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

Hey NHLGamers, Did everyone have time to check out the ECL 3 launch stream yesterday? If not, check it out here. Last night's broadcast was one hell of a way to kick off a season! Nearly 250 viewers on Twitch and almost the same amount of people browsing the forums. Congratulations to @Kenu and @Lurkins on a great show with some fun surprises and thank you all for joining us on the stream and in the chat box. So, ECL 3. The third and biggest (so far!) edition of the European Championship League of EASHL gaming. This tournament will of course take place on the NHL 17 platform which I know you all have gotten quite familiar with. New format The new format, with two large groups (conferences) instead of many smaller ones, has spurred on some great discussion in the comment section with some members doubtful and some members loving the design. As always, we here at NHLGamer value your opinions and the feedback you provide us with – we read it all and try to reply as often as we can. For now, know that your voices have been heard (both praise and doubts!) and will be taken into consideration going forward. That being said, the conference system for ECL 3 serves two important purposes. One, it provides NHL gamers with the most complete and extensive EASHL tournament this website has ever provided. The regular season will now “feel” more like an actual NHL season with teams going on hot streaks and breaking out of slumps on a weekly basis. Two, this tougher regular season ensures that it truly is the top teams that emerge and make the playoffs. Some of these teams will then make up what will become Division 1 of the ECL – the top division in our new division system. Once the Divisional system kicks in (from ECL 4 and forward) there will be relegations and promotions on a tournament-to-tournament basis, ensuring that teams that stay together to build franchises and create legacies are the ones who will reign supreme. New teams will of course be welcomed with open arms here at NHLGamer.com but will now have to earn their place and work their way up in the world’s most competitive online hockey gaming tournament. The exact plans for the divisional system are currently safely stored in the NHLGamer vaults but will be presented further during the tournament by our very own @gzell60. For now, if you have any questions about our plans – fire away in the comment section so we know exactly what you are curious about when we present our plan. Let the games begin! Predictions Two tough groups. Two very, very tough groups. In group 1, you’ve got ECL 1 champions Nordic Blizzard, EASHL top ranked Dynasty, X Factor and Written In the Stars. Combine that with experienced, hard hitting teams like Sjukstugan and Silver Sword Griffins and you’ve got quite the nest of vipers. And that’s not even mentioning old Xbox behemoths Northern Stars who dominated the 360 scene for a long time and have a tendency to step up their game once the big tournaments roll around… With lots of new teams coming in as well, there is really no telling how this group will end up but my prediction for the Top-3 of this group will be 1. X Factor 2. Written In The Stars 3. Nordic Blizzard The teams of Group 1 Dynasty Elämäm Kiekko Falun Coal Miners Fat Cats Finnish Roosters Ganja Bonanzas HC Checkmate HC ParempiTarjous HC Soittorasia Ice K1ngs Infinity La Suedé Los Bombers Mpire No Guts No Glory Nordic Blizzard Northern Stars Origins Refuse To Lose Rising Phantoms HC Rusty Blades Rynnäkköviikset Sektion K Silver Sword Griffins Sjukstugan Voodoo People Warriors of Kongo White Trash Written In The Stars X Factor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On to group 2, where the currently #1 ranked team in the world, Laser HT, resides. Made up of players from various top teams, this legendary Xbox team has been resurrected for ECL 3 and they would have to be considered favourites for the championship win at this point in the tournament. That’s not all though, group 2 also features the highest ranked Swedish team Synergy Hockey, ECL 2 champions MUKIMIEHET, insanely skilled Nordic Nightmare, team play masters Nordic Lightning with late addition and potential underdog, Northern Ascendancy – featuring ECL Summer Cup Playoff MVP, @Foppatofflan. My prediction for the Top-3 of group 2 then becomes 1. Laser HT 2. Nordic Nightmare 3. Northern Ascendancy The teams of Group 2 Aapon Taikasauva AK-47 Alliance HT Bare Knuckles Hockey Bone Breakers BraZZers Destined for Greatness Drop Zone EN HUND Free From Rodents HC Marilyn HC Solhem ICE BROS Inter Iceland Kattiautomaatti Knight Aces HC Laser HT Lunatic Lions MUKIMIEHET Murohoki Nordic Lightning Nordic Nightmare Nordic Nosebleed Northern Ascendancy SIKA Synergy Hockey Terrific Tigers TIKI TALK VC Hockey This truly will be a tournament for the ages and in my opinion, our best one yet. From all of us here at the NHLGamer staff – good luck and may the odds ever be in your favour. Yes. I went there. Later skaters // The_Alpha_Furyan

