UFA, Russia, January 4 (R-Sport) - Latvia was relegated from the top division of the world junior hockey championships Friday after suffering a 5-2 relegation playoff defeat to Germany.
Latvia lost all six of its games and will be replaced by Norway, which won a promotion tournament last month.
Latvia forward Lauris Rancevs scored the opener on 16 minutes before Germany answered with goals from Tobias Rieder, Leon Draisaitl and Christian Kretschmann in the second period.
Draisaitl registered a double early in the third period that caused Latvia to pull the goaltender nine minutes before the buzzer in a desperate attempt to save the game at 4-1 down.
Germany's Sebastian Uvira then hit an empty-netter, before Arturs Kuzmenkovs scored a consolation for Latvia.
It was the Latvians' fifth season in the top division.
