It was an exciting day three of tournament action in Riga, Latvia. The athletes at the men’s World Hockey Championships came out to play and gave fans across the world incredible hockey to watch.
The day opened with a Pool A matchup between Great Britain and Slovakia. While Slovakia took the win 2-1, Great Britain did get in on the offence. Former Peterborough Pete, Liam Kirk, scored Great Britain’s lone goal.
The next game of the day was in Pool B. In this one, Norway topped Italy 4-1. Mathias Trettenes of Norway led his team to victory with a hat trick. Tobias Lindstrom had two assists in the win.
Pool A’s second game of the day was a low-scoring game between Sweden and Belarus. The game stayed scoreless until the third period when German Nesterov put Belarus up 1-0. Sweden couldn’t tie things up and Belarus took the win with a single goal.
The second game in Pool B ended in a shootout. The defending champions from Finland and Kazakhstan were tied at one heading into extra time. Neither team scored in overtime and it was Kazakhstan who took the win in a shootout.
The final Pool A game of the day was between Switzerland and Denmark. Timo Meier scored in the first period for the Swiss and 1-0 was how the score stayed for the duration of the game. Denmark had just four shots which set a new single game record for least amount of shots at the IIHF Worlds.
The final game of the day was in Pool B. It was a border battle between Canada and the United States. Canada struggled heavily in their first game against Latvia and they were hoping for a rebound game. The USA opened the scoring in the first period. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper misplayed the puck behind the net and Dallas Star, Jason Robertson, stole the puck and capitalized. They went to the dressing rooms with the USA leading 1-0. Just over a minute into the second period, Adam Clendening gets the puck through traffic in front of Kuemper and puts the USA up 2-0. Just minutes later, Trevor Moore extends the USA’s lead again. Moore grabs his second of the game with less than two minutes to go in the middle frame. Canada trailed 4-0 after 40 minutes of play. Canada got on the board late in the game with a goal from Maxime Comtois but the USA responded and Matt Tennyson made it a 5-1 final.
Monday has four games on the schedule. In Pool A, Slovakia and Russia will battle it out followed by a game between the Czech Republic and Belarus. In Pool B, Latvia and Italy will open the day and Canada will look for a win against Germany.
Be sure to come back to Unbenched following each day of the IIHF Men’s World Championship to read the Riga Recaps and get all the details about the action in Latvia.
Unbenched Sports 