Celebrations were well underway in Latvia on Monday after the nation’s men’s hockey team returned with its first ever medal from the world hockey championship.
According to the European Hockey Clubs Alliance, some 50,000 people assembled at the Freedom Monument in the capital of Riga, where a stage was set up and speeches were made for the bronze medallists. The nation’s parliament had assembled a 10-minute session at midnight in order to declare a national holiday for its 1.8 million citizens, according to Reuters.
Latvia had co-hosted the event with Finland, with the semifinals and medal finals played in Tampere. Upon their return, the team plane “made a low-altitude fly-past over central Riga on Monday to greet thousands of fans gathered to welcome the squad,” according to Reuters.
Latvia defeated the U.S. 4-3 in the bronze-medal game on Sunday when defenceman Kristian Rubins scored at 1:22 of overtime. Not only was it the country’s first medal at the event, but the first time it had ever played for an International Ice Hockey Federation medal, according to the IIHF.
The men’s team’s previous best was a seventh place, which it had achieved in its 1997 debut and again in 2004 and and 2009.
Latvia finished in third place in its group, with a 3-2-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record, before defeating Sweden in the quarterfinals. A 4-2 loss to eventual gold medallists Canada sent them in search of their historic bronze.
