Canada vs Latvia. Who will be the first finalist of the World Championship?
Finnish Tampere will be the venue for the first semi-final of the 2023 Ice Hockey World Championship. Ice hockey players from the Canadian and Latvian national teams will take to the ice of the Tampere Dec arena. The meeting will take place on May 27.
Canadians continue to be the most titled hockey power on the planet, having collected 52 sets of medals in the history of the world championships, including 27 gold ones. The prospect of becoming champions 28 times before the start of this tournament was somewhat vague, experts ranked the Canadians among the favorites of the championship rather according to the established tradition. This is due to the composition of the team that the Maple Leaves brought to Europe. Without any stars, with a clear bias towards power hockey, the Canadians risked finishing the championship early enough.
The group stage games to some extent confirmed these fears. Despite the final second place in Group B, the Canadians did not impress with their game, having managed to lose not only to the rather powerful Swiss team, but also to the eternal outsiders from Norway. In the quarter-finals, the Canadians got to the host of the tournament - the Finnish team, where the Finns were the clear favorite. Nevertheless, the Canadians had an almost perfect fight, having managed to take a full-fledged revenge for last year's defeat in the World Championship final. A convincing 4-1 victory with Toffoli's puck into an empty net takes the Canadians to the semi-finals of the championship.
Latvia
If for Canadians getting into the semi-finals is quite a common thing, then the Latvians are already making history, for the first time since the team participated in the world championships, having managed to qualify for the top four. A year ago, the Latvians were left out of the playoffs, finishing the group stage in fifth place. There were no special prerequisites for a qualitative leap upwards, the composition remained practically the same, the leaders of the national team became one more year older.
Nevertheless, it was the veterans of the team that pulled the Latvian national team into the playoffs. Brothers Bukartsy, Daugavins, Indrashis and the only representative of the NHL Rudolfs Balcers lead the Latvian national team to the first World Championship medals in its history. The key for the Latvians was the victory on the final game day of the group stage over the Swiss. In case of defeat, the Latvians remained fifth, but having beaten the unmotivated Swiss, the wards of Harijs Vitolins went to the quarterfinals, where they created the main sensation of the championship so far. The Swedes dominated the whole match, almost three times surpassed the Latvians in shots on target, but in the end they lost sensationally 1-3. At the Latvian team, Lochmelis, Indrashis and Jaks scored goals.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Canada vs Latvia
CanadaCanadians continue to be the most titled hockey power on the planet, having collected 52 sets of medals in the history of the world championships, including 27 gold ones. The prospect of becoming champions 28 times before the start of this tournament was somewhat vague, experts ranked the Canadians among the favorites of the championship rather according to the established tradition. This is due to the composition of the team that the Maple Leaves brought to Europe. Without any stars, with a clear bias towards power hockey, the Canadians risked finishing the championship early enough.
The group stage games to some extent confirmed these fears. Despite the final second place in Group B, the Canadians did not impress with their game, having managed to lose not only to the rather powerful Swiss team, but also to the eternal outsiders from Norway. In the quarter-finals, the Canadians got to the host of the tournament - the Finnish team, where the Finns were the clear favorite. Nevertheless, the Canadians had an almost perfect fight, having managed to take a full-fledged revenge for last year's defeat in the World Championship final. A convincing 4-1 victory with Toffoli's puck into an empty net takes the Canadians to the semi-finals of the championship.
Latvia
If for Canadians getting into the semi-finals is quite a common thing, then the Latvians are already making history, for the first time since the team participated in the world championships, having managed to qualify for the top four. A year ago, the Latvians were left out of the playoffs, finishing the group stage in fifth place. There were no special prerequisites for a qualitative leap upwards, the composition remained practically the same, the leaders of the national team became one more year older.
Nevertheless, it was the veterans of the team that pulled the Latvian national team into the playoffs. Brothers Bukartsy, Daugavins, Indrashis and the only representative of the NHL Rudolfs Balcers lead the Latvian national team to the first World Championship medals in its history. The key for the Latvians was the victory on the final game day of the group stage over the Swiss. In case of defeat, the Latvians remained fifth, but having beaten the unmotivated Swiss, the wards of Harijs Vitolins went to the quarterfinals, where they created the main sensation of the championship so far. The Swedes dominated the whole match, almost three times surpassed the Latvians in shots on target, but in the end they lost sensationally 1-3. At the Latvian team, Lochmelis, Indrashis and Jaks scored goals.
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