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.
Silovs picks up a shutout
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.
USA remains undefeated
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.
Canada takes first loss
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:
🇨🇭🚨 Andres Ambuhl with the rebound! 3-1 for @SwissIceHockey. #CANSUI #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/6fmp71eBOm
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 20, 2023
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
Nino Neiderreiter got a penalty here for roughing, but Joe Veleno got away with that stomp. The Swiss fans were furious.
You can't do that. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/g5NYvpNJRE
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) May 20, 2023
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.
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 https://t.co/VwX2yA8C1Q
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane) May 20, 2023
This year’s tournament has been a fun one to follow and we certainly won’t be stopping here.