Eki Goes Coast to Coast, Clinches NHL 18 World Championships

Jeff Kotuby,

June 21, 2018 3:00 PM

It was Eki, the European Regional Champion, who would defeat all challengers and be crowned the first-ever NHL 18 World Champion. Check out this incredible coast to coast effort that sealed the deal in Vegas.

At the NHL 18 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, six of the top “Chel” players battled it out for the right to be called champion. In the end, it was Erik “Eki” Tammenpaa of Sweden faced off against the American leg runner-up, David “JrPens” Roebuck, in the grand finals. Ultimately, it was this goal that put the game out of reach for Roebuck and clinched an undefeated tournament (and $50,000) for Eki:

JrPens (in blue) commits a costly turnover in the offensive zone, for which Eki makes him pay dearly. Eki skips taking the delayed penalty and just puts the puck in the back of the net, giving him an insurmountable 7-3 lead in the 3rd period. Afterwards, Eki was thrilled, telling TSN, “I feel amazing. It's a dream come true to be a World Champion.” I just wanted to win this thing so much, and I didn't want to believe for one second that I wasn't going to. You can't win anything if you don't really believe in yourself.”

Eki received a bit of flack from the NHL community for some words that may have seemed a bit cocky in nature, saying that he was going to be in the finals from the start. Eki, however, assured it wasn’t cockiness that drove him, but motivation. “This win was for my mom,” he said to TSN. “She has cancer. I just got so much out of that mentally. Some people probably think I'm too cocky because of some comments I made, but it’s not that: I just wanted to win this thing so much.”

For more on NHL 18, check out our conversation with the voice of the NHL 18 World Championships and Twin Galaxies record holder, Arda Ocal!

Cover photo courtesy Erik's Twitter account. 



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