photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andre Ringuette
The last quarterfinal place in Group A of the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship now belongs to Latvia, thanks to their 5-1 win over Slovakia.
Haralds Egle and Toms Andersons collected two points each, Kristers Gudlevskis made 26 saves for Latvia.
The first period was all Slovakia. In fact, Slovakia outshot Latvia 15-7 in the period. However, Latvia did score a a goal.
“I think they won more battles in the first, but we got better as the game went on. We found a way to turn it around. We started to win the battles, and hockey is a simple game. Win the battles, the systems come later,” Latvia's forward Rodrigo Abols said.
Slovakia had a nice 3-on-2 going up when a Slovak player whiffed on the puck, and Latvia could go on a counterattack. Egle got the puck in the slot and he beat Hlavaj topshelf to give Latvia the lead in the game at 2.44.
Slovakia tied the game on powerplay. Samuel Knazko fired from the point, but Gudlevskis could make the save. Samuel Takac snatched the rebound and, from behind the goal line, sent a quick pass to Sebastian Cederle who was wide open in front of the net and could tap it in at 9.16.
Latvia started the second period with the same tenacity as the first one. Their forecheck glued a Slovak defenseman to the board in the corner, the puck went to Eduards Tralmaks whose elegant no-look pass found Dans Locmelis in the slot, and he made a nice move to get Hlavaj out of position so he could backhand the puck into an empty net just 1.31 into the period, and Latvia had the lead in the game again.
"We had a lot of chances in the first period, but in the second period, all of a sudden, they got the chances, and they scored on them,” Slovakia's Martin Chromiak said.
Four minutes later, there was a faceoff in the Slovak zone. The puck somehow found its way to the slot, where Rihards Bukarts grabbed it, and copied Locmelis’s deke before scoring Latvia’s third goal at 5.52.
Latvia took a stranglehold of the game with five and a half minutes remaining the second period. Egle spun away from a Slovak defenseman on the redline, continued down the wing at full speed, found Martins Lavins in the slot, and without even looking, Lavins passed it to Andersons to his left, and while Hlavaj got a piece of Andersons’s one-timer, even he couldn’t stop it, and Latvia had a 4-1 lead at 14.29.
Slovakia never really got their comeback going. Latvia outshot Slovakia 11-4 in the first ten minutes of the third period and then focused on defending their lead – and they did it well. Slovakia couldn’t get to the most dangerous scoring areas and Latvia could control the flow of the game.
With 3.38 remaining in the game, Abols could seal the final score, 5-1, into an empty net.
“These are fun games to play. Now we get a day off, and we'll just reset. I’m sure the coaches have a plan for us," Abols said.
Latvia’s win also means that Finland clinches a quarterfinal berth.
Haralds Egle and Toms Andersons collected two points each, Kristers Gudlevskis made 26 saves for Latvia.
The first period was all Slovakia. In fact, Slovakia outshot Latvia 15-7 in the period. However, Latvia did score a a goal.
“I think they won more battles in the first, but we got better as the game went on. We found a way to turn it around. We started to win the battles, and hockey is a simple game. Win the battles, the systems come later,” Latvia's forward Rodrigo Abols said.
Slovakia had a nice 3-on-2 going up when a Slovak player whiffed on the puck, and Latvia could go on a counterattack. Egle got the puck in the slot and he beat Hlavaj topshelf to give Latvia the lead in the game at 2.44.
Slovakia tied the game on powerplay. Samuel Knazko fired from the point, but Gudlevskis could make the save. Samuel Takac snatched the rebound and, from behind the goal line, sent a quick pass to Sebastian Cederle who was wide open in front of the net and could tap it in at 9.16.
Latvia started the second period with the same tenacity as the first one. Their forecheck glued a Slovak defenseman to the board in the corner, the puck went to Eduards Tralmaks whose elegant no-look pass found Dans Locmelis in the slot, and he made a nice move to get Hlavaj out of position so he could backhand the puck into an empty net just 1.31 into the period, and Latvia had the lead in the game again.
"We had a lot of chances in the first period, but in the second period, all of a sudden, they got the chances, and they scored on them,” Slovakia's Martin Chromiak said.
Four minutes later, there was a faceoff in the Slovak zone. The puck somehow found its way to the slot, where Rihards Bukarts grabbed it, and copied Locmelis’s deke before scoring Latvia’s third goal at 5.52.
Latvia took a stranglehold of the game with five and a half minutes remaining the second period. Egle spun away from a Slovak defenseman on the redline, continued down the wing at full speed, found Martins Lavins in the slot, and without even looking, Lavins passed it to Andersons to his left, and while Hlavaj got a piece of Andersons’s one-timer, even he couldn’t stop it, and Latvia had a 4-1 lead at 14.29.
Slovakia never really got their comeback going. Latvia outshot Slovakia 11-4 in the first ten minutes of the third period and then focused on defending their lead – and they did it well. Slovakia couldn’t get to the most dangerous scoring areas and Latvia could control the flow of the game.
With 3.38 remaining in the game, Abols could seal the final score, 5-1, into an empty net.
“These are fun games to play. Now we get a day off, and we'll just reset. I’m sure the coaches have a plan for us," Abols said.
Latvia’s win also means that Finland clinches a quarterfinal berth.
Slovakia vs Latvia - 2025 IIHF WM
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