It would have been a crime if Arturs Silovs and Team Latvia went home from this year’s World Championship empty-handed, really.

We’ve written extensively already about how dominant Silovs has been at this tournament, and how he was the number one reason Latvia advanced past the preliminary stage.

Playing with a raucous Riga crowd behind them more often than not, Latvia has upset a number of teams already in this tournament, including but not limited to first-seeded Switzerland followed by Sweden in the quarterfinal round. And after just barely falling to Canada after they led 2-1 after two periods on Saturday, Latvia faced Conor Garland’s Team USA in the bronze medal game on Sunday.

Sunday’s affair was an absolutely thrilling comeback victory for Latvia. The two sides found themselves tied at two apiece after the game’s opening 20 minutes, and this score did not change until six minutes into the third when Matt Coronato beat Silovs:

Latvia managed to tie things up when Kristians Rubins managed to beat Casey DeSmith with not much time remaining in this one:

Latvia then got a goal from that same Kristians Rubins less than two minutes into overtime to complete the upset and win their first ever medal at the IIHF World Championship. The celebration was electric, and it became even more evident how much this tournament means to these players. 4-3 Latvia final!

Silovs made some key saves throughout the entire tournament, and if we had to hand out an MVP award for each team, Latvia would almost certainly be giving theirs to Silovs. USA was a tough opponent, going unbeaten in the preliminary round and beating teams like Sweden and Finland in Group A, but Silovs and Latvia rose to the challenge.

The 22-year-old Canucks prospect made 26 saves on 29 shots vs. USA, and finishes his tournament with a 7-2 record while authoring a 2.20 GAA, a .921 save percentage, a shutout, and of course, a bronze medal.