 & 5 but wow (!) have they been taking some major steps in the right direction. After making their debut in ECL 3 to mixed reviews (IMDB rating: 6,1), they went back to the drawing board and decided to grind out some serious practice. And by "some", I mean a lot. I am not sure if any team played more EASHL games than Rusty between ECL 3 and 4 but they managed to do exactly what they set out to do - build a foundation for their style of play and learn how to play against (and defeat) the very best ECL teams. Under captain @Tanski87, Rusty have perfected the art of "brunk and dump hockey" mixed with some tic tac toe and have managed to make it the key to their success. In all this, Lamsa is the true catalyst: leading the way with all the different types of goals, assists and dirtyness only a true Kantor can bring. While being underrated on the defensive side of things - he describes himself as a defensive playmaker - Lamsa is most comfortable scoring points using his straight-forward style (the anti-skill hockey?) that has resulted in 155 goals and 101 assist in 112 games played. The fact that Lamsa is Rustys go-to guy in the scoring department get quite obvious when you consider the fact that in ECL 3 (Legacy) he scored 20 points more than anyone else on the RB squad. For next season, ECL 4 (Pro), he finished a full 33 points ahead of #2 and finally, in ECL 5 (Elite) he managed to repeat the feat once more by scoring 14 points more than his closest teammate. Now, Rusty has managed to build what many call the ultimate teamplay-focused team where every skater is a key cog in the machinery and they have certainly become one of the best at what they do, but when the chips are down and they need that one key play - Lamsa is most likely smack in the middle of it. Before ECL 5 I am sure many were curious how RB and Lamsa would hold up against Elite competition, but both of them certainly managed to put a sock in the mouth of their detractors. Rusty Blades by finishing 8th overall, making the playoffs and pushing Aapon Taikasauva to six games in their playoff series and Lamsa by scoring 25 goals and finishing tied for 9th in Goals amongst all Elite skaters. I think we can safely establish once and for all that, unlike the Dent Act and Roberts Rebellion, Lamsa is not built on a lie. Lamsa Fact Box [Player profile] Lauri Lämsä, Finland ECL All-Time Stats: 112GP, 155G, 101A, 256P, +33 Participated in ECL 3, 4 & 5 at NHLGamer: all three for Rusty Blades Favors the RW position in EASHL Part of Rusty Blades squad that got promoted from ECL Pro - ECL Elite after ECL 4 Runner-up and silver medalist for the 50 Shades of Blades in Summer Cup 2 Text by: @pnordetun Intro and editing by: @The_Alpha_Furyan Art by: @OxtreeLAT

ECL 5 - Elite Playoffs A week after the ECL 5 Lite playoffs kicked off, Pro and Elite are now heading into the most exciting time of the season too! The Pro playoffs will be covered in a seperate post, so if you are a Pro team be sure to check that out. Time to cover Elite! FRAMEWORK Each pairing, championship or promotion/relegation faceoffs, must be finished within 7 days of the series' start date. Don't expect any extensions! All pairings are to be played in a best-of-7 series (teams on the left side below play home first) ELITE PLAYOFFS The very best 8 teams are about to enter the final stages of the most exciting 6 vs. 6 competition NHLGamer has to offer! It's where everlasting stories are written (no pun intended) and true heroes are born. The ECL Elite playoffs starts off with these 4 pairings: Aapon Taikasauva vs. Rusty Blades Carlsberg HC vs. Northern Stars SJK eSports vs. Northern Ascendancy Written In The Stars vs. Dynasty ELITE RELEGATION FACEOFFS The teams that finished 13th and 14th in the standings will pause for a bit until two ECL Pro semi-final losers are determined. Thus, while two Elite teams are relegated instantly (see below), a strong ECL Pro representation could potentially open up two more Elite spots: Nordic Nightmare vs. ECL Pro semi-final loser 1 (series starts when ECL Pro semi-finals are finished) TIKI TALK vs. ECL Pro semi-final loser 2 (series starts when ECL Pro semi-finals are finished) ECL RELEGATIONS Synergy Hockey and Nordic Lightning weren't able to get it done in Elite this season and are relegated to ECL Pro for ECL 6. However, there's no time for frustration - charge the batteries and come back strong in ECL 6! THE (UN)LUCKY FEW? MUKIMIEHET, Kattiautomaatti, Sjukstugan and Silver Sword Griffins finished the season ranked 9 to 12 and will remain in ECL Elite for ECL 6. While MUKIMIEHET came very close to making the playoffs, the other teams were in danger of being relegated but managed to evade it. With new Pro teams entering the ring, things are only going to get tougher in the future, so stay focused and keep building those rosters to not share the fates of Synergy Hockey's and Nordic Lightning's next season. Best of luck to everyone and see you on the ice! @The_Alpha_Furyan & @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com

ECL 5 - Lite Playoffs It is time to get the Lite Playoffs underway and below you will find the playoff pairings that will get it done. Before you scroll down, the NHLGamer.com staff would like to thank all 48 Lite teams who finished the ECL 5 season. You guys truly rock and despite some hard decisions that were forced to be made here towards the end of the season, we hope to see all of you back again for ECL 6 (regardless if it is in Lite or Pro!) when it starts up in January 2018. Thank you. Note that all the playoff series are to be played in the Best of 7-format. Playoff pairings (left = home, right = away, seeds marked with #) # 1 Deadly Phantoms HC vs. # 32 (WILDCARD) Bucketeers # 2 SGWEER United vs. # 31 (WILDCARD) Roistot # 3 Almost Famous vs. # 30 KulmalaHengaus # 4 Raging Monkeys vs. # 29 Rising Phantoms HC # 5 Red Machine vs. # 28 Slapshot Club Germany # 6 Face Wash Hockey vs. # 27 IN4MOUS # 7 Try Another Hole vs. # 26 Ice Phoenix # 8 EV Duisburg vs. # 25 Rusty Bulls # 9 HC Aurinko vs. # 24 Breakers of The Bone # 10 Squad Vilttiketju vs. # 23 Nottingham Chiefs # 11 RAKETTIPUTKET vs. # 22 Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat # 12 The Beagle Boys vs. # 21 Mentula SKA # 13 Penalty Box vs. # 20 Lucky Strike # 14 Nearbird Fighters vs. # 19 Finnish Hockey Legends # 15 Nordic Nosebleed vs. # 18 Freddie Mercury Institute # 16 Nordic Eagles vs. # 17 Puck Panthers Playoff schedule To be able to complete ECL 5 Lite before Christmas, this is the exact timeline that needs to be held for the playoffs. No extra time will be given during these playoffs as we won't be able to complete the playoffs before the holidays in that case and if there is one thing I am sure we can all agree on, is that we dont want a repeat of ECL 3 where the "christmas break" turned out to be devastating for the playoffs. Anyway, here is the schedule: Round 1: Starts 2017-11-16 (TODAY!) with last day to play games 2017-11-22 Round 2: Starts 2017-11-23 with last day to play games 2017-11-29 Round 3 (Quarterfinals): Starts 2017-11-30 with last day to play games 2017-12-06 Round 4 (Semi-finals): Starts 2017-12-07 with last day to play games 2017-12-13 Round 5 (Finals): Starts 2017-12-14 with last day to play games 2017-12-20 The playoff tree and schedule can be found here: https://nhlgamer.com/league.php?leagueID=25&gameType=regular&show=playoffs Good luck to all remaining teams. Text by: @The_Alpha_Furyan Art by: @Lurkins & @OxtreeLAT

