Guide

---

How to start?

Here are a few tips to make your start to PowerPlay Manager easier.

• Make sure you read the guide. You can find a lot of useful information in it. The whole guide can be found under the 'Information' menu, or you can find it in the upper right corner of the individual pages as an icon. Clicking this icon will take you to the guide referring to the screen that you currently have displayed.
• Set up your lines including the powerplay and penalty killing special teams. Don't forget to set your captain and alternate captains either. There is nothing worse than letting a randomly generated line-up play your games.
• Train your players in such a way, that they have suitable attributes for the position at which they play in the games.
• Build your facilities and arena with thought. Do not build what comes to your mind first, but make plans in advance. Bear in mind that the club needs different accessories and facilities in the early stages than in the later stages.
• Money on your account is important but only to a certain extent. Keep a certain amount of money in reserve, but invest the rest into the arena and facilities.
  Warning! If the team is in debt for more than 21 days, you will be dismissed by the team owners. After seven days in debt, you will see a message in the hockey account which will alert you to the poor financial situation in the club. The club's finances are checked only during the night update.
• Keep hiring staff as they have a significant influence on the facilities they work in. Do not forget to educate and train them. But beware of the fact that the better staff members also have higher salaries which could cause you financial troubles.
• Application of the right tactics can decide an evenly matched game. Do not forget to modify your tactics according to the lineup you are using and according to your next opponent.
• Playing the games with high importance setting can enhance the performance of the team, but the players might get tired towards the end of the season and lose game after game at the most important stage of the season. Therefore, set the importance of the games with thought.
• Log into the game regularly as the team needs your lead. If you play every game with the same lineup and tactics, the opponents can easily adapt to it. Manager who doesn't log into his team for more than 21 consecutive days will be dismissed by the team owners. Managers are always dismissed at 23:50 CET.
• Almost every game page has a brief text describing its basic features. Make the effort to read these texts from time to time, as they are written in a simplified way and they will help you understand the basic game mechanisms.

---

Playing system

Season

     Each season at PowerPlay Manager lasts 16 weeks, 112 days to be exact. First, the regular season lasts 13 weeks and each team plays 38 regular season games. Each league has 20 teams. The game days for regular season games are Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

     After the regular season the first 8 teams qualify for the playoff for positions 1 to 8. Playoff game days are Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Playoff is played in best-of-three series until final positions of all teams are determined. This means that the eliminated teams from the quarterfinals and semifinals continue the playoff for their final ranking.The playoff champion is promoted to a higher league. The runner-up will play in the promotion round.

     Teams ranked 9th to 16th after the regular season play in the playoff for final ranking. This playoff is also very important, as the teams ranked 13th to 16th will play the beaten finalists from the lower divisions to avoid relegation.

     Teams ranked 17th to 20th after the regular season will be automatically relegated to the lower divisions and they will be replaced by the champions from these divisions. However, these relegated teams will play the playoff for final ranking on positions 17th to 20th.

     Each league has four leagues below it where the teams from this league are relegated. If any league does not have all four leagues in the tier below but, for instance, only one, then only the team that ranked 20th will be relegated. In such a case the team ranked 19th will play in the relegation round.

     The playoffs will determine the final league ranking. It is important to finish as high as possible. General sponsors and media sponsors offer more generous contracts for the upcoming season to the higher ranked teams.

     Warning! All playoffs are played with a knock-out system where the top seeded team always plays the lowest seeded team. This means, that if teams that are seeded one, four, six and seven advance into the second round of the playoff, the first seed will play the seventh seed and the fourth seed will play the sixth seed. The playoff tree displayed in the playoff page is dynamic and so it changes after every round depending on the results, even though it might seem, that the first seed should play the fourth seed.

     The relegation/promotion round is a best-of-three series. The games are played on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the final week of the season. The home ice advantage in game 3 (if needed) goes to the team from the higher league.

Scoring system

Regular season has the following scoring system:
Win in regulation: 3 points
Overtime win: 2 points
Overtime loss: 1 point
Loss in regulation: 0 points

     If two or more teams are tied on points at the end of the regular season, the ranking is decided by the better goal difference (goals for minus goals against). If the teams are still tied, the other tie breaking criteria are higher number of goals scored and finally higher overall team rating.

System of leagues

     The top level is made up of only one division. Then there are 4 divisions on the second level and the number of divisions multiplies by four with each level. Therefore, there are 16 divisions on the third level, 64 on fourth, 256 on fifth etc. The divisions are marked by a combination of Roman and Arabic numerals. For example II.3 means that it is division number three on the second level.

League regrouping

     At the end of each season there is a league regrouping of the two lowest league levels in the selected countries. That means that the redundant leagues will be closed and the active teams will be concentrated into the lowest possible number of leagues. This regrouping is necessary in order to keep the game interesting and avoid large numbers of teams without managers. During regrouping it may happen that some teams from the lowest league level will be promoted one level higher.

---

Time in the game

     The time displayed in the top part of the page is the Central European Time (CET) or the time of the time zone which you have selected in the account settings. The night calculation is always at 05:00 CET. The date and day of the season are just two of the things that are updated during the night calculation.

     Club games are played at 18:00 CET. National team games are played at 20:00 or 20:30 CET.

---

Team

Number of players in the team

     The minimum number of players on the team is 17. The maximum number is unlimited. However, if you have more than 40 players, you will have to pay a daily fee to the hockey association. The fee for each extra player is 5% of the combined salaries of all players. If the number of players drops below 17, you will be dismissed by the team owners. If a team doesn't have at least 17 players available, the game will be forfeit.

Overall team rating

     The overall team rating is one of the most important indicators of the long-term performance of the team. It reflects the popularity amongst the fans and sponsors. After each season the overall team rating is reduced by 30%. The overall team rating grows with good results and all types of games, including friendly games, have an influence.

     If a team is promoted to a league level in which it hasn't played before, its overall team rating will be reduced by only 20% at the end of the season.

     The overall team rating has a significant influence on attendance and teams with higher rating generally receive better offers from general and media sponsors.

     Only if you lose in regulation, the overall team rating doesn't increase. The increase of the overall team rating is higher, if a team gets a good result against a strong opponent.

Teams without managers

     There are two kinds of teams without manager. The first kind are teams marked with the † symbol. These teams lost their manager for some reason. The second kind are teams which have the text Team noname in their name. These teams have not had a manager yet.

     If a team has no manager, usually it can be assigned to a new manager if it's located in the lowest league level. If the number of leagues on the lowest level is less than on the second lowest level, the teams without manager on the second lowest level may also be assigned to new managers.

     If a team has played at least two seasons with the same manager, it cannot be assigned to another manager regardless of the league level. A team like this will then be replaced by Team noname during the next seasonal calculation if it is located or relegated to a league where teams can be assigned to new managers.

Team strength

     We have created a set of indicators called Team strength so that you can better estimate the strength of your next opponent and compare it to your team. These indicators show the team's strength in the particular categories based on the lineup which played the most recent league game. The Goaltending, Defense and Offense indicators are based on attributes of players that played in these positions in the last game. They are also influenced by the proper positioning of your players, their seasonal energy etc. The Shooting indicator reflects the ability of players to score on their chances and it is directly influenced by the shooting attribute. Warning! These indicators are not influenced by the performance of your team in the game! They only show the strength of your team in the last league game and not the next one.

Manager experience

     Every manager gains experience automatically by playing the game regularly. For each day that you log into your team you gain one point of manager experience. For three days of inactivity you lose a point. Until you get to 11 points you don't lose points for inactivity. Once you reach this mark you will not drop below it. The number of points that you have determines your level of experience. The higher your level, the more benefits you can enjoy. Warning! Experience is tied to your team and if you lose your team, you will have to start gathering experience from zero.

Levels of managers according to experience

Level	Points	Benefits
rookie	0-10	---
beginner	11-50	the option to buy or sell players or staff members, the option to take a loan, the option to vote for a national team manager
amateur	51-100	the option to take a small loan, PRO pack for 7 days, the option to run for national team manager
professional	101-300	the option to take a medium loan
veteran	301-600	the option to take a large loan
expert	601+	the option to take a maximum loan

---

Calendar

My Calendar

     In your calendar you can see the schedule of your games for the displayed month. After clicking one of the calendar fields you can view more options, such as the game summary of the day's game, in the bigger calendar field. The whole regular season is scheduled in the main seasonal calculation. Playoff games are scheduled after the completion of the regular season or the previous playoff series.

