We&#8217;re now less than a week away from the quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championship in Riga, Latvia, and Tampere, Finland.
On Saturday, all four of the Vancouver Canucks players at this year&#8217;s tournament were in action. Let&#8217;s go over how each game went.
<blockquote>Silovs picks up a shutout</blockquote>
Arturs Silovs&#8217; emergence as Latvia&#8217;s starting netminder has been the story of the tournament if you&#8217;re a Canucks fan. He&#8217;s led Latvia to some clutch victories and now has his home country in a prime position to qualify for the quarterfinal, which takes place on Thursday.
On Saturday, Latvia faced off against a very weak Kazakhstan team and took care of business. Lativa won by a final score of 7-0, with Silovs turning aside all 16 shots that he faced.
<blockquote>USA remains undefeated</blockquote>
Conor Garland&#8217;s Team USA squad sits with Switzerland and Sweden as the only undefeated teams at this year&#8217;s tournament. USA and Switzerland haven&#8217;t required overtime for any of their victories, so both sit at 15 points in the standings.
On Saturday, USA beat Denmark by a final score of 3-0 to keep on rolling at this year&#8217;s tournament. Garland went pointless in the game, but this US squad is certainly one to watch as the tournament rolls along. They&#8217;ve been impressive, to say the absolute least.
<blockquote>Canada takes first loss</blockquote>
Team Canada won&#8217;t finish at the top of Group B this year. On Saturday, the Canadian squad lost 3-2 to Switzerland, who as we mentioned, haven&#8217;t yet lost a game.
Two former Canucks in Michael Carcone and Tyler Toffoli scored Canada&#8217;s only goals of the game. Tyler Myers went with a form of defending that Canucks fans have certainly seen before on the game-winning goal:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
🇨🇭🚨 Andres Ambuhl with the rebound! 3-1 for <a href="https://twitter.com/SwissIceHockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SwissIceHockey</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CANSUI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CANSUI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IIHFWorlds?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IIHFWorlds</a> <a href="https://t.co/6fmp71eBOm">pic.twitter.com/6fmp71eBOm</a>
&mdash; IIHF (@IIHFHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/IIHFHockey/status/1659942538185424899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The big story of this game wasn&#8217;t so much Myers being on the ice (literally) for the final goal against. Rather, it was Joe Veleno&#8217;s vicious stomp with his skate blade on Nino Niederreiter&#8217;s leg
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Nino Neiderreiter got a penalty here for roughing, but Joe Veleno got away with that stomp. The Swiss fans were furious. 
You can&#39;t do that. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IIHFWorlds?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IIHFWorlds</a> <a href="https://t.co/g5NYvpNJRE">pic.twitter.com/g5NYvpNJRE</a>
&mdash; Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEllisHockey/status/1659927402103861249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Somehow, Niederreiter was the only player assessed a penalty on this play.
The stomp sparked tons of discourse among hockey fans online. Evander Kane chimed in and said that Veleno&#8217;s stomp is a prime example of why fighting needs to stay in hockey.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
This is why fighting in Hockey is needed, it discourages ideas like this and helps police the game effectively. Disgusting play to watch. Especially after my injury this year. Embarrassing <a href="https://t.co/VwX2yA8C1Q">https://t.co/VwX2yA8C1Q</a>
&mdash; Evander Kane (@evanderkane) <a href="https://twitter.com/evanderkane/status/1659976470255796226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This year&#8217;s tournament has been a fun one to follow and we certainly won&#8217;t be stopping here.

We're now less than a week away from the quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championship in Riga, Latvia, and Tampere, Finland.

On Saturday, all four of the Vancouver Canucks players at this year's tournament were in action. Let's go over how each game went.
<blockquote>Silovs picks up a shutout</blockquote>
Arturs Silovs' emergence as Latvia's starting netminder has been the story of the tournament if you're a Canucks fan. He's led Latvia to some clutch victories and now has his home country in a prime position to qualify for the quarterfinal, which takes place on Thursday.

On Saturday, Latvia faced off against a very weak Kazakhstan team and took care of business. Lativa won by a final score of 7-0, with Silovs turning aside all 16 shots that he faced.
<blockquote>USA remains undefeated</blockquote>
Conor Garland's Team USA squad sits with Switzerland and Sweden as the only undefeated teams at this year's tournament. USA and Switzerland haven't required overtime for any of their victories, so both sit at 15 points in the standings.

On Saturday, USA beat Denmark by a final score of 3-0 to keep on rolling at this year's tournament. Garland went pointless in the game, but this US squad is certainly one to watch as the tournament rolls along. They've been impressive, to say the absolute least.
<blockquote>Canada takes first loss</blockquote>
Team Canada won't finish at the top of Group B this year. On Saturday, the Canadian squad lost 3-2 to Switzerland, who as we mentioned, haven't yet lost a game.

Two former Canucks in Michael Carcone and Tyler Toffoli scored Canada's only goals of the game. Tyler Myers went with a form of defending that Canucks fans have certainly seen before on the game-winning goal:

https://twitter.com/IIHFHockey/status/1659942538185424899

The big story of this game wasn't so much Myers being on the ice (literally) for the final goal against. Rather, it was Joe Veleno's vicious stomp with his skate blade on Nino Niederreiter's leg

https://twitter.com/SEllisHockey/status/1659927402103861249

Somehow, Niederreiter was the only player assessed a penalty on this play.

The stomp sparked tons of discourse among hockey fans online. Evander Kane chimed in and said that Veleno's stomp is a prime example of why fighting needs to stay in hockey.

https://twitter.com/evanderkane/status/1659976470255796226

This year's tournament has been a fun one to follow and we certainly won't be stopping here.

Canucks: Arturs Silovs picks up a shutout, Myers’ Canada squad falls to strong Swiss side at Worlds

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