Latvia’s U-18 ice hockey players lose to their Canadian peers in the WC quarterfinals

Slovakia beat the Czech Republic 3:2 (1:1, 1:0, 1:1).

Ondrejs Maruna scored two goals for the Slovaks, and Adama Benák had two assists for the Czechs.

Alan Landak saved 27 shots in the winning goal, while Jakub Milota managed 28 shots at the opposite end of the field.

Sweden defeated Finland 2:1 (1:0, 1:1, 0:0) in another neighborly match.

Jak Berjlund scored the winning goal in the 37th minute.

The first goal of the match was scored by Alphonse Frei, but Heiki Ruohonen equalized the score.

Louve Hörenstam finished with 21 shots for the Swedish national team, while Peteri Rimpinen saved 22 shots for the Finns.

In preparation for the world championship, the U-18 national team played the U-20 tournament in Denmark in November, a camp was held in Riga in December, and in February Latvian youth competed in the U-18 Four Nations tournament in Denmark.

Before the championship, the team coached by Oleg Sorokin played five test matches. On April 6 and 7, in matches with the Polish U-18 national team at home, they lost 1:2 in the penalty shootout and celebrated a 5:1 victory, but on April 11 and 12, in away matches with the Czech U-18 national team, a failure was experienced with 1:2 and won 3:2. In the last test match, the Latvian U-18 national team already lost 0:4 to their Swedish peers in Finland.

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

This season, Sorokin is assisted by Herbert Vasiļjevs, Maksims Širokovs and goalkeeper coach Reinis Repšs in his work with the Latvian U-18 hockey team. Raivis Miezāns takes care of the physical training, while Artūrs Barovskis performs 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).