Latvia Beats Switzerland in Overtime to Secure Quarterfinal Place in Ice Hockey World Championship

The goals scored among the winners were Ralfs Freibergs (22nd minute), Rodrigo Abols (27), Kaspars Daugavins (55) and Rudolfs Balcers (63). The losers scored Kevin Fiala (27), Marco Miranda (48) and Andres Ambul (54). This result allowed the Latvian team to take third place in Group B and the last of all the teams participating in the World Cup to get a place in the quarterfinals. The Latvian national team reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time since 2018, then the team was led by Canadian specialist Bob Hartley.

In other matches of the day, the German team ensured participation in the quarterfinals, defeating the French team (5: 0), the Slovakian team beat the Norwegian team (4: 1), the Canadian team was stronger than the Czech team (3: 1), the US team defeated the Swedish team in overtime (4:3), the Finnish team won a major victory over the Danish team (7:1).

Following the results of the group stage, the national teams of Hungary and Slovenia flew to the second division of the World Cup. The teams of Denmark, France, Austria, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and Norway have completed their participation in the tournament. Eight teams qualified for the playoffs.

At the quarter-final stage, the US team will play with the Czech team, the Swedish team will meet with the Latvian team, the Canadian team – with the Finnish team, the Swiss team – with the German team. The quarter-finals will take place on May 25. The semi-finals are scheduled for May 27, and the match for third place and the final are scheduled for May 28.

The World Championship takes place in Finnish Tampere and Riga. Initially, the tournament was supposed to be held in St. Petersburg, but the board of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) at the end of April 2022 decided to postpone the competition due to the events in Ukraine. The national teams of Russia and Belarus are missing the tournament due to IIHF sanctions.