NHL

One step closer to defending the World Title

When world champions speak about what is harder when it comes to of winning or defending the world champion title, they mostly lean towards defending. Players can have a good season, and take home a title on the way. But doing it back-to-back means that you’re something special, a true champion. That’s what EKI is trying to do in 2019.  

After a busy NHL19 Saturday, EKI is now one step closer to defending his title. A title he won in mid-June of last year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alongside the title, EKI won $50,000. Once again, the world championship in NHL gaming will be hosted in Sin City with a prizepool of $100.000.

The online qualifier started off solid for the Finnish player who, this time, played on XBOX instead of PS4. Winning the first match 11-3. However, if EKI lost one of the upcoming games, the dream of Stockholm and Las Vegas would be broken.

The second match for EKI continued in the same track as the first one. This time, EKI defended his opponent 7-1. Match 3 started off with his opponent getting the first goal, and EKI was down 1-0. However, from there on and out, it was EKI show once again, and EKI won 7-1.

EKI was now only one match away from securing a spot in the capital of Sweden. The story continued to be the same. EKI was one or two levels above his opponents, and he won his last game 6-0. And the dream of winning and defending the world championship title is still alive.

The last step being European Regional finals. Europeans will battle it out in Stockholm, Sweden in the mid-May. While players from the United States have a separate one, and the same goes with players from Canada. Two players from each qualifier, so 6 in total,  will head to Las Vegas, Nevada on June 18th. So it’s left to see if EKI can do what all world champions dream of – doing it again.

Eki after winning in 2018