Mogo stumbles again, this time against France's U20 team

At the Latvian Hockey Federation's (LHF) President's Cup tournament in Piņķi, Latvian champions Riga Mogo/RSU suffered another setback, losing 3:4 to the France U20 national team. The defeat leaves Mogo at the bottom of their group standings.

France's junior team, which was relegated from the top tier of the World U20 Championship's Division I Group A last December, matched Riga's shot count at 28 apiece but converted more efficiently.

Mogo's lineup included former Latvian national team veterans Kaspars Daugaviņš and Kristaps Sotnieks, but their experience was not enough to prevent the loss.

Match summary

Both teams received penalties right at the start of the game. France opened the scoring in the sixth minute through Jolan Fürter, then doubled their lead in the 20th minute via Maurice Cwikiel, taking a two-goal advantage into the first intermission.

Mogo came out strong in the second period, with Elvis Želubovskis and Kaspars Ziemiņš scoring to level the game at 2:2. However, four minutes before the end of the middle period, Mathis Dufour restored France's lead.

Early in the third period, Rūdolfs Polcs tied the score again, but France answered once more — five minutes before the final horn, Hector Martel put the visitors ahead for a third time. In the closing stages, Mogo had a power-play chance to force overtime but failed to convert.

Tomorrow at midday, Mogo will face the Latvian U20 national team's "red" squad in the fight for fifth place.