ECL 5 - The Road So Far If any of you out there happens to be a fan of the CW show Supernatural (as I am), this article title is for you! For those of you who have yet to watch the show (currently in its 13th season), the "road so far" refers to when the show - at the end of each season - recaps everything that has been going on thus far and prepares the viewers for what is to come in the finale. With the ECL 5 playoffs fast approaching as a sort of finale to this season, I thought it'd be appropriate to create something similar, a recap of what has been going on so far. 97 teams - 3 championships While the NHLGamer staff had hoped to breach the "100 barrier" for registered ECL teams this season, 97 teams is still an amazing feat. Up from last seasons 78 teams, we take this as a sign that the interest for 6v6 EASHL continues to increase at a rapid pace. Add the 20 teams that are currently participating in our Russian league, RCL, and the registration number all of sudden jumps significantly, to 117 total. Glad to have all of you onboard! The 97 ECL teams were divided into three divisions, as is custom these days, based on merit where 16 teams ended up in ECL Elite, 32 in ECL Pro and 49 in ECL Lite. Lets see what has been going on in these vipers nests, shall we? [Please note that this article was written yesterday afternoon, meaning Standings were collected 2017-11-05] ECL 5 Elite As it currently stands, Northern Stars (NOS) is at the top of the ECL Elite standings, albeit with a full 26 games played which is more than any other team in any division. Even so, this team has bounced back from a slow start to establish themselves as the championship favorite they were predicted to be ahead of this season. Looking at the teams recent games, they display a remarkable effectiveness when it comes to being able to win games while rotating different lineups. Other teams that have delivered on the pre-season promise of being top tier teams are Carlsberg, Written In the Stars, SJK eSports and Aapon Taikasauva. The biggest surprise in Elite so far has to be Rusty Blades who are hanging tough with all teams so far and sporting a 1.1 points per game average as a team. Should they continue at this pace, odds are they will make it to the playoffs. Quite the upset for a team that joined the league as a last-minute replacement team! A lot of credit for their success thus far has to be placed with RBs team defense and goaltending who have been outstanding. Looking at the teams that are hovering around the cutoff line for the playoffs, expect Dynasty to rise up a bit in the standings and look out for TIKI TALK to surprise as they continue to gain points in almost every game they play. Other teams that could potentially climb in the standings are Synergy and Northern Ascendancy who have both been struggling but have as little as 12 games played. Finally, look for Kattiautomaatti, MUKIMIEHET, Nordic Nightmare and Sjukstugan to continue to duke it out for those final playoff spots. Arriving at the bottom of the standings we find Silver Sword Griffins and Nordic Lightning, two teams that have been struggling to score goals with under 1.5 goals forward per game. Many expected NL to experience a challenging season but their recent form is actually quite positive. SSG probably hoped for a higher position but Elite is tougher than ever and it will take all of their fortitude and discipline to turn this tough start around. ECL 5 Pro - Group 1 Moving on to Group 1 in ECL Pro you find a very, very tight race at the top of the standings with Gotham Knights and Evolution tied at the very top and Falun Coal Miners, White Trash, Inter Iceland and SIKA within 2 points of each other, giving chase to the "top dogs". It is quite impressive to see Gotham Knights (formerly Refuse To Lose) bounce back significantly after their challenging ECL 4. Evolution is another positive surprise as many probably expected them to be good, but not this good! Give credit to their team management for some shrew player signings that pushed them over the top. SIKA sports one of the best points per game team averages and with 5 games in 5 nights coming up for them, could make a push for #1 overall. Teams like Black Panther Party, God Tier, Lavetten and murohoki (who has been a team on a mission since they signed a few new key players) continues to battle hard for a playoff spot with Alliance being the cunning shark lurking at the bottom of the sea with a solid points average but just 12 games played. Moving on we find Hawks Hockey Club, AK47, Squirt Hockey and Nemesis who hope to grasp that final straw for the playoffs while at the same avoiding relegation. Finally, Bare Knuckles Hockey prepares to defend their spot in Pro in the Pro-Lite qualifiers. ECL 5 Pro - Group 2 Pro Group 2 has a little more separation between the so-called "top dogs" and the playoff hopefuls. Baltic Sea Eagles, Nordic Stars, Shameful Knights and Unlucky Boys has a firm grip on the Top 4 spots and will most likely hold on to these spots in some combination. Look out teams 5-8 in Group 1, because these guys look ready for the playoffs. The biggest surprise to me in Group 2 is Pata Hellalla who has quietly put together a good season and looks poised to clinch a playoff spot if they keep their current form. Giving chase to these underdogs we find what I like to call the "Caps Lock 4"; EN HUND, THE UNITED KNIGHTS, DEAD END KINGS and J P T J. In the mix for playoff spots we also find Sypperstaars, Speedy Bros Hockey, Clowns on Ice. Caught up in the same battle we also find the lost 5th "Caps Lock brother" in GHETTO FIREBIRDS and veteran Swedish team Free From Rodents. Finally, Banterfield Battalion will have to shift into a higher gear to avoid the negative qualifiers that Bellizzi will have to start preparing for. See you next time right here at NHLGamer.com when it is time to take a look at ECL Lite. Text by: @The_Alpha_Furyan Art by: @Lurkins and @Kenu

