Hosts - Latvia finish 10th in the World Championships following a loss against Slovakia who earned 9th place 6-5, (0-1, 2-2, 3-2, 1-0).

Latvians came prepared to battle for the 9th place which was the best they could do and they came to make it count in front of their home crowd. The Latvians and Slovaks weren´t too shy to start off with a physical game although not generating a whole lot scoring wise, but there were a couple of chances on both ends of the field. 14:53 into the game, Klegers scored a goal for the Latvians on a breakaway. The hosts were up by a goal after twenty minutes of play.

Team Latvia were ready for the 2nd period but almost fell short three minutes into it. A Slovakian forward had his own breakaway but Latvian goalie Salcevics was there to make the save. Host side earned a power-play with 4:15 in the 2nd period,  which they took advantage of just 2 seconds into it. Under a minute later, Slovakia finally struck back to come closer by a single goal. That seemed to give the Latvian team a boost as they went on to dominate the period in early showing but still couldn´t squeeze a goal out of it. Slovakia had two high quality scoring chances but the Latvian defenders were in their place to keep it safe. Slovakia tied the game up with 1:43 left to play in the second period. Latvia decided that they won´t let it go, sending the ball into their opponent´s net and getting back up by one.

3rd period began with ´´Slovakia´´ written all over it, but the Latvians were the team that got the goal. The Slovakian goalie was caught out of position and the Latvian team got the ball in from behind the net. Latvia couldn´t celebrate for much longer as the Slovaks cut their deficit back to one goal. Goal outburst carried on as the host country scored again extending their lead back to two after an incredible cross-crease goal. Latvians kept going strong in the ball control department but the Slovaks struck again and minutes later it was all tied. 18:09 played in the 3rd periods and the Latvians appeared to have scored a goal to put them back up but the referees waved it off. Three periods decided nothing - OT was coming up.

The Slovaks started the OT with pressure trying to seal the deal early and Latvia had to relay on counter strikes. The Slovakian strategy worked better as they came out as the winners.

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