The Latvian U-18 hockey team beats Slovakia in the second match of the world championship / Diena

Latvian hockey players beat their peers from Slovakia 5:3 (3:1, 1:2, 1:0).

Markus Sieradzkis, Maksims Haritoncevs, Olivers Mūrnieks, Anton Macijevskis and Dmitrijs Diļevka scored goals for Latvia

At the beginning of the game, Sieradzkis put Latvia in the lead after less than nine minutes, but after less than a minute, the Slovaks tied the game. In the continuation of the first third, Haritoncevs restored Latvia’s one-goal advantage, but Mūrnieks beat the opponent’s goalkeeper from close range in most of the matches.

In the second period, Slovakia equalized the score, but less than a minute after the third goal conceded, Latvian hockey players scored the majority of goals, with Macijevski being accurate, and regained the lead.

In the middle of the final third, Latvia had a five-minute majority, which was not used, but shortly after its end, Diļevka scored 5:3.

Latvia’s goal was guarded by Mikus Vecvanags, who saved 31 shots.

On Thursday, in the first game, the Latvians lost 1:3 to the Finnish hosts, while the Slovaks capitulated to the Americans 0:9.

In the continuation of the tournament, Latvia will meet the USA in subgroup A on Sunday, and Norway will play on Monday. Sweden, Czech Republic, Canada, Kazakhstan and Switzerland are competing in subgroup B.

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, Maxims Kharitoncevs (both – “Mora”), Karlis Flugins (“Oskarshamn”, Sweden), Daniels Serkin (“Thurgau”, Switzerland), Martins Klaucans (New Jersey “Rockets”, USA).