Ice Hockey World Championship
Latvia made it into the quarter-finals on the last day of the preliminary round at the Ice Hockey World Championships. On Tuesday evening in Riga, the co-host surprisingly won 4: 3 (0: 0 2: 1 1: 2 – 1: 0) after extra time against Switzerland, which had previously dominated Group B, and will meet in the quarter-finals on Thursday (7.20 p.m.). Riga in Sweden. Due to the rise of Latvia, the World Cup for Slovakia, who came third at the Olympics, ended prematurely.
The Confederates, who had won all six preliminary round games up to that point and had already been confirmed as group winners before the match, rested a few stars for the quarter-finals on Thursday (3:20 p.m.) in Riga against “fearful opponents” Germany, who also beat France 5-0 removed the last doubts about reaching the knockout stages. The Swiss have painful memories of this duel. In the last three knockout games against Germany they have always come off the ice as losers.
Latvia took the lead against Switzerland through Ralfs Freibergs (22′) early in the second period. Kevin Fiala’s (27′) equalizer for Switzerland was short-lived, as Rodrigo Abols (27′) made it 2-1 for the Latvians 32 seconds later. Goals from Marco Miranda (48′) and Andres Ambühl (54′) seemed to have turned the Confederates in the final third before Kaspars Daugavins (55′) saved Latvia into extra time. There Rudolfs Balcers (63rd) became the match winner for the co-host in the power play.
USA get group win
In the top game of Group A, the USA beat Sweden 4:3 (1:1 2:0 0:2 – 1:0) after extra time. For the Americans it was the seventh win in seven games and thus also the group win. Sweden almost turned the game upside down in the finish against the long-dominant USA. A quasi-own goal (55′) and Timothy Liljegren (58′) brought the Scandinavians into overtime after being 3-1 down. There, Winnipeg defender Dylan Samberg scored the gold goal (62nd).
The USA now meet the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals on Thursday (3.20 p.m.) in Tampere. There in the evening (7.20 p.m.) there will also be the new final of 2022 between Canada and defending champion Finland. Record world champion Canada secured second place in the Swiss group after two recent defeats with a 3-1 win against the Czech Republic. Finland dispatched Denmark 7-1.