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Day 2 of the IIHF World Championships began with Latvia facing off against Norway, and it began in such passion that the Latvians went down quickly to then crawl from a 2-0 hole and manage to win it in OT. No Herning games so far had ended in regulation but no games prior to this had a youngster that goes by the name of Rudolfs Balcers – The Latvian OT hero who dangled past all three opponents and scored potentially – the goal of the tournament to grant Latvia their first victory of the tournament in the opening game. It was so good that his teammate Rodrigo Abols told reporters that he couldn’t pick his jaw up from the floor.
A better angle of Balcers OT winner. pic.twitter.com/jYhrNUA5Cc
— Aivis Kalniņš (@A_Kalnins) May 5, 2018
The other early morning game was played between Swiss and Austria. Another game that went to OT and ended with a 3-2 score in favor for Switzerland. 12th minute in the 2nd-period things got a little ugly. Sven Andrighetto kneed Austria’s Steven Strong who had to be stretched off the ice. Andrighetto was then ejected from the game receiving a 5+20 minute penalty and could potentially face a suspension by the IIHF.
Other results: France 6:2 Belarus Finland 8:1 Korea Czech Republic 3:2 Slovakia Denmark 0:4 USA