On Thursday, Latvian ice hockey players will play against Sweden in the quarter-finals of the World Junior Championship in Ottawa at 19:00 Latvian time.
“A good team. Like the Swedes – they skate well, keep the puck, masterfully, also play with great dedication. A very good team, all shifts are very good. We must be ready, we must stick to our style. Of course, we want to play a little more aggressively somewhere,” said Zirnis in a conversation with the Latvian Hockey Federation (LHF).
“You can see that this team has its own identity. The team is hardworking, with a good skill level, but you don’t have to fear them. You have to respect, but you have to go and fight,” continued the assistant of the national team’s head coach, Arta Abolas.
The Latvians also met the Swedish juniors in the first quarter-final in their history, losing only 1:2 in the match of the tournament held in the summer of 2022. In the previous championship, the Swedes already had a bigger victory in the subgroup – 6:0.
Latvian juniors started the championships sensationally by defeating Canada for the first time in history (3:2 in a shootout), followed by a loss to the USA (5:1), a victory in extra time over Germany (4:3) and a loss to Finland (0:3). The Swedes were the only ones not to lose a point in the main tournament, beating Slovakia (5:2), Kazakhstan (8:1), Switzerland (7:5) and the Czech Republic (4:2).