'ENCEKI' leads Finland into semi-finals against strong Swiss

Finland became the first national team to book a ticket to the semi-finals of the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship on Saturday in a close contest with the Swiss.

Switzerland's Sven 'OriginaL-SnuS' Julmi and Mirco 'Tron1x90' Salvi came ready to play. Not many experts had expected them to succeed against Finland, the winner of the 2020 IIHF Esports Fan Championship.

'OriginaL-SnuS' brings back the suspense

The Swiss forced Valtteri 'Vattuyy' Virtanen into overtime with 1-1, only to have 'Vattuyy' edge 'OriginaL-SnuS' out with a late goal in the extra frame. After Erik 'ENCEKI' Tammenpää then shut down 'Tron1x90' with 4-0 – the quarter-finals seemed to be already decided.

But 'OriginaL-SnuS' turned up the heat in the second PlayStation game: He beat 'Vattuyy' 5-1 and shortened the overall result to 6-7. 'ENCEKI' was feeling the heat before the second Xbox game.

'ENCEKI' withstands the pressure in game four

The winner of the NHL Gaming World Championship in Europe withstood the pressure: Tammenpää beat 'Tron1x90' with 4-2 and thus lifted Finland into the semi-finals. The Finns prevailed in the final standings with an 11-8 win.

The Swiss can be proud of their performance, they stood up to the big favourites. It has to be mentioned that Finland played with the Czech national team – Switzerland with Canada. With Canada the overall top-rated team in NHL™ 22, and with each participating contestant able to select them just once in the playoffs, Finland is keeping their ace in the hole for the next round or maybe even the final.

Team Canada beats Team USA in IIHF Sixes

In the following entertainment format IIHF Sixes in 6vs6 mode Team Canada secured a 1-0 victory against Team USA. The decisive goal came in the last period – Justin 'The Crease Police' Maravegias was beaten after all.

In an interview after IIHF Sixes, the US goalkeeper emphasized the focus the game between influencers, content creators and eSports pros had. "We wanted to have fun first and foremost and we had a real blast," said 'The Crease Police'.