It’s gameday six for Great Britain and a match-up against Latvia at the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Switzerland.
The two sides go head-to-head at the Swiss Life Arena at 16:20 (15:20 BST) with both needing points for different reasons.
Victory for Latvia keeps alive their hopes of qualification for the knockout stages, while GB must pick-up at least a point to stand any chance of avoiding relegation.
GB go into the game on the back of another spirited display as netminder Mat Robson made 43 saves in Thursday’s 4-0 defeat by Finland.
Latvia have had contrasting fortunes throughout the tournament which began with a 4-2 defeat by Switzerland.
This was followed by a 2-0 win over Germany but two defeats followed to Austria (1-3) and Finland (1-7).
But they bounced back with a huge 4-2 victory over USA yesterday thanks to two goals from Sandis Vilmanis and a goal each for Haralds Egle and Deniss Smirnovs.
Team News
Head Coach Pete Russell went with seven defencemen and 13 forwards in the game against Finland on Thursday – and will name his 22-man roster ahead of face-off this afternoon.
Focus on Latvia (info from iihf.com)
Latvia have been in the top division since 1997. The small Baltic nation – with a population of 1.8 million – went wild after winning its first Worlds medal ever in 2023, a bronze in Tampere.
Low on NHL reinforcements this year, Latvia will lean on veterans like the Swiss-based Rudolfs Balcers (ZSC Lions Zurich) and Czech-based Ralfs Freibergs (HC Vitkovice).
A defenceman to watch is Alberts Smits, who logged big minutes at both this year’s Olympics and World Juniors at age 18 and is a projected first-round NHL pick in June.
At the Milan Olympics, the Latvians scored a 4-3 upset over Germany – their lone highlight in a 10th-place finish.
Previous Meetings
The two sides have met nine times in competitive action with three wins for GB, five for Latvia and one tie.
The most recent meeting came at the 2022 World Championship in Finland when Latvia won 4-3 in a thrilling game.
Brett Perlini and Cade Neilson put GB into a two-goal lead before Oskars Batna pulled one back for Latvia.
Lewis Hook made it 3-1 to GB but Latvia finished much the stronger and goals from Janis Jaks, Rihards Bukarts and Andris Dzerins secured them the victory.
Live Coverage and Updates
The match can be watched on iihf.tv with individual game purchases and tournament passes available. Click here to buy and for more information.
There’ll be updates throughout the game on the Great Britain X account which can be followed here.
World Championship: Group A in Zurich
Saturday 16th May: Great Britain 2-5 Austria
Sunday 17th May: Great Britain 1-5 USA
Tuesday 19th May: Hungary 5-0 Great Britain
Thursday 21st May: Switzerland 4-1 Great Britain
Friday 22nd May: Finland 4-0 Great Britain
Sunday 24th May: Great Britain v Latvia 16:20 (15:20 BST)
Monday 25th May: Germany v Great Britain 20:20 (19:20 BST)