The players of the Latvian national hockey team rejoice in the dressing room and celebrate the victory over Sweden

The players of the Latvian national hockey team filled the locker room singing along to Liepāja brothers’ song “Tikai taa!”.

Head coach Harijs Vītoliņš points out that the team has accomplished a small miracle, but everything is still ahead. Vītoliņš serves the first puck in the national team’s ranks at the world championships to the team’s debutant, Danas Ločmelis.

The president of the hockey federation, Aigars Kalvītis, congratulates the players on the historic success achieved by little Latvia in the eyes of the world and wishes to send home the players of hockey’s homeland, Canada.

The defender of the national team, Kristaps Zīle, praises all the goal scorers, but presents the award for the best player in the team – the symbolic Lāčplėš hat – to Artūrs Šilovs, the main forger of success.

It has already been announced that the Latvian men’s hockey team defeated the Swedish national team in the quarterfinals of the world championship in Riga on Thursday, entering the semifinals for the first time in history.

Latvia celebrated the victory with 3:1 (1:0, 0:1, 2:0).

Dans Ločmelis, Miks Indrašis and Jānis Jaks scored for Latvia, and Timotijs Liljegrens scored for Sweden.

In the semifinals, Latvia will meet Canada on Saturday in Tampere at 2:20 p.m., and the USA will play Germany at 6:20 p.m.

Rihards Bukarts was recognized as the best in the ranks of the Latvian national team in this game, and defender Antons Lindholm was recognized for Sweden.