Gate machine 'Tilantekija' awarded Best Forward

The Finn Erik 'Tilantekija' Tammenpää has already been appointed MVP of the IIHF Esports Fan Championship 2020, and the title of Best Forward has also been secured.  

Anyone who watched the IIHF Esports Fan Championship for the first time just for the final against Sweden last Sunday may be surprised about the award. 'Tilantekija' struggled with the stable defence of Henrik 'eken45jr' Eklund, winning 3-2 and 2-1 with relatively few goals. His partner Joel 'rottadee' Myllymäki, on the other hand, shone with an offensive firework, scoring 19 goals against Sebastian 'SebbeLarsen86' Larsen. However, the distribution of the final match does not accurately reflect the previous tournament: Tammenpää found the gaps in the defensive network against every opponent, and even in the national qualifiers he warmed up for his triumph in the playoffs.

'Tilantekija' had to survive six rounds to qualify for the main round under the Finnish flag. His opening opponent 'FatheredRuby49' was similarly without a chance as some players after him; the 16-2 was Tammenpää's first exclamation mark. On his way to the playoffs, the 21-year-old scored 47 goals, an average of almost eight per game. To blame this yield on the partly inexperienced competition in the Finnish qualifier would have been a fallacy. 'Tilantekija' scored 16 goals against Sean 'Sean' McIntosh from Great Britain in the round of sixteen and 15 goals against Martin 'Venomenyce' Perenz from Germany in the quarter-finals. The winner of the NHL Gaming World Championship 2018 reached the zenith of his offensive power in the semi-final against Russia.

One could feel sorry for Maksim 'mahoney88' Krinitsyn, the 25-year-old experienced a debacle in two acts on Xbox One: Tammenpää shattered the Russian final dreams with 9-1 and 13-0, the results between 'rottadee' and Sergei 'Serg1vratar_vH' Filippov were of little consequence. In all 14 individual games of the qualifiers and the playoffs, 'Tilantekija' sank the puck 105 times into the opponent's goal. The average of eight goals per game could not be maintained only because of the two final games. By comparison, his equally strong teammate 'rottadee' scored 78 goals - and had one more qualifying game. Nobody could keep up with the power of 'Tilantekija' on a national and international level, the award as Best Forward is only logical.