NHL

EKI takes 4th in Las Vegas NHL World Championship

Tuesday 18th of June, the six best NHL19 gamers in the world gathered in Las Vegas, Nevada. All with the same goal – to become world champion and win $50,000. Our player Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää was the defending, reigning champion after winning the last year world championship.

The six-player who had qualified to the event represented three different regions. ‘’EKI’’ and ‘’Hansulinho’’ from Europe, ‘’Top-shelf-cookie’’ and ‘’Johnwaynee’’ from America and ‘’Mg x Nuclear’’ and ‘’Yung Gren’’ from Canada.

The Team Sampi player, Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää had won his regional qualifier in solid fashion, and therefore already found himself in the semi-final. Two wins in a Best-of-3 format and the dream of defending his title would be accomplished. The three runner-ups from the different qualifiers had to play a round- robin tournament to determine who would advance into the semi-final along with the three regional winners.

After all the three players had won one and lost one, it was the American player ‘’Johnwaynee’’ who advanced from the round-robin tournament. Due to ‘’Johnwaynee’’ leaving his regional qualifier with a better win-loss ratio. The semi-final and grand-final of the NHL19 Gaming World Championship were played in a Best-of-3 format. Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää faced off against the round-robin winner ‘’Johnwayne’’.

The first match ended up being a thriller, and ‘’EKI’’ was thrown straight into the battleground. The match went back and forth with both players having success. ‘’Johnwaynee’’ taking the lead 1-0, before ‘’EKI’’ tied the score 1-1. The American continued being the guy who led the battle, and took the lead 2-1, before once again ‘’EKI’’ tied the score. Now it was the Finnish player who had the momentum and found himself in the lead with 3-2. But just when you thought ‘’EKI’’ was on his way to yet another match win in the GWC, ‘’Johnwaynee’’ came back and won the match 4-3. Now it was all or nothing for ‘’EKI’’. He had to win both of the remaining matches to advance into the grand final.

The second match we saw the ‘’EKI’’ that we’re used to seeing. Having control from the start, and keeping it until the end. Winning the match 3-1. Tying the score to 1-1 overall.

The decisive third match ended up being a unusual one. None of the players managed to score in the two first periods. Leading into the last period, the ticket to the grand-final was still up to grab for both players. ‘’EKI’’ was the player who managed to break the 0 first, and took the lead 1-0. And for a long time, it looked like the Finnish player had managed to qualify himself to his 2nd grand-final at the world championship in a row. However, with under one minute left on the game clock, ‘’Johnwaynee’’, was able to turn the tables around and with the match 2-1 and knocking out the defending world champion.

The grand-final ended up with ‘’Top-Shelf-Cookie’’ winning it in front of his countryman ‘’Johnwaynee’’. ‘’Mg x Nuclear’’ placed 3rd, and our player ‘’EKI’’ ended up placing 4th, winning $5.000. The full VOD of the whole tournament can be found HERE.