The 2023 IIHF eWorld Championship came to an end with the finals on Sunday and Finland has once again proven to be the best national team in EA SPORTS™ NHL™. 

Three weekends of intense global action on the virtual ice of NHL™ 23 have determined the 2023 IIHF eWorld Champion, and the wnners are no surprise. Erik „EkiOriginal“ Tammenpää and Jesse „JesseL2002“ Linden beat Canada in the finals with a clear 29-17 aggregate score after four games. 

It’s the third Finnish title in the third IIHF eTournament after the wins of the 2020 IIHF Esports Fan Championship and the 2022 IIHF eWorld Championship. The common denominator is „EkiOriginal“ who has been crowned MVP in both previous events, but wasn’t the deciding factor in the 2023 finals. 

„JesseL2002“ nets the big wins

Eki’s teammate „JesseL2002“ was the game changer against Canada. The newcomer defeated Samuel „CadCooks“ Landry in both games on PlayStation with 15-4 and 7-3. He returned the favour that „EkiOriginal“ granted him in the semi-finals where the world class NHL™ 23 player made a spectacular comeback from a 9-16 to a 18-17 win. 

„EkiOriginal“ had a hard time in the finals against the Canadian Justin „Regs84“ Reguly on Xbox – arguably the best match-up possible in NHL™ 23. He beat „Regs84“ 5-4 in his first game and had to take a 2-6 defeat in the last game. In the end the loss didn’t matter thanks to the impressive performance of „JesseL2002“. 

„The best game I’ve ever played“

In the first interview after the Finnish triumph „EkiOriginal“ described his feelings about winning his third title in a row as „unbelievable“ and „just unreal“. Even bigger words were found for the semi-finals miracle against the United States the day before – his big comeback: „It was the best NHL™ game I’ve ever played!“ 

Canada proved to be a worthy finalist, but struggled with their choice of in-game teams. The North Americans had already used their own ice hockey national team in the semi-finals against Czechia (26-9) and had to play the finals with the Czech national team, which brings the disadvantage of lower ratings. 

The 2023 IIHF eWorld Championship ended with a similar picture to the 2022 tournament. Celebrating Finnish players and fans, a trophy for „EkiOriginal“ and the conclusion that all other teams will have to give it even more if they ever want to beat team Finland in the future. 

Find out more on gaming.iihf.com.