Canada beat feisty Latvians to face Sweden
Canada will face Sweden in the semifinal of the Ice Hockey World Championship in Switzerland after defeating a stubborn Latvian team 4-2 on Thursday afternoon.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos and Dan Hamhuis of the Nashville Predators each got a goal and an assist for number-two Canada, setting up the tenth head-to-head against fourth-ranked Sweden.
Latvia, who were still seeking their first win over Canada, put on a brave face for the start of the game. They outshot Canadians 4-0 in the five opening minutes but were unsuccessful on each try.
Canada turned up the pressure, pinning the Latvians back and began peppering goalie Edgars Masalskis with shots but also failed to find the net before the end of the first period.
Ottawa Senators forward Dany Heatley broke the deadlock 6:37 minutes into the second period after receiving a cross-ice pass from Derek Roy.
Latvia pulled one back on a shorthanded breakaway goal, when Herbert Vasiljevs set up Guntis Galvins for a wrist shot over Canadian goalie Chris Mason’s left shoulder.
Canada continued testing the Latvian defence and were successful again at 34:03, on power play.
Latvia narrowed the gap as Vasiljevs scored 1:27 into the third but Canada’s Matthew Lombardi made it 4-2 at 43:07.
“Latvia played an excellent tournament in general and today’s game in particular,” Canadian coach Lindy Ruff said.
Swedes check Czechs
Sweden overcame the Czech Republic 3-1 later in the day thanks in part to two critical power play opportunities and goals from Mattias Weinhandl, Dick Tarnstrom and Kenny Jönsson.
The win for Sweden came despite being outhsot 34-20 by the fifth-ranked Czechs.
Both teams held each other scoreless until the second period, when Weinhandl took advantage of a two-man power play for Sweden at 23:53. Tarnstrom followed up with Sweden again on a power play at 38:49, assisted by Weinhandl.
The Czech Republic’s Petr Cajanek put his team on the scoreboard at 48:48 while his team had two men in the penalty box.
The good fortune did not continue for the Czechs however and Jönsson sealed the game for the Swedes at 57:46.
Sweden will play Canada on Friday at 8:15pm at the PostFinance Arena in Bern.
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