WJC-U20 Division 1A: Latvia unbeaten, Austria surprises, Italy pointless

On the first and second game day, we could already see some indications on how the tournament is going to unfold. Germany, beating Kazakhstan 3-2 and Italy 2-1, and Latvia, with wins over Austria and Kazakhstan, took control of the top positions. Surprisingly Norway can not be mentioned as part of this unbeaten class, after surprisingly losing 4-3 to Austria. Overall, the hosts are the surprise of the tournament after a hard fought loss against Latvia and a regualtion win over the Norwegians.

On Day 3, a special game is awaiting the host team captained by Florian Baltram, as they challenge the German national team. But first, let’s take a look at the other two games played on the third game day at the 2016 IIHF U20 World Championships.

Norway vs. Latvia

The Scandinavians, after an easy 10-1 win in the first game against Italy, may have underestimated Austria, losing the game by the score of 3 to 4. This meant they had to win against Latvia in order to keep their promotion hopes alive. For the Latvians on the other hand it was all about defending their perfect record.

In the first twenty minutes, it all looked like the Norwegians had a chance to get back on the winning  side. Henrik Knold’s power play marker gave Norway the 1-0 lead in a tied match-up.

In the second period, Latvia got stronger, outshooting their opponents 15-8. The Batics also tied the game up in the 31^st minute, as Filips Buncis beat Fredrik Gronstrand on the five-hole. Also in the final twenty minutes of regulation play, the Latvians were the more dangerous team in a rather defensive minded game. Still, the team led by Maple Leaf prospects Martin Dzierkals was not able to put one more behind the goal line in 65 minutes of play.

The game had to be decided in the shootout. There Matiss Kivlenkieks stopped four out of five attempts and Abils decided the game for Latvia.

With this result, Latvia remains in the race for promotion to the world’s Top 10, whereas Norway now seems to be ‘only’ fighting for a medal.

The German national anthem has been played twice already. Here they took a close 2-1 win over Italy.

Kazakhstan vs Italy

Both teams came into the game winless and were desperate for points in their content to avoid relegation. The game started with both teams creating scoring attempts. Italy’s top line created itself a good chance, as Markus Spinell found Kevin Fink in the slot. The Kazakhs responded with Alikhan Asetov and Igor Borovikov, but Italy’s netminder Hannes Treibenreif continued his stellar performance from Monday. In the 10^th minute Asetov was able to beat Treibenref for the Asian’s go-ahead-goal.

In the second period Italy took too many penalties and this resulted in a disaster from the azzurri’s point of view. Markus Spinell, probably Italy’s best forward, was given a questionable major penalty for kneeing and in this five minutes Kazakhstan moved up the goal column with goals scored by Sentyushin and Asetov. The Kazakhs showed no more mercy, as Tolepbergen and Neznamov made it 6-0 after two periods of play.

In the final period Igor Borovikov added one more for the Kazakhs’ first win of the tournament, a clear 7-0 over Italy.

The Italians, who play with the youngest team of the six participating nations, will now hope for a German’ victory in the clash against Austria (start at 20.00 CET).

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