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NHLGamers, After long season and some incredibly tight turns, we're proud to be crowning Oton Letkutemppu your ECL 8 Lite champion! It was certainly no easy feat, but Oton really found their stride in the playoffs. The absolute clinic put on in the finals goes to show that we are talking about a Pro ready team and we'll be waiting eagerly for what next season entails for these guys. NHLGamer would also like to congratulate Vesa Pompa HC, We Kings and Cheers Hockey for outstanding performances and promotions to ECL 9 Pro. The game by game results for the finals are as follows: Game 1: Oton Letkutemppu - Vesa Pompa HC 5:0 Game 2: Vesa Pompa HC - Oton Letkutemppu 0:1 Game 3: Oton Letkutemppu - Vesa Pompa HC 3:0 Game 4: Vesa Pompa HC - Oton Letkutemppu 1:2 Oton Letkutemppus championship roster: GOALTENDERS #4 K.Makise @Huuru #62 S.Rakastaja @Theoikeakarim DEFENSEMEN #16 J.Pappas @JokkePappa #44 O.Keskitalo @Duran93 FORWARDS #9 T.Lehclair @Thounimeister #9 O.Kuhta @Matson94 #15 T.Rautavaara @builtforspeedos #59 V.Svitov @RappioTaide #87 S.Crosby @Lehikoinen_ #88 P.Kaukalo @Juha88 Oton Letkutemppus road to the trophy: Regular season: 17-6-1 (14th) Round 1: BYE Round 2: 4:1 vs. Finnish Hockey Legends Round 3: 4:0 vs. Me Carvoset Quarterfinals: 4:2 vs. Blackdawgs Semifinals: 4:1 vs. Cheers Hockey Finals: 4:1 vs. Vesa Pompa HC Once again on behalf of all of us, congratulations! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

NHLGamers, With this season review, we'll be able to put yet another ECL Pro season in the books! After an unfortunate delay due to ISP issues, we were able to crown POGGERS the new champion and congratulate them for a guaranteed Elite spot for ECL 9. Without further ado we want to conclude a season review in traditional fashion: Top 8 teams of ECL 8 Pro: POGGERS - The new champion had an outstanding playoff run (16 wins, 4 losses) which wasn't easy. In the first round they only needed 5 games to top the most liked mascot of Raccoon Rampage, 6 games to destroy the hopes of the contender Gotham Knights and 5 games against the very well defending team of Checkmate. In the finals POGGERS faced the team to beat - TIKI TALK ran by veteran @itspardytime who were the favorites all across the board. POGGERS regular season wasn't that pretty, as they finished only 5th in Group 1 which resulted in the 9th seed overall. After rotating a little bit in the regular season, POGGERS sticked with their starting 6 for the playoffs. @Chafak led the team in points all season long but don't sleep on the nice defensive pair of @Speedy104 and @Wickedtah69. It will be interesting to see, how they will perform in the Elite next season. TIKI TALK - The runner-up was the favorite coming into the season and didn't disappoint. They dominated their Group 1 with their high-scoring offense around top-scoring captain @itspardytime. They were no slouches on the the defensive side either and these two factors certainly made them into real contenders this season. TIKI TALK didn't hesitate to make their presence felt in the playoffs as they swept Bellizzi and SIKA in the first two rounds. They had to pay attention in the semi-finals against Black Horse as they beat the 1st seed of The Next Gen, but as it seemed it wasn't too hard to deal with as Pardy and his guys only needed five games to secure their finals spot. Quite disappointing that they fell short against the later champions but TIKI TALK will have a shot at the highest division in their promotion battles against Synergy Hockey. Will there be a joyful ending to their cinderella story? Checkmate - The defensive minded team built around @TackleControl had a pretty shaky line up during the regular season where they used 9 skaters and 2 goalies. This wasn't the case for the playoffs as nearly all of the games were played by their starting 6. Checkmate's way to the semi-final was built up by a pretty good 3rd place in Group 1 which lead to a first round matchup against Speedy Bros Hockey (win in 5 games) and a quarterfinal against Mentula SKA (win in 6 games). They didn't flaunt their offensive guns that much but are very good at shut down defense and very dangerous in the counter attacks. Their effort wasn't enough in the semis against the later champs POGGERS, but you will see them in the Elite next season, as they were able to beat Resurrection in the promotion battle. Black Horse - Going into the season in the role as their name would suggest, Black Horse struggled to show their talent in the regular season. Finishing 5th in Group 2 which resulted in the 13th seed overall, they showed their real potential finally in the playoffs. A contender like Silver Sword Griffins in the first round? Done in 6 games. The highest seed in the quarterfinals? C'mon, let's sweep them. The later runner-up TIKI TALK eventually beat them in 5 games, but nevertheless the team around @Tapparafan made some noise for sure. Unfortunately we won't see this team again as rumours about a breakup have been heard through the grapevine. Gotham Knights - The former Elite team wanted to play a bounce-back season and were an early favorite for sure. They rotated quite heavily during the regular season but top-scorer and captain @ReDMisTi kept his cool with his experience leading his team to a second place finish in Group 1 and the 3rd seed overall. Their defense was outstanding as they only conceded 42 goals in a total of 30 games. While continuing their good form in the first round as they beat the SPARTANS in 5 games, their season came to a quick halt in the quarter finals against the later champions POGGERS. As Black Horse left an open promotion spot by disbanding, the Knights out of Gotham had were given the chance due to their best remaining playoff record and PPG of the regular season. Unfortunately they lost to the Unlucky Boys HC and will remain in the Pro division for ECL 9. Mentula SKA - After they got promoted from Lite in ECL 7, Mentula SKA showed that they can compete also in the second highest division. An immediate playoff qualification with the record 20-8-2 resulted in the 3rd place of Group 2 and the 6th overall seed goes to show for that. After a tight battle which needed 7 games to see a winner in the first round against Rajatorpan Mafia, the team of @Niksu21 fell short against the later Elite qualifying Checkmate in 6 games. Nevertheless a pretty good debut season for the former Lite team and they will be in the mix of the favorites for further tournaments for sure! The Next Gen - The runner-up of the ECL 7 Lite division was on fire right from the get go. Leading Group 2 all the way, they ended up being the top seed overall for the playoffs. This team boasted top-scorers @kriketski17 and @NikkeDangles in their lineup and managed to be one of the defensive powerhouses of the league even with missing their starting goaltender and captain @ramseyy2. Easy tap in in a wide open spot for ECL 9 Elite right? Playoff hockey is a different story - that's something that will be hard to swallow for The Next Gen. They needed 7 games against the GHETTO FIREBIRDS in the first round and guess what? They got swept in the quarterfinals against Black Horse. Pretty disappointing end to an otherwise outstanding season. We're hoping for these guys to be back, that's for sure! SIKA - After a very bad season in the Elite division of ECL 7 it was a team defining season for SIKA. They had some problems adjusting their style to start the season in the Pro division but eventually finished the group stage at 7th in Group 1 and 11th seed overall. This squad is experienced and that ended up paying off in the first round as they beat Born With It, who where the 2nd seed of Group 2, in 6 games. Unfortunately the Hogs weren't quite strong enough to hold up against the later runner-up TIKI TALK in the quarter finals. Can they make a deeper playoff run in ECL 9? AWARDS Playoff MVP: @Chafak Most Points: @itspardytime, TIKI TALK, 47 Goals, 48 Assists, 95 Points in 30 games Most Goals: @itspardytime, TIKI TALK, 47 Goals, 48 Assists, 95 Points in 30 games Most Assists: @itspardytime, TIKI TALK, 47 Goals, 48 Assists, 95 Points in 30 games Most Hits by a Forward: @Enerfity, Speedy Bros Hockey, 227 Hits in 26 games Best +/-: @kriketski17, The Next Gen, +74 in 30 games Most Points by a Defenseman: @Thewix93, TIKI TALK, 8 Goals, 35 Assists, 35 Points in 30 games Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 11 Goals, 23 Assists, 34 Points in 30 games Most Assists by a Defenseman: @Thewix93, TIKI TALK, 8 Goals, 35 Assists, 35 Points in 30 games Most Hits by a Defenseman: @Lurkins, SIKA, 228 Hits in 22 games TOP 3'S OF ECL 8 PRO Top 3 Forwards Regular Season: 1. @itspardytime, TIKI TALK, 47 Goals, 48 Assists, 95 Points in 30 games 2. @kriketski17, The Next Gen, 47 Goals, 35 Assists, 82 Points in 30 games 3. @NikkeDangles, The Next Gen, 38 Goals, 44 Assists, 82 Points in 30 games Top 3 Defenders Regular Season: 1. @Thewix93, TIKI TALK, 8 Goals, 35 Assists, 43 Points in 30 games 2. @Drunkendefender, SPARTANS, 11 Goals, 23 Assists, 34 Points in 30 games 3. @oGBioLan, The Next Gen, 6 Goals, 26 Assists, 32 Points in 30 games Top 3 Goaltenders Regular Season: 1. @Masapunda, Born With It, 21 Wins, 86.47 SV%, 1.82 GAA, 5 SO in 29 games 2. @PeeloJombb, Mentula SKA, 20 Wins, 84.07 SV%, 1.66 GAA, 4 SO in 30 games 3. @Joshua Plattner, Silver Sword Griffins, 18 Wins, 80.78 SV%, 1.58 GAA, 8 SO in 30 games Top 3 Forwards Playoffs: 1. @itspardytime, TIKI TALK, 28 Goals, 27 Assists, 55 Points in 18 games 2. @Teme, TIKI TALK, 21 Goals, 24 Assists, 45 Points in 18 games 3. @Jirsimarco, TIKI TALK, 10 Goals, 23 Assists, 33 Points in 18 games Top 3 Defenders Playoffs: 1. @Thewix93, TIKI TALK, 6 Goals, 21 Assists, 27 Points in 18 games 2. @Savinaainen, TIKI TALK, 3 Goals, 13 Assists, 16 Points in 18 games 3. @Wickedtah69, POGGERS, 3 Goals, 12 Assists, 15 Points in 21 games Top 3 Goaltenders Playoffs: 1. @Janne Hietala, POGGERS, 16 Wins, 86.34 SV%, 1.47 GAA, 5 SO in 21 games 2. @PCJP, TIKI TALK, 13 Wins, 83.53 SV%, 1.50 GAA, 3 SO in 18 games 3. @villamies95, Black Horse, 9 Wins, 80.23 SV%, 2 SO in 15 games The controversial 'Top 6' of the season is making a comeback! What this means is a selection of six players in a starting lineup, that have showed exceptional skill and played a good season. Please note that all selections are subjective and they are made by community members who have been keeping an eye on ECL 8 Pro. Without further ado, here's the top 6 of our Pro division in ECL 8: @Chafak (POGGERS) - @Jirsimarco (TIKI TALK) - @itspardytime (TIKI TALK) @Thewix93 (TIKI TALK) - @Speedy104 (POGGERS) @Janne Hietala (POGGERS) We're happy to conclude the season with this review. Once again, thank you all for your participation and congrats to the promoted teams. See you next season! @jahajaha93 & @Mannheimer1938

