ABOUT THE LEAGUE
What is EASHL — and what is Rink Rivals?
Everything you need to know about EASHL, CHEL, 6s leagues, and how Rink Rivals turns NHL 26 club hockey into a full competitive season.
What is EASHL?
EASHL stands for EA Sports Hockey League — the online team mode in EA’s NHL games where every position, including the goalie, is controlled by a real person. In 6v6 EASHL, twelve players share the ice in one game, each controlling a single skater or goalie, which makes it the closest a video game gets to real team hockey.
What is CHEL?
CHEL is the community’s nickname for EA’s NHL series and its online modes (from "NHL" pronounced as a word). When players talk about a "CHEL league," they mean an organized, competitive EASHL league — exactly what Rink Rivals is.
What is a 6s league?
"6s" is shorthand for 6v6 club play — full teams with human goalies, as opposed to "3s" (3v3 arcade-style). A 6s league organizes those full-team games into scheduled seasons with rosters, standings, playoffs, and stats.
What is Rink Rivals?
Rink Rivals is a competitive EASHL 6v6 league for NHL 26 on PlayStation and Xbox. Teams are built through a live auction draft with a salary cap, play scheduled weekly regular-season games, and compete in best-of-7 playoff series — all live-broadcast with every stat tracked from EA’s servers, per game and per season.
How is Rink Rivals different from casual club games?
Drop-in club games have no continuity — random teammates, no standings, no stakes. Rink Rivals gives you a drafted team that stays together all season, a real schedule, live-streamed broadcasts with commentary and overlays, advanced per-game performance ratings, trades and roster moves, awards races, and a championship to play for.
How do I join?
Join the Discord at discord.gg/rinkrivals and follow the signup instructions — registration opens before each season, and all skill levels are welcome. The auction draft keeps teams balanced no matter your skill.