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In the past three years, Canada has faced the Finns in the fight for gold each time, whom they defeated only the year before. In 2019, the Northerners triumphed in Bratislava thanks to a 3:1 win, while last year the final victory was 4:3 after extra time. In 2020, the championship did not take place due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The Latvians will play in the semi-finals for the first time in history after eliminating the ice hockey powerhouse Sweden and can thus bring their first medal success to the Baltics. They will once again rely on the talented 22-year-old Vancouver goalkeeper Arturs Silovs, who blocked 40 shots out of 41 against the Swedes, achieving an almost 98 percent save success rate.