In the second match of the final round of the selection, the Ukrainians lost to the Latvians.
The Ukrainian national hockey team suffered a crushing defeat to the Latvian team in the second round of the final round of the selection for the 2026 Olympic Games. The match in Riga ended with a score of 1:5.
In the first period, the hosts of the ice arena scored twice against the “blue-yellows” – Dans Ločmelis and Roberts Bukarts scored.
In the second 20 minutes, the Latvian hockey players scored three more unanswered goals – Haralds Egle, Rihards Bukarts and Miks Indrašis scored.
In the final period, the Ukrainian team managed to get one goal back – the final score of the game was set by Daniil Trakht.
It should be noted that in the first match of the final round of qualification for the 2026 Olympics, the Ukrainian team lost to France (2:7).
After two rounds, the Ukrainians, without any points and with a goal difference of 3:12, are in last place in their quartet and prematurely lost their chances to qualify for the 2026 Olympics.
Our team will play its final match on Sunday, September 1, against Slovenia, which also lost the first two matches.
Only the winner of the quartet will receive a ticket to the Olympics. In the final round, it will be played between Latvia and France, which after two victories in a row have 6 points each.
Recall that the Ukrainian national hockey team has only played at the Olympic Games once – in 2002, the Ukrainians took tenth place in the Olympic tournament in Salt Lake City (USA).