Opponent's calendar

     In the calendar of your opponent, you can see his/her schedule of games. The days which you can use to challenge the team to a friendly game are marked with an icon of green hockey players. This icon indicates, that neither you, nor your opponent have a game scheduled for this day, and you can play each other.

---

Challenges

     You can challenge an opponent to a friendly game via his/her calendar. The days which you can use to challenge the team to a friendly game are marked with an icon of green hockey players. This icon indicates, that neither you, nor your opponent have a game scheduled for that day, and you can play each other. It is important to note that you cannot send a challenge for the current day. If you want to cancel a friendly game, you must do so at least two days before the game.

     You can challenge your opponent to a friendly game with or without the overtime tiebreak. A game with overtime tiebreak must end in a victory of one of the teams, so in case of a tie the game goes into overtime. If no team scores in the overtime, the game is decided by the shootout.

     The home ice advantage does not apply to friendly games.

---

Finances

     The revenues of a team come from several sources. The basic revenue is from ticket sales. The ticket prices are not adjustable and the ticket price is set to 400 for each league. Another source of revenue is the souvenir sale. The number of souvenirs sold depends mainly on attendance, popularity of the players and the number of fan shops in the arena. Yet more revenue comes from general sponsor, media sponsor and skybox lease.

     Funds earned from the ticket sales from a friendly game are shared. Therefore both teams that have participated in the friendly game will have half of these funds added to their accounts. Ticket sale revenues from the National Cup games are also split between both teams.

General sponsor

     Every team has a valid contract with a general sponsor upon arrival of the new manager. The sponsorship deals for the upcoming season are negotiated at the end of each season. The club receives three offers on each of the three consecutive days. If you accept any offer, the club will not receive further offers. If you do not accept any of the nine offers, the owners will sign a sponsorship deal with a fixed weekly income without bonuses on the following day. The general sponsorship deal is signed for the whole of the following season.

     There are three various types of sponsor offers. The first type is based on regular weekly payments. In the second type of contract, the weekly payments are lower, but you get financial bonuses after every league win. This applies to regular season, playoff, placement playoff and relegation/promotion round. You get bonuses also for wins in overtime or shootout. In the third type of offer, your first need to choose the target position which you think is within your team's capabilities. The higher the target, the more money you can earn, but also the higher the risk that you won't achieve the goal. The bonus for position in the league is paid out 5 times in a season (day 23, 44, 67, 88 and 104 of the season). If you are not on the target position or higher at the given day, the bonus will not be paid out.

     Contracts with performance bonuses can be renegotiated midway through the season. If you have the second type of contract and you are not doing as expected, you can switch to the first type midway through the season. Your weekly income will grow, but you will not get bonuses for wins any more. If you have the third type of contract, you can switch to the first type or change the target position midway through the season. If your team is moved to a different league in league regrouping and you signed a contract with bonuses, you can renegotiate this contract during the first two days of the season.

     The amount of money you get from the general sponsor is influenced mainly by: the final ranking in the recently ended season, the overall team rating and the level of the human resources and economic department. The first offers arrive on the last Thursday of the season which is day 109 of the season.

     The sponsors also take into account whether your team was promoted or relegated. If your team was promoted to a higher league, you can expect better offers. On the other hand if it was relegated, the offers will be worse. Sponsors pay special attention to how your team approaches key games in connection with promotion or relegation. If they find out that your team plays these games with significantly weakened lineup, it will reflect on their offers at the end of the season. These key games are playoff quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, first round of playoffs for 9th-16th place and also the promotion/relegation games.

     Taking part or qualifying for an international cup competition will also draw better sponsorship offers. The quality of the offer is also influenced by the level of your league. The number of league tiers in the country may also influence the sponsor offers. The sponsors are more willing to invest in countries with larger number of leagues.

     You have the option to accept or reject any of the offers. The old offers are canceled upon arrival of the new ones.

Media sponsor

     As with general sponsor, the team already has a valid contract with a media sponsor upon arrival of the new manager. The media sponsorships for the upcoming season are negotiated at the end of each season. The club receives three offers on three consecutive days. If you accept the first offer, the club will not receive any further offers. If you do not accept any of the three offers, the owners will sign a contract with a new media sponsor on the following day even without your approval. The sum offered by the media sponsor is divided into regular weekly payments which are transfered to the club's account every Wednesday. To help you make a decision, the human resources and economic department will give their recommendation on each offer. The amount of money you get from the media sponsor is influenced mainly by: the final rank in the recently ended season, the overall team rating, the level of the human resources and economic department and the capacity of the arena. Warning! The offers from media sponsors are based on the current capacity of the arena. The sectors under construction are not taken into account. The first offer arrives on the last Thursday of the season which is day 109 of the season.

     The media sponsors also take into account whether your team was promoted or relegated. If your team was promoted to a higher league, you can expect better offers. On the other hand if it was relegated, the offers will be worse. Media sponsors pay special attention to how your team approaches key games in connection with promotion or relegation. If they find out that your team plays these games with significantly weakened lineup, it will reflect on their offers at the end of the season.

     Taking part or qualifying for an international cup competition will also draw better offers from media sponsors. The quality of the offer is also influenced by the level of your league. The number of league tiers in the country may also influence the media sponsor offers. The media sponsors are more willing to invest in countries with larger number of leagues.

     Every time you get an offer you have the option to accept or reject it. A new offer will arrive even if you have not rejected the previous offer. The previous offer is rejected automatically upon arrival of the new offer.

Skyboxes

     When the skybox construction is finished, the team owners automatically lease it to some company until the end of the current season. Companies then send in new offers at the end of each season. The club will get three offers on three consecutive days. If you accept the first offer, the club will not receive further offers. If you do not accept any of the three offers, the owners will lease the skybox to a new company on the following day even without your approval. Skyboxes are leased for the whole duration of the following season. The sum offered by the leaseholder will be divided into regular weekly payments, which will be transfered to the club's account each Wednesday. To help you make a decision, the human resources and economic department will give their recommendation on each offer. The amount of money you get from the skybox lease is influenced mainly by: the ranking in the league, the overall team rating, the level of the human resources and economic department and the level of the stand. The first offer arrives on the last Thursday of the season which is day 109 of the season.

     The skybox suitors also take into account whether your team was promoted or relegated. If your team was promoted to a higher league, you can expect better offers. On the other hand if it was relegated, the offers will be worse. The skybox suitors pay special attention to how your team approaches key games in connection with promotion or relegation. If they find out that your team plays these games with significantly weakened lineup, it will reflect on their offers at the end of the season.

     Taking part or qualifying for an international cup competition will also draw better offers from the companies for skybox lease. The quality of the offer is also influenced by the level of your league. The number of league tiers in the country may also influence the skybox lease offers. There is a bigger demand for skyboxes in countries with larger number of leagues.

     Every time you get an offer you have the option to accept or reject it. A new offer will arrive even if you have not rejected the previous offer. The previous offer is rejected automatically upon arrival of the new offer.

Prize money

     The teams can gain some extra funds from the prize money. The prize money is awarded for final regular season ranking, for final ranking after the playoffs and also for the leading positions in the player statistics. The prize money depends on the final rank of the team and/or player as well as the level of your league and the average overall team rating of all the teams in the league.

     Prize money for final regular season ranking and for the leading positions in the player statistics is awarded during the overnight calculation after the last game of the regular season. Prize money for final ranking after the playoffs is awarded in the statistical calculation after the last playoff games. Prize money for promotion to a higher league is awarded at the same time as the prize money for final ranking after playoffs. Prize money for promotion via the promotion round is awarded in the statistical calculation after the last promotion games.

Loan

     If you plan to build up the arena or buy players but the financial situation is not the best, you can borrow money from the bank. You have to be careful when borrowing because the bank loans money with interest which has to be repaid as well. You can only have one loan at a time! The loan can be repaid prematurely, but only if you have sufficient amount of money on your account. The sooner you repay the loan, the less you spend on interest payments.

     There are 6 types of a loan depending on the amount borrowed. For every type of loan you need to have a certain level of manager experience. The more money you want to borrow, the more manager experience you need to have.

