The Latvian team is in the semi-finals of the world championship! For the first time in history!

The match was played at the “Arena Riga” and ended with the victory of the Latvian team with a score of 3:1 (1:0, 0:1, 2:0).

After a more or less even start, the Swedes took the initiative, but the goalkeepers – Artur Shilov and Lars Johansson – behaved flawlessly in the goal. Dans Lochmelis opened the score in the 13th minute – Richard Bukarts passed the 19-year-old Latvian striker to the fifth from the goal, where he was the fastest. For Lochmelis, this was the first goal in his first world championship.

Taking the initiative completely in the second period, the Swedes managed to balance the scoreboard in the 10th minute. They won a throw-in from the opposing team’s court, took Timothy Liljegren to a free throw and accurately sent the puck into the upper right corner. A few minutes later the Swedes could have taken the lead, but the Latvian team was saved by the referee’s goal.

In the 17th minute of the second period, after the whistle, Martin Dzierkals hit Hampus Linholm in the face with a massive penalty (5+10) and was sent off until the end of the match. Until the intermission, the Latvian national team managed to stand out in the numerical minority, but in the second period the statistics for shots on goal were striking – 13/1 in favor of the Swedes.

Although the Swedish team continued to control the puck more in the third period, they failed to take advantage of most of their opportunities. Unlike the wards of Hariys Vitolins, who shoots twice into the opposing goal.

In the 6th minute, Latvia defeated Linholm with the goal of Miks Indrasis, who took the puck on the blue line, and shot a filigree shot to the lower left corner of the goal. Окончательный счёт на 14-й минуте was founded by Янис Якас, who realized the numerical majority.

Previously, the Latvian national team has never climbed above the seventh place at the world championships. In ЧМ-2023, the wards of Hariysa Vitolinsha secured for themselves at least 4 rows.

The Canadian team beat Finland 4:1 (1:0, 1:0, 2:1) to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament. The winners were noted by Jack Quinn, Sammy Ble, Michael Carcone and Tyler Toffoli. У Финляндии электронный гол на счету Teеему Хартикайнена.

In the second semi-final, the USA team will face the German team. The match will be played in Tampere on May 27 and will start at 18:20.

The tournament will end with the medal games to be held on Sunday, May 28.

You can follow the development of ЧМ-2023 in the HOCKEY-2023 section on RUS TVNET.

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