In the end, Canada did not let Latvia surprise them, but advanced to the World Cup final in Tampere.
Latvia, which played a great World Cup, was close to a big surprise, but Canada struggled twice to equalize and finally to a 4–2 victory.
He scored the decisive 3–2 goal with a dazzling individual performance Adam Fantilli with his first hit of the tournament. Canada scored the last one into an empty net.
Latvia was in the lead for a long time in the match, but Canada managed to equalize with a special goal in the final set. Jack Quinn’s the throw from the minus corner bounced through the Latvian keeper and into the net.
– This is fucked up. I think we played a pretty good game. In the third period they scored a lucky goal from behind the goal and after that we couldn’t catch our game anymore, Latvia Rudolfs Balcers regretted.
However, the semi-final spot was already the first for Latvia at the World Cup level. Thus, the country has a chance to achieve its first medal in history on Sunday.
Latvia’s World Cup group has Finnish colors this year, because the defending legend Petteri Nummelin serves as the team’s assistant coach.
Crazy atmosphere
The dramatic match was full of situations and emotions. The atmosphere created by the thousands of Latvians who came to the place was also transmitted to the field, as emotions heated up several times during the fight.
– Their support is wonderful. Throughout the tournament it has been incredible. The emotions and how the audience has pushed us forward, Balcers said.
– They came here from Latvia and spent a lot of money to support us. It’s fucked up that we couldn’t give them finals. We will try to do everything to win tomorrow, Balcers continued.
The cheerful Latvian audience got to stretch their vocal chords for the first time already at 8.18, when Dans Locmelis hit the loose puck into the net.
Before the hit, the beginning of the match had been strongly controlled by Canada, but they played a top match Arturs Silovs was sure of his goal. The Latvian keeper got in the way of the puck a total of 36 times in the game.
In the second set, both took a lot of ice, and there wasn’t a lot of five-on-five play on the field. At the beginning of the set, Latvia had a chance even with 5 against 3, but the superiority was too passive.
It was Latvia’s turn to backfire around halfway, but Adam Fantilli hit the post. The post was Canada’s second of the game. In the opening set, he hit the post Tyler Toffoli.
Latvia responded quickly
Moments later, Latvia was even offered another five-on-three situation, but it dried up Richards Bukarts for two minutes from a wing tackle.
Canadian Star MacKenzie Weegar fell face first on the side and remained lying on the ice for a long time. The judges reviewed the situation on video, but the sentence was not toughened.
At the end of the set, Canada also broke the copper, when they succeeded against Finland Samuel Blais pushed the puck into the top corner.
After a minute, Canada couldn’t celebrate the equalizer when Latvia was in the lead again. Weegar was the one who answered the hit Rudolfs Balcerswho was surprised by the shot of Samuel Montembeault armpit.
Lucky equalizer
Right at the start of the third period, Canada got level with a special and lucky goal, when Jack Quinn raced the puck over the goal line through the helmet of Latvian goalkeeper Silovs from the minus corner.
The game turned even more in Canada’s favor and Fantilli led his team to the lead. Eventually Oskars Batnan the ice he got from his tackle stifled Latvia’s dreams of the first World Cup final in history.
The second semi-final of the World Cup between the USA and Germany will be played from 18:20.