---

Players

Attributes

     The most important characteristics of a player are his attributes. Each player has seven basic attributes: Goaltending, Defense, Offense, Shooting, Technique, Passing, Aggressiveness. Each of these attributes has its quality, which is inborn and does not change throughout the career. You can only see exact values of the quality of attributes for players who have been scouted by the scouts from your human resources and economic department. The quality of the attribute determines the ability of a player to improve the given skill.



A - The value of the attribute used to determine the current abilities of the player.
B - The quality of the attribute used to determine the ability of a player to improve in the given attribute.

     Players in different positions use different combination of skills. For a goalie the most important attributes are goaltending, technique and passing. For a defenseman they are defense, passing and aggressiveness. For a center they are offense, passing and technique. For a winger they are offense, technique and aggressiveness. The shooting attribute is necessary for scoring goals and it is important for all skaters.

     You can see the precise value of the attribute to two decimal spots by moving your mouse over the attribute in the player's profile. The quality of each attribute is displayed in grey color next to the value of the attribute. If a player is scouted, the qualities displayed are precise and green-colored.

Position	Primary attribute	Secondary attribute	Secondary attribute
Goalie	Goaltending	Technique	Passing
Defenseman	Defense	Passing	Aggressiveness
Center	Offense	Passing	Technique
Winger	Offense	Technique	Aggressiveness

     The player will reach optimum performance for his position, if he is trained in the above mentioned combinations of attributes. The performance of a player is mostly influenced by his primary attribute. For example goaltending for a goalie. The other attributes also influence the performance, but to a much smaller extent.

     Player with attributes 180 - 25 - 25 or 70 - 90 - 90 /where the first one is the primary main attribute and the last two are secondary main attributes/ is not as good for the given position as a player with attributes 120 - 30 - 50. Similarly a player with attributes 130 - 80 - 30 or 80 - 80 - 80 is not as good as a player with attributes 100 - 80 - 50.

Attribute descriptions:

Goaltending: This attribute is only used by the goalies. It represents the ability of a goalie to stop the pucks from going into the net. High value of this attribute helps the goalie keep a good save percentage.

Defense: This attribute is used by all the players to stop the opponents from scoring by not letting them create scoring chances. It is used mainly by defensemen but it is also useful for forwards who need it in order to contribute to the defensive play of the team.

Offense: The offense attribute determines the ability to play effectively in the offensive zone. It represents the ability of players to create a scoring chance and it also represents the ratio of how often the player will shoot in a good scoring chance. Players with lower offense attribute often choose to pass even if they should rather take a shot. For defensemen it determines their ability to contribute to the offensive play of the team.

Technique: This attribute is very universal. Goalies use it to increase their save percentage thanks to better reactions and good positioning. In defense it is required mainly for one-on-one battles. It helps the defensemen win these battles thanks to good stickhandling and speed and decrease the number of penalties. A forward with a good technique can be effective in one-on-one battles thanks to very good stickhandling and good speed. Technique also helps you to win faceoffs.

Passing: This attribute is important for all the players just like technique. For goalie, this attribute represents his ability to use his stick, not only to make passes, but also to eliminate scoring chances of the opponent. For the skaters it represents the ability to make proper passes and to create chances with good puck movement and playmaking. Passing, among other things, also helps the players on the powerplay to create scoring chances thanks to quick and sharp puck movement. This attribute is also used for faceoffs.

Aggressiveness: Aggressiveness is mainly used by defensemen and wingers. Defensmen utilize it to strip the attacking players of the puck with their physical play. Without a sufficient aggressiveness rating your defense would be easy to break through. Wingers, on the other hand, use this attribute to get into scoring chances through physical force. This attribute also represents the forechecking ability of players. However, it also has a down side. Players with high aggressiveness rating and poor technique are often penalized. Players like these can only be effective with their physical play, which logically results in more frequent penalties.

Shooting: The shooting attribute is important for all the players, except the goalie, to score goals. The higher the shooting attribute, the higher the possibility that the player will capitalize on his scoring chance. Defensemen with good shooting tend to score more goals from the point.

Preferred side

     Some players have a preferred side, depending on which side of the ice they like to play. Others - universals, play equally well on both sides. Therefore, no matter which side the player prefers he can play a center, but a left wing and a left denfenseman should be someone who prefers to play on the left. The right wing and the right side of the defense should be occupied by players who prefer to play on the right. If a player plays on the wrong side, he cannot fully use his abilities.

Career longevity

     Another important characteristic of a player is his career longevity. Career longevity indicates for how long the player will be able to improve. Career longevity has seven levels. If a player reaches the lowest level (0/6), he stops improving and his attributes start decreasing. The speed of deterioration of attributes increases with age.

     Career longevity is updated once in a season in the main seasonal calculation. The value can never get higher, but it can stay at the same level repeatedly. At higher age it tends to drop faster.

Popularity

     Each player has a certain level of popularity, which indicates how popular he is amongst the fans. Popularity rises with his performance and with his position in the league statistics. Popularity rises faster in the higher divisions. The levels of popularity from the lowest to the highest are: Unknown, Known, Popular, Admired, Famous, Celebrity, Worldwide Star and Superstar. There are two main advantages to having popular players on the team. They increase attendance and also souvenir sales.

     Warning! Popularity of a player may also decrease. The more popular the player is, the more popularity points he loses after a bad performance. This does not apply to friendly and tournament games which have no influence on the popularity of the players.

Energy

     The energy of a player is indicated by two numbers - current energy and seasonal energy. This is displayed in the following format: e.g. 80/100. The first number indicates the current energy of a player, i.e. the energy that a player has at the given moment. The second number is the seasonal energy and it is the maximum energy that a player can reach during that season. The seasonal energy decreases as the number of games played by the player increases. It decreases faster, if the games are played with high importance. Therefore the seasonal energy cannot be increased. It is recharged to the maximum at the beginning of a new season, after the main seasonal calculation. The energy of a player is very important as low energy levels harm the performance of the player in the games. Each player, whose current energy has dropped after a game, regains it back to the maximum seasonal energy automatically by a regeneration process.

     The current and seasonal energy of players decreases based on their time on ice. Players who have played more minutes will practice less than those who played fewer minutes on that day. A goalie who has played the whole game will lose as much energy as a skater who played 15 minutes.

The table below shows the decrease of seasonal energy of a player who had an ice time of 15 minutes or a goalie who played the whole game based on the game importance (provided the importance has not changed during the game):

Game type	Very low	Low	Normal	High	Very high
Friendly and tournament games	0.02	0.05	0.10	0.20	0.30
Competitive games	0.10	0.25	0.50	1.00	1.50

Note: Games played in the league, National Cup, international cups and national team games (except friendlies) are all competitive games.

Experience

     Experience is gained by playing games. The more difficult the games are, the more experience the player gains. Experience has a direct influence on the player's performance in the games. Game importance also has an effect on experience gains. The higher the importance, the more experience player can gain from the game.

     The experience gained by players depends on their time on ice. The backup goalie also gets a small portion of experience even if he doesn't appear on the ice.

Injuries

     Hockey is a tough sport, so injuries are quite common. In PowerPlay Manager the maximum length of injury recovery is 28 days. However, injuries that last up to two weeks are more common. The frequency of injuries in your team is influenced by a number of factors. A team with a higher number of players will logically have more injuries. You will have less injuries and the recovery time will be shorter, if you have a high level of medical center and if you employ good physicians.

     Players who have less than 6 days to full recovery have day-to-day status. These players can be dressed, but the further away from full recovery they are, the poorer their performance in the game. You can set whether your day-to-day players should be automatically dressed for games. Warning! This setting only applies to players who get injured in the future. The setting of the currently injured players has to be changed individually for each player.

Player dismissal

     If a player, whose overall rating is higher than 250, is dismissed or his contract is not renewed, he will automatically go on the market. If his overall rating is lower or equals 250, the player will retire. If a manager does not extend contract with a free agent who has not received any offers from the other clubs, the player will retire.

National team players

     If a player is in the national team and his club loses its manager, the player will be sent to the market automatically, no matter what his overall rating is.

---

Contracts

     The rookie contracts with players from the sports academy are signed for a duration from 56 to 168 days. If you acquire a player from the market, the length of his contract will be the same that he had in his previous team. Each time you extend a player's contract, it is for a duration of 112 days (the duration of one season). In case you don't want to extend a player's contract, turn off the automatic contract extension in the 'Players-Contracts' page. The other option of how to dismiss a player is by terminating his contract from his player profile. However, if you terminate a contract you have to pay 50% of the remaining contract worth to the player as compensation.

