A year after Latvia beat Canada in the preliminary round of the 2025 World Juniors, the teams met up once again at the 2026 event.
Latvia took confidence from that result into today’s game, and burst out of the gate with much more energy than the Canadians, getting the first few shots on net. They used that momentum to draw the game’s first power play as well when Jett Luchanko went off for holding. Latvia didn’t score on the power play, but with five minutes played, they held a 5-1 shot advantage over what on paper, was a much stronger Canadian squad.
As Canada started to get more offensive-zone time, it was faced with a wall of Latvian defenders getting in the way of most of their shots, not allowing the puck near goaltender Nils Maurins. As the game paused for a commercial break at 11 minutes, Canada had just three shots on net.
Latvia’s superior team play saw them put the puck in the net first. Unfortunately for them, Markuss Sieradskis had kicked it in as he tried to transfer it from his feet to his stick, and goal was disallowed.
With four minutes to play, Daniels Serkins went to the penalty box for holding, and that opened up a bit of space for Canada for the first time in the opening period. They were able to even up the shots during the two-minute man advantage, but Maurins turned aside everything he faced.
The period ended with no goals on the board; a big boost for Latvia which was already confident going into the match, and a message to Canada that it was in for a difficult afternoon.
Early in this second period, a hit by Martins Klaucans on Zayne Parekh was called as a major penalty for a hit to the head, and then reviewed by the officials. The call was upheld, giving Canada five minutes of power-play time.
It took Canada 39 seconds to open the scoring on the man advantage. Cole Reschny worked into the slot fired the puck past a defender and into the net for his first goal of the tournament.
COLE RESCHNY PUTS CANADA ON THE BOARD WITH THE POWER PLAY GOAL! 🔥 #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/yUwvReEqAt
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 27, 2025
Latvia was able to kill off the remainder of the penalty with just a total of three shots in the five minutes. While they had allowed Canada to take the lead, escaping with just a one-goal deficit was about as good as they could have hoped for.
Michael Hage was able to work his way around a couple of defenders in one of the few five-on-five chances Canada had in the opening half of the game. He ended up with two from close-range attempts that Maurins had to be sharp on.
Latvia got a chance to play on a long power play as well when Kristians Utnans got past Ben Danford on the boards, leading Danford to swing his stick wildly behind him across the nose of Utnans, meriting a four-minute call. Latvia had a lot of zone time and several shots, but not the dangerous setups to really test the Canadian defence or Jack Ivankovic in net.
The horn sounded with Latvia having much of the control of the puck in the middle frame, but just not the finishing skill needed to take advantage and tie the game. Still, being one shot away from tying the game was a great position for them to be in heading into the final period.
Latvia had its chance just as the third period began to tie the game. Dmitrijs Dilevka gained body position on his man and got in close for a shot, but the puck glanced off the shaft of Ivankovic’s stick and deflected to the corner.
There weren’t many chances for Lavia in the opening half of the period, however. Canada was defending its lead by keeping the pressure on in the offensive zone.
Canada create several great chances with their two best players on the ice at the same time late in the period. Hage and Parekh had the puck zipping around the offensive zone, leading to a shot off the post by Brady Martin and then a second chance for Martin moments later. The sequence ended with a shot by Parekh that went off the mask of Maurins.
With just a couple of minutes remaining in regulation, Latvia was able to behind Canada’s defence with the puck in the Canadian zone. It came across the top of the crease to Rudolfs Berzkalns, who kicks it off his stick blade and into the net to tie the game late, just as Latvia had done in last year’s tournament.
DEJA VU FOR CANADA! 😬 Rudolfs Berzkalns levels the score for Latvia! It's 1-1 with under two minutes left in the final frame! 🇱🇻 #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/AXi5TSCDY0
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 28, 2025
Latvia threatened to spoil its own work with a last-minute delay of game penalty for shooting the puck out of play from the defensive zone. In the dying seconds, Antons Macijevskis blocked two point shots from Zayne Parekh, draining the clock and earning his team an important point by getting the game to overtime.
With power-play time remaining, Canada took advantage of the situation to pot the winner. Hage attempted a pass the first time he received the puck at the left faceoff dot, but received another opportunity on a pass from Gavin McKenna, and fired the puck into the net for the win.
MICHAEL HAGE IS THE OVERTIME HERO FOR CANADA! WHAT A GOAL! 🤯 #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/hEknZN1q92
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 28, 2025
Canada moved to five points in the tournament, adding the overtime win to their regulation victory a night earlier. Latvia took a precious point from its tournament opener as it faces a tough Team Finland on Sunday afternoon.