ECL 5 - The Road So Far: Lite We are back to take a look at the 49 teams that currently reside in Lite. For some, the season is already over with all 18 games being played but for many this week represents the final chance to sneak into a playoff spot. Who will get a chance to advance to Pro? Who will have to come back even hungrier for ECL 6? Lets find out! [Please note that this article was written Monday afternoon, meaning the text refers to standings as they were on 2017-11-06] ECL Lite - Group 1 At the very top of Group 1 we find Raging Monkeys who have turned in an impressive campaign as a rookie ECL franchise. Propelled by their insane goal scoring prowess (the team is averaging over 5 goals per game) they lead a group that looks to be very tight at the top. Behind RM we find four other teams (Finnish Hockey Legends, Lucky Strike, Freddie Mercury Institute and pre-season favorite Face Wash Hockey) within a span of just four points. This means the race for the 6th and final playoff spot will most likely come down to two teams, Puck Panthers and Roistot. Should one of these two not make it, they still have a decent chance to be one of the two "lucky 7ths"; meaning one of the two 7th place teams that make the Lite playoffs as a wild card. Teams Nuggetz, Terrific Tigers and PUNANEN REHTORI will have to consider this a learning season. ECL Lite - Group 2 In Group 2 its the top trio of Penalty Box, EV Duisburg and Red Machine leading the charge with 20+ points. These powerhouses look to be the top seeds for a group that features quite a few known teams from the community. The trio is followed by the Finnish team with the un-pronounceable name (Rukoilevat Hinkkaajat), the Swedish-British hybrids Nottingham Chiefs and Russian RCL top team Ice Phoenix who all look poised to make the playoffs. Battling for the final playoff spot we find Kouvola Screaming Eagles and Phantoms HC who are still neck and neck in the race. Finally, Rasend Krokodil and Cold Turkeys will have to reload for ECL 6. ECL Lite - Group 3 In ECL Lite Group 3 we find the second and third "Phantom HC"-teams in this division. Outside of Phantoms HC in Group 2, Group 3 features Deadly Phantoms HC and Rising Phantoms HC. Could "Phantoms" be the new favorite ECL team name and overtake previous champion "Nordic"? Only time will tell! Anyway, at the top of this group is the deadly version of the Phantoms who are on their way to making ECL Lite history by going undefeated throughout the entire regular season. I would not want to be the team facing this squad in the playoffs. Other teams that will most likely make the playoffs are Try Another Hole, HC Aurinko, Rising Phantoms HC, INF4MOUS and Pohjoista Voimaa with Soldiers of Odens and KulmalaHengaus both struggling to get in. Donec Reges will have to come back stronger in ECL 6. ECL Lite - Group 4 Group 4 looks pretty much set at the top with Almost Famous clinching the top seed and The Beagle Boys and Mentula SKA finishing either 2nd or 3rd. Behind them we find veteran ECLers Elämäm Kiekko (who look poised for a deep playoff run), Nearbird Fighters of the RCL, Nordic Nosebleed and Breakers Of The Bone all in contention for spots 4-6. For South Sweden Panthers, DarrasStars and Papat - the ECL Lite season is over but odds are they will come back stronger next season from this experience. ECL Lite - Group 5 Finally, we arrive at Group 5 where SGWEER United should clinch the top spot unless they lose both their final games and Squad Vilttiketju wins all of their remaining games. In the #3 spot we find Nordic Eagles, a new Swedish team that has been a positive surprise thus far and behind them at #4 is Rusty Bulls of the RCL. Other teams that could have a shot at the playoffs are Bucketeers, Slapshot Club Germany, Burns Beardy Bastards and RAKETTIPUTKET. At the bottom, HC Nappiaivot and Dirty Animals most likely will not make the playoffs this time but credit to them for hanging in there and collecting points. That's it for ECL Elite, Pro and Lite. Good luck to all teams for the rest of the season and talk to you all again soon when the playoffs arrive. Text by: @The_Alpha_Furyan Art by: @Lurkins and @Kenu

NHLGamers, We are proud to introduce our ECL 5 Lite where we will have 49 participating teams. These 49 teams consists of well known franchises from previous ECL season, teams which played 6vs6 games as early as NHL12 and newcomers - so this ECL 5 Lite season holds an interesting mix of teams. This will be our Lite preview and it is based on what I know of these teams so feel free to hit 'Comment' on the article if you agreed or disagreed. Prediction for the Regular Season Top-5 1. Almost Famous In pre-season games this team have shown a tremendous amount of success. They have managed to beat Elite teams left and right. Their heart and soul player is se_ve420 and I believe he will decide if this team goes far or not. Almost Famous is real contender to win Lite, but can they find consistency in their performance in the big games? 2. Face Wash Hockey This might be one of the oldest teams I know of. FWH have true depth in their roster so they can call up anyone on main roster for ECL play. At this point I have got to bring up a few players which are, in my opinion, true legends of the 6v6 scene. Taemtaem, ARSI_69, NorppaAsd, Korkkiruuvi_82 - I bow to your history. It brings back memories of one of the older 6v6 finals between Woodhands vs. Face Wash Hockey. Good times! Question mark here is; can these skilled players shake the rust off their hands and find that group chemistry they were known for back in the day? 3. Deadly Phantoms HC This is another "old-time" team who has regrouped and added more skill to their previous player core of willywonkaa, The_Rayman80, doksdel. On paper, DPC has some really impressive players and when you a player like XxTHENEXTONE87xX its an easy prediction to make that this team will be one of the major contenders for this season. 