Well, that was fun while it lasted.
Timothy Liljegren’s run at the 2023 IIHF World Hockey Championship has come to a close after Sweden lost 3-1 to Latvia, one of the biggest upset losses in recent tournament history.
Sweden had not lost in regulation up until this point, going 5-1-1-0 to finish two points behind USA for first in Group A. Latvia, meanwhile, needed one point in their final round-robin game against Switzerland, who, beforehand, had a perfect record. Latvia ended up winning in overtime and jumped past Czechia for third in Group A.
So, by all accounts, Sweden – who had lost to Latvia just twice before – came in as heavy favorites. But Latvia scored first to put the pressure on Sweden, a challenge that Timothy Liljegren accepted. At 29:41, after some good Swedish pressure, he took a pass from Lucas Raymond, skated in and beat goaltender Arturs Silovs up high for the 1-1 goal. That score stayed for about 15 minutes of game time, in which Miks Indrasis and Janis Jaks both scored in the third period to give Latvia the win.
Liljegren finished the tournament – his first men’s tournament with Sweden – with two goals, four points and 18:38 in average ice time. His usual defensive partner, former Leaf Rasmus Sandin, suffered a knee injury against USA in the round-robin and sat out Thursday’s contest.
The final four will be made up of Canada vs. Latvia in the first semifinal at 7:20 AM ET, as well as USA and Germany at 11:20 AM. The two winners will advance to Sunday afternoon’s championship game at 1:20 PM ET.
