The Latvian U-18 hockey team loses to the Finns in the first game of the world championship

In the first game of this group, the USA defeated Slovakia 9-0 (3-0, 3-0, 3-0) with three goals from Cole Aizerman.

In the second group, the Czech Republic also had a “dry” victory – 3:0 (1:0, 0:0, 2:0) over Switzerland. At the end of the first day, Canada defeated Sweden 6-3 (4-1, 1-2, 1-0), with Gavin McCann scoring two goals for the Canadians, and Alexander Setterberry scoring twice for the Swedes.

In addition to Latvia and Finland, the USA, Slovakia and Norway will play in subgroup A, while Sweden, the Czech Republic, Canada, Kazakhstan and Switzerland will compete in the second subgroup.

In the continuation of the tournament, Latvia will meet Slovakia on Friday, on April 28 they will play against the USA, and on April 29 they will play against Norway.

In preparation for the World Championship, the U-18 national team played the U-20 tournament in Denmark in November, held a camp in Riga in December, and competed in the U-18 Four Nations tournament in Denmark in February.

Meanwhile, before the championship, the national team coached by Oleg Sorokin played five test matches – on April 6 and 7, they lost 1:2 in penalty kicks at home and defeated the Polish U-18 national team 5:1, while on April 11 and 12, they played away a 1:2 defeat and a 3:2 victory against the Czech U-18 national team. In the last test match, the Latvian U-18 national team already lost 0:4 to their Swedish peers in Finland on Monday.

The quarter-final matches of the World Championship will take place on May 2, the semi-finals on May 4, and the medal winners will be determined on May 5.

Herbert Vasiļjevs, Maksims Širokovs and goalkeeping coach Reinis Repšs will assist Sorokin in his work with the Latvian U-18 hockey team this season. On the other hand, Raivis Miezāns will take care of the physical training, while Artūrs Barovskis will perform the duties of the video coach.

List of Latvian U-18 hockey team players:

goalkeepers – Mikus Vecvanags (HS “Riga”), Nils Roberts Mauriņš (Sodertalje, Sweden), Dilans Birkāns (Odense, Denmark);

defenders – Krists Retenais, Oskar Nils Briedis, Krišjānis Sārts (all – HS “Riga”), Harijs Cjunskis (Lugano, Switzerland), Rolands Naglis (Bern, Switzerland), Darel Uljanskis (AIK, Sweden), Bruno Petrovič (“Alberta Academy”, Canada);

forwards – Antons Macijevskis, Edvīns Bērzins, Maksims Pumpiņš, Aleksandrs Zaprivoda, Dmitrijs Diļevka, (all – HS “Rīga”), Olivers Mūrnieks (“Mogo”/LSPA), Bruno Osmanis, Nils Vanags (both – “Bojorkloven”, Sweden) , Markus Kristians Sieradzkis, Maksims Kharitoncevs (both – “Mora”), Karlis Flugins (“Oskarshamn”, Sweden), Daniels Serkin (“Thurgau”, Switzerland), Martins Klaucans (New Jersey “Rockets”, USA).