{"id":1307,"date":"2026-05-23T14:04:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2026-05-23T14:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:04:48","slug":"latvia-stuns-the-us-4-2-at-ice-hockey-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1307","title":{"rendered":"Latvia stuns the US 4-2 at ice hockey world championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Latvia\u2019s Deniss Smirnovs, right, celebrates after scoring his side\u2019s second goal during the 2026 IIHF Men\u2019s Ice Hockey World Championship preliminary round group A match between Latvia and the United States in Zurich, Switzerland, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (Andreas Becker\/Keystone via AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

ZURICH \u2014 Sandis Vilmanis scored two empty-net goals and Latvia upset the United States 4-2 to hand the defending champion<\/a> its third defeat at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday.<\/p>

Read more The Brooklyn sports bar where Spike Lee, Mamdani and superfans mingle<\/a><\/p>\n

Deniss Smirnovs\u2019 goal early in the third period gave Latvia a 2-1 lead and set up a wild ending.<\/p>\n

The Americans pulled goaltender Devin Cooley for an extra attacker but Vilmanis scored with 1:02 left to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n

The U.S. struck back \u2014 again with six skaters \u2014 when Matthew Tkachuk set up Mathieu Olivier to cut the deficit to one from the slot with 0:51 remaining.<\/p>\n

Vilmanis sealed the victory, though, when he netted his second with 42 seconds to go.<\/p>

Read more Studying sports and disability, he laid the groundwork for the Special Olympics<\/a><\/p>\n

Latvia had opened the scoring in the first period when Haralds Egle connected at 8:47 with his team\u2019s second shot on goal.<\/p>\n

Tkachuk\u2019s power-play goal \u2014 his first at the worlds \u2014 tied it at 1-1 with 5:12 remaining in the middle period. The two-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic champion<\/a> played only his second career game at the worlds after joining teammates on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The loss left the U.S. fifth in Group A, one point behind Latvia. The Americans have two group-stage games left \u2014 against Hungary on Monday, and Austria on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In Group B in Fribourg, Denmark blanked Slovenia 4-0 for its first win.<\/p>\n

Later Saturday, host Switzerland meets Hungary, and Austria plays Germany in Group A in Zurich. In Fribourg, Czechia plays Slovakia, and Sweden faces Norway.<\/p>

Read more Lauren Betts is off to a slow start. The Mystics aren\u2019t worried.<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP sports: https:\/\/apnews.com\/sports<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sandis Vilmanis scored two empty-net goals and Latvia upset the United States 4-2 to hand the defending champion its third defeat at the ice hockey world championship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nLatvia stuns the US 4-2 at ice hockey world championship - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1307\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Latvia stuns the US 4-2 at ice hockey world championship - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sandis Vilmanis scored two empty-net goals and Latvia upset the United States 4-2 to hand the defending champion its third defeat at the ice hockey world championship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1307\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T14:04:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ad8852cf1ff866bd13af08242670a0fc-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Latvia stuns the US 4-2 at ice hockey world championship\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T14:04:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307\"},\"wordCount\":339,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5f7da310464dcff6439a5d31bf8db23b-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307\",\"name\":\"Latvia stuns the US 4-2 at ice hockey world championship - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5f7da310464dcff6439a5d31bf8db23b-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T14:04:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1307#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5f7da310464dcff6439a5d31bf8db23b-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5f7da310464dcff6439a5d31bf8db23b-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Latvia's Deniss Smirnovs, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the 2026 IIHF Men's Ice Hockey World Championship preliminary round group A match between Latvia and the United States in Zurich, Switzerland, Saturday, May 23, 2026. 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