     If a free agent's contract expires and he does not request any signing bonus, his contract will be extended automatically in case the player has automatic contract extension turned on. The length of the new contract depends on the type of free agent.

     Warning! The automatic contract extension is turned off when the ACE item is set to "No".

     The player salary depends mainly on the value of the highest attribute, experience, popularity and league level. Higher league means higher expenses on player salaries. Foreign players have 25% higher salaries than local players. All players are considered as local players in the world league regardless of their origin.

     The staff member salary depends mainly on the value of the highest attribute, and less on the value of the other attribute. Staff members from higher leagues have higher salaries.

Free agents

     After reaching a certain age, the players gain free agent status and they can pick from contract offers of other clubs. There are three types of free agents:

• Restricted Free Agent
  A player who is 26 years old and whose contract expires in 14 days. This kind of player has the right to negotiate with other teams. His new contract will be made up of signing bonus and daily salary calculated by the standard key. The contract is signed for 336 days (3 seasons). The teams can send bids from 14 to 8 days before the contract expires. Then the current team will have 7 days to decide. It is enough for the current team to match 15% to 70% of the highest offer (the exact number depends on the number of paid out season bonuses) in order to keep the player. If the current team does not match the required amount, the player signs a contract with the highest bidder. His former team receives a compensation in the amount of 50% of the signing bonus for losing a restricted free agent.
• Group 1 Unrestricted Free Agent
  A player who is 29 years old and whose contract expires in 14 days. This kind of player has the right to negotiate with other teams. His new contract will be made up of signing bonus and daily salary calculated by the standard key. The contract is signed for 336 days (3 seasons). The teams can send bids from 14 to 8 days before the contract expires. Then the current team will have 7 days to decide. It is enough for the current team to match 35% to 90% of the highest offer (the exact number depends on the number of paid out season bonuses) in order to keep the player. If the current team does not match the required amount, the player signs a contract with the highest bidder. His former team does not receive any compensation because the player is an unrestricted free agent.
• Group 2 Unrestricted Free Agent
  A player who is at least 32 years old and whose contract expires in 14 days. This kind of player has the right to negotiate with other teams. His new contract will be made up of signing bonus and daily salary calculated by the standard key. The contract is signed for 112 days (1 season). The teams can send bids from 14 to 8 days before the contract expires. Then the current team will have 7 days to decide. It is enough for the current team to match 35% to 90% of the highest offer (the exact number depends on the number of paid out season bonuses) in order to keep the player. If the current team does not match the required amount, the player signs a contract with the highest bidder. His former team does not receive any compensation because the player is an unrestricted free agent.

Season bonuses

     Every season, you may pay out bonuses to a maximum of four under 25 players, who you consider franchise players important for the future of your club, in order to gain their loyalty. The season bonus equals 10 day salary of the player and for every such bonus, the player gives you a 5% discount on the signing bonus when he reaches the free agency. This means that the maximum number of bonuses that a player can get throughout his career is 11 (from 15 to 25 years of age). This way you can get a discount of up to 55% on the signing bonus. These bonuses are not published.

---

Practice

     There are a number of factors that influence the practice efficiency. The most important is the level of training and regeneration facilities and the quality of the staff working there. The higher the quality of the practiced attribute, the faster the improvement rate. As the career longevity decreases and the player gets older, the ability to improve decreases too. Players who get more ice time must regenerate more and therefore they will practice less after a game. Regeneration is automatic. Players who play in the game will get a smaller practice improvement on that given day in comparison to players who rested. The lack of practice improvement is compensated by the experience gained, which has a significant influence on the performance of a player. The better the regeneration facility, the faster the players regenerate after a game and their practice deficit compared to the players who rest decreases. Attributes are divided into offensive (offense, passing, shooting) and defensive (goaltending, defense, aggressiveness, technique). If your players practice offensive attributes, the coaches apply their attribute called offense coaching. The regeneration of these players will depend on the physiotherapists and their attribute offense regeneration. If your players practice defensive attributes, the coaches apply their attribute called defense coaching. The regeneration of these players will depend on the physiotherapists and their attribute defense regeneration.

---

Market

     If you want to boost your lineup by a certain type of player or you need a staff member, market gives you the opportunity to find them. The market works as an auction, which is won by the manager who makes the highest bid. If somebody sends a new bid and there is less than one minute to deadline, then the deadline is moved by another minute. After the deadline, the transfers are done in one hour intervals, which means that you will have the player or staff member shortly after the deadline.

     For every transfer there is a minimum 5% fee from the transfer price that is paid to the hockey association, with the minimum fee being 10,000. The 5% transfer fee is set for the first 10 players sold over the last 112 days. If your team has more than 10 players sold over the last 112 days, the fee goes up by 2% for every player sold beyond the limit. The maximum fee is 50% from the selling price. The fee is always paid by the selling team and it is paid even if there are no bidders for the player. If a player is not sold, only 5% from the starting bid price is paid (minimum 10,000 and maximum 5,000,000).

     Warning! If you acquire a player, you will not be able to sell him for the next 50 days. This does not apply to players acquired from the sports academy and the original players.

     The same rules about transfers apply to staff members. The numbers of sales are counted independently for players and staff members. That means that the transfer fee for selling players is not connected with the transfer fee for selling staff members.

     In order to be able to buy or sell players and staff members you need to have at least 11 points of manager experience. The reason for that is to prevent possible cheating and to protect new managers from making bad decisions.

Warning: A staff member who has less than 11 days until retirement cannot be placed on the market.

Free agents

     Restricted and unrestricted free agents are highlighted on the market. Different rules apply to these players. You can only send 1 offer to each free agent. You don't offer the money to the team, but to the player himself as a signing bonus. The free agent accepts offers from other clubs 14 to 8 days before his contract expires. All offers are confidential.

     The player picks the highest offer and then gives his current team 7 days to meet his financial demands. These may vary based on the status of the free agent and his loyalty to his current employer. Even if the player has picked your offer, it does not yet mean that he will sign with your club. Whether you acquire the player or not, depends on whether his current club meets his demands or not.

     If a player receives more identical offers, he will pick the one from the team that plays in the league with the highest average overall team rating. If this is identical as well, he will pick the team with the highest overall team rating.

     If you manage to acquire a restricted free agent, you sign a contract for 336 days (3 seasons) and his former team receives a compensation in the amount of 50% of the signing bonus. In case of a group 1 unrestricted free agent, the contract length is also 336 days (3 seasons), but his former team does not receive any compensation. Group 2 unrestricted free agent always signs a contract for 112 days (1 season) only.

Warning: A player who becomes a free agent in less than 9 days cannot be placed on the market (less than 23 days before the contract expires).

---

Arena

     In the beginning, each club has a small arena with a capacity of 400 spectators and all of the stands are at the first level, without seats. The arena has 8 sectors marked A through H. You can build a different type of stand in each sector with different accessories. The table below shows the overview of the types of stands and their capacities and available accessories:

Level	Type of stand	Min capacity	Max capacity	Snack bar	Restaurant	Skybox	Press center	Fan shop
1	Small stand-up	50	100	1	0	0	0	1
2	Medium stand-up	100	200	1	0	0	0	1
3	Large stand-up	150	250	1	0	0	1	1
4	Small with seats	200	300	2	0	0	1	2
5	Medium with seats	250	450	2	0	0	1	2
6	Large with seats	300	600	2	1	0	2	2
7	Single-floor multi-purpose	400	800	2	1	1	2	3
8	Double-floor multi-purpose	600	1,500	3	1	1	2	3
9	Triple-floor multi-purpose	1,000	2,500	3	1	1	2	3

     The better the stand, the bigger attendance you can expect. Of course, the prices go up with the higher levels and the construction time increases, as you can see on the next table:

Type of stand	Min capacity	Max capacity	Min price	Max price	Construction (Days)	Capacity upgrade (Days)	Min/Max daily expenses
Small stand-up	50	100	-	35,000	-	1	170/240
Medium stand-up	100	200	270,000	420,000	5	3	540/840
Large stand-up	150	250	1,100,000	1,700,000	10	5	2,200/3,400
Small with seats	200	300	3,500,000	5,000,000	25	13	7,000/10,000
Medium with seats	250	450	6,000,000	10,000,000	40	20	12,000/20,000
Large with seats	300	600	10,500,000	18,000,000	55	28	21,000/36,000
Single-floor multi-purpose	400	800	17,400,000	27,800,000	70	35	34,800/55,600
Double-floor multi-purpose	600	1,500	24,800,000	50,000,000	85	43	49,600/100,000
Triple-floor multi-purpose	1,000	2,500	38,000,000	81,500,000	100	50	76,000/163,000

     If you have a certain type of a stand and its capacity can still be increased, the time needed to increase the capacity, is half the time needed to build this type of a stand.

