Latvia shocks Sweden in overtime

Latvia pulled out all the stops to eliminate a talented Swedish team and advance in an incredible 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship quarter-final upset.

Latvians Kristers 'chibra' Bauers and Juris 'snipencelly8' Lopatko put up an early lead only to see it evaporate with less than 15 seconds to go in the final game of the four-game series – before winning it all in overtime against the Tre Kronor on an early goal from ‘chibra’.

The Swedes had scored 24 of a possible 24 points in Group D, and looked every bit a title contender going into the game. They opted to play the U.S. national team in NHL™ 22 in the first knockout round. Latvia played as Team Canada, which has a stronger overall rating. Because of the ratings difference, competitors are allowed to select a country only once in the playoffs.

'chibra' sends Latvia into the semis

Sweden had problems from the beginning: Sebastian 'SebbeLarsen86' Larsen had to accept a clear 0-3 defeat against 'chibra'. Henrik 'eken45jr' Eklund fought back on the Xbox against 'snipencelly8' (2-1).

After a 3-2 win by 'SebbeLarsen86' against 'chibra', 'eken45jr' was just one goal behind on aggregate coming into the last game. After a wild finale that saw many lead changes, he managed to equalize with 8-8 in the overall score with 14.6 second remaining, tying up the aggregate score.

Thus, the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship experienced its first parallel overtime on PlayStation and Xbox. Both players on each team played their opponent one last time, with the first goal in either game counting as the series decider. With the games being shown simultaneously on a double screen on the IIHF Twitch account, fans watched as Latvia’s 'chibra' called game and completed the upset less than two minutes in for the 9-8 win.

The Latvians move on to face defending champions Finland in the semi-final round.

'ENCEKI' and 'Vattuyy' decide IIHF Sixes

Besides the Latvians, the Finns were celebrating again on Sunday: Six influencers, content creators and eSports pros defeated Team Germany in IIHF Sixes in 6vs6 mode with 3-2 – also in overtime.

The difference was made by Erik 'ENCEKI' Tammenpää and Valtteri 'Vattuyy' Virtanen, who also represent Finland at the IIHF eWorld Championship.