Latvia 6, Denmark 3: Alberts Smits, a top prospect for the 2026 NHL Draft, had a goal and two assists for Latvia, which clinched a spot in the quarterfinals with its first win in a Group B game at 3M Arena at Mariucci on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
It’s the third straight tournament Latvia has reached the quarterfinals.
“It feels amazing,” Smits said. “That was our goal and now we have completed it.”
Bruno Osmanis (2026 eligible) had a goal and an assist, and Olivers Murnieks (2026 eligible) had two assists for Latvia (1-0-1-1). Nils Maurins (2026 eligible) made nine saves.
“First two games you’re the complete underdog,” Latvia coach Artis Abols said. “You steal the point against Canada (2-1 overtime loss on Saturday). Game against Finland (8-0 loss on Sunday), it was what it was, we were out of gas. Today, the opponent is not that high level, but there’s pressure because that means a lot. Once again, it’s not easy to play, but the good for us today was the power play. We scored three goals on the power play, and good guys who stood against the six (on five) and blocked a lot of shots.”
William Bundgaard had a goal and two assists, and Oliver Larsen had a goal and an assist for Denmark (0-0-0-4). Anton Wilde made 36 saves.
Krisjanis Sarts (2026 eligible) put Latvia ahead 1-0 at 16:52 of the first period when he scored from the slot off the rebound of a shot by Osmanis.
Smits made it 2-0 with a power-play goal from the left face-off circle at 3:00 of the second period.
Larsen made it 2-1 at 11:37, scoring from the top of the right circle with teammate Tristan Petersen (2026 eligible) providing a screen.
Markuss Sieradzkis (2026 eligible) tipped in Smits’ shot for a power-play goal to give Latvia a 3-1 lead at 14:54.
Antons Macijevskis (2026 eligible) pushed the lead to 4-1 at 16:43 on a shot from the top of the right face-off circle.
Bundgaard scored on a one-timer from the hash marks to make it 4-2 at 18:31.
Osmanis made it 5-2 at 9:52 of the third period, scoring on the power play from the top of the face-off circles.
It was the third goal scored on the power play for Latvia against a fatigued Denmark team, which was playing the second game of a back-to-back following a 9-1 loss to Canada on Monday.
“You could see that they’re not (as) fast as they were yesterday, but that’s the schedule, and you cannot do anything about it,” Smits said of Denmark. “The power play, we were working on that power play every day, and now it finally worked out.”
Anton Linde (2026 eligible) scored with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker to make it 5-3 at 18:43, but Kristers Ansons (2026 draft eligible) scored an empty-net goal to make it 6-3 at 19:59.
“Obviously, we had some penalties that kind of killed us and killed the momentum of our game, but we can be proud of the way we played,” Denmark assistant coach Mikkel Boedker said. “We can be proud of the way we try to handle things.”
Latvia will finish its preliminary round schedule against Czechia on Wednesday (3:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN). Germany and Denmark will play in the relegation game on Friday (12:30 p.m. ET).
