Contents: Inspiration was the great absent of this lazy game, where Latvians stayed satisfied defending on the neutral zone whereas Canadians did not give the guts we could expect from them at this level of competition. First period remained a draw. In the second part, most goals were scored: Heatley gave the first for Canada, Hamhuis the second, Galvins offered a comeback for Latvia, Stamkos did kill the hope just a few seconds after. Score so far: 3-1 for the North Americans. In the third period, Team Canada still played their offensive role, though with no big conviction whereas Team Latvia seemed suffering physically. Then, Vasiljevs enlightened Latvian suppoters&rsquofaces by scoring another goal. This new hope was almost immediately disappointed when Lombardi gave a further advance for the leaders. One thing is certain, this game might not be registered as the best in Hockey archives.
Contents: Good hopes were still subsisting for Latvia after 4 straight victories, but standing efficient in front of the World Champions is another story. The unbreakable Russian block has accostumed us to a game looking quite relaxed, though turning to be a winning machine. One goal was scored by the Red Team in the first period (Kurianov), three in the second (Tereshenko, Tverdovsky, Kurianov). Vasiljevs saved his guys from a blank score at the 37th minute. Then Slava Bykov’s Men finished their work by increasing the gap with two other goals in the third period (Frolov, Tverdovsky). Looking really superior than any other team they met so far in the tournament (except Sweden), giving a forecast about who can make them fall reveals hazardous. Canada seems the only adversary capable of disturbing the two-headed eagle right now.
The Blues are OUT ! Over-dominated by a fresh Latvian Team, the Men in Blue have suffered yesterday game sequels against the U.S. No point has been added to the board and despite this huge defeat, at least they feel happy to be still present at this level of competition. At the 8th minute, Nizivijs opened the score assisted by Galvins. French defense was resisting so far. During second period, Cipulis added a goal at the 22th minute, quickly followed by Darzins. In the third period, Skrastins faked out goalie Lhenry at the 47th minute, followed by Jerofejevs 2 minutes later. Luc Tardif finally saved the honor of his team by banging the puck on a rebound, a few seconds before Ankipans, then Cipulis definitely turned the game an inferno. Counting 4 victories in a row, among which the unexpected one against Sweden, Team Latvia has showed any miracle could happen again in the rest of this tournament. We can now better understand why the U.S did not convince facing the maroon-and-white squad for their first meeting.
Contents: Latvia qualified for next round. This little nation Team confirmed its great potential, after surprising victory against one of her worst rival, Sweden. This time, Latvians did not have to reach the shootout stage to win. Cipulis scored at the very end of first period, and Dzerins confirmed the lead with another goal at the end of third period. Despite great stops from Austrian Goalie Bruckler, the eagle Team has been responsible for as many as 8 penalties over the game, which certainly influenced the issue. For her next meeting, Latvia will face hosting country Switzerland. An interesting play in perspective.
An Open Game Scoring the first goal 5 minutes after the starting faceoff, Latvia has surprised its opponent thanks to Vasiljevs (assist: Nizivijs). From this point, the game has never stopped being a continuous run from one side to the other of the arena and no one could really bet on the winner up to the end. U.S player Liles equalized 7 minutes later on a pass by Okposo. On the second period, Karsums gave a new advantage to its Purple and White Team by scoring with his partners, Ankipans and Sprukts. Then again, Stafford equalized for the Stars
and Stripes 5 minutes later, and finally Jonhson reversed the suspense by giving the U.S little superiority. Both teams had a very similar style of play, rushing forward with two or three attackers ready to get the puck into the net as fast as possible. From the third period, the Americans changed their strategy by building a constructive offense around the opposite cage, very close to what the Canadians had demonstrated yesterday against Belarus. Finally, these tactics were fructuous, enabling O'Sullivan scoring an ultimate goal (assist: Hainsey). Some might have said that the Americans didn’t show their best skills today, but curiously, Latvia has always been a dangerous opponent to them.
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