Four-game sweep: Finland leaves Latvia no chance

Finland has entered the final of the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship after a strong performance in the semi-final against Latvia – the USA are waiting.

After the upset against Sweden in the quarter-finals, the question was whether Latvia would be able to upset the Finns, who have emerged as one if not the top eSport nation in the IIHF.

This time, neither of the two duos had an advantage due to the team selection: Both Finland and Latvia played with the US national team in NHL™ 22.

'ENCEKI' paves the way with a 4-1 win

In the first game on the PlayStation between Valtteri 'Vattuyy' Virtanen and Kristers 'chibra' Bauers a close semi-final was on the cards. For a long time the duel remained goalless – the Finn was able to secure the 1-0 win less than four seconds before the end.

Erik 'ENCEKI' Tammenpää, who already triumphed at the 2020 IIHF Esports Fan Championship, won 4-1 against Juris 'snipencelly8' Lopatko and extended the Finnish advantage.

'Vattuyy' and 'ENCEKI' with close victories

The third game was closer again. 'Vattuyy' and 'chibra' ended the regular time with a 3-3 draw, so things had to be decided in overtime.

Virtanen needed only about 30 seconds to score the goal to make it 4-3. So 'ENCEKI' went into the last game at the Xbox with a 9-4 lead – an almost impossible task for 'snipencelly8' going against one of the top players of the tournament.

The Latvian put up a brave fight against the 2020 MVP and four-time winner of the NHL Gaming World Championship in Europe. Lopatko first scored the 1-0, 'ENCEKI' turned the game with three goals. Finally 'snipencelly8' was able to reduce the score to 2-3.

Two twitch streams for the grand final

In the end, the Finns won 12-6 against Latvia and entered the final of the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship. There 'Vattuyy' and 'ENCEKI' will meet the USA, who won their semi-final 12-4 against Czechia.

The duel of the two heavyweights will be broadcasted live on the IIHF‘s Twitch channel on Sunday from 19:00 UTC. In addition, a Finnish stream of the final will also be available.

Main stream: https://www.twitch.tv/iihfhockey

Finnish stream: https://www.twitch.tv/sportsgamergg