2021 IIHF World Championship Latvia

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

These games will start on Friday. What are you looking forward to in this tournament?

My country has been the defending champion for 2 years

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Watching Denmark VS Sweden, third period right now. Sweden has a young team and I (my surname Tanska is Finnish for Denmark ) am winning 4 to 2 right now!

Here are the results of yesterday's games:

GROUP A
Russia - Czech Republic 4 - 3
Slovakia - Belarus 5 - 2

GROUP B
Germany - Italy 9 - 4
Latvia - Canada 2 - 0 (yes, the host country won)

Finland will challenge the USA later today, or is it the other way around?

EDIT: Sweden just scored, maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up!??

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

We beat the US. The very first few minutes were frightening control by the Yankees but somehow we managed to struggle. However, Finland slowly caught the plot of the game. Both of our two goals and the one goal scored by Jason Robertson took place during the second period. 3rd period was all about the Finnish defence, and lady luck was also in our side.

Yesterday's results:

GROUP A
Denmark - Sweden 4 - 3
Russia - Great Britain 7 - 1
Switzerland - Czech Republic 5 - 2

GROUP B
Germany - Norway 5 - 1
Finland - USA 2 - 1
Kazakhstan - Latvia 3 - 2 (shoot-out)

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Our team lost to Kazakhstan in another shoot-out. I had a bad feeling about this game. We controlled the puck well in the game itself, but the results weren't good enough. This is already the third surprise in the tournament, the first one was Canada losing to Latvia and the second Sweden losing to Denmark. Plus, Sweden even lost against Belarus yesterday.

GROUP A
Slovakia - Great Britain 2 - 1
Belarus - Sweden 1 - 0
Switzerland - Denmark 1 - 0

GROUP B
Norway - Italy 4 - 1
Kazakhstan - Finland 2 - 1 (shoot-out)
USA - Canada 5 - 1

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Things aren't looking too good for team Canada either.

GROUP A
Slovakia - Russia 3 - 1
Czech Republic - Belarus 3 - 2 (overtime)

GROUP B
Latvia - Italy 3 - 0
Germany - Canada 3 - 1

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Quite a few surprising results. Switzerland is strong this year.

[Knight of Time]

What is going on with Canada's team this year? I'm starting to believe they've got virtually little of a chance of getting a medal in this tournament, considering they'll likely need to win all four of their remaining games (including one against Finland on June 1) and get some major help in the process.

I wish they'd get to at least fourth place; they've got a steep hill to climb to get there.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

We beat the Norwegians. I was worried for a moment because their team scored right on in the beginning. Sweden's team got their first victory and Switzerland lost for the first time in the tournament.

GROUP A
Denmark - Great Britain 3 - 2 (overtime)
Sweden - Switzerland 7 - 0

GROUP B
USA - Kazakhstan 3 - 0
Finland - Norway 5 - 2

EDIT: And KoT, for your sake, I hope your team's performance improves.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Canada succeeded to show their skills in the game against Norway, so that sounds like a relief for you guys. I'm looking forward to Finland v Canada, looks like both teams can still offer a worthy opponent. We'll play against Italy tonight, and that should... at least that should be an easy game.

GROUP A
Russia - Denmark 3 - 0
Great Britain - Belarus 4 - 3

GROUP B
Kazakhstan - Germany 3 - 2
Canada - Norway 4 - 2

[Jay Umbreon]

I'm a big hockey fan and I play a bit of hockey too, my country (Great Britain) hasn't historically been too good but we've done amazing things in the past few years, and to see us beat Belarus the other day was definitely enjoyable. Just the fact we're brushing shoulders with the top teams means a lot

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Despite the occasional goofing among team Switzerland's defense Slovakia still didn't manage to exploit it. It came out the other way around, it almost seemed the Swiss fooled them by pretending dumb. Our team slept through the Italy game so we scored just (?) thrice. The problems of Sweden's team aren't over yet.

GROUP A
Switzerland - Slovakia 8 - 1
Czech Republic - Sweden 4 - 2

GROUP B
USA - Latvia 4 - 2
Finland - Italy 3 - 0

[Drago]

Canada's performance in this tourney has got me like

I'm sure I'm overanalysing this, but I vaguely wonder if the country's dilution into other organised team sports (basketball, soccer, etc.) has weakened their reputation as a hockey player factory.

Again, totally not a realistic thought, but stray moments lead to stray thoughts.

Also, HI JAY!

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

At first I thought I'd be too tired to watch Hockey today so I went to sleep very early but I woke up from my nap and watched Denmark v Belarus. After all, I paid for these channels so I must get value for my money. Anyways, Belarus was winning at one point but Denmark did better in the third period. Meanwhile, in the Norway game, the host country Latvia lost in a shootout. And finally, I opened the result page to see Canada beat Kazakhstan earlier today, so good for you guys there in Canada.

