2022 IIHF eWorld Championship: Tournament Website / Live Stream
The quarter-finals continue on Sunday with USA taking on Germany and Sweden facing Latvia:
WATCH: USA vs. Germany (Sunday, 15:45 UTC)
Main stream: https://www.twitch.tv/iihfhockey
German stream: https://www.twitch.tv/bl00dylp
IIHF Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iihfhockey
WATCH: Sweden vs. Latvia (Sunday, 19:00 UTC)
Main stream: https://www.twitch.tv/iihfhockey
Swedish stream: https://www.twitch.tv/esdor
IIHF Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iihfhockey
FINLAND vs. SWITZERLAND: 11-8 (2-1 OT, 4-0, 1-5, 4-2)
'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.
The Swiss forced Valtteri “Vattuyy“ Virtanen into overtime with 1-1, only to have “Vattuyy“ edge'OriginaL-SnuS' out with an early 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.
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.
Upset alert: Czechia knocks Canada out of the race
Czechia came out and posted the first upset of the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship as 'Dzouvi' and 'pepcastachurcik' eliminated Canada in the quarter-finals.
At the NHL Gaming World Championship in North America, Justin 'Regs84' Reguly had triumphed just a few days ago. At the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship, however, he will drop out early with the Canadian national team.
'Regs84'was able to hold his own against his strong Czech opponent Josef 'pepcastachurcik' Stachura (4-2 and 1-1), but wasn’t able to overcome the leads posted against his teammate Sayed Safir 'SafirSnipezGOLD' Sodouri.
'SafirSnipezGOLD' lost the opening game on PlayStation against Adam 'Dzouvi' Mensik 2-3. After 'Regs84' had put Canada back in the lead, Sodouri had the chance for revenge – but instead 'Dzouvi' shone.
The Czech player defeated 'SafirSnipezGOLD' clearly 5-2 and brought his national team in the overall lead with 10-8. 'Regs84' could not turn around this deficit against 'pepcastachurcik' and Czechia entered the semi-finals with a 11-9 win.
Team Canada beats Team USA in IIHF Sixes
Despite the quarter-final loss, 'Regs84' and 'SafirSnipezGOLD' could still celebrate a victory on Saturday: Reguly and Sodouri were part of Team Canada for the entertaining IIHF Sixes format, played in 6vs6 mode and defeated Team USA 1-0.
Influencers, content creators and eSports pros clashed in the spirit of fun, and Canada prevailed. However, was little consolation for the surprisingly early elimination at the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship of the Canadians.
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'.
On Sunday IIHF moves to Europe with an 6-on-6 exhibition game between FInland and Germany. The game will be shown live on Twitch and associate channels.
WATCH (18:00 UTC, Sunday)
Main stream: https://www.twitch.tv/iihfhockey
Finnish stream: https://www.twitch.tv/sportsgamergg
German stream: https://www.twitch.tv/bl00dylp
Swedish stream: https://www.twitch.tv/esdor