The Czech Republic can give themselves a huge chance to qualify for the knockout stage with a win over Latvia on Sunday.
The Czech squad got off to a dreadful start with a 4-1 loss to Sweden on Wednesday, but rectified themselves with a huge 3-1 win over Finland. Tomas Hyka got the festivities going with a goal 14:17 into the period. Marek Hrbas added a second a little over two minutes later to give the Czechs a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Finland cut the lead down to one, but the Czechs held them off for the final 48 minutes of the game until Dimitrij Jaskin gave them a goal with four seconds remaining in the third.
Their opponents will be last place Latvia who have no chance to make it to the knockout round. After enduring blowout losses to Finland and Switzerland, they were defeated 5-1 against Sweden on Saturday morning as well. The Latvians held the defending champions to no goals until the final minute of the first period. They battled back and tied the game at the 3:55 mark of the second off a Teodors Blugers goal and the scored remained level until 16:18 of the second when Sebastian Collberg propelled Sweden to a 2-1 lead that they never relinquished.
Prediction: The Czechs should win this; 4-1 Czech Republic.
Start Time: 7 AM EST
TV: TSN
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