GROUP A
Sweden - Great Britain 4 - 1
Denmark - Belarus 5 - 2

GROUP B
Canada - Kazakhstan 4 - 2
Norway - Latvia 4 - 3 (shootout)

Oh, and maybe it would be time to see the current standings:

GROUP A
1) ROC
2) Switzerland
3) Slovakia
4) Denmark
5) Sweden
6) Czech Republic
7) Great Britain
8) Belarus

GROUP B
1) Finland
2) Germany
3) USA
4) Latvia
5) Kazakhstan
6) Canada
7) Norway
8) Italy

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

As expected, Finland v Germany was an even game. You could say it was also a battle between two Finnish coach teams, for Germany's main coach was a Finn, too, Toni Söderholm. Plus, Germany had the legendary Ville Peltonen in their coach team.

GROUP A
Czech Republic - Great Britain 6 - 1
Russia - Switzerland 4 - 1
Slovakia - Denmark 2 - 0

GROUP B
Kazakhstan - Italy 11 - 3
USA - Norway 2 - 1
Finland - Germany 2 - 1

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

4 seconds left of the overtime, Anton Lundell scored. That game was thrilling. A shoot-out would have been too easy to lose. Sweden won Slovakia, so/but the group's result is still open.

GROUP A
Switzerland - Belarus 6 - 0
Sweden - Slovakia 3 - 1

GROUP B
Canada - Italy 7 - 1
Finland - Latvia 3 - 2 (overtime)

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Still not looking goo for Canada.

[Knight of Time]

Still not looking goo for Canada.

That is true...if Canada loses to Finland in regulation, I'm 100% sure they'll be out of medal contention. But even if they beat Finland, they would need Germany to lose, because I have a funny feeling if Canada and Germany remain tied in points, Germany would have the tiebreaker since they beat Canada earlier in the tournament.

This is truly a painful time for Canada's team; those three losses to start the tournament made Canada's road that much harder.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Yep, tomorrow is going to be a big day. The stakes were also high for Sweden in the game between them and Russia, so especially the 3rd period was intense. Just look at these statistics:

12:34 Slepyshev SCORES!
12:46 Barabanov SCORES!
15:17 Olofsson SOCRES!

The game climaxed in a shootout, as did Denmark v Czech earlier today, and Sweden's tournament is over as a result!

Bättre lycka nästa gång!
Better luck next time!

GROUP A
Czech Republic - Denmark 2 - 1 (shootout)
Russia - Sweden 3 - 2 (shootout)

GROUP B
USA - Germany 2 - 0
Norway - Kazakhstan 3 - 1

[Knight of Time]

Canada is in the quarter-finals! Despite losing in a shootout to Finland earlier today (congrats Mikachu; you hold the bragging rights...for now), I was hoping that the game between Germany and Latvia wouldn't go to overtime, and thankfully, that game finished in regulation with Germany winning, thus, Canada got very lucky to sneak into the quarter-finals (if that game had gone to overtime, Canada wouldn't have made it in).

But now they're gonna face Russia, and I have a very strong feeling Russia will be tough even without Alex Ovechkin. I just hope Canada can knock off Russia so that they have a chance to play for bronze, silver, or gold.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

That's true, Canada v Finland was an even game. It could have gone either way, but Canada's team was playing with a knife at their throat so you did what was needed to get at least one point there. Now we're looking forward to quarter-finals on Thursday, and our team's going to face the Czechs. USA will take on Slovakia and Germany's next opponent is Switzerland. It's somehow sad that the host country Latvia had to leave the tournament, especially because the audience was finally allowed to enter Arena Riga.

GROUP A
Czech Republic - Slovakia 7 - 3
Russia - Belarus 6 - 0

GROUP B
Finland - Canada 3 - 2 (shootout)
Germany - Latvia 2 - 1

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

This hasn't been an ordinary tournament. Switzerland, Slovakia, Russia and Czech Republic are now all out of the medal games. If our team manages to beat Germany again on Saturday, we'll enter the finals on Sunday in order to win the Championship. Depending also on the result of the USA v Canada semifinal, the final game just might be a game for the gold medal between Canada and Finland, like it was in 2019. Just for the record, Sweden and Canada have been the only countries Finland has ever beaten in the finals. Sweden has had to accept the silver against us twice and Canada has lost to Finland in the finals once.

USA - Slovakia 6 - 1
Canada - Russia 2 - 1

Germany - Switzerland 3 - 2
Finland - Czech Republic 1 - 0

[Knight of Time]

Surprise, surprise. Canada is playing for gold! I think they may be this year's Cinderella team.

Mikachu, we'll just have to wait and see if our countries play for gold again. It's gonna be an amazing rematch if they do.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

And we're going to play for gold. I couldn't agree more, given Canada's poor performance in their starting group, it was a surprise, although team USA seemed somewhat tired today. Germany was a fearsome opponent.

Canada - USA 4 - 2
Finland - Germany 2 - 1

[Knight of Time]

Canada has won gold!

Talk about unbelievable...I never would have imagined this would happen, but now that it has, I am so glad they avenged their gold medal loss to Finland two years ago.

Nonetheless, Mikachu you are lucky Finland got silver...better luck next time.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

We lost. I'm out of words, sort of.

USA - Germany 6 - 1
Canada - Finland 3 - 2 (overtime)

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Well done, Canada. A shame for Finland.