     You can build various accessories on each type of stand. Snack bars and restaurants draw more people to the arena. Fan shops increase the incomes from the souvenir sale. Skyboxes can be leased and they bring extra income to the club. Press centers allow journalists to make reports from the games, which increases the motivation of players and therefore their performance. Some types of accessories can only be built on the more expensive stands. If you want to build a better type of stand, you first need to demolish all the accessories of the current stand and then the stand itself. After demolition, you will get a refund of 50% of the value of the stand and its accessories. Only then you will be able to build a new stand. Warning! During the construction works, this sector will have zero attendance.

     Other arena upgrades include car park, scoreboard, lighting and sound and the ice quality can also be improved. All of these improvements help increase the attendance. Every level of car park represents 500 parking spots. You can build a maximum of 2,500 parking spots.

Accessory construction duration in days:

Arena upgrades	Construction duration
Snack bar	15
Fan shop	15
Press center	15
Restaurant	30
Skybox	30
Car park	15
Scoreboard	30
Ice quality	30
Lighting and sound	30

The prices of accessories increase with the level of stand where they are built:

Level of stand	Price	Daily expenses
1	5,000	10
2	15,000	30
3	75,000	150
4	210,000	420
5	425,000	850
6	765,000	1,530
7	1,260,000	2,520
8	1,680,000	3,360
9	2,857,500	5,715

Prices of arena upgrades:

Level	Car park	Scoreboard	Ice quality	Lighting and sound
1	2,000,000	4,000,000	4,000,000	4,000,000
2	4,000,000	8,000,000	8,000,000	8,000,000
3	6,000,000	12,000,000	12,000,000	12,000,000
4	8,000,000	16,000,000	16,000,000	16,000,000
5	10,000,000	20,000,000	20,000,000	20,000,000

Daily expenses on the maintenance of arena upgrades:

Level	Car park	Scoreboard	Ice quality	Lighting and sound
1	4,000	8,000	8,000	8,000
2	8,000	16,000	16,000	16,000
3	12,000	24,000	24,000	24,000
4	16,000	32,000	32,000	32,000
5	20,000	40,000	40,000	40,000

Attendance

The following factors influence the attendance:

• Arena capacity
• Level of stands
• Stand accessories (mainly refreshments)
• Level of scoreboard
• Ice quality
• Level of lighting and sound
• Number of parking spots
• Position of your team in the league standings
• Position of the opponent in the league standings
• League level
• Overall team rating
• Popularity of your and opponent's players
• Derby game (game between teams from the same region)

     If you play a league game (or part of it) on very low or low game importance and you don't win, the fans will remember that your team's effort was weak and they might not be willing to attend your next home league game. The attendance drop will be bigger if you play on very low and smaller if you play on low importance. Also the portion of the game that you play on low or very low will be taken into account. If you win, the importance that you used will have no effect on the attendance of the following game. Also, if your team is much weaker than the opponent, your fans will forgive you even if you play on very low and lose.

---

Facilities

     An important part of a hockey club is its facilities. There are seven types of facilities. In the beginning every club has every facility on the first level. There are 15 levels for each type of facility and the higher levels have higher expenses on maintenance. The construction duration and the price increases with each level.

Level of facility	Construction duration (Days)	Price	Daily expenses
1	-	-	300
2	2	300,000	600
3	5	450,000	900
4	9	750,000	1,500
5	14	1,200,000	2,400
6	20	1,950,000	3,900
7	27	3,150,000	6,300
8	35	5,100,000	10,200
9	44	8,250,000	16,500
10	54	13,350,000	26,700
11	65	21,600,000	43,200
12	77	34,950,000	69,900
13	90	56,550,000	113,100
14	104	91,500,000	183,000
15	119	148,050,000	296,100

Types of facilities

• Training facility - Training facility provides conditions where players can train and practice to improve as effectively as possible. You can hire a staff member - coach to increase the influence of the training facility.
• Regeneration facility - Games are tiring for players, so they are unable to train efficiently afterwards. By building the regeneration facility you can avoid this problem. You can hire a staff member - physiotherapist to increase the influence of the regeneration facility. A good regeneration facility and its personnel also help increase the practice efficiency of players who are not playing, but to a lesser extent.
• Human resources and economic department - Easier negotiations with the sponsors, more efficient souvenir sale, employment of better staff members or faster scouting of your own players as well as the players of your opponents is facilitated by this department. You can hire a staff member - manager to increase the influence of the human resources and economic department.
• Maintenance center - Every arena in the world is subject to wear and tear over time. To minimize your maintenance costs and to avoid greater damage by the fans, you need to build up a maintenance center. You can hire a staff member - arena custodian to increase the influence of the maintenance center.
• Education center - If you would like your staff to continue in their improvement and training, you need to invest into the education center. You can hire a staff member - lecturer to increase the influence of the education center.
• Sports academy - The level of your sports academy determines how your club brings up juniors. The higher the level, the more juniors will be coming out and the better prepared they will be. Your senior players also go to the sports academy for camps where they improve their skills faster. You can hire a staff member - sporting director to increase the influence of the sports academy.
• Medical center - Injuries are a disaster for any team. To decrease the probability of injuries and to speed up the recovery of players after injuries you can build a medical center. You can hire a staff member - physician to increase the influence of the medical center.

---

Staff

     The facilities have an influence even if you don't have any staff employed there. However, hiring some staff has a very strong effect on their influence. The efficiency of each facility is influenced by a maximum of two staff members. The staff member marked as head has the greater influence, while the assistant has a smaller influence. If you do not mark a staff member as head or assistant, then this person will have no influence on the efficiency of the facility. You can have up to 8 staff members in each facility.

     Applicants send their applications for a job themselves and your human resources and economic department evaluates these applications once a week. The number of applicants rises with the level of the human resources and economic department. It is also influenced by your managers and their scouting efficiency. However, you are guaranteed to get at least one applicant and you could get as many as 4 applicants at the same time.

     Applicants are generated at the moment when you first view them. However, if you don't view the season's last group of applicants before the end of the season, the applicants will be generated automatically just before the start of the new season.

     The table below shows the potential number of staff members according to the level of the human resources and economic department.

Level of facility	Minimum	Maximum
1	1	1
2	1	1
3	1	1
4	1	2
5	1	2
6	1	2
7	1	2
8	2	3
9	2	3
10	2	3
11	2	3
12	2	4
13	2	4
14	2	4
15	2	4

     The attributes of the applicants are influenced mainly by the level of facility that they are applying to work at. So if you have the training facility at level 10, you will get better applicants for the job of a coach than if you have the training facility at level 3. If you don't hire the applicants proposed by the human resources and economic department, then these applicants will be gone upon the arrival of new applicants.

     A staff member always signs a contract for the next 112 days. In case you don't want to extend a staff member's contract, turn off the automatic contract extension in his profile or on the Staff page. You can also dismiss a staff member by terminating his contract. However, if you terminate his contract, you have to pay half of the remaining contract worth to the staff member as compensation. You can also unload a staff member by placing him on the market.

     The applicants can be 50 to 55 years old. Every staff member retires at the age of 61, which means you will not be able to extend his contract. Each staff member has two attributes and both of them have their own quality. You can only see exact values of the quality of attributes for staff members who have been scouted by your human resources and economic department.

• Coach is a staff member that works in the training facility. His attributes are:
  • Defense coaching – this attribute indicates the ability to train the defensive attributes of players (goaltending, defense, aggressiveness, technique).
  • Offense coaching – this attribute indicates the ability to train the offensive attributes of players (offense, shooting, passing).
       If your player is assigned to practice offense, for example, then the improvement rate will increase with the rising efficiency of offense coaching of your coaches. The efficiency of an attribute is a percentage of influence that your staff have on their facility. The maximum efficiency is therefore 100%. This efficiency depends on the value of the respective attribute of your head staff member and his assistant. The maximum attribute value of a staff member is 100, which means that the best possible staff member can have 200 points in attributes.
  
