On Day 6 of the World Championships, Latvia got themselves back into the Group A race and Denmark turned in a respectable performance, while Canada and Norway staged a couple of big comebacks in the evening.

by Derek O'Brien, with contributions from Staff Writers

PRAGUE and OSTRAVA – As the two groups of the World Championship begin to take shape, some teams have to make their move now if they want to make the quarter-finals or avoid relegation. After losing their first three games to the top-three-ranked teams in Group A, Latvia grabbed their first win on Wednesday, 2–1 in overtime over Switzerland, thanks to a fantastic goaltending performance from Edgars Masalskis.

“Edgars always plays good,” said Latvian backup goalie Ervins Mustukovs, who has signed on to play with Grenoble for next season. “Our tournament's starting now, from this game. If we win these remaining games we should be in the quarter-finals.”

Denmark also put in a strong effort in Ostrava, but Russia ended up being too strong in the end. Thomas Spelling from Danish champions SonderjyskE Vojens contributed to both Danish goals, assisting on the first at even strength and scoring the second on the power play.

A couple of great comebacks punctuated the two evening games. In Prague, Sweden built up a 3–0 lead after one period, but Canada out-scored them 6–1 the rest of the way, which clears a path for the Canadians to win Group A.

“We had a good first period but they came out really strong in the second,” Sweden's Mattias Sjogren of Linkoping HC understated. “Their forecheck is really effective and they kept us stuck in our own end for quite a long time. It took a lot of energy from us and they're very strong on offence. We have to play smarter when we have the lead, be more creative from our own end on out and eliminate the mistakes.” 

Meanwhile there was another comeback happening at the same time in Ostrava. Slovakia built up a 2–0 lead early in the second period, thanks to a goal orchestrated by Sparta Prague defencemen Marek Daloga and Juraj Mikus. However, Norway came back to win 3–2, with Mathis Olimb, last season's CHL Cramo Top Scorer, assisting on the goal that got things started on the power play.

“We found a way to score two goals in the second period, created some chances, so hopefully we can start better tomorrow,” said Olimb.