4. Try Another Hole TAH is a fast-paced team that will tear you apart if you don’t defend against them as a 5-man unit. This team features on of ECL Lites best offensive duos in hegyttaja and ankkalasvegas. Recent addition juntunen88 makes them even stronger, not to mention he is an ex-Infinity player so, what more do I need to say? This team will improve their overall game over the course of the ECL season so be afraid, be very afraid. Furthermore, in my book this team would have been a Pro team, but they decided to stick to Lite which tells you how down to earth these guys are. 5. Breakers Of The Bone I am going to quote one of the best Javelin throwers from Finland here: When the interviewing reporter asked Seppo Räty after the javelin qualifiers in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics: “How could your throw be so successfull when you'd only had one big competition to prepare before these games”? Seppo answered, “... and 20 years.” This quote fits perfectly with this team. They have so much experience from big games and from playing together in older NHL versions. One of the big "inside" questions here is does the Nevala brothers still play or not? Oh and Seppo Räty? He won an Olympic bronze medal in Atlanta. Players to watch 1. CalciChew69, LW – Penalty Box One of the best offensive LW’ers in early years of the 6v6 scene. ‘Calci’ has tons of creativity, tremendous individual skills and is overall very dangerous in the offensive zone. His trademark is to create a scoring change out of nothing. He might lack some physicality, but he can definitely beat you 1-on-1. This is his comeback year in EASHL. 2. Yoloberg, C - Face Wash Hockey Yoloberg is known as a good Versus and HUT player. ‘Yolo’ is a mobile, transitional two-way playmaker who looks poised and reads the game well most of the time. Strong skater who likes to carry the puck on his own and if you give him just glimps of free space and time he’ll punish you. All-in all, a very competitive playmaker who can be relied upon in all situations to make a difference. 3. JaKurrii, C - Red Machine An extremely talented two-way center, JaKurrii has a large dose of hockey sense and soft hands. His technical skills are very good and his trademark is smooth puck handling and ability to find his linemates in tight spots. People might also know him as a successful HUT player. 4. |tokFan|, C - The Beagle Boys Complete two-way center who first and foremost is a true competitor. TokFan always plays like there is 10 seconds left on the clock, he never takes a shift off and works hard to never have a bad game. He plays to win, not for himself, but for the team he captains. He’s also exceptional in the faceoff circle. 5. Lidaas_79, RW – Nordic Nosebleed Dynamic offensive forward who backchecks very hard and understands playing smart and puck-possession hockey. Lida will battle hard on all three zones and shows willingness to do whatever it to takes to get puck to the back in the net. You could call him weak version of ‘Lämsä’. 6. willywonkaa, G – Deadly Phamtom HC This goaltenders track record goes back all the way to NHL12. He might be one of the oldest goaltender in the game but he plays his angles conservatively, moves very well and doesn’t move or play too aggressive. willywonkaa tracks the puck well and doesn’t allow many rebounds. Cornerstone to his team success. 7. Jahajaha93, RD – Almost Famous Having a breakout year in NHL 18 for sure if you look at his pre-season games. Has improved his overall game by a large margin compared to last year. His name doesn’t always flash on the scoreboard, but he does everything well in the defensive zone and can carry the puck if needed. Next JaikenK maybe? 8. Britn1, LD/RD – Elämäm Kiekko Defenseman who has good overall skills. He's a little better defensively than offensively, but has yet to flourish as a two-way defender. The tool box is there but we haven’t seen it transition to the ice fully. Overall a patient player who positions himself well. Doesn’t like to hit, but plays the body enough to consistently steal the puck. Could be his breakout year too! 9. ankkalasvegas, C – Try Another Hole, A true two-way center who will be a Top-10 faceoff guy. Really special guy to have for the penalty killing. Has the complete set: strong physical presence, strong defense, solid skill and his trademark goal, slapshot on the breakaway. Weak side could be that his physical play sometimes leads to him taking too many penalties. Has a real chance to win "Best Player"-trophy for ECL 5 Lite. 10. RutonMosse, RW – Soldiers Of Odens, Still a young prospect who has all the tools to be "the real deal superstar", but have yet to find consistency in his game. He’s very strong with the puck and possesses some creative, quick hands - allowing him to get fancy with the puck on the rush. Could easily be the overall goal scoring winner in this seasons Lite division. Underdogs: Teams to watch 1. Soldiers OF Odens They have a monster offensive upside, but will their skaters work out how to play as a 5-man unit? This team can go to the end if they remember to defend properly. 2. Elämäm Kiekko EMK have kept their original roster and they have clearly improved their game. Nowadays you can’t find many holes in their game. With this squad, consistency will be the biggest issue but I believe these boys are a playoff team for sure. 3. Finnish Hockey Legends FHL has a good grasp of the game and knows how to play the game right way. Really impressive possession game, but lack of experience in tight games could be an issue. Very interesting team! Phew, the more I dig in to teams, the more questions pops up. This has the potential to be a really special season for ECL Lite. We're seeing so many old teams return to the ice who are facing off with all our exciting newcomers. This season will decide if the ‘old timers’ have what it takes for this tight ECL league or if NHL 18 is the game of the "new generation". As I mentioned many times in this preview, consistency will be the key word for many teams this season. Lets enjoy this and keep the game clean, I wish everyone good luck and see you on the ice. Please note: Company of Geeks has sadly decided to withdraw their participation last night at the doorstep of the season. Best regards, @Ranksu for NHLGamer.com Editing: @The_Alpha_Furyan