  
• Physiotherapist is a staff member working in the regeneration facility. His attributes are:
  • Defense regeneration – this attribute indicates the ability to regenerate players, who practice defensive attributes (goaltending, defense, aggressiveness, technique).
  • Offense regeneration – this attribute indicates the ability to regenerate players, who practice offensive attributes (offense, shooting, passing).
• Manager is a staff member working in the human resources and economic department. His attributes are:
  • Scouting - this attribute indicates the ability to make more precise estimates on the quality of players and staff and it also influences the speed of scouting of people in the scouting queue. The attribute also indicates the ability to provide more job applicants.
  • Marketing - this attribute indicates the ability to negotiate better contracts with general and media sponsors.
• Arena custodian is a staff member working in the maintenance center. His attributes are:
  • Security service - this attribute indicates the ability to eliminate vandalism in the arena and thus lower the expenses on maintenance of the stands and their accessories.
  • Maintenance - this attribute indicates the ability to fix the glitches that occur in the facilities and therefore lower the expenses on the maintenance of the facilities.
• Lecturer is a staff member working in the education center. His attributes are:
  • Management training - this attribute indicates the ability to train the following staff members: manager, sporting director and arena custodian.
  • Practical training - this attribute indicates the ability to train the following staff members: coach, physiotherapist and physician.
  Lecturers train themselves and both of their attributes are applied during their training!
  
  
• Sporting director is a staff member working in the sports academy. His attributes are:
  • Youth training - this attribute indicates the ability to provide more juniors coming from the sports academy. The attribute also influences the overall rating of the young prospects coming to your team for a trial.
  • Player training - this attribute indicates the ability to organize training camps for more players while ensuring a higher training bonus of the camp.
• Physician is a staff member working in the medical center. His attributes are:
  • Prevention - this attribute indicates the ability to minimize the number of injuries to your players.
  • Treatment - this attribute indicates the ability to speed up the recovery time of the injured players.

     Note that if you have a facility at a higher level, the applicants for a job at this facility will likely have higher attributes!

---

Scouting

     The quality of attributes of your players and staff members are only estimated values in the beginning. The accuracy of this estimate depends on the level of your human resources and economic department and the attributes of the managers working there. The values of the attributes are precise for your players and staff members, but you can only see the overall rating of the players and staff members of your opponents.

     If you want to know the exact values of the quality of attributes of your players or staff members, you need to scout them by your human resources and economic department. The data about qualities of attributes of players and staff members who are not scouted are updated regularly based on the rising level of human resources and economic department and the improvement of managers working in this department.

     You can also scout players and staff members from other teams to get more information about them. To scout a player or a staff member, go to their personal profile and add them to the scouting queue. The scouting speed is determined by the level of your human resources and economic department and the managers working there. If you remove someone from the queue before his scouting is completed, you will have to scout him again from the beginning. If you move him down in the queue, the current scouting progress will be saved. The people who are scouted show exact qualities of their attributes and the players and staff members of other teams also show their exact attributes.

---

Education center

     The staff can be trained and improved by lectures in the education center. The improvement rate of a staff member depends on the quality of the trained attribute, level of the education center and last but not least it depends on how good lecturers you have in your club. Lecturers can be trained in the same way as all the other staff members in this education center. The improvement rate of the staff members, as well as players, depends on the quality of the trained attribute. Unlike players, whose maximum attributes are unlimited, the staff members can have a maximum value of 100 for any attribute. When the attribute is at 100, the influence of the staff member on the given activity is at the maximum.

---

Sports academy

     Young prospects train and practice in the sports academy. The sporting director regularly sends players for trials in the main team. You can sign and thus hire players who are in a trial period or you can reject them, but in that case they will never come back. Bear in mind that if you do not sign these players, they will leave when the new group of players arrives. With the growing level of your academy and the directors, there will be more prospects coming up for trials. The maximum is 5 players in one batch.

     The table below shows the potential number of players according to the level of the sports academy.

Level of facility	Minimum	Maximum
1	1	1
2	1	2
3	1	2
4	1	2
5	1	2
6	2	3
7	2	3
8	2	3
9	2	4
10	2	4
11	2	4
12	2	4
13	3	5
14	3	5
15	3	5

     By building up the sports academy you make sure that young players have the best conditions possible for their growth and training. The level of sports academy and its staff not only influences the number of players coming out but also their overall rating. On the other hand the average quality of these players is independent from the level of facilities and sporting directors.

Training camp

     Twice a season you can organize a training camp at the Sports academy. The players that you send into this camp will improve faster. The higher the level of the sports academy, the more players you can send to this camp and the faster they will improve. You can send players to the camp for a maximum of 7 days. Warning! Players in the training camp will not be able to play games. If a random lineup is generated for the next game (for example if there is not enough healthy players), some players may return from the camp for one day to play the game. In this case they will not gain any training bonus.

---

Draft

     Twice a season there is a draft in each league. In the week of the draft, there are no new players from the academy. You will be able to see the draft eligible players for your league four weeks before the draft. You can use these four weeks to scout these players. The only thing you know about them is their name, career longevity, preferred side and position. Every day you can scout as many players as you have selections in the draft plus one extra player. You will get the scouting report on the following day.

     Scouting will reveal the estimate of potential of a player (A+, A, B, C or D). The accuracy of this estimate depends on the level of your human resources and economic department and the scouting efficiency of managers. In each draft, there may be up to four players who are so-called hidden gems. Therefore don't lose hope of finding a quality player in the later rounds of the draft. Scouting of draft eligible players is independent from regular scouting of players and staff.

     The number of your selections in the draft depends on the level of your sports academy and the efficiency of your sporting directors' youth training. You can have a minimum of 1 selection and a maximum of 5 selections.

     There are two types of draft. In the first type, the team with the best academy and sporting directors with the highest youth training efficiency has the biggest chance to pick first. This type of draft takes place in week 8. In the second type, the team in the last place in the league will have the biggest chance of picking first. This type of draft takes place in week 16. In both types of draft, the draft order is determined by the draft lottery in which every team can move up or down by a maximum of 3 places. Draft order is reversed after each round of the draft. That means, that the team that picks first in the first round, picks last in the second round.

     Draft is conducted online at the time designated for that country. Every manager will have one minute to make a pick. If you are not online, the players are selected automatically from the top of the list.

     You will see the attributes of the players that you picked one to three days after the draft. The attributes will be influenced by the level of your sports academy and sporting directors. You will have time to decide whether you want to sign these players or not until the arrival of the new players from the academy.

---

Lines

     Setting up your lines is the key to your team's success. If you don't create your default line-up it will be randomly generated for you, which means that your team's performance will not be optimal. The line-up saved as default is applied automatically.

     If you do not set up power play lines or penalty killing lines, players from first and second line will go on the ice automatically. Players for power play, penalty killing, captain and alternates can only be selected from players of the top three lines, since the fourth line can be withdrawn from play during the game! In order to make the power play and penalty killing lines function properly, you have to set up both power play and both penalty killing lines.

     It is recommended to use 3 forwards and 2 defensemen or 4 forwards and 1 defenseman on power plays. Other line combinations are not that effective. To reach the best results on a penalty kill, you should use 2 forwards and 2 defensemen.

     Apart from selecting the players with the right attributes for the given positions in the line, you also have to take into consideration whether you have put the players on their preferred side. Players who don't play on their preferred side (this is indicated in the line-up overview by a red letter signifying their preferred side), do not feel comfortable on the rink and their performances will not be optimal. The preferred side is not taken into account in the power play and penalty kill situations.

     Another important indicator is chemistry. The chemistry between players improves with gameplay until it reaches the maximum value - 100%. Chemistry increases with every game the player plays and it decreases with every game the player misses. Chemistry of the lines is the most important number. This number is displayed above the chart of the respective line. Line chemistry does not decrease if you add a new player, whose chemistry is not lower than the player that he substituted.

     The chemistry gained by players depends on their time on ice. The backup goalie also gets a small portion of chemistry even if he doesn't appear on the ice. Game importance also has an effect on the growth of chemistry of players. The higher the importance, the faster the players can develop chemistry. Players also gain chemistry in practice, but not as efficiently as in matches and only until they reach a certain threshold. Players, who are over this threshold and don't play matches, lose chemistry every day even if they practice with the team. Players who are injured don't practice with the team and therefore lose chemistry.