NHLGamers, After an incredibly eventful ECL 8, POGGERS are crowned the champions of ECL 8 Pro! The finals were extended due to the widely known issues with the game. As that got fixed, TIKI TALK and POGGERS battled it out for the title during the past week in a series, which ended 4-1 in favour of POGGERS. NHLGamer would like to congratulate our newly crowned champion on the title and a promotion to ECL 9 Elite. NHLGamer would also like to congratulate TIKI TALK, Gotham Knights and Checkmate for outstanding performances and an opportunity to qualify for ECL 9 Elite. The game by game results for the finals are as follows: Game 1: POGGERS - TIKI TALK 2:1 OT Game 2: TIKI TALK - POGGERS 1:2 Game 3: POGGERS - TIKI TALK 1:2 Game 4: TIKI TALK - POGGERS 1:2 Game 5: POGGERS - TIKI TALK 4:2 POGGERS championship roster: GOALTENDERS #41 V.Lehto @Janne Hietala DEFENSEMEN #5 J.Pappas @MrNaiMiZ #87 X.Ripe @Riipperi87 FORWARDS #9 V.Saarijärvi @Chafak #17 -.ENZA @ZPalffy #29 A.Laine @Wickedtah69 #38 -.UI JUMA @Yoloberg #83 S.Gonzales @Speedy104 #98 D.DelaVega @JaKurrii POGGERS road to the trophy: Regular season: 18-8-4 (5th in Group 1) Round 1: 4:1 vs. Raccoon Rampage Quarterfinals: 4:2 vs. Gotham Knights Semifinals: 4:1 vs. Checkmate Finals: 4:1 vs. TIKI TALK Once again on behalf of all of us, congratulations! Now that all divisions have finished playing, stay tuned for our season previews out soon. Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

NHLGamers, ECL 8 was certainly surprise season in our Lite division! Even more so than usually this time around. It's only fitting to have the 14th seed team Oton Letkutemppu take the trophy in a final series agains the 20th seed Vesa Pompa HC - congrats to both these teams on outstanding seasons. This season the playoff format involved some bye rounds and these certainly didn't favour the higher seeded teams that got a week of rest while the lower seeded teams fought it out in order to make it through and keep their dream alive. It's been yet another long but joyful road which we're very happy to have shared with all of you guys participating. NHLGamer extends a humble thank you to all of the players(you!), who are making this experience possible. Without further ado, let's move on to a review of this season: Group 1: Perttilan Kommandot The winners of a tight Group 1 were disappointed in the second round of the playoffs where LammasLauma swept the series in four games. This is the second season in a row where they have experienced a fast exit, when in ECL 7 they lost in the second round to Dubnation Gaming. Elamam Kiekko The consistently competitive EMK took the second place from their tight Group 1 but had struggles to find the right fit to their left wing as in total five players tried to play there. In the second round of the playoffs they lost in six games to FarmiNaattori who finished third in Group 1 and whom Elamam Kiekko had beaten twice in the regular season. Group 2: Old Farts The Oldies were the second strongest team in the regular season but they surprisingly lost to Poston Fruits in six games in the second round of the playoffs and only scored three goals in these games. @Valmuri played center in the first three losses against Poston Fruits, but after that @Ankkalasvegas joined the action and Old Farts were able to win two games before losing the game six where from Fruits advanced to the third round. Last Period Last Period was only the sixth team in scoring in their group. Outstanding defensive efforts and great goaltending from @buzee_ won them the second place on their group. In the playoffs they lost in the second round to Western Express in five games and scored only seven goals in those games. Group 3: Blackdawgs Group 3 featured seven out of ten top scorers in regular season from four different teams. One of them is fifth highest scorer and Blackdawgs captain @Mistertyppo95. Blackdawgs were the only team that won Dynamic who dominated almost every game they played and that secured their spot as winners of their group. Blackdawgs lost in the fourth round to the eventual ECL 8 Lite winners Oton Letkutemppu and they were the only team that won Letkutemppu two times in the playoffs. After four games, the series was tied 2-2 but Letkutemppu won both the fifth and sixth game in the overtime. If the puck had bounced differently - Blackdawgs could have won the title. Dynamic Most dominant regular season team as three of their forwards had more than 100 points when fourth place player @Stefan_397 from EV Fuessen eSports had 88 points. Something happened in the locker room and Dynamic gave walkovers from two of their last regular season games to Saucer Hockey and they didn’t play at all in the playoffs. Had they put their differences aside - could they have won the title? Group 4: Dystopia The team finished the regular season 21-2-1 and with @Jerax13 carrying the team on his shoulders they were on top of the table. Dystopia managed to reach round 4 of the ECL 8 Lite playoffs where they got beaten by group 4’s second placing team Cheers Hockey. Cheers Hockey 15-5-4 was enough to reach second place in group 4 and with some good chemistry in the team with @Borjendahlen leading the team in points, they were one of four teams that got the right to play in the Pro division next ECL season. Group 5: Prowlers The team finished the regular season losing only two games. @Toobbiiee(Vesterberg89) and @RullAthor1991 combined with solid goaltending from @David McSavid(Rundqviist) gave these guys a good chance for a Pro push but they found themselves beaten 4-0 in round 4 by Vesa Pompa. Puck Panthers @Giinis lead the team in scoring with 29 goals and 23 assists. The team didn't make it through round 2 of the ECL lite playoffs though as Me Carvoset were a bit too much of a challenge the Panthers. Group 6: We Kings We kings is one of four teams that made it to the semi finals where they lost 4-1. The regular season was very good especially for @Hbnzo who lead the team in points and @Maggre in the crease had a solid record of 13-4-1. We are very curious about what will happen next season for these guys. Oton Letkutemppu The ECL 8 Lite champions finished the regular season 17-6-1 in a group that looked very though. @Thounimeister scored more points in the playoffs than he did in the regular season and their goalkeepers were extraordinary, especially @Theoikeakarim who finished the playoffs with a save percentage of 95%(!) after playing defense for most of the season. Under the radar: Vesa Pompa HC Vesa Pompa HC had an ok regular season where they finished with 16-6-4 record. At the playoffs this heavily offensive team only lost one game before the finals where they were swept in four games by Oton Letkutemppu. eken45jr (60 points) and affelj96 (57 points) were the two top scorers in the playoffs. AWARDS Playoff MVP: @Theoikeakarim Most Points: @Basstian23, Dynamic, 47 Goals, 79 Assists, 126 Points in 24 games Most Goals: @Lakevalley, Dynamic, 76 Goals, 33 Assists, 109 Points in 24 games Most Assists: @Basstian23, Dynamic, 47 Goals, 79 Assists, 126 Points in 24 games Most Hits by a Forward: @XelsFIN, We Kings, 101 Hits in 24 games Best +/-: @Basstian23, Dynamic, +89 in 24 games Most Points by a Defenseman: @Halinalle69, NOCANDO, 8 Goals, 30 Assists, 38 Points in 19 games Most Goals by a Defenseman: @Klassikko_, Perttilan Kommandot, 10 Goals, 22 Assists, 32 Points in 24 games Most Assists by a Defenseman: @Halinalle69, NOCANDO, 8 Goals, 30 Assists, 38 Points in 19 games Most Hits by a Defenseman: @Theoikeakarim, Oton Letkutemppu, 216 Hits in 20 games TOP 3'S OF ECL 8 LITE Top 3 Forwards Regular Season: 1. @Basstian23, Dynamic, 47 Goals, 79 Assists, 126 Points in 24 games 2. @Lakevalley, Dynamic, 76 Goals, 33 Assists, 109 Points in 24 games 3. @Tiipponenii, Dynamic, 32 Goals, 77 Assists, 109 Points in 24 games Top 3 Defenders Regular Season: 1. @Halinalle69, NOCANDO, 8 Goals, 30 Assists, 38 Points in 19 games 2. @Klassikko_, Perttilan Kommandot, 10 Goals, 22 Assists, 32 Points in 24 games 3. @Theoikeakarim, Oton Letkutemppu, 7 goals, 24 Assists, 31 Points in 20 games Top 3 Goaltenders Regular Season: 1. @timpelo303, Dystopia, 20 Wins, 87.20 SV%, 1.65 GAA, 2 SO in 23 games 2. @Reaper-80, Perttilan Kommandot, 19 Wins, 85.20 SV%, 1.31 GAA, 6 SO in 22 games 3. @buzee_, Last Period, 18 Wins, 86.47 SV%, 1.27 GAA, 6 SO in 22 games Top 3 Forwards Playoffs: 1. @Eken45jr, Vesa Pompa HC, 26 Goals, 34 Assists, 60 Points in 23 games 2. @affelj96, Vesa Pompa HC, 39 Goals, 18 Assists, 57 Points in 23 games 3. @Hbnzo, We Kings, 28 Goals, 24 Assists, 52 Points Top 3 Defenders Playoffs: 1. @Latexiii, We Kings, 3 Goals, 20 Assists, 23 Points in 22 games 2. @Taunomaister1, Chatbox, 3 Goals, 17 Assists, 19 Points in 14 games 3. @Juanzaar, Me Carvoset, 3 Goals, 15 Assists, 18 Points in 14 games Top 3 Goaltenders Playoffs: 1. @KerttulanKarlsson, Cheers Hockey, 12 Wins, 88.42 SV%, 1.29 GAA, 7 SO in 17 games 2. @peppeztvshow, Vesa Pompa HC, 12 Wins, 76.92 SV%, 2.60 GAA, 0 SO in 15 games 3. @Mazu_Pizu, Saucer Hockey, 11 Wins, 82.35 SV%, 2.40 GAA, 2 SO in 20 games The controversial 'Top 6' of the season is making a comeback! What this means is a selection of six players in a starting lineup, that have showed exceptional skill and played a good season. Please note that all selections are subjective and they are made by community members who have been keeping an eye on ECL 8 Lite. Without further ado, here's the top 6 of our Lite division in ECL 8: @Mistertyppo95 (Blackdawgs) - @Basstian23 (Dynamic) - @Eken45jr (Vesa Pompa HC) @Halinalle69 (NOCANDO) - @Theoikeakarim (Oton Letkutemppu) @timpelo303 (Dystopia) On top of an outstanding season in general, we also saw some ECL Lite records being broken! The following records have been set this season: Most assists in one season(Lite): @Basstian23 (79 assists) Most penalty minutes in one season(Lite): @Bull_Bensson (62 minutes) Most powerplay goals in one season(Lite): @Lakevalley (12 goals) We're happy to conclude the season with this review. Once again, thank you all for your participation and congrats to the promoted teams. See you next season! ECL Writing Team, @Tonimo92 & @Willander97

NHLGamers, It's been a wild ECL 8 in 'The Jungle' formally known as ECL Lite. For this season, the playoff format was changed up a bit due to a large amount of teams signing up and due to a community outcry for more regular season games. In past seasons, the Lite regular season has probably not bees as tightly contested as in our other divisions simply due to the fact that a vast majority of teams have made the playoffs - this season, a large amount of teams made the playoffs, but we found a way to bring more meaning to the regular season by creating larger groups. Now teams had to fight for their post-season a bit more! The Lite playoffs, however, are notorious for being an absolute free-for-all. With 48 teams making the playoffs, we've now weeded through five rounds in order to make it to the finals, that's a lot of games right there. Number 14 seed Oton Letkutemppu has played a total of 20 playoff games so far and the opposing number 20 seed Vesa Pompa HC have fought through a total of 24 playoff battles. (14) Oton Letkutemppu vs. Vesa Pompa HC (20) The season finale is just around the corner and it is going to be a big one. Both teams have had a strong playoff push against good teams and they will wrap up the season in this best of 7 series. Who will lead their team to victory? Will it be @Lehikoinen_ who has recorded 44 points through 20 games for Letkutemppu or will it be the notorious L2-spam legend @Eken45jr who has 59 points in the same amount of games for Vesa Pompa. If you want to be ECL 8 Lite champion you have to put the puck into the back of the opponents net. In order to do that you have to beat two very solid goaltenders in this series. Will @peppeztvshow be the big difference maker in the series with an outstanding goalie performance with a record of 12-1 or will @Huuru (10-3) be more successful at keeping the puck out of his 4 by 6 net? All of these above questions will be answered starting tonight, as the ECL 8 Lite Finals kick off with a bang. We're going to see a tightly contested battle between two mildly surprising finalist teams, so make sure to stay tuned for a schedule announcement and tune in to the stream tonight! I hope you guys are as excited as we are to get this thing started. Other than that, let the series begin. ECL Lite Writer, @Willander97