Greetings, gamers! After a well-deserved breather following last season’s Game 7 thriller, it’s time to rust off your blades, as ECL 5 Elite is set to start with a bang. Twelve teams from ECL 4 Elite, four teams from ECL 4 Pro and only 8 playoff spots to compete for – we are looking at another season of action-packed excitement. The offseason was very busy with major roster shuffle in several teams. However, the balance of power has not seemed to shift that much. As an introduction to the new season, here’s a prediction of how the teams stand, mostly based on personal observations and EASHL performance during the pre-season. The teams are listed alphabetically within their respective categories. The Contenders The reigning champions Laser HT are now known as SJK eSports. Team captain Dominointi, who represents the eSports organization personally as well, is expected to be on full form early on, having continued his successful season with a victorious Summer Cup. SJK goes into the season with no major changes in the lineup – and with a champion status, nothing points out they would not be contenders for the new season. Written In The Stars has been one of the strongest teams in the pre-season. DieCutterMC from Dynasty is a great fit to the team. They will look to repeat their start from last year and only a few have doubts they will succeed at that. A blend of slick moves and unorthodox plays; at times, juggling on the fine line between effective and entertaining. Carlsberg HC is back in the Elite division, to which it undoubtedly belongs. There were two very interesting additions to Carlsberg HC in the form of Vilupoika and KingofApes. With one of the best offensive rosters in the league, this team intends to win the last game of the season and light the lamp on the way through. MUKIMIEHET introduced Pair4You back into the lineup. The core of the team has stuck around together for a while already, and with a well-balanced offensive and defensive style of play, the cup is within the reach of these guys. The Challengers Aapon Taikasauva saw a lot of changes over the summer. In came Nylanderi, Penatski, Puantso, Cappe and ShaneC27. They have all the tools to make it a championship team, but the tournament is short and with so many changes, time is not on their side. With arguably the highest potential of improving their game throughout the season, they probably don’t top the Challenger list only alphabetically. Dynasty was as close as it gets to winning last year, but a lot of roster changes happened over the summer and it will probably take a while to get back the routine level to where it was. To highlight the changes made, the starting roster is expected to feature only 2 skaters who finished the season with the team in ECL 4. Nevertheless, Dynasty is still one of the best defensive teams out there – come playoffs, anything is possible. Northern Ascendancy drained the swamp, being no more known as Unknown. Instead, the team is known for their fast, creative and lethal counter-attacks. One of the best teams in neutral zone transitions, and often catch opponents out of formation. Very strong when given the chance to play with their strengths. Nordic Lightning is one of the teams with most roster changes during the offseason. From the brink of folding the club, Terrorsenko|91| managed to get a squad together. The hard work has only just begun though; most teams in the Elite division have a solid head-start in preparation and Nordic Lightning faces a tough task should they try to clinch a playoff spot. Likely to rely on defensive play and quick rushes up the ice. Nordic Nightmare come into the tournament as a bit of a mystery. The team has been a rare sight during the pre-season, but reports say they’ve been building chemistry over the summer in a whole different genre of games. However, the changes to the lineup weren’t big during the offseason, and they should be on form quickly. Northern Stars was another team to make a big double-signing, when PleeMaker and tbnantti inked their names on a contract. Last season they were a very productive duo, and will be interesting to see how they adapt to the new environment. If they can get everything clicking, Northern Stars has the potential to win the tournament; but as I see it, they are not there yet. Synergy, another long-standing franchise from Sweden, finds themselves in a rather similar spot to past tournaments; ready to challenge any team on the ice, and beat them on a good day. Known for strong cycle plays and utilizing all 5 skaters in all phases of the game, the experience level emanates from the blue-and-yellow uniforms. Missing out on the playoffs would be a disappointment. TIKI TALK starts another season with an under-dog status. Patient defense and success with their stingy counter-attacks, and TIKI TALK is right on their game. Team captain itspardytime has been around for a long time and knows how to rob the points from bigger teams. Nevertheless, a playoff spot is probably out of reach. The Arrivals Kattiautomaatti N/A, author's team. How will Katti do in Elite? Share your thoughts in the comments section! Rusty Blades was eventually rewarded for their strong season in Pro with a last-minute Elite spot for ECL 5. These Finns start the season with a virtually unchanged lineup. They are a strong defensive team with good goaltending, often able to catch out match favorites. Silver Sword Griffins is one of the four new teams in Elite this season, and they’ll be looking to cement their place at the highest tier. SSG has a very balanced lineup, including three winners from the previous Summer Cup. The structure and organization of their game is more developed and rigid than with most other teams. Contending for a playoff spot. Sjukstugan makes their entry into the Elite tier in an uncomfortable position after losing their n. 1 goalie right on the doorstep of the new season. With some additional roster shuffling in the offseason, Sjukstugan could be facing a rocky start with their new campaign. Stories to Follow In a big picture, there are always interesting finer details. There are several new teams ready to leave their mark in Elite, Carlsberg HC even looking at setting a standard on what can be achieved straight after promotion. On an individual player level, there is so much to follow. Here are a few stories that I will be following with interest: 3+2=?: Can tbnantti and PleeMaker continue to be the offensive powerhouse we saw in the past, will the new roster start clicking, and will it make NOS great again? Rusty on both ends: Can Lamsa keep up his goal scoring numbers for the Rusty Blades, now at the highest tier? Can Supreex do the same goaltending-wise in the other end of the ice? The League Sheriff: SadaPoika was an interesting addition by Sjukstugan; not least because he is the only forward in the Elite league to regularly play with an enforcer build. What are looking forward to this season? Do you have a team or a player you will keep an eye on? Who wins, who relegates? Tell us your thoughts! Keep those streams running, and as always, good luck & have fun!

