Honzek, Slovakia fall to Latvia in group play
Latvia 5, Slovakia 1
Slovakia suffered their fourth loss of the tournament, dropping a 5-1 decision to Latvia.
The setback sees Slovakia slip to sixth in Group A, with Latvia owning the final quarterfinal position as group stage play draws close to an end.
Flames prospect Sam Honzek had one shot on goal in 7:24 minutes of ice time.
After Haralds Egle opened the scoring for Latvia over two minutes into the contest, Sebastian Cederle evened the score seven minutes later with the teams deadlocked after 20 minutes.
The second frame onwards was all Latvia, with markers from Dans Locemelis, Rihards Bukarts and Toms Andersons. Rodrigo Abols added an empty-netter in the third to wrap up the victory.
Kristers Gudlevskis made 26 saves for Latvia, while Samuel Hlavaj also stopped 26 shots in defeat.
The tourney rolls on Monday with Adam Klapka, Dan Vladar and Czechia taking on Germany at 8:20 a.m. MT, while Ryan Huska, MacKenzie Weegar and Canada face off against Finland at 12:20 p.m. MT.