NHL

NHL Gaming World Championship – EKI qualifies for Las Vegas

The defending world champion in NHL19 , Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää, qualified himself once again for the NHL19 World Championship Global Finals by winning the Europen Regional Qualifier in Stockholm, Sweden in front of  Hannes ‘’Hansulinho’’ Kettunen.

The European Regional Finals in NHL 19 took place in Stockholm, Sweden on Saturday, May 18th. Eight players had qualified to the event from online qualifiers. Seven players from Finland and one from Austria. The Top 2 from the event would advance into the $100.000 world championship finals in Las Vegas, Nevada that takes place June 18th.

Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää had to win both the quarter- and semi-final in Stockholm, Sweden to advance into Sin City. One loss and the Finnish player would be out.

The opponent in the quarter-final was Risto ‘’Dominointi’’ Järvi from Finland. The game started off in the same fashion as the online qualifiers for our player. Winning Game 1 with a solid score of 6-0. In this Best of 3-format, one more win was needed for our Finnish powerhouse. Game 2 against ‘’Dominointi’’ started off slower for ‘’EKI’’. Going down 1-0, and struggling to find the same success as he had in Game 1. However, the defending world champion turned the table around and got his momentum back. ‘’EKI’’ got his first goal in Game 2, and tied the score 1-1. For a long time, it looked to go to overtime, but the Team Sampi player was able to put the puck in the net with less than 10 seconds left on the clock. Winning his quarter-final 2-0, and advancing into the semi-final.

The semi-final opponent ended up being Kristian ‘’Kriketsi17’’ Veijola. ‘’Kriketsi17’’ had won his quarter-final 2-0 as well. Game 1 in the semi-final started off like Game 1 in the quarter-final, and ‘’EKI’’ didn’t waste any time. Taking the lead, and keeping it throughout the whole game. Winning Game 1 with the score of 4-1, and taking the lead in the series with 1-0. One more win would put ‘’EKI’’ on the plane to Las Vegas, Nevada. Game 2 ended up having the same story as the first one. ‘’EKI’’ proving to be on another level, and winning Game 2 with the score of 3-0. Moving into the European Regional Final, but more importantly: securing himself a spot at the world championship finals in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the final of the European Regional Final, we saw the match-up against the two players who are going to represent Europe in Sin City. The Team Sampi player faced his countryman Hannes ‘’Hansulinho’’ Kettunen. Even with having secured himself a spot in Sin City, “EKI” didn’t slow down and took the lead 3-0 after the 1st period of Game 1 was over. In the 2nd and 3rd period, he continued, and won Game 1 with the score of 7-2. Game 2 ended up being a closer battle. Moving back and forth, with both players having success. However, in the end ‘’EKI’’ was able to win Game 2 with a score of 8-4, and placing 1st in the European Regional Qualifier. “EKI” also took home $5.000 for winning. 

Last year, Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää made history when he won the world championship. Will he do it again? We will find out June 18th, when the 6 players will head to Luxor in Las Vegas, Nevada.

→ European Regional Finals VOD  ←