NHL26 matchmaking region restricted?

Apologies, I'm in Asia-Pacific (Australia) as well! I didn't get notified of your response, and I didn't see the "show more" in the thread until now!

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here:

I'm a HUT diehard, it's all I play, I literally don't play any other video games.  I moved to South East Asia in 2019. I have played like 2000 hours plus of every game. I have never had issues like I have this year.  I work from home and have my Xbox on my 3rd monitor so I literally am just looking for games 14 hours an day non stop.  I average probably 2-3 games a day and it is all the same people since the game release.  My gamertag is Gerbox 360.  If you look at my recent games, it will all be the same people that also only play each other it seems based on their recent games.

The ping is much better in the games I do play and based on gamertags it seems they are also located in Asia (Turkey and Korea) being the most prominent, I also NEVER play against Xbox users only PS5 which also leads me to think they are Asian based like myself.  I set my MAX ping to ANY as always but CAN NOT FIND ANY GAMES. 

I'm not sure what can be done or if anything is being done but playing 180 ping games and losing is much more preferable than not playing at all.

I'm at the point where I'm going to stop playing the game and request a refund because this is unplayable.  I am willing to do literally any testing and I am available like 24 hours a day if you need any help from someone that is actually out here. 

Is there any update on what has happened here or why this is so different than previous games?   If the answer is "You're in SEA that's just how it is, that's acceptable but some communication would be incredibly appreciated.