The game basics
You run a hockey club in a game world against other managers. Games are played on the world's schedule, a game day at a time, and your work happens between them.
On this page
You run a hockey club in a game world, against other managers and clubs the game runs. Games are played on the world’s schedule, one game day at a time, whether you look in or not. Your work happens between them: the lineup, the tactics, training, contracts and trades.
Game worlds
A game world is a league system of its own, with its own clubs, players and calendar. Pick a world whose speed fits your days, and take over one of its open clubs.
Every world has a limited number of clubs, and the open ones are those without a manager. You run one club per world, but you can run clubs in several worlds.
Worlds come in two kinds:
- Tiered Leagues — six leagues stacked from top to bottom: the Golden, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Iron and Lower Iron Hockey Leagues (GHL, SHL, BHL, CHL, IHL, LIHL). Clubs move up and down between them at the end of every season. The GHL playoffs decide the Golden Cup; below it, playoffs decide who goes up, and clubs near the bottom play to stay up. See leagues.
- Single League — one league in four conferences, with no promotion or relegation. These worlds are open to Premium managers.
Speed
Each world moves forward one game day at a time, on its own fixed schedule:
- Slow — a new day every 24 hours.
- Normal — a new day every 12 hours.
- Fast — a new day every 6 hours.
Choose by how often you can look in. If you visit once a day, a Slow world gives you one game day between visits; a Normal world plays two in that time, and a Fast world four.
Seasons
A season runs from a quiet off-season through the regular season and the playoffs, and the world’s day counter starts over when it ends. The sidebar shows where the world stands: the season and the day.
| Phase | Days | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Silly season | 1–3 | No games. Time to sign players and build the roster. |
| Pre season | 4–6 | No league games yet; the last days before the season opens. |
| Regular season | 7–86 | League games every day. The trade deadline falls late in this phase. |
| End of regular season | 87 | The playoff pairings are set. |
| Playoffs | 88–107 | Games follow the series, so not every club plays every day. The youth draft runs over the last days of the season, top league first. |
| Last day of season | 108 | Contracts run out, players age a year, some retire, new juniors arrive and clubs move up or down. The next day is day 1 of a new season. |
The days are those of a tiered world. In a Single League world the playoffs run longer, from day 88 to day 112, and the last day of the season is day 113. The world cards on Start your career call the first days Offseason and Preseason.
The game day
Each game day brings that day’s games, and other things happen at set times through it: training, free agents deciding on offers, clubs answering trade offers, waiver claims being settled.
The countdown beside the world’s name in the sidebar (in the top bar on a phone) shows what comes next and when: Next game, Next day, the Trade deadline and others. Click it to see everything Coming up today. Times are estimates, and while the day’s games are being played the countdown reads Under way.
Your club’s games are played whether you look in or not. Your current lineup is the one that plays, and so are your tactics. See lineup and tactics.
Staying away is counted in real days since your last visit, not in game days. After more than a week your assistant takes over every club you run and sets his own lineup for every game; after more than two weeks the board lets you go. See manager absence.
Starting out
You take a club through Start your career: pick a world, then a club, then make it yours.
- World. Above the list, Your team awaits offers a club in the Recommended world; Take control takes you straight to it. Each world card shows its kind, its speed, where it is in the season and how many clubs are open. Recommended marks the world that suits a new start best: it favors Normal speed and a world near the start of its season. If you are unsure, the Recommended world is a fair start. A new account names its manager here too, or keeps the suggested name.
- Team. The game proposes a club for you under Your new franchise. Press Take control to take it, or See other open teams to choose another.
- Make it yours. Pick the club’s city, name, colors and crest, or press Skip for now. You can change them as often as you like until the club has played its first game under you, and never for less than a week. After that, Edit franchise… saves a change once every 30 days, or any time with Premium.
A new manager starts in the lower leagues of a tiered world. A stronger manager reputation opens the higher ones, and Premium opens every league; see manager career. To take a club in another world later, choose Find new team in the menu under your name.
A club you take over keeps the lineup and tactics it had until you change them. If your first game is close, look over the lineup and the tactics before it.
Your club
Your team page is your home in the game; signing in takes you there. Its tabs are Home, Roster, Prospects, Schedule, Stats, History and Info.
The team page’s Actions menu holds the work you do for the club: Edit lineup…, Tactics…, Training…, Role assignments…, Captains… and Edit franchise…. Each opens a full screen of its own.
Finding your way around
The sidebar takes you to Team, Schedule, League, Transfers, World and Chat. On a phone, the main ones sit in the bar at the bottom of the screen.
- Your teams in the sidebar lists every club you run. Picking one in another world takes you to that world.
- The bell opens your notifications: what happened to your club since you last looked.
- In most lists, clicking a player’s name opens his panel beside the page. Full player page at its foot opens everything about him.
- The menu under your name holds My manager card, Find new team, Resign, Settings, Help, Discord and Sign out. See your account and community.
Where to go next
- Leagues — how the leagues, conferences, promotion and relegation work.
- Manager career — your reputation and where it lets you manage.
- Your account — signing in, Premium and Settings.
- Notifications and community — news from the game and from other managers.
- Manager absence — what happens when you stay away.
- Fair play — the rules every manager plays by.
- Lineup and tactics — the first things to set for your club.
- Games — following a game and reading the report.
Worth knowing
- Your club plays its games whether you look in or not, with your current lineup; once your assistant has taken over, with his.
- Staying away is counted in real days, not game days, and it reaches every club you run at once: after more than a week your assistant takes over, and after more than two weeks the board lets you go.
- A club you take over keeps the lineup and tactics it had until you change them.
- The free changes to a new club’s city, name, colors and crest last until it has played a game under you, and never less than a week.