The teams had met just three times before in World Juniors, most recently in 2012, and the Czech Republic won all three by a combined score of 19-5.
Both goalkeepers were playing in their third of four games for their respective teams, Jan Bednar had a better GAA than Brouveris – 3.36 to 3.84 – but it was Brouveris who made the difference today.
“We believed we could win,” Darrels DuCours said. “We just took it one game at a time and gave it our best shot. We played as a team and fought for each other. We stayed focused the whole time.”
The Latvians got just the start they needed, taking a 2-0 lead into the period. Martins Lavins scored the opener with a good strike from Harries Brants. He went down the left wing and got the puck in front of Lavins, who quickly redirected the puck between Jan Bednar’s open pads at 4:30.
They made it 2-0 at 12:21 after another great pass behind the goal line. This time Raimonds Vitolins powered Rainers Rullers from the front. Rulers landed a high kick over Bednar’s shoulder.
Latvia then took two consecutive penalties. PK was literally perfect on the first and dodged a bullet on the second before finally surrendering. Michal Gut took a backdoor pass that left him with nothing but the net to shoot at, but he shot wide and looked to the sky for answers that could have been more easily found on his lane.
But moments later he was presented with another opportunity through a strong pass from captain Jan Misak and he did not miss it.
The Vitolins-Rulers combination had another sensational chance early in the second leg to make it 3-1, but this time Bednar came across and made a great save for Rulers. Soon after, Latvia had two strong plays but failed to capitalize and started to feel like they had wasted chances to take control of the game.
Indeed, the Czech Republic tied the score at 9:33 in stoppage time. Captain Ralfs Bergmanis blocked a shot in forward positions, but it fell to Stanislav Svozil. He came in and backhanded over Bruveris and that sense of missed opportunities came to the fore.
But credit to Latvia and especially to Bergmanis. He put his team ahead at 11:15 after David Jiriček made a poor clearance. Bergmanis’ quick spot kick fooled Bednar and gave the underdogs another lead. Breweris scored again six minutes later on a similar shot on a power play when his long wrister beat Bednar high.
Bednar was replaced by Tomas Suchanek to start the third, but he faced just three shots as his teammates put 17 shots on Brumanis without scoring. The Czech Republic had a golden chance to cut the lead midway through the period when Lavins closed his hand on the puck in the crease, resulting in a penalty kick. But Mysak was killed by Bruveris and kept the match 4-2.
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