Less than 24 hours after a heavy 5-1 loss to Canada, Czechia looked to get back to winning ways, facing off against Latvia in both nation's final game of the preliminary round.
Barring an upset win for Latvia, Czechia is locked into third place in Group A, meaning they will face the second place team from Group B in the quarter-final, which will likely be Finland or the United States. As for Latvia, a win in any fashion over Czechia means they will qualifying for the quarter-final.
It didn't take that long for the game's first goal, with Latvia taking a 1-0 lead 4:30 into the opening period. Martins Lavins got the puck in front of the Czechia net and tapped it in through Jan Bednar's five hole to give the Latvians an early lead.
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Nearly eight minutes later, Latvia extended their lead through Rainers Rullers. The 17-year-old, who played last season in Latvia's top division, snuck between the Czechia coverage in front of the net, received a quick pass from Raimonds Vitolins and buried it top corner, far side on Bednar to make it 2-0.
The Czechs continued to pressure the Latvians and ended up with their second powerplay of the game with under five minutes remaining in the period.
Jan Mysak made a solid pass through Latvia's captain to Michal Gut, who was sitting at the backdoor and put it past Bruno Bruveris to cut the lead to one.
The first half of the second period didn't see much action, but just before the ten minute mark, Columbus Blue Jackets prospect
Stanislav Svozil picked up the loose puck, took it too his backhand and roofed it over Bruveris' glove to tie the game at 2-2.
But the game wouldn't stay knotted up for too long as less than two minutes later, Ralfs Bergmanis floated a puck through traffic and it beat Jan Bednar low blocker to restore Latvia's lead, 3-2.
Bergmanis was at it once again later in the second period on the powerplay. The University of Vermont defenceman faked out
Gabriel Szturc at the blue line, giving himself space. Bergmanis skated in to the top of the circle and ripped it short side on Bednar to give Latvia a 4-2 lead.
Latvia held off the Czechs the entire third period, with Ralfs Bergmanis completing the hat-trick with an empty net goal from his own end to give his nation their first-ever win in the preliminary round at the World Juniors.
Latvia not only will qualify for the quarter-finals, they will finish third in Group A ahead of Czechia (4th) and Slovakia (5th). The Latvians will face either Sweden or the United States in the quarter-final on Wednesday.
This is a crazy story. Over eight months ago the tournament was cancelled and Latvia is only here because of Russia is currently banned by the IIHF. This will certainly inspire many young kids in Latvia, many of whom likely stayed up late into the night to witness the historic victory.
Players of the GameCzechia: Jan MysakLatvia: Ralfs Bergmanis
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