     Setting up your scratches is important if you can't check up on your team on a daily basis. A scratched player takes the place of an injured player. If a player from the line-up gets injured and you don't have a scratched player set as a substitute for this position, you will play the following games with an automatically generated line-up.

     If a game ends in a tie in regulation and no goals are scored in the overtime, the shootout takes place to break the tie. You can select your trio on the Shootout page. The players will take their shootout attempts in the order of your choice. If after three attempts by both teams the score is still tied, the shooters for the following attempts will be selected by the coach from the same three players. If you haven't selected players for the shootout, the system will randomly choose three players to take the shootout attempts.

     In the captain setup page you can select a captain and two alternates. Captain of the team increases the morale of the team and the other players then play better. This is applies especially to his linemates. An alternate captain carries out the role of the captain, if the captain cannot start in the game.

     The overview of your line-up for the upcoming game can be found in the Next game page. Here you can check whether you are satisfied with the lines you have created and you can also check the powerplay and penalty killing units or the shootout players. The lineup and tactics must be set 60 minutes before the game at the latest. The changes made later will not be applied.

Load lineup from a previous game

     If you cannot make multiple lineups, you can use the feature to load a lineup from any game that your team had played over the last 7 days. Simply select a game from which you want to load the lineup on the Lines page. Warning! The lineup is loaded without the settings of captain and his alternates and also without the shootout players. You have to set them manually. Also remember that the lineup is loaded exactly as it played in the given game. That means that if scratches played in that game, they will be placed into the loaded lineup on the exact same position on which they had played.

Copy lineup

     If you have the option to create multiple lineups, you can use the copy lineup feature. If, for example, you want to create lineup A or B, that should be similar to the default lineup, you can copy the default lineup and make only small changes, depending on how much the two lineups should differ. This way you don't have to build every lineup from scratch.

Random lineup

     If the game is played by a random lineup for any reason, it is possible that day-to-day players will be used even if you have different settings.

---

Tactics

     To achieve good results you cannot underestimate the tactical preparation of the team. On the Tactics page you can find a number of tactical options that you can use to have a direct influence on the outcome of the game.

Game importance

     The importance of the game is a critical tactical option. You have to use it with care, because even though high importance makes your players play with the maximum intensity, it causes their seasonal energy to drop faster. Low importance is not that costly on the energy, but the players do not play with a high intensity. Game importance also influences chemistry and experience gains of players. The higher the importance, the faster the players gain chemistry and experience.

     You can change importance between periods based on the score of the game. You just need to set the conditions that must be fulfilled to change the importance. The importance setting has no influence on the overtime. The overtime is played as if both teams had selected the same importance. Since players don't lose any energy in the overtime, there is no reason to save it.

Style of play

     The right style of play may also help you achieve a better result. There are two things to remember. First: For every style of play there is an effective counter-tactic. Second: Every team has different strengths and weaknesses and therefore different styles of play may suit different teams. Another important thing is, whether you are the favorite or the underdog coming into the game.

     Apart from that, it is essential that your players are able to fulfill their tactical duties. The more you play with the same style of play, the more chemistry you build up and the better your players will perform. On the other hand, if you don't use some style of play, the ability of your players to perform well with this style of play decreases. The ability of players to perform a certain style of play increases faster in competitive games than in friendly games. The information about the current state of chemistry of your team in each style of play can be found as the number in brackets on the Tactics page.

     You can change style of play between periods based on the score of the game. You just need to set the conditions that must be fulfilled to change the style of play.

Normal: This is the basic style of play with the players fulfilling their primary tasks. This tactic is best suited for balanced teams with equally good offense and defense.

Defensive: With defensive style of play, your players think defense first. This kind of tactic is useful when you play a stronger opponent or if your defensemen are better than your forwards. This style of play produces fewer shots for both teams and therefore also fewer goals.

Offensive: If the main strength of your team is in offense, then this tactical option will help you get even more out of this strength. It is particularly beneficial when you are the favorite coming into the game. With offensive style of play, both teams have more scoring chances and therefore also score more goals.

Counterattacks: If you select this style of play, your players play a solid defensive game and they are looking for breakaways and odd man rushes. Similarly to the defensive style of play, this is also a style that suits teams with a strong defense, but to a smaller extent.

Breaking up of play: With this tactic, your players are mainly trying to shut down the offensive efforts of your opponent. It is a tactic which is best used in games where you are the underdog. Fewer chances on both ends increase the likelihood of an upset.

Active forechecking: When you employ this tactic, your forwards try to put the opposing players under pressure by a high forecheck in the offensive zone. This tactical option works best for teams with quality forwards. It is recommended mainly in the games with weaker opponents.

Special teams
     In close games it often happens that the result is decided by power plays or penalty kills. The right choice of tactics in these situations may tip the scales in your favor. For every power play scheme, there is an effective defense. Conversely, for every penalty kill tactic, there is a power play variant that can exploit the weak spot in that defense.

     Like with style of play, it is essential that your players are able to fulfill their roles on power plays and penalty kills. The more you play with the same tactics, the more chemistry you build up and the better your players will perform. On the other hand, if you don't use some variant, the ability of your players to perform this variant decreases. The information about the current state of chemistry of your team in these tactics can be found as the number in brackets on the Tactics page.

     You can change power play and penalty kill tactics between periods based on the score of the game. You just need to set the conditions that must be fulfilled to change the tactics.

Shooting from the point: This power play variant has two players at the blue line and their task is to shoot often with the player in front of the net trying to deflect the shots or pounce on the rebounds.

Umbrella: This power play has only one player on the point who works as the quarterback for the power play. His task is to deal passes to the players at the boards who may then shoot or pass the puck.

Overload: The purpose of this power play is to focus the attention of penalty killers on one side. This opens up room for one player on the weak side who can shoot the puck after it is fed to him.

Diamond: When you play diamond on the penalty kill, your players form a diamond shape. One player guards the area in front of the net and one player is closer to the blue line.

Passive box: Passive box means that penalty killers are keeping relatively close to each other to guard the area in front of the net and in the slot. This gives more room to the power play along the boards.

Active box: This option means that your penalty killers quickly close down on the players with the puck who then have less time to set up a power play combination. The disadvantage is, that this can open up the slot for the opponent.

Time on ice

     Another tactical option is the ability to set ice time for each line. If you want to get the most out of your top players, set a higher percentage of ice time for your top lines. You may even decide to roll just three lines and thus use your best players even more. The disadvantage behind this, is that these players will tire more than usual. Not only will it negatively influence their practice improvement on that day, but they will have less energy at the end of the season. On the other hand, the more they play, the more experience they gain and their chemistry goes up faster.

     You can change number of lines between periods based on the score of the game. You just need to set the conditions that must be fulfilled to change the number of lines.

     The feature that allows you to react to the opponent's withdrawal of the fourth line can be used to counter the opponent's decision to reduce the play to the top three lines in order to gain advantage by withdrawing the obviously less skilled fourth line.

Goaltenders

     A goalie enters every game with neutral confidence. His confidence may increase or decrease between periods based on his performance in the previous period. If he is doing well, his confidence goes up and he is more difficult to beat. However, if he is performing poorly, his confidence goes down and he can let in a shot that he would normally stop. In that case, it may be a good idea to change him for the backup goalie. You can change goalies between periods based on the score, goals against or save percentage.

     If you have the pull the goalie option turned on, your team will take this step, if there are 2 minutes left in regulation and your team is one goal behind. You will thus have an extra attacker on the ice and a bigger chance to score an equalizer.

---

PowerPlay TV

     If you log into the hockey account during the game of your team, you can watch this game live on PowerPlay TV. The live broadcast starts at 18:00 and lasts about half an hour. If you don't manage to catch some game live, you can still find the recorded games in the Replays section.

---

Tournaments

National Cup

     National Cup is played with a knock-out system in single game series. The game day is Tuesday. The maximum number of teams that can enter National Cup in one country (or the world league) is 8192. There is no home ice advantage in the National Cup and the profit from the ticket sales is split equally between both teams. The defeated semifinalists meet in the battle for third place.

International cups

     International cups is a common name for prestigious club competitions Champions' League and Cup Winners' Cup. Both competitions have 96 participants from all over the world.

