2025 World Junior Championship: Latvia Stuns Canada in Shootout Upset

Photo Credit: Katie LeBoutillier (Inside The Rink)

Eriks Mateiko scored the lone goal of the shootout in Latvia’s upset over Canada in the shootout Friday night.

Latvia upset Canada in one of the greatest upsets in World Junior Championship history. A 3-2 shootout victory was secured by the Latvians over Canada on Canadian turf and it gives them a lot of momentum heading into their game against the USA.

In their history against Team Canada, Latvia had been outscored 41-4 with four losses. In the tournaments history, Latvia has never finished higher than sixth place. This includes a 10-0 victory for Canada 12 months ago.

Talking about history, Latvia has secured their third-ever win in the World Junior Championship tournament.

Latvian netminder Linards Feldbergs made 54 saves on 56 shots between regulation and overtime and added eight more in the shootout in the upset.

Canada lost one of their players Matthew Schaefer as he crashed the net and struck his left arm/shoulder on the net and did not return to the game after leaving in the first period.

The game started in a lopsided shots on goal for Canada, but scoreless between both teams. It had to have struck a sense of belief in the Latvians who were the underdogs in this game but showed no quit regardless of what the score was.

The Latvians tied up the game 1-1 on a power play, but their lead wouldn’t last long as Calum Ritchie fired a one-timer top shelf from Easton Cowan’s nice cross-ice pass.

Lots of media attention focused on this game being a massive upset from the 2-1 score itself, never mind Latvia taking it into a shootout and winning.

With three minutes left to play, Canada’s Ethan Gauthier took a hooking penalty which Latvian Peteris Bulans tied the game.

A 2-2 hockey game in overtime against Canada was uncharted territory for Latvia, but a late penalty in overtime to Canada gave a spark to Latvia.

Five rounds weren’t enough for both teams, and Latvian’s Feldbergs stayed sharp through all eight rounds of the shootout.

Finally, the moment came, on his second chance with the puck on his stick, Eriks Mateiko skated towards Jack Ivankovic and rifled the shot low to win the game for Latvia.

Not a single goal during the game was scored at even strength.

Latvia faces the USA tomorrow at 2:30 pm CST while Canada isn’t back in action until Sunday, Dec. 29th against Germany.


Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Conrad Jack

Conrad Jack is a Manitoba based sportswriter covering the Winnipeg Jets (NHL) and the Manitoba Moose (AHL). He also covers the NHL Draft and World Junior Championship for ITR. He writes the Bargain Bin blog which covers NHL News & Rumours.

2 thoughts on “2025 World Junior Championship: Latvia Stuns Canada in Shootout Upset

Leave a Reply

IIHF World Championships 2025

Detroit Red Wings Shine at World Championships

Team USA recently won the IIHF World Championships for the first time in 92 years after defeating Switzerland in the finals in overtime. Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres scored the overtime winner off the rush. The Detroit Red Wings were well represented at the recent tournament co-hosted by Sweden and Denmark. The young players […]

Read More
Connor McDavid skating for the Edmonton Oilers

Opinion: Connor McDavid Continues To Show Why He Is the Best Player in The Game

There is no doubt that when all is said and done, Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is going to end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Let’s take a look at what McDavid, 28, has accomplished so far: Notice that his career totals to date were not mentioned above because even those numbers are […]

Read More

AHL: Eric Dubois Heads Overseas to ERC Ingolstadt

The Manitoba Moose announced on Friday, May 30th, that Eric Dubois has joined the DEL club ERC Ingolstadt as an assistant coach. Dubois, 55, served as an assistant coach with the Manitoba Moose for nine seasons when he joined the club back in 2016. The Moose posted a 292-264-34-23 record in Dubois’ nine seasons as […]

Read More