OSTRAVA, Czechia – Preliminary round play in the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championship concludes here today and the U.S. Men’s National Team is in action against Latvia as one of three games. Opening faceoff is set for 4:20 p.m. local time/10:20 a.m. ET at Ostravar Arena. All U.S. games in the world championship can be seen live on NHL Network.
The U.S. owns an 11-1-1-3-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) advantage in the all-time series against Latvia, with the first meeting in the series back in 1938 and the last a year ago in the bronze-medal game, which Latvia won in overtime and resulted in a national holiday in the Northern European country the Monday following the contest.
The U.S. and Latvia both played on Sunday (May 19), with the U.S. gaining a 10-1 win over Kazakhstan and Latvia earning a 2-1 shootout victory over Slovakia.
Regardless of the outcome of today’s game, Team USA has secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the men’s world championship for the 13th straight year. Latvia still has a chance to get into the quarterfinals and would do so with a regulation win over the U.S. and a Sweden win in regulation against Slovakia.
Team USA has won its last three games of the world championship and is second in Group B with a 4-0-1-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record. Latvia is 1-3-0-2 and stands fifth in Group B.