The stage is set for a winner-take-first matchup between host Finland and the United States at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship.
A few hours after Finland defeated Slovakia 4-0 to move to 3-0, the United States beat Latvia 7-1 to also go to 3-0, meaning Team USA and Finland are tied atop the Group A standings. The teams meet on the final day of preliminary-round action on Tuesday at Metro Arena in Espoo.
Twenty-six seconds in, shifty American defender Cole Hutson made a slick move around a Latvian checker and then snapped a low shot past goaltender Mikus Vecvanags. Trevor Connelly’s scored on a hard wrist shot from the slot at 5:34 that made it 2-0 USA and, at 16:59, Connelly and Huston each picked up their second points when they assisted on Teddy Stiga’s powerplay goal.
"I think we’ve established our identity really well through three games," said Nick Fohr, head coach of Team USA. "We've done a great job of playing with energy and trying to play a fast style of hockey. We’re happy with where we’re at and excited for the next challenge in a tough Finnish team.”
Although Team USA jumped out to the early lead, American goaltender Nicholas Kempf was tested with several Grade A chances. He made saves on back-to-back Latvian breakaways, first on Maksims Haritoncevs and then on Karlis Flugins. Later in the frame, Kempf – the best American player in the period by a country mile – stopped a fantastic baseball-type swing and hit by Latvia’s Aleksandrs Zaprivoda.
The Latvians certainly weren’t playing scared or intimidated by the favoured Americans and held a 9-4 shot advantage midway through the first and 15-10 at the end of the period.
Alas, it’s goals that count and not shots on goal but the Latvians did play quite well in the early going.
Connelly got his third point of the game when he set up L.J. Mooney on the fourth American goal. Cole Eiserman made it 5-0 wiht just under five minutes left in the second. Latvia got on the board with 1:07 left as Daniels Serkins was able to slap a bouncing puck past Kempf and the Americans led 5-1 after 40.
James Hagens and Connelly, with his second of the game, closed out the scoring in the third.
Latvia’s loss dropped it to 1-2 but the team remains in third place in Group A. Latvia concludes its preliminary round on Monday against Norway (0-2) and a Latvian win on Monday would clinch a berth in the quarterfinals. There is an outside chance of a three-way between Latvia, Norway and Slovakia (0-3). The Norwegians and Slovaks meet on Tuesday.