Sparked by three first-period goals and sustained by stifling defence, unbeaten Finland hammered Latvia 8-0 on Sunday. It's the fourth straight Finnish World Junior shutout versus Latvia.

Emil Hemming scored twice, with linemate Mattias Vanhanen assisting on both goals. Assistant captain Heikki Ruohonen stepped up with a goal and two assists, and Niklas Nykyri had three helpers.

Finland outshot Latvia 41-7. The record for fewest shots on goal in a World Junior game is six, shared by Belarus (2000), Slovakia (2016), and Austria (2020).

"We started very well. and we got a couple of goals," said Finnish head coach Lauri Mikkola. "Many times, young boys' minds might start traveling! But our guys played the system for the whole game, and we played a pretty solid 60 minutes."

Petteri Rimpinen, named Best Goalie and a tournament all-star in last year's silver medal run, recorded his second career World Junior shutout. For Latvia, the beleaguered Mikus Vecvanags went the distance between the pipes.
 

After opening the tournament with a 6-2 win over Denmark, Finland has six points to top the Group B standings, one point ahead of Canada.

Latvia hoped to keep up its momentum after a gutsy 2-1 overtime loss to Canada, but couldn't shake off Finland's tight checking. Finland has won all nine meetings with Latvia dating back to the 2009 World Juniors in Ottawa.

"We had a tough game last night where we played our hearts out," said Latvian assistant captain Krists Retenais. "Today was a new story. We know Finland is always a tough opponent. They control the puck well, and they protect the puck well. We struggled with that, and they had a lot of possession. Obviously that led to them scoring goals. We could be better with our work ethic and our decisions with the puck."

The top Finnish line was ready to go for this game. Winger Julius Miettinen, a Seattle Kraken prospect, was registered to play after missing the opener and lined up with Hemming and Vanhanen. And at 4:11, Hemming drew first blood on the rush off a nice little dish from Vanhanen.

About getting Miettinen back, Vanhanen said: "It felt pretty good. He's a special player and one of the best in the tournament."

At 14:19, Jasper Kuhta doubled Finland’s lead, capitalizing on a turnover inside the Latvian blue line and working a neat give-and-go with Max Westergard to slip the puck through Vecvanags’ pads in tight.

With 44 seconds left in the opening frame, an onrushing Westergard popped in the loose puck after the Latvian goalie allowed a juicy rebound from Nykyri’s shot.

Vanhanen set up Hemming again, on a 5-on-3, for the fourth Finnish goal at 1:37 of the second period. A dominant puck possession sequence in Latvia's end was capped off by Joona Saarelainen shoveling home a rebound to make it 5-0 at 14:06.

In the third period, Roope Vesterinen scored his team-leading third goal, and Ruohonen and Lasse Boelius added singles to complete the rout.

On Monday, Finland faces Czechia, the 2025 bronze medalists. The Latvians get a day off before playing an important game against Denmark on Tuesday.

"I think the most important thing now is to forget this game and recover," said Retenais. "Do everything we have to do to be ready for Denmark and to beat them."

Latvia’s last goal against Finland was on 9 August 2022 when Klavs Veinbergs scored at 1:28 of the third period in a 6-1 defeat in Edmonton. (Until Sunday's game, that was Latvia's most lopsided loss to Finland.) The Finns then posted 3-0 (2023), 4-0 (2024), and 3-0 (2025) wins over the Latvians.