Strong Finland pushed Latvia into the abyss

Heikki Ruohonen (back) and Aatos Koivu give Latvian Krists Retenais toughness. AOP / TIIA MAHKONEN

Nuoret Leijonat knocked Latvia off the sled surprisingly easily already in the first set, which ended with Finland leading 3–0. The scorers were Emil Hemming, Jasper Kuhta and Max Westergård.

Latvia entered the Finland match less than a day after playing a tough match against Canada and losing it in overtime.

Nuoret Leijonat did not play on Saturday, so there was a difference in starting points.

– In the tournament, the games are tied, so I don’t know if it was an advantage for either of them, thought the head coach Lauri Mikkola.

Hemming started the second period with a dominant lead to Numeros 4–0, and the game was over.

The rest of Finland’s goals were scored by Joona Saarelainen, Roope Vesterinen, Heikki Ruohonen and Lasse Boelius.

Boelius struck

Ässien Boelius scored the first goal of his career at the under-20 World Cup.

– We played really well today and created scoring chances. And we still put in places. The first goal came at this level and it feels really good.

Finland has now played two games in the tournament and scored 14 goals.

– Well, scoring works, that’s what you can say. But we got an upward game again, we did things better than in the Denmark game. The whole team could be considered successful, Mikkola said.

It will get tougher on Monday

Latvia is playing in the under-20 World Cup tournament for the fifth year in a row. Artis Abols has coached the team for all five years. The team is usually ready for surprises, but against Finland they had an empty tank.

Finland’s tournament rush continues on Monday. Then the dangerous Czech Republic will meet.

The match starts at 22:30 Finnish time.