And so there were four. The ECL 8 Lite season has progressed al the way to the Semifinals in which we're seeing two very even matchups. We've certainly been treated to some surprises this season, as a majority of the teams that were higher ranked in their respective matchups so far have been eliminated. We're left with four very capable teams that all are deserving of promotions to ECL Pro for next season. Now it remains to determine the final marching order and crowning a champion. Without further ado, let's get into the details of our semi's: The ECL 8 Lite Semifinals are to be played between Thursday, 7th of March and Wednesday, 13th of March. (11.) We Kings vs. Vesa Pompa HC (20.) We Kings were disappointed when they lost in the second round to K A R H U T in ECL 7 Lite but now they have fought their way to the semifinals. Surprisingly, We Kings had a bit of a struggle against EV Fuessen eSports, Beast Hockey and Saucer Hockey even though they were one of the more impressive teams in the regular season. Vesa Pompa HC has stormed through the playoffs by only losing two games. They have the most firepower in their offense where one of the top versus players right now @Eken45jr plays right wing. Vesa Pompa HC is a team that relies to their offense to score a ton of goals and this is going to be a series where we are going to see a lot of those. Goaltending might be the difference maker. The team that has the better goalie is going to win the series. (14.) Oton Letkutemppu vs. Cheers Hockey (16.) There are two big similarities that can be found from these teams. Both are playing their first ECL season and both have defenders that like to hit a lot @Theoikeakarim for Letkutemppu and @Margoes - Maqruusi for Cheers). Oton Letkutemppu has lost only three games in the playoffs and they seem to be on a roll. On the other hand Cheers Hockey that consists of many former Squad Vilttiketju players let in only five goals in six games against the third best regular season team Dystopia. This serie is going to be a close one and we predict that the games will be defensive battles where either one can win in seven games. Who are you rooting for to win it all? Leave a comment down below! ECL Lite Writer, @Tonimo92

NHLGamers, We've reached the final bout of the ECL 8 Pro season! After being treated to yet another eventful season, the eventual crowning of a champion is at our hands. Yet again, the playoffs have left us in awe from time to time. This season, 1st overall seed The Next Gen had a convincing group stage and pushed through the first two rounds with ease, after which they hit a brick wall and got eliminated in 4 games by Black Horse. A less surprising feat is seeing 2nd seed TIKI TALK paving their way to the finals. TIKI seems to have found their winning way and look to retrieve a spot at the highest level of ECL hockey by overcoming their opponent POGGERS in the finals. On top of these two, Black Horse and Checkmate also fought their way to the Semi-finals, which allows them a chance to battle for promotion to ECL 9 Elite. This season, it's worth noting that only the Pro champion gains direct promotion, as the 2nd place team will face Synergy Hockey in a relegation matchup. These are your ECL 8 Pro finalists: (2) TIKI TALK vs. POGGERS (9) Going into the ECL 8 Pro finals with a slight hint of favourite status we have TIKI TALK, who have managed to build an astonishing legacy for themselves by powering on for what seems to be an eternity through thick and thin. Before and even during the season, they've made some changes in hopes of pushing their team onto the right tracks and it seems as if they've managed to pull it off as of late. As stated, the team is one of the most long lived ECL franchises, having been there ever since the start of the new era of NHL gaming here at NHLGamer. It's a familiar sight seeing captain @itspardytime leading the team in scoring, which he has done ever so dominantly this season again. Another notable steady performer is goaltender @PCJP, who now in his second season with the team has got in the groove of stopping pucks quite efficiently, arguably being one of the most underrated netminders in the league. TIKI TALK is never an easy team to face, they play a fast paced style of hockey, which sometimes can be regarded as a bit chaotic. Stay alert at all times, TIKI is looking for the cup. POGGERS on the other hand is a new acquaintance. Although they are formed around the shell of last seasons Wasps Gaming and consist out of several very experienced players, they are the youngins by far in this matchup. My instinct would be to say what they lack in experience as a team, they more than make up for in skill. Offensive trio @Yoloberg-@JaKurrii-@Chafak are no strangers to tough matchups and all of them possess that x-factor that could make the players beside them so much better. The newly founded team struggled a bit to start the regular season, but once they have solidified their starting six, there has been very little stopping them as they have taken down strong teams such as Raccoon Rampage, Gotham Knights and most recently Checkmate in the playoffs. POGGERS has also been getting some decent goaltending for all of the ongoing season, as @Janne Hietala(Hassu85) has played an outstanding season and is surely looking to push his name into brighter lights. Prediction: POGGERS win 4-3. Schedule for the finals: Game 1: Wednesday, 6th of March 20:30 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Game 2: Wednesday, 6th of March 21:00 CET POGGERS vs TIKI TALK Game 3: Wednesday, 6th of March 21:30 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Game 4: Thursday, 7th of March 20:30 CET POGGERS vs TIKI TALK Game 5: Thursday, 7th of March 21:00 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Game 6: Thursday, 7th of March 21:30 CET POGGERS vs TIKI TALK Game 7: Thursday, 7th of March 22:00 CET TIKI TALK vs POGGERS Tune in for broadcasts of the games at our Twitch channel! Tonight, yours truly and @Kenu in the booth! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

Picture courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at IS Cup 3: 1vs1 eSM. NHLGamers, It's the final week of ECL 8 Elite and it all culminates at the pinnacle of the season - The ECL 8 Elite Finals at LanTrek in Tampere, Finland! With this short intro, we're launching an extensive coverage into the heated battle between first seed Written In The Stars and second seed FILADELPHIA. The games are scheduled to start at 17:00 CET on Friday, 1st of March, 2019 and we'll keep going for as long as it takes to make out a champion, believe me - that might take a while! Last time these teams met live, we ended up playing long into the night as game 2 wasn't decided until 6th OT when @Dominointitickled twine. Stay tuned for our big ECL 8 Elite Final preview, dropping late this evening. You'll be able to find us all weekend at LanTrek, as we're hosting the ECL 8 Elite Finals on Friday and casual FIFA 19 and NHL 19 tournaments on Saturday. NHLGamer can be found in the lower left hand corner (picture above). The ECL 8 Elite finals will be played on stage #2. Read more: ECL 8 Elite Finals: "They can't beat us" To get you guys in the mood, we've decided to do short interviews with members of each finalist team. For this one, we caught up with Written In The Stars captain and right wing @FlyerKungen: You switched over to the right wing for this season from playing center in ECL 7. How did that change feel and was it tough? - It wasn't really tough, since I've played the RW spot for pretty much all my career before. I've got thousands of games at that spot under my belt so after a short adjustment it was easy to just get back into your old ways. Of course I needed to adjust to the play of @willekunq on right D and @Dominointi as my center. FILADELPHIA is te more experienced lan team. Do you think that will have an effect on the games come Friday? - Can't deny the fact that they are the slightly more experienced team and I've actually given this some thought before the season. I think it won't play too much of a part on Friday. We've got a great group of guys and we're in this together. Some guys might be a bit nervous for the first game but you get into the groove very quick. @FinKonna said that he'd be putting the pressure on you guys, how do you intend to respond to that? - We'll be keeping that a secret for now. Finally, what do you expect from the LanTrek event? - Well, I haven't attended before so I don't know too much about it. I expect a great event and hope that our community shows up even though it's outside of the Helsinki area. I don't think the entry fee is bad considering you get a rare chance to meet up with some of the best NHL gamers and best people out there. Hopefully we'll get some great games too! Watch FlyerKungen lead his team onto the ice this upcoming Friday, starting 17CET at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer. We'll be streaming the full best of 7-series with your very own Arttu Hämäläinen and Jani @Jiihooo86 Hetta in the booth! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

Hey NHLGamers, Written In The Stars have been crowned as this season's Elite champion by beating FILADELPHIA 4 games to 1. As such, NHLGamer would like to congratulate each and every player from SKY for putting on a masterclass en route to their title. Additionally, we would also like to thank everyone that participated across all divisions this ECL for making each game as memorable as the last. If you missed out on any of the games from the finals then you can check out our Twitch channel or Elisa Viihde's where all games will be available to watch. The game by game results for the series are as follows: Game 1: FILADELPHIA - Written in the Stars 2:0 Game 2: Written in the Stars - FILADELPHIA 4:0 Game 3: FILADELPHIA - Written in the Stars 0:1 Game 4: Written in the Stars - FILADELPHIA 2:0 Game 5: FILADELPHIA - Written in the Stars 0:1 OT Written in the Stars' championship roster: GOALTENDERS #40 J. Lindström @poliskontroll #88 -. Hansuljevski @Hansulinho DEFENSEMEN #16 K. V @VesKuLiNe #43 Y. Wilhelm @willekunq #78 N. Tahtonen @Nassustelija FORWARDS #6 M. Sami @Buantso #13 I. SK @Dominointi #66 T. Keranen @topikeranen #91 U. SK @FlyerKungen Written In The Stars' road to the trophy: Regular season: 26-3-1 (1st) Quarterfinals: 4:0 vs. Northern Stars Semifinals: 4:0 vs. Rusty Blades Finals: 4:1 vs. FILADELPHIA Once again, NHLGamer would like to extend a warm thank you to all participants, every single member of this great community, Elisa Viihde and Dr. Oetker Rustica! Another entertaining season has passed us by and another new winner has been crowned. Enjoy your break and get ready to step on the virtual ice again very soon! Your NHLGamer Staff

Picture courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at GameXpo 2018. Read more: ECL 8 Elite Finals: "I just want my team to win" The wait for the finals is coming to an end as Friday is here and the NHLGamer staff has arrived safely at LanTrek 19. Players will be dropping in at the venue shortly, so what better time than to release our final interview - this time we're bothering the highly praised Written In The Stars right defenseman @willekunq: For the first time in a while, you've had a season where you've played a lot. You also have a new defensive pair in @Nassustelija - how has it felt? - This season has been fun. It feels good to play and I'm enjoying myself out there. At first we had some problems and Nassu is pretty inexperienced at the highest level, but he's improved tremendously and proven to be a great asset for our team. What are you going to do to make sure Written In The Stars comes out with the win tonight? - I'll come into the games with a good nights sleep, eat well, bump fists with @Hansulinho and just play my game. Any greetings for the FILA players? - Nothing special, let's play some good games and may the best team win. You'll get to see Wille and many more of the best NHL gamers in Europe at LanTrek tonight! Remember to tune in to our stream at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer if you can't make it to the live event! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

