In the opening game of group play for Switzerland and Latvia, the Swiss won with the hockey equivalent of the magic bullet. Simon Moser was credited with the goal because his pass, headed for Nino Niederreiter in front of the goal, was tipped by goaltender Edgars Masalskis's stick into defender Georgijs Pujacs's arm and then back past Masalskis. This all happened with 7.9 seconds left in a 0-0 game.
Though they pulled this one out of their asses, the Swiss were considerable favorites heading into the game.
Latvia had no wins, eight losses and two ties against the top eight teams (Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States) in its Olympic history before this contest. Toss in the World Championship and Latvia has seven wins, eight ties and 57 losses against those nations.
Three seventh-place finishes in the World Championships (1997, 2004 and 2009) represent the height of Latvian's success at this level.
Masalskis kept Latvia in the game, but ultimately a freak deflection he set into motion undid everything.
[MSNBC]