Places 5-6: Latvia - Norway

Being the losing sides of the quarterfinals, Latvia and Norway could only make their way to Saturday's battle for the fifth spot. Latvia had run over Estonia 10–1 and Norway beat Russia 11–6. Beforehand, the match was thought to be Norway's to lose and Latvia's to win. After an intense fight that went to extra time, Latvia prevailed by the score of 6–5 OT (1–2, 2–2, 2–1, 1–0).

The first period went as was scripted. Norway had the control of the game and were able to create the better chances. They finally cashed in at 11.07, as Thomas Straete made it 0–1. Fredrik Hoff Eriksen found the back of the net to make it 0–2 at 14.45; under a minute after Janis Jansons had left the penalty box. Thanks to Andris Malkavs, who managed to score an immediate response at 15.12, Latvia had life again. The team's entered the locker rooms with Norway on top 1–2.

Even though Norway struck first again in the second period, Latvia had the upper hand. Atis Blinds swiped the ball past the Norwegian goaltender Christer Rönnmark at 29.30 to start his team's comeback.

Mihails Kostusevs was credited the important game-tying goal after a bouncing ball made its way behind Rönnmark to make it 3–3 just 29 seconds after Blinds' tally. For a while it seemed as if Latvia had completely turned the tables.

Norway had a chance to regain the lead when they were awarded a penalty shot late in the second. Runar Snellingen flashed his magic hands once again and put Norway on top 3–4 to end the period. The penalty shot ended up being costly, though, as Snellingen's leg got trapped under the Latvian goaltender Guntis Bunzenieks. He was helped out of the rink on a stretcher and did not return.

Norway got to start the third period on the power play, but were unable to score. Latvia had their first great chance of the period at 43.47, and they made it count. Ainars Juskevics slammed in the perfect pass from Atis Blinds, and all was tied again.

Latvia kept rolling and got the lead for the first time in the game at 53.59, when Mihails Kostusevs drilled a long shot into the top left corner. Latvia was playing with confidence, and it showed. 5–4.

Both goaltenders played great in the game, but Guntis Bunzenieks had no chance stopping Andreas Sletten's 5–5 goal. Thomas Straete's nice feed to the right wing got blasted to the back of the net with just two minutes and 37 seconds left to play. The buzzer rang, and the game was headed to overtime.

The clock finally stopped at 66.51, when Janis Jansons gave Latvia something to celebrate. Christer Rönnmark had to dig the ball out of the net for the last time in these Championship games. Latvia had secured the fifth place, Norway had to settle for sixth.

Norwegian forward Willy Fauskanger wasn't very happy after the game. He felt Norway played well enough to deserve the win more.
– Absolutely. I think we had the ball most of the time, and we had the better chances, clearer chances. We let some easy goals against us, and we had to struggle for ours, Willy Fauskanger said.
Fauskanger believes they can be even higher in the 2012 World Championships.
– The gold and silver are quite far away, but we were seconds away from the semi-final. We have a long way to go, but I believe we can reach the semis next time, Fauskanger said.

So believes Latvia's Ainars Juskevics, who scored an important 4–4 goal.
– Fifth place is very big for us, but we need to believe we can play for the medals. We played tight games here and in the next World Championships we will be in the top-four, said Juskevics.

Author: Sami Lehtiö