Latvia Pulls off Upset of Canada in 3-2 Shootout Win – The Hockey Writers World Junior Hockey Championship Latest News, Analysis & More

In what many thought would be an easy win for Canada in their second 2025 World Junior Championship game, a resilient Latvian team would not back down from the host country. Sixty-five minutes of play would not be enough, as Latvia pulled off a massive upset, winning the game 3-2 in an eight-round shootout.

Game Recap

Canada came out of the gates quickly, much like they did in their tournament-opening win against Finland. They pushed Latvia early on with a strong forecheck and offensive zone pressure. But the Latvians were up to the challenge and withstood the early push from the heavily favoured Canadian team. Canada’s woes continued on the man advantage, struggling to get anything high-danger on Latvia’s netminder Linards Feldbergs, thanks to strong defensive zone play from the team in front of him. A hard-fought period saw Canada holding the shot lead, 12-9. The most significant and impactful event of the period came from Canadian defenceman Matthew Schaefer leaving the game with an injury after a collision into the post after a strong scoring chance. The first 20 minutes ended in a 0-0 deadlock.

Latvia came out with more energy and got a couple of quality scoring chances from Eriks Mateiko (Washington Capitals) in the first 30 seconds of the second period. While Canada’s power play struggles continued, the penalty kill is what got them on the board finally, with Jett Luchanko (Philadelphia Flyers) scoring on a breakaway, beating Feldbergs on a forehand to backhand move to put Canada up 1-0 early on in the second. The Luchanko goal proved to be the only goal of the period, and Canada began to control more of the game, taking a 33-13 shot lead into the third.

Related: Guide to the 2025 World Junior Championship

A quiet first half of the third, with both teams getting chances, eventually led to Canada allowing Latvia to stick around and gain momentum with two power play opportunities. The second opportunity ended in Latvia scoring thanks to a failed clearing attempt by Cole Beaudoin. A pass from Bruno Osmanis to Mateiko in the slot led to a quick shot that Ivankovic had no chance of saving to tie things up with less than seven minutes left. The tie game would be short-lived, with Canada’s power play picking a great time to get off their 0-for-6 start to the tournament, with Beaudoin making a strong play behind the Latvia net to get a pass to Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs), who then found Calum Ritchie (Colorado Avalanche) for a one-time shot from the top of the circle to once again give Canada a one-goal lead at 2-1. The goal came less than a minute after Mateiko’s goal.

Power play goals continued with Canada taking a late penalty, leading to the second Latvian power play goal after another failed clearing attempt by Canada, this time by Andrew Gibson (Nashville Predators). Traffic in front of Ivankovic restricted him from seeing the puck make its way to Peteris Bulans, who ripped a slap shot from the point to tie the game at 2-2 with just over two minutes left in the third period. The game would go to overtime after Feldbergs and the Latvians withstood a late push from Canada.

In overtime, Canada controlled play for most of the five minutes until they took a too-many-men penalty with just over 40 seconds left. Latvia could not cash in and pushed the game to a shootout. Latvia would pull off one of the biggest upsets in WJC history, with Mateiko being the only goal-scorer of the eight-round battle to give his team a 3-2 win.

In Latvia’s win, Feldbergs made 54 saves between regulation and overtime, and Ivankovic made 24 saves for Canada. Tanner Molendyk won Player of the Game honours for Canada, and Feldbergs won the award for Latvia.

Canada will return to the ice on Sunday (Dec. 29), looking to bounce back against Germany. Latvia has a quick turnaround as they take on the United States tomorrow.

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