What's up, gamers? As we're at the doorstep of the ECL 8 Elite Finals between Written In The Stars and FILADELPHIA, NHLGamer founder @Kenu joined Mika Kuha from radio station Aito Hitti for a short interview about the upcoming weekend and one of, if not the biggest NHLGamer event so far. It's about ten months ago since Kenu last sat down with Mika for an interview about our site and now we're treated with another short segment. For those that understand Finnish, listen to the interview below, for those that don't we have a short recap. The ECL 8 Elite Finals: (1) Written In The Stars vs. FILADELPHIA (2) LIVE at LanTrek '19 in Tampere, Finland. Stream at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer Schedule:* Game 1 17:00 CET Game 2 17:40 CET Game 3 18:20 CET --------------------------------------- BREAK 18:55-19:55 CET --------------------------------------- Game 4 20:00 CET Game 5 20:40 CET --------------------------------------- BREAK 21:10-21:20 CET --------------------------------------- Game 6 21:25 CET Game 7 22:05 CET *ECL Staff withholds the right to alter the schedule if need be. What's the underlying reason we're seeing an ECL 8 live final at LanTrek in Tampere? - Well, there were many. First off, the timing was right and we had been taking massive steps further, so we were happy to take the natural step with organising a live final. Tampere is at a good location as it's very central and easily accessible from all around Finland and even from abroad. I've never attended LanTrek, but heard good things about it, so I'm happy to be able to showcase the pinnacle of our league at this event. Are you surprised about these two teams matching up against each other in the final? - Anyone could have made it, but it's not a massive surprise that Written In The Stars and FILADELPHIA meet at the very first live ECL Elite final. These two have been some of the stronger teams in our league for quite some time now and they actually had their last live event clash at the IS Cup 3: 6vs6 eSM, where all three games went into overtime before FILADELPHIA managed to win and ultimately hoist the cup. Both teams surely have those games in fresh memory. In the regular season, FILA won both games in the matchup between these two teams. Nevertheless, both of these teams are tremendously skilled and wether you are a fan of versus NHL or 6vs6 NHL, expect the very best at this final event. Bringing these games to a live setting must surely bring an interesting twist to playing, how do you feel about that? - It's certainly different and I think it'll have an effect on the players. For both FILA and SKY it's kind of a familiar situation, though. If I recall correctly, @Eki stated that it's even easier for him to play live sometimes and looking at his performances, I don't doubt that. When playing live, it's always interesting to see how players react to the pressure of the crowd and the cameras. It's been nice to follow what's been going on in the ECL throughout the season. It seems like you're a tight knit community, talk a bit about that. - Yeah, we're enemies on the ice and competition is tough, but the community is very tight knit and it all comes together nicely at these live events. This community has been built by the players and we've grown quickly on to bigger things lately. Let's take a quick look across the pond. You recently announced the NACL - When does that kick off? - The NACL kicks off on the 11th of March. I can't stress enough how excited I am about this, I know the North American community has been itching for our market entry and now the time was right. The announcement blew up on social media and we've had some registrations already. We expect more of the very Elite of NHL 6vs6 to join our site now that we offer a chance for North American players to compete in one of our leagues too. Kenu, ECL action is at it's best when it's live. What do you have to say to all the people doubting attendance? - Couldn't say it better myself. ECL action is at it's best when it's live. Entry to LanTrek is only 15€ and on top of some excellent ECL action you'll get to devour some delicious Rustica Pizza right next to our stage. Thank you all and see you at LanTrek! Puck drop is at 17 CET tomorrow! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

It's time, gamers! The pinnacle of the season is here! We've reached the end of the line with only the two best teams in all of Europe remaining. It is the ECL 8 Elite final between Written In The Stars and FILADELPHIA. These are two teams that definitely aren't strangers to each other, in fact what we will be treated to at LanTrek is a rematch of their IS Cup 3: 6vs6 best of 3 final at GameXpo 2018. Only this time, we're back bigger and better than ever before! Together with Dr Oetker Rustica, we're bringing you the first ever ECL live final and what better way to do that than with a guaranteed thriller of a matchup. SKY and FILA will face off in a best of 7 series, starting Friday, 1st of March, 2019 at 17 CET. How we find ourselves here For the first time in Written In The Stars franchise history, they have gained entry to the ECL finals. Thanks to one of, if not the, most dominant regular season displays ever seen, as well as a similarly commanding playoff showing thus far. FILADELPHIA on the other hand, come into this season’s finals as the reigning champions, and with an almost identical record compared to that season to boot. So, as far as finals go, this is no doubt shaping up to be one of the best we have ever seen. But how exactly does each respective team find themselves at this point? Let’s turn the clock back and find out. Picture courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at GameXpo 2018. (1) Written In The Stars Regular season record: 26-3-1 Playoff record: 8-0-0 As Written in the Stars are currently the favourites to take this ECL championship (albeit by a mere 16 votes at the time of writing), what better team to start this segment off with then? SKY History I think though, to properly set the scene we should take a trip (perhaps reluctantly for some) down memory lane. Specifically, all the way back to ECL 2 when SKY was first created. Just as a point of reference, the only player on the roster at this time who is still a feature in the current one was @FlyerKungen. In their first 6v6 competitive season Written posted a fairly decent record of 7-2-1, paving their entry to the playoffs where they were eventually bounced in 5 games by Infinity. A result that I’m sure was no doubt frustrating for those involved, but for an inaugural season you can definitely do worse. For ECL 3, SKY took off and recorded a 39-4-3 season with three players passing the century mark in points. Despite this impressive total, SKY only managed to proceed to the quarters before getting swept by the eventual runners up. Again, probably frustrating as all hell to be a part of, but as a far as trends go, their playoff performances are lasting longer and longer. Where the wheels begin to fall off is with the advent of ECL 4. Once again, SKY put up a fairly impressive season total of 18-6-4, good for 4th in Elite. However, they drastically underperformed and got beat in 5 games to a Dynasty side who eventually ended up being just 2 goals away from the championship title. ECL 5 then rolled around with SKY notching another impressive regular season. This time, they got revenge on Dynasty as they swept them in the first round, but experienced an unfortunate 2nd round exit to end their season. Sure, in hindsight it may have been another potentially wasted season from SKY, although with that said, getting past the first round in Elite is no small feat. Especially as they have been going in as the 4th seed in the past two seasons at this point, effectively guaranteeing that they would run into an extremely tough opponent. In response to these middling results SKY came out and posted the highest regular season point total on record (27-2-1). They then dismantled their first-round opponent in NOS in 5 games, setting up their best chance to make the finals and win a title up to this point, as their semi-finals opponent (NOR) was a team who had struggled massively in their first round appearance against Unlucky Boys, just about winning in 7 games and consequently prompting a positional / personnel change. Written then lost in 5. For ECL 7, they seemed to take a step back and ‘only’ racked up a record of 20-4-4, good for 3rd in Elite, proceeded to show some promise in their first-round matchup by disposing of their opponent in 5 games, then got swept by, you guessed it, the eventual runners up for the 4th consecutive season. At this point, I doubt few would call into question the idea that Divine Providence surely must be at play, given SKYs playoff opponents. Indeed, one could even go as far to call them the gatekeepers of the finals, guarding entrance to the stage, but never setting foot on it. ECL 8 So with that, we move into ECL 8 and the possibility of redemption for the much-maligned side. Indeed, starting the season with a blistering pace of 15-0-0 should have made abundantly clear to all onlookers that SKY surely meant business this time around. Not only were they winning games in their usual fashion of effectively sieging teams down, but they were doing it with startling efficiency compared to years past. Couple this with some slight, but noticeable, tweaks in how they set up offensively, as well as defensively, and it’s no wonder SKY have finally got over the hump of never making it to the ECL Elite finals. That is not to say that SKYs journey has been without fraught. Indeed, they seem to have a tendency for their offense to somewhat dry up from time to time, and thusly rely on their defence to carry a lot of the burden. This can be seen somewhat frequently throughout the regular season, with 2-1 / 1-0 wins over AIK, Bucketeers, Synergy and Deadly Phantoms HC. Sure, the optimist would say that SKY winning these games shows that their defense can be relied on and clearly, they would not be wrong per se, however the teams listed all had fairly disappointing seasons offensively, meaning that against other more offensively gifted teams SKY could easily have been in trouble. This is an admittedly minor issue, but couple this with the fact that FILA managed to snag both wins in their regular season matchup and there's little wonder why SKY do not have an overwhelming majority favouring them to take it all despite having such an obscene regular season and an 8-0 record in the playoffs thus far. Written In The Stars starting lineup reviewed by FILADELPHIA: LW @Buantso 8GP, 9+12=21 A great player and an even better guy. Puantso is a tremendously skilled player who has finally started playing up to his full potential in SKY. Is dangerous with the puck all the time, sometimes makes surprising decisions and doesn't force his game too much. Is a bit of a wildcard on the ice, you never know what he'll come up with. Torro's greetings: "Mä tuun pitään sua". C @Dominointi 8GP, 10+10=20 Dominointi is without a doubt an important piece of any team he is a part of. As his name suggests, a dominant presence at center. Has the desire to control and be the difference maker in games, which sometimes turns to a disadvantage. Needs to trust his teammates more. RW @FlyerKungen 8GP, 7+13=20 The heart and soul of SKY. He is a 200 foot player, a real workhorse. Made the switch back to RW after playing at center last season, so his style changed a bit with that. Seppo might be more important on the ice, but you can't underestimate this guy. Has improved his game without the puck a lot lately. LD @Nassustelija 8GP, 1+6=7 A defensive defenseman. Plays well in his own zone and has shown that he can compete at the highest level. The most unexperienced player in Written, @FinKonna will be targeting him especially at the hotel. RD @willekunq 8GP 1+9=10 Admirably calm with the puck. Is responsible for most of SKY's breakout plays and has done that tremendously well this season. Without a doubt one of their best players in IS Cup 3: 6vs6. G @Hansulinho 8GP, 8W, 85.71 SV%, 0,75 GAA, 4 SO The most experienced player of the finals and it shows in his game. Very calm in net and never overplays the puck. He's an OK goalie but not better than ours. Picture courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at GameXpo 2018. (2) FILADELPHIA Regular season record: 23-6-1 Playoff record: 8-1-1 FILA history Moving on to the other half of the finals we find FILADELPHIA. A team that has accomplished a lot in a very short period of time. In their inaugural season FILA was placed in Pro for ECL 6, much to the chagrin of many who felt that they had not earned their place and should have been placed in Lite. Well, FILA went on to post the best regular season record in Pro across both groups, then advanced to post a playoff record of 12-1-1 before being toppled in 7 by Monarchs, solidifying their spot in Elite for the upcoming season. In that season, as I am sure most of you can remember, FILA ended up going all the way and beat Symphony by the combined score of 4 games to 2 in the ECL 7 Elite finals. Since then, FILA have also picked up more hardware in the form of an eSM title where they beat none other than Written in the Stars. ECL 8 FILAs road to the finals this time around has been anything but easy though. Perhaps the largest transfer that occurred over the past off-season was the loss of their stalwart defender in @vatalisti to military duty, and the subsequent pickup / replacement @jtorro1233. Early on it seemed as the hole left by this change was perhaps a little too big to fill. In fact, as far in as 8 games it looked as though FILA were looking almost decidedly average in a way, ‘only’ managing to pick up 9 points in 8 games with a record of 4-3-1. Granted, they had played a top team in Symphony, on the other hand they had dropped points against teams such as Resurrection who would end up propping up the league table, something which, for a reigning champion at least, was fairly beneath them. The slow start could easily be explained by a somewhat lackluster season preparation by FILA, which goes to show that even the best of teams can't compete without practice. Despite or because of their start, FILA began to find their play, and racked up a combined 19-3-0 to finish the season, a pace somewhat close to that of Written’s. As far as hitches go however, that’s ‘all’ that FILA have had to deal with this season. Sure, thus far in the playoffs they may not have gone the perfect 8-0-0 that Written have, though going 8-2-0 is nothing to scoff at. In fact, despite losing two more games than Written, FILA have the superior goal differential with +30 compared to SKY's +22, showing the raw scoring ability that this roster still harbours. Therefore, it stands to reason then, that if FILA is able to open up the game and get their offensive weapons involved going forward, rather than being shelled for 8min a game, they have a very good chance of being the first team in ECL history to ever win two championships, and naturally the first to do it in back-to-back seasons. FILADELPHIA starting lineup reviewed by Written In The Stars: LW @PleeMaker 10GP, 12+15=27 Wouldn't believe it from what you see on the ice, but the youngin in the group. Very slippery on offense, their hardest player to face 1-on-1 and a pain in the ass with occasional cherrypicking. C @Patzlaf 10GP, 14+11=25 The beating heart of FILA, Mr. Selke, El Capitano - A dear child has many names. Rumour has it that he's a skilled dangler. High hockey IQ. RW @Eki 10GP, 9+13=22 The world champ. A friendly and pleasant guy to be around. Throws sauce better than everyone else, defends better than everyone else. Lost to Ippe (@Buantso) in Sampi Cup. LD @Janzuh 10GP, 0+9=9 A true FILA veteran. Janzuh is a hard hitter and a tough defender to face any given night. RD @jtorro1233 10GP, 1+8=9 Judas Iscariot of FILA. Loves the puck more than his teammates. G @sibeelius 8GP, 7W, 92.69 SV%, 0,37 GAA, 6 SO FILA's shortest player. Has proven to be a winning goaltender and handles the pressure well in tough spots. A former SKY player, who's been spotted at the training facility in a snakesuit on weekends. How to watch the finals? Preferred option: Show up to the live event at LanTrek on Friday, 1st of March, 2019. Puck drop is at 17CET, so be there early! Follow our stream at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer. Arttu Hämäläinen and Jani @Jiihooo86 Hetta will be commentating all games live from Tampere. Schedule:* Game 1 17:00 CET Game 2 17:40 CET Game 3 18:20 CET --------------------------------------- BREAK 18:55-19:55 CET --------------------------------------- Game 4 20:00 CET Game 5 20:40 CET --------------------------------------- BREAK 21:10-21:20 CET --------------------------------------- Game 6 21:25 CET Game 7 22:05 CET *ECL Staff withholds the right to alter the schedule if need be. Who do you think will win? Will you be joining in on the action at LanTrek or through the stream? Let us know in the comment section! ECL Elite Writing Team, @MartindalexC & @jahajaha93

