Latvia advances to compete for the fifth placement
Latvia defeated Slovakia 2-5 in the first match of the day and will compete for the 5th place in the tournament. Slovakia was able to hang on Latvia’s heels for most of the game. They were trying to close in the gap between them in the last period by playing without goalie. Latvia was able to finalize the score to an empty net.
Peteris Trekse team Latvia’s best player in the game was happy of their performance. He has enjoyed playing in WFC, especially because it’s held in Finland.
Slovakia’s Lukas Rezanina was glad to see how many have come to watch the games and is grateful of their support for team Slovakia. Ronald Gasparik was best player from team Slovakia today.
Slovakia – Latvia 2-5 (0-1,1-2,1-2)
Norway defeated Estonia on heated competition
Estonia faced Norway in competing for a chance to play for the fifth place in the tournament. After intense and tight game Norway the game had plenty of close calls and you could sense the tension in the arena and between the teams. The per se underdog Estonia made Norway work for its victory.
Norway was very effective in the first period taking a 0-2 lead in under two minutes. Estonia was able to catch up in but in the second period Norway continued to put hard pressure resulting to copious scoring opportunities. Third period ended in 4-4 situation following Estonia’s flow state. Lastly in overtime Norway was able to take the victory via sudden death.
The game was in total very intense and physical, resulting to multiple opportunities to take the lead for both teams. Norway will move on to face Latvia in the next game.
Estonia – Norway 4-4 (2-2,0-2,4-0,2-0 sd.)
Sweden cruises to finals
Decent start, lacklustre middle, and good finish – that’s what it took from Sweden today to make secure their place in the final.
Even though Sweden was a clear favourite, the first two periods turned out to be fairly even – while Sweden lead 0-2 after the first period (including an own goal by Switzerland), Switzerland came strong to the second and dominated the game, narrowing down Sweden’s lead to one goal.
Perhaps awaken by the second period, Sweden was determined to make sure they won’t be missing the final shifted up the gear a couple of notch. Four goals later, there was no doubt about who was the winner.
Switzerland vs Sweden 1-6 (0-2, 1-0, 0-4)
Host team Finland secures a place in the final with a last minute goal
Host team Finland manages to win the second semi-final game after a rough start against Czechia.
Being down by 2 goals after the first period was likely not the game plan for the reigning world champion, but that is exactly what happened after a shaky start. Czechia came in strong, and utilised their chances, while Finland was trying to get in the game.
Second period saw Finland tying up the score, and eventually taking the lead with 49 seconds left in the third period, thus securing a place in the final against Sweden.