Latvia sends Austria to Division 1

08 May 2011 | Henrik Lundqvist

Kaspars Saulietis scores twice and assisted on another goal when Latvia beat Austria in Kosice Steel Arena.

The last day of the Relegation Round and everything was at stake. The winner would take it all and the loser would relegate to Division 1.

Latvia got a solid 4-1 win and stays at the highest level.

"We tried to go on the offense too much and were therefore vulnerable to counter attacks in the defense", analyzed the Austrian Head Coach Gilligan. "The power play has, unfortunately, not worked as we would have liked."

Bill Gilligan, unhappy coach of Austria
Photo: Roman Kucera

Latvia got the start they wanted and had a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. Gints Meija took a shot at 5 minutes. Austrian goalie Fabian Weinhandl saved it but Roberts Bukarts picked up the rebound to score 1-0. Mikelis Redlihs scored 2-0 at 13:30.

The Latvian power-play worked terrific this night. They got to play for 3:41 with one man more and scored twice. Both times Kaspars Saulietis. He made it 3-0 in the second period and 4-0 at 48:47.

Austria only managed to score six goals in six games this championship and their only goal tonigh was scored by Thomas Raffl when only 59 seconds were remaining.

Latvian goaltender Edgars Masalskis made 41 saves tonight: "It was a very important game, and we knew it would be a hard game because they didn't want to be demoted either".