Picture courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at GameXpo 2018. NHLGamers, It's the final week of ECL 8 Elite and it all culminates at the pinnacle of the season - The ECL 8 Elite Finals at LanTrek in Tampere, Finland! With this short intro, we're launching an extensive coverage into the heated battle between first seed Written In The Stars and second seed FILADELPHIA. The games are scheduled to start at 17:00 CET on Friday, 1st of March, 2019 and we'll keep going for as long as it takes to make out a champion, believe me - that might take a while! Last time these teams met live, we ended up playing long into the night as game 2 wasn't decided until 6th OT when @Dominointitickled twine. Stay tuned for our big ECL 8 Elite Final preview, dropping late this evening. You'll be able to find us all weekend at LanTrek, as we're hosting the ECL 8 Elite Finals on Friday and casual FIFA 19 and NHL 19 tournaments on Saturday. NHLGamer can be found in the lower left hand corner (picture above). The ECL 8 Elite finals will be played on stage #2. Read more: ECL 8 Elite Finals: "We're in this together" We're continuing our short interview series with a FILADELPHIA player today! This time, @Janzuh gets the honour to step up and share some thoughts: You and @vatalisti patrolled the blueline for three seasons straight, @jtorro1233 stepped in for this season. How has the transition went? - I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit difficult at first. Probably didn't help that we didn't practice too much ahead of the season either. We had a short adjustment period but I think we've been hitting it off with Torro quite well recently. There's a lot of similarities between Torro and Vata as both like to jump in on the rush and provide offense. I'm happy being the last man back and keeping it clean in our own end. Personal achievements aren't my priority, I just want my team to win. What's the factor that will push FILA to a win on Friday? - There's many. Our offense will click, we'll be solid in our own end. I'm not going to swear on it, but we'll try to keep our net clean for all of Friday. I think our biggest advantage is our team spirit, to be honest. We always have fun together and even if we wouldn't be the better team on paper, we'll give ourselves a chance to win by just sticking to what we always do - play the game and have fun together. Janzuh and several other of the best European NHL gamers will be taking the stage on Friday, 1st of March at LanTrek. Games start at 17 CET and you're all very welcome to join us either live in Tampere or through our stream at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer. Arttu Hämäläinen and Jani @Jiihooo86 Hetta will be our commentators for the night! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

Photo courtesy of SEUL ry, Jääskeläinen. Taken at GameXpo 2018. NHLGamers, It's the final week of ECL 8 Elite and it all culminates at the pinnacle of the season - The ECL 8 Elite Finals at LanTrek in Tampere, Finland! With this short intro, we're launching an extensive coverage into the heated battle between first seed Written In The Stars and second seed FILADELPHIA. The games are scheduled to start at 17:00 CET on Friday, 1st of March, 2019 and we'll keep going for as long as it takes to make out a champion, believe me - that might take a while! Last time these teams met live, we ended up playing long into the night as game 2 wasn't decided until 6th OT when @Dominointi tickled twine. Stay tuned for our big ECL 8 Elite Final preview, dropping late tomorrow evening. You'll be able to find us all Weekend at LanTrek, as we're hosting the ECL 8 Elite Finals on Friday and casual FIFA 19 and NHL 19 tournaments on Saturday. NHLGamer can be found in the lower left hand corner (picture above). The ECL 8 Elite finals will be played on stage #2. To get you guys in the spirit, we'll be releasing short interviews with some members of the finalist teams over the next few days. Our first victim was long time FILADELPHIA goaltender and assistant captain @FinKonna: You and @sibeelius pretty much share the responsibility of the games, is there any logic or strategy behind how you play or do you just go with who's available? - In the regular season we've agreed that both goalies split the games. To start the playoffs we play two games each and from there on we go with whoever seems to perform better. Quickly go over your season so far. - Well, @jtorro1233 came in as a new guy and obviously we had an adjustment period. We didn't play too much before the season started, which came back to bite us, however I think we managed to bounce back nicely and found our stride towards the end of the season. The last time Written In The Stars beat you in a competitive game was in the finals of the Finnish Championships in 6vs6 (aka IS Cup 3) in the fall of 2018, do you think that gives you an edge? - They can't beat us lately, so that'll certainly play in our favour. They might be feeling the pressure building and there's a bit of a monkey on their backs. FinKonna is notorious for applying pressure to the opposing side, and he is determined to keep doing just that this upcoming weekend. He mentioned that he'll make sure to bother some of the SKY players a bit extra at the hotel prior to the games. Make sure to tune in at www.twitch.tv/nhlgamer for all the action on Friday! The games start at 17:00 CET and we'll have your very own Arttu Hämäläinen and Jani @Jiihooo86 Hetta in the booth. Unfortunately there won't be a separate international feed, but we will include English content in our broadcast. Hope to see you all at LanTrek this weekend! Your NHLGamer Editor, @jahajaha93

Hi NHLGamers, The quarterfinals brought us a whole bunch of more upsets, as did the previous rounds. The first seeded team of The Next Gen got swept, Elite experienced teams like SIKA and Gotham Knights got sent to improving their golfing skills as well. We congratulate TIKI TALK, Checkmate, POGGERS and Black Horse for their guaranteed shot at an Elite spot for ECL 9. The ECL 8 Pro Semifinals will be played between Monday, 25th of February and Sunday, 3rd of March 2019. Here are the matchups for the ECL 8 Pro Semi-finals: (2) TIKI TALK vs. Black Horse (13) Is it TIKI TALK's year? Will they finally make their way back to Elite in ECL 9? After a disappointing end to their ECL 7 season, TIKI TALK have finally shown their true potential in the 8th iteration of the European Championship League. They don't want to waste any more time in their quest to advance back to the highest tier division - two sweeps against Bellizzi and SIKA, you can call that impressive for sure. The teams iconic captain @itspardytime rules this team and the division playoffs so far by scoring 38 points (20 goals, 18 assists) in 8 games. TIKI TALK have been running with their top lineup for all games so far and we believe this won't change as you don't change a winning team, right? @Thewix93 (4 goals and 13 assists) and @PCJP (89,47 SV% and 1,00 GAA) are the defensive anchors which this highly potential offense need at the back end. Black Horse started the season as their name would imply and surpassed all expectations completely. While they struggled a little bit at the end of the season, which cost them a higher seed for the playoffs, they didn't hesitate to show their skill right at the start of the playoffs against the big guns. They eliminated the 4th seed Silver Sword Griffins in 6 games while burying the top seed The Next Gen in only 4. Is TIKI TALK next in the line on their way to winning it all? Their defense is the key to their success - while they don't win their games with style, they are hard to score against and will make you pay for your mistakes. While former top goaltender @Hullued now is showing that he can be a top center and leads the team in that role in all three zones of the ice, the defensive pair of @Miika (Since2009-) and @Exel56 do an outstanding job and @villamies95 in net is a real stud in his debut season! Pure offensive skill vs a brickwall, who's gonna stand tall when this series has been played? Our bet is on TIKI TALK in 6 games, but expect some really tight battles! (5) Checkmate vs. POGGERS (9) Checkmates situation is very familiar to the one TIKI TALK finds themselves in - they also had a disappointing outcome to the ECL 7 playoffs with a first round exit. Now they are back in business again. While in the regular season they played with quite a big roster, we get that familiar top 6 line up in the playoffs. This roster consists of guys who were able to beat Speedy Bros Hockey and Mentula SKA in 5, respective 6 games. Alike Black Horse, Checkmate is a defensive minded team built around the captain @TackleControl. They established this play style during last season as well, but what is different this year? Maybe the addition of the Elite experienced @Tuukka.R was the missing puzzle piece for their final success. Can they hold on to their strong defense and make it to the finals? Once a Wasp, now a frog - the evolution goes on, but they started with Quality right from the beginning! After defeating Raccoon Rampage and Gotham Knights in 5, respective 6 games, the team around the leader @Yoloberg will make sure to give the best fight they have to offer. The addition of veteran @Chafak helped them to go far in the playoffs. Look out for their offensive trio as they like to throw some extra sauce on their passes and might surprise you coming out of the gates. They are also quite good defensively and will make sure that their top 6 guys are on the ice to win them this series. It will be interesting to see which team is going to be the active part with more puck possession. We're expecting both teams to have to dig deep in their playbook if they want to advance to the finals. We believe it will be Checkmate coming out as a finalist, but it will take the full distance of 7 games! Results from the relegation matchups: (G1 #14) Clowns On Ice vs. Pata Hellalla (G2 #15) 2-4 At last we would like to wish all ECL 8 Pro semi-finalists good luck in these series and would also like to give a big congrats to Pata Hellalla for staying in Pro! Signing off for now, ECL Pro Writing Team @Mannheimer1938 & @Panarinz

