Latvia stuns Germany for first Olympic mens hockey win in 12 years

It’s been a long time coming for Latvia.They stunned Germany, 4-3, in men’s hockey on Saturday, marking their first win in the competition at a Winter Olympics since 2014, when they beat Switzerland.Saturday was Latvia’s second game of these Olympics, after losing, 5-1, to Team USA in the opener Thursday.“I think last game, a lot of guys haven’t played against guys of that caliber,” Latvia forward Zemgus Girgensons said.

“It was probably a little more nervousness.Today was more what we want to see.

I still don’t think it was our best.”Dans Locmelis scored twice for Latvia.They came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, scoring three straight goals between the second and third periods to take a 4-2 lead before Germany cut it to 4-3 with a few minutes left.But Latvia hung on for a rare win.“Definitely feels good,” Locmelis said.

“It feels good to get the first one.It was nice to play against the U.S.

in the last game to get the feeling, like NHL-level or even better than NHL-level.So, it was way easier today.

We were almost used to the high, high pace.”It provides an early reality check for Germany, who beat Denmark, 3-1, in their opener before Saturday’s letdown.“I don’t really know any pro athlete that likes to lose,” Germany coach Harold Kreis said.“Ours don’t, either, and especially when you have a good game.

If you play bad, and you think, ‘OK, the opponent was better than us today,’ you can live with that.But I thought we were better today, with all respect to Team Latvia.”Germany center Tim Stutzle echoed that sentiment.

“I think we were the better team today,” Stutzle said.“Still, we’ve got a lot to clean up.

Can’t give them so many Grade-A [chances].We knew they were going to push out, they’re going to cheat.

But we just have to find a way to play better defensively.”...