     The preliminary round is always played in a double round-robin format with home and away games exactly as it is in the league. The home ice advantage applies to the preliminary round games and the money from the ticket and souvenir sales goes to the home team. The playoff uses a single game knockout system and the home ice advantage is not applied. The financial profit from the game is divided equally between both teams.

     The number of teams that can qualify from a specific country is determined by the ranking of countries which is calculated from the results of the teams from the given country in the last 3 seasons of the Champions' League and the Cup Winners' Cup. The biggest value is always given to the most recent season. The reigning champion from both competitions is automatically qualified for the next season and doesn't count for the country quota. If the winner of the Cup Winners' Cup qualifies also for the Champions' League, it's place in the CWC will be given to the next team in the National Cup ranking of that country.

Season	Points value
1	100%
2	66%
3	33%

     The highest ranked teams in the top league qualify for the Champions' League. On the other hand, the most successful teams from the National Cup qualify for the Cup Winners' Cup. If the same team qualifies for both of these competitions, Champions' League has higher priority. In that case, the next team in line qualifies for the Cup Winners' Cup. If the decision has to be made between teams in 5th to 8th position in the National Cup, the higher seeded team qualifies.

Credit tournaments

     Credit tournaments are tournaments with the possibility to win credits. Every team that enters such a tournament must pay an entry fee. The entry fee is set by the founder of the tournament. The game operator provides credits for the prize pool of the tournament. The total amount of credits in the prize pool is usually 90% from the total number of credits collected from entry fees. The prize pool will be divided among the top teams based on the system predetermined by the founder. Apart from this, the founder may voluntarily donate a certain amount of credits that will be added to the prize pool.

     The creation of a credit tournament costs 50 credits. The founder selects the distribution of prizes, helpers, entry fee, number of teams and groups, playing format, starting date, game days and he/she may even set the distribution of teams into groups or pots. The founder has the right to reject any team that signs up for the tournament. The founder also has the right to have the organization fee partially refunded (maximum 40 credits), but only if the tournament starts successfully. The requested amount of credits will be deducted from the tournament prize pool.

     The tournament founder can pick up to three helpers. These helpers have the same rights as the founder. They can accept or reject teams, divide them into groups or pots, upload the tournament logo, enter the tournament website, thread and info.

     In case a team violates the internal rules of a tournament, the founder and his/her helpers have the right to forfeit the games of this team. Playoff games cannot be forfeited due to technical reasons.

     If the tournament founder or his/her helper rejects a team, the entry fee that the user paid while registering will be fully refunded. However, if the founder or a helper accepts the team's participation, this decision is final and the team cannot be removed from the tournament. If the tournament does not reach the required number of teams, it will be canceled and the organization fee will be forfeit. If the founder has made a donation to the prize pool, this will be fully refunded.

     One team cannot take part in two tournaments with conflicting dates. If a team signs up for two such tournaments, it will play in the one where its registration will be accepted sooner.

     If a team signs up for a tournament and already has friendly games scheduled for the same dates, the friendly games will be automatically canceled as soon as the tournament schedule is set. If a team takes part in a tournament that has Thursday as one of the game days and then qualifies for the Champions' League or Cup Winners' Cup, its games in the tournament will be forfeited with the result 0:5.

     Home ice advantage does not apply to tournament games and the money from the ticket and souvenir sales is divided equally between both teams. The same applies for playoffs, where the single game knockout system is used.

     The credit tournament games have the same parameters as the friendly games. That means that the attendance, player fatigue, chemistry and experience growth is the same as in the friendly games.

     If teams are tied on points, the tie breaking procedures are applied in the following order: goal difference, higher number of goals scored and overall team rating.

     The ranking of teams for playoffs is made after the preliminary round. The teams ranked first in their group will be ordered on the top based on the number of points, goal difference, higher number of goals scored, and overall team rating as the final tie breaker. The teams which ranked in lower places will be ordered in the same way. Then the playoff pairings will be determined based on this ranking. The top ranked team will play the last ranked team, the second place team will face the second last team etc. The same procedure is then used for all playoff rounds.

---

National team

     Every country with its own league also has its national teams. Each of these countries has an under 20 and an under 18 team in addition to the senior team. The teams are managed by the general managers elected by other managers. General managers are helped by assistant managers selected by the general managers themselves. General managers can change assistant managers without any restrictions, but they can only have one assistant at the same time.

     There are two rounds of elections. During the first round, the managers can give their preferential vote to one of the candidates at any time of the season. This vote can be canceled or given to a different candidate before the end of the season. Managers can only vote in their own country and only if they fulfilled the specified criteria. There are separate elections for each age category.

     The second round of elections always takes place during the first week of the season. The results of the second round are published shortly after the elections are over. The tenure of the national team general manager is one season.

     Managers who have met the defined criteria may submit a candidacy for a maximum of one national team. It is possible to run for general manager of a national team of a foreign country.

     It is possible to sign up for candidacy at any time of the season. As soon as the manager is listed as a candidate, managers from that country can send him preferential votes. 10 managers with the highest number of preferential votes advance into the second round.

     National team general manager can select up to 50 players for the national team during one season. Players selected for the team after the first week of the season, cannot be dismissed during that season. Players selected in the previous seasons or by a previous manager can be dismissed until the 14th day of the season. The chemistry of players dismissed from the national team is reduced to 20% of their chemistry from the time of their dismissal.

     Before each friendly game, the national team general manager can call up a maximum of 28 players who will be available on the game day. This roster must be selected at least one day before the game.

     General manager can use a maximum of 28 players during the World Championships. Players may be added to the roster during the tournament until all the 28 places are filled. There is no need to call up players one day in advance during the World Championships.

     The national team general manager must set the lineup and tactics before the start of the game calculation. The times of game calculation according to age category are listed in the table below.

Age category	Game calculation (CET)
Senior	20:45
Under 20	19:45
Under 18	18:45

     Players in the national team have a training bonus, gain more experience, their popularity grows faster and they bring a share from the revenue to their club for every game they play.

     Players aged 18 or less can only play in the under 18 national team. Likewise players aged 19 or 20 can only play in the under 20 national team. At the beginning of each season all players exceeding the age limit are automatically dismissed from the team. The chemistry of such players is reduced to 20% of their chemistry from the time of their dismissal and they can carry it over to the next age category.

     National teams from various age categories can play friendly games against each other.

     The seasonal energy of players in the national team is independent from the seasonal energy in their club and it decreases according to the following table (based on 15 minutes of ice time for a skater and whole game played by a goalie):

Game type	Very low	Low	Normal	High	Very high
Friendly games	0.04	0.10	0.20	0.40	0.60
Competitive games	0.20	0.50	1.00	2.00	3.00

     If a player is called up for a national team game and his club plays a friendly game on the same day, the player will play for the national team and he will miss his club's game. If he is in a training camp, he will play for the national team, but he will get the training bonus for being in a training camp.

     If a player has a promotion/relegation game and a world championship game on the same day, he may appear in both.

---

Instant challenges

     Instant challenges enable you to play immediately without waiting against any team. The only exception is that you can't challenge a team with which you have a game scheduled for the same day. You can challenge every team only once on the same day. You can challenge opponent via team profile, recommended opponents page or daily leaderboard. You can play up to 5 challenges per day for free.

     Instant challenges have no influence on energy, chemistry, experience of popularity of players. Also the team doesn't get any overall team rating points or money for these games.

     Before every challenge you can select one of your lineups or tactics. The opponent will use their default lineup and a randomly generated tactical setup. The importance setting will be neutral for both teams. There is no home advantage in instant challenges.

     You earn points for the daily leaderboard for every win. The stronger the opponent you beat, the more points you earn. The points are calculated as the ratio of opponent's strength versus your team's strength in the given game. Team strength in this game may be different from team strength displayed in the team profile.

     The groups for daily leaderboards are drawn every day. Maximum number of teams in one group is 100. If you rank in the top three in your group, you will earn points for the weekly leaderboard and an award. Daily leaderboard is closed every day at 8.00 CET.

Daily leaderboard rank	Points for weekly leaderboard
1	3000 + points earned on that day
2	2000 + points earned on that day
3	1000 + points earned on that day

     All managers who finished at least once in the top three in their group in the daily leaderboard will be ranked in the weekly leaderboard. The most successful managers of the week will get rewards in credits and special awards. Weekly leaderboard is closed every Monday at 8.00 CET.