On Wednesday there were no surprises on the Riga and Tampere rinks, and the victories were won, among others, by hosts. The fourth victory of the World Hockey Championship went to the Canadians, who quickly disillusioned the Kazakhs.

At Arena Riga, the Canadian team quickly got to work. Mackenzie Weegar opened the game in the 19th second, then Lawson Crouse made it 3-0 with two goals. Adil Beketaev put hope in the hearts of the Kazakhs by scoring in the 10th minute. However, that was just a preview of the lowest-ranked team. Thanks to Joe Veleno, the favorite led 4:1 after the first half. In the next two games, hockey players from the country of the maple leaf settled for a single goal scored by Samuel Blais.

The Canadians fired 40 shots on target and won 5-1. Thanks to this, they won their fourth victory in the championship this year and have 11 points after four meetings. For the Kazakhs, this is the third defeat in Riga. Their achievements are currently only two points, which means a fight for existence in the world’s top flight.

A very important victory in terms of the right to play in the knockout stage was won by the Latvians. The Group B hosts won 2-1 against Norway. The key events for the fate of the match unfolded in the second half. Rodrigo Abols and Toms Andersons scored in just 39 seconds. Only Ludvid Hoff has responded to these successes. Latvia took their total to five points. Norway, on the other hand, have four after four matches.

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In Tampere, the evening match between the Group A hosts and France provided a lot of emotions. Suomi eventually beat the Habs 5:3. Although they had the edge on the ice, the rivals fought to the bitter end. Charles Bertrand scored a contact goal 11 minutes from time and the Nokia Arena got nervous. The French took a chance and made a mistake. Sakari Manninen settled the score by packing the puck into the empty net. The Finns won the second game and are fourth with seven points. For the French, defeat essentially means the end of their playoff dreams, but they still look good at staying in the top flight.

The fourth series of points was scored by the Americans on Wednesday. This time the American team confidently defeated Austria 4-1. After a quiet first period, the second period started with great shots. Rocco Grimaldi, Carter Mazur, Lane Hutson and Nick Perbix scored for the favorites. Thomas Raffl scored an honorable goal for the Austrians. Only one point is lost. With a view to staying in the Elite, the game against Hungary will be crucial.

group A:

USA – Austria 4:1 (0:0, 2:1, 2:0)
(Grimaldi 28′, Mazur 39′, Hutson 44′, Perbix 58′ – Raffl 38′)

Finland – France 5:3 (1:1, 2:1, 2:1)
(Pesonen 5′, Oksanen 24′, Anttila 32′, Hartikainen 46′, Manninen 59′ – Chakiachvili 2′, Addamo 29′, Bertrand 50′)

Group B:

Latvia – Norway 2:1 (0:0, 2:1, 0:0)
(Abols 24′, Andersons 24′ – Hoff 35′)

Canada – Kazakhstan 5-1 (4-1, 0-0, 1-0)
(Weegar 1′, Crouse 6′ and 8′, Veleno 20′, Blais 42′ – Beketaev 10′)

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