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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