BROCKVILLE, Ont. 鈥� Petr Sikora scored twice and netminder Jan Kavan made 21 saves as Czechia levelled Latvia 5-1 in a pre-World Junior Championship hockey game on Friday night at the Memorial Civic Centre.
Matej Mastalrisky, Adam Jecho and Patrik Volas also scored for Czechia, which outshot Lavia 30-22.
Eriks Mateiko scored for Latvia, which trailed 2-0 after the first period and 4-1 heading into the third.
Latvia went 0-for-5 on the power play, while Czechia was 0-for-3.
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FINLAND 6 SLOVAKIA 0
CORNWALL, Ont. 鈥� Finland scored four goals in the first period and then coasted to a 6-0 win over Slovakia at the Cornwall Civic Complex.
Jesse Kiiskinen, Aaron Kiviharju, Roope Vesterinen, Arttu Alasiurua, Kasper Halttunen and Kalle Kangas scored for the Finns, who outshot Slovakia 37-21.
Petteri Rimpinen recorded the shutout for Finland. Samuel Urban stopped 26 of 32 shots for Slovakia before being replaced by Pichal Pradel, who stopped all five shots he faced in relief.
The 2025 World Junior Championship tournament gets underway on Dec. 26 with four games in Ottawa, including Czechia playing Switzerland and Slovakia facing Sweden at TD Place. Finland plays Canada on Boxing Day. Canada plays Latvia the following day.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2024.
The Canadian Press
