The Latvians Earn Their Second Victory At The World Championships

The World Championships are in full swing. The Latvian National team earned their second victory at the tournament with a 3:0 win over Italy.

The hosts dominated for the entirety of the game, however, the puck had a mind of its own and didn’t want to enter the Italian net.

In the first period, many of the Latvian chances went unused. First, Ronalds Kenins had a chance in front of the net, then later Rodrigo Abols and Andris Dzerins went on solo runs but the puck never crossed the goal line. Arturs Kulda managed to put the puck past Justin Facio, but the goal was waved off due to goalie interference.

In the second period, the story of the game didn’t change at all. Huge pressure by the Latvian squad. A wasted opportunity on the powerplay when the puck hit cross-bar and the post in a short period of time. Later on, Krastenbergs managed to disarm one of his opponents, Martins Karsums got the puck and with a second-chance effort put the puck in the net for the first time in the game giving his team a 1:0 lead.

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Italy tried to push a little in the final frame but their tries were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Latvians got two more – although empty-net goals by Lauris Darzins and Martins Karsums, the victory was earned in a convincing fashion.

It’s worth mentioning that Latvia had two goals disallowed by the refs and Italy had one taken away due to an incredibly well-timed coaches challenge by Bob Hartley who’s video assistant instantly alerted the head coach of the Team Latvia to call an off-side challenge.