Latvia beats Austria in opening world junior relegation battle

Latvia has won its first game of the 2023 World Junior Championship, beating Austria 5-2 in the relegation round’s opening fight in Halifax.

The Latvians can clinch a spot in the 2024 tournament with a win on Wednesday in the second game. A third battle, if needed, will take place before the bronze medal game on Thursday.

Austria took the lead twice in the first period – the only time they’ve done that. At 5:20, Luca Auer scored on a quick wrister that went under the bar and in. Ian Scherzer, the team’s first goal scorer against Germany last week, worked to get past a Latvian defender to help set the goal up.

Latvia would answer back on the power play. At 17:53, Dans Locmelis’ shot cleanly beat Thomas Pfarrmaier, tying it up and capitalizing after the Latvians had control of the shot count. The tie score didn’t last for long, though, as Montreal Canadiens prospect Vinzenz Rohrer took Scherzer’s feed and beat Berzins down under his pad, making it 2-1 Austria heading into the first break.

The Latvians once again took control in the second period, shot-wise, and it eventually led to the 2-2 goal. Anri Ravinskis took Bogdans Hodass’ pass and skated around the Austrian net, fending off a couple physical challenges. He tried to tuck it past Pfarrmaier, but was stopped. Emils Veckaktins eventually swooped in and scored on the rebound to make it 2-2 with three minutes to go in the second.

Austria had a disastrous start to the second, getting outshot 13-0 in the first half of the frame. At 48:50, Veckaktins took advantage of Austria’s inability to get out of their zone and scored on a Rihards Simanovics rebound, handing the lead to Latvia for the first time. A goal by Sandis Vilmanis at 51:22 put any chances of an Austrian comeback to bed, making it 4-2 Latvia.

It took about 17 minutes for Austria to generate its first shot, and by that point, the game was all but over. They didn’t register another shot with the empty net, and Hodass shot the puck into an empty cage with 1:06 left to make it 5-2.

Latvia outshot Austria 46-13 in the game, and 22-1 in the third period.

Three Stars

1. Emils Veckaktins, F (Latvia, 2023): It took a while for Veckaktins to score his first of the tournament, but he was one of the biggest reasons why Latvia is in a spot to clinch a spot for 2024.
2. Ian Scherzer, F (Austria, 2023): He scored the first goal of the tournament for Austria and he kept the momentum flowing on Monday. Scherzer will be extremely important for the rest of this round.
3. Gustavs Ozolins, D (Latvia, 2023): Ozolins helped set the first goal up and had a couple of excellent shutdown opportunities in his own zone. Perhaps the best game of the tournament for him.