There was a stunning upset at the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa, Ontario on Friday. For only the third time ever, Latvia won a game at the World Junior Hockey Championships and they beat a Canadian program that has won the World Juniors 20 times.
One must realize that this Canadian National Junior Team on Friday night did not deserve a victory as they lost 3-2 in a shootout. They lacked discipline, intensity and overall skill. The quality of shots the Canadian team delivered in the shootout were poor indeed as Latvian goaltender Linards Feldbergs did not need to make a difficult save. Yes, Feldbergs made 55 saves on 57 shots, but many of Canada’s scoring chances were not grade A variety. When it came to discipline, the Canadians had 16 penalty minutes including a dumb too many men on the ice infraction in overtime. When it came to intensity, the Canadians seemed disinterested and had listened to the TSN panel prior to the contest, who said in unison that Latvia had no chance.
The rest of this post is not to talk about the Canadian team that did not show up Friday. It is about the Latvians who displayed remarkable team chemistry and togetherness. This was a Latvian squad that only had two drafted NHL players in total and made the entire National Hockey League scouting community look dumb as the underachieving Team Canada squad had nine first round picks.
The NHL drafted Latvians were left winger Eriks Mateiko of Jelgava (third round pick, 90th overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft) and defenseman Darels Uljanskis of Riga (seventh round, 214th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft). Mateiko plays for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Uljanskis plays for AIK Jr. in Sweden. It was Mateiko who scored one of Latvia’s two regulation goals and the shootout winner. The other regulation goal was by the undrafted captain Peteris Bulans, a defenseman from Dzelzava, who plays for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL.
Latvia’s first ever World Junior win came on August 14, 2022 in Edmonton, Alberta, when they beat the Czech Republic 5-2. Latvia’s second ever World Junior win came on December 30, 2023 in Gothenburg, Sweden when they beat Germany 6-2. Latvia next plays the United States on Saturday.