Hello NHLGamers, We are a few weeks in to the ECL 8 Lite Playoffs and have now reached round 3. We've had the opportunity to watch a bunch of exciting games in the first two rounds and a some of the matchups have taken surprising turns! Round 3 of the ECL 8 Lite playoffs is to be played between Thursday, 21st of February and Wednesday, 27th of February. From now on we'll be polling Lite captains for the outcome of upcoming playoff series. We did just that for the 3rd round and below the matchups you can see our calculated result presented. Here are the matchups for round 3 of the ECL 8 Lite playoffs: (1.) Prowlers vs. Poston Fruits (36.) Prowlers 55% (3.) Dystopia vs. Western Express (31.) Dystopia 91% (5.) Blackdawgs vs. LammasLauma (28.) Blackdawgs 64% (11.) We Kings vs. Beast Hockey (27.) We Kings 73% (12.) Saucer Hockey vs. FarmiNaattori (26.) FarmiNaattori 91% (14.) Oton Letkutemppu vs. Me Carvoset (25.) Me Carvoset 55% (16.) Cheers Hockey vs. Reaperr (22.) Reaperr 55% (18.) Chatbox vs. Vesa Pompa HC (20.) Vesa Pompa HC 70% There you have it, guys! We're excited for the upcoming round and expect to see some tight games. Who do you think will advance? As always, play hard and fair out there, see you on the ice! ECL Lite Writing Team, @Willander97 & @Tonimo92

NHLGamers! One round down and already we have had a couple upsets with Dynasty (5) and Rusty Blades (6) besting Deadly Phantoms HC (4) and Symphony (3) respectively. In fact, this marks the first time in two playoff seasons where a higher seed was knocked out in the first round, and the first time since the inaugural season that more than one fell. Proving, quite illustratively, that at the very top of the ECL structure the parity amongst teams is very strong, and that trying to make any predictions as to how the teams will finish can only be described as a ‘fool’s game’. Nevertheless, we will try to outline our thoughts regarding each team in the coming matchups for your viewing pleasure. The ECL 8 Elite semi-finals are going to be played on Monday 18th of February, Tuesday 19th of February, Thursday 21st of February and Sunday 24th of February. Please see a full schedule at the end of this post. These are the matchups for the ECL 8 Elite Semifinals: (1) Written In The Stars vs. Rusty Blades (6) The setup for this series is very much similar to that of the previous matchups of these teams. Written In The Stars is expected to control the pace of the play with their strong puck possession play and impressive passing whereas Rusty Blades is expected to rely on counter attacking and converting their chances efficiently. SKY won both regular season games with scores of 3-0 and 4-2 respectively. @Dominointi and @Buantso were the most prevalent players in those games, so a suggestion would be to keep your eyes on those two in this series. Rusty Blades will look to rely on the duo of @Foppatofflan and @MartindalexC, but undoubtedly they will need some secondary scoring and a whole lot of good fortune if they are going to see the series swaying their way. Written in the Stars (Regular season record 26-3-1) Written In The Stars have played an outstanding season so far and their playoff start has been nothing less than that. SKY dominated the eighth seed Northern Stars in the quarterfinals and advanced with a series score of 4-0. SKY wasn't really tested in that first matchup and the aggregate score of 16-3 speaks volumes of how dominant they were. Their scoring has been clicking well so far with 4 GF/GP and the team will surely look to stay on that path. All five of their players pose a threat in the offensive zone, which translates to an endless amount of opportunities when creating chances up front. The teams defense hasn't really been tested yet and we'll be expecting Rusty Blades to put forth some dangerous pushes. @willekunq and @Nassustelija will need to stay alert. Leading point scorer (F): @FlyerKungen & @Dominointi // 72pts (31+41) & (29+43) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @willekunq // 30pts (8+22) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @Hansulinho // 86.36 SV% & 0.75 GAA in 16 games Rusty Blades (Regular season record 15-10-5) The Blades had an impressive showing in the first round where they bested a strong Symphony. RB went into their first matchup with a clear underdog status and will be doing the same in the semi-finals. Symphony had made their quarterfinal matchup 2-0 before Rusty Blades decided to bounce back with four consecutive wins including two shutouts by @Supreex along the way. They've only scored two goals per game so far, but as long as they keep up the solid play in their own zone and Supreex stays hot they have every chance to steal some wins in this series. Beating SKY is never easy, but we've seen that it won't be out of the question. Rusty Blades need to find the holes that are there and run with it. Leading point scorer (F): @MartindalexC // 45pts (26+19) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @The_Alpha_Furyan // 22pts (2+20) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @Supreex // 79.93 SV% & 1.96 GAA in 30 games Prediction: Written In The Stars wins 4-1 (2) FILADELPHIA vs. Dynasty (5) Similar to the series outlined previously, this one between FILADELPHIA and Dynasty has a clear favourite / underdog division between the two teams. Not only because of FILAs pedigree over the past year (not least the fact that they are the current reigning champions) but also due to Dynasty having looked somewhat out of sorts at times in the 1st round, something that should, and in all likelihood will, get punished by a FILA team looking to become the first team in ECL Elite history to win two tournaments on the trot. FILADELPHIA (Regular season record 23-6-1) Despite an early stumble by FILADELPHIA against Butterfly Effect, they find themselves in the second round after performing the biggest beatdown from the first round, as they disposed of FLY in 5 games with a goal differential of +19 (the next closest was Written with +14). Even with this in mind however there are still some question marks going forward, specifically whether their defence can hold up against the pressure that Dynasty will invariably apply over the course of the coming series. It should be noted however that whilst this may become an issue, FILAs offence seems to be almost as effective as ever right now and should the series turn into a back and forth affair, then the advantage largely rests with FILA as opposed to Dynasty who are quite a bit less offensively inclined. Leading point scorer (F): @PleeMaker // 60pts (23+37) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @jtorro1233 // 21pts (6+15) in 28 games Most winningest goalie: @FinKonna // 86.66 SV% & 1.00 GAA in 14 games Dynasty (Regular season record 18-10-2) Emerging from an all-out brawl in the first round we find Dynasty, who are probably counting their lucky stars that they were able to beat out the Elite entrants Deadly Phantoms HC in 7 games, with all games bar one being decided by a single goal. In fact, to illustrate how much of a struggle Dynasty had against the German side, they enter the final four on the back of a measly +2 goal differential (the lowest out of the four remaining teams). Despite this, there is perhaps some hope for an upset to be staged by the DYN side, as they seemingly came alive after dropping game 1 & 2 to DPH, going on to win four out of the next five games. Of course, waiting until game 3 to start playing may just about work in the 1st round against playoff rookies DPH, but against the tested FILA such a start would all but seal their fate. So, realistically if DYN are to come out on top in this matchup they will need to carry over as much momentum as they can and not afford FILA the chance to become comfortable, otherwise their time may very well be numbered. Leading point scorer (F): @hpkfani // 48pts (30+18) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @Haldeem // 14pts (3+11) in 18 games Most winningest goalie: @Sandr0hh // 85.28 SV% & 1.70 GAA in 20 games Prediction: FILADELPHIA wins 4-1. ECL 8 Elite Semi-Finals Schedule: Monday, 18th of February 19:30 CET FILADELPHIA - Dynasty (Game 1 & 2) 21:00 CET Written In The Stars - Rusty Blades (Game 1 & 2) Tuesday, 19th of February 19:30 CET FILADELPHIA - Dynasty (Game 3-5) Thursday, 21st of February 20:00 CET Written In The Stars - Rusty Blades (Game 3 & 4) 21:00 CET FILADELPHIA - Dynasty (Game 6 & 7) Sunday, 24th of February 20:00 CET Written In The Stars - Rusty Blades (Game 5-7) All games will be broadcasted at Elisa Viihde. International broadcasts will be announced on social media. Signing off for now, ECL Elite Writing Team @MartindalexC & @jahajaha93

Hi NHLGamers, We are back with a small look into the fith and last week of the Pro division regular season. This season we are doing a player of the week segment, to highlight an individual and his team because of their success during said week. We will also do a small interview with our nominee and try to get to know the person better and get some insights of the team and the league in question. Without further ado we would like to present you our fourth Player Of The Week: PSN-ID: iLLu_8 Team: Bellizzi Position: Left Defenseman (original Center) Games played this week: 6 (vs Cowabunga Hockey, Pata Hellalla and Racoon Rampage) Goals: 1 Assists: 5 Points: 6 +/-: 2 To cap off the week, @Panarinz had a short chat with the man of the hour: After a terrific week for your team, with 5 wins in 6 games you are now playoff bound! How does that feel? - It feels really good! We already felt playoffs were out of our range. But here we are! You played center for your team in a tough start for your team, but ended the season as a LD, why did you change your position and what do you think the change resulted in? - The start of the season was really hard for us. We felt like we needed more skill to our offense so we decided to try this kind of move. We're glad it worked well for us. With 6 points in 6 games this week, you clearly helped your team get that final playoff spot. What would you say was the reason for this weeks success? - Our defense was really solid with the most entertaining goalie of the league Matti ”the cat” (@Proffa- ) leading the way. We were able to take advantage of our opportunities in the offensive zone. Will we see an upset in the first round of the playoffs when your team is facing the mighty #1 seed TIKI TALK? - All the pressure is on their team. If our gameplan works and we get them to play our kind of game I think we will have a chance. And finally, which team will win ECL 8 Pro? - Bellizzi Signing off for now, ECL Pro writing team @Panarinz & @Mannheimer1938