NHLGamers, The time has come for ECL 5 to get started and here is the Preview for the ECL 5 Pro division. This is the second season under the ECL divisional umbrella and Pro this season looks to be even tighter than last season. While there are some very high-skill teams participating this season as well, there aren't any clear-cut favorites the same way a team like Carlsberg HC was for ECL 4 Pro. On the other hand, that should make this regular season a sight to behold. This is taken directly from @gzell60s excellent ECL 5 launch summary: Group 1 AK 47 Alliance HT Bare Knuckles Hockey Black Panther Party Evolution Falun Coal Miners God Tier Gotham Knights Hawks Hockey Club Inter Iceland Lavetten Murohoki Nemesis SIKA Squirt Hockey White Trash Lets begin by taking a look at the teams added to Pro Group 1 by application (marked in bold). 4 out of the 9 teams promoted through application ended up in Group 1. Out of those, Black Panther Party had the strongest original claim due to their Quarterfinal berth in the ECL 4 Lite playoffs. The remaining "application teams" - God Ties, Squirt Hockey & Falun Coal Miners - will have their work cut out for them to qualify for the playoffs among established teams like SIKA, Gotham Knights and White Trash. Speaking of which, both SIKA and Gotham Knights (under the name "Refuse To Lose") both participated in ECL 4 Elite and will be hungry to prove themselves after getting demoted. On the other side of the spectrum, Group 1 also features two teams that made their way up from Lite last season by going far in the playoffs: Lavetten and Hawks Hockey Club. Look for both these teams to finish high in this group as they have continued to develop their team play since that promotion. Finally, you got to keep your eyes open for a team like White Trash who came close to getting promoted to Elite last season. Projected Top 3 from Group 1: 1. SIKA - Never underestimate the Hogs. If anyone is going to turn their trend around and work them back to being an Elite-level team, it is captain and leader vSilenttio. 2. White Trash - Did well in the playoffs in ECL 4 Pro and hasn't lost a step since. With some of the biggest dogs (Carlsberg, Sjukstugan, Kattiautomaatti, Silver Sword Griffins) out of the way, it wouldn't be a surprise to see White Trash evolve into one of the new big dogs of Pro. 3. Gotham Knights - It is time for a bounce-back season from dynamic duo Hanssoni and RedMisTi. After being at the very top of the ladder for many seasons in the predecessor to ECL (the EHL), they haven't quite found their groove in the ECL yet. This season presents an excellent opportunity to do so! Players to watch from Group 1: 1. ZipPlayer & Kaneyh, White Trash - Dynamic duo that has led White Trash in scoring the last two seasons (one each). With White Trash expected to be one of the highest scoring teams in ECL Pro Group 1, the board is set for these two to put up 100+ points each if they play enough games during the season. 2. KattenJansson97, Lavetten - Highly skilled center who handles the puck with ease and supplies highlight reel goals more often than not. Likely to be the leading scorer for up-and-coming Swedish team Lavetten, Katten will have to make sure to stay grounded in his two-way game to handle the rigors of a Pro season. 3. SpiderRoyal, SIKA - One of the most experienced goaltenders in the Group, Spider is a calming presence between the pipes for SIKA. Will be expected to shoulder the majority of the teams games in net and there is no doubt in my mind that this veteran keeper can do it. Underdog - Team to watch from Group 1: 1. Evolution (previously Nocturnal Hunters) - With the late additions of TackleControl and topikeranen to a team that already featured Jageksi as the anchor of the offense, Evolution just jumped to the top of the list as one of the overall most dangerous offensive teams. It would not be a surprise to see this team pull of some crazy performances under captain Crisu_Rottis and end up as one of the top seeds in the playoffs. Look out! Group 2 Baltic Sea Eagles Banterfield Battalion Bellizzi Clowns on Ice DEAD END KINGS EN HUND Free From Rodents GHETTO FIREBIRDS J P T J Nordic Stars Pata Hellalla Shameful Knights Speedy Bros Hockey Sypperstaars THE UNITED KNIGHTS Unlucky Boys HC The teams promoted by application in this group were Banterfield Battalion, Clowns on Ice, EN HUND, Ghetto Firebirds and THE UNITED KNIGHTS. If you see one team name there that stands out, it is most likely THE UNITED KNIGHTS. Besides having their name featured in ALL CAPS, this team has a long and storied history as a top team, dating back even to the PS3 tournaments. Outsides of these five, returning Pro franchises Unlucky Boys HC and Shameful Knight have their eyes fixed on achieving what they barely fell short of last season, making the Elite division. Teams J P T J and DEAD END KINGS will feel instantly comfortable in the Pro division with the increased competition seeing as they flew high through Lite last season. Finally, never count long-time franchise Baltic Sea Eagles out of the fight. Projected Top 3 from Group 2: 1. Unlucky Boys HC - Fell short last season but will be one of the top teams from Group 2, anything else will surely be dissapointing for captain Anhel_Kuru and his established, high-skill team. 2. Shameful Knights - Anyone who has played Shameful Knights in regular EASHL competition know that they are a frustrating team to play against. Content with turning the puck back to their defenders, the patient play style of this team has gotten many teams in trouble before. With their opponents lulled into a false sense of security, the Shameful Knights have the ability to strike suddendly and dart through the opposing teams defense. 3. THE UNITED KNIGHTS - Big-time franchise that is returning to ECL competition after a long layoff but hasn't looked rusty at all when doing it. TUK has given EASHL opponents fits so far in NHL 18 and while the season hasn't gotten going yet, it is safe to say that the name THE UNITED KNIGHTS will be feared once more before too long. Players to watch from Group 2: 1. Johataja699, Speedy Bros Hockey - Ahead of ECL 5, the captain, heart and soul of Finnish Roosters saw his once great team on the verge of collapsing. To keep this from happening, he teamed up with hard-hitting defender Ampuhaukka78 to create a hybrid team between Finnish Roosters and the newly formed Speedy Bros Hockey. Brings ton of skill and experience to the lineup and will be an important component for the success of Speedy Bros Hockey. 