When someone enters the online team play lobby in NHL 10, there are often members filling the chat board with listings about their clubs.

"WILL ANYONE JOIN MY CLUB? PLEASE!"
"CLUB RECRUITING: NEED C, LW, RW, D AND GOALIE!"
"C/LW LOOKING FOR TOP 10 CLUB!"

One might even put the time and effort into participating with one of these clubs -- only to find out later the general manager has failed at his job. In other words, teammates are never online and the turnover rate for members of the club is higher than that at your local McDonalds or Tim Hortons. You are 9-38 this month and your team cannot catch a break.

What do you do now?

All you want is to participate on a club that works together, cycles the puck and practices teamwork and communication. It would not hurt if you were successful as well. A winning record and a shot at the monthly championship would not be too much to ask for now would it?

Well, if you are interested in starting your own club or feel you need to steer your GM in the right direction, look no further. I have gathered some advice from a few general managers of successful clubs in the EASHL. With these techniques in hand, maybe your club can start taking some steps in the right direction, or perhaps these insights might help you identify characteristics in a club you might want to join.

Be creative. There are multiple ways to identify quality EASHL players or market yourself to EASHL squads.

Some teammates might be real-life friends. Perhaps you met in an online forum. Who knows? Maybe you just teamed up after playing an OTP game. Whatever the method, finding quality teammates can be rather difficult when managing an EASHL club.

A good idea would be to centralize a meeting place for your teammates, whether it be a chat room, Facebook page, Web site or online community. Some general managers use hockey and gaming forums to interact with interested members.

"EASHLforum.com is a huge community -- all the top players and teams of the PS3 EASHL," said Pimmy33, the GM of an EASHL team called the Spooners. "So for the most part, we know each other through that,"

However, it might not be smart to just target the "top" players. After all, just because a player impresses you in one game, it does not mean he will work out for your team.

"It’s hard to choose good players," said kevin1269, GM of Easton Team Qc. "Even if he’s one of the best. Sometimes it may not work well. I take the time I need to recruit and to talk with the player on the objectives and strategies."

Remember, club leaders have a difficult time noticing players that do not play often enough. Consider temporarily playing for a new club because it might improve your marketability.

"When playing on a team, you get much more notice from other players and clubs, even more so if you are from the same country," said ZHiTNiK, a GM of We Are Legends. "You develop friendships and sometimes even hardships. You learn eventually who you can play with or not."

Finally, make sure you have some sort of understanding with your new recruits. Get some background info before letting them into your club.

"First, I ask why he left his last club," said darkdany, GM of Easton Team Qc. "I need some info like stats and position. I’ll try him in a real game. If he plays the same style and is good, I’ll explain, my team plans to win and [do] what it takes to win. He must be serious."

Communication is crucial if you want to be a successful club.

"We have a PSN chat that we sign onto when we come online to see if anyone is playing," said MORASH41, another GM of Spooners.

Others use alternative methods to communicate in NHL 10.

"We use Skype for communication, both in-game chat and planning for games," said ZHiTNiK. I really recommend this to all clubs [since] Skype is superior in sound, and the in-game chat on NHL 10 seems to be choppy at best."

Whatever the system, each GM reiterated communication is essential to becoming a successful club.

"It is impossible to improve [if] the game is played without direct communication," said ZHiTNiK. [It’s] also important that you get feedback from players on the spot. This way you will learn how to play with this person."

Simply put, learning your teammates' tendencies and knowing your strategy before hitting the ice is vital.

Lastly, manage your team chemistry. It will help unify your club.

"Find your core players and get chemistry," said MORASH41. "This game really depends on knowing how your other members play. Individual skill will only get you so far. You need good team chemistry to be successful."

A unified team is a team that wins. However, it does not hurt to have a little dedication either. If you want to be the best, you are going to need to play a lot.

"We usually play every day," said CrAigChriZt, a GM of We Are Legends. "People start getting on around 6, 7 p.m. Then we play until we can’t keep our eyes open."

Build some trust. That will go a long way towards maintaining team morale.

"We have two GMs, and any major decisions will be discussed with each other," said MORASH41. Then [we] talk with the rest of the team. We won’t make any major decisions unless the majority is on board."


Thanks again to the general managers of We Are Legends, Spooners and Easton Team Qc for the contributions used in this article. I hope this helps anyone looking to improve his or her EASHL experience.