The captain of the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs has a new favourite hockey moment.
Prior to the IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ont., a pre-season game with the Washington Capitals and scoring the winning goal against Sweden at the under 18 Men’s World Championships topped Eriks Mateiko’s list.
Then, the puck dropped against Team Canada on Dec. 27.
Mateiko found the back of the net twice during Latvia’s first game of the tournament – getting his team on the board with a third period goal and scoring in the eighth round of the shootout for the win.
“It’s definitely Canada now for sure, especially in Canada, emotions were crazy,” said Mateiko.
“I feel like when you go in a shootout and you feel like you can end it, for me I don’t feel pressure, I feel more excited.”
The 19-year-old alternate captain and the other Team Latvia players swarmed goaltender Lindars Feldbergs, who completed 48 saves on 50 shots through regulation time against Team Canada.
While the moment was sweet, Mateiko says he switched gears rather quickly.
“It’s past now, we have some games to win still. It was a good moment, but now we have to focus on our next game against Germany,” he said.
Latvia lost 5-1 to the United States less than 24-hours after beating Canada. Latvia held the juggernaut offence to just one goal in the first period, keeping stride with more shots on net after one period of play.
“Today was a little bit tougher, obviously, two games in 24-hours, but that’s not really an excuse. I think today I had to be driving to the net more, I didn’t have that many chances,” Mateiko told CTV News after the loss to the U.S.
The States picked up steam in the second, and two power play goals clinched the win.
The over 14,000 fans in attendance at the Canadian Tire Centre still showed their support for Latvia, erupting in cheers when Davids Livsics scored the lone goal for the team.
“I know Canadian people love us, how we play, and for younger guys its a good experience, and for me it’s really nice for another country to cheer for us,” Mateiko said.
With a population of just under 2 million people, Mateiko said the tournament is a great opportunity for the young Latvia players to develop their skills.
“Our younger guys, they play hard, block shots and stuff like that. We have quite a lot of North American guys from UCHL, and I feel like they know how to play here,” he added.
Latvia captain, Peteris Bulans, also plays in the QMJHL for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
Team Latvia will face off against Germany Monday at 4:30 p.m. AT.
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