Latvia Makes History, Still Lose 10-2 to Canada

Latvia made history by scoring their first two goals against Canada in U20 action, but Canada would still dominate for the entirety of the game to win 10-2 on Thursday.

The first ten minutes of play were Canada’s worst of the entire period, surrendering nine shots to Latvia while only taking four. Canada took a couple of bad penalties, including one by Thomas Chabot that would give Latvia a 4-on-3 advantage early in the game.

Canada, however, still managed to score first in the contest. At 10:38, Phillip Myers sent Matt Barzal down the ice, streaking in all alone. Barzal doesn’t miss many scoring chances, and made a nice backhand move to take the 1-0 lead.

Then, just over a minute later, Myers would help Canada get on the board again. This time, he set up Nicholas Roy, who scored on a point shot on the power play to put Canada up by two.

Canada would score an extra goal with 19.5 left in the first. On the power play, Taylor Raddysh finished off a play created by Chabot in an open lane by firing it top corner and giving Canada the 3-0 lead to end the first period.

Raddysh would find another goal with a Latvian in the penalty box, this time coming in the second period. At 9:11, Dylan Strome was stopped by a Latvian defender near the side of the net, with the puck getting kicked out back to Raddysh. The Erie Otters star had no issue with the shot, beating Mareks Mitens for the 4-0 goal.

A few minutes after allowing the fourth goal, Mitens was pulled to make sure he can rest before starting against Slovakia on Friday. In came Gustavs Grigals, who allowed six goals against Russia earlier in the week. With 7:47 left in the second, Raddysh was able to score his third goal of the game on just the first shot against, a similar result that happened after Grigals was pulled against the Russians.

On the very next shot, Barzal made it 6-0 with his second goal of the game. It was not a good shot, but it was enough to beat Grigals’ left pad. Then, two shots later, Anthony Cirelli made it 7-0 for Canada, which brought a curious case of voodoo for the Latvians. The goalie who replaced Grigals against Russia, Denijs Romanovskis, allowed three goals on his four shots against before eventually getting replaced.

For the fourth time in just 2:43, Canada found the back of the net. This time, Michael McLeod, who was promoted to the top line for the game, scored his second of the tournament on the rebound to make it 8-0.

For the first time in World Junior competition, Latvia found a way to score against Canada. While playing shorthanded, Oshawa Generals forward Renars Krastenbergs broke in and fired a wrist shot past an unsuspecting Carter Hart, whose shutout ended to give Latvia a seven-goal deficit to overcome.

Of course, it wouldn’t matter much. At 2:07 in the third, Raddysh would pot his fourth goal and fifth point of the game. Noah Juulsen did all the hard work, firing it towards the net, but Raddysh tipped the puck out of the air and beat Grigals to make it 9-1 Canada.

Shaken, but not totally stirred, the Latvians would score again on one of the best goals of the tournament. Martins Dzierkals would get Latvia’s second ever goal against Canada after fighting off his Rouyn-Noranda teammate, Phillippe Myers, on a breakaway before scooping around Hart and sending it in for the 9-2 goal. Canada would get another goal from Julien Gauthier on an easy effort in front of the net to give them ten goals, finishing off the 10-2 victory for Canada.

Canada will look to keep their perfect record intact when they meet up with USA for their final round robin game at 3:30 PM. Latvia, however, will battle for their lives in a 7:30 PM matchup against Slovakia in the only game on Friday, with the winner avoiding relegation.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Photo from Anders Marshall/EuroHockey.com 

Tweets by @eurohockey