Hello NHLGamers, We hope the cold Fall weather is treating you all well and that you are enjoying as much hockey as possible, both real and virtual. What is new in ECL Season 3? Well, we’re past the halfway point of the season and this is where things are really starting to heat up. The playoff race is on and many teams are currently battling for playoff position already. Sadly, not all teams have made it this far. It is with regret that we here at NHLGamer are announcing that a total of 3 ECL teams have officially thrown in the towel and removed themselves from the tournament. The teams in question are the following: Ice K1ngs (Never participated) Los Bombers (Group 1, 16GP) Destined For Greatness (Group 2, 16GP) What this means is that the Captains and Assistant Captains of these teams will not be allowed any further participation in ECL 3, as per the rules. Other members of these teams are to be considered available as Free Agents up until the final week of the regular season, again per the rules. Furthermore, in the interest of fairness, the above teams will be completely removed from the ECL 3 database with all their games and stats wiped clean. This means that the teams that have already played their games versus the removed teams will have their results and stats removed for these particular games. We understand it is not a perfect solution and that team/personal stats are important, but it is the only way to make sure the process works fairly and that no team gets “extra” points for being one of the first teams to play a team that ended up leaving the tournament. @Kenu has already removed the games played, the results and the standings points involved and will begin to remove the individual stats in the coming days. As this is the finishing stretch of the regular season, we ask all teams to make every effort to stay on schedule as best they can the whole way through. On a final note, look for a post regarding DIVISIONS in the near future. This concerns all teams (regardless if you make the playoffs as the #1 seed or finish last in your group) and should bring about an exciting future for the competitive EASHL community in Europe! // NHLGamer Staff

Hello NHLGamers, We are roughly halfway through this ECL season, the third of its kind, and it is time to take a look at some of the bigger moments of the season so far. We've had some surprising teams, some disciplinary cases and some expected domination from the bigger "franchise teams". All in all, it's been a solid month of virtual hockey and with half the season to go - there is a lot more good stuff coming up. But first, let's take a look at the first half. The expected If you would have told me before the season started that some of the top teams at the head of both groups would have been Written In The Stars, Northern Stars, Finnish Roosters, Aapon Taikasauva, SIKA, LASER - I would have said "What else is new?". These franchises - and I do say franchises because they have made names for themselves by consistently staying together and winning games - are known to many in the community at this point. Known just as much for their high scoring as their stingy defenses, these top teams have lived up to every expectation placed upon them before the start of the season. Even among all these expected success stories, one team in particular has to be considered the strongest starter thus far. I am of course talking about Aapon Taikasauva. With a record of 24-0-0 with 71 points through their first 24 games, they are the only team yet to have been defeated in the entire league. Having only failed to aquire the full 3 points in a single game (How did you manage that, Bone Breakers? Impressive!) this team has to be considered the halfway "champions" of the ECL. Besides from their lofty team totals, Aapon boasts some of the best individual stats as well. Currently in possession of places 