Latvia defeated Denmark, 6-3, this afternoon for their first win of this year’s World Junior Championship. With the W comes qualification for the quarter-finals on Friday. The loss will keep Denmark in last place in Group B with an 0-4 record. They will now play Germany in the early game on 2 January to determine which team will remain in the top pool for 2027 and which will be relegated to Division I-A.

"In the end, we got it done in the offensive zone, but maybe we made a few mistakes in our own end," offered Krisjanis Sarts of the winners. "We had a lot of possession in their end, and if we didn't have a good shot, we moved the puck around well. In the second, when they had the long change, that made a big difference."

This is the fifth consecutive World Juniors that the Latvians have played in the top division and the fourth time they have qualified for the playoffs. The Danes are back for the first time since 2019 and, incredibly, will be playing Germany for the first time in U20 history. 

Kristers Ansons had a goal and three assists for Latvia while William Bundgaard had a goal and two assists for the Danes, who were outshot 42-12.

"It was a tough game," said Danish captain Anton Linde. "We are both hard-working teams, but they scored on their chances, and we didn't. The first period was really good. It was only 1-0 for them and both teams had chances. But in the second they came with a lot of speed and power and we were standing around a bit. That might have decided the game right there."

Denmark had a great chance to open the scoring. Darels Uljanskis fumbled the puck at his blue line, and Oliver Larsen went in alone on Nils Maurins. Larsen, however, made one too many moves and fell before he could get a good shot away.

The Latvians got the only goal of the period, late, after a great rush by Bruno Osmanis. He made a clever move to get to the net, but Anton Wilde made the save. Jesper Olesen fanned on the clearing attempt, however, and Sarts was right there to knock it in at 16:52. It was his first goal in eight World Junior Championship games over two years.

"I saw there was a battle for the puck at their blue line and then Bruno made a fantastic move," Sarts explained. "I was there and shot it, and it went in. I'm happy. I also got the puck."

Although the Latvians had the edge in play in the first, they came out flying to start the second, determined to gain control of the game. Alberts Smits gave them a 2-0 lead at 3:00 on the power play when his high shot found the twine. 
 

Denmark made it clear they were not about to give up, though, and Larsen brought the Danes to within a goal just after a Latvia penalty expired. Markuss Sieradzkis, however, tipped a Smits point shot on the power-play at 14:54.

The Latvians opened a three-goal lead two minutes later. After some impressive puck movement in the Denmark end, Antons Macijevskis snapped a long shot past Wilde to give the team a solid lead.

But again, the Danes fought back. Bundgaard got the puck in the slot and wired a high shot over Maurins’s shoulder to make it a 4-2 game after 40 minutes.

The Danes ran into penalty trouble in the third and paid the price. Osmanis made it a 5-2 game when he came off the boards into the middle and drilled a low shot that beat Wilde cleanly at 9:52.

Coach Martin Struzinski pulled Wilde with plenty of time remaining, and the Danes got one goal with the extra attacker on a slapshot from captain Anton Linde at 18:43. However, Kristers Ansons scored an empty netter with just 0.3 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.