Latvian U-18 hockey players capitulate to the Americans in the world championship / Diena

In the subgroup A match, Latvia lost 1:7 (0:3, 1:2, 0:2) to their peers from the USA.

The only goal for Latvia was scored by Daniels Serkins, who at the end of the second period put the puck into the American goal after passes from Maksim Kharitontsev and Harij Tjuncski.

Trevor Connelly stood out for the USA team with two goals and two assists, while James Hagains and Teddy Stiga had one accurate shot and two assists.

Latvia’s goal was first guarded by Mikus Vecvanags, but Dilans Birkāns replaced him less than 12 minutes before the end of the match. Veczvanags stopped 24 of 30 American shots, while Birkans managed six more shots, allowing one goal.

In the first game on Thursday, the Latvians lost 1:3 to the home team Finland, but on Friday they beat their peers from Slovakia 5:3. The Americans defeated the Slovaks 9-0 and defeated the Norwegians 8-2.

In subgroup A, after three games, USA and Finland have nine points each, Latvia has scored three points, and Slovakia and Norway have no points.

In the continuation of the tournament, Latvia will play against Norway on Monday.

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).