Russia beats Latvia 4-1 to kick off world junior hockey championship
Pavel Chernov had a goal and an assist to lead the Russians to a 4-1 win over Latvia in the tournament's opening game on Friday.
``It wasn't a great game on our part, but it was a solid win in the first game,'' Russia's Nikita Filatov told the IIHF website. ``So this was okay. Latvia in an opening game is not easy.''
Vyacheslav Voinov, Maxim Goncharov and Dmitri Klopov also scored for Russia.
Janis Ozololins replied with Latvia's lone goal.