2. Nephenzy, DEAD END KINGS - The "players to watch"-list for Group 2 becomes a list of captains as Nephenzy of DEK takes the second spot here. Not pleased with being put in Lite last season, this point producer went out and carried his team all the way to a Pro promotion. Remains to be seen if he can do the same from Pro to Elite (and re-kindle the rivalry with Synergy Hockey) but if he brings the same determination as last season, anything is possible. 3. Seahyena, Nordic Stars - We complete the captaincy trio by adding Nordic Stars' long-time captain Seahyena. A solid two-way defender who can score point and light opponents up with big hits, Seahyena will be crucial to NS' success this season in ECL Pro Group 2. Underdog - Team to watch from Group 2: 1. J P T J - The team that dominated every statistical category imaginable in ECL 4 Lite jumps up a step and faces Pro competition. Will their journey continue on its meteoric path or will the challenge of facing teams that are stronger defensively put a lid on this offensive powerhouse? Only time will tell but something tells me that J P T J might find themselves at the top half of the standings once it is time for the playoffs. That was our ECL 5 Pro prediction here at NHLGamer. Be sure to stay tuned for more previews and quality content as the European Championship League progresses. @The_Alpha_Furyan for NHLGamer.com

Good day NHLGamers, Hope you enjoyed our ECL 5 trailer - it has been in the works for quite some time. Be sure to share it and spread the word if you liked it. We can tell you that a lot of effort went into making it and while a great many people have been involved in its execution from start to finish (including of course our featured talent @Bjono, @pnordetun, @cHIIMEERa, @Hansulinho & @Dominointi who couldn't have been more professional during the shoots), no one more so than @LastMandalorian. From developing the concept months ago, to setting up the film shoots, to traveling around Sweden and Finland to actually film it - all the way through editing the material and picking the right music. Hats off to you, sir - a job well done. Hockey returns 133. That is the exact amount of days since the European Championship League was last in action. 133 days (or more than 3000+ hours) of waiting for this next shot at virtual ice hockey glory. It is true that while this years Summer Cup did satiate some of the community need for competitive gaming, there is nothing quite like ECL hockey. The fourth ECL season was a season of change for many reasons. A new system featuring divisions was implemented. Instead of one lone winner, three champions were to be crowned. As a result more teams than ever before chose to sign up; a trend we hope (and expect) to continue as the ECL continues to expand its reach. When the dust settled and the smoke had cleared after ECL 4, the NHLGamer "Hall of Champions" that already featured Nordic Blizzard (ECL 1), MUKIMIEHET (ECL 2) and X Factor (ECL 3) had been expanded to include Laser HT, Carlsberg HC and J P T J who managed to bring home the titles for Elite, Pro and Lite respectively. Furthermore, we got to see the first ever Xbox ECL with OHO SORI winning the title in 5 games against The Black Jacks. We think it was a good start and would like to support this community initiative of bringing more competitive tournaments to the NHL landscape on Microsoft's console. That is why we will also give you the opportunity to sign up for Xbox ECL 2! ECL 5 - PS4 While ECL 5 will be bigger and hopefully more competitive than ECL 4 it will not feature the same amount of change to our structure, something we hope will offer a welcome sense of continuity with regards to how much things changed last season. In short, this means the rulebook, the divisions and most of the things that worked really well in ECL 4 will continue to be implemented in ECL 5 as well. This also means that, while we did find the ongoing discussion and community vote concerning the ECL point system - mostly a debate between the merits of employing a 3-point system versus a 2-point system - interesting and balanced, we will not change from the current 2-point format at this time. We welcome continuous discussion on this topic as the ECL continues to evolve. Furthermore, we are sure that one of the biggest questions for some teams and members at this stage is "where will we play this season?" as the poll concerning if you should be able to apply for Pro or not turned out to be quite divisive. This has perhaps been the biggest question faced by the staff ahead of this season. The baseline we are working from is this: if you earned your place in either the Pro or Elite divisions last season, you still have the right to it. We will not be employing any type of forced demotion in either of these two divisions. In a vacuum, this means we already have our 16 Elite teams and 32 Pro teams ready to go. Outside of this "vacuum", the truth is that many of these Elite and Pro teams have experienced significant changes during the off-season between ECL 4 and 5. Therefore, if you are either a Pro or Elite team (based on how ECL 4 ended) - you need to confirm your participation in the division you ended up in last season. If you do not confirm your spot before the last sign-up date, that spot will need to be filled by the Staff. Read on to find out how to sign up for ECL 5 and how to apply for these open spots. Framework Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian 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. This also applies to 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. 