NHLGamers! So, now the big games start. We've weeded out the haves from the have nots and what we're left with is eight teams who definitely have what it takes to be the very best. Prior to the season, there were some concerns about thew level of play in Elite being inflated as we saw a lot of up-and-down movement with some teams folding. 30 games later I think it's safe to say that was not the case. If not for a few exceptions ECL 8 Elite has definitely been a league where each and every team could beat any opponent. The primary game days for the ECL 8 Elite Quarterfinals are: Monday 11th of February, Wednesday 13th of February and Thursday 14th of February. These game days are to be prioritised in scheduling. Please communicate in the captains chat in order to ensure we have matchups in place for broadcasts. These are the matchups for the ECL 8 Elite Quarterfinals: (1) Written In The Stars vs. Northern Stars (8) As is often the case when the 1st seed faces the 8th seed in Elite it is rather unlikely to see an upset playing out. This series is no different in that in order for NOS to come out victorious, they will need an absolutely herculean effort from all players up and down their line-up, whereas for SKY they could in all likelihood ‘mail it in’ so to speak and still win each game quite decisively. The only saving grace for NOS is that they were one of the very few that were able to actually deal a blow to SKY this season in a 2-1 OT win a couple weeks back, whether this is something they can recreate however is up in the air. Written in the Stars (Regular season record 26-3-1) Familiar territory once again for Written in the Stars as they find themselves rolling into the playoffs with the number 1 seed for the second time in three seasons, and as one of hottest teams at the moment (8-2-0). Up to this point, SKY have completely manhandled almost everyone that they have played, establishing a record of 26-3-1 which goes down as the second best season in ECL Elite history (second only to SKYs own high water mark of 55pts in ECL 6), despite this, the most impressive part of their play is not their total points per se, instead more that they are just straight demolishing other teams. No other team in ECL history has finished a season with a goal differential of, or higher than, +74, not only does this speak to SKYs ability to score at will, but it underpins their growth defensively in that they now have a defence they can rely on it seems. To put into context how much of a beat down SKY has been dishing out, the next closest goal differential all time is +54. Of course, despite this there are still some doubts surrounding the team as their tendency to ‘choke’ once the playoffs roll around has been well documented in the past, sure the roster has changed quite considerably over the seasons but will the proverbial monkey-on-the-back remain? Only time will tell. Leading point scorer (F): @FlyerKungen & @Dominointi // 72pts (31+41) & (29+43) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @willekunq // 30pts (8+22) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @Hansulinho // 86.36 SV% & 0.75 GAA in 16 games. Northern Stars (Regular season record 12-9-9) Someone had to draw the shortest straw, and that team just happened to be Northern Stars. That said, I do not imagine that they mind too much given the amount of adversity they have had to overcome to find themselves in this situation. Not only did they start the season to the tune of 3-6-5, but they also lost their stalwart forward in @Floor17 to illness. Despite this underwhelming start and turn of bad fortune, NOS have managed to fight tooth and nail to secure their 4th straight playoff appearance in Elite thanks in part to @cHIIMEERa catalysing the offense (having a hand in 76% of all goals scored by the team), as well as rookie acquisition @Nieppii slotting in rather nicely as the starting RW. Looking beyond this however, it would perhaps almost require a ‘Cinderella’ type of run / miracle for NOS to depose Written. Such an event would be fitting of its moniker, but even in the most outlandish scenario imaginable, I still do not see NOS besting SKY four times over the course of seven games. Leading point scorer (F): @cHIIMEERa // 37pts (21+16) in 29 games Leading point scorer (D): @ma0niii // 18pts (2+16) in 27 games Most winningest goalie: @MajLeN-Gaming // 86.11 SV% & 1.50 GAA in 10 games. Prediction: Written in the Stars, 4-1 (2) FILADELPHIA vs. Butterfly Effect (7) We continue our trip through all the first round matchups with a banger. This matchup seems like a great one, where both teams boast great offensive upside and impressive goaltending. Both regular season bouts were won by FILA (2:3 & 2:0). FILADELPHIA (Regular season record 23-6-1) The question on everyone's minds must surely be how well FILA will defend their title. It certainly won't be an easy task as already the first round opponent could surprise them. One of FILA's strengths this season has been their offense, which looks exactly the same as last season. @PleeMaker boasts an impressive total of 60 points, with @Eki and @Patzlaf not trailing far behind. If these guys go confident into the matchup, they will be hard to stop. On defense, they also have two offensively talented but also responsible players, @Janzuh and @jtorro1233 combine for 41 points in the regular season. @FinKonna had one of the strongest seasons in the league stats-wise, but we expect @Zande95 to step up in the big games. Leading point scorer (F): @PleeMaker // 60pts (23+37) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @jtorro1233 // 21pts (6+15) in 28 games Most winningest goalie: @FinKonna // 86.66 SV% & 1.00 GAA in 14 games. Butterfly Effect (Regular season record 15-10-5) FLY had a fluctuant season with some stretches of wins and losses. They made a nice push towards the end of the season and seem to have found some form as of late, so we expect them to be nearing their peak in time for the playoffs. @Joukki leads the team in scoring with 39 points amassed but he will need some secondary scoring if the team wants to advance. The team has been good defensively and we expect @JanneK. to show up big for his team in the playoffs. Leading point scorer (F): @Joukki // 39pts (24+15) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @Crisu_rottis // 10pts (0+10) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @JanneK. // 77.50 SV% & 2.25 GAA in 30 games. Prediction: FILADELPHIA win 4-2. (3) Symphony vs. Rusty Blades (6) This should be a rather even matchup and what's interesting is that the styles of these teams should matchup rather well against each other. Symphony is a clear puck possession team whereas Rusty Blades likes to counter and utilise quick passing plays. We also see two of the best goaltenders in the scene go at it as @swagx88 has stood tall in net for SYM and we are all very aware of how good @Supreex has been for RB for years now. Symphony (Regular season record 21-5-4) Things for Symphony are kicking well, as expected. There wasn't too much roster turnover in the offseason as the team basically switched a goalie as @swagx88 replaced @ICappeI and up front @RutonMosse replaced @Buantso on the left wing. Let me tell you these changes have worked out for them! An already strong team got even better and both new players have possessed leading roles in their run so far this season. An extremely important factor in Symphony's success has also been their centerman @tbnantti, who seems to have hit his peak this season. The experienced center likes to hold on to the puck and seems to do close to impossible things with it every time it lays at his tape. To start of the season, SYM looked a bit shaky, experiencing a loss against AIK and a double loss against Butterfly Effect but at the same time stealing points from regular season winner Written In The Stars. They seem to have found their stride towards the end of the season though, closing out the last ten games with a record of 9-0-1. Leading point scorer (F): @RutonMosse // 51pts (26+25) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @Ilmari_30 // 22pts (9+14) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @swagx88 // 80.76 SV% & 1.42 GAA in 14 games. Rusty Blades (Regular season record 15-10-5) Rusty Blades experienced something of a facelift over the offseason and oh boy has it been refreshing to see! Previously, "you get what you see" would have described RB quite perfectly. Everyone knew what they were about and sometimes they were effective with it, sometimes not. Well, this time around they added a few quality players to their lineup who definitely have taken the team to the next level. The duo @Foppatofflan-@MartindalexC from the former Northern Ascendancy definitely brings a whole new element to their offense and the addition of @The_Alpha_Furyan on LD has turned out in their favour too. All in all, the Rusty Blades 2.0 we're seeing this season is a team you could very well see go all the way if they manage to find consistency, something that has been difficult for them as of late. Leading point scorer (F): @MartindalexC // 45pts (26+19) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @The_Alpha_Furyan // 22pts (2+20) in 30 games Most winningest goalie: @Supreex // 79.93 SV% & 1.96 GAA in 30 games. Prediction: Symphony wins, 4-2 (4) Deadly Phantoms HC vs. Dynasty (5) This matchup offers up the best chance of the series going the distance and being decided in game 7, in fact the stats alone dictate as much (2.03 vs. 2.07 GF/A & 1.53 vs. 2.00 GA/A respectively). Despite the slight stats advantage towards DPH, I still think that Dynasty hold the edge based on their experience in Elite at this stage, as well as their roster finally resembling full strength as of late. Deadly Phantoms HC (Regular season record 18-9-3) Heading into this season DPH already had amassed quite a reputation before playing a single game, in fact I would go as far to say that out of all teams in Elite, they are one of the most identifiable teams quite simply because of their style of play and their ‘community presence’. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is up for debate of course, nevertheless this reputation invariably led to some teams and players no doubt making it their sole mission this season to not lose to Deadly Phantoms HC. Well, seen as DPH clinched ‘home ice advantage’ for the 1st round, it would appear as though that the German team can, at the very least, be competitive in Elite, and at the most, be good at it. Heading up this team offensively we have the duo of @Tim_FlyersFan & @Playmaker who appear to have adjusted to the step up from Pro to Elite very nicely, with each of their seasons being their first in Elite. Defensively however is where DPHs ‘true’ strengths lie, as through 30 games they conceded the 3rd fewest amount of goals in the division with a stifling 1.53 GAA. As far as quick comparisons go then it would seem as though this series cannot be better balanced, however it should be said that as the playoffs roll in, the goals typically dry up thanks to a myriad of reasons, one of those being anxiety. Such a problem is often not a factor for veterans of the playoffs for Elite, yet for a ‘new’ team it is certainly something that could come into play in some form or another and drag down their performance. Leading point scorer (F): @Tim_FlyersFan // 47pts (14+33) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @gzell60 // 17pts (1+16) in 28 games Most winningest goalie: @RPH_31 // 83.48 SV% & 1.42 GAA in 26 games. Dynasty (Regular season record 18-10-2) Stop the presses! Dynasty finished a season without clinching the 4th spot, or by recording around 42pts. Truly the end times are nigh! That aside, this season was once again a case of same old same old for those in DYN. Sure, they started a little slow, sure they had a bit of a wobble in the later part of the season, sure they perhaps did not look that impressive, yet here we are, in the playoffs again. In fact, their road to the playoffs could potentially be explained simply by the absolute ****show that went on regarding rotations over the season. Their most played goalie @Sandr0hh played 4 games as a skater (splitting it evenly between offence & defence), 6 players played as a skater, 5 players played as a defender and only one player actually played in 30 games (@hpkfani). Such a rotation is especially unusual considering most team rotate out one player at most really. Of course, none of this matters in the grand scheme of things going forward as I find it somewhat unlikely that such an arrangement it will continue into the playoffs. In fact, it may even serve to lull DPH into a false sense of security if DYN are able to come out swinging with their full roster clicking at a rate far above their season averages, which are admittedly astoundingly average going into this series. For instance out of the 8 playoff bound teams, Dynasty ranks dead last in GAA (granted by .03%) and 5th in GFA. Leading point scorer (F): @hpkfani // 48pts (30+18) in 30 games Leading point scorer (D): @Haldeem // 14pts (3+11) in 18 games Most winningest goalie: @Sandr0hh // 85.28 SV% & 1.70 GAA in 20 games. Prediction: Dynasty, 4-2 Stay tuned for announcements about the games on our social media channels, playoff matchups will be broadcasted at Elisa Viihde as usual. We'll also have international broadcasts for you as best as we can. These will also be announced on social media. As always, play hard and see you guys out on the ice! ECL Elite Writing Team @MartindalexC, @Serg1vratar and @jahajaha93

NHLGamers! Yet another Pro season is in the books. We had some exciting times and now 30 games later the deserving playoff goers have been weeded out from the rest. Tomorrow we'll be kicking off the fight for the ultimate goal for any of these remaining teams - promotion to ECL Elite! We'll also have some quality relegation battles up for you guys. As no teams folded or were disqualified, the teams placed 13th to 16th in each group will battle against each other for the right to play in ECL 9 Pro. The ECL Pro Playoffs Round 1 is to be played between Monday 11th of February and Sunday, 17th of February. Without further ado, here are your ECL 8 Pro Playoffs Round 1 matchups: (G1 #1) TIKI TALK vs. Bellizzi (G2 #8) Both teams in this series are very experienced. TIKI TALK has started to find beck their winning ways after a bit of a struggle for the past few seasons. Bellizzi on the other hand has been a Pro competitor for a long time already, but they always seem to get stuck in the masses along the low middle of the table. It'll be interesting to see if they can match up to TIKI, who have found some convincing form lately. (G2 #1) The Next Gen vs. GHETTO FIREBIRDS (G1 #8) The Next Gen is a team whose talent cannot be understated. They have versus powerhouse @kriketski17 centering a line with @Thounii and @NikkeDangles on the flanks and boy have they been dangerous! @oGBioLan will play a crucial part in their playoff run as their most experienced ECL player. Opposing them is GHETTO FIREBIRDS, who are making a strong push back into the top of the Pro division after missing the playoffs last season. Going into the post season as an eighth place seed won't be easy but they should be able to put up a decent fight. (G1 #2) Gotham Knights vs. SPARTANS (G2 #7) Gotham Knights showed us what it takes to be one of the top teams in Pro. Their centerman @ReDMisTi finished the season with 36 points and was a valuable asset for the team all season. On the other side we have Spartans, who got the chance to play in the Pro division and they really made it count. With @rize1988 leading the team in points alongside the fabled @Drunkendefender on defense they managed to finish in seventh place in their group. This series is going to be a tight one but a Gotham win 4-2 is our prediction. (G2 #2) Born With It vs. SIKA (G1 #7) The battle of the veterans! Born With It has had a great season so far and most of it can probably be attributed to being one of the more experienced teams in the league. SIKA is better known as a team and the same could be said for them. We'll expect to see a scoring onslaught as neither teams have been all too convincing in their own end. (G1 #3) Checkmate vs. Speedy Bros Hockey (G2 #6) This is going to be a tough series to call. Checkmate has a stacked roster, featuring former Elite All-Star @Tuukka.R and long-time SIKA forward @Naikou88 to name a few. They seem to be rotating their roster quite much though - do they have chemistry? Their opponent Speedy Bros Hockey declined an Elite promotion during the offseason in order to improve their game for another season in Pro. We'll be waiting to see if all that practice pays off as they go head to head with their toughest opponent yet in this series. (G2 #3) Mentula SKA vs. Rajatorpan Mafia (G1 #6) Two teams that are playing their first Pro season face each other in the first round of the playoffs. Rajatorpan Mafias power play won't get many chances as Mentula SKA play a clean game where they had the least amount of penalties and third least hits in the regular season. Rajatorpan can challenge any team with their consistent play, they got at least a point from every opponent in the regular season. Additionally they had nine games that were decided in overtime. Mentula SKA has a core that has played together for four consecutive ECL seasons and the addition of ECL veteran Hanssonni makes them favorites in the series. (G1 #4) Silver Sword Griffins vs. Black Horse (G2 #5) SSG is one of the older ECL teams, they are in fact closing in on the 300 game mark as a franchise and that's something most teams could only dream of right now. They've gone through some rough times but lately it seems they've found their stride a bit. Maybe this is the season they will take the step back up to the highest level? Black Horse is their opponent. They're a new team that's built around the former Shameful Knights core of @Hullued, @Exel56 and @Tapparafan to name a few. They aren't total newcomers either so to speak. The interesting thing about them is the former top goaltended Hullued making the switch to the forward position and dominating at that too - 54 points in 28 games isn't too shabby for a guy who used to stop pucks more than shoot them. (G2 #4) Raccoon Rampage vs. POGGERS (G1 #5) This series is going to be an even one. POGGERS is the more experienced team, but Raccoon Rampage is a team full of young, hungry players who have successfully been building a decent buzz around themselves recently. Both teams are very responsible defensively and have great goaltending, but the prediction here would be that it all boils down to who can be more effective up front. The Poggers duo of @JaKurrii and @Chafak are something to keep an eye on. Relegation matchups: (G1 #13) EV Duisburg vs. Bone Breakers (G2 #16) (G2 #13) Cowabunga Hockey vs. Murohoki (G1 #16) (G1 #14) Clowns On Ice vs. Pata Hellalla (G2 #15) (G2 #14) Freddie Mercury Institute vs. Tiffen (G1 #15) We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all teams for participation, it was fun to watch and follow your games. Good luck for all teams with the further rounds and battles, good luck and most important - have fun! ECL Writers, @Tonimo92, @Willander97 and @jahajaha93