1, 2, 3 in the scoring race - Aapons first line of indi969, joukki13 and Puantso have combined for over 300 points so far. Finally, with #1 goalie Zande95 sporting a 85% save percentage and a 1.14 GAA, this team is currently on a run for the record books, both individually and as a team. Can they close out the season without losing? Time till tell. The surprises Part of the group usually labeled as "Mid tier", quite a few teams have strived to prove themselves and to take that final step into Top Team territory. Nowhere has this been more evident this season than with two teams (one from each group); Nordic Lightning and Refuse To Lose. These teams were both considered good before the tournament started, but I am not sure anybody expected them to be this good. Refuse To Lose currently resides at #2 in Group 1 while Nordic Lightning comes in at #7 in Group 2. On another note, late arrival Northern Ascendancy (with new signing/Summer Cup playoff MVP Fopptofflan and Captain MartindalexC leading the way together) has also been a pleasant surprise coming in at #4 in Group 2 with a record of 19-4-1. That said, many people (including myself in the preview) knew success follows this team as they have proven they know how to make good signings to bolster the team at just the right time. The most shocking surprise though, is new team Alliance HT. Coming into the season this team were an unknown commodity on the NHLGamer site but with an impressive #8 rank in Group 2, look for this Russian team to try and maintain momentum going into the second half of the season. However, the most charming surprise thus far has to be Elämäm Kiekko. This rookie team came into ECL with no previous experience and as with any completely new team, it has certainly been a rude awakening at times. Through it all they have maintained an incredibly positive attitude, gaining quite a few fans and friends in the community along the ride, and after finally holding their first lead and winning their first games, this team is on an upward trajectory. Look for them to improve even more in the second half of the season. The stats Finally we get to one of my favorite parts, the stats! I've included the Top 5 in quite a few categories here so for now, enjoy: TEAM Most goals scored 1. Aapon Taikasauva, 163 2. Written In The Stars, 131 3. Finnish Roosters, 129 4. Nordic Nightmare, 113 5. Nordic Lightning, 104 Least goals allowed 1. Dynasty, 27 2. Silver Sword Griffins, 30 3. Northern Stars, 34 4. Alliance HT, 35 5. X Factor, 36 Most hits 1. Rusty Blades, 453 2. HC ParempiTarjous, 458 3. Fat Cats, 408 4. HC Soittorasia, 402 5. Nordic Lightning, 401 Most PIMs 1. HC Soittorasia, 245 2. HC ParempiTarjous, 200 3. La Suede, 142 4. Rusty Blades, 137 5. Nordic Lightning, 137 INDIVIDUAL Most goals 1. joukki13, 58 (Aapon Taikasauva) 2. PleeMaker, 58 (Finnish Roosters) 3. indi969, 49 (Aapon Taikasauva) 4. Bugimir, 46 (Written In The Stars) 5. FlyerKungen, 46 (Written In The Stars) Most assists 1. Puantso, 80 (Aapon Taikasauva) 2. indi696, 61 (Aapon Taikasauva) 3. joukki13, 57 (Aapon Taikasauva) 4. Penatski, 56 (X Factor) 5. tbnantti, 55 (Finnish Roosters) Most points 1. Puantso, 115 (Aapon Taikasauva) 2. joukki13, 115 (Aapon Taikasauva) 3. indi696, 110 (Aapon Taikasauva) 4. Bugimir, 98 (Written In The stars) 5. tbnantti, 96 (Finnish Roosters) Most hits 1. Tanski87, 188 (Rusty Blades) 2. PleeMaker, 125 (Finnish Roosters) 3. Rankaisija_, 111 (Fat Cats) 4. PatzyDrake, 110 (Falun Coal Miners) 5. Resnais2012, 107 (Silver Sword Griffins) Most points by defender (at least 75% games on D) 1. JParola, 49 (Finnish Roosters) 2. SadaPoika, 41 (Written In The Stars) 3. jtorro123, 35 (Aapon Taikasauva) 4. Totalii, 34 (Written In The Stars) 5. Gustafsson7, 34 (Sjukstugan) Most wins by a goalie 1. Lankreeni, 19 (Written In The Stars) 2. FinKonna, 18 (Finnish Roosters) 3. SpiderRoyal, 17 (SIKA) 4. s_w1ld_RUS, 15 (Alliance HT) 5. DUNZA, 15 (Synergy Hockey) Best save percentage (at least 50% of teams games played) 1. a_pantera, 85.71 % (TIKI TALK) 2. hanzy91, 85.71% (Silver Sword Griffins) 3. loncelot84, 85.12% (Northern Stars) 4. Zande95, 85.04% (Aapon Taikasauva) 5. RingDaKing30, 82.37% (BraZZers) Best Goals Against Average (at least 50% of teams games played) 1. Zande95, 1.14 (Aapon Taikasauva) 2. hanzy91, 1.35 (Silver Sword Griffins) 3. loncelot84 1.50 (Northern Stars) 4. Lukkolinho, 1.58 (Dynasty) 5. DUNZA, 1.68 (Synergy Hockey) As always... later skaters // The_Alpha_Furyan