6 vs. 6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL challenge game mode in NHL 18. Individual requirements: Each player needs to create an account at NHLGamer.com and create his personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. Sign-up period: Teams can register until October 13, 23:59 CEST. ECL 5 Kick-off: ECL 5 is set to start on October 16. Rules: TBA Sign-up procedures There will be different ways of signing up to ECL 5 this time - the procedures are explained in detail in the section below. Generally speaking: New teams that did not participate in ECL 4 at all or teams that were relegated from ECL 4 Pro: Please read the "ECL Lite" paragraph below. Teams that were able to stay in ECL Pro, were relegated from ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Lite during ECL 4: Please read the "ECL Pro" paragraph below. Teams that were able to stay in ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Pro during ECL 4: Please read the "ECL Elite" paragraph below. ECL Lite ECL Lite welcomes any and all teams that did not participate in ECL 4 as well as the teams that were relegated from ECL Pro during ECL 4. As last season, there will be no limit to the amount of registrations! We will flexibly adjust group sizes to accomodate all teams that are looking to participate. To sign up your team for ECL Lite, we ask the main captain (C) only to go to the ECL Lite registration thread: ECL 5 Lite Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. Due to the fact that only 31 teams are ECL Pro qualified at this time - and other teams may be folding - we also offer teams the opportunity to apply for ECL Pro during the sign up process. However, ECL Lite quarter-finalists from ECL 4 will take first priority when filling up spots in the Pro division, which means only a few or no spots at all might be available for completely new teams. When looking at Pro applications, we will choose applicants depending on their player strength and other factors such as in-game 6 vs. 6 leaderboard results. Below is the list of prioritized teams: ECL Pro ECL Pro is our 2nd division and will consist of all the teams that were able to stay in ECL Pro, were relegated from ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Lite during ECL 4. ECL Pro has a fixed size of 32 teams, divided into two groups. All the qualified teams are listed below: To sign up your team for ECL Pro, we ask the team's ECL 4 main captain (C) only to go to the ECL Pro registration thread: ECL 5 Pro Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. In case ECL Elite teams are folding, we will automatically ask the best ECL Pro qualifiers from ECL 4 to fill these spots, according to their playoffs progress (criteria #1) and regular season PPG average (criteria #2). You are not required to apply for these spots. However, you are required to confirm your attendance for ECL Pro to be considered for selection. ECL Elite ECL Elite is our 1st division, housing the very best 16 European teams in a single group. It will consist of all the teams that were able to stay in ECL Elite or were promoted from ECL Pro during ECL 4. All the qualified teams are listed below: To sign up your team for ECL Elite, we ask the team's ECL 4 main captain (C) only to go to the ECL Elite registration thread: ECL 5 Elite Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. Xbox ECL 2 To help in building a larger competitive Xbox community, we will host the second edition of Xbox ECL. The first season was based on a community initiative that started off with few individuals asking for a NHLGamer branded tournament taking place on Xbox One. Thanks to these members who contacted other teams on their platform of choice to spread the word, interest was starting to pick up, and the first season ended with a total of 5 teams. While this is undoubtedly a small number compared to the amount of teams on PS4, we know that plenty of players joined NHLGamer during recent months. And thanks to the dedicated players that were doing their best to set up the first season, we expect participation to grow in the long run. Xbox ECL 2 won't be based on the divisions format that is taking place on PS4, and instead will instead offer a league format used in Xbox ECL and ECL 1-3 on PS4 - however, our long term goal is having divisions on Xbox One as well. Framework Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian 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. This also applies to 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. 6 vs. 6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL challenge game mode in NHL 18. Individual requirements: Each player needs to create an account at NHLGamer.com and create his personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. Sign-up period: Registrations will be open indefinitely until 8 teams have agreed to participate. Afterwards, sign-ups will be open for another two weeks to make for a larger competition. Rules: TBA Sign-up procedure To sign up your team for Xbox ECL 2, we ask the main captain (C) only to go to the Xbox ECL 2 registration thread: XBOX ECL 2 Registration You will find in-depth instructions on the procedure, including all the necessary details you need to provide - such as team name, abbreviation, EA SPORTS team page and possible name changes. Final notes ECL and its divisions format is in a process of continuous evolvement. When NHLGamer.com first announced the switch to setting up three skill-based divisions, our main goal was to transform the diverse EASHL landscape to encourage the development of true franchises. Thanks to all the dedicated players out there, this is already bearing fruit: Established teams are building a core roster while also paying attention to the plenty of ambitious newcomers in the NHL community. We see social media channels popping up on a weekly, if not daily basis. We see lots of new streamers on Twitch and other platforms, showing off ECL to all the NHL fans out there. We see allies supporting our project more frequently than ever before. We see how the community is evolving and shaping up to be a professional and organized force in the gaming landscape. This is something we will continue to support in the future. We believe that, even though we might see a few teams folding this or even next season, which potentially requires us to restructure some of the divisions, in the long run we will see a healthy and fluid framework for the greatest 6 vs. 6 experience that's out there. It's not our achievement. It's your achievement. We welcome everyone to continue this road of success. We welcome everyone to play with the best. @The_Alpha_Furyan & @gzell60 for NHLGamer.com Facebook (NHLGamer)Twitter (NHLGamerCOM)YouTube (NHLGamer Official) Instagram (NHLGamerOfficial) Twitch (NHLGamerTwitch)