Belarus eadges past Latvia into quarterfinals
Team Belarus wins the key encounter with neighboring Latvia at Minsk Arena to reach quarterfinals.
Geoff Platt and Mikhail Grabovksy had netted two beautiful goals for Belarus within 33 seconds in the first period before Latvia's Kulda scored one back. Sergei Kostitsyn added third in the dying seconds into the empty goal to push Team Belarus into the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009!
36 seconds from time with Belarus leading 2:1, Latvia's Kaspars Daugavins saw his goal ruled out by referees. He broke his stick in protest just to be penalized for unsporting behavior till the end of the match.
Belarushockey.com reports the head of Latvia's Ice Hockey Federation Kirovs Lipmans is very frustrated by the referee's decision to disallow the goal.
“The judges were biased in favor of Belarus' victory. Latvians will fight to the end to have the final score revised. This situation is a clear conspiracy,” Lipmans said.
The Belarus vs Latvia match registered the record-breaking attendance of 14531 at the 2014 World Ice Hockey Champioship in Minsk.
Othe results: Kazakhstan 3: 4 Finland, Denmark 2:6 France, Italy 1:5 Sweden.
Stangings Group B: Russia - 18 points (6 played), Belarus — 12 (6), USA — 11 (6), Finland — 11 (7), Latvia — 9 (6), Switzerland — 7 (6), Germany – 5 (6), Kazakhstan — 2 (7).
Four teams advance to the quarterfinals from each group. The reset will be relegated from the elite groupings into lower divisions.
The quarterfinal matches will take place on May 22. Semi-finals are on May 24 to be followed by the final and the third-place clash on May 25 at Minsk Arena.
