Swiss beat Latvia in World Championship hockey

Switzerland have won their first match against Latvia 3-1 to begin strong in the World Championship hockey tournament currently underway in Germany.

The win in Mannheim before a crowd of about 7,000 fans marks the first victory for Sean Simpson in his new role as coach of the national squad. The players gave him the game’s puck to mark the occasion.

“I’ve never been honoured this way by my players,” the British-Canadian said. He added he thought the team still “could have played better”.

The Swiss quickly moved ahead thanks to a goal by Andres Ambühl after just three minutes of play. Roman Josi fired through the pads of the kneeling Latvian goalie in the second period. The Latvians made it 2-1 in the third but Ivo Rüthemann gave the Swiss a third goal with just two seconds left to go.

Last year Latvia beat Switzerland 2-1 in the qualification round.

On Monday the Swiss face off against Italy, who lost 5-1 to Canada over the weekend.

swissinfo.ch and agencies