Amazing battle for Riga

The progress of the match in the mini WERK ARENÁ after the first day indicates that this year an extremely balanced group was mixed. The last match on Friday was provided by the national team of Ukraine U17 and HS Riga. After a lukewarm start, the hockey games literally started. In the 12th minute, Ralfs Kapura scored the first goal of the match. This forced the Ukrainians to increase their activity in front of the goal of the Latvian goalkeeper Vitols. However, they did not take care of Antons Macijevkis, who, after escaping around the bar, stuffed himself in front of the Ukrainian goalkeeper and increased his team's lead to 2:0. The blue-and-yellows responded quickly from the stick of Danylo Šulha.

After half a minute of the second half, Škorochod had an equalizer on the stick, but Vitols neutralized his attempt. He only capitulated against an elusive shot by Šarets, who confirmed that Ukraine is not giving up. In the 28th minute, when Riga was signaled to be sent off, Šimčuk got to the end and turned the match in favor of the Ukrainians. Dmitrijs Dilevka brought the match back into balance after a breakaway. But then came a great hockey gift, which Radion Koida gave to the spectators in the mini WERK ARENA with his accurate backhand finish - 3:4. With a wonderful hockey moment, he drove Roberts Vitols out of the goal, who was replaced by Oskars Gusevs.

But even he could not face the Ukrainian attacks for long. In the 45th minute, Oleksiy Yevtěchov beat it with a hidden shot - 3:5. The Ukrainian side could have breathed even better if Šulha had done better in the penalty shootout. Instead, Gusevs fired up his teammates and they scrambled to tie the game. Macijevkis was there again, who got a bouncing puck behind the back of the Ukrainian goalkeeper - 4:5. Šarets could have increased the difference by two goals, but failed in front of a practically empty goal. The great Macijevkis got to speak again, and he leveled the score at 5:5 in the 57th minute and at the same time completed a hat trick. In the end, separate runs had to decide the winner of the match. And while both Ukrainian executors failed, Riga forwards Auzinš and Macijevkis passed the puck over the goal line. After the dramatic course of the match, Riga takes the second victory.