NHLGamers, The final week of the regular season is here and a lot of important games have been played in the hunt for a playoff spot. The ECL Lite Writing Team sat down and discussed the weight of the players who took their team on their shoulders and helped them reach a top 8 spot. This week we have chosen a player that did just that. @Lidaas79 showed the way when Nordic Nosebleed secured their playoff spot scoring 5 goals and setting up 8 more against second placed Cheers Hockey and HC Finlandia who finished ninth, a mere point shy of the playoffs. PSN-ID: Lidaas_79 Team: Nordic Nosebleed Position: Right Winger Games played this week: 4 (HC Finlandia, Cheers Hockey) Goals: 5 Assists: 8 Points: 13 +/-: 5 Congratulations on being named the Player of the week! How are you feeling about that? - Wow it came as a surprise, fun to get the award. Your team was relegated to Lite last season. What have you changed this season? - It was a tough season last ECL but now it feels like we have found the right way. We are underdogs in the playoffs so we'll see how far it carries us. What is behind your and your teams great form against tough opponents in the last week of the regular season? - We started to get the team together and work well for each other, the defensive game works very well right now. If you have to pick a player from the Lite division and add him or her to you roster, who would it be and why? - I have all the players I need in my team right now. 😃 Last question. How far will you guys make it in the playoffs? - We aim high and hope to reach a semifinal. Thanks for your time Lidaas_79 and good luck for your team in the playoffs! ECL Lite Writing Team @Tonimo92 & @Willander97

NHLGamers! The ECL 8 Lite Playoffs are finally here and we have got some very strong teams that will battle each other for a Pro spot. From each group the teams that finished top 8 will make the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs will start today on Thursday, February 7th, 2019 and end on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019. According to section 5.6.1 of the ECL 8 Rulebook, the first round of the ECL 8 Lite Playoffs will be played as follows: In ECL Lite, the top 8 teams from each of the 6 groups will make the playoffs. For each group the top 2 teams will have a bye round and advance directly to round 2. All remaining teams will be seeded according to the tiebreakers mentioned in 11.3. The top 4 teams of these seeded ones will also advance directly round 2. This leaves 32 teams playing in round 1, where the top seed plays the 32nd seed, 2nd seed will play 31st etc. The winning teams will be merged with the bye teams and play the 2nd round, making a total of 32 teams competing in round 2. Tiebreakers (ECL 8 Rulebook 11.3): Wins (including OT-wins) Head-to-head record (points in mutual games) Goal difference (across all games played) Scored goals (across all games played) After the first round, all remaining teams are again re-seeded. Every series are played in best of seven games and the highest seeded team will play the first game at home. (10.7.2 ECL Rules). Here are the matchups for round 1 of the ECL 8 Lite Playoffs: (17.) Mighty French Roosters vs. Atomic Hamsters HC (48.) (18.) Chatbox vs. Uncle Dens (47.) (19.) Suomen Sonnit vs. Stayhard Stallions (46.) (20.) Vesa Pompa HC vs. Niederrhein Canucks (45.) (21.) Finnish Hockey Legends vs. Pink Panthers HC (44.) (22.) Reaperr vs. K A R H U T (43.) (23.) Kaukosen Luistin vs. Korpens Finest (42.) (24.) EV Fuessen eSports vs. Campo De Juego (41.) (25.) Me Carvoset vs. UnderRated Lekstuga (40.) (26.) Farminaattorit vs. Kouvola Screaming Eagles (39.) (27.) Beast Hockey vs. Polarbears HC (38.) (28.) LammasLauma vs. Red Devils HC (37.) (29.) North Pole Huskies vs. Poston Fruits (36.) (30.) SKA vs. SKA Hokurit (35.) (31.) Western Express vs. Rusty Bulls (34.) (32.) Nordic Nosebleed vs. Club Savage (33.) Play hard and fair out there, see you on the ice! ECL Lite Writing Team, @Tonimo92 & @Willander97

Many games have been played this past week. Passes have been made and goals have been scored and it is time for us to reveal our POTW. This week we have chosen @Klassikko_ of Perttilan Kommandot. The finnish defensman had 3 goals combined with 10 assist in 6 games and a spectacular +/- of +25! PSN-ID: Klassikko_ Team: Perttilan Kommandot Position: Right Defenseman Games played this week: 6 (North Pole Huskies, Scrubs of Sweden, FarmiNaattori) Goals: 3 Assists: 10 Points: 13 +/-: 25 @Willander97 had a chance to catch up with the man in such great form lately. Congratulations on being named the Player of the week! How are you feeling about that? - Thank you. I have to say that I wasn't expecting it so I feel very surprised. In the past you have been playing as a forward, what made you start playing as a defender? - We have many players who played last season in Perttilan Kommandot also. One defender wanted to try to play forward this season and I was interested in playing defense. Perttilan Kommandot is currently leading leading their group in Lite with a record of 20-3-1. What makes your team so good? - Like many other teams we also try to play as a team as good as we can. Every guy participates in defense as well as in offense. We also have a team captain (Jarmonen) who knows how to boost up the team before the games. He also possesses great tactical vision which helps us to win tight games. If you have to pick a player from the Lite division and add him or her to you roster, who would it be and why? - There are many good players in lite but I have to say @ahonaattori from The Dudes. This guy makes everything for his team so he would be a good addition for Kommandot also. Last question. How far will you guys make it in the playoffs? - We will go as far as we deserve. Hopefully we can use the marketplace which our captain has already booked to celebrate our rise to ECL Pro. Thanks for your time Klassikko_ and we wish all the best for PeKo and yourself in the postseason! ECL Lite Writing Team @Willander97 & @Tonimo92

Hi NHLGamers, We are back with a small look into the fourth week of the Pro division. This season we are doing a player of the week segment, to highlight an individual and his team because of their success during said week. We will also do a small interview with our nominee and try to get to know the person better and get some insights of the team and the league in question. Without further ado we would like to present you our fourth Player Of The Week: PSN-ID: itspardytime Team: TIKI TALK Position: Right Wing Games played this week: 6 (vs God Tier, The Black Jacks and Checkmate) Goals: 10 (33 total, ranked 2nd) Assists: 12 (35 total, ranked 3rd) Points: 22 (68 total, ranked 1st) +/-: 36 (26 total, ranked 6th) To cap off the week, @Panarinz had a short chat with the man of the hour: A good week for your team and especially for yourself, with 23 points in 6 games! What do you think was the biggest reason for your success this week? - Recently we've talked a lot in our team about game strategy. Lately we've succeeded to improve our game level in both ECL and regular EASHL games. Also we decided to try some changes to our lineup, chemistry with Temex on LW was once again fantastic and we played the best hockey as a team so far. It's easy to score when all players deliver the same gameplan. What is your aim for this season? as a team and you personally. - The most important thing is to play high quality hockey and at the same time have fun. I think we have all the chances to go far in the playoffs and also you might see us back in Elite next season. Personally I try my best to cause chaos in our opponents defence. How did you come up with your PSN ID? - "Pardy" is close to my own last name. I wanted to create an account which is also fun and includes that Pardy commentary name. Itspardytime is my own wordplay but sometimes I miss my old Lautaset, some oldschool players might remember that PSN ID. :D What is the best player build in this version of the game for a winger? - It depends on the gamestyle of the team. All player types have own advantages and disadvantages. At the moment I use a pretty small sniper, that fits best for me. What is your strengths as a player? - I think I have decent hockey sense and I hate losing. Maybe you should ask that from the opposing defenders or goalies. Which team will win ECL 8 Pro? - There are many great teams but I think we have a pretty good chance to win Pro, so TIKI TALK. We thank Pardy for taking the time to sit down with us for this interview. Remember, if you want to be featured next week, work hard and help your team to success! Signing off for now, ECL Pro writing team @Panarinz & @Mannheimer1938

Hi NHLGamers, We are back with a small look into the second week into the Pro division. This season we are doing a player of the week segment, to highlight an individual and his team because of their success during said week. We will also do a small interview with our nominee and try to get to know the person better and get some insights of the team and the league in question. Without further ado we would like to present you our second Player Of The Week: PSN-ID: NikkeDangles Team: The Next Gen Position: Right Wing Games played this week: 6 (vs Style, Bone Breakers and Pata Hellalla) Goals: 8 (18 total, ranked 1st) Assists: 9 (15 total, ranked 5th) Points: 17 (33 total, ranked 1st) +/-: 8 (26 total, ranked 1st) Our writer @Panarinz met with Nikke and after a good conversation this was the result: Another great week for your team, your form has been outstanding as of late. What do you think is the reason for your success this season? - I think we have a great team and it’s very easy to play with them. What is your aim for this season? As a team and you personally. - As a team we are aiming for a deep playoff run and I’m going to do my best to play as well as I can. How did you come up with your PSN ID? - My friends call me Nikke and I like to do dirty dangles so that is why my PSN is NikkeDangles.  What is the best player build in this version of the game, in your opinion? - I like to use the two-way forward, because it’s really fast, has decent balance and good deking. What is your strengths as a player? - My strengths as a player are controlling the puck and making surprising, hard-to-read passes. Finally, which team will win ECL 8 Pro?  - The Next Gen. Signing off for now, ECL Pro writing team @Panarinz & @Mannheimer1938