Danny Nelson scored two goals to key a U.S. victory over Latvia Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre.
The U.S. won its tenth consecutive World Junior Championship game, stretching over three tournaments, with a 5-1 victory against Latvia Saturday afternoon at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
Former NTDP and current Notre Dame forward Danny Nelson scored two goals for Team USA and nearly got a hat trick late in the third period. Former Fargo Force goaltender Hampton Slukynsky got the start in net after sitting out Thursday’s game against the Germans.
Saturday’s matchup was the sixth between the two teams all-time in the World Juniors, with Team USA winning the previous five by a combined score of 42-8. Their last meeting was a 7-2 U.S. victory in last year’s quarterfinals in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Americans were coming off a 10-4 win over Germany in the opening game of the preliminary round Thursday. Latvia, meanwhile, pulled off a massive upset with a shootout victory over Canada on Friday.
The biggest question coming into Saturday’s game was whether the Latvians could maintain that emotional high from 17 hours earlier. Team USA quickly dispelled any hope of a second consecutive upset.
Nelson, who is second in the NCAA with 252 faceoffs won, proved he knows how to tickle the twine as well. After Cole Eiserman knocked the puck in front of the goal, Nelson fired it past Latvia netminder Linards Feldbergs just 1:58 into the contest for a 1-0 USA lead.
The rest of the first period remained scoreless. The U.S. scored three unanswered goals in the middle frame, the first coming on a power play when James Hagens found Ryan Leonard near the back-door post for a 2-0 lead.
The Americans made the score 3-0 when former NTDP and current University of Denver defenseman Zeev Buium cashed in on a 4-on-4 at 11:13.
With 5.3 seconds left in the second period, Nelson notched his second of the game on a beautiful backhander in tight for a 4-0 lead.
Latvia had numerous chances throughout the contest to get on the board, and finally did so when Davids Livsics pounced on a bouncing puck in front and beat Slukynsky with a high shot at the 8:22 mark to narrow the deficit to 4-1.
The Americans got their final tally when University of Minnesota Duluth and former NTDP forward Max Plante converted a cross-ice pass from Teddy Stiga, who didn’t dress for the game against Germany.
Nelson almost got himself a hat trick late in the third period, only to have his shot hit off the post. Still, he was the player of the game for the Americans.
Team USA moves its 2025 WJC record to 2-0 in Group A play, while Latvia falls to 1-1. Slukynsky made 25 saves to earn the win.
The team doesn’t get a day off between games this time, as they will face off against Finland on Sunday. Puck drop is set for 2:30 Pm ET.