Latvia's Olivers Murnieks (left) and Magnuss Avotins celebrate their team's opening goal on Norway at the 2026 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship in Trencin, Slovakia.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / CHRIS TANOUYE
Latvia hit top form at the perfect time, overpowering Norway to secure a place in the quarter-finals at the 2026 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship.
Two goals apiece from Magnuss Avotins and Martins Klaucans, plus three points for Olivers Murnieks, paced an emphatic victory and confirmed fourth place in Group A. Latvia scored eight goals off 37 shots to claim an 8-1 verdict.
“That hasn’t happened ever before, I think,” smiled Avotins. “It’s definitely good to finally find the back of the net. It helped us a lot to get the first points of the tournament.
“We were just ready. We had a good off day yesterday, we had a lot of energy coming in today. There was good energy on the bench today and everybody was raring to go.”
For Norway, defeat means a fourth successive season in the relegation playoff. Kim Veisten’s men will face the fifth-placed team from Group B in a do-or-die showdown on Wednesday.
Norway’s Niklas Aaram Olsen admitted it was a disappointing day.
“We played a really bad game,” he said. “We didn’t get pucks deep, we didn’t stick to our gameplan. It was just a bad game from us.”
In it’s first two games, Latvia had failed to score on Canada and Finland. Today, Norway tried to grab the early initiative and exploit any nerves among Olegs Sorokins’ players. The first real chance came in the seventh minute when a cross-ice feed deceived Ricards Lisovskis, but Aaram Olsen failed to take advantage.
“The start was pretty tough,” admitted Klaucans. “It was any team’s game but we came up stronger in the second half of the period and took over the game.”
That takeover was decisive – and after waiting 131 minutes for a goal, they potted two in 21 seconds to blow this one wide open.
First, Murnieks hunted the Norwegians behind their own net and got the puck out in front for Avotins to rifle home on 11:37. Then Henrijs Upenieks threaded a pass through a defender and captain Davids Tarvids stuffed it home at the second attempt after seemingly taking a stride too far on receiving the feed.
Now the maroon-clad forwards had confidence and it took a big stick save from Maximillian Aas to deny Daniels Reidzans when he was through on goal late in the opening frame.
“We knew we definitely had to score. We didn’t have any other options and had to do something about it,” added Klaucans. “I think we just played with more confidence and took more shots, that probably helped us a lot.”
That kept Norway in the game, at least until the second period. After the restart, there was an early chance on the power play when Aaram Olsen looked for Tobias Aase-Stensland on the doorstep: the puck hit a Norwegian skate and dribbled just past the post.
Latvia heeded the warning and increased its lead with a shorthanded goal moments later. Avotins forced a turnover and exchanged passes with Stefans Rots before making it 3-0. In the 26th minute, Klaucans got his first, stuffing the puck home on the wraparound after a Murnieks shot was deflected behind.
Norway’s hopes of a first ever U18 World Championship quarter-final were in tatters, while Latvia went in search of more goals. Klaucans struck again with five to play in the middle stanza, wiring a one-timer from the edge of the circle.
Norway swapped goalies at the intermission, but Felix Timraz-Westin was beaten early in the third as Rots added a sixth. The rest of the game was damage limitation for Norway, while Latvian goalie Patriks Plumins was denied a shut-out after 53 minutes when Jonas Gulbrandsen banged the puck home after his initial shot looped back off the crossbar. The Latvian bench challenged the play, but the goal stood.
Fittingly, Latvia had the final word. The impressive Murnieks added a seventh with four to play, then Oskars Luks made it 8-1. He and his team-mates will wrap up their group stage against Slovakia tomorrow before learning the identity of their opponent in the last eight. Norway, meanwhile, awaits confirmation of its relegation round rival.
“We’ll just to do the same as we did today,” added Klaucans as jubilant Latvian fans made themselves heard around the arena. “Hopefully we can do good tomorrow against Slovakia and again going forward.”
Two goals apiece from Magnuss Avotins and Martins Klaucans, plus three points for Olivers Murnieks, paced an emphatic victory and confirmed fourth place in Group A. Latvia scored eight goals off 37 shots to claim an 8-1 verdict.
“That hasn’t happened ever before, I think,” smiled Avotins. “It’s definitely good to finally find the back of the net. It helped us a lot to get the first points of the tournament.
“We were just ready. We had a good off day yesterday, we had a lot of energy coming in today. There was good energy on the bench today and everybody was raring to go.”
For Norway, defeat means a fourth successive season in the relegation playoff. Kim Veisten’s men will face the fifth-placed team from Group B in a do-or-die showdown on Wednesday.
Norway’s Niklas Aaram Olsen admitted it was a disappointing day.
“We played a really bad game,” he said. “We didn’t get pucks deep, we didn’t stick to our gameplan. It was just a bad game from us.”
In it’s first two games, Latvia had failed to score on Canada and Finland. Today, Norway tried to grab the early initiative and exploit any nerves among Olegs Sorokins’ players. The first real chance came in the seventh minute when a cross-ice feed deceived Ricards Lisovskis, but Aaram Olsen failed to take advantage.
“The start was pretty tough,” admitted Klaucans. “It was any team’s game but we came up stronger in the second half of the period and took over the game.”
That takeover was decisive – and after waiting 131 minutes for a goal, they potted two in 21 seconds to blow this one wide open.
First, Murnieks hunted the Norwegians behind their own net and got the puck out in front for Avotins to rifle home on 11:37. Then Henrijs Upenieks threaded a pass through a defender and captain Davids Tarvids stuffed it home at the second attempt after seemingly taking a stride too far on receiving the feed.
Now the maroon-clad forwards had confidence and it took a big stick save from Maximillian Aas to deny Daniels Reidzans when he was through on goal late in the opening frame.
“We knew we definitely had to score. We didn’t have any other options and had to do something about it,” added Klaucans. “I think we just played with more confidence and took more shots, that probably helped us a lot.”
That kept Norway in the game, at least until the second period. After the restart, there was an early chance on the power play when Aaram Olsen looked for Tobias Aase-Stensland on the doorstep: the puck hit a Norwegian skate and dribbled just past the post.
Latvia heeded the warning and increased its lead with a shorthanded goal moments later. Avotins forced a turnover and exchanged passes with Stefans Rots before making it 3-0. In the 26th minute, Klaucans got his first, stuffing the puck home on the wraparound after a Murnieks shot was deflected behind.
Norway’s hopes of a first ever U18 World Championship quarter-final were in tatters, while Latvia went in search of more goals. Klaucans struck again with five to play in the middle stanza, wiring a one-timer from the edge of the circle.
Norway swapped goalies at the intermission, but Felix Timraz-Westin was beaten early in the third as Rots added a sixth. The rest of the game was damage limitation for Norway, while Latvian goalie Patriks Plumins was denied a shut-out after 53 minutes when Jonas Gulbrandsen banged the puck home after his initial shot looped back off the crossbar. The Latvian bench challenged the play, but the goal stood.
Fittingly, Latvia had the final word. The impressive Murnieks added a seventh with four to play, then Oskars Luks made it 8-1. He and his team-mates will wrap up their group stage against Slovakia tomorrow before learning the identity of their opponent in the last eight. Norway, meanwhile, awaits confirmation of its relegation round rival.
“We’ll just to do the same as we did today,” added Klaucans as jubilant Latvian fans made themselves heard around the arena. “Hopefully we can do good tomorrow against Slovakia and again going forward.”
Latvia vs Norway - 2026 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship
OF