Latvia secured their first victory of the 2024 World Junior Championship with a 6-2 win over Germany. That presents a few scenarios for the relegation game on Thursday, Jan. 4. Latvia needed to beat Germany by at least three goals to obtain a goal-differential advantage and they did just that in their final preliminary game.
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Now, if Latvia wants to avoid heading to the relegation game against Norway, they need Germany to not grab any points against Canada on Sunday. That would mean Latvia and Germany would both have three points after Germany’s upset win over Finland, and Latvia would have the tiebreaker.
Regardless, Germany needs a point against Canada to spoil Latvia’s quarterfinal hopes. If Germany manages to push Canada to overtime or a shootout, they’ll join Finland as the last two teams to qualify in the quarterfinals from Group A.
No Goals To Scoring Six Goals
Latvia hadn’t scored once in the tournament, but they changed that with a six-goal onslaught against Germany. Eriks Mateiko scored 2:46 into the first period to secure Latvia’s first goal of the tournament. Rodzers Bukarts scored on the power play not too long after that to give his team a 2-0 lead. Peteris Bulans scored the third goal for Latvia and the final goal of the first period. Latvia was shut out in three games before playing Germany, and Germany was the heavy favorites heading into this game. German goaltender Phillipp Dietl was unable to find his game, giving Latvia an edge early on.
The second period began more in Germany’s favor. They had four high-danger scoring chances which led to Samuel Schindler scoring his first goal of the tournament. With Germany cutting Latvia’s lead to just two goals, things seemed to be going their way. Rainers Darzins was quick to restore Latvia’s three-goal lead after a nice pass from Dans Locmelis. Latvia had found their scoring ways again and Germany was starting to struggle defensively.
The biggest moment for Latvia came near the end of the second period with a 5-on-3 opportunity. Niklas Hubner was given a minor penalty for roughing, and Jakob Weber was penalized for tripping. Right as Germany killed his penalty to make it 5-on-4, Sandis Vilmanis scored to make it 5-1 for Latvia. While they would’ve hoped to score before Hubner’s penalty expired, a power-play goal regardless helped lock in Latvia’s win.
Related: 2024 Guide to the World Junior Championship
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Early in the third period, Vilmanis scored his second of the game to put Latvia up 6-1. Germany answered back later in the third after a turnover led to a 3-on-0 opportunity. Norwin Panocha whiffed on the 3-on-0, but teammate Kevin Bicker recovered the puck and Julius Sumpf got a nice shot off which gave Panocha a rebound goal. The game seemed to be going in Germany’s favor again, as they recorded five more high-danger scoring chances in the third period. Latvian goaltender Deivs Rolovs stopped everything after Panocha’s goal and secured Latvia’s 6-2 win.
Rolovs Played A Big Part In Latvia’s Win
Latvia outshot Germany 28-23 in the game, but Germany had 11 high-danger scoring chances to Latvia’s eight. Germany’s inability to capitalize on their high-danger chances came at the worst time. They ran into a red-hot goaltender in Rolovs and changing strategies wasn’t working either. He was completely dialed in and this gave Latvia the confidence they needed after some rough losses before this game. Losing 10-0 to Canada, 6-0 to Sweden, and 4-0 to Finland wasn’t a great look, but Latvia has remarkably found a way to still be in the quarterfinal round.
Latvia played great defense in front of their goaltender which helped them win this game. The story was Rolovs’ strong play throughout the entire game. He stopped 21 of 23 shots he faced which gave him a .910 save percentage (SV%) for the game. A handful of blocked shots from Bulans and Locmelis kept Germany off the scoreboard.
Who Plays in the Relegation Game and Who Goes To The Quarterfinals?
Latvia will look to recreate the success of the 2023 Men’s World Championship team which won a bronze medal after a quarterfinal victory. To do that, they must expect another effort like this. Latvia doesn’t have a long history of success at the tournament; their best result was their seventh-place finish in the 2022 WJC.
Germany faces an even tougher opponent for their final preliminary game as they face off against Team Canada. They need to take the game to overtime to be the last team in from Group A for the 2024 WJC quarterfinals.
The quarterfinal games are set to take place on Tuesday, Jan. 2. Meanwhile, the relegation game will take place on the same day as the semifinal games on Thursday, Jan 4.