Norway: Siltanews – News Desk
The Latvian national hockey team lost 1:2 in overtime April 3 to Norway in their final warm-up match before the world championship on Saturday.
The Norwegians thus avenged their defeat by the same score line 24 hours earlier.
The Latvian team will now return home briefly before heading to Stockholm, where they will compete in the world championships next weekend.
Kristaps Skrastins scored Latvia’s first goal in the first period, but the home team equalized 32 seconds before the end of regulation, playing without a goalkeeper. In overtime, Jakobs Berglunds secured the victory for the Norwegians, who scored their second goal of the game.
Latvian national team head Coach Harijs Vītoliņš plans to name the players who will travel to the World Championship on Tuesday, May 6.
In preparation for the world championship, Latvian hockey players defeated Austria in the first two matches away, but later in Riga, playing two matches each against Finland and Switzerland, they both won and lost against each opponent.
In the first game of the World Championship, the Latvian national team will meet France on May 10. The opponents in the group will also be Canada (May 11), Slovenia (May 13), Sweden (May 14), Finland (May 17), Slovakia (May 18) and Austria (May 20). The four strongest teams in the group will advance to the quarterfinals and continue the fight for medals.
All World Championship matches will be broadcast live on LSM.lv and replay.lv.