- Sandis Vilmanis scored twice into the empty net to seal Latvia’s 4-2 upset of Team USA
- Defending champs sit fifth in Group A at 2-3 with two prelim games left
- Read below for full details and video of Latvia’s stunner over Team USA in Zurich
Latvia just pulled off the biggest upset of the 2026 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
The Latvians beat Team USA 4-2 on Saturday in Zurich, handing the defending champions their third loss of the tournament and leapfrogging them in the Group A standings.
Sandis Vilmanis sealed it with a pair of empty-netters in the final 90 seconds. He also tacked on an assist on Deniss Smirnovs’ go-ahead goal in the third period to wrap up a three-point afternoon at Swiss Life Arena.
Despite dominating the shot clock 47-22, the U.S. couldn’t solve Latvia goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis, who turned aside 45 shots. Don Granato’s group sits fifth in Group A at 2-3, one point behind Latvia.
Matthew Tkachuk was the lone bright spot for the Americans. The Florida Panthers winger deflected an Oliver Moore shot home on the power play in the second period to tie things at 1-1.
He nearly rallied them at the end, too. Tkachuk fed Mathieu Olivier from the slot with 50 seconds left to cut Latvia’s lead to one, and finished the day with a goal, an assist, and U.S. Player of the Game honors in just his second contest of the tournament.
Whatever momentum that gave the Americans died nine seconds later. Vilmanis tucked his second empty-netter home to put the game on ice.
Watch the full highlights from Zurich:
Haralds Egle had opened the scoring at 8:47 of the first, beating Devin Cooley with a wrist shot from the slot off a Martins Dzierkals feed. Smirnovs banged home a rebound 6:06 into the third to put Latvia back in front for good.
Team USA’s path to the quarterfinals just got tighter. They close out the prelims against Hungary on Monday and Austria on Tuesday, and they’ll probably need both wins to feel safe about the knockout bracket. Canada also had a scare against Norway over the weekend, but found a way out of it. The U.S. needs to do the same before the bracket starts.
