NHL

NHL Gaming World Championship – European Finals

The upcoming weekend will, in many ways, determine Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää’s season. Only the European Final Qualifier stands between him and Las Vegas, and the chance to defend his title. Eight players will battle it out for the 2 European spots in Stockholm, Sweden. Will EKI make it to Las Vegas once again? 

The world cup in 2018 was the first official NHL Gaming championship. Hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada with a prize pool of $85,000. A world championship that the Finnish player Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää took home.

This year, the world championship in NHL 19 will be hosted in the same city. This time with $100,000 in the prize pool. Before we enter Sin City and the finals, we will head to Stockholm, Sweden to find out who will represent Europe. The European qualifier has already been through the first phase and is now narrowed down to only 8 players. EKI went through the first phase without facing any problems and had no trouble of securing himself a spot in the Swedish capital. Now the Team Sampi player will face-off against six other Finnish players and one player from Austria.

Our player Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää will need to win two Best of 3-series in a single elimination bracket to secure himself a spot in Las Vegas, and the chance of defending his title. If not, he will watch the world cup from home.

How does the defending champion feel heading into this year’s biggest event?

‘’I’m very excited about Saturday. This is the tournament I’ve prepared for the whole year. Overall I’m feeling pretty relaxed because I’m very confident in my abilities”

Having three different qualifiers, and only 2 slots for Europe it will be a close fight for the slots. However, back in the end of 2018 EKI proved himself over his Finnish countrymen, and won the Finnish Championship. But how does he see the different qualifiers?

‘’I think the European Regionals is the toughest one out of the 3. Only 2 go to Vegas, so of course, I will give everything I have and live with the results (like always).”

Want to know more about EKI? Check out the Sampi Podcast! 

Written by Eirik Holdal