Today at 12:00 p.m. ET, Latvia and Switzerland faceoff live from the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi for men's ice hockey as part of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The game can be live streamed for free here.
This is a rematch of each team's Olympic opener. The first time these two teams met, Swiss forward Simon Moser (Nashville Predators) scored with 7.9 seconds remaining in the game after a deflection off of a Latvia defenseman's skate to give the Swiss a 1-0 triumph.
With a trip to the quarterfinals on the line, this game has much more at stake than the game these two played in group action. Whoever wins this has a matchup with Canada--the defending gold medal winners--on Wednesday.
Latvia is coming off of a 5-3 loss to Sweden and coach Ted Nolan (Buffalo Sabres) is hopeful his team will continue to play strong as they've held their own through the three group games. The players are coming in with confidence.
"This was my first Olympics and I kind of felt that we would be overpowered," forward Janus Sprukts told the IIHF website. "But now I think we can play with any team. We are very happy we've played evenly with all our opponents and will be looking ahead confidently."
The lone current NHL player on the Latvian roster is Zemgus Girgensons of the Buffalo Sabres, who has 17 points through 56 games for the Sabres off of five goals and 12 assists.
Switzerland has played well defensively and in net, but needs to find its offense as it has only scored two goals in three games thus far in the tournament. The Swiss won two 1-0 games and lost another by the same score, and will have to score more goals if it looks to medal in these Games.
Jonas Hiller of the Anaheim Ducks and Reto Berra of the Calgary Flames have both been great in the crease for Switzerland.
The Swiss know how important this game is and that there is no room for error.
"The gap is closing," Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter told the IIHF website. "There are no easy games out there anymore."
Niederreiter has 29 points through 59 games for Minnesota off of 11 goals and 18 assists.
Latvia and Switzerland each look to advance to face Canada when the puck drops today at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
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