Latvian U-18 ice hockey players lose to Norwegians and leave their ticket to the quarterfinals in the hands of their competitors / Article

On Tuesday, in the match between Norway and Slovakia, it will be known whether the Latvians will reach the quarter-finals or will fight to stay in the top division.

In subgroup A, the USA and Finland have nine points each in three games, Norway and Latvia have three points each, having played three out of four matches, respectively, and Slovakia is fifth, which has no points in three matches.

Daniels Serkins, Martins Klaucāns and Darels Uļjanskis scored for the Latvian national team.

Although in the first 20 minutes the Latvians made more shots on goal (12:8) and played in the majority twice, they lost 0:3 in the period. First, in the eighth minute, Lukas Finkenhagen threw the puck into the empty corner of the goal, but 69 seconds later, Matias Dēli used a two-on-one defender. When less than two minutes were left until the end of the third period, Niklas Oram-Ulsen made it 3-0.

At the beginning of the second period, Finkenhagen received a 5+20 minute penalty for pushing on the edge, giving the Latvians the opportunity to play in the majority. In the third minute of the third period, Serkin took advantage of it with a shot from in front of the goal, scoring the only goal in five minutes. In the second half of the period, the Sons restored the three-goal advantage and Ludvig Laughton made it 5-1 in the majority.

After playing 40 minutes, Mikus Vecvanags replaced Nilu Mauriņu in the goal of the Latvian national team.

In the third period, the Latvians needed only 59 seconds to get one goal back, Klaucas making it 2:5. In the middle of the period, Uljanskis reduced the advantage of most opponents to two goals.

The ratio of shots in this match in favor of the Latvians – 35:29.

In the second subgroup, Kazakhstan made a surprise, defeating the Czech Republic 4:3 (1:2, 1:1, 1:0, 1:0) in extra time. The winning goal was scored by Mstislav Šipilín.

In subgroup B, Canada has nine points in three games, the Czech Republic has six points in four matches, while Sweden, Switzerland and Kazakhstan have four, three and two points, respectively, with these three national teams playing three duels each.

In the first game on Thursday, the Latvians lost 1:3 to the hosts Finland, on Friday they beat their peers from Slovakia 5:3, and on Sunday they suffered a defeat against the Americans 1:7. On the other hand, the Norwegians conceded to the Finns by 0:7 and recognized the superiority of the USA by 2:8.

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 beat 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 “Rīga”), Harijs Cjunskis (Lugano, Switzerland), Rolands Naglis (Bern, Switzerland), Darel Uljanskis (AIK, Sweden), Bruno Petrović (“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).