Canucks’ Arturs Silovs leads Latvia to second straight win at IIHF World Championship

Arturs Silovs made his name known to Canucks fans this season when he appeared in five games for Vancouver. But for anyone who still doesn’t know who he is, Silovs is putting on a show at the international level with Team Latvia at the IIHF World Championship.

Silovs, who recently turned 22, found himself as the backup for Latvia’s first game of the tournament against Canada, but after the Canadian side scored two goals in the opening five minutes, Silovs was called upon for cleanup duty.

Silovs showed well in that game, and was given the start the very next day against Slovakia. And again, you guessed it, Silovs played well. He’s Latvia’s go-to starter for the rest of this tournament, to put it simply.

On Tuesday, Silovs put on a show and saved the game late for Latvia, giving them the chance to make it to overtime and pick up the win over Czechia for the first time in tournament history. This save in the dying minutes was key to forcing overtime.

And on Wednesday, playing in a back to back situation, Silovs was brilliant once again, making 20 of 21 saves against Norway to give Latvia their second straight win of the tournament. Latvia beat Norway by a final score of 2-1.

Team USA also won their matchup on Wednesday against Austria by a final score of 4-1. Conor Garland, the Canucks’ lone representative on the American squad, went pointless in the game. Team Canada, featuring both Ethan Bear and Tyler Myers on the backend, is facing off against Kazakhstan as well today and looks to remain undefeated at this year’s tournament against one of the weaker teams the tournament has to offer.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on all of the Vancouver Canucks-related happenings at this year’s IIHF World Championship.